“You’re going to spend New Year’s here? Your Highness doesn’t mind? Let me make this clear first: if she asks about it, you have to take all the responsibility. She won’t do anything to you.”
“I don’t think she’ll do anything to you either.”
“Don’t drag me into trouble just because you want to test that theory!” Ke Bu seemed able to predict exactly what Zhi Li was thinking. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the time beneath the television. It was almost dinnertime, so he got up and went into the kitchen. Just as he had expected, there was nothing edible in the refrigerator. After searching for more than ten minutes, he finally dug out some instant noodles from a cupboard. He checked the somewhat questionable expiration date. They should probably be fine.
“We’ll make do with instant noodles tonight. I assume you don’t have any objections.”
“Anything’s fine.”
“If you’re bored, you can play…” Ke Bu had originally intended to tell him to play a game on his phone, only to remember that Zhi Li had lost his phone. “When are you going to buy a new phone?”
“When I have time.”
“So you’ve been very busy lately? Why haven’t I noticed at all?”
“I keep a low profile.”
“Can you answer one of my questions seriously for once?”
“That depends on what kind of question you ask.” Zhi Li pulled out the puzzle stored beneath the coffee table, opened the box, and poured all the pieces out. Ke Bu brought over the instant noodles, pushed some of the pieces aside, and stared quietly at the cup while waiting for the noodles to soften. Each of them had something to focus on, so neither spoke, yet it wasn’t awkward or boring in the slightest. Everything felt perfectly natural. When you were with someone you loved, perhaps the best way of being together was when what filled your heart most was simply peace.
After seven minutes, the noodles had softened enough. Ke Bu lifted the lid. “Ready to eat.” The slurping sounds somehow made the noodles seem even more appetizing. Ke Bu bit through a mouthful, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed and spoke. “If Xin He finds out I fed you this kind of junk food, she might kill me.” Zhi Li’s attention remained fixed on the puzzle, as though he hadn’t heard Ke Bu at all.
“Ah, your attention’s been stolen by something else again.” Ke Bu sighed. “Which do you love more, puzzles or me?” His tone wasn’t complaining so much as teasing.
Zhi Li looked up. “What? You want to go to bed already?”
“I’ve corrected you countless times! Love does not mean going to bed! Instant noodles have a limited lifespan too. If you don’t hurry up and eat them, they’ll turn disgusting.” Watching Zhi Li move at his usual unhurried pace made Ke Bu impatient. He quickly finished his own noodles, shifted down beside Zhi Li’s feet, and knelt in front of the coffee table. “I’ll put this together for you for a while. You eat first.” Holding several pieces in nearly identical colors made Ke Bu’s head start to ache. People always said finishing a puzzle gave them a sense of accomplishment, but Ke Bu had no idea what use that sense of accomplishment was. It reminded him of when The Secret Garden coloring book had been popular for a while, supposedly because coloring relieved stress. Ke Bu didn’t know whether it worked for anyone else, but as far as he was concerned, spending a huge amount of time neglecting his homework and setting aside all the things he actually needed to do just so he could color a flower that required no artistic skill whatsoever would probably leave him even more stressed when he looked back and realized he hadn’t accomplished anything useful.
Once Zhi Li finished eating, Ke Bu gave the spot back to him, lay down on the sofa, and switched on the television. Zhi Li was sitting along the front edge of the sofa and blocked half the screen, but Ke Bu didn’t move. From this angle, everything was just right.
“Now that I think about it, this is the first New Year we’ve spent together, isn’t it? Should we prepare something?”
“Condoms.”
“Besides that.”
“Lubricant.”
“Besides that too.”
“Nothing else.”
“Does your family only prepare those two things for New Year’s? Think of something else. You’re my guest, and I don’t want to treat you badly. Spending our first New Year together this miserably would be unreasonable no matter how you looked at it.” Ke Bu’s bent knee bumped rhythmically against Zhi Li’s back again and again as he stared at the television. After a while, he suddenly sat up and put a hand on Zhi Li’s leg. “Do you have any wishes? Think of it as the red envelope I’m giving you for New Year’s.”
Elio’s Notes: Red envelopes are traditional New Year gifts, usually containing money. Ke Bu jokingly turns his into a wish instead.
“My wish is for you to go buy condoms and lubricant.”
“Your wish is too cheap!” Ke Bu hugged his knees and leaned his whole body against Zhi Li’s back. “Must be nice. You don’t have any wishes so expensive they’re impossible to fulfill anymore. You already have everything. You’re already satisfied with everything, so all you can think of are cheap wishes.”
Zhi Li fitted another puzzle piece into place. “If you already know something is impossible to achieve, why call it a wish?”
“It’s precisely because it’s hard to achieve that it’s called a wish. You don’t understand at all.” Ke Bu suddenly pushed himself up and sprawled across Zhi Li’s back, struggling to reach for one of the pieces. “Found it. It goes here.” He fitted the piece into place but didn’t climb off Zhi Li’s back. “So what about my red envelope? Have you prepared it?”
“What do you want?”
“How about staying with me for another seven years? Seven years after that, I’ll ask you for the same red envelope again.”
Zhi Li continued working on the puzzle without stopping. He answered indifferently, “Your wish is cheap too.”
“How is it cheap?”
“It’s too easy to make come true.”
Ke Bu tightened his arms and squeezed Zhi Li hard. “That’s what you get for looking down on my wish.”
“It’s rare to see you acting spoiled with me.”
“Who—who’s acting spoiled?!”
Zhi Li stood up, taking Ke Bu, who was still hanging from his back, up off the sofa with him. “Shower.”
“You changed the subject way too fast. Let me down.”
“Try getting off. I’ll drop you to your death.”
Early the next morning, Ke Bu opened his eyes and lay completely motionless on the bed, staring blankly. He wasn’t actually thinking about anything. He simply didn’t want to move. His soul and brain had yet to return to his body.
“Get up.” Zhi Li’s voice and the movement of his foot came at exactly the same time. The instant he finished speaking, Ke Bu fell off the bed. Ke Bu shot out a hand and grabbed the edge of the mattress, looking exactly like something from a horror movie. “You only had to tell me! I would’ve gotten up!”
“The bed is too narrow. You were getting in the way of me getting dressed.”
“What an incredibly legitimate reason to kick me out of bed!” Ke Bu shot Zhi Li a sideways glare as he put on his pants. After pulling on three pairs, he climbed back onto the bed to get his shirt. Pretending to fiddle around looking for things, he waited until he saw an opening and kicked at Zhi Li, intending to let him experience what it felt like to roll off the bed. Zhi Li turned sideways and blocked the kick with his arm. Then, as though something had occurred to him, he asked, “Ke Bu, has it been a long time since I last hit you?”
Ke Bu knew Zhi Li wasn’t threatening him. He was genuinely asking. But Ke Bu absolutely did not want him to notice. During winter, or whenever the season drew close to winter, Zhi Li’s temper became unusually docile, and he rarely resorted to violence. Everyone else had noticed too, but none of them wanted to point it out.
“What are you talking about? You hit me just a few days ago. Did you forget? My stomach still aches sometimes.”
“Really?”
“Yes! You always forget these things, but I remember them perfectly. That day…” When it came to lying, Ke Bu was an expert. The stories he made up were never exaggerated and always incorporated just enough reality to sound convincing.
“Really?”
“If I’m lying, I’m a bastard. Stop wasting time on such a boring question. We’re going out to buy some food today, and you need to buy a new phone too.” He pushed the fully dressed Zhi Li toward the bathroom.
The moment Ke Bu opened the front door, the cold wind rushed straight at him. He looked at the people outside hurriedly putting up Spring Festival couplets, doing their big cleaning, and preparing to welcome the New Year, then stretched lazily.
A New Year just for the two of us. Sounds delicious.
Ke Bu stretched his arms as high as they could go.
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