Qin Fang found Han Xiaogong's words a bit nonsensical. He did have a special vibe about him, an ambiguous charm between masculine and feminine, but not what you'd call "sissy". It was indeed confusing and naturally drew people's eyes to him.

But that didn't mean Qin Fang would turn gay. Qin Fang had been straight all these years and never cared who was gay or not. Several of the rich boys he hung out with were gay, and Qin Fang was used to seeing them. It wasn't that he hadn't been exposed to homosexuality - he had, long ago.

But Qin Fang never doubted his own orientation. In his view, he was as straight as a steel pipe, and no one could bend him.

Qin Fang liked tall, slender, fair-skinned girls. His preference was clear and never changed.

So after Han Xiaogong said that, Qin Fang didn't take it seriously at all and laughed carefreely, replying, "Sure, give it a try."

After staying for a few days, he got a bit used to the holiday rhythm of these few people's lives. Generally speaking, everyone did their own thing and didn't cross paths. This house was more like a simple residence. The relationship between the four of them was neither distant nor really close.

Zhou Siming went out early and returned late every day, basically with no chance to meet. Si Tu occasionally went out, and at other times played piano downstairs or planted flowers in the yard. There was a small flower bed in the yard. When they arrived, it was just a patch of cracked soil, but now there were some green seedlings.

Xing Yan also often went out, but without any regularity. Qin Fang went out with him a couple of times. Xing Yan just wandered around aimlessly, sometimes buying things, sometimes seeming to just look around. Qin Fang didn't go with him every time he went out. Qin Fang also went out on his own, finding a strange and beautiful city quite suitable for him. Following a guide, he had a lot of fun every day.

Compared to them, Han Xiaogong was the most homebound, rarely going out, saying it was too hot and he was afraid of getting tanned.

Qin Fang really liked this kind of life, very very much. Everyone was free.

But it was indeed much hotter here than in the north. This weather was quite miserable outdoors. Even Qin Fang, who didn't care about his complexion, felt he had gotten quite a bit tanner, so one day when he went out, he bought himself a couple of duck-billed caps.

When he came back, Si Tu was squatting in front of the flower bed fiddling with those few green plants. Seeing Qin Fang come in, he greeted, "You're back? Why are you wearing a hat now?"

Qin Fang said, "At least it can block the sun a bit."

"I suggest you don't wear it," Si Tu sprayed some water on the plants with a small sprayer. "At least this way the tan is even."

Han Xiaogong called out from the living room, "I'll give you some sunscreen, put it on."

Qin Fang took off his hat and walked in. "No need, keep it for yourself."

Han Xiaogong looked at Qin Fang and laughed with a "tsk". "Where's your hair?"

"Shaved it off," Qin Fang rubbed his prickly head. "Too hot."

As a handsome boy quite confident in his looks, Qin Fang had no pressure shaving his head. He just sat down and had his hair buzzed off. A buzz cut is challenging, but Qin Fang's face could pull it off. After shaving, his whole aura changed.

Han Xiaogong leaned back on the sofa and looked up at Qin Fang, smiling with narrowed eyes, "Little brother is so handsome. Your type is the most popular now, a rare find."

Qin Fang glanced at him and said, "Then you shave too."

Han Xiaogong grabbed his hair and shook his head with a laugh, "This is my asset."

In the evening, when Qin Fang was fiddling with his camera in his room, Xing Yan called him. Qin Fang answered, "What's up?"

Xing Yan asked him, "Have you eaten?"

Qin Fang: "Not yet."

Xing Yan said, "Come out."

Qin Fang raised an eyebrow, "Where to?"

Xing Yan said on the phone, "Front door."

With no sun in the evening, Qin Fang was too lazy to wear a hat and went out directly. As a result, when the two met, they looked at each other, eye to eye, and after a moment, both laughed.

Xing Yan asked him, "Where's your hair?"

Qin Fang asked him with a smile, "Where's your hair then?"

Xing Yan, who had been holding his phone, put it away and said, "I shave every year."

After shaving his head, Xing Yan's aura also changed a bit. The two of them were quite interesting. After shaving his head, Qin Fang looked fiercer than before, with an added hint of a rogue. After shaving his head, Xing Yan's aloofness faded, and he didn't look as fierce between his brows, seeming gentler than before. But this was an illusion. As long as he glared at someone, he still had that same surly look.

The two got on a bus and sat near the back. The bus didn't have air conditioning on, but the windows were open. With the sun down in the evening, it wasn't so hot. When the bus started, the wind blew in their faces a bit, but it felt great.

The bus swayed along for forty minutes, making the two buzz-cut boys a bit sleepy. Getting off the bus, they were a bit dazed, not knowing the direction.

Qin Fang asked, "Yan-ge, where are you selling me off to today?"

Xing Yan slowly yawned and said, "I kind of forgot."

He made Qin Fang laugh. Walking beside Xing Yan, the two tall guys walking side by side on the road made for a nice sight.

Xing Yan brought him to a noodle shop. The small restaurant wasn't big, but looked quite new. Qin Fang asked, "Does it have a story?"

"Why does there need to be a story?" Xing Yan pushed the door and walked in.

"Coming so far specially, I thought there would be a story." Qin Fang followed him in.

Xing Yan found a small table and sat down, saying to Qin Fang, "I've been eating here for fifteen years, does that count?"

"It counts," Qin Fang smiled. "Anything spoken is a story."

The noodle shop had recently been renovated, with a new signboard and new wooden tables and chairs. The taste was indeed not bad, but not enough to amaze Qin Fang. For many people who came to eat noodles here, what they were eating was a memory of long years.

Xing Yan said when he was young, the owner and his wife were a young couple. Now, their son was said to be almost in college. The owner couple's accent was too heavy, and Qin Fang couldn't quite understand them.

Xing Yan had no difficulty conversing with them, but spoke in Mandarin. After the meal, as the two slowly walked to the bus stop, Qin Fang asked, "I haven't heard you speak the local dialect. Can you speak it?"

"I can," Xing Yan said. "Born and raised here."

"Then why don't you speak it?" Qin Fang looked at him and asked.

At first Xing Yan didn't say anything. After a while, he laughed and lowered his head, saying, "It doesn't suit my image. Have you seen anyone speaking dialect who doesn't seem uncouth?"

His answer first stunned Qin Fang for a moment, and then it was as if his funny bone had been hit, and he couldn't stop laughing. He had always felt that the pretentious aura around Xing Yan was innate, matching his entire being, exuding a cold and unapproachable vibe from head to toe.

Now, hearing the words "doesn't suit my image" from Xing Yan's mouth, Qin Fang felt that Xing Yan's cool guy persona was about to collapse.

After laughing for a while, Qin Fang asked, "Isn't it quite tiring to maintain your image?"

Xing Yan's voice also carried a hint of laughter: "It's alright."

The after-dinner walk to aid digestion was very pleasant. In the past few days, Qin Fang and Xing Yan had been together, and their relationship had become very close.

Xing Yan asked him, "Do you like it here?"

"I quite like it," Qin Fang looked around, at the flourishing old banyan trees by the roadside, at the leisurely passersby, "the slow-paced tune, the warm colors."

Xing Yan didn't say anything. Qin Fang turned his head and asked him, "Do you like it?"

Xing Yan shook his head, his face expressionless, and said in a low voice, "I don't like it, but I'm used to it."

When he said this, Qin Fang inexplicably felt a sense of heaviness. Looking at the tip of Xing Yan's chin as he lowered his head, Qin Fang actually felt that he was lonely.

So Qin Fang said softly, "If you don't like it, then leave."

"Mm." Perhaps because he was in a good mood today, or perhaps because his relationship with Qin Fang had indeed become close, Xing Yan was not as taciturn as before. He plucked a leaf and gently rubbed it between his fingertips. "I'm in the process of leaving."

Xing Yan placed the leaf between his lips and tried twice, producing a clear whistling sound. Qin Fang raised his eyebrows. Xing Yan glanced at him, then used that leaf to whistle a tune.

Qin Fang was quite surprised. He also plucked a leaf, cleaned it, and put it to his mouth to try, but he couldn't make a sound.

"Don't bother," Xing Yan said with the leaf in his mouth, "I practiced for many years."

Qin Fang said, "Teach me."

Xing Yan shook his head, rejecting him without mercy: "I won't."

Qin Fang laughed, "So stingy."

Xing Yan ignored him and whistled another tune with that leaf. It sounded quite familiar, but Qin Fang couldn't immediately recall which nursery rhyme it was.

That night, Xing Yan gave Qin Fang a different feeling, perhaps because of some of the things he said, or perhaps because he had shaved his head.

That night, after Qin Fang turned off the lights, he lay in bed and sent messages to Hua Tong.

Hua Tong said: What have you been up to? Send some photos for me to see.

Qin Fang threw a few photos over to him.

Hua Shan Handsome Old Tong Tree: You traveled over a thousand kilometers just to stroll in the park with old folks?

Qin Fang: Ah.

Hua Shan Handsome Old Tong Tree: I'm afraid I can't reach that level.

Qin Fang: Go tend to your chickens, ducks, and geese.

Hua Tong's grandma raised a lot of poultry. When Hua Tong called, the background was filled with lively clucking and quacking sounds. Hua Tong chatted with him for a bit, then asked: Where are you staying?

Qin Fang: Staying in an old house.

Hua Tong asked: Old house? A homestay?

Qin Fang: Sort of, a homestay. With Xing Yan, Zhou Siming, and two other friends.

Hua Tong's side was silent for a while, then he sent a simple "Oh my", and asked: What kind of magical combination is this?

Qin Fang himself also found it quite amusing and chuckled.

He didn't chat with Hua Tong for too long. The internet on Hua Tong's side wasn't very good, and the connection was intermittent. Qin Fang got out of bed to charge his phone. When he came back after charging, he saw that the light on Xing Yan's phone was still on. Qin Fang casually asked, "Not asleep yet?"

Xing Yan made an "Mm" sound.

Qin Fang said "Good night" to him.

Xing Yan also said it back to him.

Si Tu occasionally played the piano at night. His piano sound was quite gentle, warm and lingering. Qin Fang closed his eyes and listened to his piano music, quite enjoying it, not feeling disturbed or irritated by it interrupting his rest.

Outside, the courtyard gate made a sound, it should be Zhou Siming returning late. He opened the door quite softly and didn't make any noise going upstairs, not abruptly breaking the quietness of the house, nor interrupting Si Tu's piano music.

Moonlight spilled through the window, the red bricks of the courtyard wall were mottled. From Qin Fang's angle looking out the window, he could see that vibrant little flower bed.

Qin Fang turned over, closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep. On the table, there was a bottle of fragrance that Han Xiaogong had placed, which smelled very nice and helped with sleep.

This city, this courtyard, this house, the few people living here.

All of this gave Qin Fang a very mottled feeling, like an old movie, both old and beautiful.