"Me?" Yue Zhishi blinked slowly. "I'm waiting for Senior Song Yu."

The girl's eyes were full of gossip. "Are you really brothers? Do you live together too?"

"Not by blood." Yue Zhishi only answered the first question before lowering his eyes, opening his homework book, and saying in a hushed voice, "We should get back to studying..."

"Oh, right, right," the girl seemed to realize something too. She glanced back at a senior girl who was facing the corner reciting from a book, then turned back and said in a very low voice, "I won't disturb you then. I'm heading back. Let's chat next time!"

'Does "next time" mean she can study here every day?'

After pondering for two seconds, Yue Zhishi unlocked this new study map with a touch of envy. He tried to focus, but studying here felt so different from being in the classroom. Huddled in the classroom doing homework, pacing the long corridors to memorize texts, waiting for the third-years to be dismissed—no matter what he did, it was all just his one-sided action. It didn't even count as waiting, since waiting for someone and being waited for are two-way streets.

This time was different. It wasn't an unauthorized, presumptuous wait.

As he thought this, Yue Zhishi looked up again. The girl not far away, chatting on her phone, was smiling sweetly, probably talking to her boyfriend. While thinking, he subconsciously wanted to bite the end of his pen again, but the thought of Song Yu's face made him stop.

'It seems... it's still not quite the same as them.'

Just as he finished the last problem, the bell rang. Afraid of making Song Yu wait, Yue Zhishi packed his bag at top speed and went out, but it seemed the class next door had run late again. There was no one at the door. Yue Zhishi stood at the back door of Class 5, Year 3 and peered inside, seeing Song Yu looking down at a book, a pair of silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He was slightly nearsighted and usually didn't need glasses, only wearing them for long periods of eye strain.

Yue Zhishi really liked the way he would occasionally squint slightly when he wasn't wearing glasses, with a hint of a frown. He couldn't say why, he just inexplicably liked it.

The students in the back row seemed to have noticed the Junior High Division student standing at the back door. After whispering among themselves, they all turned to look. At first, Yue Zhishi didn't think anything was wrong, until he heard someone whisper, "Isn't that Song Yu's little brother?" He felt as if he'd been pricked by something and immediately covered his bruised eye. Feeling that was also weird, he hid off to the side.

"Why do you look guiltier than me?" The girl from just now was still standing openly outside the classroom, seemingly not at all afraid of teachers or classmates finding out about her boyfriend. "This is still Peiya School grounds. I'm a Peiya student, so it's perfectly reasonable for me to stand here."

Yue Zhishi thought about it. "That's true." So he also went to stand next to the girl. Less than two seconds later, he took another step to the right, putting some distance between them.

Class was finally over. The teacher walked out, giving Yue Zhishi's face an extra-long look. The other students in the classroom were all eager to leave, but Song Yu took his sweet time packing up. A few senior girls came out arm in arm and surrounded Yue Zhishi.

"You must be the little brother from Song Yu's family."

"Are you mixed-race? You're so cute."

"Are those eyelashes for real?"

Yue Zhishi was used to being stared at and didn't mind. He answered their questions one by one, "Yes, mm-hmm, these are real eyelashes."

A large circle had formed outside the window. Qin Yan, watching with great interest from inside, started teasing Song Yu again, "Your little brother's popularity is no less than yours. He's a hit with both the senior and junior girls."

Song Yu didn't say anything, just picked up his schoolbag and walked out. Yue Zhishi saw him coming from the window and immediately stretched out his arm to wave, his eyes bright. He squeezed out from between the girls. "Excuse me, seniors, I have to go home now."

Unknowingly, it was already late autumn. The cool wind was like a mischievous pixie, drilling into his neck and ankles, impossible to avoid. On their way downstairs, Yue Zhishi noticed the girl from the neighboring class walking down shoulder-to-shoulder with a short, third-year senior boy. They brushed against each other on the crowded, dim staircase, even secretly holding hands for a moment before quickly letting go.

After leaving the school building, he glanced at Song Yu beside him, wanting to say something. It was strange, but he couldn't think of what to say. In the end, he just asked, "Is my eye still really ugly?"

Song Yu stared at him in silence, making him so self-conscious that he covered his right eye. Then he heard Song Yu let out a soft chuckle.

'So weird.'

It was crowded after school, so they went to their separate spots in the bicycle parking area by the school gate to find their bikes. Yue Zhishi took out his key to unlock his, but he realized something was wrong. Song Yu walked over with his bike and looked at him crouching there, fiddling with it, his expression not at all surprised. "Broken?"

"The tire's flat." Yue Zhishi crouched on the ground, poking the flat tire with his finger. He looked up at Song Yu. "It's bad to think this way, but I have a reasonable suspicion that Wang Jie and his friends did this."

'It's so obvious, what's bad about it.' Song Yu got on his bike. "Get on."

"What about my bike?" He asked the question, but Yue Zhishi had already locked up his own bike.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow."

Yue Zhishi obediently sat on the back seat and offered to hold Song Yu's schoolbag for him. He hadn't expected the other's schoolbag to be so unexpectedly heavy, heavy enough to shatter boulders. His legs might go completely numb in a bit, and when he tried to walk, his legs would give out, and he'd fall into Song Yu's arms, who would then have to carry him on his back like when they were little.

As the bicycle left the school, Yue Zhishi, lost in his imaginary scenario, hid behind Song Yu's back and giggled.

The various late-night snack stalls at the school gate were almost a small night market. One after another, the lit stoves warmed the damp, cold late-autumn night. The man frying rice had a cigarette dangling from his lips, tossing the wok back and forth by its handle. The fried rice flew, each grain rising and falling, its aroma drilling straight into one's nose. The duck necks, steeped in an old marinade until flavorful, were skewered and rolled over an open flame, brushed with chili oil, and sprinkled with spices, giving them their soul. A three-delicacy vermicelli hot pot was still simmering in a clay pot; the moment the lid was lifted, steam billowed out, and a fresh fragrance assailed the senses.

Sitting on the back seat, Yue Zhishi thought of something and turned his head to ask, "Brother Song Yu, did you finish the roasted chestnuts from today?"

Song Yu gave a casual "mm-hmm."

"Actually, if you can't finish them, you can give them to Brother Qin Yan," Hearing the sound of a wooden board being struck, Yue Zhishi spotted a new target and said as they rode, "He often gives me snacks."

Song Yu didn't reply.

Yue Zhishi noticed something. "Steamed rice cake!" he exclaimed, patting Song Yu's back several times excitedly, telling him to stop.

Song Yu hit the brakes, stopping as requested in front of an extremely simple little stall. On top of a large, square steamer sat an exquisite wooden device made of two parts. The bottom was a plain cylinder, and on top was an inverted, lotus-pod-shaped wooden lid with a long, hollow handle. The old man running the stall greeted them enthusiastically, "Here for some steamed cake? Three yuan for two, quite sweet."

Yue Zhishi nodded. "I'll have two. Can you add extra brown sugar?"

"Of course, why not." The old man moved nimbly, scooping a large spoonful of cake powder—a mixture of glutinous rice flour, Jiangmi rice flour, and powdered sugar—from a box, spreading it in the cylinder as a base. Then he sprinkled a thick layer of brown sugar, repeated this for a second layer, put the lid on to form a wooden canister, and placed it on the steamer to cook.

While they waited, Yue Zhishi heard Song Yu say, "The first time you ate this, you almost burned yourself."

"Really?" He turned his head, having no memory of it. "I don't remember that at all."

"What do you remember." Song Yu looked down at the mold, the warm yellow light of the night market and the rising steam softening the lines of his face. "Dad was holding you back then. You insisted this toy looked fun and reached out to touch it, and you ended up crying your eyes out from the steam burn."

He seemed to vaguely recall it now. "What were you doing then?"

As they spoke, the cake was ready. The old man opened the wooden canister and used the long handle on top to poke the bottom of the cylinder. The hot steamed rice cake couldn't hold on any longer; it popped right out and was caught in a small bag.

"Me?" Song Yu took the steamed rice cake. "I was laughing at you."

Yue Zhishi was miffed, his tone serious. "If you were the one who got burned and cried, I wouldn't laugh at you."

Song Yu handed him the cake. "You would cry." After saying that, he walked towards the bicycle.

"I don't cry anymore." Yue Zhishi followed behind him. Thinking of what happened at noon, he added a caveat, "...unless you provoke me."

"I don't have that kind of hobby."

'Then there must have been a reason he always cried when he was little.'

Anyway, in his heart, he was blaming it on Song Yu.

The steamed rice cake in the bag was quite hot. Yue Zhishi wanted to take a bite while it was still warm. When he opened it, he saw that the brown sugar was indeed spread on thick, and in the shape of a heart. He took a bite and it was so hot he almost spit it out, but he couldn't resist his craving. He chewed quickly a few times. The powder was soft and glutinous, and the brown sugar inside was semi-melted, possessing a simple and rich sweetness. In Yue Zhishi's mind, melted white sugar was like dew on a lotus leaf—as a child, he thought that small, transparently beautiful dewdrop must be sweet. Brown sugar, by comparison, was like the sticky, caramelized layer on a roasted sweet potato that was about to drip with honey, its deliciousness doubled when eaten on a cold day.

Song Yu saw he couldn't keep up and turned around to find him standing there with his head tilted back and mouth open, white vapor rising from it, looking just like a happy, human-shaped humidifier.

"Is it good?"

Yue Zhishi nodded and ran over, stuffing the other cake into Song Yu's hand and mumbling indistinctly, "You should eat it too, quickly."

Song Yu took a bite, decided it was too sweet, and tossed it back to Yue Zhishi before getting on the bike to take him home.

"Can I still study in your activity room tomorrow?"

"Go if you want to."

"Will a teacher come to check?" Yue Zhishi remembered something and grabbed Song Yu's shirt. "There's a girl from the class next door in there, she's the girlfriend of a guy in your class. She's in a puppy love relationship."

"You won't get into trouble."

"That's true." But he was still a little scared. "Can I say I'm your little brother? If someone asks."

Song Yu didn't respond until they were about to enter the residential complex, then he gave a soft "mm-hmm." The two went upstairs together. Lin Rong and Song Jin weren't back yet. Yue Zhishi changed his shoes and collapsed onto the sofa, grabbing the cat onto his lap, flipping it over, and rubbing its belly until its eyes squinted shut. "Orange, are you sleepy?"

Orange, in his arms, let out a contented purr. Yue Zhishi continued to rub its belly. "I ate too much, I'm so full I'm not even sleepy. Brother Song Yu, can I watch two episodes of One Piece before I go to sleep?"

The little Pomeranian, which had been scratching its legs frantically, was scooped up by Song Yu, who carried it towards the second floor. "Get up fifteen minutes earlier tomorrow, and I'll take you to school."

Yue Zhishi shot up, forgetting all about the cat. "Then I'll go take a shower and sleep right now."

Meow—

The abandoned master of the house extended a paw and swiped viciously at Yue Zhishi's retreating back, as a show of authority.