During break, Quan Zebai couldn’t help pulling out his phone to message Jiang Fu.
But a whole day had passed, and the other party hadn’t replied.
When evening self-study finally ended, he told Mother Jiang that he might be back a little late, then took a taxi to the hospital.
After searching for a while, he finally spotted Jiang Fu’s figure in the VIP ward. The family’s housekeeper stood by the bed saying something, but through the glass, Quan Zebai couldn’t make out the words.
When the two finally finished talking, and he watched the housekeeper’s retreating back, Quan Zebai pushed the door open and found himself face to face with Jiang Fu, who was sitting by the bed.
“Are you feeling better?”
Jiang Fu nodded. “Mm, my condition has stabilized.”
Silence fell over the ward, broken only by the humming of the machines.
Quan Zebai was about to say something when the phone in his pocket vibrated slightly. He took it out, and his face immediately stiffened.
Jiang Fu noticed something was off and asked, “What’s wrong? Who’s calling?”
Quan Zebai looked up at him as if snapping out of a daze, the corner of his mouth pulling into a smile. But the housekeeper had turned off the ward’s lights on her way out, leaving only a dim warm glow over the room, so Jiang Fu couldn’t guess what that smile meant.
Still, he could vaguely tell that the caller was someone who made Quan Zebai unhappy.
The phone screen lit up and went dark again, the person on the other end, seeing no one answer, called a second time.
Quan Zebai lowered his eyes, his fingers tightening around the phone uncontrollably. “…It’s my mom.”
Jiang Fu said, “Do you want me to answer it for you?”
After all, the two of them were currently occupying each other’s bodies.
Quan Zebai handed over the phone, standing entirely in the darkness, his features indistinguishable. “Thank you.”
Jiang Fu took the call, and the moment it connected, an angry female voice burst from the other end.
About the incident of his pheromones going out of control at school, Mother Quan berated him relentlessly, blaming him for failing to handle even such a small matter.
Truly a child raised to be useless.
After the scolding, Mother Quan asked, “Where are you now?”
Jiang Fu replied, “The hospital.”
Mother Quan let out a sigh of exasperated disappointment on the other end, then said earnestly, “Your piano lesson tonight will be delayed again. Do you know that? Son, you make mistakes even like this, how can I ever trust you with the company in the future? Can’t you learn from your brother?”
Seeing that no one was answering her, she impatiently issued her final ultimatum: “Don’t make such a low-level mistake again.”
Then she hung up.
Quan Zebai gave a self-mocking smile from the side.
“Sorry you had to see that.”
Jiang Fu handed the phone back, his tone calm. “The one who had the accident was me. She was scolding me, the ‘Quan Zebai.’ Right now, you’re ‘Jiang Fu.’ There’s no need to take it to heart.”
Quan Zebai froze, then laughed out loud.
“I believe the real ‘Quan Zebai’ wouldn’t lose control.”
The words fell into his ears like a small stone dropped into still water, sending ripple after ripple across the surface.
A face that had been slapped countless times suddenly had a hand gently applying ointment to it.
Cool comfort and burning pain surged into his nerves together, catching him completely off guard.
Quan Zebai instinctively squeezed the phone and said in a low voice, “…Is that so?”
His voice was too quiet, and Jiang Fu didn’t hear clearly. “What?”
Quan Zebai gathered his emotions and put his smile back on. “Nothing. It’s late, I should head back.”
Jiang Fu checked the time, it really was quite late so he nodded.
The streetlights stood silently on either side of the road, their pale glow as if waiting for wandering ghosts to come home.
Quan Zebai carefully turned the key and pushed the door open with as little noise as possible, afraid of waking Mother Jiang, who was already asleep.
But just as he was gingerly closing the door behind him, the living room light clicked on with a snap.
Mother Jiang appeared at the bedroom doorway, pushing her wheelchair, her voice full of concern: “Why are you only back now? Did something happen? Are you hungry? There’s wonton soup simmering in the pot want some?”
The string of questions left Quan Zebai speechless. He lowered his head to change his shoes and said hoarsely, “Nothing happened. Just school stuff. Don’t worry.”
Mother Jiang relaxed and wheeled herself over to serve him wontons. A steaming bowl was pushed in front of Quan Zebai, and Mother Jiang urged, “Eat up.”
Quan Zebai sat down and stuffed the wontons into his mouth. Whether it was the heat or the steam, a layer of moisture misted the corners of his eyes.
Mother Jiang lovingly stroked her son’s soft hair and only went back to her room to sleep after watching him finish eating.
The sour, bubbling emotions hidden in his heart had long since vanished into thin air.
After showering, Quan Zebai flopped onto the bed, which immediately creaked under his weight. Startled, he scrambled up and looked down, if he broke someone else’s bed, that would be bad.
Jiang Fu’s room wasn’t big. The small bed fit only one person, and the clean, tidy sheets and comforter gave off the fresh scent of laundry detergent.
Quan Zebai carefully lay back down and saw an entire wall of books, neatly arranged on shelves. Though it wasn’t really proper to look through other people’s things, he couldn’t help stealing a few glances.
He discovered that this guy Jiang Fu read everything ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, light reading and serious books, even comic books an entire wall of them.
Quan Zebai couldn’t help thinking that anyone whose eyesight survived all that reading without going nearsighted was a talent in their own right.
On the desk beside the bookshelf lay school worksheets and workbooks, along with a wooden model of a helicopter.
The model was exquisitely crafted, clearly made with loving care by hand.
Who knew he was into this kind of thing…
As he mused, Quan Zebai’s thoughts began to blur. Just before drifting into dreamland, one thought lingered in his mind: since Jiang Fu liked this stuff, he’d give him a real one.
He never expected that an offhand thought would actually come true a few days later.
In recent days, City A was holding an aviation exhibition downtown. Besides displaying the latest aircraft models that could be shown to the public, the government would also be selling off decommissioned aircraft to private buyers.
As a well-known enterprise, the Quan family naturally received an invitation.
But Mother Quan, Father Quan, and the eldest son were all overseas, leaving Quan Zebai as the only one who could attend.
The warm midsummer breeze lifted Quan Zebai’s hair. He narrowed his eyes, leaned against the corridor railing, and asked, “Want to go?”
Jiang Fu gulped down some water and looked at him oddly: “Shouldn’t that question be for you?”
Quan Zebai tilted his head back and stared up at the sky, snorting, “Don’t you have your part-time jobs this weekend? Do you even have time?”
Jiang Fu mimicked his posture: “I quit.”
“Huh?” Quan Zebai turned to stare at him in shock. He knew all too well what money meant to Jiang Fu. “Why did you suddenly quit? Did you quit both jobs?”
Jiang Fu told the truth: “Yeah, the family I was tutoring is moving away, to be precise, I got let go. As for the hotpot restaurant, that idiot boss was just begging for a beating. I couldn’t stand it, so I quit.”
Quan Zebai was amused and couldn’t resist teasing, “And here I thought you were so good at putting up with things.”
Jiang Fu: “I didn’t even lay a hand on him. Isn’t that restraint enough?”
Quan Zebai started laughing quietly.
When he’d laughed his fill, Quan Zebai put a hand on Jiang Fu’s shoulder and leaned in close. “So you mean you’re going this weekend?”
Jiang Fu pushed his face away, his eyes signaling Quan Zebai to back off and stop getting so close.
The aviation exhibition was held in a hall next to the commercial street. All kinds of famous and luxury cars drove into the parking lot one after another, where dedicated staff were on hand to escort guests the moment they stepped out of their vehicles.
Everyone who came here was either rich or noble, so every invitation came with a personal guide to help customers better understand the products.
Jiang Fu and Quan Zebai followed their guide into the exhibition hall, where a massive aircraft model came into view so large that at a glance, you couldn’t even see its top.
Quan Zebai waved a hand, signaling the guide that they didn’t need to be followed.
Once the person left, Quan Zebai leaned close to Jiang Fu’s ear and said, “So? See anything you like? I remember there was something on the cabinet in your room…”
Halfway through, Quan Zebai abruptly shut his mouth, feeling that the remark bordered on prying into someone’s privacy.
But Jiang Fu didn’t mind. His attention was entirely on the models. Hearing this, he simply said flatly, “My father made that for me before he passed away.”
Seeing that Jiang Fu’s expression was as calm as ever, Quan Zebai felt relieved, yet also felt he’d said too much.
Besides the giant aircraft, smaller and larger aircraft frames were displayed alongside it, gleaming with a metallic sheen under the spotlights, exuding a strong sense of high technology.
Seeing how intently Jiang Fu was looking, Quan Zebai’s urge to buy him an aircraft began stirring again.
Jiang Fu’s gaze was fixed entirely on the display aircraft, completely unaware of the expression on the person beside him.
He stared burning-eyed at the items inside the glass case. Quan Zebai was right, he really was interested in aircraft, perhaps influenced by Father Jiang.
Father Jiang had been a pilot, soaring through the skies countless times in his life. When Jiang Fu was a child, Father Jiang had once secretly taken him up into the air. Though Mother Jiang, upon finding out, beat the father and son soundly, Jiang Fu still couldn’t forget that feeling even now.
The freedom of conquering the sky, over the years, it had turned into iron chains that bound Jiang Fu tightly in place, unable to escape in the slightest.
Partway through, staff informed them that a lecture on various types of aircraft would be held shortly, and anyone interested was welcome to sit in.
Without waiting for Jiang Fu to speak, Quan Zebai immediately said, “Great, we’ll attend.”
“…”
The staff led the two to the lecture hall. The spacious hall was quietly filled with people, and the two found a corner to sit in.
Before long, the lecture began.
Everyone below was listening with rapt attention. Quan Zebai had no interest in this sort of thing and started getting drowsy as he listened.
Halfway through his doze, he heard people exclaim in shock. Opening his eyes, he saw that the front of the exhibition hall was one entire pane of transparent glass, and behind the glass stretched a vast lawn, on which helicopters, fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and more were parked one after another.
Viewed from below, it was visually stunning.
Quan Zebai stole a glance at Jiang Fu out of the corner of his eye. Though his face showed no expression, he was actually delighted inside.
What a show-off.
He followed Jiang Fu’s gaze and noticed that the man had been staring for a long time at a fighter jet painted entirely in black.
Quan Zebai raised an eyebrow.
The presentation soon came to an end, and the audience discussed the conference with lingering enthusiasm.
Almost everyone had left, yet Quan Zebai still hadn’t moved. His seat was on the outside, so if he didn’t move, Jiang Fu couldn’t leave either.
Legs crossed, one hand propping up his face, he looked as if he were pondering some momentous matter.