"No." Chu Yi answered.

Once a secret is discovered by others, it's no longer a secret.

The tree hole was seen by Yan Hang, so the secrets inside were no longer secrets.

Although he couldn't remember exactly what secrets were in there.

They were all just trivial matters, insignificant like him in the eyes of others.

"Do you have to say it out loud?" Yan Hang leaned against the tree trunk and peered into the hole.

Chu Yi was a bit unhappy that Yan Hang was going to occupy his exclusive tree hole, but still nodded: "I, I do say it out loud."

Yan Hang probably wouldn't be interested in his shabby tree hole. After playing with it once, he would likely lose interest, unlike him, a dimwit, who would come here to mutter to himself when he had nothing to do.

"I'm so bored." Yan Hang said into the hole.

The tree hole was a bit low even for Chu Yi. For Yan Hang to talk into the hole, he had to stand with his legs apart in a horse stance, which looked quite funny.

But Chu Yi held back his laughter. If he laughed, Yan Hang might get upset, and he didn't want to make anyone unhappy.

Yan Hang touched the edge of the tree hole and then looked at his hand, probably checking if the hole was dirty.

This action made Chu Yi a little embarrassed, like when a guest comes to your home and first touches the chair.

He had never considered this issue before. Was the mouth of the tree hole dirty or not?

He secretly raised his hand and touched his own face. He really hadn't paid attention to that.

Yan Hang glanced at him: "Your face isn't dirty."

"Oh." Chu Yi smiled.

"Are you done confiding?" Yan Hang asked.

"There will be time in the future." Chu Yi said.

"You're quite interesting," Yan Hang also smiled, "Let me ask you, if I keep going down this road, will I reach the main street?"

"Yes." Chu Yi said.

"How much further?" Yan Hang asked again.

"Don't know," Chu Yi thought for a moment, "Five minutes if you run."

"If I run?" Yan Hang sighed, "Okay, at what speed then?"

"The speed," Chu Yi said, "of running for your life."

Yan Hang didn't say anything and stared at him.

Chu Yi also didn't speak. Yan Hang had very strong combat skills. Chu Yi didn't even have time to see clearly how he dealt with Li Zihao and the others. Someone like Yan Hang probably couldn't understand what it meant to run at the speed of running for your life.

"Save my number and add me as a friend," Yan Hang thought for a moment and took out his phone, "You can find me if you need anything."

Chu Yi didn't respond. He felt Yan Hang was a bit strange.

In his memory, he seemed to have never encountered a stranger who would take the initiative to befriend him like this without the intention of further humiliating him.

"What's wrong?" Yan Hang looked at him, "You don't have a phone?"

"I do." Chu Yi hesitated.

"Have you developed a shadow from being bullied," Yan Hang narrowed his eyes impatiently, "If I wanted to snatch your phone, would I need to ask you to take it out? I could take your phone, clothes, and that pack of cigarettes in less than three minutes."

Yan Hang's attitude made him a bit nervous, so he quickly took out his phone.

"I'll scan you." Yan Hang tapped a few times on his phone.

"Mm." Chu Yi pressed his phone once.

Then the two of them silently stared at the black screen of the phone together.

After five seconds, Yan Hang couldn't help but speak: "I don't usually ask people this..."

Do you have some kind of intellectual deficiency?

"Wait." Chu Yi rubbed his nose.

"Wait for what?" Yan Hang said, "Wait for you to communicate with your phone telepathically?"

"Mm," Chu Yi nodded seriously. Just as Yan Hang was about to turn and leave, his phone screen lit up, "It's on."

"...Using telepathy?" Yan Hang asked.

"Awe-, Awesome, right?" Chu Yi glanced up at him.

Yan Hang didn't say anything.

Chu Yi tapped the WeChat icon on the home screen.

Yan Hang held his phone over, ready to scan, but again fell into waiting.

Five seconds later, the WeChat interface appeared. Then after another ten seconds, Yan Hang retracted his phone that was ready to scan and crossed his arms, watching Chu Yi and his phone communicating telepathically.

The screen changed. Chu Yi tapped it and waited. Finally, he got the QR code to show up.

Yan Hang sighed, held his already-locked phone over to scan it: "Time to change your phone."

"It still works," Chu Yi smiled, looking at the phone, "Xing, Xing, Xing..."

"Xingtian." Yan Hang finished for him.

"Sounds nice." Chu Yi said.

Yan Hang glanced at Chu Yi's nickname, just a simple "1". If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't even see it. He wanted to politely compliment back but didn't know where to start.

"How about we run for our lives and see what kind of speed it is." Yan Hang put his phone back in his pocket.

"I'm going home." Chu Yi said, shaking the bag in his hand.

This suggestion made it seem like what he had just said to the tree hole was his true feelings. Yan Hang was probably really bored.

Yan Hang looked at the bag and tsk-ed: "Am I seeing this right? Even little kids are smoking now, buying a whole pack."

"Errand." Chu Yi said.

"Buying it for your grandma?" Yan Hang asked. After thinking, he gave a thumbs up, "Your grandma has a lot of character."

Chu Yi didn't say anything, feeling unhappy.

"You go back," Yan Hang waved his hand, "I'm going to run for my life."

Chu Yi turned around with the bag. After walking a few steps, Yan Hang's voice came again: "Do a lot of people usually jog on this road?"

Chu Yi turned his head: "No one."

"Why? The environment is quite..." Yan Hang was running sideways and looking back to talk. Before he finished, he suddenly swayed, probably stepping into a hole. He staggered a few steps, "What the hell?"

"Because," Chu Yi looked at him, "you'll fall."

Because there are no lights, the river water stinks, the road is broken, and there are rumors of ghosts.

There were many reasons, but Chu Yi couldn't express himself as freely as he thought. He usually chose short words.

"Alright, you go, go." Yan Hang was probably quite depressed. He continued running forward while moving his ankle.

Chu Yi, out of old habit, walked slowly along the foot of the wall with his head down. When he reached downstairs, a car behind him honked.

Although he felt that he couldn't possibly be blocking the way in his position, he still moved to the side, his shoulder hitting the wall.

"Puppy!" Someone called his nickname. Chu Yi turned around and saw a white car behind him. The passenger window was rolled down, revealing a round, smiling face.

"Auntie," he walked over.

Auntie was Er Ping, not his real aunt, but his mother's cousin. Grandma was Auntie's real aunt.

However, the two families had never gotten along well. Grandma and Auntie's mother would argue whenever they met, and Auntie and his mom had fought since they were young. But Chu Yi quite liked her.

"I was just about to call you to come out," Auntie got out of the car, "Where did you go?"

Chu Yi shook the bag in his hand.

"Buying cigarettes for your grandma again?" Auntie said.

Chu Yi nodded.

"Come on, get in the car." Auntie opened the rear door and patted his shoulder.

Chu Yi climbed into the car and greeted Auntie's husband who was driving.

"Has Puppy grown taller? Seems taller than during Chinese New Year," Auntie's husband said.

"Ill-illusion," Chu Yi said.

"He is a bit taller. Starting junior year next semester. Boys shoot up around this time," Auntie also got in the car and took out a box from her bag to hand to him, "Here, a gift from your auntie."

Without opening it, Chu Yi knew it was a cell phone.

During Chinese New Year, Auntie had said she would give him a phone. His mom had a fight with her over this on the fourth day, thinking Auntie was insulting her, while Auntie thought his mom had issues.

"Take it and use it," Auntie said, "If your mom asks, say I gave it to you. If she smashes it, tell me and I'll buy you another one."

"Thanks A-auntie," Chu Yi said.

"You're welcome. Auntie just wants you to be like other kids," Auntie looked at him and sighed, "What a sin."

Chu Yi glanced out the car window. Usually Auntie would chat with him longer, but today, since he had gone out to buy cigarettes and stopped by the tree hollow to talk with Yan Hang for a bit, he had already exceeded the normal time by quite a lot. He was afraid if he didn't return soon, Grandma would explode.

But Auntie had just arrived. If he said he needed to go now, he was worried Auntie would be unhappy.

This dilemma made him feel helpless as he lightly picked at the phone box.

"Go on back," Auntie said, "You just came out to buy cigarettes. If you're late getting back, your grandma will go crazy again."

"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.

When he got back downstairs, he first stopped by the trash can to unwrap the phone box. He took out the phone and accessories, stuffed them in his pockets, threw away the box, and only then entered the building.

As soon as he opened the door, Grandma's voice burst out from the crack: "An old lady with bound feet could make a round trip to the crematorium faster than you!"

"May, maybe not," Chu Yi muttered.

"What did you say!" Grandma came over holding the dog.

"Nothing." Chu Yi quickly raised a hand to protect his head while handing over the bag with the cigarettes with his other hand.

Grandma took the cigarettes, turned to walk a few steps, then turned back. "Where's the change! Trying to pocket my money, huh!"

Chu Yi pointed at the bag, "Inside."

Grandma was probably in a hurry to smoke and didn't continue scolding him. She threw the dog on the ground and left.

The dog was old. Tossed to the ground by Grandma, it couldn't stand steady and rolled to the wall.

Chu Yi went over, picked it up and put it back in its bed, and rubbed its paws.

"Pour a glass of water," his mom said behind him.

Chu Yi got up to wash his hands and poured a glass of water for his mom.

"Do your homework," his mom glanced at him, "If you get another 20 points on the midterm, I'll frame it and put it on the wall."

Chu Yi didn't say anything. He sat down at his desk and turned on the lamp.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Although he didn't like going to school or doing homework, at home, sitting here was his favorite, the only territory that completely belonged to him.

When the light was on, any unhappiness, tension or fear around him disappeared.

There were no rules at home about when he should sleep. He usually waited until both Grandma and Grandpa's snores were done before going to bed.

Today Grandpa had gone to stay at his eldest aunt's home, so Grandma's snores sounded a bit thin, lacking the usual vigor.

Chu Yi took out the phone. Auntie had been very generous, but he didn't dare use this phone at all.

If he dared take it out, his mom would spot it with one glance.

His mom always looked at people's phones first when she saw them, and would casually ask, "Is it an Apple?"

In his mom's view, only Apple counted as a phone. Pears, bananas, sugarcane were all junk.

Chu Yi took out his own phone, pried out the SIM card, and put it in the new phone.

When turning it on, he suddenly thought of something. He jumped up, covering the phone against his belly, and ran into the bathroom. He waited for a long time before realizing there was no startup sound.

Although he wasn't used to it, this phone was very easy to use. Chu Yi squatted in the bathroom fiddling with the phone.

The previous phone was a hand-me-down from his dad. It had already been used for three years before being passed to him, and he had it for over a year. He tried his best to treat that phone like an ancestor, but still couldn't stop it from entering the stage of telepathic communication.

Squatting was a bit tiring. Chu Yi sat on the floor and after some time, managed to open WeChat.

The speed was whoosh whoosh.

He looked at Moments. The newest few posts were from classmates. He never participated in discussions. His classmates had probably forgotten they had him as a friend.

He rarely looked at Moments, but today he kept scrolling down, maybe because the phone was too responsive and he couldn't stop.

He even saw a post his mom had made in the afternoon.

A few photos, all of handbags, clearly taken on display racks in a store. They were taken clearly. Even a bumpkin like him could recognize they were LV.

There was also a line of text.

-Guess how much these few bags cost?

Chu Yi sighed. This post was definitely restricted. At least his mom's most hated Er Ping's family was hidden from it.

But it still made him feel awkward.

So he quickly scrolled down.

Xing Tian.

He stopped. Only then did he realize that the continuously scrolling down wasn't because the phone was too responsive.

-time is slipping away but i could not even seize a second.

This post's content in Yan Hang's Moments was simply like it had traversed from another world. Chu Yi stared at this English sentence, somewhat shocked.

He clicked into Yan Hang's album.

Yan Hang posted to Moments at a frequency of about once per day, but he only saw the second post.

-my solitude pervades the sky when night falls

He didn't look closely at the content below, just glanced over it.

Then he exited and held the phone, feeling a bit dazed.

Yan Hang's WeChat Moments were actually all in English, without a single Chinese character.

Very high-class.

Much classier than Li Zihao and the others.

After fiddling with the phone for a while, Chu Yi switched the SIM card back to his old phone and hid this new phone in the deepest part of his desk drawer.

Yan Hang ran along the river path halfway before turning into a small alley that intersected it.

There were no street lights before, so he just ran while stepping into potholes. Now that there were finally lights, he saw a pile of garbage by the riverbank that was almost enough to complete the task of filling in the river to create land.

He could roughly understand why no one came here to jog. In a couple months when the weather got hot, who knows what the smell would be like.

Chu Yi actually picked a tree hole in this kind of place, quite creative.

For someone who had been bullied for a long time, this kind of place where no one would come was the safest.

After running out of the alley, he got lost.

He was standing on a small street he had never seen in the many days since moving here, fortunately he hadn't run very far, so even if he was lost, this place shouldn't be too far from where he lived.

He took out his phone and opened the navigation app, looking at the map.

At a glance, he found the way back.

You could say that for someone like him who could read maps at age five and had followed his dad to countless unfamiliar cities, towns and even villages, it would be very difficult to get lost. But somehow he would get lost every time he went to a new place.

Perhaps it was because of this.

Many times, before he had a three-dimensional understanding of a new environment, he would leave again. After a long time, he no longer tried to familiarize himself with new environments.

In any case, he would leave, so if he got lost then he got lost. In any case, he would forget, so if he didn't remember then he didn't remember.

When he got home, he saw the lights were on, so his dad should be back.

But out of habit, he still cautiously asked while opening the door: "Old Yan?"

"Mwah." His dad's voice came from inside.

Yan Hang pushed open the door. His dad was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Have you eaten?" he asked, smelling the familiar scent of alcohol at the same time. "Injured?"

"Yeah," his dad raised his arm. "Haven't eaten. Can you whip something up? Like beef short ribs or something."

His arm could still move, so the injury mustn't be serious.

"You dare to request that," Yan Hang took off his coat and opened the fridge. "Or should I return you that 154 yuan card and you can order it yourself?"

"That bit of spare change isn't enough to order anything." His dad stretched and slumped back on the sofa.

"Noodles then?" Yan Hang said. "I bought some pasta. I'll make you a beef short rib flavored pasta?"

"Okay," his dad nodded. "Our prince's cooking skills can make even boiled water fragrant. After all, he's a future master chef preparing to enter the Western culinary industry."

"Sounds like you're cursing at me." Yan Hang took the ingredients into the kitchen.

Yan Hang's cooking skills were indeed quite good. He was very clear about this even without his dad saying so.

His dad had said you should dare to face your strengths. Real strengths don't need affirmation from others, just be proud of yourself.

Yan Hang turned on the gas stove and started making the pasta.

His dad had said many things that sounded crazy, but he remembered every word he needed to remember.

He was a very obedient prince.

Yan Hang sighed softly.

The landlord had left a full set of cookware in the kitchen. Someone else might have found it inconvenient to use, but Yan Hang didn't have this concern. He was always using inconvenient things and had nothing to compare to.

When he returned to the living room, his dad had already fallen asleep on the sofa.

He walked over carrying the finished noodles. Hesitating for a moment, he reached his hand by his dad's ear and snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Then he quickly retreated.

But he was still too slow. Without even opening his eyes, his dad grabbed his wrist. Before he could break free, his dad had already twisted and pressed down.

A sour, painful and numb feeling instantly shot up to his shoulder. He could only follow downwards. In order to protect the noodles he was holding, he had no choice but to kneel on one knee and call out: "It's me!"

His dad opened his eyes and let go, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile. "Trying to sneak attack your dad, still too green, little Hang Hang."

"Hurry up and eat." Yan Hang put the noodles on the coffee table and sat down beside him, rubbing his arm.

His dad sat up, took the plate and smelled it, then slowly started eating, a look of enjoyment on his face.

Yan Hang took out his phone and looked down at it. He opened WeChat. There was a bunch of messages that he was too lazy to read. He directly clicked on Chu Yi's avatar.

Chu Yi's avatar was just like his nickname, simple to the extreme - just the number "1" in black on a white background.

After entering the album, Yan Hang was speechless again.

This kid had probably used up all his words when putting his face against the tree hole.

There were no photos in his Moments, no text.

Just one little emoji at a time, and he only posted one each time.

Scrolling down, a string of tiny emojis slid by.

They seemed to carry a cautious loneliness.

"By the way, we might stay here a bit longer this time. If you're going to work," his dad took out something like a card from his pocket and flicked it towards him, "use this."

Yan Hang didn't even have time to move his gaze away from the phone screen. He reached out and caught the card in his peripheral vision first.

It was an ID card.

Every time they stayed somewhere for a longer period, Yan Hang would go work. His dad would also give him a fake ID and get one for himself.

Perhaps to keep things fresh, the names used each time were different.

This time too, Yan Hang looked at the card in his hand.

The photo was definitely him.

Name: Yan Jidao

???

*T/N: Yan Jidao is a character from a classic Chinese book. It's like using the name 'Sherlock Holmes'.