PL | Chapter 15

Being Serious for Once

“Did you tell your mom you were going back to school?” Qi Yue asked.

“Mm.” Leaning against the wall, Gu Zhong let out a sigh. “Things had already gotten pretty hostile, so I held it in and didn’t say I was coming over to your place out of spite.”

“Got it.” Qi Yue did not say anything else. He simply reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

“I wasn’t trying to make things hard for you on purpose,” Gu Zhong said. “I just think it’s not very appropriate for her to forcefully interfere with my freedom to make friends, so I wanted to make things clear with her. And I also don’t want to be this grown and still have to sneak around like a thief over where I go and who I’m with.”

“I know.” Qi Yue nodded.

“I’m not saying I’m going to stay at your place,” Gu Zhong added by way of clarification. “I’m staying in the dorm.”

“Hey.” Qi Yue laughed. “Got it. You still have classes, of course you’d be staying in the dorm.”

Gu Zhong drew in a breath and slowly let it out. He smiled too. “But I’ll stay here these next two days. Since I want to come help out here anyway, I won’t keep running back and forth. I’ll go back to school on Monday.”

“There’s something I’ve never asked you.” Qi Yue said, “What’s your major?”

“I don’t want to say.” Gu Zhong turned and walked out. “Should be about time for people to come eat, right… Want me to go downstairs and help?”

“If you don’t count the vocational division, your crappy little school only has three majors.” Qi Yue followed behind him. “English, computer science, secretarial studies…”

Gu Zhong turned back and glared at him.

“Is it secretarial studies?” Qi Yue laughed. Gu Zhong ignored him, so he leaned close to Gu Zhong’s ear. “It’s secretarial studies, isn’t it, Xiao Zhongzhong?”

“Our diploma says Chinese Language and Literature, a very respectable-sounding Chinese department degree that makes it look like you’re suited for anything,” Gu Zhong snorted twice. Qi Yue’s guess had actually been pretty accurate. “Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Just making conversation.” Qi Yue said. “It’s just that you look especially full of energy when you’re working as a waiter, so I was worried you might graduate and come work here as one. That wouldn’t even match your major.”

“Oh.” Gu Zhong promptly sat down in a nearby chair. “All of a sudden I feel weak all over. I don’t have the slightest bit of energy to work anymore.”

Leaning against the table, Qi Yue looked at him and said nothing, smiling.

“Are you really a little worried I’ll graduate and come work for you here?” Gu Zhong asked.

“Mm.” Qi Yue nodded. “Too much of a waste.”

“That’s because you don’t get it.” Gu Zhong said. “If I really graduated and came here, this place might not still be a little shop by then. And if I came, I definitely wouldn’t be working as a waiter.”

“Then what would you do?” Qi Yue asked.

“Keep the books.” Gu Zhong said it, then hopped up and bounced downstairs.

What had happened with his mom this morning was not really a fight, more an argument at most.

But sometimes, an argument was worse than a fight. A fight was often just people being upset. Once it was over, it was over. An argument, though, could be a calm but unfriendly discussion over the fact that both sides could not come to an agreement. And if that kind of discussion failed, the damage it did to your mood could be far worse than a fight.

He had fought with his dad plenty of times. With his mom, though, he had barely ever fought, much less had an actual argument over anything.

The way things had gone so badly with his mom today left him feeling pretty gloomy.

His mom insisted on relying on the experience of an elder. If her son kept hanging around with someone like Qi Yue, a former big-time hoodlum with bandit air all over him, then sooner or later something even worse would happen. Even though she had basically raised her son free-range and was never willing to give him pocket money, the overall direction still had to be controlled properly.

But Gu Zhong felt that as long as Qi Yue was willing to break free of the past, then he was just an ordinary noodle-shop owner, just a relatively handsome one. The former Qi Yue, the Qi Yue who made his mom worry like that, really had already “disappeared.”

Unfortunately, his mom did not believe his judgment, and he also did not want to be grown already and still get looked at with suspicion over making a friend. In the end, neither of them convinced the other. Gu Zhong truly could not stay at home any longer, so he picked up his things and came out.

He had called it running away from home when talking to Qi Yue. In truth, when he left the house, all he had said was, “I’m going back to school.” But his mom had added, “Think it through carefully.” Judging by nearly twenty years of knowing his mom, what that sentence really meant was, if you haven’t thought it through, then don’t come home.

“Help me wash those fruits.” Qi Yue was busy in the kitchen. “Someone will probably order juice any minute.”

“Mm.” Gu Zhong walked over to the prep counter and looked. There were a few little tubs of fruit there. Not much, but the selection was pretty complete.

A few customers gradually came in at this time. After the waitress took their orders, she dragged her feet over, dropped the order slip onto the counter, then turned around and dragged her feet away again.

“What is this…” Qi Yue sighed.

Today’s server was a girl. She was pretty enough, but even more limp and listless than yesterday’s male server who had looked like he could barely make it upstairs. At least the guy would call the order out when he brought the slip over. If Qi Yue had not turned around, he would not even have known someone had ordered.

Gu Zhong sighed too. Picking up the slip and looking at it, he said, “Spring Rain, 3. That means three bowls, right?”

“Mm.” Qi Yue nodded.

“Is Spring Rain the signature noodles? I’ve noticed it gets ordered a lot, pretty much one bowl at every table.” Gu Zhong said.

“The signature is Slight Ripples.” Qi Yue started boiling the noodles. “How long has this place even been open? There aren’t that many repeat customers. Spring Rain is just written in the first row of the menu, that’s all. Plus it’s spring right now.”

“Oh…” Gu Zhong went on washing the fruit. “Can I have a bowl of Slight Ripples for lunch?”

“You can eat whatever you want.” Qi Yue said. “I can even mix you a custom sauce made just for you.”

“Speaking of that.” Gu Zhong turned his head to look at him. “Custom flavors, that could work.”

“Hm?” Qi Yue did not quite understand.

“I mean, the customer could bring one ingredient or seasoning of their own, something they like, and then you make them a custom sauce to go with their own exclusive bowl of noodles,” Gu Zhong said.

“It doesn’t have to be all that special. The point is mainly that it’s fun. Or it could be done in some other form. This is just an idea, anyway. Basically, the point is to eat a bowl of noodles that belongs to you alone.”

“Interesting.” Qi Yue said, turning back to keep boiling noodles.

“And that’s it? Not even going through the motions of politely praising me a little?” Gu Zhong said.

“I’m thinking.” Qi Yue said. “Such a good idea deserves proper consideration before I give you a big compliment.”

“Then give me a small one first.” Gu Zhong said.

“Chuan’er-ge is amazing!” Qi Yue turned around as he spoke, even setting down the chopsticks in his hand and clapping a few times.

“Better forget it…” Gu Zhong put the washed fruit into a small basket to drain, then sat at the narrow kitchen table and watched Qi Yue cook noodles.

There was still a little while before the lunch rush. After finishing these few bowls of noodles, Qi Yue also sat down, and he and Gu Zhong ended up sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen table, one inside, one outside.

“Your waiters…” Gu Zhong said quietly. “They’re not exactly overflowing with work enthusiasm. Is it because you’re paying them too little?”

“I asked around about the going rates here and offered on the higher end.” Qi Yue lowered his voice too. “It’s almost double what you used to make.”

“Damn.” Gu Zhong’s eyes went round. “You were that black-hearted before?”

“Oh, come on.” Qi Yue laughed. “How much work did you guys even do back then in a day? You sat around chatting and eating all day and I never said a thing.”

“Are you still hiring?” Gu Zhong asked.

“Mm. I hired these two in kind of a rush. When I was recruiting, they were the first and second applicants, so I just took them both.” Qi Yue glanced toward the entrance. “One person is a little too busy on weekends, though weekdays are okay. I want to see if I can find someone a little more lively and quick-witted. Just looking at these two makes me feel sleepy.”

“Is it hard to hire people right now? How many days has that family heirloom been hanging up?” Gu Zhong looked at the glass front door. The heart-pounding feeling he had gotten when he first saw the sign hanging on the door that day was still something he could remember clearly even now. “You actually brought that crappy piece of cardboard with you.”

“Didn’t we agree it was a family heirloom?” Qi Yue smiled. “Other than my bedding and clothes, that crappy piece of cardboard was all I brought.”

“I’ll make you another one.” Gu Zhong sighed. “That cardboard really doesn’t match your shop. It looks incredibly lacking in sincerity. The lively, clever ones probably won’t even want to come.”

“Sure, make me another one. We’ll keep this one too. Later we can hold an exhibition, The Complete Collection of This Shop’s Recruitment Notices Through the Years.” Qi Yue said.

Gu Zhong went out for a bit, then came back from the stationery shop at the mouth of the street with paper and pens. Compared with that tape-buying clerk, he could practically be described as moving at light speed.

“You’re not writing it here?” Qi Yue asked. Gu Zhong was holding a pile of stuff and getting ready to go up to the second floor.

“It’ll be in the way once customers start coming in.” Gu Zhong said.

“No.” Qi Yue laughed. “You’re not telling me writing this thing is going to take you until customers start coming in?”

“Mm.” Gu Zhong nodded and went upstairs.

Qi Yue went back to sitting behind the narrow table, watching the glass front door. The only thing he was not too satisfied with here was that it was inconvenient for looking at the scenery. Still, it was not much of an issue. He did not have all that much time in a day to just sit around looking at scenery anyway.

Gu Zhong stayed busy on the second floor the whole time. Qi Yue even saw him take a tray and use it like a ruler, though he had no idea what he was drawing.

He was a little curious, but Qi Yue had no intention of going up to watch.

Gu Zhong was in a bad mood today, very obviously so. He could just treat this recruitment poster as Gu Zhong’s way of distracting himself and adjusting his emotions.

Qi Yue took out his phone and opened his contacts to look through them. He did not have many phone numbers, and the call records still showed numbers from a long time ago.

Although he had never saved it, he still remembered which number belonged to Gu Zhong’s mother. He stared at the number for a while. After the phone screen went black, he turned the phone gently in his hand.

Gu Zhong wanted to handle this matter himself, and Qi Yue did not think there was anything wrong with that.

But if he simply let Gu Zhong keep facing his parents’ suspicion that he had “made the wrong kind of friends” all on his own, then that would be very inappropriate too.

That would only deepen the impression that this “friend” was not much good, or at the very least had no sense of responsibility.

The waitress brought over another order slip and, as usual, dropped it on the narrow table and walked away.

Qi Yue sighed. To be honest, even now he still could not remember the two waiters’ names. Mainly because there was so little interaction. Aside from giving them the necessary instructions, he could not even manage ten sentences with them over the course of a whole day.

He did not even know how he had managed to be so amazingly unlucky as to gather these two together and put them both in his own shop.

Just as he got up to start working, Gu Zhong came down from the second floor, a rolled-up sheet of paper in his hand.

“You finished?” Qi Yue turned and asked.

“Mm.” Gu Zhong walked over to his side, opened the paper roll, and showed it to him. “What do you think?”

“Did you… learn this before?” Qi Yue was a little surprised. Gu Zhong had essentially made it like a proper poster. He had even come up with ad copy: Work as happily as gathering with friends.

The lettering style was not his usual handwriting style either. He had matched colors, and he had even drawn a chibi little three-head-tall figure. Judging from the pattern on the little short arm, the person drawn was him.

“From elementary school through high school, I was always the one in charge of the class blackboard bulletin.” Gu Zhong said. “I think this stuff is really fun. So? Satisfied?”

“More than satisfied.” Qi Yue lowered his voice. “If there weren’t people around, I’d want to offer you my knees right now.”

Gu Zhong looked at him. “Thank you, boss.”

“Go stick it up.” Qi Yue smiled.

As Gu Zhong pasted the poster onto the glass front door, he felt a little strange, in a good way. For no reason at all, he had a kind of sense of belonging… no, that was not exactly accurate either. Anyway, it just felt like this place was his turf too. After putting it up, he even stepped back two paces to admire it before going back inside.

The waitress watched him the whole time with a blank face. Gu Zhong felt like she might want to ask something, so as he passed the cash register on the way back in, he even slowed down. In the end, he practically came to a stop, and she still kept that exact same expression and did not say a word.

He sighed softly. He had only just reached the kitchen table and was about to sit down when a customer behind him asked, “Boss, do you have mango juice?”

“Yes.” Gu Zhong answered without thinking. “Freshly squeezed. Want some?”

“Give us two glasses, and add some ice, okay?” the customer said.

“Sure thing.” Gu Zhong stood at the drinks station and got ready to make the juice.

“Er…” While reducing the sauce for the noodles, Qi Yue leaned a little closer to him from the side. “If someone comes to apply, you handle the interview.”

“Mm?” Gu Zhong turned his head.

“Just find someone with a personality about the same as yours.” Qi Yue said. “You have no idea, the way you answered just now practically warmed up the whole shop. I almost started crying. At last this place doesn’t feel like a shop where only the boss is grimly holding the line all by himself.”

“Your level of skill in hiring waitstaff really is extraordinarily unconventional.” Gu Zhong burst out laughing.

Sure enough, there were a lot of customers coming for noodles at noon. There was a university nearby, an actual university, the kind that did not share a sports field with a vocational division. Other than shoppers wandering the area, quite a few college students also came into the shop.

Gu Zhong spotted the girl who had taken photos yesterday and only posted them to Moments after helping edit them. She came in with four other girls.

The moment she entered, she waved at him like she was greeting an old acquaintance. “Hi, that handsome guy!”

Gu Zhong smiled. “Go upstairs. There’s a bigger table upstairs.”

“We’re sitting here.” The girl quickly claimed the narrow table in front of the kitchen, dragging the other girls down into a row of seats. “We’re mainly here to eat noodles, but we’re also here to look at the boss.”

Qi Yue turned and glanced at the group of them. “If you want to take more pictures, you have to pay now.”

“I’m helping promote you.” The girl laughed. “Look, I dragged my whole dorm here today.”

“What kind of noodles are you having?” Gu Zhong asked.

“One of every kind, and give each of us an extra small bowl too. We want to try every kind.” The girl counted down the items on the menu. “There are ten kinds in total… then we’ll take all of them in small portions. We should be able to finish them, right?”

The other girls all nodded in agreement.

“Then that works out to two bowls per person.” Gu Zhong said.

“This handsome guy here…” One of the girls sighed. “Don’t put it so clearly. It sounds terrifying when you say it like that.”

Gu Zhong smiled.

After the girls spent a while staring at Qi Yue and chatting quietly among themselves, Gu Zhong stepped aside, pulled out his phone, and quickly typed a line into his notes.

Mini-bowl combo, or two-flavor, N-flavor mixed noodles.

There should not be that few customers like this, customers who wanted to try every kind. If there were portions even smaller than the current small size, they would probably be pretty popular.

The girls were all very outgoing. They kept taking every spare moment to chat with Qi Yue, from “What’s your surname, boss?” to “How do you cook noodles to get that springy bite?” Even after they finished and were getting ready to leave, they did not forget to ask Gu Zhong to add them on WeChat.

Official account.

Gu Zhong added another item to his notes.

“Hey, steward.” Qi Yue leaned one arm on the narrow table and called out to him. “What have you been writing down all this time?”

“Things that could be improved.” Gu Zhong sat down beside the table. “Like setting up an official account or something.”

“Official account?” Qi Yue looked at him.

“Do some discount events and things like that. It can help advertise too.” Gu Zhong said. “Don’t worry about it. Someone middle-aged and elderly like you, who’s been out of touch with society for years, probably won’t understand. I’ll do it.”

Qi Yue just smiled and said nothing.

“Oh, and there’s one thing you have to do.” Gu Zhong added. “Look at those girls just now. They wanted to try a bunch of different noodles. If they’re afraid they won’t be able to finish them, or that it’ll be too expensive and wasteful, you could make mini bowls. It’s not troublesome anyway. You just need to buy the bowls, right?”

“Mm.” Qi Yue nodded. “I’ll listen to you.”

“If I think of anything else, I’ll tell you later.” Gu Zhong poured himself a cup of water. “That’s all I’ve thought of for now.”

“It’s not hard to understand why your mom worries about you.” Qi Yue said.

Gu Zhong froze for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“If I had a son this cute,” Qi Yue looked at him, “I’d probably keep my eyes on him every day too.”

“Then all you’d raise is a good-for-nothing.” Gu Zhong said.

Qi Yue did not speak, only smiled with narrowed eyes.

“Have you gotten addicted to acting like somebody’s dad?” Gu Zhong looked at him.

“Yeah.” Qi Yue sighed.

“If your goddaughter gets me to help her find you, don’t tell her I found you.” Gu Zhong said.

“Mm, that does sound like my goddaughter’s style, same as her dad.” Qi Yue smiled. “She’s a grown girl now. There are a lot of things she can think through on her own. I don’t need to keep meddling in her life all the time.”

“Wouldn’t that feel a little lonely?” Gu Zhong asked softly.

“A little, maybe. But there are some things you’ll lose sooner or later.” Qi Yue hooked a chair over and sat down, squeezing his leg a few times. “In exchange for new things, and… people.”

“Have you been standing too long? Is your leg bothering you?” Gu Zhong sharply noticed the little movement.

“No, right now it’s still okay. It just gets a little sore after things are busy.” Qi Yue said, just as the server came over and set down a customer’s order slip.

Qi Yue slapped his leg lightly, stood up, and got back to work.

Gu Zhong felt that this level of labor intensity was already something unprecedented for a sloppy boss who, for years, had done nothing but sit in the corner and look at the scenery. On top of that, the boss still had steel pins in his leg… honestly, kind of pitiful.

Someone upstairs called for a waiter. The official waiter was busy taking payment at the cash register, so Gu Zhong stood up and went to the second floor.

When he came back down after delivering drinks upstairs, Gu Zhong immediately saw that Qi Yue was standing on one leg while boiling noodles. The leg not touching the ground was the injured one.

“Laoban gege.” Gu Zhong walked over and tapped on the narrow table, imitating the way those college girls had addressed Qi Yue.

Qi Yue turned his face and looked at him.

“When it gets less busy later, I’m going out for a bit.” Gu Zhong said.

“Something up?” Qi Yue ladled the noodles into a bowl.

“Mm. I have a gift for you.” Gu Zhong nodded.

“Do you not usually give people gifts?” Qi Yue asked.

“What?” Gu Zhong set the bowls into a tray.

“When you give somebody a gift, you’re not supposed to announce it in advance. It kills all the surprise.” Qi Yue sighed.

“You’ll still be surprised when you see it.” Gu Zhong said.

“What are you giving me?” Qi Yue smiled.

“Guess.” Gu Zhong smiled too.

“The sort of thing that would surprise me…” Qi Yue poured the sauce broth over the noodles. “Then there’s only you.”

“Wake up.” Gu Zhong turned and walked off carrying the tray.

The good thing about a noodle shop was that after mealtimes passed, the number of customers dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The half-asleep server played on her phone behind the cash register, while Qi Yue took a cigarette and went out the back door. When Gu Zhong followed him out, Qi Yue was leaning against the wall, stretching the injured leg.

“Want me to rub it for you?” Gu Zhong asked.

“Hey.” Hearing his voice, Qi Yue jumped in fright. “You stalker. If you don’t see me for one second, you get uneasy, is that it?”

“Who exactly gave you this confidence that reaches from heaven to earth?” Gu Zhong sighed.

“You did.” Qi Yue lit his cigarette.

“Aren’t you going to sit down for a bit?” Gu Zhong glanced at his leg.

“No need. If I’m not putting force on it, I don’t feel anything.” Qi Yue said. “Stop worrying about me. You were hurt worse than I was that day. You’ve been running up and down all morning and all noon, aren’t you tired?”

“I am. Want to rub me instead?” Gu Zhong narrowed his eyes.

“Come here.” Qi Yue tilted his head toward him.

Gu Zhong walked over. Before he had even stood still, Qi Yue reached out and scooped an arm around behind his back. Gu Zhong lost his balance and leaned against him. He hurriedly glanced back around. “Maybe you really shouldn’t replace the current server with some lively, quick-witted one. At least this one doesn’t wander around all over the place.”

Qi Yue laughed, stubbed out his cigarette, then ruffled his hand over Gu Zhong’s stomach a few times. “Where’s sore, then? What needs rubbing?”

“My waist.” Gu Zhong said.

Qi Yue pressed at his waist a few times. Gu Zhong sucked in a sharp breath. “Damn, it’s actually sore? I was only saying it casually.”

“You should stop wandering all over the shop. If there’s nothing to do, just sit. I’m not short one waiter here anyway.” Qi Yue said. “If you don’t let these injuries recover properly, they’ll bother you later.”

“How come nobody’s come to apply yet?” Gu Zhong sighed.

“What’s the hurry?” Qi Yue smiled. “How long has it even been? Before, I waited three days to hire these two. Otherwise, would I have taken in two sleepwalkers in one breath?”

Gu Zhong laughed for quite a while, then took out his phone and checked the time. “Hey, I’m heading out for a bit. I’ll definitely be back before dinner.”

“Mm.” Qi Yue nodded. “Is the gift big?”

“Not small.” Gu Zhong said.

“Handsome?” Qi Yue asked.

“Better-looking than you.” Gu Zhong shot him a glance.

The gift for Qi Yue had been a spur-of-the-moment idea, really. When he saw Qi Yue working on one leg in the kitchen, he had thought it would be great if there were a wheelchair, so he would not have to stand and keep walking around.

But a wheelchair was obviously not possible, so Gu Zhong thought of something else.

It was something he had always wanted himself, though if he really bought one, he had no idea when he would ever use it.

This thing suited Qi Yue very well, not just for now, but probably for later too.

He got on the subway and headed straight for the mall he had in mind.

“The quality of this saddle chair is extremely good, the best in our shop.” The sales assistant sat on the chair and rolled back and forth in front of Gu Zhong. “Look, sturdy, and the wheels are very nimble too. It’s very convenient to use.”

“I’ll try it.” Gu Zhong said.

The sales assistant stepped aside. He straddled it and pushed off with his feet a couple of times, imagining Qi Yue sitting on it, pushing off from one end of the kitchen and gliding to the other… pretty damn satisfying.

“Is the chair for you, or for someone else?” the sales assistant asked.

“It’s a gift.” Gu Zhong took another turn. It really was very nimble.

“Then how tall is the person you’re giving it to, about?” the sales assistant asked again.

“About the same as me… one-eighty-five, I guess.” Gu Zhong thought about it. “Roughly.”

“Then the large model is fine.” The sales assistant said. “Besides black, there are other colors…”

When Gu Zhong took a taxi back to the noodle shop carrying a vividly bright red saddle chair, he was in an excellent mood.

He had given quite a few gifts in his life, to parents, classmates, friends, birthday gifts, holiday gifts, but not one of them had felt like this chair today.

It practically felt like delivering coal in the middle of a snowstorm. The sense of accomplishment was enormous.

And when he carried the chair, already out of its packaging, into the shop, the expression on Qi Yue’s face, as he sat by the door talking to someone, also made him feel deeply satisfied.

That expression of surprise, followed immediately by understanding what he meant, that tiny flicker of emotion, maybe only he himself could see it.

Qi Yue stood up. “What’s this?”

Gu Zhong set the chair down, straddled it, and pushed off against the floor with one foot, gliding directly from the entrance to the kitchen table. “It’s a chair.”

Never mind Qi Yue being surprised, even Sleepwalking Waiter A, who usually showed no expression at all, turned her head all the way along with him and finally commented, “That chair’s nice.”

“Want to try it?” Gu Zhong made another circuit, gliding from the table back to the front. Only then did he notice that there was a girl sitting across from Qi Yue. Her face was full of curiosity, and a smile she had failed to hold back.

“I…” Qi Yue glanced at the girl, then turned back and lowered his voice to Gu Zhong. “You do the interview. I’m going to go play with the chair.”

“Oh.” Gu Zhong blanked for a moment.

Qi Yue quickly straddled the chair and with a few whoosh whoosh sounds, slid into the kitchen.

Gu Zhong had only just sat down and had not yet spoken to the girl when Qi Yue came whooshing back again. “This is my assistant, Xiao Gu.”

“Hello.” The girl smiled at Gu Zhong.

“This is the applicant… Xiao Ding.” Just from this way of introducing her, it was obvious Qi Yue had not remembered her name.

“The atmosphere in our shop is pretty good.” Gu Zhong glanced at Qi Yue, who had already slid back into the kitchen again. “There aren’t too many restrictions. The boss himself… is pretty casual.”

The boss looked like a complete loafer, totally unreliable, the sort who only suddenly became serious while cooking.

“I can tell.” Xiao Ding nodded. “That chair looks easy to use. I bought one before too, but the wheels weren’t this nimble. Not all whoosh whoosh like this.”

“When I bought it, the sales assistant’s main selling point was the wheels.” Gu Zhong laughed. “Looks like they really are that nimble.”

After graduating from high school last year, Xiao Ding had gone straight to work. She had never worked in food service before, but she had done cashier work in a supermarket.

She was not very talkative, but she was not some dull gourd either. Maybe because of how strongly Sleepwalking Servers A and B contrasted with her, Gu Zhong felt she was actually pretty decent.

While he was talking with Xiao Ding, Qi Yue stayed seated on the chair the whole time, rolling from the kitchen to the fridge to get things, then back to the kitchen, then to the back door, then back again, never once standing up.

Gu Zhong started to worry that this man was planning to just grow onto that chair from now on.

“Yue-ge.” After finishing the talk with Xiao Ding, Gu Zhong turned and called out to Qi Yue.

Qi Yue finally got off the chair and walked over.

“Xiao Ding can start work right away.” Gu Zhong said. “We’ve already talked everything through.”

“Welcome.” Qi Yue held out his hand.

Xiao Ding stood and shook it. “There are probably things I won’t understand, so please teach me a lot.”

“It’s fine. If you don’t understand something, just ask.” Gu Zhong said.

The shop was not getting customers at the moment, so Qi Yue had Sleepwalking A take Xiao Ding around the shop and let her get familiar with it.

After the two of them walked off, Gu Zhong let out a breath. “I was so nervous.”

“What were you nervous about?” Qi Yue laughed.

“I’ve never interviewed anyone before. Xiao Ding’s the same age as me.” Gu Zhong said quietly. “I was scared she’d think I didn’t seem authoritative enough.”

“When the boss isn’t authoritative, what do you need to be authoritative for?” Qi Yue said.

“It’s because you’re not authoritative.” Gu Zhong snorted. “There has to be at least one person in this shop who looks reliable, right?”

Qi Yue laughed out loud. “Such a pity you’re not my son.”

“Take your time regretting it.” Gu Zhong said.

With one more waiter, even an unskilled waiter, Qi Yue still felt a lot more relaxed. Xiao Ding really did not know anything, but she reacted quickly. Most importantly, she could talk.

“Yue-ge.” Xiao Ding brought over the order slip she had written. “One bowl of Slight Dew, with a little less chili.”

“Okay.” Qi Yue answered. Straddling the chair, he gave a light push and slid to the left-side stove, where he started boiling the sauce broth.

This chair was incredibly thoughtful. He had never imagined Gu Zhong would buy him a gift like this.

He glanced over toward Gu Zhong. Gu Zhong was standing in the corner by the stairs with his head lowered, looking at his phone. He only looked for a very short time, which meant he was probably checking whether he had any calls or messages.

But most likely there was nothing. A trace of disappointment showed on Gu Zhong’s face. Qi Yue sighed and poured the cooked sauce broth over the noodles.

Nine times out of ten, Gu Zhong was waiting for a message from his mother. The kid had left the house in the morning acting pretty tough as he packed his bag and came out, but by the time he was here, talking about “running away from home,” he was already not nearly that tough anymore.

After all, it had always been obvious that even though Gu Zhong often argued with his family, he still cared about his parents a great deal.

After putting the noodles onto the tray, Qi Yue felt at the phone in his pocket.

Once it was past seven-thirty, the customers gradually started to thin out. Sitting behind the narrow table, Qi Yue stared at Gu Zhong in a daze.

When Gu Zhong turned back and looked at him, he beckoned with his hand.

“Mm?” Gu Zhong came over and braced an elbow on the table. “Well? Not as tired now?”

“Mm.” Qi Yue lightly traced two strokes across his arm with his fingertip. “Er.”

“Hey.” Gu Zhong answered, though it was hard to tell whether it was a sigh or a response.

“A person like me, living up to now…” Qi Yue said. “I probably… never really walked the broad, proper road.”

Gu Zhong did not say anything. He just hooked over a stool, sat down, and lay forward on the table with his head resting on his arm as he looked at him.

“I don’t have many friends. Other than Maomao’s dad, there’s one more you haven’t met.” Qi Yue lay down on the table too and spoke softly. “Other than that, there’s nobody else.”

“I’ve got quite a lot of friends, but they all went away to study in other cities.” Gu Zhong said. “Lonely as snow.”

The corner of Qi Yue’s mouth lifted. “I’m not very good at expressing myself, feelings and all the other things people feel. You see me teasing you all day, and that’s all it is, teasing you. Once it gets serious, I just…”

“You were pretty serious back when you used to lecture me too.” Gu Zhong smiled. “When you called me an idiot.”

“That was because I was afraid you’d get taken advantage of.” Qi Yue looked around the shop. Sleepwalking A was playing on her phone, Xiao Ding was wiping down tables, and four customers were eating noodles. No one was looking this way. He reached out and tapped Gu Zhong lightly on the nose. “Besides, that doesn’t count as expressing feelings.”

Gu Zhong wrinkled his nose. “Then what does count as expressing feelings?”

“Right now.” Qi Yue said.

“Huh?” Gu Zhong looked at him.

“At this time last year, I was still thinking, if this is how my whole life goes, that’s not bad either. If I’m not serious about anybody, then nobody will be serious about me either.” Qi Yue said. “One person, however I live, whether I live well or not, it’s just one person.”

“And when you run out of money, you starve to death.” Gu Zhong said. “I used to always worry that if Fortress closed down, you’d end up out begging.”

“Not anymore.” Qi Yue smiled. “Some things only become clear after you’ve gone through them. Like this time, I was thinking, if it’s over then let it be over. If there has to be distance, then let there be distance. No matter what, I can get by on my own.”

Gu Zhong narrowed one eye and kept staring at him.

“But once I really went through with it, I regretted it immediately.” Qi Yue said. “I regretted it a lot, a whole lot, agreeing to your mom. She thought I wasn’t a good person. I really should have just acted like a scoundrel for once.”

“Feeling like it’s a good thing I’m so stubborn I had to find you after all?” Gu Zhong laughed.

“Yeah. Good thing you wanted an explanation for those five hundred kuai.” Qi Yue said.

“I still haven’t gotten one.” Gu Zhong snorted. “Your excuse is way too flimsy.”

“Hey.” Qi Yue sighed and took out his wallet. “Well then, tell me, Chief Steward, is one card enough?”

“Is there money on the card?” Gu Zhong asked with a smile.

“There is.” Qi Yue pulled out a bank card and set it in front of him. “You keep the books from now on.”

“I’m not doing it.” Gu Zhong sat upright. “Didn’t you say the one keeping the books was…”

“Oh.” Qi Yue smiled. “What?”

“I…” Gu Zhong looked at him. “You… how come it isn’t you?”

“That works too.” Qi Yue said. “Whatever you say.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Gu Zhong got a little anxious, his whole face turning red. “I mean, me, and you, and you…”

“Yue-ge!” Xiao Ding’s voice rang out from behind them, interrupting Gu Zhong, who seemed unable to find the words. “Is there any more noodles?”

“Yes.” Qi Yue laughed, pushed off against the narrow table, and slid away straddling the chair. “Then it’s settled.”

“Huh?” Gu Zhong was left staring blankly.

After eight o’clock, all the customers in the shop had left. Qi Yue took off his apron and slid out from the kitchen on the chair. “Everyone take a break. Good work.”

“It was okay.” Xiao Ding sat down by the table. “I didn’t make any mistakes, right?”

Xiao Ding’s voice startled Gu Zhong so badly that he jerked. He had been staring in a daze in Qi Yue’s direction. He hurriedly dragged back his thoughts from who-knew-where.

“You did very well.” Qi Yue said, patting Gu Zhong on the shoulder. “I’m heading out for a bit. I’ll probably be back in under an hour. There are still three kinds of sauce broth left. In a bit, you keep an eye on things. If someone wants any, make it for them.”

“Me?” Gu Zhong pointed at himself and froze. He had absolutely no confidence in himself. He did not even know how cooked the noodles had to be before they counted as good.

“I’ll do it, I know how.” Xiao Ding said from the side. “I always cook for myself at home.”

“Then you.” Qi Yue picked up his coat and put it on.

By the time he reached the door, Gu Zhong suddenly remembered to ask, “Where are you going?”

“To be serious for once.” Qi Yue said..