Xing Yan's sudden mention of "boyfriend" stunned everyone present for a moment.

Then Han Xiaogong let out a chuckle, shook his head and walked away. Si Tu also smiled, said he understood, turned around and left as well.

Qin Fang quietly watched as everyone left and even closed the door. He blinked and asked Xing Yan, "Who is... the boyfriend?"

Xing Yan lowered his head and answered nonchalantly, "If no one claims it then never mind."

Qin Fang looked at him and said, "Sounds a bit pitiful."

Xing Yan made an "hmm" sound.

Qin Fang smiled, raised his hand to put it around Xing Yan's neck, pulled him over and touched his face. Qin Fang stared at Xing Yan's face as if he couldn't get enough of looking at it. Xing Yan said, "Restrain your savage gaze."

"Don't really want to restrain it," Qin Fang nudged him with the tip of his nose and said, "I'm looking at my boyfriend."

"Who is that," Xing Yan said.

Qin Fang immediately replied, "You."

Love makes people brainless and completely robs them of intelligence. If it was before, Qin Fang would never have imagined this kind of conversation happening between him and Xing Yan even if his life depended on it.

But now not only did he say it, he even felt it was very sweet. He was half-crazed.

In the end, Qin Fang still couldn't set his mind at ease about Xing Yan's hand, so they went to a nearby community hospital to get it treated. This fight they got into was really an unexpected calamity that they couldn't avoid.

Qin Fang asked, "What reaction will Zhou Siming have when he finds out?"

Xing Yan thought for a bit and said, "Probably curse at us."

Thinking of Zhou Siming's mouth, Qin Fang already felt a headache coming on. Actually, this matter had gone in such a big circle, from Zhou Siming's forceful behavior in the beginning to Han Xiaogong paying back the debt today, it was really a huge, meaningless and foolish circle.

But when Qin Fang put himself in Zhou Siming's shoes and thought about it, if he were Zhou Siming, he might not necessarily do the same things he did, but he was surprisingly able to understand a little. That kind of difficult predicament could easily force someone into a dead end.

There were four young men living in the small building, plus him as the outsider, making it five in total. Other than Zhou Siming himself, any one of them could have paid back his debt for him.

It was quite an ironic thing - for him, something so difficult it almost crushed him to death was easily resolved by any of the others. They always seemed to have an easier life compared to him. Compared to normal people he was already living like an ant, but even in front of the people he grew up with, he still lived so humiliatingly.

When you get down to it, this matter still originated from the fact that perhaps Zhou Siming shouldn't have borrowed money to treat his grandfather's illness. But sometimes life is really unfair - it's just that he couldn't bear to let go of that bit of warmth, and made some mistakes.

Zhou Siming still hadn't returned. After dinner, everyone went back to their own rooms. Xing Yan and Qin Fang had both finished showering and were now sitting on their respective beds, chatting across half a room's distance.

Qin Fang had one leg bent and was looking at Xing Yan on the opposite bed. Thinking of how he had called out "boyfriend" during the day, the corners of his mouth curled up.

Leaning against the head of the bed, Xing Yan asked Qin Fang, "Do you still want to hear the harmonica?"

"Not anymore," Qin Fang shook his head. "Just rest your hand."

"The hand is fine," Xing Yan looked over at him. "Right now it wouldn't even interfere with jerking off."

Sometimes Qin Fang really couldn't handle him. He said, "Then you do it, I'll watch."

Xing Yan raised an eyebrow and directly put his hand on his waistband, asking, "Really want to watch?"

"Maybe next time..." Qin Fang couldn't beat him. A freshly bent gay really couldn't compare to someone who was naturally bent after all. He couldn't win.

Xing Yan smiled and took his hand away.

When Zhou Siming returned, the two of them hadn't gone to bed yet. As soon as Qin Fang heard the courtyard gate, Xing Yan immediately turned off the light.

Qin Fang was plunged into darkness. He chuckled, "Why turn off the light?"

Xing Yan said, "I don't know either, but it feels better to turn it off."

So Qin Fang laid down. Since the light was off, he might as well sleep.

Zhou Siming went straight upstairs. There wasn't much movement upstairs, and Qin Fang thought to himself that perhaps Zhou Siming didn't know yet.

After about ten minutes, a fight still broke out. Zhou Siming's voice sounded very angry, and he kicked a chair, making a rather ear-piercing sound.

Qin Fang sighed and asked, "Do you want to go up and take a look?"

"No need," Xing Yan said calmly.

Si Tu's side was also very quiet, with no sound of him leaving his room. Lying on his bed, Qin Fang said to Xing Yan, "What is he angry about now, I feel like there are too many things."

Xing Yan also thought for a while before saying, "Can't figure it out."

"I thought you guys understood him very well," Qin Fang said.

"None of us understand each other," Xing Yan said with his eyes closed.

Upstairs, Han Xiaogong was also arguing, which surprised Qin Fang quite a bit. He had almost never heard Han Xiaogong raise his voice.

The two of them arguing was just cursing at each other, cursing about everything. Zhou Siming cursed Han Xiaogong for being cheap, while Han Xiaogong cursed him for being like a mad dog.

"So no matter which of the two paid the money today," Qin Fang heard Xing Yan speak from the other side of the room, "it couldn't be you paying."

"Mm," Qin Fang agreed. "If I had paid, the two of us might already be fighting outside by now."

Listening to the two people arguing upstairs, when they got agitated they even spoke in their local dialect, which Qin Fang couldn't understand a single sentence of. He said to Xing Yan, "Now that I think about it, since we would have to have this fight sooner or later, if I had known, we shouldn't have fought today. The result would be the same anyway."

With his arm over his eyes, Xing Yan spoke in a very low voice and slow pace, "Not interfering in his affairs, not lending a hand, this is a tacit understanding and also Zhou Siming's bottom line. If he couldn't bear it anymore, they wouldn't pay back the money for him. Paying back the money would make them his enemies."

"But there was no other way today," Qin Fang turned over to face Xing Yan's direction, even though he couldn't see anything.

After a while, Xing Yan said, "There was another way."

Qin Fang didn't speak and waited for him to continue.

"Fight. If you can't win then let them smash things," Xing Yan said in the darkness. "In the end, force Zhou Siming to open his mouth to borrow money, or..."

He only said up to "or" and didn't continue. Qin Fang also didn't ask further.

Zhou Siming and Han Xiaogong's argument lasted half the night. Zhou Siming sounded frenzied to the point of being a bit hysterical. Later, Han Xiaogong stopped arguing with him and didn't really respond anymore. It was basically just Zhou Siming going crazy by himself.

After Zhou Siming cursed for a long time, Han Xiaogong asked him, "Can you act like a human? No one treats you like a dog. As long as you're not so frantic, you're more human than any of us."

Zhou Siming shouted, "I fucking can't live as a human! You're all fucking human, all standing, while I'm forever kneeling!"

"You fucking wanted it yourself!" Han Xiaogong raised his voice for a sentence, then returned to a normal tone, "What the fuck are you running off to be a grandson for if you don't have money? You're a fucking orphan, accept your fate, idiot."

Zhou Siming was silent for a few brief seconds, then continued cursing. He truly hated them, hated them for helping him pay back the money.

Han Xiaogong said, "I'm fucking paying back the money for you?"

Zhou Siming laughed a couple times and asked him, "Then who are you doing it for? You'll have to say it's for my dead grandpa?"

"Is there even half a drop of brain fluid in your head besides water?" Han Xiaogong smashed a cup by his feet, the sound of shattering glass was crisp. "I'm doing it for Xing Yan and his partner. Which one of them is your grandpa? Haven't you been a grandson enough?"

......

Qin Fang flipped over, facing the wall.

He heard Xing Yan sigh on the other side, probably also worrying about Zhou Siming's intelligence.

"These two beasts can really fight. If one of them gets beaten to death outside today, loses an arm or leg, or if Xing Yan ends up with blood on his hands, all because of your 200,000? Are you worth it?"

Zhou Siming was silent again for a while.

Han Xiaogong continued, "Without you guys, I wouldn't be where I am today. Being able to grow up without getting raped or this or that, it's all thanks to your and Xing Yan's fists. I'm clear on that, and you fucking better be too. Now that we're all grown up, can't we find another way to live, to live like human beings?"

Zhou Siming's anger fizzled out and he didn't make a sound for a long time.

Han Xiaogong said finally, "Maybe this will grate on your ears again, but this bit of money is nothing to me now. I'm spending money to buy myself some peace, okay? Don't flatter yourself, I'm really not doing it for you."

That was the last part of what they said that day. After that, neither spoke again and the argument ended.

Everyone in the building heard their entire fight, each with their own thoughts.

That day, Zhou Siming didn't stay the night. He left directly.

The next day was the 29th of the lunar calendar, the day before New Year's Eve. No one got up in the morning except Gong Qi, who rose very early to finish washing the curtains from yesterday. There was still a mess on the courtyard ground from yesterday. She squatted there and washed away the blood.

By the time everyone else got up, she had already tidied up the whole courtyard and wiped the door. Everywhere was very clean.

Han Xiaogong stood at the door stretching his arms and sighed, "You worked hard."

"It's nothing," Gong Qi smiled at him. "You've also worked quite hard."

Han Xiaogong gave a self-mocking laugh. "Lack of sleep is making me ugly. I'm going to put on a face mask."

Gong Qi said, "Give me one too, I didn't bring any."

"I'll give you a whole box," Han Xiaogong said generously.

Gong Qi laughed, "Your fans will be so envious."

"No they won't. The girls will only praise your beauty," Han Xiaogong said as he walked. "They are all very kind and have a universal love."

When Qin Fang and Xing Yan came out of the room, the two of them had face masks on and there was a tableful of takeout as they watched a movie.

"Come eat," Han Xiaogong called to them.

Qin Fang glanced at the table. "You ordered so much."

"It's almost the New Year," Han Xiaogong smiled. "Every meal has to be grand."

Xing Yan and Qin Fang squeezed together to wash up. While Qin Fang brushed his teeth, Xing Yan washed his face and hair. Qin Fang stood beside him, watching Xing Yan rinse off the foam under the faucet. Some white foam stuck to his ear and wouldn't rinse off.

Qin Fang reached out and wiped it for him.

Xing Yan tilted his head to look at him, eyes barely able to open. "Hm?"

Qin Fang smiled down at him quite gently, "Just helping you wipe it off."

So Xing Yan continued rinsing his hair.

When it was Xing Yan's turn to brush his teeth, Qin Fang washed his face and hair. Washing his hair was much more convenient - he just patted it a few times with his hands.

Xing Yan didn't get a chance to wipe his ears. After waiting a long time without seeing any foam on Qin Fang, in the end he could only flick his ear, not too lightly or heavily.