Yan Hang leaned against the headboard with his laptop, aimlessly browsing the local forum.
Ever since his father disappeared, he seemed to have taken over his father's old habits without any transition. Every day after work, he would eat while watching the local news.
Perhaps the only way he was more advanced than his father was that he also browsed forums.
Not knowing what he was looking at.
Just like not knowing what his father used to look at.
He only knew that if there was any change, perhaps a casual remark or a single sentence from someone, he would be able to sense it.
To be honest, he was somewhat resistant to this state.
He had been waiting for his father to appear and had always wanted to find any information related to his father or capture any subtle signs in life.
But he was no longer the same as before.
He would no longer follow someone around in a carefree way, no longer live only for today. There were many things he needed to break free from.
He wouldn't give up on these things, but this state could no longer appear.
A year ago, when he saw Chu Yi, he would sometimes feel anxious about the child, who silently shouldered everything and turned it into the norm of life.
But now when he saw Chu Yi, he was startled by how much strength this little kid had.
Only those who have tried would know how much courage and strength it takes to change and break free.
Yan Hang took out his phone and checked the time. It was okay.
He dialed the number of the psychologist, surnamed Luo, who was introduced to him by Cui Yi before.
Teacher Luo was a big sister. Her appearance, temperament, and voice were all very gentle and relaxing. Yan Hang quite liked her.
"Hello? Xiao Yan?" Teacher Luo answered the phone.
"It's me, good evening Teacher Luo," Yan Hang said. "I want to... make an appointment to chat with you."
"Sure," Teacher Luo smiled. "Work pressure has been high lately? I heard you became a team leader?"
"Acting team leader," Yan Hang said. "Work is quite annoying, but I can handle it. Mainly... these past few days I feel like I'm starting to have those emotions from before again."
"It's normal for emotions to recur," Teacher Luo's tone was very calm. "None of us can completely prevent certain emotions from appearing, right? Learning to control and channel them is the most crucial."
"Mm." Yan Hang responded.
"I have time in the evenings for the next three days until the weekend. Come over and chat, I'll wait for you." Teacher Luo said.
After finishing the call with Teacher Luo, Yan Hang closed his laptop, got up and went to the kitchen fridge to get a bottle of iced red tea.
After gulping down half a bottle, he felt a bit more comfortable.
In the evenings, he still had his old habits. Besides going to the gym with Cui Yi on time, he still went for a run every day. This time was quite suitable for running in the neighborhood and nearby areas.
But today he was a bit tired and didn't want to go out.
Originally with Wang Qinqin and the duty manager, his workload was much less than before. But these two days, firstly he had to adapt, and secondly with relatively fewer staff, arranging work was tiring. On top of that, applying to recruit people required writing a report.
Yan Hang was most troubled by having to write things, after all he was illiterate.
Fortunately, Zhang Chen helped out. At least she was a college student and helped revise it before Yan Hang took it to Manager Tang.
Dealing with these things the past two days was much more tiring than directly taking orders, serving dishes, and cleaning in the restaurant.
If he wasn't going to run, he still had to do some exercise. He glanced at the dumbbells and ab wheel on the bookshelf... he'd do some push-ups.
When he lay down on the balcony to start doing push-ups, Yan Hang felt like laughing a bit.
He rarely did push-ups. If it wasn't for Chu Yi suddenly going crazy that day, he wouldn't have thought of it at all.
He took out his phone from his pocket and placed it on the ground beside him, taking a glance at it. There were no new messages.
After Chu Yi got familiar with the people in the dorm, he no longer needed to hold his phone and chat with Yan Hang all evening, just like the little hedgehog downstairs. The security guard said yesterday that it found a small fruit to eat from somewhere and no longer completely relied on him feeding it apple cubes. The security guard sounded a bit wistful when he said it.
Before the phone locked, he glanced at the calendar. There was a red circle on it.
It was his birthday.
Last year's birthday was spent with Cui Yi, or rather, it wasn't really spent together. They just had a meal, just like how it was with his father before. There was no deliberate celebration.
Even the gift was as clueless as the ones his father sent.
Cui Yi gave him a box of 18-color crayon sticks, but the box said 24 colors. Cui Yi said he couldn't find 18 colors, but in order to match Yan Hang's age, he took out six of them.
Yan Hang thought his reasoning was simply excellent.
For this year's birthday, he wanted to invite Chu Yi to accompany him. He had never celebrated his birthday with anyone, and Chu Yi probably had never been invited by anyone either.
"Time to change the dressing, time to change the dressing," Zhou Chunyang took out the small medicine box and placed it on the table. "Chu Yi, come change the dressing."
"Mm." Chu Yi climbed down from the upper bunk, unwrapping the gauze on his arm while looking at the wound on Zhou Chunyang's forehead. "This wound, how, how long, will it take, to heal?"
"Mine is a light one," Zhou Chunyang looked at his arm. "Yours might still need some time."
"What the hell did they hit you with," Li Ziqiang sat next to Chu Yi, looking at his wound. "How do I feel like this is a hole poked through?"
"Probably a chamfer knife." Zhou Chunyang said.
"What's a chamfer knife?" Hu Biao asked with great interest.
"A kind of tool," Zhou Chunyang looked at him, seeming not to know how to explain. "It's for drilling trapezoidal holes in steel plates, that's what it's used for."
"...What does it look like?" Zhang Qiang also leaned over, looking at the wound on Chu Yi's arm. "This is pretty much a trapezoidal pit."
"What does it look like..." Zhou Chunyang thought for a long time. "It's... like a large enoki mushroom? Something like that."
"Suddenly want to have hotpot, a pot of meat, with some enoki mushrooms..." Wu Xu lay on the bed, rubbing his belly. "Am I about to grow taller? I get hungry like crazy whenever I hear about food. Today I saw someone with a lunchbox and I was starving."
"Having dreams, and wanting, is quite, good." Chu Yi said.
Wu Xu laughed, "You're not much taller than me, and you can even mock me."
"One, one more joke is one, more laugh." Chu Yi nodded slightly.
He had just changed the medicine and re-wrapped the gauze when his phone made a sound on the bed. Chu Yi quickly got up, hopped without even stepping on the stairs, and went straight up grabbing the upper bunk railing.
"Chu Yi, have you practiced," Li Ziqiang said, "Even monkeys can't jump over you."
"Monkeys don't wait for messages either." Chu Yi lay on the bed and picked up his phone to take a look.
It was from Yan Hang.
-Are you free Friday night?
-I can make time during class, and have even more time when not in class.
-This string of chatter, can you say it with your mouth?
-If you have enough patience, I can say it.
-I'll come find you at school on Friday.
-I'll just come out, you don't need to come over.
-Our restaurant is doing team building training, I'm going to arrange it on Friday, it's near your school, so it works out.
-Oh.
Chu Yi actually didn't know what team building training was, but he didn't ask more. He hadn't seen Yan Hang since starting class, so now that Yan Hang was looking for him, this was the only thing on his mind.
-Friday is my birthday, remember to buy a gift, you cheapskate.
Yan Hang sent another message.
Chu Yi stared at this message for a long time before coming back to his senses. When he reacted, he sat up holding his phone.
Birthday?
Birthday!
Yan Hang's birthday!
Perhaps it was because he had never celebrated his own birthday, nor had he ever celebrated someone else's birthday, so he had almost no concept of birthdays. He had talked about birthdays with Yan Hang before, and Yan Hang had even mentioned it last time when they bought shoes, but at that time, he hadn't thought to ask when Yan Hang's birthday was.
-Which birthday is it?
He quickly typed a line and sent it, then remembered and added another message.
-Happy birthday!
-So standard, I sang along with it. 19th birthday.
Yan Hang is 19 years old. Chu Yi smiled, and even after he finished smiling, the corners of his mouth were still curled up, not knowing what he was happy about.
-Remember the gift.
-Got it!
Gift.
Under Chu Yi's pillow were the few small stones that Yan Hang had given him before. He had already secretly ground them while his roommates were playing cards and games, and only needed to drill holes in them.
Is this... a bit inappropriate as a gift?
Too casual, right?
Using the stones Yan Hang gave him to make a gift and give it back to Yan Hang?
Cheapskate.
He remembered Yan Hang's words.
Tsk tsk.
He wasn't being stingy, he was just being frugal. Someone who wears thousand-yuan shoes like Yan Hang wouldn't understand.
But if he didn't give the stones, what should he give?
He stared at the wall, trying to think of a few alternative things in his mind, but after staring for a good two minutes, he couldn't think of a single thing.
He had absolutely no experience in giving gifts.
The most recent time he gave a gift was just buying those things for his family, and there was no joy in giving gifts, nor the joy of getting a response.
He sighed softly. It was too inappropriate to think about this now.
Giving a gift, a gift for Yan Hang.
He continued to try hard to think.
Five minutes later, he gave up. After another two minutes, he started to feel a bit depressed.
Because when he was hesitating whether to ask someone for help, the first person he thought of was actually Zhou Chunyang.
He actually thought of asking Zhou Chunyang as his first reaction.
How absurd!
But from a rational point of view, asking Zhou Chunyang should be the right choice.
Among the guys in the dorm, Zhou Chunyang was the most reliable. He had money, was attentive, and had a good personality. He was willing to help others.
He looked back down.
Then he felt a bit awkward.
Zhou Chunyang was sitting across the table, leaning his chair back against the bed frame at the moment, resting his head on his arms. When he looked back, he made eye contact with Zhou Chunyang.
"Hm?" Zhou Chunyang looked at him.
Chu Yi opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.
He had just wanted to look back, and hadn't even decided whether to ask Zhou Chunyang, let alone how to ask.
"Ah." He responded.
"Weirdo." Zhou Chunyang laughed.
"Chunyang," he had to turn around and look at the others in the dorm. No one was paying attention to him. He leaned over the edge of the bed and waved at Zhou Chunyang, saying in a low voice, "Come, come here."
Zhou Chunyang stood up and walked to the side of his bed, "What's up? Are we secretly plotting a rebellion?"
"Yeah, let's stew, stew Daqiang." Chu Yi said.
Zhou Chunyang laughed for a while, "What's the matter, tell me."
"Can you help, help me with something?" Chu Yi asked softly.
"What kind of help?" Zhou Chunyang.
"Do you know how to pick, gifts?" Chu Yi said, "Like birthday, gifts."
"Just that? You want me to help you pick a gift for someone?" Zhou Chunyang asked.
"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.
"Male or female?" Zhou Chunyang asked, "How old?"
Chu Yi suddenly felt a bit awkward. Male, 19 years old. Saying it like this, Zhou Chunyang could probably guess it was Yan Hang right away. After all, he only had one friend here.
Actually... even if he didn't say it, Zhou Chunyang could probably guess.
"Yan Hang?" Zhou Chunyang indeed asked again.
"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.
He didn't know why he felt awkward. Was it because he suddenly felt for a moment a few days ago that Zhou Chunyang had taken a liking to Yan Hang?
"Let me think," Zhou Chunyang's reaction was quite calm, "Let's go out and walk around tomorrow at noon?"
"Okay." Chu Yi said, "But it can't, can't be too expensive."
"Don't worry." Zhou Chunyang snapped his fingers.
The next day at noon after class, Chu Yi and Zhou Chunyang went out.
There were some shops around the school, but Zhou Chunyang didn't think much of them. After casually eating something, he took him to the city center.
"For practical and common things, there are lighters, razors, belts, sunglasses, all kinds of accessories..." Zhou Chunyang said, "If you want something more special..."
"Practical ones." Chu Yi immediately said. It was best if the gift could be useful to Yan Hang.
"Then it's very easy to choose," Zhou Chunyang said, "All the things I just mentioned will do. Also, you can buy according to his interests and hobbies. If it doesn't need to be very practical, then I have many more ideas..."
"Practical." Chu Yi interrupted him again.
"Hey," Zhou Chunyang started laughing, "There's no room for creativity at all."
Chu Yi smiled a bit embarrassedly.
"Then let's pick something flashy," Zhou Chunyang said. "I think Yan Hang is quite particular."
"Mm." Chu Yi immediately nodded. Yan Hang was indeed quite a particular person. Even for practical items, he still needed someone like Zhou Chunyang who also seemed particular to give guidance.
For someone like him who had worn almost nothing but school uniforms since childhood, with all his daily necessities chosen based on the standard of "usable", he really had no concept.
In the end, Chu Yi was torn between a lighter and sunglasses, not knowing which to choose.
"Go with the lighter," Zhou Chunyang said. "Although it's very ordinary...but he smokes ten cigarettes a day, so he'll take it out at least ten times. He'll think of you ten times."
Chu Yi looked at Zhou Chunyang. Zhou Chunyang said it very naturally, but he suddenly felt like blushing a little.
Why did he have to make Yan Hang think of him ten times a day?
But he didn't refute it and went with Zhou Chunyang to pick out a lighter together.
"There's not much to choose from for lighters. Let's go with a Zippo," Zhou Chunyang said. "Good-looking and not expensive. If you don't have a budget limit, I'd recommend a Dupont."
"Du, Dupont, how much is it?" Chu Yi asked.
"Over a thousand," Zhou Chunyang looked at him. "Want to consider it?"
"Huh." Chu Yi nodded.
Zhou Chunyang laughed for a while and patted him on the shoulder. "You're quite amusing."
When Yan Hang came out from the training camp, there was still some time before Chu Yi and the others got out of school in the afternoon. He took a taxi to the school gate.
The school gate was quite nice. Looking in from the outside, the campus area was also very large.
For Yan Hang, school was very unfamiliar. After graduating from elementary school, he had never entered the gates of any school again. Even when passing by, he basically wouldn't spare an extra glance.
Standing in front of Chu Yi's school gate this time, he suddenly felt a bit sentimental.
He had been to many places, met many people, and experienced all sorts of things, much more than most people his age. But he had also missed out on a lot compared to others.
When he walked through the school gate, the gatekeeper glanced at him but didn't stop him, probably thinking he was a student at the school.
Chu Yi had told him before that the last class was P.E. He strolled directly towards the sports field.
He encountered quite a few students coming and going along the way. They probably noticed he was a new face and looked over at him. A few who looked quite street-smart had a provocative look in their eyes.
Little punks.
Yan Hang couldn't even be bothered to return their gaze and walked straight to the side of the sports field.
A group of kids were playing ball on the field. Yan Hang didn't even need to look closely at their faces and builds. Just scanning their heights, he knew Chu Yi wasn't among them.
Who knew when that little mutt would grow to the two-meter target he had set for himself.
After looking around and not seeing Chu Yi, Yan Hang smiled at two girls nearby who kept glancing his way. "Hello there..."
"Looking for someone?" one girl immediately responded.
"Yeah, do you know Chu Yi?" Yan Hang asked. "He's in the auto..."
"You mean Mutt? Yeah, we know him," the other girl said, pointing to a teaching building. "They're on the field behind that building."
"Thanks, your school has two fields?" Yan Hang held back a laugh.
Suddenly hearing Chu Yi's classmate call out "Mutt" in that tone, he felt the urge to burst out laughing.
"Mm," that girl also smiled. "You're his friend?"
"Yes." Yan Hang walked over in that direction.
Chu Yi glanced at his phone. Yan Hang's message hadn't come yet, so he probably hadn't arrived. He looked at the bag beside him containing the lighter that he and Zhou Chunyang had spent nearly a whole class period picking out, to the point that the store clerk had gone silent.
Thinking that this was the first birthday gift he had ever given, he felt a bit excited.
"Chu Yi, let's go get a drink," Gao Xiaoyang walked over. "Chunyang's treat."
"Mm." Chu Yi stood up and went with them to the school store.
"You're going out later?" Zhang Qiang looked at his bag.
"Mm." Chu Yi responded.
"Where to?" Zhang Qiang asked again. "Take me along to eat."
Chu Yi didn't say anything.
Zhou Chunyang reached out and pressed on Zhang Qiang's face a few times.
"What are you doing?" Zhang Qiang looked at him.
"I'm checking if your skin has gotten thicker or thinner." Zhou Chunyang said.
"Piss off!" Zhang Qiang said.
"I'll treat you guys to hot pot later." Zhou Chunyang said.
The others immediately got excited.
"Damn, knowing a rich foodie is such a blessing." Li Ziqiang sighed.
As soon as they turned the corner from behind the building, Chu Yi saw a familiar figure up ahead.
He paused, startled.
"That's Brother Hang, right? Why is he here? Looking for you, Chu Yi?" Zhang Qiang waved at Yan Hang.
Yan Hang also waved back, smiling.
Chu Yi really wanted to run over, but felt that running over like that would seem a bit silly. He could think of at least ten slow-motion running scenes from TV shows and movies, each sillier than the last.
"Why did you come directly in?" Only when the group walked up to Yan Hang did he ask with a smile.
"Taking a look at your school," Yan Hang said. "It's quite big. I was searching for a while on that field over there."
"Brother Hang, as soon as you take off that uniform," Li Ziqiang said, "it's like you've become a different person."
"Turned into who?" Yan Hang asked.
Li Ziqiang took a step back, looking him up and down. "Are you sure you don't have some other identity besides being a supervisor?"
"For example?" Yan Hang smiled.
"Like a mafia boss or something," Li Ziqiang said. "Brother Hang, are you still recruiting underlings?"
"Take us in." Hu Biao also chimed in to join the fun.
Chu Yi watched from the side. At times like this, he couldn't get a word in. The group chatted with Yan Hang, taking turns speaking, while he could only remain silent beside them.
Tsk.
If he had known, he would have insisted on not letting Yan Hang come.
As the group was talking with Yan Hang, the guys from Room 404 walked over.
Seeing Yan Hang, they stopped.
Now these few from 404, plus the tough guys from 407, had formed a long-term stable feud with their Room 403. Whenever they ran into each other, they would definitely stop to engage in a staring contest.
Today there was another unfamiliar face, and their gazes were like arrows, swiftly piercing over.
"Don't pay attention to them." Zhou Chunyang said.
"It's not that we don't want to ignore them," Li Ziqiang said, "but they keep staring at us relentlessly."
"They probably think we found outside help." Hu Biao looked at Yan Hang excitedly.
"Those people who are always fighting with you guys?" Yan Hang asked.
"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.
"A bunch of little mongrels," Yan Hang turned his head disdainfully to look over there, "just like you guys."
"We are purebred mongrels." Hu Biao said.
"Can you not joke around at such a serious time?" Zhou Chunyang held back a laugh.
Chu Yi looked at Yan Hang.
Inexplicably, he also felt a bit excited along with Hu Biao.
He hadn't seen Yan Hang like this for quite a while, with a casual jianghu aura and a bandit-like air. Back then, he was just like this, holding a live-streaming phone and walking over to his side.
From today onwards, he's under my protection.
A wave of warm excitement surged up in Chu Yi's heart.
However, those few from 404 probably wanted to give the unfamiliar face a lesson. The one taking the lead walked over and stood in front of Yan Hang, raising his chin: "Where are you from? Who let you into our school!"
Yan Hang glanced at him and smiled: "You're much more diligent than your school's security guard. Do you get paid?"
That person glared at him, neither speaking nor moving.
Chu Yi felt that he probably had never encountered this kind of dialogue when trying to act tough, and couldn't find the right response for a while.
"Let's go." Yan Hang said, turning to walk towards the school gate.
The group followed him, looking very imposing, as if they were going to participate in a large-scale armed fight, but in fact they were just going to the gate to eat hot pot.
Chu Yi couldn't help but walk a few steps while swaying his shoulders. This is how arrogant it is!
It's quite blissful.
When together with Yan Hang, even just verbally sparring with others and acting tough can give rise to a sense of happiness.
It's really amazing.
Every chapter whispers secrets; every coffee sip fuels the journey. Let's embark on another chapter, powered by everyone's support! >.<
Give me feedback at moc.ebircssutol@skcitshsif.