The guys in the dorm all woke up around the same time today. When Chu Yi got out of bed, the bathroom was occupied by Wu Xu, so everyone stood in the dorm brushing their teeth.

Chu Yi also squeezed out some toothpaste and stood by the window, breathing in the fresh morning air, allowing himself to quickly wake up and calm down.

Li Ziqiang was still lying in bed. Just as Chu Yi was wondering if he should call out to him, Zhang Qiang came over and patted Li Ziqiang's arm a couple times: "Get up! You're going to be late!"

"Hey!" Li Ziqiang yelled, slapping the bed board. "Fuck your uncle!"

"Go ahead." Zhang Qiang ignored him and turned to walk away.

"Damn, I was having a spring dream! You patted it away!" Li Ziqiang yelled again.

When the words "spring dream" burst out, Chu Yi's heart suddenly jolted in shock, scaring him so much he almost poked the toothbrush down his throat. Even his morning wood was startled flaccid by Li Ziqiang's shout.

"What did you dream about?" Hu Biao asked, laughing.

"Didn't see the face clearly, anyway it was a particularly gentle woman. I was about to undo her bra," Li Ziqiang said with lingering relish, stretching lazily. Yawning, he sat up. "Maybe it's some girl I took a fancy to during the day. I'll go match them up today and see if I can find her."

Chu Yi had his toothbrush in his mouth, the surging in his heart probably almost surging onto his face. Li Ziqiang glanced at him as he got out of bed: "Hey, what are you spacing out for, is the toothpaste tasty?"

Chu Yi was originally fine, but being asked this, he instantly swallowed half a mouthful of saliva.

He actually didn't dream much. Every day he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and wake up as soon as he opened his eyes. Even if he did dream, he wouldn't remember the content. And they were all a jumbled mess.

One time he even dreamed he turned into a doorstep, being stepped on by people every day. Even in the dream he felt he was miserable.

Finally having a relatively coherent dream, with a clear plot and visible faces, but in the end...

Other people dreaming spring... whatever dreams, anyway other people just dreamed of girls.

When it came to his dreams, he dreamed of Yan Hang.

As one thinks by day, so one dreams by night.

Chu Yi analyzed for himself as he washed up and got dressed. He had indeed been thinking of Yan Hang during the day. Not to mention just during the day, this whole year, he had thought of Yan Hang quite a bit. Now that he had finally found him, dreaming of him at night was also normal.

Besides, he had never had close contact with anyone before. Yan Hang was the first.

It would be hard for him to dream of a girl. No girls paid any attention to him at all.

It was probably like this.

This should be an accident.

After this day, Chu Yi didn't have any more embarrassing dreams, probably because military training kept him busy.

The school's military training wasn't too arduous. Although it was hot and by the sea, with high air humidity, so their military training uniforms simply reeked to high heaven.

But compared to other schools, they had it easy. The first few days were just marching back and forth on the field, then shooting for half a day, and finally a march.

But the sun exposure was intense.

These past few days, Chu Yi had secretly taken a few more selfies, but discovered that in the photos, he looked so dark there was an innate sense of unsophisticated aura rising from within. So he gave up again.

-Marching today?

Yan Hang sent a message over in the morning.

-Yeah, good thing I have NBs

-A pair of old shoes, worn for a year, the soles must be worn through

-No, I can wear a pair of shoes for three years

Chu Yi looked at the soles of his shoes. The soles were quite thick and not easy to wear through. But the edges of the shoes already had a lot of damage.

He felt a bit distressed.

He was actually quite helpless too. This pair of shoes was extremely comfortable. When he went to buy shoes, no pair was as comfortable as this one. To get a pair as comfortable as this... he really couldn't afford it.

Even if he could afford it, he couldn't bear to.

So he never bought any other shoes and stubbornly wore them for a year.

Today's march, who knew how many kilometers. He heard they even had to climb a mountain.

In any case, from the very beginning, his heart ached like being cut by a knife.

The marching troops started out quite orderly. Before they had marched a kilometer, they had all bunched up.

Hu Biao had stuffed a lot of snacks in his backpack and ate them together with the others as they walked.

"With your physique, you're still endlessly eating." Zhou Chunyang really couldn't stand watching anymore.

"Snacks don't make you fat." Hu Biao said.

"That depends on what snacks," Zhou Chunyang said. "Your snacks are all piles of meat."

"...Can you not use the word 'pile' to describe food?" Hu Biao glared at him.

"Your appetite is quite weak." Zhou Chunyang laughed.

Chu Yi hadn't said much the whole time, constantly looking around. The unfamiliar scenery made him feel happy.

"Let's go play by the sea sometime," Zhang Qiang said. "We've been here for so many days, but I still haven't seen the sea, just smelled a bit of it."

Hearing Zhang Qiang say this, Chu Yi suddenly realized, it was true.

Before he came, in his mind he had thought, ah the sea, ah ah the sea, ah the seaside...

Then he forgot. Forget the sea, it seemed he hadn't even seen the horizon.

Really want to go walk around the seaside with Yan Hang.

"Sign here." Someone tossed a sheet onto the bar counter in front of Yan Hang.

Yan Hang looked up. It was the senior employee Ma Li.

At first Yan Hang thought this person's EQ was too low. Later he discovered his judgment was mistaken. Not only was his EQ low, he also possessed the standard senior employee style of pulling rank.

Ever since Chen Jinling started having him familiarize with the shift manager's work, Ma Li never spoke to him about anything outside of work again. His displeasure towards him was practically shouting out loud.

Before, they would often go eat and play cards with the other colleagues. Then it turned into Ma Li not going if he went... After a few times like this, there were no more colleague gatherings. Or even if there were, no one invited the two of them anymore.

Yan Hang sighed, feeling mentally exhausted.

What Ma Li tossed over was a free meal bill.

Sometimes the restaurant would have colleagues from the marketing department bring clients over to eat. They had a free meal quota every month. The shift manager would sign and it would be fine. But for today's meal, Yan Hang didn't see any clients.

Before when he was a waiter, he knew sometimes people in the marketing department would come eat themselves at the end of the month if they hadn't used up their quota. If they had a good relationship with the waiter, they could get them to cover for them and get a free meal.

Chen Jinling was very strict about this. Generally they would pick times when she wasn't at the front of house to do this.

At noon, he went to a small meeting and wasn't in the restaurant, but he passed by before the meeting and saw two people from the marketing department eating, without any clients present.

In Ma Li's view, he was just a substitute supervisor. Even if it wasn't done in front of him, it wasn't a big deal. He could just play dumb since the quota wasn't exceeded, and the manager generally wouldn't check.

If Yan Hang were still a waiter, he might have just played dumb and let it go.

But now he had to look at things from Chen Jinling's perspective. Whether a substitute or a formal supervisor, he was still a supervisor, and Ma Li had already caused him trouble more than once or twice. He was really irritated.

"What clients were invited?" Yan Hang asked. "I didn't see any clients with those two."

"You're so busy, not even in the restaurant at noon," Ma Li said. "How could you see if there were clients or not?"

"I saw the two of them," Yan Hang said. "There's no reason for them to eat before the clients arrive, right?"

"Do you know who those two are? They just transferred to the marketing department last month," Ma Li sneered. "And you already know them?"

"Once I've seen someone, I don't forget," Yan Hang lightly tapped his finger on the bar. "Even if they had only been in the marketing department for a day, I would still remember them."

"You have a strong memory. Do you want a certificate for that?" Ma Li said.

"No need for a certificate. You can applaud and cheer for me in your heart," Yan Hang said. "But I can't sign off on this. Either have those two make up for it, or you do it."

"Throwing your weight around with me now?" Ma Li looked at him. "Just a substitute supervisor and you think you're a real supervisor? Don't get too carried away. I'm afraid when the new supervisor takes over, you won't be able to handle being demoted back to a waiter."

"What's there to not adapt to? Even if I'm sent to housekeeping, I'll do the same work," Yan Hang smiled. "Before I came here, I was washing dishes in the back kitchen."

"Yan Hang," Ma Li looked at him, "if this matter gets to Manager Tang, I'm afraid you won't necessarily be in the right."

"That's fine too," Yan Hang nodded. "Why don't you file a complaint against me then? It wouldn't be the first time anyway."

Yan Hang said this casually. Before, it was just a guess and he wasn't certain.

But Ma Li's momentary stiff expression gave him a definite answer.

"Why didn't you just sign off on it," Zhang Chen said softly after Ma Li left. "This kind of thing has been done plenty of times before."

"If I didn't see it, I might have played dumb," Yan Hang said, looking down at the drinks menu. "But I did see it."

"Sigh," Zhang Chen sighed. "Ma Li was originally recruited by Manager Tang. I'm afraid he'll give you a hard time."

"It's fine," Yan Hang said. "The thing I'm least afraid of is people giving me a hard time."

"So arrogant." Zhang Chen smiled.

Yan Hang didn't really care. If he was complained about, so be it. If they really sent him to wash dishes, that was fine too. He actually wanted to go to the back kitchen. Starting from dishwashing wasn't a problem, and there would be fewer annoying issues.

After getting off work, he took out his phone and saw that Chu Yi had sent a message an hour ago.

-Our military training is over!

He called back. Before the ringtone even sounded on the other end, Chu Yi picked up.

"Dog Bro, you worked hard in military training." He said.

"Serving, the people." Chu Yi said.

Yan Hang laughed and glanced at the time. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No," Chu Yi said. "Waiting to treat you."

"Come out, I'll take you for a big meal," Yan Hang said. "Take a taxi over."

"Okay," the sound of a door closing immediately came from Chu Yi's side. "I'm coming out now."

"Were you just squatting by the dorm door?" Yan Hang hailed a taxi.

"I'm Dog Bro," Chu Yi said, "tomorrow I'll sleep, by the door."

Yan Hang chatted with him casually for a bit. After getting in the car, he felt the gloominess from the afternoon had all dissipated.

Today, Yan Hang arrived at Little Li's BBQ before Chu Yi, who was twenty minutes late.

As soon as he got out of the car and saw Yan Hang, he immediately ran over. "How long have you been here?"

"Two minutes." Yan Hang smiled.

"Not possible," Chu Yi said. "Did you run over?"

"I just had time to smoke a cigarette before you arrived," Yan Hang said. "Let's go, what do you want to eat? Let's not do Little Li's BBQ today."

"I want to see the sea," Chu Yi said, then seemed a bit embarrassed. "Is it far?"

"Not far," Yan Hang sighed. "I'm really a bit muddled, I forgot you haven't been to the seaside yet... Come on, I'll take you to eat seafood first, then we'll go see the sea."

"Can we see it at night?" Chu Yi asked.

"We can," Yan Hang said. "If you can't see it, you can go down and lick it."

"After licking, will there still be time to walk around?" Chu Yi asked again.

"You want to buy something?" Yan Hang quickly glanced at his shoes. Chu Yi was a frugal kid and wouldn't suggest going shopping unless he had no choice.

Sure enough, he saw two holes in Chu Yi's shoes.

"This is the first time I've seen someone wear out running shoes like this." He laughed.

"You haven't, seen it before," Chu Yi looked down at his shoes. "I bite them, one mouthful at a time."

"Silly dog," Yan Hang said with a smile. "Then I'll take you to Beer Street to eat seafood. After eating, we'll buy shoes first, then go to the seaside."

"Okay." Chu Yi smiled.

The shoes had finally worn through after a day of training, and Chu Yi felt very distressed.

Such comfortable shoes, ruined just like that.

Sitting in the taxi, he was still thinking about it. Buying another pair of NBs was definitely out of the question. So what should he buy?

He didn't know much about these things. Before, when he was at home, he would just wander around the nearby commercial street, but he didn't see many brands and wouldn't recognize them even if he did.

Yan Hang definitely knew a lot, but Yan Hang spent money recklessly. If he took him to a store with shoes costing several hundred or even a thousand... He had to tell Yan Hang in advance.

"I just want to buy..." Chu Yi turned his head, stopping halfway through his sentence.

Yan Hang also turned his head, looking at him face to face.

Not to mention sitting so close together in a car, they had even slept crammed together twice before, and Yan Hang had even kissed his forehead before.

But the dream from before, with Yan Hang's firm back, suddenly flashed before his eyes.

Yan Hang's breathing and voice became exceptionally clear, as if pressed against his face. A slight tremor spread from his forehead to the tip of his nose, then throughout his entire body.

It gave him a strange feeling in that instant.

The strangeness was mixed with a bewildered, inexplicable, guilty embarrassment.

He turned his face away, looking out the window: "Buy a pair of cheap, cheap shoes."

"Under two hundred?" Yan Hang asked.

"...Mm." Chu Yi nodded in a daze.

After nodding, he regretted it. For him, under fifty was what counted as cheap.

Chu Yi was a bit strange today.

He had been a bit odd since they started eating.

He wasn't as talkative as usual, and his gaze would dart away every time it met Yan Hang's, quickly looking to the side.

Usually when eating, Chu Yi's gaze would basically be in two places - the food and Yan Hang's face.

"Hey," Yan Hang kicked Chu Yi under the table, "Lord Dog, you have quite the airs today."

"Huh?" Chu Yi froze for a moment.

"I feel like you don't really want to pay attention to me today?" Yan Hang asked.

"No!" Chu Yi suddenly became a bit anxious and immediately sat up straight. "No I don't!"

"Did something happen?" Yan Hang asked again, "Tell me about it."

"Nothing," Chu Yi lowered his eyelids, biting on a crab leg. "Safe and sound, nothing happened."

"If nothing then nothing," Yan Hang smiled, "I'm just telling you, if anything happens it's safest to tell me."

"I know." Chu Yi said.

After finishing the seafood feast and starting to stroll the streets, Yan Hang felt Chu Yi's mood had lifted quite a bit.

Could it be he was just hungry before?

How starved does this guy have to be for his mood to fluctuate so much just from being hungry?

"Fifty." Chu Yi suddenly raised his hand, opening his palm to Yan Hang.

"What fifty?" Yan Hang looked at him.

Chu Yi glanced to the side at a store, a bit embarrassed. Yan Hang realized: "Shoes under fifty?"

"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.

"Running shoes under fifty?" Yan Hang asked again.

"Ah." Chu Yi nodded.

"Where can you buy running shoes for under fifty, baby," Yan Hang pointed helplessly at the shoes on his own feet, "Otherwise these, I'll sell them to you for forty, bought last month."

"I want new, new ones." Chu Yi said.

"Do you think it's reasonable for me to want to hit you?" Yan Hang looked at him.

"Let's look, look first." Chu Yi walked into a store.

Before Yan Hang could follow him in, he backed out again. Yan Hang glanced inside and saw a tag marked 240.

Too much.

After that, Chu Yi seemed to give up on the stores nearby and started intently staring at the stalls set up in the middle of the road.

Yan Hang followed beside him helplessly, pondering how he could get Chu Yi to accept him gifting a pair of shoes.

"How about these?" Chu Yi picked up a pair of shoes and asked him.

Yan Hang took a look, took the shoes from Chu Yi's hands and put them back on the stall: "Pretty boy, although everyone knows you're a country bumpkin now, you don't need to go out of your way to prove how uncultured you are."

Chu Yi started laughing: "Then what should I do, you pick for me."

"When's your birthday? I'll give you a pair of shoes as a birthday present." Yan Hang said.

"It passed." Chu Yi looked at him.

"Let's celebrate it again," Yan Hang said, "I'm begging you."

"Don't gift shoes," Chu Yi said softly, "Auntie said gifting shoes means, the person will walk, far away."

"Is that so," Yan Hang glanced to the side, "Wait for me here."

Before Chu Yi could respond, he turned and ran into the small supermarket next door: "Give me a red envelope that says Happy Birthday."

When Yan Hang walked over holding the red envelope, Chu Yi suddenly felt like crying again.

He knew what Yan Hang was thinking, nothing more than wanting him to buy a better pair of shoes.

"Here," Yan Hang put the red envelope in his hand, "Happy birthday."

"You really... really..." He had some difficulty speaking.

"I'm really good," Yan Hang said, "I know, do you know why I'm so good to you?"

"I'm handsome." Chu Yi said.

Yan Hang opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Why?" Chu Yi asked.

"Because I've been dogged by you," Yan Hang pulled his arm, "Let's go, there's 500 in the red envelope, can't buy anything too good, but it's enough. With shoes, you get what you pay for. Ten pairs at 50 each can't compare to one pair at 500, got it country bumpkin?"

"Got it." Chu Yi felt like the arm Yan Hang was grabbing didn't belong to him anymore, so delicate it kept going numb.

499.

There were cheaper ones, but Chu Yi still picked this pair.

"Want me to put your old pair in the box?" The salesperson asked.

"Sure." Chu Yi replied.

"No need." Yan Hang spoke at the same time as him.

"Thanks," Chu Yi nodded to the salesperson, "Please pack, them up for me."

Carrying the shoebox and walking towards the seaside, Yan Hang asked: "Are you keeping them as a memento?"

"Yes." Chu Yi nodded.

"Do you have a hoarding disorder?" Yan Hang said.

"What?" Chu Yi froze for a moment.

"Let's go, to see the ocean." Yan Hang laughed for a while.

The place they ate wasn't especially close to the sea. It took about twenty minutes of walking. Chu Yi smelled the scent of the sea breeze, just like the scent he smelled at the train station on the first day.

He looked ahead: "Where is it?"

"You can see it in the daytime at this time," Yan Hang pointed ahead, "Walk over there and you'll see it. We can go down to the reef rocks to take a look."

Chu Yi was a bit excited and quickened his pace.

Then he heard the sound of the waves, a bit different from what he imagined. It sounded a bit lonely.

And then he saw the sea.

In his memories, whether in photos or videos, the sea was always in the daytime - sunshine, beaches, bikinis.

The sea before his eyes was black, shimmering, with white wave crests when surging, looking deep and cute at the same time.

Just like me.

Chu Yi stood on the shore.

"Want to go down and stand for a bit?" Yan Hang asked.

"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.

The two of them went down the steps to the reef rocks. There was still some distance from them. Chu Yi found a large, flat rock and sat down: "I thought there would be sand, a beach."

"It's all rocks here," Yan Hang sat down beside him. "If you're free this weekend, I'll take you to see the beach. Cui Yi took me there once before. It's a five-star beach, free, and there aren't many people."

"Great!" Chu Yi turned his head and glanced at Yan Hang with a smile.

That feeling from before hit him again. He had to turn his head away once more, staring at the sea on the other side.

Suddenly he felt a bit irritated with himself.

There were quite a few people on the beach. Chu Yi stared for a while before noticing they were all in pairs.

"Coming here for dates, there are a lot of couples," he said, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah," Yan Hang smiled. "Maybe it's just the two of us who aren't."

"Ah," Chu Yi responded. "Or you could..."

"Hm?" Yan Hang looked at him.

Chu Yi immediately forgot what he wanted to say. His mouth hung open for a long time before he finally said, "Do some push-ups."

"Damn," Yan Hang started laughing. "What's wrong with you?"

"Fifty of them?" Chu Yi asked.

Yan Hang hesitated for a few seconds, then slapped the rock. "Alright, I'll go along with your craziness. Fifty it is, you count."

As Yan Hang lay down beside him and got into position, Chu Yi really wanted to smash his head on the rock under his feet.

"One, two, three," Yan Hang started doing push-ups. "Four, five..."

"Six, seven," Chu Yi counted along, trying hard to focus on whether Yan Hang's form was correct. "Ten, eleven..."

But soon he really did shift his attention, because he discovered Yan Hang was much more impressive than he had imagined.

Even when he got to over thirty, Yan Hang's movements didn't waver at all, always very standard, pushing up and down at a steady pace.

"Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty." Yan Hang propped himself up on the rock without moving and glanced at him. "I underestimated myself. I can probably do a hundred."

"Where's your face?" Chu Yi said.

"It's on your face," Yan Hang replied.

Chu Yi burst out laughing, amused for quite a while.

Yan Hang got up and walked over to squat down in front of him. "Chu Yi."

"Yeah." Chu Yi looked at him.

"What's really going on with you today?" Yan Hang flicked his chin. "Don't try to fool an old hand like me."

Chu Yi lowered his eyelids, feeling a bit flustered.

"The other day, I..." He frowned. "I dreamed about you..."

"Dreamed about me?" Yan Hang was stunned for a moment.

This reaction made Chu Yi nervous. Without thinking, he quickly added, "And Uncle Yan."

Yan Hang didn't say anything, just looked at him. After a while, he ruffled Chu Yi's hair. "I thought something had happened. That thing... just don't keep thinking about it."

Chu Yi regretted saying that.

He was well aware of how much pain Yan Hang had suffered because of that incident, yet he had to bring it up at this moment.

He grabbed Yan Hang's hand and squeezed it tightly.