Chapter 63 – So We Will Get Married
Nancheng was notorious for winters that bit and summers that baked. Not exactly a city made for comfort.
During finals week the heat spiked. As Hu Pang patrolled the exam rooms, he found students limp and listless. The tests were hard this time, and sweat had clumped in patches at many temples, faces twisted in pain.
That would not do. As soon as finals ended, Hu Pang went to the principal to talk.
So on report-card day, students saw a huge batch of air conditioners stacked under the stilted ground floor, waiting to be installed.
After getting their scores, everyone was herded back out to the field to line up and bake in the sun for a meeting. By the time Hu Pang finished rattling off summer-safety reminders from the shade of the podium, it was nearly eleven.
That hour was too late to go anywhere fun. After standing in the sun that long, nobody felt like going home to nap either. So after some discussion, they headed to a cheap, tasty little restaurant near school.
Yu Fan still had not fully woken up and had spent over an hour roasting in the sun. His whole face had soured. After sitting down he leaned his arm against the person next to him and said little.
It was strange. They were in the same room, but for some reason Chen Jing Shen’s arm always felt a little cooler than his.
“Holy! did you see that pile of AC units downstairs? When did Hu Pang get so generous?” Wang Lu’an exclaimed around a mouthful of braised pork.
Zuo Kuan said, “Should’ve done it ages ago. I keep waking up from the heat in class.”
“Swallow before you talk,” Zhang Xianjing said with a grimace. “Anyway, did you notice all the small boxes stacked beside the ACs? Know what those are?”
“What?” Wang Lu’an gulped.
“Cameras,” Zhang Xianjing said. “Ting-bao dropped homework off at the office the other day and heard teachers say the lower floors of the lab building will be turned into offices, so all the cameras are being replaced, and classrooms without cameras are getting them too. Do not say I didn’t warn you. No smoking in the lab building next term.”
The one who had been eating with his head down paused and looked up.
Chen Jing Shen glanced at him and filled his empty glass with water.
“Perfect, I was going to quit like Yu Fan anyway. My dad found a lighter in my bag the other day and almost killed me…” Wang Lu’an said, chastened. Then something else came to mind and he looked across the table. “But Zhu Xu, what about you and your girlfriend? Now you two have no place to go on dates.”
Zhu Xu was usually lively; today he was gloomy and quiet.
At that, his mouth trembled. He suddenly raised a hand. “Waiter, two beers!”
Wang Lu’an: “?”
“Why are you drinking at noon? Did you bomb the exams…”
“Come on, he’s PE. Who cares about grades?” Zuo Kuan took a sip of cola. “He got dumped.”
Wang Lu’an froze. “Huh? Why?”
“Got caught by a teacher,” Zuo said.
“Didn’t your homeroom teacher find out before? You didn’t break up then.”
“She had a string of bad scores on big tests. This time she almost fell below the top two hundred. Plus her parents…” He shrugged. “Anyway, she told him it was over.”
Zhu Xu went from just low to covering his eyes.
“F***,” said Zuo Kuan, slinging an arm over his shoulder at once. “It’s not that deep. Breakups happen. You still have us.”
“Yeah. You’ll find someone better,” Wang Lu’an added quickly. “If she dumped you, that’s her bad taste.”
Zhang Xianjing handed over a tissue. “Quit crying. If you really like her, chase her after graduation.”
“Thanks.” In a sleeveless shirt, his solid PE muscles on display, Zhu Xu looked a bit comical dabbing his eyes.
He choked. “Forget it. Her grades are so good. She’ll get into a great school and land a great job. I’m not even top tier on the PE team… It’s on me. If I had grades like the top student’s, we could help each other out and the teachers and parents wouldn’t be so against it.”
All eyes turned at once.
Chen Jingshen lifted his gaze to meet Wang Lu’an’s “say something to comfort him” look. After a brief silence, he forced out, “It’s not too late to start now.”
“Exactly!” Wang Lu’an slapped his thigh. “Also, how many people actually end up with their first love? Even if you’re the top student, give it some time and you might be just like Zhu Xu. There’s a saying, first love is for reminiscing… oh sh***—”
A full pack of tissues smacked him in the face. He fumbled to catch it, then stared at the one who had thrown it. “What was that for?”
Yu Fan said, “Don’t jinx people.”
Wang Lu’an realized and winced. “Oh, damn… sorry, top student. My mouth runs ahead of my brain.”
Then he frowned. “But the top student didn’t get mad. Why are you the one snapping?”
“Am I?” Yu Fan asked, lids tight, face dark.
“I can get you a mirror.”
“Enough,” Zuo Kuan cut in. “The top student might not even be dating for the first time.”
Wang Lu’an borrowed a mirror from Zhang Xianjing, held it up to Yu Fan. “Here. Check how scary you look—”
Yu Fan scowled, just about to throw another packet of tissues, when the person beside him said, “It is the first time.”
Yu Fan: “…”
“But I will not break up withallowing gender to remain ambiguous in speech.
So basically here, no one bats an eye that he says “him” or “his”.
Any gender neutral will be italized, moving forward. him
“…”
“Cough—koff, koff!” After covertly observing them for a while, Zhang Xianjing choked on her milk tea and erupted in a coughing fit.
Everyone else at the table was stunned into silence by that line. Even Zhu Xu stopped crying and stared at Chen Jing Shen.
Wang Lu’an came to first and patted Zhang Xianjing’s back. “You good, Sis Jing?”
She coughed for ages behind her hand and finally forced out, “…I’m fine.”
Wang Lu’an started to offer another tissue, then noticed the brother across from him had his head down, and his exposed ear was redder than Zhang Xianjing’s face.
Once fed and watered, they plotted to drag Zhu Xu out of heartbreak by spending the next 24 hours destroying noobs in Summoner’s Rift.
Yu Fan refused flatly. He saw them into the internet cafe from the restaurant door, then tugged on Chen Jing Shen’s sleeve. “Come back with me.”
Yu Fan said nothing the whole walk home. His head was still hot, looping back to the nonsense Chen Jing Shen had dropped at the table.
Just now he had been uncharacteristically scared. Scared of being found out. Scared someone would hear. Scared people would know Chen Jing Shen was gay. But beneath the fear was a taut, secretive rush. It flared from the two words Chen had said.
Truth was, it had gone to his head.
Only when they reached his familiar slum, when he dragged Chen Jing Shen into his room and turned the lock, did that hard coil in him start to unwind.
There were so many summer worksheets that one hand could barely hold them. He dumped them all on the desk and was about to pull the curtain.
“Called me over to do papers?” came the mild voice behind him. “I did the math. Two a day or we won’t finish.”
“…”
Yu Fan toed a chair. “Do your own. You can use the desk.”
He started for the balcony and was pulled back by the arm.
He raised a hand to push away the face leaning down. His own face never changed. “Chen Jingshen, you’re pushing it.”
Chen laughed under his breath, kissed his hand, and got yanked down by the jaw.
The yellow curtain did not block the sun. Midday light seeped through thin cloth, laying a warm wash over old furniture. Freshly issued worksheets lay on the desk. Each time the fan swung by, it rattled the pages. Two packets began to overlap in the draft.
Yu Fan’s back hit the edge of the bed, the wall behind him ice cold while Chen kissed him until his head tipped back again and again.
He was ticklish. When his shirt hem was lifted he arched by reflex, trying to dodge, only to discover how compromised his position was.
They were seated face to face, his legs stretched and resting on Chen’s thighs. When Chen pressed a palm to his knee, he could not move at all.
“Chen Jingshen,” he turned his face, gritting his teeth, “touch me again and I’ll bite you.”
Chen laughed, breath warm on his jaw as he lowered his head to kiss the Adam’s apple. Yu Fan swallowed and shut his eyes, cursing in his head.
Afraid he would catch a chill, Chen reached out mid-way to turn the fan down. As the drone softened, other sounds sharpened.
Finals prep had burned away most of their fire these days. They only kissed now and then and never too deep. So when he saw, from the corner of his eye, Chen’s hand go for the elastic of his track pants, Yu Fan’s brain shorted.
The line from his neck to his hairline flushed. He still did not dare look, just rested his head against Chen’s shoulder like an ostrich, bent halfway over.
After being denied the last bit of relief several times, Yu Fan could not take it. He lifted his head and snarled, “Chen Jingshen! You F***… if you don’t want your thumb, I’ll chop it off for you!”
Chen let him go, eyes lowered with the thinnest hint of a smile.
Yu Fan opened his mouth to keep cursing and got shut up again. Chen brushed their noses together and rasped, “Mm. I like it when you curse me.”
“…”
F***ing pervert.
When they were done, Chen started to get up to wash his hands. An arm looped his neck and hauled him back.
They were pressed close. Yu Fan held him, boneless on his shoulder. “Wait, Chen Jingshen.”
“For what?”
“Give me two minutes,” Yu Fan said, face blazing, eyes shut and voice rough. “…I’ll return the favor.”
…
They dawdled the whole afternoon and did not finish a single paper.
Homework could wait. They decided to go out for dinner.
The old street outside Yu Fan’s place was full of tiny joints and carts. They wandered and picked a barbecue place that perfumed the block.
Chen bought two bottles of water. As soon as he sat down, something cracked against his thigh.
Yu Fan’s knee was jammed against his leg. He held an empty skewer. “Talk. Which finger do you want cut off first.”
A second later, Chen’s hand slid into view, palm open, lazy. “Pick one.”
“…” Yu Fan slapped his hand away without changing expression.
The boss lady came over with a metal tray piled with skewers. After setting it down she gave them a quick once-over. Then she turned and shouted, “Old man!”
From the back kitchen came the boss’s head. “What!”
“Light the mosquito coils!” she yelled. “The customer’s neck is going to be eaten alive!”
After she left, Chen tilted his head. His boyfriend had already pulled the collar of his shirt back so only the shortest bit of neck showed.
Yu Fan had barely eaten at noon, too keyed up by what Chen had said. At dinner he ate more than usual. When the satisfying heaviness settled in his stomach, he leaned back and was about to call for the check.
The boss lady walked over again and set several big chicken wings on their table.
“Wait,” Yu Fan frowned. “We didn’t order those.”
“Oh, right. A man ordered them for you,” she said, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling at Yu Fan. “He said he is your dad.”
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