Yang Guo and Little Dragon Maiden, Me and You.

"Keep the change." Zhuang Fanxin wasn't usually this generous, but he was in a bit of a hurry, getting out of the taxi before it had even come to a complete stop. Pei Zhi's phone call had been vague, just telling him to come to his house, but his tone made it sound like he was sick.

He first met Pei Zhi when he was five, in an office at the Art Academy. He was waiting for his dad to get off work, and Pei Zhi was waiting for his grandmother to get off work. 'Do you know how to draw?' That was their opening line. He couldn't remember who asked whom, but in any case, they both knew how.

Later, to make things easier, Zhuang Xianyang or Pei Yuanzhou would leave them homework: draw the trees, draw the classroom building, draw the cleaning lady in the cafeteria. During the time they spent waiting for their family to get off work, they drew every part of the Art Academy. As they grew up, they went to art studios and sketched together, studied design and entered competitions together. Both their parents were busy, so whenever one got a minor illness, the other would act as a caretaker.

Zhuang Fanxin was anxious but not flustered. He first bought some fruit at the convenience store by the entrance to the residential complex, then bought a box of fever-reducing medicine at the small pharmacy next to it. After getting out of the elevator and arriving at the door, he rang the doorbell. "Pei Zhi? I'm here."

The one who opened the door was Pei Yuanzhou.

"Grandmother?" Zhuang Fanxin had thought she wasn't home, which was why Pei Zhi had called him over for help. He entered the apartment. The room was very quiet. He asked, "Grandmother, what's wrong with Pei Zhi?"

Pei Yuanzhou said, "He's perfectly fine."

"Huh? I thought he was sick." Zhuang Fanxin cleverly sensed that something was up. He took out the fruit he had just bought. "Grandmother, these strawberries are for you. The shop owner said they're especially sweet."

Pei Yuanzhou sighed. Her demeanor was completely different from the day of the art exhibition, lacking any of her professorial authority. She was just like any ordinary old woman, worn down and worried by family matters. Zhuang Fanxin chatted with her for a while. The room remained just as quiet. 'What's going on? Don't tell me Pei Zhi isn't even home?'

He made an excuse to go to the washroom, and on the way, he peeked into the bedroom and saw no one. He couldn't help but ask, "Grandmother, where did Pei Zhi go?"

Pei Yuanzhou pointed to the balcony and sighed again. Zhuang Fanxin thought to himself, 'I'm done for'. He walked over and peered through the sliding glass door, seeing Pei Zhi standing facing the corner of the small balcony, looking especially withdrawn.

He understood. Usually, one was put in confinement only after getting into trouble, and this trouble was most likely related to Pei Zhi not showing up on Christmas.

Zhuang Fanxin tried to think of a way to mediate. He said, "Grandmother, his voice sounded like he has a cold. What if he faints from standing for too long?"

"He had the presence of mind to call you for backup, so I'd say he's plenty conscious," the old woman said. Zhuang Fanxin paced back, then bit the bullet and acted cute, "Grandmother, but I'll be so bored by myself. Let him come out and entertain me."

Pei Yuanzhou still didn't agree, her anger evidently immense. Zhuang Fanxin had to talk until his lips were raw before he finally coaxed the old woman back to her room to lie down. When he went to rescue Pei Zhi, the other boy was leaning against the wall, swaying, looking like he was about to faint for real.

Back in the bedroom with the door closed, they both collapsed onto the bed. Zhuang Fanxin could clearly see Pei Zhi's pale face. He was dying of curiosity. "What in the world is going on? How long have you been facing the wall?"

Pei Zhi answered, "Since eight in the morning."

As soon as he spoke, his voice came out incredibly hoarse. It was already two-thirty in the afternoon. Zhuang Fanxin handed him a glass of water. "Grandmother is being too harsh. Is it because you didn't go to the art exhibition yesterday? You should have at least said something if you had something going on."

"It's my fault," Pei Zhi said. "I didn't come home last night either."

Missing for a day, staying out all night, and skipping school—that was indeed pretty wild. Zhuang Fanxin remembered Gu Zhuoyan's work pass and asked, "What were you up to? Can you talk about it?"

Pei Zhi lay limply on the pillow. "A friend came back for the holidays, so I went to see him."

'What school starts its break this early? One in the USA?' Zhuang Fanxin suddenly reacted. "That senior from the break room?!"

Pei Zhi gave a weak, tired laugh. "He drove me back this morning, and my grandmother just happened to be heading out to look for me. She saw us, so... My grandmother never allowed me to hang out with him in the first place."

Pei Yuanzhou only had her grandson, Pei Zhi, by her side and had always doted on him. For her to get this angry was surprising. Zhuang Fanxin remembered Pei Zhi saying that he and the senior weren't dating. Could that also be because of his grandmother?

"Does your grandmother know you're gay?"

Pei Zhi nodded. The grandmother and grandson had never discussed it explicitly, but through their long years of relying on each other, it was already understood. A few years ago, when the Art Academy held a charity cultural festival for gay rights, Pei Yuanzhou, being highly respected, was the first faculty member to willingly participate and even created a special piece of artwork for it.

Zhuang Fanxin would never find fault with his idol. He guessed, "Is there something wrong with that senior?"

'Terrible grades? A delinquent? He couldn't be a criminal fugitive who fled to the USA, could he?'

The guesses grew more and more outrageous. Zhuang Fanxin said impatiently, "Stop being so mysterious!"

Pei Zhi spoke softly, "Legally, he's my father's son."

It was nearly evening when he left Pei Zhi's house. Zhuang Fanxin pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt, carrying the birthday gift Pei Zhi had given him. He stopped by the side of the road, feeling a bit out of breath from the shock, and took a few deep breaths of the cool air.

It was hard to get a taxi, so he walked slowly along the sidewalk. By the time he got home, it was completely dark. He used his cab fare to buy a large cup of oden at the supermarket by the small intersection. He had just taken a sip of the hot broth when a black dog shot out, mounted the Samoyed outside the supermarket, and started humping.

"Boss!" Zhuang Fanxin turned and shouted, "Maomao is being molested!"

The boss, from behind the cash register: "It's fine! It's just normal romance!"

Zhuang Fanxin stared at the dogs. Why did the black dog look so much like Bond? A person emerged from the intersection, holding a leash and a phone. It was Bond's legal father, Gu Zhuoyan.

Gu Zhuoyan saw him and looked quite embarrassed. "What a sight."

Zhuang Fanxin asked, "Isn't Bond neutered? How does he still have this kind of urge?"

"His ability to reproduce was severed, not his licentious heart," Gu Zhuoyan said. "After Dongfang Bubai castrated himself, didn't he still keep several beauties around?"

The two sat on small stools in front of the supermarket, eating oden. Gu Zhuoyan ate a skewer in one bite, and only remembered after eating for a while, "Oh right, my mom went back at noon."

Gu Zhuoyan told Zhuang Fanxin all about Xue Manzi's current opinion and the letter of guarantee, his tone rather solemn and serious. Zhuang Fanxin was taken aback, holding up a piece of daikon radish in a daze. "So that means..."

Gu Zhuoyan leaned over and ate the radish. "It means study hard. Meet in my study at eight tomorrow morning."

Zhuang Fanxin breathed a sigh of relief. He'd had too many shocks today and couldn't take any more scares. A lover's eyes are like a microscope; Gu Zhuoyan noticed that something was off with him and asked what was wrong.

He hemmed and hawed. 'Can I tell someone else about this?'

'But how could Gu Zhuoyan be considered 'someone else'? It should be okay.'

"I went to Pei Zhi's house." Zhuang Fanxin moved closer, whispering in Gu Zhuoyan's ear like a spy making contact. Even someone like Gu Zhuoyan, who loved to act cool, couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy shit," two or three times.

"So that's his brother? Half-brother on his father's side?"

"He isn't his dad's biological son; his dad and the senior's mother remarried," Zhuang Fanxin said. "But his dad abandoned his mom back then because of that senior's mom, so his grandmother absolutely forbids them from being together."

Gu Zhuoyan frowned. "No, I find it bizarre that they could even fall for each other in that situation."

Zhuang Fanxin said, "Pei Zhi didn't know at first. He never lived with his dad when he was growing up."

Even dogs knew to seize the moment and get affectionate when they were dating, but the two of them were too busy gossiping about other people. After they finished talking about Pei Zhi, it still wasn't enough, so Gu Zhuoyan shared a story about Su Wang.

Su Wang got out of his single status on Christmas Eve. He'd successfully met up with an online friend from a game. After changing the chat group's name to "Fervently Celebrating Su Wang Getting a Partner," he forced Gu Zhuoyan and the others to log into the game and take turns calling the person "sister-in-law." He was being extremely flashy.

They had a great time chatting, but in the dark of the night, Gu Zhuoyan didn't notice that Zhuang Fanxin's face was flushed red.

That blush was slow to fade. At night, while working on his design sketches, Zhuang Fanxin thought about it again and his face flushed even more intensely. The truth was, he hadn't mentioned the most important part. He couldn't tell anyone, and besides, he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.

In the afternoon, Pei Zhi, wrapped in a blanket, had a slight fever. Zhuang Fanxin had bought medicine, and after feeding it to Pei Zhi, he casually said, "I'll go tell your grandmother. If she knows you got a fever from the punishment, she might soften up."

Pei Zhi grabbed him tightly. "Spare me. Who gets a fever from just standing as a punishment?"

"Then what happened?" Zhuang Fanxin asked.

Pei Zhi looked at him. After a long silence, the corners of his eyes were distinctly red, though it was unclear if it was from the fever or something else. A hazy understanding dawned on Zhuang Fanxin. He stood up, then sat back down on the bed, his butt shifting restlessly along the edge.

"You were out all night. Where did you sleep?"

"At a hotel."

Zhuang Fanxin felt inexplicably nervous. "By yourself, or with..."

"Not by myself." Pei Zhi pulled the blanket over his head.

Zhuang Fanxin pulled it off. "Then you're not feeling well because?"

Pei Zhi said, "I was fucked too hard."

With a boom, Zhuang Fanxin sat dumbfounded on the edge of the bed. He had already guessed it when he asked about the hotel, but the shock of hearing him say it out loud was still immense. He couldn't imagine the calm and sensible Pei Zhi... he didn't dare to imagine it, and yet he couldn't stop himself from imagining it!

He couldn't even control his mouth. Zhuang Fanxin asked in a small voice, "What did it feel like?"

Pei Zhi answered, "Try it with Gu Zhuoyan and you'll know."

Just that one sentence made Zhuang Fanxin's face burn all the way until he went to bed that night. Lying flat in his bed, he thought about Gu Zhuoyan, thought about having Gu Zhuoyan lie beside him, thought about kissing Gu Zhuoyan. Just holding him would be fine too.

He rolled over and hugged his Monchhichi, as if he were trying to strangle it. It was too small, so he hugged the pillow over the Monchhichi. "Baby." This was the third time he had borrowed the endearment from Gu Zhuoyan. The second half of the sentence was his own creation. "The oak and the kapok, the German Shepherd and the Samoyed, Yang Guo and Little Dragon Maiden, me and you."

Zhuang Fanxin thrashed around under the covers, pressing his face into the pillow. 'I haven't even given Gu Zhuoyan a hickey yet. Would it be appropriate to give him one tomorrow while we're doing homework?'

A sea of fire burned in his mind. He was aroused. His hand gradually moved to caress his lower abdomen.

Click. Zhuang Xianyang pushed the door open. "You asleep?"

Zhuang Fanxin almost pissed himself in fright. "N-no."

"Get up. The study is full of your drafts. Go clean it up." Zhuang Xianyang flicked on the light and saw the messy pillows and dolls. "What are you doing? Having a potato chip craving again?"

Zhuang Fanxin scrambled up, a layer of glistening sweat on his forehead. After tidying the study, he was called to the garden by Zhao Jianqiu to apply microbial fertilizer. Chores extinguished his humanity. Once he was done, he hit the bed and fell asleep instantly.

The next day when he saw Gu Zhuoyan, Zhuang Fanxin's hidden fluttering heart turned into restlessness. While the other boy was studying peacefully, he was under the table, bumping Gu Zhuoyan's foot, his elbow frequently crossing the "three-eight line," whining about being tired and leaning against him.

"I used too much body wash in the shower yesterday. Do I smell good to you?"

"...You do." Gu Zhuoyan got a new sheet of scratch paper. "Sit properly. When you're done, I'll give you a set of confidential practice tests. Didn't you say you wanted to improve by the final exams?"

Zhuang Fanxin obediently studied until noon, but Gu Zhuoyan showed no sign of stopping to fool around with him for a bit. He studied until the afternoon, filling a whole stack of scratch paper, and only received Gu Zhuoyan's attention when the other boy was explaining his mistakes.

He got the picture. Gu Zhuoyan wasn't just Gu Zhuoyan; he might as well be called Liu Xiahui*.

*T/N: An ancient Chinese politician, the governor of the District of Liuxia in the Lu State. He was a man of great virtue, and is said on one occasion to have held a lady in his lap without the slightest imputation on his moral character.

The dusk was so beautiful. Zhuang Fanxin lay his head on the desk and watched Gu Zhuoyan study. His phone rang. An active student in their class group chat was wishing everyone a happy New Year's Day in advance, which prompted Xia Wei to pop up and remind them that final exams were coming soon.

Zhuang Fanxin said, "Winter break is right after finals!"

Xia Wei: "The next semester is right after winter break!"

Qi Nan: "Summer break is right after next semester!"

"Senior year is right after summer break! And you still don't know how to be nervous!" Xia Wei flew into a rage and banned meaningless group chats.

Zhuang Fanxin put down his phone and reached out to poke the back of Gu Zhuoyan's hand. His fingertip gently traced a pale blue vein. "What time are you taking a break?"

Gu Zhuoyan said, "Ten at night."

Zhuang Fanxin had nothing more to say. He packed his schoolbag to go home for dinner. He had already reached the door when he pattered back, bent down, and planted a kiss on Gu Zhuoyan's left cheek.

He said quickly, "I've been infatuated with you all day today."

The tip of the pen drew a line across the paper. Gu Zhuoyan turned his head, but Zhuang Fanxin had already run off without looking back.

At the flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning, Zhuang Fanxin hadn't forgotten to settle scores with Qi Nan. Why should the birthday cake cost six hundred yuan when it didn't even have any writing on it? Just as they were about to turn from friends to enemies, Xia Wei came over and kicked each of them for spreading negative, anti-studying sentiments in the group chat yesterday. Instantly, they were huddled together for warmth again.

Back in the classroom, before the bell rang, Zhuang Fanxin organized the test papers he hadn't taken with him on Friday afternoon. They were stuffed messily in his desk cubby. He stacked them neatly on his desk one by one.

He pulled out the last sheet, and the space cleared up. Deep inside the desk cubby lay a greeting card.

Zhuang Fanxin took it out to look. It was probably slipped in after he had left, having missed its chance. The card was cream-colored, with an embossed design. A boy wouldn't be this particular. He opened it, and sure enough, there were a few lines of elegant handwriting—

Fanxin, happy birthday.

I've always remembered how radiant you looked after returning from the competition. I also love seeing the cheerfulness you reveal when you're laughing and joking around. What I'm most used to is your thoughtful gentleness every time you urge everyone to do the English listening practice.

The whole class sang the birthday song for you. Did you hear my voice?

Next Christmas, I hope I can sing it to you alone, okay?

Signed: Wang Churan.

Oh my god.