Ji Shenyu had already finished most of 'War and Peace', so the Gold Bookmark came in handy, properly tucked inside. He knew Ding Hanbai looked down on him, and he also knew that Ding Hanbai had only acted out of a moment of pity that night. He didn't mind; whatever was fine.

Ding Hanbai didn't mind either. He had been spoiled since childhood into having a picky temperament. After that momentary wave of sympathy, he saw Ji Shenyu no differently. Pitiful, yes, but also truly incompetent. At most, he would feel a brief pang of softness when remembering the other's situation, but nothing more.

The weather was too hot, making it annoying to eat together. Ding Houkang's family ate in their own courtyard, while Ding Yanshou's family ate in the Front Courtyard, temporarily splitting up. Before all the dishes were served, Ding Yanshou took out a file and said, "Shenyu, I've asked someone to enroll you at No. 6 High School."

Ji Shenyu, who was holding a plate, nearly spilled the soup. He set it down and wiped his hands vigorously before accepting the file. "Thank you, Master. When do I start school?"

"Summer vacation is about to start. For now, you can just attend classes with any homeroom. After the final exams, we'll see how your results are, and then we'll have the teacher assign you to a permanent class." Ding Yanshou was quite happy and poured a glass of wine. "The principal and I know each other. When Fang Xu came here to visit back in the day, he even gifted him a tri-colored Hibiscus Stone carving of a peach and plum tree. It's still on display in his office."

Ji Shenyu didn't speak much at home, silently worrying about things. Now that a weight was off his mind, even his meal seemed more appetizing than usual. Ding Hanbai was like a freeloader, eating silently with his head down. He had been resting for several days already and was bored and out of sorts.

Jiang Shuliu looked at him. "If you're not going to work, then go to the shop. It looks bad for a young man to be idle."

Ding Hanbai picked at the almonds. "Jade Pavilion has no business anyway. Being idle at home looks better than being idle at the shop."

He had to bring up a sore subject. Ding Yanshou was worrying day and night about how to revive their business, yet his own son couldn't care less. He said, "Since you're idle anyway, you can take Shenyu to and from school."

Ding Hanbai put down his chopsticks. Meeting his parents' gazes, he knew it was useless to object. It was true; Ji Shenyu was in an unfamiliar place. Since arriving, aside from his trip to Jade Pavilion, it seemed he hadn't even left the house.

He recalled Ji Shenyu applying lotion and was reminded of a sheltered young lady who never steps out of the house.

Chuckling, he agreed, "Zhenzhu, then your Senior Brother will take you."

Hearing this nickname, Ji Shenyu inevitably got goosebumps. He gripped his porcelain spoon tightly and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

The term "Senior Brother" reminded Ding Yanshou of something. He pointed at Ding Hanbai and said to Ji Shenyu, "Shenyu, you can't neglect your craft just because you're going to school. Our line of work is your main profession; everything else is secondary. Since you've accepted me as your master, I will teach you everything I know. When you can't find me, having Hanbai teach you is the same thing."

Ji Shenyu confirmed, "Is Senior Brother the same as you?"

Ding Yanshou started to laugh; this was the one thing he could boast about in his life. "Your Senior Brother is annoying in his words and deeds, but his skills are impeccable." He looked at Ding Hanbai, unable to resist chiding him, "Shenyu has been here for so long, and you two haven't sparred? What have you been doing, living in the same courtyard?"

Ding Hanbai's expression was as if he couldn't bear to listen. Spar? He didn't have the heart to tell Ding Yanshou the truth, afraid Ji Shenyu would be so embarrassed he'd want to burrow into the ground. He lifted his gaze for a glance and was surprised to see Ji Shenyu sizing him up with a completely open and frank expression.

He felt that this Little Southern Barbarian's face was like clear White Jade, but its thickness was certainly not unsubstantial.

Since arriving, Ji Shenyu had never seen Ding Hanbai carve anything. He only knew that the other man was a picky eater, spoke mercilessly, and lazed around idly instead of going to work—a complete fop, not at all like someone with superior skills.

Mainly, he didn't believe the other's skills were superior to his own.

One of them was outwardly conceited, the other inwardly arrogant. Neither looked up to the other, let alone felt convinced of their superiority. That night, as they returned to the Small Courtyard together and were parting ways at the door, Ji Shenyu spoke up, "Senior Brother, school is tomorrow morning." He was afraid Ding Hanbai would sleep in until noon again.

"So go." Ding Hanbai didn't stop walking. "Let's see what score you get on the final exam."

Ji Shenyu's worries were not in vain. The next morning, he was all ready to go, but Ding Hanbai's bedroom door was still closed. The air conditioner in the back corner had been running all night, leaking a puddle of cool water. Seeing there was still plenty of time, he sat in the hallway to wait, taking out his textbook to review.

After waiting for half an hour, he knew they would be late if they didn't leave soon. He knocked on the door. "Senior Brother, are you awake?"

There was no movement inside. Ji Shenyu knocked harder. "Senior Brother, we're going to be late for school."

Ding Hanbai was in the middle of a grand dream, dreaming that Zhang Yin had returned from Fujian with a box of defective goods. If not for the increasingly loud knocking, he would have dreamed a little deeper. His eyes were heavy with sleep, tinged with annoyance. Slipping on his slippers, shirtless, he yanked open the door, startling Ji Shenyu.

"Rushing me like you're collecting a soul." Ding Hanbai went to wash up, unhurried. Ji Shenyu was anxious. He went into the bedroom to get clothes ready for the other man. Upon touching the wardrobe, his occupational habit kicked in. His gaze lingered, he brought his nose close to smell it, and tapped it with a bent finger, taking in the wood's hardness, luster, and scent.

Ding Hanbai came in after washing up, leaning against the doorframe, dozing off. "Fallen in love with my wardrobe?"

Without turning his head, Ji Shenyu said, "This wood is too fine. In Yangzhou, you'd have to search for it with a lantern."

"It's hard to find here, too." Ding Hanbai felt Ji Shenyu knew his stuff. He walked over, opened the wardrobe, and picked out a set of clothes, then changed right in front of Ji Shenyu. While buckling his belt, he ordered, "Button my shirt."

Ji Shenyu immediately reached out and quickly buttoned Ding Hanbai's shirt. As he did so, they were very close. His eyes were level with Ding Hanbai's Adam's apple, and he swallowed before speaking, "Senior Brother, school gets out at six-thirty."

Ding Hanbai said, "I've been there, you don't need to tell me."

Ji Shenyu withdrew his hand, somewhat hesitant. "Will you come pick me up early, then?"

The only people he knew here were from the Ding Family. Even if Ding Hanbai found fault with him at every turn, he was still the person Ji Shenyu was most familiar with. But he was different to Ding Hanbai—not as important as family or friends, not worth the effort.

Just like how he couldn't get up in the morning, he was afraid Ding Hanbai would forget to pick him up in the afternoon.

They left too late. Ding Hanbai drove like a madman, jolting Ji Shenyu so much he almost threw up, but they were still late. The large iron school gate was closed. Ji Shenyu got out of the car alone to knock and tried his best to explain to the old man in the gatehouse, but he had no ID and no school uniform, so the man wouldn't let him in.

Ji Shenyu took out the file. "Sir, I'm a new transfer student. Today is my first day of class."

"Even new transfers need a parent to complete the procedures. Otherwise, how can you prove it?" The old man held an enamel mug. "So late on your first day of class? How ridiculous."

The car had already turned around. Ding Hanbai saw everything in the rearview mirror, so he had no choice but to turn off the engine and get out. He jogged over. "Master, what procedures? I'll do them for him. How are we supposed to do them if you don't let him in?"

The old man was confused. "You're his brother?"

Ding Hanbai reached his hand through the bars, felt for the iron bolt, unlatched it, and pushed the gate open. The old man saw this and started yelling. Ding Hanbai blocked him, grabbed the strap of Ji Shenyu's schoolbag with his other hand, and yanked him and the bag forward half a meter, shouting, "What are you in a daze for! Run!"

Ji Shenyu took off running toward the school building. When he encountered a teacher, he explained his situation and was smoothly led into a classroom. After taking his seat and catching his breath, he couldn't help but worry about what was happening to Ding Hanbai at the school gate.

Ding Hanbai was doing just fine. Even with the old man twisting his arm, he could still laugh and curse playfully. "Go look at the photo wall of outstanding graduates in the lobby, see if you can find me, Ding Hanbai! What's wrong with opening the gate of my own alma mater? The bas-reliefs in the lobby were carved by my dad and me!"

The old man had worked here for over a decade. "Ding what? You're Ding Hanbai!"

Ding Hanbai broke free and straightened his collar. "I graduated from here. I'm not some criminal. Feel better now?"

The old man was so angry he shoved him, shouting like a street vendor, "It was you, you brat! Back then, you were the one carving words on the teachers' bicycle crossbars—'turtle bastard,' 'endless homework'—I could never catch you and my pay got docked every day! You're full of bad ideas, you brat!"

Ding Hanbai had long forgotten these old incidents. He laughed and fled, still able to hear the old man's cursing as he jumped into his car. It was only after driving onto the street that he gradually remembered. Back then, his pencil case was heavy, with one pen and four carving knives. Whichever teacher annoyed him, he would carve words on their bicycle crossbar in fly-head small script, brushing a layer of gold ink over it when he was done.

Passing the Cultural Relics Bureau, he turned the steering wheel and drove in. He had been on break for over a week, so Director Zhang should be back by now. He wanted to see if the man had brought anything back.

The same people were in the office. Seeing Ding Hanbai enter, they all perked up. Ding Hanbai was usually generous and never petty about helping out, so he was quite popular. He jutted his chin toward the director's office and asked, "He's back?"

A colleague nodded. "Director Zhang and Team Leader Shi are divvying up the loot right now."

Ding Hanbai went to report the end of his leave. On his way back, he ran into Team Leader Shi coming out. He noticed that Team Leader Shi had gotten thinner; the business trip had clearly been arduous. He went up to him, picked up a kettle to make him tea, and asked, "Team Leader, did you miss me?"

Team Leader Shi glanced at the office and ground his back teeth. "I thought of you every single day!"

A large batch of marine-salvaged artifacts had been recovered in Fujian. Cultural Relics Bureaus from all over went to see them, holding meetings, conducting preliminary screenings, and making selections for purchase. It was a round-the-clock, exhausting effort. Team Leader Shi punched him lightly. "I need to rest for a few days. You can run errands and do the work for me next."

Ding Hanbai asked, "Didn't you buy anything?"

Team Leader Shi punched him again. "That's all you think about!" He lowered his voice, speaking quietly, "The lightly damaged ones require approval. I only picked out some of the heavily damaged ones. I don't get to decide what goes to the city for exhibition; Director Zhang chooses all of those."

Ding Hanbai's heart itched with curiosity. "I'll treat you to dinner tonight. Let me have a look?"

He couldn't think about anything else for the rest of the day. He powered through his accumulated work, just waiting for the end of the day to feast his eyes on Team Leader Shi's haul. As soon as it was six-thirty, he got in his car, picked the man up, first went to a hotel to get some takeout, and then headed straight for his home.

The apartment was a bit stuffy. Ding Hanbai had no time for drinking or eating. He spread out an old bedsheet, emptied the artifact fragments Team Leader Shi had brought back onto it, and squatted by the bed to admire them. Team Leader Shi came closer and asked, "It's all broken junk. You like it?"

Ding Hanbai covered his nose and mouth to block the fishy smell of the sea, his voice muffled. "I'm interested in antiques. The marine-salvaged artifacts on the market are mostly fake. It's a pity these are so broken, but shattered jade is still better than a whole roof tile."

Team Leader Shi waved his hand. "Then take them all. Your sister-in-law won't let me keep this pile of broken porcelain and pottery. It has tube worms on it; it's dirty."

Ding Hanbai immediately packed them up, afraid the man would change his mind. Now he could take them home to study at his leisure. After clearing things up, he sat down to eat. The sky outside was already completely dark, and the weather forecast was almost over. He was cracking a crab shell when he suddenly paused, feeling he had forgotten something.

Team Leader Shi asked, "How come you drove today? Then don't drink any alcohol."

Why did he drive? Because driving was fast. Why did he need to be fast? Because if he left late, he would be late... Ding Hanbai slammed down his chopsticks. He had forgotten to pick up Ji Shenyu from school!

That pile of "junk" was on the car seat. Afraid of shattering it, he didn't dare drive too fast. Ding Hanbai took a shortcut to the gate of No. 6 High School. The large iron gate was closed, and it was pitch-black inside. There was no one in sight.

He got out of the car and shouted through the iron gate, "Master! Has the transfer student from this morning already left?"

The old man came out. "He watched the evening news while peering through my window, then left."

Ding Hanbai drove away, keeping an eye on both sides of the street, but a car couldn't go too slowly, and there were always places he couldn't see clearly. He guessed that Ji Shenyu might have already made it home, so he simply sped up and rushed home.

There was no one in the Front Courtyard's living room; Ding Yanshou had taken Jiang Shuliu to a friend's birthday party. Ding Hanbai ran into the Small Courtyard and found the lights off and the door closed. Ji Shenyu hadn't returned. He ran back to the Front Courtyard's bedroom to find Jiang Caiwei and asked, "Auntie, is Ji Shenyu back?"

"No, didn't Shenyu start school today?" Jiang Caiwei said. "Aren't you in charge of taking him and picking him up? I thought you had taken him out to eat..."

Ding Hanbai turned and left before she could finish. He hopped on a bicycle and rushed into the night, riding along the street and shouting. The house was quite far from the school, and they had driven fast in the morning. Ji Shenyu definitely wouldn't remember the way. Who knew where he could have wandered off to by now.

Ji Shenyu was indeed lost. He had waited at the school gate for an hour, until the school was completely empty. He tried to retrace his steps, but the farther he walked, the hungrier he became. This place was much bigger than Yangzhou. The roads were so wide, and the streetlights were spaced far apart. He passed a lake, which he didn't remember seeing on the way there. After circling around it, he entered a park from the lakeside.

When he came out, the area looked completely different. There were weeping willows and Chinese roses along the street. A newsstand was closing up for the night. He went over to ask for directions to Jade Pavilion, but the person told him it was far away. He looked up at the moon; the moon here was the same as the one in Yangzhou.

He wanted to go back to Yangzhou. He thought of Ji Fangxu, the man he had only called "Dad" once in his entire life.

He had clearly reminded Ding Hanbai to come pick him up early. Why didn't Ding Hanbai come?

Was it because the Lucky Bamboo he carved was too awful, or because he used fake jadeite to trick people, or perhaps because he didn't lend him that copy of 'Like Mountains, Like Seas'? Ji Shenyu kept walking. Even the bright moonlight on his back felt like a burden. He stayed close to the base of a wall. The red walls and black tiles were quite pretty, so he just kept walking alongside it.

When Ding Hanbai saw Ji Shenyu, the boy was looking at a row of bird nests under the eaves.

"Ji Zhenzhu," he called out.

Ji Shenyu looked over, his face showing no emotion—no joy, no disappointment, nothing at all.

Ding Hanbai pushed the bike over, reached out, and took the schoolbag off Ji Shenyu's shoulder. It was heavy; even he found it heavy to carry. He wasn't quite sure what to say, and in the end, reverted to his usual self: "Why didn't you wait for me? What were you running around blindly for?"

Ji Shenyu said, "I knew you wouldn't come pick me up."

"What?"

"I knew you never intended to pick me up."

"I just forgot..." Ding Hanbai fiddled with the bicycle bell, revealing his guilt. "I had something to do, and I forgot. But I came out to look for you, didn't I? Get on."

The bicycle moved steadily and slowly along the street, the schoolbag dangling from the handlebars. Ding Hanbai had broken out in a sweat while searching for him, and the shirt on his back was stuck to his skin. Ji Shenyu gripped the springs under the seat, his slightly bent legs trembling gently.

"Are you hungry?", "What did you learn today?", "Did your classmates ask you to say a few words in the Yangzhou dialect?" Ding Hanbai asked a series of questions but didn't get a single word in response. He braked sharply. "What is it that you want? Go ask the gatekeeper tomorrow if I came or not. I forgot, and that's that. Don't act like I abandoned you on purpose."

Ji Shenyu punched him in the back. "Forgetting is not okay either!"

Ding Hanbai was stunned by the blow, and he understood Ji Shenyu's subtext. He really had forgotten, but for Ji Shenyu, being forgotten was no different from being abandoned, because the feeling at that moment was the same.

A weary bird yearns for its nest. Ji Shenyu had stood at the school gate until everyone was gone, looking just as wretched as when he had left Yangzhou.

He was suddenly at a loss for words. Ji Shenyu then said, "I'll learn the way soon. Before I do, can you please not forget?" His voice was very soft this time.

Ding Hanbai pedaled home in one go. Jiang Caiwei was waiting for them at the main gate and had even heated up dinner. Ji Shenyu didn't eat, heading straight to his bedroom to do his homework. Ding Hanbai pleaded with Jiang Caiwei, "Can you take him something to eat?"

Jiang Caiwei dished up the food. "Go yourself."

Ding Hanbai returned to the Small Courtyard, balancing the bowl in one hand. He saw that the door, usually left ajar, was shut tight. He knocked, but there was no answer. "I'm coming in," he said before pushing the door open. The light was on inside, and there were books on the table, but Ji Shenyu wasn't there.

He figured Ji Shenyu had gone to take a shower. He put down the bowl and left quickly to avoid another unpleasant encounter.

The night passed. Ding Hanbai woke up early, grabbing a pump to inflate his bicycle tires. As he got closer, he noticed a line of small characters on the crossbar of the bike. It was perfect Shoujin style, carved with a knife and traced in gold, the turning strokes showing a hidden edge.

Extremely eye-catching—"You Goddamn Bastard!"