Sophomore year had slightly fewer classes than freshman year, and Ming Rao’s courses happened to be packed into the first three days of the week, giving him a four-day mini vacation starting every Thursday. This afforded him plenty of time to wander around with his camera.
His Xiaodigua account had been registered six months prior, originally just for posting photos for his own amusement. But recently, one of his pictures unexpectedly made it to the homepage recommendation, and after that, his followers began to surge accumulating tens of thousands in just two months.
The photo was of the alley where Yan Yuchuan’s rental apartment was located. That time when Yan Yuchuan had picked him up from the warehouse and taken him back to his place, as he was leaving the next day, Ming Rao noticed the faint morning light spilling over the walls plastered with ads, and couldn’t help but capture that moment.
It was also that photo that made him realize compared to the cold, modern metropolis, he preferred bustling streets, lively alleyways, shops lining the roads with their dazzling array of goods, and faces brimming with smiles and human warmth.
Xiaodigua often pushed various interesting locations to him, but most were far from campus. He knew Lu Feiyang and the others wouldn’t be interested, and he felt too embarrassed to suggest going together, so those coveted destinations could only quietly gather dust in his bookmarks.
If he were to go alone… then forget it.
Ming Rao was someone who was especially afraid of being alone. Wherever he went, he had to have someone by his side. If he couldn’t find anyone to eat with, he’d rather go hungry all day.
Even when picking elective courses, he had to ask others first, firmly refusing to choose a class he’d have to attend by himself.
Unfortunately, he was too slow this time. He didn’t manage to snag the course Lu Feiyang and Xiang Zhan had signed up for, so he had to settle for one nobody else wanted an evening class he hated the most, which didn’t let out until nine o’clock.
After class that day, Ming Rao watched the people around him leave in pairs and groups, and was suddenly engulfed by an intense sense of loneliness. As he packed up his things, he moved sluggishly, and the mere thought of having to walk to the school gate alone made him feel drained of all energy.
Just then, Ming Rao spotted a tall, slender figure at the classroom door, and his heart skipped a beat.
Yan Yuchuan, with a crossbody bag slung over his shoulder, scanned the area until his gaze landed on Ming Rao’s face. He gave a slight tilt of his chin as a signal.
Ming Rao was about to walk over when he suddenly remembered their heated argument the last time they met, and he began to hesitate. But the next moment, he saw a paper bag in Yan Yuchuan’s hand the familiar kraft paper made him recognize it at once. It was the dried plum vegetable pancake from that little shop!
His eyes lit up instantly, and his legs carried him toward Yan Yuchuan uncontrollably. Without a shred of restraint, he reached out his hand.
Yan Yuchuan grabbed it.
“It’s cold,” Yan Yuchuan said, looking around. “Is there a microwave?”
Ming Rao pouted. “There’s one in the cafeteria, but it’s far. I don’t want to walk there.”
Yan Yuchuan’s eyelids drooped slightly, about to judge him for being lazy, when Ming Rao spoke first: “Let’s go to my place.”
Yan Yuchuan raised an eyebrow. “You’re not too lazy to walk to your own place?”
Ming Rao made a phone call. Ten minutes later, a sedan appeared at the entrance of the teaching building.
A middle-aged man opened the car door for Ming Rao, who smiled brightly and said, “Thanks, Uncle Zhang!”
Then Uncle Zhang opened the other door and bent respectfully to invite Yan Yuchuan in. Yan Yuchuan got in the car and echoed Ming Rao’s thanks. Uncle Zhang handed him a bottle of water, gave him a once-over, and beamed. “Arao’s made a new friend, huh.”
Ming Rao nodded with a smile and enthusiastically introduced Yan Yuchuan to Uncle Zhang, saying he was a top student from another university who was starting his own business. Uncle Zhang listened with continuous admiration, expressing his hope that his own kid would grow up to be just as accomplished.
The sedan drove through the night, but the scenery outside the window was monotonous towering buildings everywhere, neon lights flashing in a garish, surreal display.
Ming Rao felt a nagging sense that something was off, and then it suddenly hit him
“Wait, how did you know I was in that classroom?”
His class tonight was a university-wide general education course in a public teaching building, miles away from the Innovation Camp building.
Yan Yuchuan gave a half-smile. “Take a guess.”
It wasn’t hard to guess, after all Yan Yuchuan had a history of hacking. Ming Rao shot him a sidelong glare and said with righteous indignation, “Are you breaking the law again?”
Yan Yuchuan said nothing. Ming Rao let out a cold snort. “I knew it!”
But even though he said that, the moment he thought about Yan Yuchuan hacking into the school’s system just to check his class schedule, an indescribable feeling welled up in his chest something that could perhaps be called. overjoyed.
Ten minutes later, the sedan arrived at the upscale residential complex where Ming Rao lived.
Yan Yuchuan spotted a convenience store at the entrance and said to the front seat, “Uncle Zhang, is it okay to stop here?”
Uncle Zhang’s tone remained as amiable as ever. “Sure, but this complex is pretty big. If you walk in, it’ll take you quite a while.”
Yan Yuchuan fell silent. Seeing his complicated expression, Ming Rao asked curiously, “What are you going to do?”
“Buy something.”
“Buy what?”
Yan Yuchuan glanced quickly at Uncle Zhang and didn’t answer for a long time.
Ming Rao found it strange. He had only returned to campus last week and had just done a massive shopping run snacks alone had filled an entire cabinet.
He’d had a full day of classes and didn’t fancy walking from the main gate all the way to his building, so he coaxed in a gentle tone, “You don’t need to buy anything. Everything’s already prepared at home fully stocked. Let’s just head straight in.”
Yan Yuchuan glanced at Ming Rao, then darted a look at the back of Uncle Zhang’s head, his expression carrying an oddness that was hard to put into words, leaving Ming Rao utterly baffled.
Finally, Yan Yuchuan said, “Fine.”
Ming Rao lived on a very high floor, in a sprawling flat the living room was so vast that speaking produced an echo.
The moment they stepped inside, a visible flash of astonishment crossed Yan Yuchuan’s face, as if the space was so enormous his gaze had nowhere to rest.
Ming Rao glanced at him and said, “It’s big, isn’t it? I think it’s too big too. The robot vacuum has to recharge twice just to finish one cleaning session, and at night, living here alone is kind of scary feels like it might be haunted.”
He’d meant to lighten the mood, but as the words left his mouth, he felt they came off a bit humble-brag, and his confidence waned with each syllable. Fortunately, Yan Yuchuan just smiled, his expression no longer so stiff.
Admittedly, the place was indeed too large for a single occupant three empty suites with no trace of anyone ever having lived in them.
There were, however, all sorts of vases, each holding a few flowers with full, vibrant blooms, showing that the owner had a taste for life and regularly topped up the water.
After a tour of the place, Ming Rao led Yan Yuchuan back to his bedroom, then brought in a large basket of snacks, a few cans of soda, and a plate of cut fruit.
He introduced every snack to Yan Yuchuan, insisted he try them, and asked if he wanted to listen to music. Before Yan Yuchuan could answer, the Bluetooth speaker was already playing. Ming Rao said it was his favorite foreign indie band, called Mirage.
Then Ming Rao turned on the TV and started playing a sitcom he’d watched countless times he could recite the plot by heart so he kept the volume low, the faint canned laughter blending with the lazy, slow-rock track. Ming Rao lay on the bed scrolling through his phone, chatting with Yan Yuchuan in a desultory way.
Yan Yuchuan sat properly in the leather recliner, quietly taking in the night view of Platinum Harbor through the massive floor-to-ceiling window. In the distance, he could see the Twin Towers the headquarters of Newstate Group, the biggest tech giant in Platinum Harbor.
It wasn’t until past eleven that Ming Rao let out a yawn.
“Tired?”
Ming Rao nodded, then turned his head to look at him: “Been in class all day exhausted. What about you? Is your project going smoothly lately?”
Yan Yuchuan said, “It’s fine.”
Ming Rao’s bare feet, socks off, dangled in the air as he rested his head on his arm, mumbling, “I’m never taking evening classes again. I feel completely drained. ugh”
Yan Yuchuan stood up, walked to the bedside, first glanced at the nightstand, then at the wardrobe, his gaze sweeping around. Ming Rao tilted his head up and asked, “What are you looking for?”
Yan Yuchuan rubbed the bridge of his nose and coughed once: “Where’s your stuff?”
“Huh?” Ming Rao blinked innocently. “What stuff?”
“The stuff you’ll need in a bit.”
“For what?” Ming Rao’s face was the picture of pure innocence. “What are you planning to do?”
Yan Yuchuan took a deep breath, staring straight at him.
“…”
Even if he were the densest, most naive person alive, Ming Rao should have caught on by now.
In an instant, as if spring-loaded, he shot up from the mattress, wrapped his arms around his knees, and blushed all the way down to his neck.
Yan Yuchuan was speechless: “Didn’t you say you had everything at home?”
“How was I supposed to know you meant that. I thought you meant food and drinks, and yeah, we do have all of that, I.” Ming Rao’s voice trailed off, fading into silence.
Yan Yuchuan rubbed his temples, irritation creeping into his voice: “So, do you have it or not?”
“Of course not!” Ming Rao’s face was burning so hot it felt like it might catch fire, and he was nearly frantic. “Why would I have those things at home?!”
Yan Yuchuan let out a long sigh and finally said with resignation, “Fine. I’ll go buy some. Wait for me.”
Just as he was about to leave the room, he paused and turned back: “You can get ready first.”
After Yan Yuchuan left, Ming Rao was still hugging his knees, sitting dazed on the bed, unable to snap out of it for a long while.
Holy. Shit.
What the hell is happening?
Is he about to sleep with Yan Yuchuan?
How did it come to this?
Then Ming Rao had another thought: Right wasn’t he supposed to be keeping Yan Yuchuan? Didn’t that mean they’d have to sleep together?
But he’d never once considered that. When he’d proposed the arrangement, all he’d thought about was the benefits he could give Yan Yuchuan never about what he might want from him in return.
In the sprawling penthouse, Ming Rao was like a squirrel that had lost its habitat, darting around in search of a place to settle. He ran back and forth through every room, but his heart still wouldn’t calm down. Finally, in a fit of self-abandonment, he flopped face-first into the bedcovers.
Just then, an ill-timed thought popped into his head: if he’d known he was going to lose his virginity today, he would have skipped the entire day of classes.
This was way too lacking in ceremony!
No way before Yan Yuchuan came back, he had to do something…
The terrace was filled with all kinds of plants, and now that it was high summer, the flowers were blooming in full, lush splendor. After picking and choosing, he plucked two champagne roses that were at their finest and arranged them in a vase, placing one on each side of the bedside table.
Ming Rao looked at the pale yellow petals and breathed in the rich floral fragrance. His heartbeat seemed to slow a little.
He then thought, almost involuntarily, that before leaving, Yan Yuchuan had told him to “get ready first”.
So how exactly was he supposed to get ready?
He pulled out his phone and, fighting through his embarrassment, looked up some information. He hadn’t even read a few paragraphs before deciding it was too much he really didn’t want to do that kind of preparation.
Forget it, forget it. He’d just take a shower first.
While showering, Ming Rao felt that the body wash’s scent was a bit unremarkable. He rummaged through his things and, in the end, opened up all the big bottles of body wash he’d bought last week, sniffing each one in turn.
In the end, he picked a white tea-scented one, thinking that Yan Yuchuan would probably like this kind of subtle, understated fragrance.
After his shower, he changed into a brand-new pair of pajamas and lay in bed scrolling through his phone. When he looked up and saw the champagne roses on the bedside table, he snapped a photo and opened the Xiaodigua app.
The ambient lighting in his room had a soft color temperature, and in the photo it looked even more hazy and dreamy, carrying an indescribable air of intimacy.
When it came to writing a caption, Ming Rao thought for a long time about what to say. He didn’t want his excitement to be too obvious, so in the end he just posted an emoji 100 points, with two lines underlined beneath it.
The moment he hit send, an incoming call popped up on his phone screen.
“I’m at the door,” Yan Yuchuan’s voice came through the receiver. “Come open it.”
Ming Rao’s heart pounded. He rolled halfway across the bed, and even the ends of his words turned syrupy, like he was acting cute: “Don’t wanna get up. Just key in the code yourself 1021.”
Before long, Yan Yuchuan came in through the bedroom door. He set a bag with a convenience store logo on the bedside table, right next to the vase holding the champagne roses.
“I’ll go shower first,” Yan Yuchuan said.
“Then hurry up, okay?” Ming Rao folded his hands together, his eyes following Yan Yuchuan the whole time. When their gazes met, he suddenly smiled for no apparent reason a smile that spread from the corners of his mouth all the way to his brows.
Yan Yuchuan was briefly taken aback, then quickly looked away.