Shi Zhi frowned.
Fu Yuchu explained, “Your friend went out to take a call. She told you to take your time looking and that she’d wait for you in the rest area. She said it before she left, but you probably didn’t hear her.”
Shi Zhi: “Oh.”
After waiting for a moment, he asked, “Why are you following me?”
“I like it.”
Shi Zhi: “?”
“I meant the artwork. I was lost in thought looking at it.” Fu Yuchu’s eyes held the mischievous glint of someone who had successfully teased another. “What, I’m not allowed to follow?”
“It makes sense that you like this style.” Shi Zhi didn’t bite, instead using Fu Yuchu’s own tone from earlier. “It seems very suitable for you. The styles are the same.”
Fu Yuchu laughed. “What style? How is it suitable?”
“Both are very ‘aloof’,” Shi Zhi evaluated objectively. Very cold, no warmth. Shi Zhi only thought that last part in his head. He was bad at communicating, not stupid; if he actually said it, given Fu Yuchu’s temper, he would definitely get angry again.
Fu Yuchu shook his head. “You can’t be fooled by appearances. You haven’t seen my inner self; you don’t know what’s in my heart.”
“…Didn’t you say it yourself that you liked it?”
Fu Yuchu gave him a deep look but didn’t speak.
When they came out after finishing the exhibition, it was still early. Fu Yumeng needed to head back to her shop, and Fu Yuchu offered to drive them both back. “It’s on the way. I can give you both a lift.”
Shi Zhi was about to refuse, but the all-seeing Fu Yumeng had already smiled and thanked him. “Then I’ll trouble you, Attorney Fu. It’s hard to hail a cab at this hour; we won’t be formal with you.” As she spoke, she pulled open the back door and sat down.
Shi Zhi: “…”
Fu Yuchu gestured to him: “Getting in?”
Shi Zhi remembered Fu Yuchu’s comment about not having a hobby of being a chauffeur, so he silently sat in the passenger seat.
“Attorney Fu, could I trouble you to drop me off first?” Fu Yumeng said apologetically. “A group of people came to the shop for a gathering, and Xiao Jing can’t handle it alone. I need to get back quickly to check on things.”
Shi Zhi, who had planned to hide at Fu Yumeng’s shop to avoid being alone with Fu Yuchu: “…” Since her shop is that busy, how could I have the nerve to go and add to the chaos?
“Zhi, I can’t stay with you today. Go home for now; I’ll come find you tomorrow!”
Shi Zhi: “…Okay.”
The car stopped in front of the coffee shop. Fu Yumeng didn’t even bother with the pleasantry of inviting them in; she just left, dropping one last sentence: “Attorney Fu, thanks for taking Zhi back. I’ll treat you to coffee another day.”
“Your friend is quite good to you.” The car traveled slowly along the street.
Shi Zhi gave a hum of agreement, looking down at the message his “quite good” friend had just sent—
Yumeng-meng-meng: 【The person you slept with is Fu Yuchu.】
Shi Zhi stared at Fu Yumeng’s definitive statement, his eyes turning red as he choked.
They happened to be at a red light. Fu Yuchu unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it over. “What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.” Shi Zhi took two large gulps from the bottle. He still felt hot, so he took a few more.
Fu Yuchu didn’t speak again, and the car turned into a strange small path. Shi Zhi realized it wasn’t the direction of his apartment and asked, “Where are we going?”
Fu Yuchu parked the car in front of an old-looking storefront and said matter-of-factly, “I’ve driven you so many times. It wouldn’t be too much to ask you to treat me to a meal, right?”
It wasn’t too much. But who decides the place and makes the person “treat” them without even asking?
“Let’s go, I’m starving.” While Shi Zhi was still grumbling internally, Fu Yuchu opened the car door and urged him.
Shi Zhi followed him out of the car silently. He hadn’t felt it before, but now that it was mentioned, he was indeed a bit hungry.
This was a local restaurant. It looked a bit old from the outside, but the interior was very clean and organized. The owners were a couple in their forties; they were agile and efficient.
“Xiao Fu, you’re here!” As soon as they entered, the owner greeted him. “Haven’t seen you in a while. The usual?”
“No rush.” Fu Yuchu found a seat by the window and sat down, introducing the place to Shi Zhi: “This shop has been open for many years. Their local dishes are quite good. What do you want to eat?”
Shi Zhi was a bit troubled; he wasn’t very good at ordering food.
At that moment, the owner brought over an infrequently used menu from somewhere and said with a smile, “This must be Xiao Fu’s friend. What a handsome young man. Have a look at the menu and see what you’d like.”
Shi Zhi took the menu, flipped through it randomly, and handed it to Fu Yuchu, saying in a small voice, “I’m not picky. You order.”
Fu Yuchu glanced at him, handed the menu back to the owner, and unreservedly listed several dishes—both meat and vegetable. Finally, he added a porridge: “For the staple, let’s have porridge. Their raw-boiled beef porridge is quite good; give it a try.”
Shi Zhi had no objections. “Okay.”
“The chestnut roasted chicken is also our specialty. Want to try it?” the owner suggested sincerely.
Shi Zhi frowned slightly—a very faint movement, but Fu Yuchu caught it. He said, “No thanks, this is enough.”
The owner brought two bowls of fermented sweet rice wine. “Freshly brewed, have a taste.”
Shi Zhi took a sip, and his eyes instantly lit up. “It’s delicious!”
“Even if it’s delicious, don’t drink too much on an empty stomach. Have some food first.”
Shi Zhi gave a hum of acknowledgment and asked curiously, “How did you find this place? Based on how the owner acts, you come here often.”
“Mm,” Fu Yuchu said. “My maternal grandfather brought me here once when I was a kid.”
“And you’ve been coming for over twenty years?” Shi Zhi said casually. “I didn’t expect you to be so ‘long-term’ (chángqíng) with your affections.”
“Is that so? Does this count as being long-term?”
“Yeah. Most people wouldn’t eat at the same restaurant for twenty years; tastes usually change.”
Fu Yuchu asked, “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Nothing.” Just then, the food arrived. Fu Yuchu said, “Let’s eat.” He served Shi Zhi a bowl of porridge first. “Try it.”
“It’s good! No wonder you’ve liked it for twenty years.”
Fu Yuchu laughed. “If you like it, eat more. You’re too thin; you should eat properly.”
The two chatted back and forth, and the dishes on the table were soon finished. Shi Zhi patted his rounded stomach and leaned back in his chair, letting out a satisfied sigh.
Unexpectedly, a single meal had given Shi Zhi a sense of “tranquil years”. He hadn’t had this kind of experience for a long, long time.
Shi Zhi was a picky eater. Most of the food in the university canteen didn’t suit his palate, so he always ate very little and never felt satisfied. It was only when he first got together with Xu Yining and Xu Yining would accompany him to restaurants outside the school that he felt pleasure while eating.
However, Xu Yining was two years older and soon graduated and started working. Shi Zhi himself had social anxiety and few friends to talk to besides Fu Yumeng, so after Xu Yining stopped coming to the school often, Shi Zhi’s meals became something he just “made do” with.
Now, sitting in the chair under the evening sunset, Shi Zhi felt a long-lost sense of satisfaction. It turned out that Xu Yining wasn’t the only one who could give Shi Zhi the joy of eating.
“What are you daydreaming about?”
“Nothing.” Shi Zhi snapped back to reality, looked at Fu Yuchu in the shifting light, and said seriously, “Thank you.”
Fu Yuchu raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you treating me?”
“I am treating you, but thank you too.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
Fu Yuchu said, “Why thank me?”
Shi Zhi tilted his head and thought. “Because I’m very happy after eating?”
But you don’t look like you’re being happy. Fu Yuchu pursed his lips and didn’t speak further.
In the end, Shi Zhi paid the bill. After getting into the car, Shi Zhi sensitively noticed that Fu Yuchu had suddenly become a bit silent, even though they had chatted quite happily during the meal. Shi Zhi couldn’t find the reason for Fu Yuchu’s unhappiness, so he fell silent as well.
It wasn’t until the car stopped in front of a video game arcade that Shi Zhi asked in confusion, “Why are we here?”
Fu Yuchu coolly dropped a single word: “Play.”
“…” Shi Zhi asked with forced patience, “Why are we coming here to play?”
“Because you are being unhappy.”
Shi Zhi: “When was I unhappy?” And does being unhappy mean coming here to play?
“After we finished eating.”
“I wasn’t.”
Fu Yuchu was being inexplicably persistent: “You were.”
“You saw wrong.” Shi Zhi’s temper flared up too, and he glared at Fu Yuchu without backing down.
Fu Yuchu was more than half a head taller than Shi Zhi; when Shi Zhi met his gaze, he had to tilt his head up slightly. Seeing Shi Zhi with his cheeks puffed out and his eyes glaring, Fu Yuchu conceded. He also felt he was being quite inexplicable.
“I am unhappy,” Fu Yuchu said. “Play with me.” He added, “I’m begging you, I’ve never played before.”
Shi Zhi: “…”
After Fu Yuchu exchanged for game tokens, he first led Shi Zhi to a claw machine and pointed at a rabbit plushie inside. “This one?” His tone was so calm it was as if as long as Shi Zhi said yes, he would definitely catch it.
Shi Zhi looked at Fu Yuchu speechlessly. “That one is hard to catch. Let’s pick another.”
“You look like you have a lot of experience. Played before?”
Shi Zhi gave a hum of affirmation.
Fu Yuchu asked without thinking: “With whom?”
“Xu Yining.”
Fu Yuchu: “…” “What did you catch? Was it a rabbit too?”
“No, we didn’t catch anything.” At the time, Xu Yining had insisted on catching a fish plushie, saying it looked like Shi Zhi with his cheeks puffed out. Shi Zhi had no choice but to spend over an hour with him at the claw machine, and they didn’t manage to catch a single fish. Besides, Shi Zhi didn’t think he looked like that fish plushie at all.
“Here.” Fu Yuchu thrust a rabbit plushie in front of Shi Zhi’s eyes and said coolly, “It wasn’t that hard to catch.”
Shi Zhi felt inexplicably that Fu Yuchu had an unspoken second half to that sentence—Your ex-boyfriend is really useless.
Shi Zhi: “…” “You’re amazing,” Shi Zhi said perfunctorily.
“It’s for you.” Fu Yuchu stuffed the rabbit plushie into Shi Zhi’s hands and walked toward the next project. “It looks quite like you.”
Shi Zhi stared at the little rabbit for a moment, but in the end, didn’t say anything to refute him.
“What else have you played?” Fu Yuchu asked, then changed the phrasing: “What haven’t you played?”
“We haven’t played anything else.” They had spent over an hour at the claw machine back then and had to rush to catch a movie.
Fu Yuchu’s mood improved slightly, and he took Shi Zhi to play every single game in the arcade.
Perhaps games truly do stimulate dopamine secretion; all the frustration brought about by the days of arguing with Xu Yining was released in the arcade. Even when the car stopped at the entrance of his complex, Shi Zhi was still in a state of excitement.
“Mood better now?”
Shi Zhi was indeed in a good mood, so he didn’t refute him, saying, “Mm, I’m very happy.”
“But I’m not happy.”
“Huh?” Shi Zhi was confused. Weren’t you happy just now? Is Fu Yuchu’s happiness like Schrödinger’s cat?
“My phone is dead,” Fu Yuchu said. “I won’t be able to use the navigation later.”
Shi Zhi: “?”
“I forgot my charger,” Fu Yuchu added.
Shi Zhi was about to suggest finding a shared power bank.
Then he heard Fu Yuchu sigh: “The phone is powered off, otherwise I could look for a power bank.”
Shi Zhi: “…”
Shi Zhi was also in an excited state after a night of wild play. Plus, Fu Yuchu hadn’t been sarcastic with him all day, and their time together could be described as pleasant. Since the man had lost his navigation because he took him out to play, Shi Zhi felt he was somewhat responsible.
Thinking that they were now “people who have played games together,” he suggested: “How about you come up to my place to charge it for a bit?”
“Thank you,” Fu Yuchu said immediately.