ATIBESLM 29

Ye Lingwei slipped his hand out of Fei Lan’s hold and pressed it against the windowsill beside him. “Wouldn’t I lose a lot of face then?”

Fei Lan let out a confused “Hmm?”

“If I coax you just because you say so, wouldn’t I lose a lot of face?” Ye Lingwei repeated leisurely.

“Mm.” Fei Lan stood before Ye Lingwei, his eyelids drooping slightly like a patch of wild grass stubble burned to ash. He paused for a moment and then softly said, “Gege then begs you to coax me. How about that?”

Ye Lingwei was genuinely stunned for a moment. To think Fei Lan would actually bow his head… Strictly speaking, it wasn’t really bowing his head, but with this tone of voice, Ye Lingwei felt he couldn’t refuse.

He felt it once again. On the surface, it seemed he was the one keeping Fei Lan in check, but in reality, it was Fei Lan leading him along.

“You’re begging me, huh?” Ye Lingwei’s eyes held scattered traces of triumphant mirth. He said unhurriedly, clearly not yet done having his fun, “Well, since you’ve begged me like this, then what does face matter…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Fei Lan reached out and gripped the nape of his neck, forcing his head to tilt backward. Ye Lingwei had once seen a behavioral analysis of this specific action online.

It appears to be an intimate, gentle gesture, but in reality, it entraps the other person entirely within one’s embrace. What is held in the hand is the throat—the vital point. It represents an absolute, unyielding control over the other.

Fei Lan lowered his gaze. “Ye Jiaojiao, that’s enough.”

Ye Lingwei could feel the slight chill of the fingertips pressing against the back of his neck. In front of others, he knew where the line was but chose to cross it. However, in front of Fei Lan, he was remarkably astute about knowing when to back down.

Blinking his eyes twice, Ye Lingwei reached out and tugged at Fei Lan’s sleeve. “Gege, don’t be unhappy anymore.”

Fei Lan looked at him deeply for a moment, then smiled. His hand naturally released Ye Lingwei. “Go run along and play.”

Ye Lingwei: “…”

Gao Linhao was standing at quite a distance, and with the way those two were murmuring, he couldn’t hear a single word. The only thing that shocked him was that Ye Lingwei actually sat directly on the windowsill and even went to hug Brother Lan’s neck.

Good heavens! Help me! What kind of death-seeking creature is this?!

—

Gao Linhao had met Fei Lan back in middle school. By the time they met, Fei Lan was already an expert fighter. While the rest of them at thirteen or fourteen hadn’t yet graduated from wearing the red scarves of the young pioneers, Fei Lan could already tilt his head back and blow a perfect chain of smoke rings.

In middle school, there was always that group of boys who shot up in height; compared to the late bloomers, it was as if they were running on steroids. At that time, Fei Lan’s height had shot straight up to 1.78 meters, and by the time they graduated, Gao Linhao vaguely remembered him being 1.8 meters.

In the eyes of his teachers, Fei Lan was a genius—an exemplary student one might only encounter once in a lifetime. He was obedient and sensible, never giving his teachers or parents a single reason to worry. Every time he represented the school in a competition, he would return with armfuls of certificates and awards. Student Council President? Him. Class Monitor? Him. Captain of the Competition Team? Him. Flag Bearer? Him. Gala Host? Him. Back then, in the eyes of the entire school, he was the moon to be admired from afar, but never to be profaned.

Gao Linhao had discovered the truth by pure accident. He was being bullied by Yuan Song when a boy walked over, his school uniform worn with impeccable neatness, his shoes and schoolbag spotless. Gao Linhao watched with wide eyes as Fei Lan casually scooped up a wooden club from the corner and, without even blinking, smashed it against the back of Yuan Song’s head.

Yuan Song dropped straight to the ground. Gao Linhao reckoned that to this day, Yuan Song still doesn’t know who knocked him out.

Fei Lan knocked Yuan Song unconscious, then looked down at Gao Linhao from his vantage point. “Been crawling so long you’ve forgotten how to stand?”

These words held a double meaning. Gao Linhao understood immediately and scrambled to his feet in a flash.

From that day on, Gao Linhao began to wait on Fei Lan hand and foot. Fei Lan! The Model Student! His Big Boss!

It was only after following Fei Lan for a long time that he realized that in several of the school’s most notorious gang brawls, Fei Lan was actually a central figure. He also finally understood why those with broken arms and legs would avert their gaze when seeing Fei Lan, their teeth chattering in fear.

Before that, Gao Linhao had always assumed that they were simply blinded by the dazzling aura of Fei Lan’s ‘Academic God’ status and were left in awe.

Fei Lan’s mercurial temperament was something Gao Linhao had learned the hard way early on. When he was in a bad mood, he didn’t like to talk; and in those moments, whoever provoked him had better be prepared to get knocked unconscious.

Sometimes, it really depended on who you were. For those closer to Fei Lan, Fei Lan would still grant a shred of courtesy.

Gao Linhao believed that while Ye Lingwei’s relationship with Brother Lan couldn’t compare to his own bond with him, it was still passable. If he himself couldn’t handle it, then let Ye Lingwei step up. He  couldn’t just let Ye Lingwei enjoy Brother Lan’s care without doing any of the heavy lifting.

Exactly. He had to pull his weight.

Gao Linhao hadn’t expected Ye Lingwei to be this close to Brother Lan! If it had been him speaking with such sky-high audacity, Brother Lan might very well have tossed him off the building.

At this precise moment, a phrase automatically surfaced in Gao Linhao’s mind: One sees only the new love smile, never the old love weep.

However, Gao Linhao couldn’t bring himself to weep, for he was a man.

Ye Lingwei sat on the windowsill, swinging his legs. The hami melon flavored hard candy had been sucked down to the size of a grain of rice, rolling back and forth inside his mouth. He looked at the sorrowful Gao Linhao. “Do you need me to coax you too?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Gao Linhao waved his hand listlessly. He leaned against the spot next to Ye Lingwei and heaved a deep sigh toward the sky. “Sigh… I just feel like Lan-ge seems to like you a bit more.”

Ye Lingwei turned his head to look at him, asking in puzzlement, “He likes you?”

“Is that the point?”

“How is that not the point?” Ye Lingwei said.

“You thought I meant that kind of like?” Gao Linhao fell silent for a moment, then suddenly exploded. “Are you crazy? Are you crazy? How would I dare? How would I dare? Lan-ge liking me… ohhohoho, liking me? I dare not even think about it. I dare not.”

Ye Lingwei: “…”

Has he lost his mind?

However, this actually piqued Ye Lingwei’s curiosity. He leaned down, moved close to Gao Linhao’s ear, and lowered his voice. “Gao Linhao, let me ask you something.”

As the boy suddenly leaned in, the cloying scent of fruit candy hit him all at once. Heat crawled up from Gao Linhao’s neck to the nape, until finally, his entire face began to burn. He sprang away as if scalded by fire, looking at Ye Lingwei defensively. “Just talk properly; don’t get so close to me.”

Ye Lingwei couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge his reaction and asked nonchalantly, “Has Fei Lan ever told you what kind of person he likes?”

Gao Linhao froze for a moment. “Why are you asking that? Lan-ge has never mentioned it to us.” 

He thought for a moment and then added, “Actually, it seems we’ve never asked.”

“Why do you want to know? Do you like Lan-ge?” Gao Linhao asked sullenly. Although Brother Lan was his Brother Lan—the person he worshipped and aspired to become the most—he still felt a little unhappy if Ye Lingwei also liked Brother Lan this much.

“No, just curious,” Ye Lingwei answered truthfully. He really was just curious. It was hard to imagine what kind of person someone like Fei Lan would like, or what it would even look like for him to fall for someone.

Recalling the look in Fei Lan’s eyes and the strength of his grip when he held the back of his neck just now, Ye Lingwei licked his lips. It was actually quite a thrill.

—

A summary of the parent-teacher meeting was given during the evening self-study session.

Pokémon rested his hands on the podium, speaking with earnest gravity. “There is less than a year left until the college entrance exam. You all must know how cruel this smokeless war is. I have emphasized time and again—do not slack off, do not slack off, do not think you can play today and study tomorrow.”

“In our class, there are some people… it’s like they have sores on their butts. They haven’t sat still for a single day.” Pokémon’s gaze swept over to Ye Lingwei’s desk mate, Chu Ran. “Chu Ran, stand up and tell us. Regarding the behavior of rushing to the supermarket the moment class ends and eating right up until class starts—what is your view on this?”

With his chubby, round face looking completely solemn, Chu Ran declared, “I firmly condemn this behavior!”

Fei Lan let out a laugh, while Gao Linhao held back his laughter until his face turned bright red.

Pokémon was speechless with anger. He raised his voice. “I’m talking about you! Yet you have the nerve to condemn it? If I catch you using the twenty-minute exercise break to go to the cafeteria and eat a bowl of malatang again, just watch how I deal with you.”

This little fatty was different from others who secretly played on their phones; he secretly ate food. Except for when in class, he was eating—and sometimes, he even ate during class.

Chu Ran wailed, “Don’t do that, Mengmeng! I’m still growing!”

Pokémon ignored his grievances. “And Ye Lingwei, I need to have a serious talk about your picky eating problem. I know some students in our class are picky eaters, but your case is the most severe. If you don’t eat properly, how is your health ever going to improve?”

“…” Ye Lingwei lowered his head. “Understood.”

Pokémon was just like a nagging mother hen, singling out everyone in the class one by one for a lecture. Ye Lingwei noticed that although wails of despair filled the room, there was no actual impatience. Whether they could actually follow through was one thing, but they would humor Pokémon to keep him happy regardless.

Only Fei Lan remained.

Near the end of class, Pokémon looked at Fei Lan. “Come out with me for a moment.”

During the ten-minute break between evening study sessions, the corridor was particularly lively. Fei Lan followed Pokémon to a slightly quieter stairwell nearby. Pokémon looked at him for a long while, and the latter remained unfazed.

“Are you still determined to do this?” Pokémon asked with a frown.

Fei Lan lifted his gaze and smiled. “It’s not like I want to either.”

Pokémon pretended not to notice the perfunctoriness in the other’s tone. “Think this through carefully—this is a matter that affects your whole life. I know that even if you don’t take the college entrance exam, even if you don’t attend university at all, you can still be the young master of the Fei family, living a pampered, princely existence, summoning the wind and rain at will. However, are you, Fei Lan, that kind of person?”

“Fei Lan, I know that regarding Ai…”

“I am.” Fei Lan cut off Pokémon’s words.

The young man was rendered speechless.

“Teacher Fang, I am that kind of person.” Fei Lan chuckled softly. “I’m already this rich anyway. Why should I bother working so hard? Teacher Fang, you’ve misread me. I, Fei Lan, am simply someone who craves comfort and pleasure.”

Pokémon watched Fei Lan walk away and sighed. He knew it. The moment Ai Shu was mentioned, Fei Lan would immediately put his guard up, wrapping himself within a hard shell that left not a single crack for air to get through.

Fei Lan returned from over there. Gao Linhao and the others were chatting in the hallway, and when they saw Fei Lan, they waved at him.

“Brother Lan,” Chen Fengbao called out to him. “What did Fang Kemeng call you over to talk about?”

Fei Lan fished a lighter out of his pocket and twirled it between his fingers. His manner was languid, betraying neither joy nor anger.

“Hah, what else could it be? It’s the same old thing every time: ‘A man must strive for self-improvement,’ obviously,” Gao Linhao said. Right now, he wouldn’t dare provoke Fei Lan. He just picked whatever Fei Lan would like to hear.

Chen Fengbao took a sip of the cola in his hand and looked at Gao Linhao. “Haozi, you should try to persuade Lan-ge, too. Shen University can’t afford to lose a talent like Lan-ge. Didn’t Jing University have their eyes on him back in middle school? It can’t go on like this…”

As he said these words, Fei Lan slowly lifted his eyelids and looked at Chen Fengbao with an indifferent gaze. Gao Linhao’s temple throbbed violently. He jumped up and clamped his hand over Chen Fengbao’s mouth. “You sure have a way with f*cking words!”

While holding down the struggling Chen Fengbao, Gao Linhao forced a smile. “The moon is dark and the winds are high, let’s talk about a happy topic.”

After a moment of silence, Fei Lan actually chimed in, “For example…”

Chen Fengbao’s wretched mouth escaped from under Gao Linhao’s palm. “For example, what kind of person do you guys like?”

Gao Linhao initially didn’t think this topic counted as happy either, but he suddenly remembered that Ye Lingwei had asked him this very question this afternoon. It was the perfect opportunity to get the answer and tell Ye Lingwei.

Li Jing answered first, “If I cannot find a woman whose soul burns as fervently as mine, then in this life, I shall be content to remain alone.”

“Fine, fine, fine, you go be content then, be content and go write a book,” Gao Linhao rapidly said. Letting Li Jing answer this kind of question would absolutely result in something bizarre; he didn’t even need to think about it.

Chen Fengbao looked at Gao Linhao. “What about you?”

Gao Linhao froze for a moment. “Me? I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Tch.”

Gao Linhao couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him. He waited with puppy-dog eyes for Fei Lan’s answer. “Lan-ge, what type do you like?”

Fei Lan didn’t give him an immediate reply. He looked into the classroom at that dazzlingly attractive boy sitting in the back row, who was resting on his desk, reaching out to toy with the small plush ball hanging from his deskmate’s pen cap.

Chu Ran was annoyed to death. He glared ferociously at Ye Lingwei, but when the latter looked up at him with innocent eyes, he instantly became like a popped balloon, all his anger leaking out at once.

“Stop playing.” Chu Ran said, feigning maturity as he personally opened Ye Lingwei’s book for him, “You need to study.”

“Beautiful ones,” Fei Lan said.

Chen Fengbao and Gao Linhao nodded their approval. Beautiful, well, everyone likes beautiful people—that’s perfectly normal. What else?

“Ones with a bit of a temper,” Fei Lan said indifferently, watching Ye Lingwei in the classroom.

A bit of a temper? What counts as a bit of a temper?

Gao Linhao and Chen Fengbao exchanged a glance. Gao Linhao asked in a whisper, “Lan-ge, why do you like the ones with a temper?”

Don’t people usually like the well-behaved, cute types?

A few seconds passed. Fei Lan let out a laugh, a certain suggestiveness teeming within his eyes. “They don’t cry easily, and they can take being messed with.”

Don’t cry easily?

Take being messed with?

Don’t cry easily?

Take being messed with?

Why cry?

Mess with what?

After being thoroughly confused for a moment, Chen Fengbao was the first to react, followed immediately by Gao Linhao. The two of them hugged each other and howled, “Lan-ge is a legend! No one is as hardcore as our Lan-ge!”

Half a beat behind, Li Jing let out a “Wow.”

“…”

—

National Day was approaching. Small national flags had been planted on the trunks of the camphor trees and the streetlamp poles lining the road. A chill had quietly seeped into the night wind. The sign of autumn in Shencheng is rain. After a week of continuous rain, autumn arrives.

The arrival of winter follows the same ritual.

Ye Lingwei lived on Nanbo Road, right next to the school, adjacent to a flower house built entirely of glass. The flower shop stayed open until eleven every night. When Ye Lingwei passed by on his way home, the interior was lit up like broad daylight, illuminating half the night sky.

The flower shop owner was at the door tending to a pot of devil’s ivy, holding a white spray bottle in his hand. Seeing Ye Lingwei, he paused for a moment. Noticing the school uniform the boy was wearing, he offered a polite greeting, “Just got out of class?”

Strangers could still exchange greetings. The shop owner was a man in his thirties. Ye Lingwei nodded and said good evening.

“Wait a second,” The owner called out to stop him.

Ye Lingwei stopped in his tracks. In less than two minutes, the owner emerged from inside, cradling a large bouquet of imported chinese lantern lilies in his arms. He handed them to the boy, whose beauty was enough to make every flower in the room pale in comparison.

“We throw away quite a few flowers every day when we close up shop. Meeting you is serendipity. Why don’t you take them home? If you put them in a vase, they will last another week or so.”

The owner was very enthusiastic.

Ye Lingwei lowered his gaze to look at the vibrant, dewy lilies. No matter how he looked at them, they didn’t seem like something that was about to be thrown away.

After a long moment, Ye Lingwei raised his head. He had a faint smile on his lips and a haughty tone. “I have no desire for things others have discarded.”

The owner froze. Before he could react, the boy had already turned and walked away.

He looked down at the chinese lantern lilies he hadn’t managed to give away, muttering to himself, “How could these possibly be for the trash?”

True enough, the owner thought, recalling the handmade plush charm he had accidentally glimpsed on the boy’s schoolbag. It was a tiny thing, handmade by a reclusive master living in the countryside abroad who only produced two themes a year, with fewer than ten items per theme. Each one was unique. It was a treasure that even a heavy sum of money couldn’t buy.

Besides, he raised his eyes to the towering high-rises standing on Green Glass Road. How could someone who lived here possibly lack for a bouquet of flowers?

He rarely visited the Green Glass Road flower shop, it was only a branch location. This was his third visit, and all three times, he had encountered this boy. Even though the boy was still wearing a high school uniform, the uniform of No. 3 High School, the gathering place for Shencheng’s most exceptional students, he had still rushed up to him on a sudden impulse.

Just as he had suspected, someone with a face like that could hardly possess a gentle and submissive temper. He shouldn’t have offered him the chinese lantern lilies. He should have given him the white wild roses that had just been airlifted in this morning.

There was only one bouquet of these white wild roses. Growing on cliffs deep within the mountains, they were one of the rarest and most precious wild rose varieties discovered to date. Their petals—white as snow and thin as cicada wings—were layered intimately around the stamen. Their flowering period lasted only a week, and the blooming petals could not be touched; a single touch would cause them to fall. They could not survive without mountain spring water. Yet, the thorns on their stems were sharper than those of any other rose. Any skin pierced by them would swell and itch unbearably.

Yet, because of its beauty, so pure it bordered on the demonic, every year, an endless stream of people would still risk their lives, venturing deep into the ancient forests in painstaking search of it.

He had won them at a high-price auction, yet he would have been more than willing to give them to that boy.

—

Ye Lingwei put the incident out of his mind. He switched on the living room light, bent down to change his shoes, and upon looking up, spotted a cake on the coffee table.

It was a tiny cake, housed in a white paper box tied with a large bow made of silver ribbon. The ribbon was adorned with scattered, transparent crystals that glittered brilliantly under the chandelier.

It was an almond cake. Almonds were a favorite of the original host, but he wasn’t allowed to eat too many nuts of this kind. Indeed, there was nothing he was permitted to eat without limit.

Beside it lay a card with several large characters written in flamboyant, sweeping strokes.

—To Ye Jiaojiao.

Intuition told Ye Lingwei that the cake was from Ye Cen.

The original host knew his big brother’s handwriting by heart, so his intuition was undoubtedly correct.

Ye Lingwei sighed and sat cross-legged on the soft rug. It was an imported wool carpet costing over a hundred thousand yuan a piece. It couldn’t touch water and required hand-washing with professional detergent.

As he untied the bow, he wondered, Is Ye Cen planning to turn over a new leaf and become a better person?

The packaging box unfolded completely onto the coffee table, revealing a triangular cake that appeared incredibly exquisite and opulent. Thin almond flakes were inlaid along the sides of the cake and arranged into the shape of flowers on top. Extending downward were clouds made of rolled, wafer-thin slices of mango. The mango slices were so thin they were almost translucent. The clash of the bright yellow mango against the milky white cream was unusually glaring to the eyes.

Ye Lingwei froze for a moment, and then slowly smiled.

The cake fell onto the carpet with extreme ‘carelessness’—onto that expensive wool carpet. The cake lay discarded haphazardly across it. Almond flakes, cream, the crystal-studded ribbon now smeared with white, and the mangoes, seemingly the chief culprits behind the fall, had stained a large section of the carpet.

Ye Lingwei toyed with the fork that came with the cake. The fork was lovely too—golden, with a satisfying weight between his fingers.

He glanced at the mess on the carpet, remaining completely unfazed. He didn’t eat yellow fruits; the original host didn’t either, not since he was a child.

Only when the living room was filled with the scent of cream did Ye Lingwei fish his phone out of his bag. He found an angle to snap a photo of the cake on the carpet, opened Ye Cen’s WeChat, and nonchalantly sent two messages.

[Ye Lingwei: Image]

[Ye Lingwei: Da-ge, I’ve made a mess of the carpet, what should I do? Wuwuwuwu…]