Shao Wu brought the box of Fuwa back to Chongqing and lined all five dolls up on the bookshelf. Yang Shuyi didn’t object, but he did say rather sourly, “They look nice.”
Shao Wu tore open a packet of Copico chips, took out a large round chip, and stuffed it into Yang Shuyi’s mouth. Yang Shuyi was then too busy chewing to say anything more.
Of course, they’d brought the pieces of broken stone back too. Still wrapped in the bag from Yongchuan No. 2 High School, they were tucked away at the back of a drawer.
After they returned from Yongchuan, Yang Shuyi was almost constantly clinging to Shao Wu and trying to get close to him. Sometimes, when Shao Wu wasn’t in the mood, Yang Shuyi would look terribly aggrieved and say, “The deadline for my competition is coming up.”
Shao Wu was baffled. “So?” What did the competition deadline have to do with whether they were intimate?
“I…” Yang Shuyi nuzzled Shao Wu’s neck with the tip of his nose. “I’m under a lot of pressure.”
Shao Wu: “…”
Pressure, my ass, Shao Wu thought. I’ve never heard of someone reacting to pressure like you do… But when he met Yang Shuyi’s eyes, his voice softened without his realizing it. “Then come here,” he murmured, adding, “Just once, okay?”
Of course, once was never going to be just once. By the time Shao Wu lay on the bed, drenched in sweat and too exhausted to lift a finger, Yang Shuyi would always bend down and kiss his cheek. In an instant, he’d transform back into a little white rabbit, his cheeks faintly pink, looking almost innocent. “I couldn’t help myself just now.”
So blameless, as though Shao Wu had deliberately tempted an innocent young man into ruin…
Shao Wu didn’t even have the strength to curse him. He could only think resignedly, How did I never notice that Yang Shuyi had the makings of Bao Si? Thank goodness I’m just an ordinary office worker. If I were an emperor in ancient times, one flutter of his eyelashes and I’d be lighting the beacon fires to summon the feudal lords for him…
Elio’s Notes: Bao Si appears in the traditional story of King You of Zhou, who is said to have lit warning beacons to amuse her, summoning nobles for a false alarm. Shao Wu jokes that he’d be just as helpless against Yang Shuyi.
Oh, forget it. He’s working so hard getting ready for the competition.
Besides, Yang Shuyi is getting better and better at this. It actually feels really good…
As May arrived, the temperature rose day by day, rain grew more frequent, and the vegetation became increasingly lush. The residential complex had plenty of tall banyan trees. Sometimes, as Shao Wu was coming home from work, a sudden shower would come rattling down, raising a thin mist above the ground and bringing with it a fresh, earthy smell. As he passed beneath the banyans, he could see the green moss on their trunks, darkened by the rain, taking on a wet, velvety texture.
This summer was just like the summers he’d spent at university, every bit as humid and stifling. Back then, Shao Wu had been on the Huxi campus, next door to Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. After he’d met Chen Yimang, they’d often walked and talked together. They’d always had so much spare time then. The Fine Arts campus was full of artistic touches. Fragments of broken porcelain had been set into the stone walls lining the roads. During the damp, muggy summers, droplets of water gathered on the porcelain, making them look like the remains of some forgotten ancient site.
On May tenth, Shao Wu received a parcel from Shanghai. He opened it and found a black Burberry belt bag. Inside the zipped compartment was a little card. Chen Yimang’s handwriting sprawled across it like an autograph: Happy birthday. —Chen
Shao Wu smiled at the card, thinking that Chen was getting more and more like a celebrity. His career had taken off spectacularly over the past two years, and he’d already amassed more than a million followers on Weibo. Once, while Shao Wu was meeting a client at Beicheng Tianjie, he’d passed an electronic billboard showing high-definition promotional pictures of Chen Yimang, part of an advertisement he’d shot for YSL.
Shao Wu messaged Chen Yimang on WeChat: Got the present. It must’ve been expensive, right?
Chen Yimang: The brand gave it to me. Don’t worry.
Shao Wu: …Well, that’s a relief.
After thinking for a moment, he asked tentatively: When are you coming back to Chongqing? Let’s have a proper get-together.
But Chen Yimang gave the same response he had so many times before: We’ll see when I’m free.
It was only in the past year or two that Shao Wu had realized Chen Yimang was deliberately avoiding Chongqing. From Chen’s event announcements on Weibo, Shao Wu knew he’d been to Chengdu several times for runway shows, advertisement shoots, and offline fan events. He’d been as close as Chengdu, yet he stubbornly refused to return to Chongqing.
He had to be doing it on purpose. Shao Wu vaguely sensed there was some reason behind it. He’d asked Chen Yimang, but Chen had laughed it off with a joke.
Holding the belt bag, Shao Wu remembered the night before Chen Yimang moved to Shanghai. They’d eaten medicinal-herb hotpot of a very peculiar flavor at Hongyadong, then walked along Binjiang Road. The river had been black beneath the night sky, giving off a faint, fishy smell. To this day, that had been the last time they’d met in Chongqing. Later, they’d parted at Linjiangmen light-rail station, where Chen Yimang had warned him: Don’t do anything stupid.
As though his words had been prophetic, not long afterward Shao Wu had skipped an exam for Yang Shuyi, giving up his chance at postgraduate admission without an entrance exam.
And Chen Yimang… Chen Yimang had never returned to Chongqing.
It seems we’re both doing stupid things, Shao Wu thought.
But right now, a more pressing problem forced him to set those thoughts aside.
How was he going to explain to that jealous creature at home that a handsome model had sent him an expensive luxury-brand belt bag?
Given how concentrated the jealousy in that creature was, probably no explanation would ever be enough…
Just as he was worrying about it, his phone rang, startling him.
It was a courier from YTO Express, asking him to come downstairs and collect a parcel.
Shao Wu suddenly felt even guiltier, but there was nothing for it. He called Yang Shuyi. Before long, Yang Shuyi messaged: Got it. It’s from your brother.
Shao Wu: Oh. Then go ahead and open it.
Truthfully, Shao Wu didn’t want Yang Shuyi to open it at all. This was clearly a birthday present from Wang Yujun, and Wang Yujun had money to burn now. Shao Wu was afraid he might have sent something expensive. Though Yang Shuyi wouldn’t be jealous of Wang Yujun, Shao Wu didn’t want these lavish gifts to put pressure on him. As long as it was something Yang Shuyi had given him, even two heads of cabbage would be the best gift in the world.
Still, he really was looking forward to seeing what Yang Shuyi would give him.
This would be the first birthday Yang Shuyi had celebrated with him since 2008.
Shao Wu stared into space for a few minutes, but there was still no message from Yang Shuyi. Puzzled, he asked: Opened it?
Yang Shuyi: Yep.
Go on, then. Tell me.
Shao Wu: What is it?
Again, there was no reply.
Shao Wu abruptly grew nervous. Had Yang Shuyi been so overwhelmed by Wang Yujun flaunting his wealth that he’d shut down again? Wang Yujun wouldn’t have sent him… a gold bar, would he?
Yang Shuyi: You’ll see when you get home.
Shao Wu: ???
Looking at the belt bag in his hand and the WeChat conversation on his screen, Shao Wu realized for the first time that receiving gifts could be a burden.
When he got home after work, Yang Shuyi wasn’t there. He’d finished the drawings for his competition, and lately he’d been going to the competition venue every afternoon to make a simple scale model. Shao Wu changed out of his shoes and hurried straight to the living room without even turning on the fan. The parcel box stood on the coffee table.
The cardboard box was square and neatly shaped, about as tall as Shao Wu’s forearm, and it was open.
Shao Wu felt a little relieved. Judging by its size, it didn’t look like a box that would contain gold bars.
What could it be, then? A DSLR camera? A backpack?
Shao Wu reached inside. Through the plastic wrapping, he felt something soft. Fabric? Was it clothing?
A few seconds later, Shao Wu silently stared at the “clothes” laid out on the coffee table, his whole face burning red.
It was actually… that kind of… underwear.
Black, with white polka dots, no less.
Wang Yujun had included a card: Wishing you a wonderful night together.
It was past nine in the evening when Yang Shuyi returned home. Shao Wu had already showered, changed into his pajamas, and was lying on his stomach in bed playing with his phone.
He’d thrown out the parcel box ages ago. As for the underwear… he’d hidden it at the bottom of the wardrobe, weighed down beneath two down jackets.
It was mortifying.
To make matters worse, Yang Shuyi asked with a smile, “You saw your brother’s present, right?”
“Saw it,” Shao Wu mumbled.
“Mm.” Yang Shuyi stroked his fluffy hair. “Try it on sometime.”
Shao Wu: “…”
Taking advantage of the pleasant atmosphere, Shao Wu decided to come clean. “Chen Yimang sent me a belt bag. Uh, it was given to him by a brand he’s working with, so it didn’t cost him anything.”
Yang Shuyi shrewdly asked, “Was it originally expensive?”
“A bit…”
Shao Wu felt uneasy, afraid Yang Shuyi would feel inferior because of it, just as he had the last time they’d gone home, when Wang Yujun’s boyfriend had given Shao Wu’s mother gold bars.
Unexpectedly, Yang Shuyi merely nodded and said nothing. Then he went to shower. Afterward, he peeled a pear for Shao Wu and put both their discarded clothes into the washing machine.
He didn’t seem to mind Chen Yimang’s gift at all.
So he’s not jealous anymore?
Shao Wu thought he really was creating trouble where none existed. Before, he’d spent ages worrying that Yang Shuyi would get jealous. Now he was equally preoccupied with why Yang Shuyi wasn’t jealous…
They turned out the lights and lay in bed. The standing fan whirred, sending gentle gusts of air over them. Summer nights were always noisier than other nights. Downstairs, someone had set up a stall selling salted, crispy chicken strips, and every now and then children from the residential compound came to buy some, chattering and making a racket.
After the chicken stall closed, there was the intermittent chirring of cicadas and the occasional drunken shouting of someone causing a scene.
Shao Wu turned onto his side, bringing his nose close to Yang Shuyi’s shoulder. He could smell the clean, fresh scent of soap on him.
“Can you take some time off the day after tomorrow?” Yang Shuyi suddenly asked. “Half a day is enough.”
Shao Wu had thought he was already asleep. The day after tomorrow was Thursday, May twelfth.
“Sure.” Shao Wu laughed a little. “To celebrate my birthday?”
“The model exhibition for my competition is the day after tomorrow,” Yang Shuyi said calmly, as though it were something of no importance. “I’ll take you to see it.”
“Oh… sure. Then I’ll take the afternoon off.” Shao Wu’s tone was equally calm.
Yang Shuyi murmured “Mm” and said nothing more. A little while later, his breathing grew deep and regular. He was asleep.
Just keep it bottled up, Shao Wu thought. Let’s see how long you can hold out.