Chu Yi followed behind Yan Hang with the alcohol stove as they walked back to the tent. Cui Yi had already laid out the food on the mat.

"Follower," Cui Yi said when he saw the two of them coming over, "You even have to follow him to get a stove."

"If my dad had given me a younger brother back then," Yan Hang said with a smile as he sat down on the mat, "he'd probably be following me around like this now."

"Your dad wanted a daughter," Cui Yi said. "Raising one stinky boy was annoying enough, daughters are much cuter and can wear little dresses."

Yan Hang sighed.

"You brought it up yourself, and now you're sighing." Cui Yi glanced at him.

"Just sighing randomly," Yan Hang said. "Makes me seem deep."

Chu Yi sat down next to Yan Hang and watched as Cui Yi lit the alcohol stove and placed a flat-bottomed pan on top. Yan Hang still had his old habit - no matter if it was processed barbecue or something made fresh like now, he loved to put a dollop of butter.

Chu Yi also cooked at home, but because most of the time the things they ate at home were simple, and when his mom didn't stir-fry dishes they just had various frozen foods, he had no talent when it came to cooking. In this current situation, he basically just sat on the side watching.

Cui Yi's skill level was probably only at the instant noodle level. After fiddling around for a bit, only Yan Hang was left, with the two of them peering from the side.

The moon overhead seemed to have grown another size compared to when they first arrived. Chu Yi alternated between watching Yan Hang's hands for a while and raising his head to look at the moon.

This was probably the first time he had looked at the moon in such a relaxed and comfortable way. He didn't know if it was because this was the seaside, but everything seemed open and grand. The moon he saw today was also the biggest he had ever seen.

If you took a bite, the mouthfeel should be like a milk-flavored ice cream.

"Here," Yan Hang put two slices of very fragrant fried beef on a plate and gave it to Cui Yi, then handed two slices of lamb to him. "Uncle Cui loves beef, you probably prefer lamb right?"

"Mm," Chu Yi smiled. "Actually, any meat is fine."

"With Yan Hang's cooking skills," Cui Yi said as he ate, "I'll invest in a small Western restaurant for you in a couple years."

"I have a very good memory, I'll remember that," Yan Hang said with a laugh. "Thank you."

Thank you.

When he heard those two words, Chu Yi couldn't help glancing over at Yan Hang.

I like you.

Thank you.

This was probably the exchange he could imagine between Zhou Chunyang and Yan Hang based on the response Yan Hang had mentioned before.

Zhou Chunyang definitely wouldn't say something so boring, but he was a boring person, so this was all he could come up with.

Or to put it another way... if he were the one saying it, this was all he could say too.

No lead-up, no embellishment.

I like you.

Thank you.

Did he need to add a "you're welcome" at the end?

If he didn't add it, wouldn't that be very awkward?

Adding it would be even more awkward.

Chu Yi sighed.

"You don't like it?" Yan Hang glanced at him. "How come you're sighing now?"

"Drink a big gulp of beer with you and then," Chu Yi picked up the drink beside him and chugged two big mouthfuls, "Ah..."

Yan Hang started laughing.

"Sighing from comfort." Chu Yi said.

Cui Yi laughed and took a can of beer, tilting his head back to drink a few mouthfuls, then wiped his mouth: "Ah..."

"Don't provoke me," Yan Hang said. "Otherwise you drive on the way back and I'll drink a couple mouthfuls."

"Too late," Cui Yi shook the can. "I already drank."

Yan Hang clicked his tongue with a laugh.

Comfortable.

After eating three plates of large lamb slices and a bunch of roasted wings, Chu Yi laid back and flopped onto the sand, spreading his arms out to the sides and looking at the moon.

Very happy, very relaxed.

As long as he didn't think about that "I like you" issue, it was very pleasant, his whole being was a smile.

But to really not think about it was not an easy thing.

All the current beauty, joy and smiles were because of Yan Hang.

Because he was together with Yan Hang.

Because he wanted to be together with Yan Hang.

Actually just now going to Yan Hang was just an impulse, an impulse forced out by those emotions that made him flustered and at a loss. In that instant, that was how he felt.

I like Yan Hang.

But after hearing Yan Hang's "thanks", he hesitated again.

He didn't know if he was really like Zhou Chunyang.

And he didn't know what he should do if Yan Hang gave him a "thank you".

And what Yan Hang would do.

Was he really?

Homosexual?

Was Chu Yi a homosexual?

From a young age, he had never liked anyone, let alone boys, he had never liked girls either. He never had the opportunity to like someone, and even less had anyone ever liked him. His former classmates, whether male or female, probably didn't even remember that he existed.

What it was like to like someone, he didn't know.

What it was like to be liked by someone, he knew even less.

This feeling was very agonizing.

Wanting to get close to Yan Hang, endlessly, infinitely close.

Yet also being afraid and lost because of this yearning.

The color of the moon had faded.

One night's time was too short, even from dinner all the way to late night snack, it was still very short.

He and Yan Hang lay together in the tent, resting their heads on the mat at the tent entrance. Cui Yi had piled them each a small pillow out of sand.

He didn't want to move, just wanted to keep lying there staring at the moon.

Cui Yi was even more lively than the two of them, climbing onto the old boat nearby to take pictures of the moon, and the fishing boats under the moonlight. He also took pictures of the two boys who refused to budge in the tent under the moonlit night.

"It's almost time," Cui Yi looked at his phone. "If you two don't want to go back, then sleep here. I'll go get a room at the hotel across the way."

"Let's go back," Chu Yi said. Yan Hang had to go to work early tomorrow morning. In order to let him have a good Mid-Autumn Festival, Yan Hang had already left work early today. If he was late for work again tomorrow, it would be a bit too unreasonable. "Yan Hang has work tomorrow."

"Did you have fun?" Yan Hang turned his head and asked him.

"Mm." Chu Yi smiled up at the sky.

He didn't dare turn his head to look at Yan Hang. The distance was too close. In the past, he wouldn't have felt anything special. If he wanted to lean against Yan Hang, he would just do it. If he wanted to hug Yan Hang, he would just do it. If he wanted to hold Yan Hang's hand, he would also just do it. In his view, all of this was natural.

But once he realized that all of his "wants" seemed to be mixed with something else, he began to find it hard to face Yan Hang.

"Actually, to play like this, it doesn't have to be Mid-Autumn Festival," Yan Hang said. "Weekends are fine too. Whenever you want to play like this, just come. The two of us can come by ourselves, or you can call a bunch of classmates to join."

"Mm." Chu Yi stared at the moon and nodded with a smile.

"Then let's go," Yan Hang sat up. "It'll take an hour to drive back."

Chu Yi sat up. Yan Hang casually brushed his hair, getting the sand off his head. Just this action, and the warm breath that rushed over when Yan Hang turned, made him instantly lie back down as if fleeing for his life.

"Are you looking to get hit?" Yan Hang's hand was still raised. "I just got some sand off for you!"

"It won't get completely clean anyway," Cui Yi said. "Honestly, go back and wash your hair."

This was the first time Chu Yi had such intimate contact with beach sand. Only when he was sitting in the car on the way back did he discover that even though he hadn't rolled around on the beach and was wearing long sleeves and pants, not only was there sand all over his hair, but also in his clothes, and even seemed to be in his underwear, though he was too embarrassed to reach in and check.

He snuck a glance at Yan Hang and found that Yan Hang was yawning. Looking back again, Cui Yi had already fallen asleep leaning against the back seat.

He frowned. If it wasn't to make him happy, Yan Hang and Cui Yi probably wouldn't be interested in staying at the beach all night, right?

"Are you sleepy?" He sat up straight and asked Yan Hang softly.

"Not sleepy," Yan Hang said.

Chu Yi stared at the road ahead, afraid of any sudden situations where he could alert Yan Hang.

"If you're sleepy, sleep for a bit," Yan Hang said. "Earlier when you were lying there looking at the moon, you were even snoring."

"Impossible," Chu Yi was stunned. "I didn't, didn't sleep."

"I heard it too," Cui Yi added with a laugh from the back seat.

Chu Yi looked back at Cui Yi and found that he was still in the same position as before, eyes not even open, just smiling.

"I fell, fell asleep?" Chu Yi was a bit helpless.

"Mm," Yan Hang laughed. "Sleep. Don't worry about me. I might not even be able to fall asleep properly when sleeping for real, let alone while driving."

Chu Yi didn't say anything. He knew Yan Hang didn't sleep well and even had medicine by the bed. But he still stared at the road ahead, glancing at Yan Hang's face from time to time to see if his eyes were open or closed.

By the time they got back to Yan Hang's place, it was already almost 3 AM.

The two of them hurriedly washed up. By the time they lay down on the bed, it was already 3:30.

"Sleep," Yan Hang turned off the light and patted him on the arm.

"Good night," Chu Yi said softly.

"Good night," Yan Hang said.

It was "good night" alright, but Chu Yi learned for the first time that he could have such thorough insomnia. He didn't know if it was because he had played too excitedly or if there were too many things on his mind.

No, there weren't many things on his mind, he was just too shocked.

Shocked to the point of being a bit dazed. One moment he felt it was like this, the next moment he felt no way it could be like this. One moment it was no big deal, the next it was forget it, he wasn't a kid anymore, how could his thoughts still be so far-fetched.

Yan Hang probably had insomnia too. In the morning when he got up, Chu Yi couldn't even hear the change in his breathing, he had probably just been lying there like that.

"You sleep some more. You can probably sleep until noon," Yan Hang took off the t-shirt he was wearing and opened the wardrobe to look for clothes. "Didn't sleep all night."

"You know?" Chu Yi looked at the gentle yet taut lines of muscle on Yan Hang's back.

"Of course," Yan Hang put on a long-sleeved t-shirt and turned around. "I know how many times you tossed and turned. I'm not making you breakfast. When you've slept enough, get up and go out to eat yourself."

"Mm." Chu Yi sat cross-legged on the bed and nodded.

Watching Yan Hang walk out of the bedroom, then hearing the sound of the door to the living room, he fell back onto the pillow and subconsciously hugged Yan Hang's pillow over.

When he realized that he was hugging Yan Hang's pillow and had even buried his face in it, his heart was in a flurry of panic again, but he didn't put the pillow back, still hugging it tightly.

The number of customers these two days kept hitting new highs. Basically all reservations. Customers without reservations couldn't be accommodated at all. Yan Hang felt his legs were sore every day. After this holiday, he'd have to find a place for a good massage.

But what made him feel especially fatigued was the unease in his heart.

He didn't know if it was because he always had hallucinations from not sleeping well for two days in a row, or his own long-term oversensitivity, or if it was real. In any case, he felt all day today that someone was watching him.

But he had observed all the people in the restaurant, both the servers and the customers, and there was no one suspicious.

He had no choice but to go wash his face several times, trying to make himself more clear-headed and calm.

He had always been confident in his intuition and judgment of danger. This was something that Dad had "trained" in him intentionally or unintentionally over the years. But he also knew that once his mood or mental state was off, he would make mistakes.

This constant reaching of conclusions, then constant overturning them with "current unstable state", made him very anxious.

-I'll come wait for you to get off work today

When he was hiding behind the dumpster at the back door of the hotel to smoke, Chu Yi sent a message. Yan Hang smiled.

Only Chu Yi could still make him smile when he was anxious and uneasy.

-Too bored?

He replied.

The past two days Chu Yi had been staying home alone. Because he couldn't play games, he didn't know what to do with the laptop, so he watched TV. He must be bored out of his mind.

-I'm not afraid of being bored. I'm someone who can sit by the river alone for a whole day.

Miss me?

After typing this line on the screen, Yan Hang deleted it before sending. Actually, if it was before, this would have just been a casual joke between him and Chu Yi. But now he always felt that something was off.

Chu Yi was already quite strange, and he got even stranger after asking that question while looking at the moon that night. But he himself wasn't in a good state these past two days and didn't have the energy to carefully observe. He just felt it was best not to say similar things for now, afraid that Chu Yi would become even more off.

He felt heartache for Chu Yi and cared about it deeply, unwilling to let Chu Yi feel even a little bit unhappy.

- Do you want to go out for a stroll and get a bite to eat?

- Let me treat you to a meal

Yan Hang smiled.

- Okay

- I have something I want to tell you

Yan Hang looked at this message and only replied after a while.

- Sure, you can tell me anything

After sending the message, he snuffed out his cigarette, took two mints and chewed them as he walked back.

The first day's reaction and this very formal "I have something I want to tell you" made him start to feel his previous speculations were correct.

Yan Hang, I like you.

I might like you.

I might like you a little?

I think I probably...

Chu Yi sighed as he stood in front of the mirror.

Yan Hang, do you think I'm being a bit strange now...

Can you help me analyze it?

Yan Hang, I've been thinking these past two days, could I be... the same as Zhou Chunyang?

I might be gay.

The first day frowned, suddenly not daring to look at himself in the mirror.

He had been standing here for nearly a class period, countless opening lines had flashed through his mind, but he couldn't find a single suitable one.

He couldn't even try to say a single word.

All the feelings were just his own guesses. He drew a boundary for himself, and within this boundary, all his thoughts and behaviors only led to this one conclusion.

But he didn't know if this judgment was correct, didn't know how to begin, and didn't dare imagine what kind of answer Yan Hang would give him.

A "thank you", or silence.

Many things require courage, and he had always lacked courage. He was afraid of rejection, of not being accepted. The skills he was more adept at were avoidance and self-isolation.

And courage, that was something Yan Hang gave him.

Even initially, the reason he could muster the courage to approach Yan Hang was because Yan Hang's gentleness gave him courage.

Him going to work, going to school in another city, rebelling against Liang Bin, no longer obeying his family, going to find Yan Hang - everything, everything related to courage was related to Yan Hang.

This time, he struggled for two days, and what ultimately made him decide that regardless of whether it was like this or not, regardless of what result he had to face, it was still because of Yan Hang.

Yan Hang was an amazing person. The way he was now, unable to even avoid himself, Yan Hang had sensed it long ago. Rather than being so conflicted and making Yan Hang worry with him, it was better to just go for it.

Go for it!

He wasn't a little mutt anymore.

He was Brother Dog!

Loud and clear! Brother Dog!

He took out his phone and looked again, confirming that he had said he wanted to "talk about something" with Yan Hang. With those words out, he had no way back. He couldn't think of a second thing that required discussing with Yan Hang so seriously.

Yan Hang sent a message saying they could head out.

Chu Yi didn't delay even a second before grabbing his bag and running out the door.

These few days were holidays, without rush hour peaks. It was quite crowded at all times. He stood at the bus stop staring in the direction the bus was coming from.

Although very nervous, not knowing what the situation would be like when he faced Yan Hang, he was also very anxious, wanting to see Yan Hang a bit sooner.

When he finally saw the bus coming, he even forgot his good habit of respecting the elderly and loving the young. He darted over and was the first to hop on. Only after getting on did he come back to his senses. Even if he was the first to get on, it wouldn't be faster than the last person...

The bus drove slowly all the way. On holidays, all kinds of self-driving cars crowded the roads and public buses went much slower than usual. When they were almost there, Yan Hang's call came through.

"Hello?" Chu Yi answered the phone.

"I've changed my clothes," Yan Hang said. "Heading out now."

"I'm not there yet." Chu Yi was anxious.

"I'll wait for you at the bus stop," Yan Hang chuckled. "No rush."

"I'm in a rush, really," Chu Yi looked outside. There were probably a bit more than one stop left. The few stops near the hotel had few people and vehicles since there were no attractions here and very few tourists. The bus was going faster than before. "I said I, would wait for you to get off work, now you're, waiting for me to get off the bus."

"How about this then..." Yan Hang's voice trailed off halfway.

"What's wrong?" Chu Yi asked.

"...Nothing," when Yan Hang spoke again, he sounded a bit distracted. "I'll go to the... bus stop now. Where are you?"

"The supermarket," Chu Yi said. For some reason, he suddenly became extremely anxious. "I'll run over, after I get off."

"Huh?" Yan Hang was stunned for a moment.

The bus arrived at the stop and Chu Yi squeezed through to get off. The sky had already darkened and there were fewer people on the sidewalk. He could run faster than the bus.

"I'll run over," Chu Yi said while running.

"Did you get off?" Yan Hang asked.

"Yep!" Chu Yi chuckled. The autumn wind blowing against his face as he ran made him feel refreshed, like his whole being had suddenly opened up. "Yan Hang."

"...Yes?" Yan Hang responded.

Chu Yi pressed one hand against his bag bouncing on his butt and held the phone with the other. "I want to say right now..."

"You wait for me there," Yan Hang suddenly said. "The supermarket."

"Huh?" Chu Yi was stunned for a moment. "I'll be there in a jiffy."

After crossing the street, Yan Hang looked back behind him again but didn't see anyone suspicious. However, he could be certain someone was following him.

It wasn't from lack of sleep or his mental state. He hadn't felt this strong sense of impending danger in a long time.

"You..." Yan Hang looked around. There weren't many people. To be honest, he could see clearly with one glance. The target he was looking for wasn't there. "Just wait for me there."

He couldn't let Chu Yi come over. He hadn't figured out the situation yet.

"Why?" Chu Yi asked.

"I have a surprise for you," Yan Hang made up an excuse on the spot. "You... wait for me a bit and I'll be right over."

The hotel environment is very tranquil here. Apart from a shopping mall behind the hotel, this side of the street is basically all small gardens with greenery and the walls of various units.

"Surprise?" Chu Yi's voice sounded like he had stopped walking. "What sur-, surprise?"

"If I say it out loud, is it still a surprise?" Yan Hang said. He didn't walk towards the direction Chu Yi was coming from, but turned around to go back the way he came, where there were even fewer people. If there was anyone, he would be more likely to notice them.

As he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a figure flashing by at the corner ahead.

If he hadn't been deliberately paying attention to his surroundings, he definitely wouldn't have seen this person. But his intuition made him associate this fleeting figure with the person who had a problem with his left leg, whom he had seen in the restaurant the other day.

"Then I'll wait for you to come, come over." Chu Yi sounded to be in a good mood.

When he was about to hang up, Chu Yi called out to him again, "Yan Hang."

"Hmm?" Yan Hang slowly walked towards the corner, his hand reaching into his pocket to grasp the keys, wedging the small steel truncheon between his fingers.

"I... I want, want to tell you, something," Chu Yi said. "I'm afraid when I see, you, I won't, won't dare to say it."

"What is it?" Yan Hang asked, eyes fixed on the corner as he slowly approached, then suddenly took a big step around it.

Around the corner was a flower bed, with a fountain outside and quite a few trees planted inside. A small stone slab path led through it, with two or three sets of stone tables and chairs. At noon, many young ladies from nearby offices would buy their lunch and come here to eat.

But there was not a single person in sight at the moment.

"Chu Yi," Yan Hang looked over there, "I'll call you in a bit..."

"Yan Hang," Chu Yi cleared his throat. "I li-, like you."

Yan Hang was stunned for a moment.

When he heard the footsteps behind him, he had just recovered from what Chu Yi said. It was too late to dodge.

Someone behind him gave him a fierce shove.