This was Chen Chao's second time getting into a fight with someone; the last time had been in the fifth grade of elementary school. That time, it was with a troublesome bully from the junior high division. He didn't lose the fight, but when he got home, he was punished by Jiang Li.

Jiang Li had explicitly forbidden Chen Chao from fighting, saying it was uncivilized, like a barbaric child with no upbringing.

To be precise, this time couldn't really be called a fight. The other person barely fought back and just wanted to leave. Chen Chao and Ding Wentao held the man down and beat him. The man covered his face and howled dryly, and under these circumstances, he actually got an erection.

Ding Wentao was so disgusted he almost threw up. He punched the man in the stomach and said, "You fucking pervert!"

The two of them were beating the man as if to vent their anger, yet the other party got hard from their beating. The whole thing was truly disgusting.

Later, the two half-grown boys were stopped by a passerby. Miao Jiayan had also been pulling on Chen Chao's arm the whole time, afraid they would seriously injure the man, which would be a crime.

The passerby asked why they had beaten the man up so badly.

Ding Wentao blurted out without thinking, "He's a fucking pervert! He..."

"He touched me," Chen Chao interrupted, cutting him off.

The fellow local was a bit confused, "What? What do you mean he touched you?"

"He acted indecently towards me," Chen Chao said. "He dropped his pants at me."

The man didn't refute it, just covered his face, lying there as if he were dead, though you could still see he was breathing.

"Must be a misunderstanding, right?" The local didn't seem to believe it and added, "You're a big young man, why would he act indecently towards you?"

Ding Wentao was about to say more, but Chen Chao shot him a look.

"Anyway, you two should stop hitting him. If you hurt him badly, you'll have to pay." The local clearly didn't want to get involved, so he got on his motorcycle and left.

Chen Chao hadn't yet caught his breath. He squatted to the side, looking at the man with a dark expression. At some point, his neck had been scratched, and a trickle of blood was seeping out. Miao Jiayan reached out, not touching the wound directly, but pulling his collar open to take a look.

Chen Chao asked the man, "Are you afraid of other people finding out?"

The man was surprisingly honest. Without moving his hands from his face, he said, "I am."

"If you're afraid, then don't bother him again, or I'll call the police and have them come to your house to arrest you." Chen Chao stepped on the man's calf, grinding his foot back and forth a couple of times, then continued, "I'll let your whole village know you're a pervert. Your parents will be drowned in the village's gossip. If you have a wife and kids, they'll all be cursed along with you. Your son, or your daughter, will forever be the child of a pervert."

"Let's call the police right now!" Ding Wentao still couldn't stomach it and kicked the man in the stomach again as he spoke.

"He's not like you, and he's not gay. Don't go scaring him again." Chen Chao added, "You two aren't the same kind. Stop preying on other people's kids."

Miao Jiayan was led away by the wrist by Chen Chao, his whole body still trembling uncontrollably. Partly because he hadn't recovered from the scare, and partly because of the cold. He couldn't zip up his jacket, and walking with it open like that let the wind blow right in.

Ding Wentao walked alongside them, cursing nonstop, with his insults not repeating for a long while.

"You're not a complete idiot, at least you knew to call." Chen Chao asked Miao Jiayan, "Does anywhere hurt?"

Miao Jiayan said, "No."

Chen Chao said again, "You should have just stood there and waited for us to come get you. You knew he saw you, and you still walked off on your own?"

His voice was fierce, out of anger, but also fear. No matter how you looked at it, he was still just a junior high student. Thinking back on what had happened, he still felt a lingering fear.

Before returning from town, Miao Jiayan had called the Chen Family's home. Chen Chao had answered. Miao Jiayan had shyly asked if he could come out and meet him along the road. That way, if nothing happened, Chen Chao wouldn't have to go too far out of his way, but if he did run into trouble, Miao Jiayan just had to stall for time until Chen Chao arrived.

This was the only solution he could think of. If he told his grandparents about something like this, the old folks would get scared and worked up, and the matter would spread throughout all the nearby villages. Miao Jiayan had grown up with people spitting insults at him; if this got out, people would only say even nastier things.

Without Chen Chao, the Miao Jiayan of today would only be more desperate.

"Are you still scared? Stay at my place tonight. Go home, change your clothes, and come right over," Chen Chao said to Miao Jiayan when they reached his door.

"I want to stay too, I'm not going back either," Ding Wentao said from the side.

Miao Jiayan hesitated a little. "My parents are coming back today."

Chen Chao frowned, then said, "Then forget it. You should stay home."

Miao Jiayan looked at him, seeming a bit dazed. Afraid that he'd been scared witless, Chen Chao called out, "Miao Jiayan."

Miao Jiayan had been about to push the door open to go inside, but he turned back when he heard his name called. His hat and scarf were too dirty to look at, and he had carried them in his hands all the way back. His face was red and swollen, his hair was a mess, and his jacket was open. Miao Jiayan looked utterly wretched.

Chen Chao instructed him, "Don't overthink it. It's over, so just let it go."

Miao Jiayan nodded lightly and said, "Thank you, Brother Chao."

After speaking, he looked at Ding Wentao and said, "Thank you, Ding..."

"Don't thank me. I just helped out because I was there." Ding Wentao looked very uncomfortable, waving his arm and saying, "Really, don't thank me."

After Miao Jiayan went inside, Chen Chao said to Ding Wentao, "Don't tell anyone about this."

Ding Wentao said, "I know. I'm not an idiot."

The two boys had gone out just fine, but came back looking like they'd clearly been in a fight. Grandma Chen was startled and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? Did you get in a fight? Have a falling out?"

"No, Grandma, we were just horsing around," Ding Wentao said with a cheeky grin.

"Aiyo, what kind of horsing around was that? Your neck is all scratched up. Did a zipper do that?" Grandma Chen asked.

"It's nothing. He insisted on chasing me," Chen Chao said.

Chen Chao wasn't like his father, who got into fights every other day as a child. The grandson was a hundred times better than the son. Ever since Chen Chao came here, Grandma Chen had barely had to worry about him. The only thing that required some effort was that her grandson was too picky and had many particular habits. However, old people never think their own children are too much trouble; they are more than happy to dote on them.

Other families' children had all returned by now, but theirs would take a few more days, probably not all coming back until the 27th or 28th of the twelfth lunar month.

Next door at the Miao Family's house, people were gradually returning. Miao Jiayan's parents had also arrived home.

Chen Chao and Ding Wentao both changed their clothes after coming back. Chen Chao found a loose-fitting outfit of his for Ding Wentao. After changing, Chen Chao opened the window, picked up a few small stones, and threw them into the flower pot across the way. He threw all of them, but Miao Jiayan still didn't come out.

"He's probably in a daze. After being scared like that," Ding Wentao said.

Chen Chao closed the window, thinking Miao Jiayan was probably taking a shower. That kid loved to be clean.

However, at this very moment, Miao Jiayan was experiencing his second bout of terror for the day.

When Miao Jiayan pushed open the courtyard gate, his eyes met his father's. As their gazes locked, Miao Jiayan's wretched state was seen by his parents as nothing more than fooling around and getting into a fight.

Miao Jiayan's lips were sealed shut; he said nothing.

He hadn't seen his parents in a long time, and in truth, they didn't want to see him. His mother glanced at him twice before going into her room to lie down, saying she felt unwell from carsickness. His father's years of pent-up anger inexplicably erupted on this day, saying that Miao Jiayan was fooling around all day here, becoming "neither human nor ghost."

He paused, but couldn't hold back the second half of the sentence, saying with droopy eyelids, "A ghostly appearance that's neither male nor female!"

Miao Jiayan silently endured his father's wrath, but his father thought he was being defiant, which made him even angrier. Even his grandparents couldn't stop him; his father raised his hand and hit him.

Grandma Miao hit Miao Jian while pulling his arm to stop him. Grandpa Miao also shouted for him not to hit the boy. Miao Jiayan's mother never came out of her room from beginning to end, never asking about it.

"Get back! Get back to your own home!" Grandma Miao said, crying. "Don't come to my place acting like parents the moment you're back. What were you doing all this time?!"

The spots on his arms and waist where the man had grabbed him before now stung with fiery pain from his father's blows. Miao Jiayan didn't dodge, his eyes were lifeless, and he let his father hit him.

"There are some things I've never said, I've been accommodating enough as a mother and a mother-in-law!" Grandma Miao's emotions were also stirred up, and she hugged Miao Jiayan, crying. "You two don't care for this child, so his grandpa and I raised him. What have we ever asked of you? You come back once a year to beat him, don't just vent all your resentment on the child! When he was little, who was the one calling him 'girl' with every other word?! Who was the one who braided his hair?!"

Grandpa Miao coughed, signaling her to stop talking.

Grandma Miao's voice became sharp as she yelled, "Don't you cough! Every one of you now thinks the child has a problem, that he's not normal! My grandson was born perfectly fine with a little pecker, but you all insisted on dressing him in skirts and treating him like a girl, and now you say my grandson is neither male nor female! You've said it all!"

"From now on! If anyone dares to lay another finger on my grandson, you can all get out! And never come back!" Grandma Miao hugged Miao Jiayan with one arm, while her other arm gestured back and forth as she spoke.

In winter, doors and windows were sealed tight. With such a commotion in the Miao Family's home, the Chen Family next door couldn't hear a thing.

After her outburst, Grandma Miao wiped her face and, with red-rimmed eyes, took Miao Jiayan to the Chen Family's house. The moment Grandma Chen saw her like this, she quickly asked what was wrong.

Grandma Miao wiped her tears and cried all over again.

Hearing the noise, Chen Chao came down from upstairs. He saw Miao Jiayan sitting on the sofa with his shoulders hunched and called out to him from the stairs.

Miao Jiayan didn't react. Chen Chao frowned and called out again. When Miao Jiayan still seemed not to hear, Chen Chao walked down and patted his shoulder.

Only then did Miao Jiayan raise his head and look at him.

Ding Wentao had been dragged back home by his father. With all his family back, it wouldn't do for him to not be home.

Miao Jiayan habitually sat on Chen Chao's bed. Chen Chao pulled over the chair from the desk and sat down.

Just now, Ding Wentao had been playing games on the laptop. The computer hadn't been put away yet. Chen Chao closed the screen and asked Miao Jiayan, "Did your dad scold you?"

Miao Jiayan nodded and said, "Mm."

"For what reason?" Chen Chao asked in a cold voice.

Miao Jiayan shook his head blankly and said, "I don't know."

He really didn't know. Maybe it was because he looked so wretched when he got home, or maybe it was because of his hair.

Chen Chao said, "I really can't believe this."

Miao Jiayan had probably been through too much stimulation in one day. His reactions were slow, and he didn't want to talk. He just followed Chen Chao everywhere, whether he went upstairs or downstairs.

Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen were a little worried, saying they were afraid the child had been beaten stupid by his father.

Chen Chao looked back, patted the top of Miao Jiayan's head a couple of times, and said, "It's fine. He won't be."

You couldn't sleep on the floor in winter. Miao Jiayan took out his futon for sleeping on the floor from the closet, but Chen Chao stuffed it back in.

"Get in and sleep." Chen Chao tilted his chin, motioning for Miao Jiayan to get in. "We can squeeze together."

Miao Jiayan shook his head. "You won't sleep well."

"Don't worry about me," Chen Chao flicked him on the head. "My fussiness has its times and places."

So Miao Jiayan got into the bed and lay down against the wall.

Before Chen Chao lay down, Miao Jiayan gathered his hair into a bundle and placed it on the inner side, against the wall. Despite this, when Chen Chao lay down, he still felt his face itch as a few long strands of hair brushed against it.

Miao Jiayan was very thin. Wearing a set of pajamas Chen Chao had given him before, he really didn't take up much space lying there.

"You're too skinny. I don't know where all the food you eat goes," Chen Chao said.

Miao Jiayan didn't make a sound. Even his breathing was light. He had been in this state all day.

"Miao'er," Chen Chao called out to him in the darkness after a while.

Miao Jiayan turned his head to the side and answered, "Hm?"

Chen Chao looked at him and asked calmly, "Why do you insist on keeping your hair long?"

Miao Jiayan kept his arms crossed over his chest, thinking quietly for a long time.

"I'm just scared..." A tear slid from the corner of his eye and soaked into the pillow. Miao Jiayan said slowly, "I was always like this when I was little. I just don't know why... suddenly, everyone became unwilling and insisted I cut my hair."

"I felt so scared. I didn't know what was happening."

Miao Jiayan turned on his side, grabbing Chen Chao's sleeve, and said in a trembling voice, "I'm afraid that if I cut my hair, it won't be me anymore..."

Miao Jiayan rubbed Chen Chao's sleeve and asked, "Will I disappear? Brother Chao."

Chen Chao said, "You won't."

"But what if someday, someone else wants me to be someone else, and everyone changes their tune and says I shouldn't be like that..." Miao Jiayan asked softly, "Then what should I be like?"