Chu Yi found it very difficult to engage in even ordinary chat, let alone dealing with the awkward situation with Zhou Chunyang right now. When Yan Hang came out with a few cans of beer, he decided to end the chat just like that.

He had already said what he needed to say anyway.

-I don't need it

He reiterated, putting his phone aside.

Zhou Chunyang didn't send any more messages either. He breathed a sigh of relief and opened the beer Yan Hang handed him.

"Refreshing." Yan Hang plopped down beside him and took a sip of beer.

"Are you going to work these next few days?" Chu Yi looked at him.

"Yeah, I can only come back after dinner is over," Yan Hang said, "but I arranged to take a break on Mid-Autumn Festival. Sister Wang said she would go that day."

"Mid-Autumn Festival, huh." Chu Yi was a bit stunned.

"This year Mid-Autumn is right before National Day," Yan Hang took out his phone and pulled up the calendar, "Look."

"Oh." Chu Yi felt a bit dazed.

He had originally thought it was just the National Day holiday, not realizing Mid-Autumn was sandwiched in the middle. No one in the dorm had mentioned it either...everyone probably knew.

Only he didn't have any special feelings about Mid-Autumn.

No, in the past he indeed didn't have any particular feelings about Mid-Autumn, and even felt a bit of aversion, because starting a few days before the holiday his breakfast would always be mooncakes.  

He didn't like eating mooncakes. The ones his dad's company gave out were okay, but those had to be saved. Grandma ate them alone, while the rest of the family had to buy theirs at the vegetable market.  

The cheapest loose ones. Last year he even bought some for one yuan each, some crumbled with one bite, some were hard as a rock.

But this year's Mid-Autumn suddenly made him feel a bit melancholic.

The first Mid-Autumn not spent at home, and the first time the family was missing two people during the holiday - one had disappeared, one refused to go home.

"Which day is it?" Chu Yi glanced at Yan Hang's phone.

"The 3rd," Yan Hang pointed it out to him, "Do you need to call home?"

Chu Yi hesitated without speaking.

"Or send a box of mooncakes?" Yan Hang sighed, "I've been too busy lately to take care of this stuff. Tomorrow I'll bring back a box of our hotel's mooncakes for you to mail home. Add some money to send it express and it should make it in time."

"No need..." Chu Yi felt very embarrassed. It was his own business, but he made Yan Hang feel like he hadn't done a good job.

"It's no trouble," Yan Hang thought for a moment, "Write down your home address for me. I'll have them help me mail it out first thing tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Chu Yi nodded, "How much is it?"

"It's free, they're giving them out," Yan Hang smiled, "They give out two boxes. You mail one home and bring one back to eat. Perfect."

Chu Yi suddenly felt a bit excited, "Moon-viewing?"

"Let's go to the beach to view the moon," Yan Hang said, "Bring some food. There will probably be a lot of people. Last year Cui Yi and I viewed it from the rooftop. This year let's go to the beach together."

"Great!" Chu Yi rubbed his hands together.

Viewing the moon together with many people was an interesting thing, Chu Yi thought, because he had never done it before.

At most, he would go out for a run after eating mooncakes on Mid-Autumn, look up at the moon alone by the river for a bit, like a stray dog gazing at the moon.

Going to the beach to view the moon with Yan Hang, Uncle Cui, and many other people - just thinking about it made him excited.

It immediately suppressed the awkward feelings he had before.

That night, Yan Hang and Chu Yi finished all the barbecue, watched two movies, and there weren't that many beer cans on the floor. Chu Yi's alcohol tolerance was inversely proportional to his unsophisticated air.

In the past, eating like this with his dad for a night, the cans on the floor would cover it so much you couldn't put your feet down.

But it was quite a good time. He didn't even know when he fell asleep.

When he woke up, not being on the floor was already a big improvement. Yan Hang sat up from the sofa and glanced at Chu Yi curled up on the other end, still sleeping soundly.

Yan Hang yawned. After eating all night, he didn't have much of an appetite for breakfast.

He got up and walked towards the bathroom, planning to think about what to eat after washing up.

He had only taken a couple steps when he kicked a beer can.

He quickly stepped on it with one foot, about to see if he had woken Chu Yi, when he turned around and got a fright.

Chu Yi was standing in front of the sofa with a dazed expression, his hair a mess.

"When did you get up?" Yan Hang stared at him, "A second ago you were still sleeping over there. Are you filming a ghost movie?"

"I thought someone was knocking on the food tray to wake us up." Chu Yi scratched his hair.

"Your dorm culture is quite unique," Yan Hang went into the bathroom, "What do you want to eat? I'll give you five minutes to think. I don't feel like eating, so whatever you want, I'll make it for you."

"Oh." Chu Yi responded.

When Yan Hang came out after washing up, he saw him sitting on the sofa, still looking dazed, but the beer cans on the floor had all been flattened and cleaned up into the bag from yesterday's barbecue, and the skewers scattered messily on the coffee table were also gone.

"Do you sleepwalk and clean the house too?" Yan Hang asked.

"Just bored." Chu Yi smiled.

"What do you want to eat?" Yan Hang asked again.

"I'm not hungry either," Chu Yi rubbed his belly, "You go to work. If I get hungry, I'll go out to eat."

"Alright then," Yan Hang grabbed his jacket and got ready to head out. Standing at the door, he instructed, "If you're bored, you can watch some TV. You can use my computer too. If you're really bored, come find me at the restaurant."

"Okay." Chu Yi nodded.

Today was the first day of the holiday. Starting from breakfast, it was very busy. Yan Hang shortened the morning meeting, only saying a few words, and after having a waiter help him mail the mooncakes to Chu Yi's family, he started getting busy.

Near noon, the restaurant was already full of customers, more than half of them tourists.

Usually Yan Hang could still stand behind the bar counter and rest his legs a bit, but today he basically hadn't stopped at all.

"Brother Hang," Zhang Chen walked over, "That customer over there hasn't ordered for a long time, occupying a table for four for almost an hour..."

"I'll go." Yan Hang said.

He had already noticed the customer Zhang Chen mentioned earlier. A middle-aged man, sitting by the window, kept looking outside without ordering or making any requests.

From what Yan Hang saw with a few glances, the waiters had refilled his water four times already. If it were someone else drinking this much water, they would have probably needed the bathroom long ago. His bladder's endurance was really strong. Yan Hang walked over to that table.

Usually they wouldn't bother with this kind of customer, but in a situation like today where someone took up a four-person table just to drink water, he had to go over and politely remind them.

"Hello sir." Yan Hang stood next to the man and greeted him.

The man was still looking out the window, seemingly not hearing his voice.

"Sir?" Yan Hang called out to him again, while quickly sizing the man up.

His hair wasn't long, probably cut not too long ago, but clearly unkempt and a bit greasy, likely unwashed for three or four days.

Wearing an old t-shirt, the jacket was old too with faded cuffs.

The pants were ordinary casual pants, hard to tell if new or old, but the shoes were visibly well-worn, even more weathered than the old NBs Chu Yi took back as a memento in 7th grade.

Their restaurant was inside a five-star hotel. While he wouldn't jump to conclusions based on appearance, in all his time working at the restaurant, he had never seen someone dressed like this.

"Hello sir," he took a step to the side, standing diagonally across from the man, greeting him for the third time, "I'm the supervisor here, would you like to order now?"

After a few more seconds, the man finally turned his face over and looked at him: "Supervisor eh?"

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Yan Hang asked.

The man's beard was quite long, a messy mix of graying stubble, looking extremely haggard.

"Pour me a glass of water." The man said.

"Alright," Yan Hang stopped a passing waiter and had him refill the man's water. As the man turned away, he added, "Sir, are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes." The man replied.

"About how many in total?" Yan Hang asked.

The man hesitated for a moment: "Three."

"Then sir, you can order first," Yan Hang moved the menu closer to him, "The kitchen needs time to prep ingredients, and there are quite a lot of diners today. You can order first and we'll notify the kitchen when your guests arrive."

The man didn't speak, staring at his face for a while before his gaze dropped to the name tag on his chest: "Yan Hang."

"Yes." Yan Hang nodded.

The man picked up the glass and downed the freshly poured water in one gulp before standing up: "Where's the restroom?"

"Please go straight ahead, turn left out the back door." Yan Hang said.

The man said nothing more and walked towards the back door.

Only after he stood up did Yan Hang notice the man's pants were badly wrinkled. He walked with his left foot slightly on tiptoe.

"Xiao Yang." Yan Hang waved over a male waiter.

"What is it, Brother Hang?" Xiao Yang walked over.

"Follow that customer and keep an eye on him," Yan Hang watched the man's retreating figure, "I'm worried he might get lost and wander to a different floor."

"Understood." Xiao Yang nodded and followed.

During holidays with lots of customers, they had to be more vigilant about security. The restaurant was relatively independent from the hotel's other floors, but there were fire passages connecting the restroom corridor.

This man was really a bit odd, Yan Hang had to be on guard.

After a few minutes, the man returned to the restaurant and left through the front door.

"No problem," Xiao Yang came over to report, "Came straight here from the restroom and then left."

"Mm, go ahead and get back to work." Yan Hang patted him on the shoulder.

Chu Yi sat on the sofa watching TV. There wasn't much to watch in the afternoon. He originally wanted to put on a movie but after fiddling for a long time, he couldn't figure out how to turn on the projector or where Yan Hang kept his movies.

He didn't dare mess around with such high-end equipment, so he went and turned on Yan Hang's computer instead.

But sitting there with the computer, he didn't know what to do with it either. In the end, he could only sit back on the sofa and watch TV.

The life of a country mutt - there were too many things he had never experienced before. Who knows how long it would take to evolve into a fancy foreign breed.

His phone kept ringing. The guys in the dorm had started a group chat and were probably trying to get people to play games.

Chu Yi picked up his phone, contemplating re-downloading that game he couldn't play with Yan Hang, to learn how to play and have something to do when bored.

The WeChat messages weren't all from the group chat, some were from Zhou Chunyang.

- I'm going to eat at Yan Hang's restaurant this afternoon, are you coming?

Eat your uncle!

Chu Yi couldn't help but widen his eyes.

- Just you?

- My whole family. If you come, the two of us can sit at a separate table. I don't want to sit with my parents.

Looking at this message, Chu Yi suddenly didn't know what to do.

He really wanted to see Yan Hang. Although Yan Hang said he could come find him if he got too bored, Chu Yi knew Yan Hang was extremely busy these past few days and he couldn't go cause trouble.

But if it was for a proper meal, that would be different.

Except, he'd have to eat with Zhou Chunyang... It wasn't that he disliked Zhou Chunyang, even if everything Zhou Chunyang did startled him.

He just felt awkward about it.

All sorts of inexplicable discomfort.

Yan Hang discovered that Zhou Chunyang's dad really was a Western cuisine enthusiast, coming by a few times each month, sometimes bringing friends, sometimes his son. Today he brought the whole family.

Zhang Chen went over to seat them. After the family of three sat down, Zhou Chunyang stood up again and moved to the next table, even waving in his direction.

Yan Hang sighed and had no choice but to walk over.

"I made plans with Chu Yi to eat together," Zhou Chunyang said, "Eating with my parents is too boring."

Yan Hang paused in surprise: "Chu Yi is coming over later?"

"Yeah," Zhou Chunyang nodded, "He's probably bored too."

"So are you ordering now or waiting a bit?" Yan Hang smiled.

"Let's wait until Chu Yi gets here." Zhou Chunyang said.

"Alright." Yan Hang put the menu in front of him and turned to leave.

This Zhou Chunyang was a bit hard for Yan Hang to figure out.

Chu Yi's good dorm mate - that was Yan Hang's initial impression of Zhou Chunyang.

But thinking about it recently, especially after Chu Yi told him about Zhou Chunyang's orientation, every time he saw Zhou Chunyang he wondered if the kid had some other intentions.

In all his life, he had seen all sorts of people. Though he didn't have many friends, confessions were not uncommon.

Zhou Chunyang's attitude was definitely not as simple as an ordinary friend or roommate, of that he was very certain.

But to say there was really anything else going on, Zhou Chunyang's attitude was far from enough to indicate that.

Tsk.

Zhou Chunyang's mental maturity was far beyond the other little rascals in their dorm.

Ten minutes later, Chu Yi entered the restaurant. As soon as he came in, he glanced towards the bar and smiled a bit embarrassedly upon seeing him.

Yan Hang also smiled and walked over.

Unlike the relaxed confidence Zhou Chunyang had when walking into the restaurant, Chu Yi seemed a bit nervous when he entered, quickly making way first whenever he encountered a server.

Although he had already changed a lot, these little details still allowed one to see Chu Yi's past experiences at a glance.

It made Yan Hang's heart ache a little each time.

"Making plans to eat here without telling me." Yan Hang looked at him and smiled.

"Sur, sur...prised," Chu Yi rubbed his nose, "Right?"

"...Very surprised," Yan Hang said, "I was already surprised for at least five seconds when Zhou Chunyang told me just now... You go ahead, he's at that table. If you're free after eating, just wait for me to get off work."

"Okay." Chu Yi nodded, turned and headed towards Zhou Chunyang's table.

Although Yan Hang couldn't figure out why Zhou Chunyang asked Chu Yi to come eat, Chu Yi's appearance still made him feel that the busy work ahead was no big deal.

"Hello Uncle," Chu Yi greeted Zhou Chunyang's parents, "Hello Auntie."

"Hello hello," Zhou's mother smiled, "You two chat, don't mind us over here."

"Sit here." Zhou Chunyang stood up and gave Chu Yi the seat with his back to his parents.

With his back to Zhou Chunyang's parents so he couldn't see them, Chu Yi was indeed able to relax.

"Let's order," Zhou Chunyang said, "You're not having cod today, right?"

"Mm," Chu Yi slowly looked over the menu, "But I also don't, don't know what to, to eat."

"Steak then, their ribeye steak is pretty good, very fragrant." Zhou Chunyang said.

"Okay." Chu Yi didn't really understand anyway and nodded.

The one taking their order today wasn't Yan Hang. Yan Hang was talking with someone in a suit who was clearly a leader. The one serving them was a young lady.

"Let me see about dessert..." Zhou Chunyang looked at the menu.

"Dessert is on the house from our supervisor." The young lady said with a smile.

"That works then," Zhou Chunyang said, "Please thank Brother Hang for us."

Once the steak arrived, Chu Yi immediately regretted having cod the previous two times. He indeed preferred this kind of fatty, oily hunk of meat.

"How are you spending Mid-Autumn?" Zhou Chunyang asked while eating.

"Going to the beach." Chu Yi said.

After saying it, he regretted it a bit, always having the feeling that Zhou Chunyang would also show up at the beach.

"I'm going to my grandma's," Zhou Chunyang sighed, "Super annoying, it's like a ritual every year - eat, then after eating hold mooncakes and gather in a circle in the backyard like having a symposium while also feeding the autumn mosquitoes."

Chu Yi couldn't help but laugh.

"Just you and Yan Hang two going to the beach?" Zhou Chunyang asked again.

"There's, there's others too." Chu Yi said.

"Oh," Zhou Chunyang looked at him, "I thought it was just you two."

Chu Yi didn't say anything, not knowing what to say.

"That little speaker I gave Yan Hang," Zhou Chunyang said, "You really don't want the same model?"

"Huh?" Chu Yi was stunned. Zhou Chunyang suddenly mentioning the little speaker, he couldn't find an appropriate response for a moment.

Zhou Chunyang smiled without saying anything, eating while looking at him.

Chu Yi always felt there was a bit of something in that smile, but he really couldn't figure it out. He interacted with few people to begin with, and Zhou Chunyang was a bit more "complex" than the average classmate.

"This shrimp cake is tasty." Zhou Chunyang pointed at the small basket of cakes the server had just brought over.

"Mm." Chu Yi took one and took a bite, it was indeed very tasty.

"Xiaoyang and Wu Xu said they want to go out in a couple days," Zhou Chunyang said, "Come along?"

"Sure," Chu Yi nodded, "Where to?"

"Hiking," Zhou Chunyang laughed, "I said to hike up, the two of them got scared shitless, said they want to take the cable car."

"Cable, car is good," Chu Yi said, "I've never taken, taken a cable car before."

"Really?" Zhou Chunyang looked at him, "Then let's take the cable car, can see more of the view too."

Chu Yi lowered his head and ate a couple bites of meat, then raised his head again, "How much, is it? The cable car."

"A bit over 100 but not 200, for a package ticket." Zhou Chunyang said.

"Oh." Chu Yi responded.

For him, spending 200 to go hiking was a bit shocking. His understanding of scenic spots was the park next to his aunt's home, with an entrance fee of 10 and a children's park package for 20, of course, those were prices from many years ago.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Chunyang asked.

"Nothing." Chu Yi smiled.

"I couldn't ask in front of everyone in the dorm the other day," Zhou Chunyang said, "Why aren't you going home?"

"I..." Chu Yi hesitated for a moment and lightly sighed, "Just don't, don't want to go back."

"Oh," Zhou Chunyang also sighed, "Not on good terms with your family? I noticed you don't call home and haven't received any calls from home either."

"Mm." Chu Yi suddenly felt a bit sad.

"It's fine," Zhou Chunyang said, "Just consider it leaving home early to be independent. You still have this group in the dorm usually, except for that idiot Su Bin."

Chu Yi smiled.

"If you get bored in the dorm, just find me, Xiaoyang and Wu Xu." Zhou Chunyang said.

"I'm not in the dor..." Chu Yi said halfway and stopped.

Zhou Chunyang was stunned for a moment. After a while, he glanced towards the bar, "You really went to live at Yan Hang's place? I thought you were just casually saying that the other day."

"...Yeah." Chu Yi responded.

Zhou Chunyang looked at him in a daze for a bit, lowered his head to eat a couple bites, then raised his head again, "Chu Yi, let me ask you one last time."

"What?" Chu Yi looked at him.

"You and Yan Hang... or rather, you towards Yan Hang," Zhou Chunyang lowered his voice, "Is there really nothing going on?"

Chu Yi stared at him.

"To be honest," Zhou Chunyang said softly, "I consider you a friend."

"No, it's not like that," Chu Yi's voice was also very low.

For some reason, when Zhou Chunyang asked this question for the second time, he suddenly felt it was much harder to answer than the first time.

Zhou Chunyang stared at him, making it a bit unbearable for Chu Yi, who could only lower his eyelids and stare at the shrimp cake in front of him.

"If you really insist on saying that," Zhou Chunyang said, "then I'll take it seriously."

"Take what seriously?" Chu Yi felt a surge of nervousness and looked up at him.

"You know," Zhou Chunyang said, "I like men."

"Ah." Chu Yi felt like a fan started spinning in his head.

"If you really have nothing with Yan Hang," Zhou Chunyang said, "I'm going to give it a try."

"Try?" Chu Yi poked at a piece of meat for a long time without being able to bring it to his mouth.

"I'll just say it straight, I quite like Yan Hang," Zhou Chunyang said, "but if there's something between you two, I definitely can't make a move. Even if it's just something one-sided on your part, I won't make a move."

Chu Yi stared at him.

"I've asked you twice now. If you're really sure there's nothing," Zhou Chunyang took a sip of his drink, "then I'm going for it."