The drive to the city took an hour and a half, and Shen Siyang slept soundly through the entire journey.
When he woke up to a chorus of noisy chatter, most of the passengers had already filed off the bus.
He instinctively glanced toward Sang Xiaoshi’s seat.
Empty.
Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Shen Siyang stepped down off the bus and found Sang Xiaoshi standing quietly by the door, waiting for him.
It was just past seven in the morning, bathed in bright, pleasant sunlight.
The bus had parked at the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of the city. Vibrant, youthful students were scattered everywhere around the base, excitedly preparing for the day-long hike ahead.
Teenage years are when people are at their purest, especially when it comes to an innate appreciation for beautiful things—striking scenery, fine calligraphy, captivating stories, and striking people.
Sang Xiaoshi happened to be standing right at a busy intersection. Almost every passerby couldn’t help but turn their head to steal a second glance at him.
Yet the person at the center of all that attention was clearly lost in his own thoughts.
The tall youth stood straight with his backpack on, his soft bangs fluttering in the breeze. Beneath the sunlight, his long eyelashes fluttered like delicate little brushes, occasionally sweeping over the faint shadows under his eyes.
If not for the unmistakable gloom hanging over his face, he would have made a picture far more captivating than any of the surrounding flora.
Shen Siyang’s heart softened at the sight. He took three quick steps forward and stopped right in front of Sang Xiaoshi.
Noticing someone in front of him, Sang Xiaoshi looked up.
The moment he saw it was Shen Siyang, he stared at him for a couple of seconds, then turned around and began walking toward the assembly area without a word.
Sang Xiaoshi had always possessed a gentle temperament, rarely throwing tantrums or pouting. The few times he ever had were always because Shen Siyang had tried to push him out into the world to make other friends.
Shen Siyang sighed softly, stepping forward to gently nudge his shoulder against Sang Xiaoshi’s.
Sang Xiaoshi ignored him and kept walking.
Left with no choice, Shen Siyang pulled out his ultimate move, throwing an arm around Sang Xiaoshi’s neck and hooking him close. “Mad at me?”
Sang Xiaoshi finally stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at him.
Gazing at the exquisite face hovering right before his eyes—a face practically radiating aggrieved pouting—Shen Siyang felt his heart melt completely. “The way you’re looking at me makes me feel like I did something utterly heinous to you.”
“I just don’t understand,” Sang Xiaoshi said quietly, a genuine sense of confusion in his voice. “Why do I have to make so many friends?”
“Good question,” Shen Siyang pretended to ponder deeply. “Tell me, Student Sang Xiaoshi, where are all these ‘so many friends’ you speak of?”
Sang Xiaoshi opened his mouth to reply, but ultimately closed it with a guilty conscience.
Shen Siyang let out an amused laugh. “For all these years, you’ve only ever hung out with me. Ge Jiabao lives right next door to you, and you barely speak two sentences to him in a whole year!”
Sang Xiaoshi asked in earnest, “Is that not allowed?”
Shen Siyang was momentarily rendered speechless. “It’s not that it’s not allowed, but, what if we get separated in the future? When that time comes and you don’t even have a friend to talk to, wouldn’t you feel lonely and sad?”
Sang Xiaoshi looked utterly baffled. “Why would we be separated?”
Shen Siyang was stumped once again. “People, when people grow up, they have to face a lot of partings. To take the most immediate example: after the college entrance exams, we might not end up at the same university.”
Sang Xiaoshi replied seriously, “We can. Our grades are about the same.”
Shen Siyang thought for a moment before continuing, “Then what about after university? We might work in different cities. Or further down the line, we’ll each start our own families. We’ll have to bust our humps running around for our own households, and slowly, we’ll lose touch and drift apart. That’s just beyond anyone’s control.”
Sang Xiaoshi deeply disliked the future Shen Siyang was describing. His brows knitted together slightly, and he lowered his eyes without offering a reply.
Watching the boy in front of him wilt like a cabbage left out in the sun, Shen Siyang fell silent for a long moment and ultimately dropped the topic.
He switched subjects: “How was that guy on the bus today? Did you two hit it off?”
Sang Xiaoshi shook his head. “He didn’t want to be my friend.”
Shen Siyang was confused. “If he didn’t want to be your friend, why did he go out of his way to sit next to you?”
Sang Xiaoshi stole a glance at Shen Siyang. “He wanted to date me.”
“What?” Shen Siyang’s composure instantly shattered.
He stood there with a bizarre expression, opening and closing his mouth for a good while. “Are you sure? That guy was nearly 190 centimeters tall and built like a tank—he wanted to date you?”
Sang Xiaoshi nodded. “He gave me a present and asked if I could go out with him.”
“Did you agree?”
“Why would I agree?”
Shen Siyang exhaled a massive sigh of relief.
Unlike Sang Xiaoshi—whose facial features had grown progressively sharper, more striking, and remarkably refined over the years—Shen Siyang had shot up in height while his facial features remained a perfect, scaled-up version of his childhood self. The baby fat from his early years hadn’t entirely faded, leaving him with an effortlessly charming, youthful glow.
Watching Shen Siyang’s relieved expression, the gloomy haze that had hung over the bottom of Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes all morning slowly dispersed.
He asked gently, “Brother Siyang, you didn’t want me to date him?”
Shen Siyang considered it for a moment. “Whether you date someone and who you choose to date is your own freedom.” He raised a hand and patted Sang Xiaoshi’s head. “I just think you’re still too young. Sufferings born of love aren’t something you need to be dealing with at your age.”
Sang Xiaoshi looked at Shen Siyang, who was explaining himself so earnestly, and asked in confusion, “Why would dating mean suffering?”
Shen Siyang shook his head. “Beats me. That’s just what urban legend says.”
Sang Xiaoshi stared quietly at Shen Siyang for a long moment before asking another question: “Have you suffered through it?”
Shen Siyang let out a profound laugh. “What do you think, Student Sang Xiaoshi? Out of twenty-four hours in a day, we’re together for at least sixteen of them. Where would I go behind your back to suffer through love?”
If Sang Xiaoshi didn’t know that Shen Siyang had already lived an entire twenty-five years in a past life, Shen Siyang would have heavily suspected the boy was mocking his thirty-plus years of singlehood across two lifetimes.
In those twenty-five years, Shen Siyang had come to realize a grand truth about life: if a person hasn’t dated by eighteen, it might be due to academics; but if a person reaches twenty-five without ever dating, it simply means their romantic nerve never developed in the first place.
Because of this, he had long made peace with his single state.
Sang Xiaoshi thought it through carefully. “There are still eight hours where we’re not together.”
Shen Siyang chuckled, hooking his arm around Sang Xiaoshi’s neck and pulling him down into a headlock. “What? Are you planning to stay tethered to me when I go to the bathroom and sleep, too?”
With his face flushed bright red from being pinned down, Sang Xiaoshi murmured softly, “That sounds fine.”
Shen Siyang was thoroughly amused and gave Sang Xiaoshi’s head a good, affectionate tussle.
When their playful banter settled, Sang Xiaoshi still hadn’t fully moved past the subject. He thought about it and asked again, “Is love always bitter?”
“How should I know?”
The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Siyang suddenly sensed that something was off. He whipped his head around to stare at Sang Xiaoshi. “You’re acting strange, Sang Xiaoshi. Why do you keep asking about love over and over? Don’t tell me you have a crush on someone?”
Before Shen Siyang posed the question, Sang Xiaoshi would have assumed he didn’t. He had never even considered it.
Yet, facing Shen Siyang’s direct inquiry and looking into those eyes filled with probing curiosity, Sang Xiaoshi found himself unable to answer. He couldn’t give a definitive response to the question.
A strange sensation sprouted in his chest. Sang Xiaoshi blinked in bewilderment, suddenly feeling a sudden wave of shyness that made him shrink away from Shen Siyang’s gaze.
His face flushed a deep red in an instant, and he turned his head away to look off into the distance.
What Shen Siyang saw was a blushing, gorgeous Sang Xiaoshi staring intently at some random spot far off.
Following Sang Xiaoshi’s line of sight, Shen Siyang saw a figure walking toward them.
“Siyang, Xiaoshi!”
Ge Jiabao was carrying a plastic bag filled with snacks. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys! I have an extra bag of snacks here, you can have them.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Siyang, then at Sang Xiaoshi, before ultimately deciding to shove the bag of snacks straight into Shen Siyang’s hands.
Having delivered the snacks, he gave them a quick wave and jogged off.
Shen Siyang stood frozen in place, feeling as though he had just been struck by a thousand bolts of lightning simultaneously.
Only after a long while did he turn his neck stiffly toward Sang Xiaoshi.
Looking over, he noticed that Sang Xiaoshi was staring intently at the bag of snacks Ge Jiabao had just forced into Shen Siyang’s hands. Deep in his eyes lingered a subtle, almost imperceptible hint of disappointment.
Shen Siyang took a deep breath, then another, before tentatively raising his hand to offer the bag of snacks to Sang Xiaoshi. “I don’t really like these. Do you want them?”
The moment he said it, Sang Xiaoshi naturally reached out and accepted the bag, the faint disappointment in his eyes evaporating completely without a trace.
In that instant, Shen Siyang felt his soul leave his body.
Ge-Jia-bao?
Did you save the planet in your past life or something?
“Why?”
Yeah, why?
“A bottle of mineral water costs five yuan in a place like this?”
Sang Xiaoshi actually has a crush on Ge Jiabao?
“It definitely wasn’t this price when I came here with my parents a year ago!”
They barely say two sentences to each other in a whole year!
“Could it be that I ran into a seller with a conscience back then?”
Could it be that something had been brewing under the surface all along?
“After all, the place where I bought water back then was just a mobile street cart.”
Come to think of it, the very first person Sang Xiaoshi ever reached out to for help back then was Ge Jiabao.
“Shen Siyang, are you even listening to me?”
Ge Jiabao, you!
A light slap on his shoulder jarred Shen Siyang completely back to reality, bringing Ge Jiabao’s face into full zoom right in front of him.
Startled, Shen Siyang took a step backward and blurted out, “Why aren’t you hiking with your own class?”
Ge Jiabao let out a heavy sigh, putting on a deeply melancholic air. “The person I originally made plans with changed his mind at the last minute and went off with someone else.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he caught sight of Shen Siyang’s expression and couldn’t help but shudder. “What’s with that face? Are you really that disgusted by me?”
Shen Siyang offered a sweet smile. “How could I ever be disgusted by you, Brother Jiabao?”
Ge Jiabao was no longer the gullible child whom Shen Siyang could spin in circles with just a few words. “Your face is practically screaming: ‘I want to pack Ge Jiabao into a box and hurl him down the mountain right now.’”
Shen Siyang fell silent, quietly sizing Ge Jiabao up from head to toe.
Approaching the situation with the full-fledged mindset of a protective father evaluating a prospective son-in-law, Shen Siyang couldn’t find a single thing that satisfied him. Yet, the moment he remembered that his own boy actually liked him, he had no choice but to force himself to look for redeeming qualities.
Ge Jiabao had shot up in height back in junior high, and by now his physique was considered very standard for a teenage boy, paired with a healthy, wheat-toned complexion.
While his features couldn’t strictly be called handsome, they were defined and rugged enough to grow on you over time.
Most importantly, there was his personality.
Once he grew out of his childhood mischievous phase, Ge Jiabao had turned out to be quite easygoing over the years. At the very least, he harbored no bad habits, and he was fiercely loyal to his friends.
Reflecting on all this, Shen Siyang released a long, silent sigh in his heart. He raised a hand and patted Ge Jiabao on the shoulder. “Brother Jiabao, starting today, I can no longer hold you to the standards of an ordinary person.”
“Huh?” Ge Jiabao asked, looking thoroughly confused. “Then what standards are you holding me to?”
Shen Siyang replied solemnly, “The standards of absolute perfection.”
Ge Jiabao was instantly intrigued. “Such as?”
“Well, let’s start by getting you a defined eight-pack.”
“An eight-pack? I already have one of those!”
Ge Jiabao proudly hitched up his shirt. “How’s that? Pretty solid shape, right?”
Staring at the sun-dusted, bronze abs suddenly exposed in the bright daylight, Shen Siyang was genuinely taken aback. “When on earth did you get those?”
“I’m a student-athlete! What’s so strange about me having abs?”
Ge Jiabao leaned in closer to let Shen Siyang inspect the definition up close, whispering mysteriously, “My muscle shape is way better than anyone else’s on our team. If you want to train for it, I can share my secret formula with you.”
“Though.” He glanced down at Shen Siyang’s pale, slender arms. “With your body type, it’s probably going to be pretty tough to get super defined abs. I need to check out your core muscle lines first.”
As he spoke, he reached out, preparing to pull up Shen Siyang’s shirt.
Before his hand could even touch the hem of Shen Siyang’s shirt, a voice rang out from right behind them.
“What are you two doing?”