Shen Siyang was pleasantly surprised by the room they had randomly been assigned.
Located on the first floor, two twin beds immediately came into view upon entering. Separating the beds wasn’t a standard nightstand, but a home projector. The wall directly opposite the projector featured a massive white screen.
Further inside was an en-suite bathroom.
Shen Siyang set down their backpacks and pushed the bathroom door open to peek inside as he passed by. It was spotless, with a perfectly executed wet-and-dry separation.
If all of that earned the room a solid four stars, the element that pushed it to a full five stars was the small private courtyard attached to it.
Calling it a courtyard wasn’t entirely accurate. Although surrounded by lush flowers and greenery, it was a two-thirds enclosed space, open only at the very top with a curved, transparent glass roof that allowed one to look up at a sky full of stars.
Tucked right in the center, embraced by the foliage, was a small, circular indoor hot spring bath.
The central air conditioner in the room was blowing cool air. The hot spring bubbled with rising steam, and merely standing on the threshold between the room and the courtyard was enough to make Shen Siyang feel a soothing, gentle warmth against his skin.
It was seven in the evening.
The late-summer sky had not yet fully darkened.
After dinner, Sang Xiaoshi had been called away by President Xu for a talk, so Shen Siyang carried both their bags back to the room first.
President Xu wasn’t a man of many words. Estimating that Sang Xiaoshi would be back soon, Shen Siyang promptly stripped down and slipped into the hot spring without hesitation.
He had never soaked in a hot spring before. Experiencing it for the first time in his life, he felt so utterly comfortable that he felt weightless, floating on air.
Resting his arms along the edge of the tub and resting his chin on them, he was just beginning to feel a wave of drowsiness creeping up on him when the front door chimed open.
Shen Siyang’s eyes snapped open. Seeing Sang Xiaoshi walk into the room, he asked, puzzled, “How’d you get in?”
Sang Xiaoshi followed the sound of Shen Siyang’s voice toward the courtyard. “Principal Xu got me a spare room card from the front desk.”
Shen Siyang propped up his head and smiled. “President Xu really is a great guy. What did he want to talk to you about?”
“Principal Xu asked if I wanted to—.”
His voice ground to an abrupt halt.
When Sang Xiaoshi first stepped through the door, the dense steam swirling in the courtyard made it hard to discern Shen Siyang’s figure clearly. But now, as he stepped closer and took in the view, his mind went completely blank.
Neither he nor Shen Siyang were in the habit of going shirtless. Even on the hottest summer days, they wore at least a tank top and shorts. Coupled with the fact that they had never taken a bath together, this was the first time Sang Xiaoshi had ever laid eyes on the expanse of smooth skin around Shen Siyang’s collarbones and arms.
Though Shen Siyang appeared lean, he actually possessed a perfectly proportioned build. The lean areas were sleek, while the rest held just the right amount of fullness.
His skin was naturally fair, but after soaking in the hot spring, a soft, rosy flush bloomed beneath the white. Those smiling, puppy-dog eyes seemed to melt in the thermal water, glistening with moisture as they looked at Sang Xiaoshi through the mist—leaving Sang Xiaoshi frozen, unable to pull his gaze away for a long time.
Sang Xiaoshi felt as if he were being pulled into a strange, disorienting whirlpool. The spin sent his heart hammering wildly against his ribs, and even his breath felt scorched by the heat rising from the spring.
“Wanted to ask if you wanted to do what?” Shen Siyang prompted, noticing Sang Xiaoshi staring in silence.
Snapping out of his daze, Sang Xiaoshi pressed his dry lips together in confusion, forcing himself to pick up his unfinished thought. “He asked if I wanted to skip the college entrance exams through the academic competition route.”
Shen Siyang’s eyes lit up. “Did you agree?”
Sang Xiaoshi shook his head.
“Why not?”
“The competitions organized by the school are mostly Math Olympiads, and the majors available for direct admission are too limited. None of them are what I want to study.”
Sang Xiaoshi stood frozen in the room for a long moment before finally stepping into the courtyard. “Besides, I want to take the exams together with you, Brother Siyang. After the exams, we can estimate our scores and fill out our university applications together.”
This time, it was Shen Siyang’s turn to freeze.
As he digested Sang Xiaoshi’s words, a warm, tingling sensation spread from his heart and rippled through his entire body. But he didn’t stay stunned for long; snapping back to reality, he splashed the water playfully and called out to Sang Xiaoshi, “Come on down and soak!”
Sang Xiaoshi had just reached the edge of the tub and squatted down. A few droplets of water splashed onto his face.
After locking eyes with Shen Siyang in the water for a brief moment, he answered softly, “Okay.”
He stood up and reached for his shirt, only to freeze mid-motion. He looked at Shen Siyang.
The two stared at each other through the mist for a good while.
Shen Siyang suddenly realized: “Are you shy?”
Sang Xiaoshi’s face flushed a deeper red than Shen Siyang’s soaked skin. He stared at Shen Siyang without a word, entirely motionless except for his beautiful eyes blinking occasionally.
Shen Siyang burst out laughing. “Alright, alright, I get it. Our Xiaoshi is still just a baby.”
Saying this, he cooperatively turned his back, giving the “baby” ample privacy.
About half a minute later, Shen Siyang heard the sound of water behind him, followed closely by Sang Xiaoshi’s earnest voice in his ear: “I am not a baby.”
Shen Siyang was thoroughly amused. He leaned back against the edge, turning his head to look at Sang Xiaoshi. “So, do you already have a specific university major in mind?”
Sang Xiaoshi glanced at Shen Siyang, then mimicked his pose, leaning against the edge about an arm’s length away, quietly gazing back at him. “Mm. The lawyer uncle contacted me recently. I learned a bit about the assets my parents left for me, and I thought it was pretty interesting.”
Understanding dawned on Shen Siyang. “Something in finance?”
Sang Xiaoshi nodded.
Gazing at Sang Xiaoshi, a gentle, fond smile gradually spread across Shen Siyang’s face. “Our Xiaoshi is about to grow into a truly amazing adult.”
Sang Xiaoshi stared intently at Shen Siyang, his lips parting slightly. Before he could speak, a series of chimes suddenly erupted from the pile of clothes Shen Siyang had folded on the edge of the bath.
It was the notification chime from his phone, ringing several times in a row—impossible to ignore.
Left with no choice, Shen Siyang sat up to grab it, sending a shower of water droplets cascading around them.
As the water settled, revealing the fair, smooth expanse of Shen Siyang’s back, Sang Xiaoshi suffered a second total brain freeze in a short span of time.
Shen Siyang truly had no need to train for abs. His body lines were fluid and seamless, without a single trace of excess fat around his waist and just above his hips were two distinctly cute dimples.
“My parents are asking how we’re doing,” Shen Siyang said.
He opened the camera directly within their loving family group chat, framing a shot that captured only his face and Sang Xiaoshi’s, along with a bit of the flowers and the edge of the hot spring in the background.
Perfection.
He tapped the shutter, sent the photo, and immediately typed away:
【Having a blast, currently soaking in the hot spring. Do not disturb.】
Shen Shiwu quickly replied below with a long string of thumbs-up emojis.
Shen Siyang chuckled softly and slipped his phone back into his pocket. Just as he was about to ease back into the water, he suddenly felt a cool touch against his lower back.
He paused, turning his head, only to find that Sang Xiaoshi had placed his hand against his back.
Recognizing the exact spot Sang Xiaoshi’s fingers were resting on, Shen Siyang’s voice unconsciously softened. “What’s wrong?”
While the whip scars on Sang Xiaoshi’s back had completely faded over the years, the scar left on Shen Siyang’s back from the broken beer bottle remained to this day. Even though it had lightened significantly, it was still visible at a glance.
Gazing at the scar beneath his fingertips, Sang Xiaoshi half-lidded his eyes to hide the melancholy deep within them, murmuring softly, “It looks like a flower.”
Shen Siyang was intrigued by the description. Since he couldn’t see the scar on his back normally, he hadn’t paid much attention to it over the years.
“Really?”
Sang Xiaoshi nodded solemnly.
Against the steam-flushed, fair skin, the outline of the pale scar bloomed like a red rose flourishing amidst a bed of thorns.
Seeing Sang Xiaoshi so utterly spellbound, Shen Siyang’s curiosity flared up. He braced his hands on the edge of the tub and turned around, intending to get a look for himself.
The sudden movement caught Sang Xiaoshi completely off guard. Before he could react, his hand—which had been resting on the scar slid downward with Shen Siyang’s turn.
And landed squarely on something soft.
The unexpected, mutual sensation left both of them frozen in place.
It was as if a pause button had been pressed on the entire courtyard. The silence grew so absolute that they could hear the distant birds chirping in the mountain woods.
Shen Siyang was the first to snap back to reality. Before he could even process the situation, he noticed a drop of bright crimson slowly oozing from Sang Xiaoshi’s nose.
Alarmed, Shen Siyang immediately brushed everything else aside. He turned around, stepped closer to Sang Xiaoshi, and gently tilted his chin up, asking in bewilderment, “Why do you have a nosebleed?”
Sang Xiaoshi was clearly still out of it. He blinked his eyes in confusion, his misted, glistening eyes staring fixedly at Shen Siyang, utterly speechless.
The distance between them closed.
Mist steamed and swirled around them.
Facing each other so directly for the first time, Shen Siyang suddenly had a vivid, striking realization: Sang Xiaoshi had truly grown up.
The child who had been half a head shorter than him ten years ago had now grown into a young man capable of completely enveloping him in his shadow.
The youth’s gaze upon him was intensely focused and stubborn, giving Shen Siyang a fleeting illusion—an illusion that in this vast, wide world, Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes could hold no one else but him.
He was so mesmerized that it took quite a while before Sang Xiaoshi reached out and lifted his chin, finally snapping him back to reality.
Before he could even ask why Sang Xiaoshi was tilting his chin up, he heard Sang Xiaoshi ask in an obedient yet bewildered voice, “Brother Siyang, why are you also having a nosebleed?”
Shen Siyang froze. Looking down, he realized belatedly that he was indeed bleeding from his nose too.
Once again, dead silence fell over the courtyard.
The two of them, both with blood running from their noses, just sat there staring at each other.
After what felt like an eternity, Shen Siyang managed to choke out three words: “The weather’s dry.”
Sang Xiaoshi seemed to accept this excuse.
Even if he didn’t, Shen Siyang was in no state to care.
Pinching his own nose, he signaled for Sang Xiaoshi to do the same, uttering muffled words: “Let’s get out first. Don’t let blood drip into the hot spring.”
Sang Xiaoshi nodded in agreement.
Shen Siyang was the first to rise.
However, the moment he emerged halfway out of the water, he felt a sudden abnormality down below, and he froze dead in his tracks.
In a moment of sheer panic, he instinctively glanced over at Sang Xiaoshi—only to find that Sang Xiaoshi had also just emerged from the water, standing stock-still in place with a similarly blank look on his face.
In an instant, as if struck by telepathy, their eyes simultaneously tracked down to where the other was looking.
Silence descended upon the courtyard yet again.
Shen Siyang felt his soul ascend to heaven right then and there.
What on earth is going on??
Why is the weather this dry? Why are things this inflamed—ahhhhh!