The day Gu Xin moved away, Jiang Chen had happily helped him carry his bags downstairs. He figured that as long as Gu Xin didn’t leave the city, it wouldn’t matter all that much. After all, it would only take a little over an hour on the subway to see him.
It was the very first day of summer vacation, and Jiang Chen had almost overslept. He had simply thrown on a random school uniform before running downstairs.
Jiang Chen, who was about to enter the sixth grade, was still quite small and short. Gu Xin, on the other hand, was naturally bigger-boned and stood half a head taller than him.
Jiang Chen bounded into the almost empty Gu household. “Xin-bao, do you have a lot of luggage? Want me to help you carry some?”
Gu Xin had only one piece of luggage left. He was sitting on the old bed they didn’t plan on taking with them, waiting for Jiang Chen to come down.
His mom had already nagged him three times to hurry downstairs and get in the car, but because Jiang Chen had promised yesterday to see him off, Gu Xin had kept waiting so his friend wouldn’t be disappointed.
Even though they were both finishing the fifth grade, Gu Xin hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet, and his face hadn’t fully leaned out either. He still had a bit of cute baby fat on his cheeks.
He had always been more calm and mature than other kids his age, so even though he was anxious inside, he didn’t let it show. “Not much. The moving company helped with the heavy lifting. I just have this one suitcase.” He looked at the stray lock of hair sticking up on the crown of Jiang Chen’s head. “Did you almost oversleep again?”
Jiang Chen scratched his head and grinned. His deep-rooted love for sleep was an absolute fact. “It’s finally summer vacation, so I didn’t have to wake up early. Who knew you’d be moving so early in the morning?”
Just as he finished speaking, Gu Xin’s phone rang with another call from his mom, urging him downstairs.
Today, Gu Xin was dressed simply in a dark blue t-shirt and cropped pants, paired with a pair of limited-edition white sneakers that made the young boy’s legs look exceptionally long and lean. “I have to head down now.”
Jiang Chen rubbed his eyes. “I’ll see you off to the car, and then I’m going straight back upstairs to catch up on my sleep.”
Gu Xin couldn’t resist ruffling Jiang Chen’s hair. “Yeah, go ahead. You sleep like a pig anyway, you can easily pull off a round two.”
Jiang Chen slapped his hand away. “Hey, you’re messing up my hair!”
Gu Xin laughed out loud. “A bird’s nest suits how you look when you just wake up.” With that, he gave it another good ruffle.
Jiang Chen jumped on him, fiercely trying to mess up Gu Xin’s hair in return. Unfortunately, Gu Xin had just gotten a short haircut, so no matter how much Jiang Chen ruffled it, the strands stood straight up, refusing to look messy.
Dejected, he grumbled, “Your hair gives zero sense of accomplishment.”
Gu Xin’s mom called to hurry him along again, so the two finally stopped messing around and got into the elevator.
Before Gu Xin got into the car, Jiang Chen told him, “Xin-bao, you have to come back and visit me often.”
Gu Xin nodded. “Yeah. Maybe we’ll move back soon anyway.”
Jiang Chen patted Gu Xin’s shoulder like a little adult. “We don’t live that far apart. I can go visit you on weekends too.”
Gu Xin countered, “I’ll take pictures of the new house for you when I get there.”
Jiang Chen waved him off. “Hurry up and get in, your mom’s rushing you again. In a few days, let’s go grab some ice jelly.”
At that time, Jiang Chen hadn’t realized that even if they were only separated by a fraction of the city, meeting up regularly would become incredibly difficult.
Gu Xin did send him photos of the new house as promised, but a few days later, his whole family went on vacation, and the ice jelly date they had planned never actually happened.
Jiang Chen’s parents were always swamped with work, so family trips were never on the Jiang family’s agenda. Jiang Chen could only stare enviously at the vacation photos Gu Xin sent him.
Once Gu Xin returned from his trip, he became busier and busier. He was swamped with various cram schools, constantly grinding to prepare for the middle school entrance exams. Any souvenirs he brought back from his travels were sent to Jiang Chen via same-city express delivery.
Starting from the summer before sixth grade, the number of times Jiang Chen saw Gu Xin grew fewer and fewer.
Their text exchanges dwindled from multiple messages a day, to one or two every few days, and eventually to just a casual text every week or two. In the beginning, Jiang Chen had been incredibly proactive about sharing his daily life with Gu Xin. But eventually, he found it boring; Gu Xin no longer replied instantly like he used to, and Jiang Chen would have to wait half a day just to see a response.
Their first meeting after the move was delayed all the way to the winter break of their sixth-grade year.
Seeing Gu Xin again, Jiang Chen felt a wave of unfamiliarity. His best friend had grown taller, leaned out, and the baby fat on his face was entirely gone, replaced by sharper, more handsome contours.
Though they felt a bit awkward for a brief moment, the distance vanished the second Gu Xin pulled out a video game console he bought for Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen immediately started chattering away, complaining that Gu Xin was too busy studying to hang out, while Gu Xin explained how his parents forced him into training camps every day. With endless exercises and piano practice, Gu Xin confessed that by the time he showered and got home, his fingers were too exhausted to even lift.
Just like that, the barrier between the two boys dissolved.
Perhaps because Jiang Chen’s parents didn’t trust him to wander too far while he was still in elementary school, his weekends became much more liberated once he entered middle school. He could finally go look for Gu Xin.
However, sometimes, when environments and physical distances change, the gap between people only widens.
During his first year of middle school, Jiang Chen would still frequently take the hour-long subway ride to hang out with Gu Xin. But Gu Xin was even busier than he had been in sixth grade. The curriculum at the Experimental No. 1 Middle School moved at a pace that left Jiang Chen’s school in the dust. Outside of normal classes, external tutoring sessions consumed all of Gu Xin’s time. He didn’t even have spare time to chat for long on weekends. Most of the time, Jiang Chen would travel all that way only to wait around for half the day. After grabbing a quick bite together, Jiang Chen would have to head back home. They couldn’t play anything, and they barely had enough time to talk.
After a while, Jiang Chen stopped going to find him.
The things Gu Xin had said to him tonight felt exactly like the topics they used to talk about back when they first grew apart. That lingering sense of unfamiliarity crept up on him once more.
He wondered if he was being overly sensitive. Maybe Gu Xin really just didn’t want him getting into fights.
But there was absolutely no way he was going to apologize to Gu Xin right now. After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong, and those three Alphas really had been asking for a beating.
Despite his annoyance with Gu Xin, the moment Jiang Chen washed up and hit the bed, his eyelids grew heavy. With no pressure to wake up early or turn in homework tomorrow…combined with being forced to run ten laps tonight…he was completely exhausted. Before long, he drifted off to sleep, missing the string of apology texts Gu Xin kept sending to his phone.
Gu Xin had waited up half the night without receiving a reply. Restless and anxious, he didn’t manage to fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.
When Jiang Chen woke up the next day, it was already close to noon. He was completely dazed from sleep.
As he got out of bed to head to the bathroom, he saw someone sitting right by his bedside a sight that nearly scared the urge to pee right out of him.
Jiang Chen snapped fully awake. Recognizing the person sitting by his bed, he mumbled, “Holy crap, are you trying to scare me to death?”
There were faint dark circles under Gu Xin’s eyes, proof of his terrible night’s sleep. “Your little brother just let me in.”
Jiang Chen bypassed Gu Xin and dashed into the bathroom; he hadn’t actually been awoken by Gu Xin, but by his bursting bladder.
Seeing that Jiang Chen hadn’t taken last night’s incident to heart at all, Gu Xin felt a weight lift from his chest. “Chen-chen, want to go out for lunch?”
Just as he asked, Jiang Chen’s mother’s voice echoed from outside. Jiang Zheng, who was grounded and forbidden from going out, had already run to tell their mom that Gu Xin was here.
Jiang Chen’s mom had always had a natural fondness for Gu Xin. “Oh, Xin-xin came over to play with Jiang Chen? Stay and have lunch here today!”
Even though Gu Xin lacked for nothing at home and had a cooking auntie, his parents were often so busy they were practically invisible. Eating over at the Jiang house had been a regular occurrence since he was a kid.
Jiang Chen poked his head out while brushing his teeth and called out to Gu Xin, “Let’s eat at home. Otherwise, my mom will nag me again for going out to eat junk food.”
Gu Xin replied, “Got it.” He walked out to the living room to politely accept the invitation from Jiang Chen’s mom.
Jiang Chen’s mom was absolutely delighted. She couldn’t understand why none of her three rowdy monkeys could adopt even a fraction of Gu Xin’s quiet, disciplined excellence.
In truth, Gu Xin genuinely liked the chaotic warmth of the Jiang household. His own home was always so quiet. His parents were highly successful professionals, meaning their house lacked this kind of lively, lived-in atmosphere.
Once Jiang Chen finished washing up and walked out, he found Gu Xin sitting at his desk, holding the class photo they had looked at the night before.
Gu Xin turned to him and asked, “How come I don’t have this photo?”
Jiang Chen had a habit of splashing water onto his face to wash it, so droplets were still clinging to the tips of his bangs. He said, “You transferred schools, so the teacher didn’t give you one. They only gave it to the rest of us.”
Gu Xin seemed unable to put the photo down. “Are there any extras? Give me one too.”
“I’d have to look for it, but this is the only one I have framed.” Jiang Chen had specifically put their photo in a frame.
“If there isn’t another one, forget it.” Gu Xin took out his phone and snapped a picture of the photograph, deciding to save it for himself.
“Do you think you look so handsome you just have to keep it?” Jiang Chen teased, seeing him take the photo. “Though, to be fair, I’m still the more handsome one.”
Gu Xin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re handsome. Look at you back then, you weren’t even as tall as the little pole next to you.” He pointed at a warning pole standing near the court in the photo.
Jiang Chen hated it most when Gu Xin brought up his childhood height. He stepped forward, leaning against the back of the chair, and looped an arm around Gu Xin’s neck, lightly putting him in a mock headlock. “I’ll give you three seconds to take that back, and then sincerely apologize to Brother Chen.”
A faint, clean scent mingled with the air and drifted into Gu Xin’s senses. He placed his hands over Jiang Chen’s wrist and said with a smile, “Alright, I was wrong. I won’t do it again. Don’t be mad, Brother Chen.”
“That’s more like it. You are forgiven.” Jiang Chen’s anger came fast, but it vanished just as quickly.
Last night’s friction was swept under the rug just like that, because ultimately, neither of them had been truly wrong.
With Gu Xin over, Jiang Chen’s mom whipped up two extra signature dishes, filling the table with a lavish spread.
Since it was the weekend, both Jiang Chen’s parents were home. Jiang Xin had woken up even later than Jiang Chen, and Jiang Zheng spent every day dolling himself up like a little fairy prince who survived solely on morning dew.
At the dining table, Jiang Chen’s mom kept piling food onto Gu Xin’s plate, asking how Jiang Chen was doing at school and whether he was slacking off. True to form, Gu Xin maintained a perfectly serious face in front of Jiang Chen’s parents, praising Jiang Chen non-stop. He claimed Jiang Chen paid close attention in class, actively answered the teacher’s questions, and discussed difficult problems with his classmates. Jiang Chen felt like Gu Xin was describing a completely different person; putting himself into that persona made him feel incredibly embarrassed.
What shocked Jiang Chen even more was that his parents swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. He redefined his impression of Gu Xin once again…the guy was getting way too good at lying.
Jiang Chen really couldn’t take it anymore. “Mom, can you please stop asking? It’s so boring!”
His mom countered, “What’s wrong with asking a few questions?”
Jiang Zheng chimed in with a nod. “Exactly! Gu Xin-gege, can you walk me to school again on Monday?” Being dropped off by Gu Xin last time had completely satisfied his vanity.
Jiang Chen gave him a dark look. “Walk you my foot.”
Jiang Zheng pouted. “Stingy.”
Their mom didn’t bother reacting to the brothers’ bickering. “Xin-xin, eat more. These are the shrimp you loved most when you were little.”
Gu Xin: “…Thank you, Auntie.” He was getting incredibly full.
Finally, Gu Xin threw Jiang Chen’s parents a lifeline of truth, mentioning their upcoming joint performance for the Mid-Autumn Festival and noting that they needed to practice together in the afternoon.
After lunch, Jiang Chen and Gu Xin headed downstairs to the piano room.
Jiang Chen sat in front of the piano and immediately gave Gu Xin a big thumbs up. “I seriously think you’re my mom’s biological son. You’ve hyped me up so much she probably thinks I’m bound for Tsinghua or Peking University.”
“I wasn’t hyping you up.” Gu Xin stared at him for a quiet three seconds. Then, lowering his head to apply rosin to his violin bow, he softly added, “Besides, I don’t want to be your mom’s biological son.”
Jiang Chen flipped open the piano key cover. Turning his head with a quick, easy smile, he asked, “Then what do you want to be?”
“…” Gu Xin looked up, silently gazing at Jiang Chen’s profile. The soft, fragmented light fell beautifully across the Beta boy’s face, which was bright with a carefree smile. Gu Xin swallowed the words that had rushed to the tip of his tongue. “…Nothing.”