On the first day of school, he got up early, while everyone else at home was still sleeping. He took his money pouch and left the house.

The money pouch was just a bag with a little bit of money he had saved up. However, after his mom casually using it and his classmates snatching it, plus normal expenses, there was very little money left in it.

He took out all the money in the hallway and counted it. There was less than 30 yuan. For him who rarely had any expenses, it was enough to use.

But he wasn't sure if it was enough for a haircut.

After all, he had never been to a barbershop in his life.

When he was little, his dad would just use a razor to shave his head bald. After starting school, he no longer shaved his head bald, but his dad would just take scissors and snip around his head. After third grade, his dad became very busy driving for this company and no one managed his hair anymore. Maybe because grandma and mom both had long hair, and grandpa was bald, they didn't know there was such a thing as getting a haircut.

From then until now, he always cut his own hair in front of the mirror. There was no design or anything, just using the standard of not covering his eyes or poking his neck. Usually no one looked at him anyway.

"I look at you every day." Yan Hang had said before.

He sighed, feeling a bit regretful for not getting a haircut earlier. Yan Hang never even got to see what he looked like after a haircut.

But it's okay, he planned to take a few selfies after the haircut to keep and show Yan Hang if there was a chance in the future.

...Would there still be a chance?

As he walked towards the street, he pondered what hairstyle to get. Yan Hang had said before not to cut it too short, as it would need frequent trims if too short.

Then he'll keep it a bit longer.

Actually, he had no concept of hairstyles, whether long or short.

However, after standing in front of two barbershops for a while, he discovered that compared to hairstyles, prices were the thing he had the least concept of.

68 yuan for a haircut!

The one for 48 yuan was considered cheap!

Robbery!

Were they using pure gold scissors?

Would he become an immortal after the haircut?

Although he initially felt that barbershops on the main street and in commercial plazas might have higher skill levels, in the end he still found an ordinary barbershop on a more remote small street.

The kind of shop where you could tell at a glance the hairstylists weren't returning from working in Hong Kong, and the hairstylists weren't named Tony or Kevin.

25 yuan.

Compared to the previous 48 and 68 yuan, this 25 yuan price looked very sweet.

Okay, this is the place.

"Shampoo or haircut?" A young woman asked him.

"...Haircut." He replied.

"Then let's shampoo first." The young woman said.

He felt a bit confused. Then what was the point of the previous question?

The young woman was very cool. She didn't say a word while shampooing, just kept grabbing at his head. She only asked three questions.

"Is the strength okay?"

He didn't hear clearly. So he didn't answer.

"Is the water too hot?"

He still didn't hear clearly.

"Should I keep massaging?"

He felt that this was probably his first time in a barbershop in this lifetime, and he was a bit overly nervous, so nervous that he lost his hearing.

In the end, when the young woman handed him over to the hairstylist, he suddenly realized what she had asked. But unfortunately, the time for the questions had passed.

The hairstylist was called Ah Chao.

Ah Chao was also silent. He picked up the scissors, grabbed his hair and snipped away.

He felt his eyes were so shocked they popped out. He quickly said: "Not too short."

"Mm." Ah Chao glanced at him through the mirror and continued snipping away very coldly.

He couldn't be bothered to say more. It was tiring to speak. No matter how ugly, it couldn't be worse than his own haircuts.

...He wondered if Yan Hang would have designed a hairstyle for him if he was here?

Yan Hang might have helped him design a very good-looking hairstyle.

Yan Hang's own hairstyle was very good-looking. Yan Hang's clothes were also very good-looking. Although they were basically super casual sportswear, Yan Hang made them look great. Yan Hang also used cologne. He was a very vain person.

Thinking about it inexplicably made him want to laugh. After a while, he felt he couldn't laugh anymore.

Depressing.

Yan Hang left.

All his imaginings of hanging out with Yan Hang this summer had come to nothing.

Before, he thought even if Yan Hang would leave, it would be after the summer vacation.

He stared blankly at the scissors in the mirror.

"Done." After snipping, shaving and trimming all over his head and even blow drying it, Ah Chao removed the cloth that had been tied around his neck the whole time.

He quickly stood up and looked at his head in the mirror.

Very...handsome.

It wasn't cut too short. There was some bangs on his forehead, much better than his self-mangled looks. He seemed very spirited and it wasn't the mushroom cut he hated, which 9 out of 10 vocational school boys sported that made him cringe whenever he saw it.  

He made note of Ah Chao's name, planning to request him again next time.

Stepping out of the barbershop, the wind blew by and he felt his whole body become lighter. For a long time now, his head had felt too heavy to lift each day.

Although there were only 3 yuan left in his pocket, he walked with a bounce in his step. After walking for a bit, he felt someone looking at him and became a little embarrassed, lowering his head.

There was no one by the riverside, but there were people in the river. Some workers were cleaning the mud and trash along the bank. The area where he and Yan Hang had looked for a pen was already cleaned up, the river water glimmering under the sunlight.  

Chu Yi stood there watching for a while before taking out his phone.

After resting for a few days, his phone had stopped randomly turning on by itself, but it had become sluggish, barely responsive. He grimaced while trying to take a selfie several times but didn't succeed.

Finally his phone went black. He kept pressing the power button repeatedly, feeling like he was giving it CPR.

But by the time he returned home, his phone still hadn't woken up.  

The atmosphere at home was still oppressive as usual. With his dad gone missing, it felt even more unbearable.  

His grandparents were actually alright. His grandma smoked and watched TV. His grandpa went out to play chess and chat about his son-in-law's murder case with other old men.  

It was mainly his mom.

Before the incident, she had been busy looking for a job. Afterwards, there were no more developments about her job search and she just sat at home spacing out every day.  

When he entered the door in the first year of middle school, his mom glanced over at him.  

He suddenly felt a bit nervous.

He had just spent 25 yuan to get a haircut at this time, which was something very likely to provoke anger.

"Oh, got a haircut," his mom said with a cold laugh as expected, "quite a waste of money."

Chu Yi didn't say anything and sat down at the small desk.  

"Squandering money like his dad," Grandma said. "We provide for your food, drink, and schooling, and with such a big thing happening in the family, you're still living quite extravagantly."

Chu Yi didn't listen closely to what else Grandma and his mom said, flipping open that small coil notebook, lost in thought as he stared at the words he wrote yesterday.

After quite a while, he turned his head: "I won't, go to, an ordinary high school."  

His mom was stunned, and Grandma also seemed to not react for a moment, glaring at him while pinching a melon seed.

"Won't go to, college either," Chu Yi said.  

"Talking long-term plans so confidently, can you even test in?" After coming back to her senses, Grandma continued cracking melon seeds.

His mom suddenly jumped up and rushed to the desk in two steps.  

Chu Yi swiftly lay prone on the desk hugging his head.

His mom's endless slap attack rained down on him at eight times the speed, the sounds blurring together to where you could barely make out that it was a slapping sound.  

Chu Yi gritted his teeth.  

His mom unleashed a storm of slaps on his head, shoulders, back, arms, and finally when she stopped, she asked: "What did you say?"

"I also won't test, into them," Chu Yi said. "Won't study anymore."

His mom seemed to have used up all her strength, turning around and heavily sitting back down on the sofa.

Chu Yi stood up straight, leaning against the chair as he continued staring at his notebook.  

The only sound in the room was the TV.

He didn't know how much time passed when Chu Yi opened the drawer, took out the cell phone he had hidden inside, and walked in front of his mom.  

When his mom saw clearly that he was holding a cell phone, her eyes widened.

"Trade with you," Chu Yi said. "Yours to me, you use this one."

"Where'd you get it?" his mom asked.  

"Must be from Er Ping!" Grandma snapped as she threw down a melon seed shell. "Who else could it be!"

"Throw it away for me!" His mom reached out to snatch it.  

Chu Yi quickly pulled his hand back. "My phone is broken."

His mom stared at him, her entire face gloomy as if a typhoon red alert was swirling over it.  

"If you don't use it I'll, I'll use it," Chu Yi said.  

His mom kept staring at him.  

Chu Yi waited for a bit, then turned around and went back to the desk. He took out his old phone, took out the card and put it into the new phone, then turned it on.  

After seeing the home screen, he put the phone back in his pocket and stuffed the old one in the drawer. After all, it was given to him by his dad.  

He couldn't bear to throw it away.

The room was still silent. Chu Yi didn't take the phone back out to go find a place to take selfies.  

From saying he didn't want to go to an ordinary high school to taking out the phone to now, he had basically used up all his courage. Now other than nervousness and unease, he didn't have any other emotions.

His whole person seemed to have collapsed.

He slumped onto the table, closing his eyes.

It wasn't until Grandpa came back from playing chess outside near dinnertime that there was finally some sound in the house.

"Is dinner ready? I'm starving," Grandpa said.

"Then starve," Mom said.

"Did you eat gunpowder?" Grandpa said, "Is this little thing worth it? You're all acting like you're about to die. Worst case, you remarry. Is he the only man in the world?"

"Why aren't you dead yet?" Grandma said.

"It's still too early!" Grandpa said.

Chu Yi stood up, went into the kitchen, opened the fridge to look, and took out some meat and vegetables, along with a big bag of steamed buns.

He started steaming the buns, and as he was cutting the meat, Yan Hang's hands flashed before his eyes.

The fingers looked long and strong, handling ingredients as if dancing, every small movement making one want to watch it on repeat.

He sighed softly.

Suddenly, he missed Yan Hang terribly, for no apparent reason.

He didn't even miss his dad as much; towards his dad, he felt more anger and worry.

But he missed Yan Hang.

Many times he would unconsciously think of Yan Hang, want to be by Yan Hang's side. Just a casual word from Yan Hang could make him relax.

Although in the days without Yan Hang, he had been living just like this.

But Yan Hang appeared and then disappeared, and everything changed. Things he used to be able to endure, to bear, to suppress and never think about again, gradually became sharp.

Having and then losing, this was what he feared most.

He didn't know if he was being too selfish, that more than wanting to find his dad, he wanted to find Yan Hang.

For dinner, he casually stir-fried two dishes. After the family silently finished eating, Chu Yi went out.

He understood his mom well enough. After hitting him, she hadn't paid any attention to him, and this state might last for a long time - days, months, even a year or two wasn't impossible.

He sighed softly.

He had experienced too little in life, not knowing that once some changes occur, it's a chain reaction, stirring up waves far bigger than he could imagine. Any wave could easily overwhelm his height of just...

One meter fifty-eight?

Chu Yi stood on the measuring device in the boxing gym, looking at the numbers on it.

How sad, Chu Yi!

Isn't two meters a bit too far away?

"Coming alone today?" someone asked behind him, "Your uncle didn't come with you?"

Chu Yi quickly covered the numbers with his hand before turning around, seeing it was a coach from the gym who had chatted well with Uncle Yan before.

Uncle Yan was a magical person, seeming able to chat with anyone as long as he wanted to.

"Mm," Chu Yi responded, "From now on it's just, just me alone."

"I see," the coach smiled, "Then you can..."

Chu Yi knew what the coach meant. The gym offered individual coaching sessions.

But.

"I don't have, money," he answered honestly.

"Ah," the coach laughed, "No worries, then just practice on your own. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask us."

"Thank you." He smiled a bit.

Uncle Yan hadn't taught him for long, but had taught him some basics and told him the general direction for practice. He just needed to follow these to practice.

"You don't have to train to become a boxer," Uncle Yan said, "Doing this over time will improve your reaction speed and strength. It will definitely give you an advantage if you get into a fight with someone. You see how fast Yan Hang's reactions are. And he grew taller too."  

Chu Yi stood in front of the punching bag, earnestly recalling every word Uncle Yan had said. He followed the instructions closely with every punch that landed on the bag.  

With each blow, he felt an exhilaration he had never experienced before. Although his body still ached from injuries, he no longer felt the pain of his muscles stretching. All he sensed was the sweat, his breathing, and that one loud "bang" when strength erupted from him.  

The coach came over twice, probably because he was hitting with too much gusto and his form had gone askew. The coach corrected the angle of his punches.  

After an hour, Chu Yi leaned against the punching bag and stopped.

He watched two people sparring nearby.  

They were decent, but still not as good as Yan Hang.  

"I'll just clean up and tidy things in the evening, okay? Ask if that works," a young woman in the gym's uniform talked on her phone as she walked past him. "The former cleaning lady said she has to cook and look after her grandkids at night. It's really hard to find someone for the evening shift..."

Chu Yi turned his head, his heart stirred.  

He watched as the young woman finished her call and went to the front desk before mustering up the courage to approach her.  

"Excuse me," he said softly. "I'd like to ask, to ask..."

"Yes?" The young woman looked at him.

"Are you looking for someone to clean, in the evenings?" Chu Yi asked.

"Yes," she replied. "From 7pm to 10:30pm. Mainly sweeping, mopping, and keeping the changing rooms and showers clean. Are you referring someone?"

"I," Chu Yi hesitated, speaking softly. "Would I work?"

"You?" The young woman was taken aback. She turned to glance at another older girl before looking back at him. "Are you looking for a summer job?"

"Mm," Chu Yi nodded slightly.  

The young woman seemed confused, likely because she had never encountered this situation before. "We've never hired summer help here. And we usually get laid-off older women to do the cleaning..."

"What's going on?" The coach from earlier walked over.  

"Well, we're trying to hire an older lady to clean at nights," the young woman gestured at Chu Yi. "But this young boy would like the job instead."

The coach looked at Chu Yi in surprise: "Aren't you here to box?"

"No, just watching." Chu Yi was a little nervous.  

He didn't have the confidence Yan Hang had. Yan Hang had been through a lot, traveling far and wide, even picking up fluent English along the way. He could easily find a job just by taking his ID as Yan Jiu Dao. But Chu Yi didn't have that ability.  

"Wait, is your..." The older girl suddenly looked at him. "Is your dad the one who... There was a murder near our home recently..."

Chu Yi instantly deflated. This gym was four subway stops away from home, yet he still managed to run into someone from the neighborhood.  

"What?" The coach asked, looking at her.

"There was a murder around our place not long ago," the girl said hesitantly.  

"I..." Chu Yi turned to walk towards the exit. "Nevermind."

"The evening job is pretty tiring. You'd have to wait until everyone's done showering before you can clean the bathrooms. You'd probably finish very late," the coach called out from behind. "Can you handle it?"

Chu Yi whipped around immediately. "I can."

"Register him," the coach told the young woman. "We haven't found anyone else anyway."  

"Alright," she nodded.

Chu Yi looked at the coach in surprise. "Really?"

"That's the boss," the young woman said. "If he says you can do it, then you definitely can!"

After finishing his last set of barbell squats, Yan Hang sat up and watched Cui Yi mess around with parallel bars nearby.  

"That doctor you've been seeing the past two months," Cui Yi spoke while pushing himself up. "How's it going?"

"Are you showing off that you can still talk without panting?" Yan Hang said.  

"Answer the question," Cui Yi jumped down and sat next to him.

"It's going okay," Yan Hang replied. "I've been following the doctor's advice to make adjustments and taking all my meds."

"You'll need her clearance before you can start working again," Cui Yi said. "I've already spoken to the hotel. You can start anytime."  

"Isn't that a bit too much for me?" Yan Hang asked.  

"How much can a server be?" Cui Yi laughed. "One more or less doesn't make a difference there. Just listen to me."

"Mm," Yan Hang lay back down on the bench, ready to train some more.  

He used to mainly go running. His dad would have to drag him to the gym for him to drop by occasionally. Now, visiting three times a week with Cui Yi - he wasn't sure if it was due to boredom or because he missed his dad.

"I got your library card ready," Cui Yi said. "Go read books whenever you want."  

"Thanks," Yan Hang smiled. "Really."  

"You're so polite I don't even know how to respond," Cui Yi laughed.

Yan Hang just smiled without replying.  

After leaving the gym, Cui Yi couldn't resist taking him out for skewers.  

"Eating like this right after working out," Yan Hang said as he ate. "What was the point of the last two hours then?"

"Mainly psychological satisfaction," Cui Yi replied.  

When they exited the restaurant and waited for Cui Yi to get the car, Yan Hang stretched lazily.  

His body felt a little tired but his mood was decent.  

Emerging from darkness once more, he mused to himself.  

As he glanced back at the skewer restaurant's signage, he suddenly thought of Chu Yi.  

He remembered their post-run midnight snacks of barbecue takeout... Chu Yi could really eat.

He smiled to himself and took out his phone, snapping a picture of the barbecue sign.  

After hesitating for a long time, he finally just posted it on Weibo without reading any comments.  

He was actually somewhat afraid to see comments marveling at his "return" as a missing person, even lighthearted ones. It would make him feel melancholy.  

It would make him inevitably think of Chu Yi.

Summer break was almost over. What was Chu Yi up to?

Was Liang Bing still bothering him?  

Were his classmates gossiping?

How were things at home?

When Chu Yi got home, there would be the usual silence. Nowadays he came back late every day, so everyone was asleep. That was good.  

He took a shower and sat down at his desk, opening up the small spiral notebook.

There were already several messy pages written. He slowly flipped through them. Some he no longer knew what he was trying to express, while he could still recall the feelings behind others.

- A Chu Yi with a job

- The girls' shower room is much cleaner than the boys'

- My shoulders are so sore

- My legs hurt, my side kick isn't powerful enough

- Yan Hang Yan Hang Yan Hang Yan Hang

- I'll have money soon  

- 166.5cm???? Chu Yi has grown????

- School is starting soon, haven't done my homework haven't haven't

- Yan Hang Yan Hang Yan Yan Yan Jidao

- Found a spotted rock today

- There's a wasp nest above the tree hollow!!!

He didn't know when this wasp nest appeared. It wasn't there last week when he went, but when he spoke there yesterday the wasps overheard everything.  

He sighed and picked up his pen.  

- Dreamed about Yan Hang yesterday

Feeling a little embarrassed after writing this, he put down his pen and took out his phone.  

He randomly tapped the screen a couple times, originally wanting to open a game to play. But when it loaded, he realized he had opened WeChat Moments instead.

Yan Hang was still silent without a trace.  

The chat box still quietly held the new haircut photo he had sent last month.  

He had taken selfies for nearly two hours until his phone died before finally picking one.  

After sending it to Yan Hang he waited a long time, constantly opening WeChat in fear of missing a notification tone, but there was still no response from Yan Hang's end.  

The only thing letting him breathe easy was that Yan Hang hadn't blocked him or deleted him.

After staring at Yan Hang's name for a while, he opened Weibo.  

The system had forcibly recommended some new follows for New Year's Day again. He stubbornly deleted them one by one, leaving only Brother Xingtian.

Just as he was about to exit, his eyes swept over Brother Xingtian's name again.  

Then he grabbed his phone and abruptly stood up.  

His heart was beating intensely. If his throat had more room his heart would've leapt up to his crown, and he was also a little short of breath.  

The latest content under Brother Xingtian's name had changed!  

Brother Xingtian updated Weibo!

When he tapped on Brother Xingtian's name, Chu Yi's hand shook like he had grabbed an electric fence.  

There was no WiFi at home, and the mobile data signal wasn't great. After entering Brother Xingtian's Weibo, it was just blank, perpetually loading.  

Holding up his phone, he ran to the kitchen and climbed onto the counter, sticking half his body out the window before the content finally loaded.

Not a single word.  

But just one photo was already making him want to scream.

The photo showed a barbecue restaurant sign with just four characters: Little Li Barbecue.  

Little Li! Barbecue!

Shaking, he enlarged the photo and looked over every centimeter, wanting to find something related to Yan Hang.  

But there was no success.  

The photo was pretty clear, but it was just a sign with nothing else. If it were a storefront window he might've been able to find Yan Hang's shadow in the glass, but it was just a sign.

Crouching on the counter, he looked back and forth at the photo several more times.  

The photo was posted over a week ago. Chu Yi felt somewhat downcast, it had been so long yet he was only seeing it now!

There were already several hundred comments below!  

Do these girls have nothing better to do!

Chu Yi opened the comments and carefully read them one by one.  

From the first to the last, he didn't find anyone who knew where this was.

Little Li Barbecue.  

With such a mediocre name, there was surely more than one in every city, even if it were called Little Chu Barbecue...