In the scorching afternoon when the sun was at its brightest and people were at their drowsiest, not a soul could be seen in the entire hutong. Qi Shi'an twisted open the bottle cap and drank the remaining half bottle of water in one gulp, then tilted his chin up and said, "Nothing special, just suddenly wanted to see you. Now that I've seen you, there's nothing else. You can go back."

Shen Duoyi gave a half-smile: "So I should head back?"

"Mm, see you at the airport the day after tomorrow." Qi Shi'an stepped back half a step, intending to watch Shen Duoyi enter the courtyard before leaving. Shen Duoyi turned and pretended to walk a few steps, then suddenly paused, turned around, and ran back.

He rushed straight to Qi Shi'an, almost colliding with him.

Qi Shi'an instinctively opened his arms to catch him, holding his shoulders and asking, "What are you doing, trying to ambush me?"

Shen Duoyi could barely keep his eyes open in the sunlight, but said confidently, "Stop pretending. You clearly don't want me to leave, you're just playing hard to get. Think I can't see through you?"

"Oh, so you're quite the mind reader, aren't you?" Qi Shi'an felt wronged. He knew Shen Duoyi was visiting friends, so he really had just come on an impulse to see him, but seeing the other's particularly smug expression now, he didn't want to explain anymore. Instead, he lowered his head and asked, "What else can you see then?"

Shen Duoyi lowered his eyes to avoid the sunlight and answered, "I can see that you're even more handsome than usual."

Qi Shi'an had absolutely not expected such a compliment, and his breath stopped for a moment. He crushed the empty water bottle in his hand and asked, "There aren't many people around now, so nobody would see if I kidnapped a child, right?"

Before Shen Duoyi could react, he was already being led away by an arm around his shoulders. He was puzzled but wanted to laugh: "What's wrong with you? I'm already twenty-seven."

Qi Shi'an didn't say anything. He had been waiting at the entrance of the hutong since sending that photo, watching as Shen Duoyi stepped out of the threshold and jumped down the steps. Shen Duoyi had once said that when he was little, walking from the end of the hutong to the entrance, he could collect lots of treats.

Just now, watching Shen Duoyi approach step by step, in his heart, he had transformed him back into that thin, obedient child.

If they had met back then, they probably would have played together. Shen Duoyi was good at Olympic math problems, so was he; Shen Duoyi liked reading historical research materials, so did he; Shen Duoyi would get sore throats in autumn, then they could have eaten pears together; if Shen Duoyi fell off his tricycle, he would have run over to catch him.

Then perhaps Shen Duoyi's first love would have been him.

Qi Shi'an walked with his arm around Shen Duoyi's shoulders, thinking many things, but unable to voice them openly, afraid Shen Duoyi would laugh at him. After all, the other was right – he was very prideful and always maintained a lofty attitude.

They had already reached Qiuye Street, and Shen Duoyi spotted the sports car parked by the roadside from afar. He casually asked, "When did you get here? How long did you wait?"

Qi Shi'an said casually, "I came as soon as I got the text."

Shen Duoyi looked at him in surprise: "That's two or three hours! Were you looking for that hutong in the area all this time?"

"I told you, if I want to see you, I'll definitely find you." Qi Shi'an threw the empty water bottle into a nearby trash can. "You came to visit with your grandfather, right? I heard you say the other day you needed to arrange things for him in advance."

"Mm, Grandpa's staying here for a few days." Shen Duoyi saw the KFC across the street. "Have you not had lunch yet? Let me treat you to a family bucket."

They walked side by side across the road. Though Qi Shi'an was clearly delighted, he still put on airs: "The housekeeper prepared three meat dishes and three vegetable dishes at home, and you're just treating me to fast food?"

Shen Duoyi pushed Qi Shi'an's shoulder: "If you keep being picky, you won't even get fast food – I'll just make you a big pancake instead."

Perhaps because of his military school background, even when not wearing a suit, Qi Shi'an always maintained perfect posture. He sat drinking cola with a family bucket and two separately ordered hamburgers in front of him. Shen Duoyi had ordered himself an ice cream cone and said while eating, "I'm still full from lunch, so I won't join you in eating."

Qi Shi'an asked, "What good food did you have for lunch?"

"Just home-cooked dishes. Auntie's cooking is really good, and Uncle bought roast duck too." Shen Duoyi recalled, "Anyway, they were all dishes that Grandpa and I like, though I'm not picky – I eat everything."

There weren't many people around. Qi Shi'an ate his hamburger while Shen Duoyi had his ice cream, and they chatted about everything from the fast food they were eating to the increasingly warm weather, and from their flight to the contents of their business trip.

Shen Duoyi asked, "Going to Sydney again, was your last trip there laying the groundwork?"

"More or less." Qi Shi'an wiped his hands. "Still staying at the Gold Coast, I need to make up for the surfing I missed."

Shen Duoyi swirled the ice cubes in his cup: "Are you going to visit Miss You again?"

"Depends on the schedule. She sent a gift for my mom's birthday, so if we meet, I'll thank her in person." Qi Shi'an said, "She runs several art galleries, you can go take a look. I can't really appreciate those works anyway, they're not as interesting as index charts."

They stayed at KFC until five o'clock before leaving. Qi Shi'an went home, and Shen Duoyi returned to Qiuye Alley. When they parted in the sunset, they agreed to meet at the airport the day after tomorrow.

Everything was settled, and Shen Duoyi returned to Wenhu Apartments alone that night. Sunday would be a whole day for packing, so he went to bed early. Qi Shi'an sat in the dining room tending to that hydrangea plant and called You Zhe, learning that You Si had taken Shutiao traveling and wasn't in Sydney.

The flight was at nine o'clock Monday morning, and all four of them boarded smoothly. Besides Qi Shi'an, the foreign exchange department supervisor had the highest rank and was coincidentally seated next to him. Shen Duoyi sat next to the senior futures trader, whom he knew well and always called "Little Wang."

After the flight stabilized, the flight attendants served drinks. The business class wasn't crowded and was quite quiet, but in broad daylight, no one felt particularly sleepy. "Little Wang, have you spotted any good investments lately?" Shen Duoyi asked casually, having nothing else to do.

Little Wang said, "Didn't you sell everything?"

"How do you know I sold? Was it Team Leader Qi who told you?" Shen Duoyi complained behind his back, "Team Leader Qi can't keep his mouth shut, he tells everyone everything, and always talks about my business."

Qi Shi'an sat in front reading a book, but his attention kept wandering to the conversation behind him. He barely heard what the supervisor next to him was reporting, and simply pulled down the window shade, assuming a posture of wanting to sleep.

Little Wang was quite perceptive and immediately fell silent, while the supervisor also closed his eyes preparing to take a nap. Shen Duoyi listlessly watched the clouds outside the window and also quieted down.

After the person next to him fell asleep, Qi Shi'an unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. He walked to the back row and tapped Little Wang's shoulder: "You go to the front, I don't like window seats."

He switched seats, sitting down next to Shen Duoyi, and casually continued reading his book after sitting down. Shen Duoyi glanced at the cover and asked softly, "《A Discussion on Gann Wave Theory》, is it good?"

"It's okay, just expanding on existing theories." Qi Shi'an turned slightly closer, "Want to read together?"

Shen Duoyi also leaned in closer, their shoulders almost touching, immersed in the black and white technical terms, occasionally discussing points of interest.

Annie had booked a hotel at Surfers Paradise. After the plane landed, there was a car to take them there. During check-in, they learned that the other three had business rooms, while only Qi Shi'an, as usual when on business trips, had a large suite.

"Let's change to the same type, it's more convenient to be on the same floor."

Qi Shi'an condescendingly gave up the sea view from the high floor, switching to the room opposite Shen Duoyi's. He glanced at the other person inconspicuously, but found Shen Duoyi was still reading that book during this time.

"Work arrangements start tomorrow, everyone can rest up today." Qi Shi'an said, "The teppanyaki here is very good, I've booked seats in advance, let's have dinner together tonight."

Shen Duoyi closed the book but kept his index finger between the pages. After taking the elevator back to their respective rooms, he laid the book open, planning to continue reading after unpacking. Once everything was organized and he had changed into cooler clothes, he picked up the book and ran across to knock on the opposite door, wanting to ask a few questions.

The door opened, and Qi Shi'an was shirtless, muscles blatantly exposed to the air, with a T-shirt in his hand which he then unhurriedly put on.

"What's up?"

Shen Duoyi withdrew his gaze and quickly held up the book: "There are some parts I don't understand and wanted to ask about."

Qi Shi'an pulled him inside: "Asking questions with the door open, I'm practically flashing everyone."

"Who knew you'd open the door without clothes, showing off your abs." Shen Duoyi sat down on the sofa. "Looking at the gold market through Gann's Square of Nine, I'm confused about this part, can you explain it to me?"

Qi Shi'an grabbed a can of beer and walked over, pressing it against Shen Duoyi's face to cool him: "Want some?"

Shen Duoyi took it and had a couple sips: "Hurry up and explain, I'll go back to sleep after you're done."

"Such attitude when asking for help, don't take advantage just because the teacher likes you." Qi Shi'an sat down beside him and casually took a hotel promotional magazine to draw diagrams. "Taking the cycle in the book as an example, looking at the K-line chart, you can't get any patterns, right?"

Shen Duoyi leaned in closer: "Mm, and then?"

"Then look at it using Gann's Square of Nine." Qi Shi'an was very focused, lines and points quickly taking shape under his pen. "Look for patterns in the distribution of time cycles between highs and lows, combined with the image."

"Is it the diagonal line..." Shen Duoyi suddenly looked up, "Is it the 'rice' character line?"

Qi Shi'an got cutesy again: "Very good."

"Whenever the gold cycle reaches the 'rice' character line, price fluctuations come, and it starts to turn." Qi Shi'an flipped to another page of the magazine and drew an intuitive trend chart in a few strokes. "Is it clearer now? The Square of Nine involves more spatial calculations, so this part might be a bit hard to understand."

Shen Duoyi stared at Qi Shi'an's fingers, only now realizing that the other person drew much faster than him, and more casually – it was the grand manner of someone so confident they didn't need to fuss over details.

The questions were answered, the beer was finished, and Shen Duoyi stretched, preparing to go back to sleep. Qi Shi'an dug out an earphone from his suitcase, seemingly also ready to rest, and said resignedly: "Make do with sleeping here, we'll call them for dinner later."

Shen Duoyi asked: "What do you mean make do?"

"This suite is small, and the floor isn't high enough, so we'll have to make do."

"This is already a pretty nice five-star hotel, and the business suite is big enough, isn't it?" Shen Duoyi didn't know how spacious Qi Shi'an's original suite was, and said indignantly, "The rich feast while the poor starve, and you still say 'make do.' Who asked you to change rooms?"

Qi Shi'an was inexplicably scolded and laughed: "Nobody asked me to change, I chose to myself, okay?"

Shen Duoyi felt he had spoken too harshly and felt somewhat apologetic. Before opening the door to leave, he gave a piece of candy as consolation: "Even though the room is small, it's close to me. If you need anything, just say the word, and I'll come help right away."

The door opened and closed, and Qi Shi'an felt the room was perfect in every way now.

There were many diners in the evening, fortunately they had reserved seats in advance. Foreign exchange department's Supervisor Qin and futures department's Little Wang had slept on the plane, so they had walked around in the afternoon, and now after a full meal, they were preparing to return to their rooms for an early rest.

But Qi Shi'an and Shen Duoyi had taken enough afternoon naps and were still very energetic.

"I rented a car, want to go for a drive?" Qi Shi'an dangled the car keys with his finger, looking relaxed, giving the impression that getting in the car meant heading to a bar. Shen Duoyi imagined for a moment, felt he was being neurotic, then followed the other's steps out of the hotel lobby.

A black SUV was parked outside, with the driver's and passenger's seats opposite to those in China. Shen Duoyi still wasn't quite used to it when he first got in. In the moment he was lost in thought, Qi Shi'an had already started the car and driven into the night, lowering the windows to let in the cool evening breeze.

He wasn't driving very fast, steering with one hand, and suddenly said: "The first night I met you, when I took you home, I was also driving an SUV, though it was a military one."

Shen Duoyi tried hard to remember: "I don't recall, I was drunk then, but the next day when you sent me home you were driving a Volkswagen."

Qi Shi'an turned to look at him, seemingly somewhat surprised: "You remember?"

"Yes, a black Volkswagen." Shen Duoyi said, "I've never seen you drive an SUV. I remember before you changed to the sports car, you weren't driving an SUV either."

Qi Shi'an said: "My dad found out I took a military-plated car to the nightclub, so he confiscated it the next day and only let me drive that Volkswagen. I actually still had another one, but to get you to come home to tutor Xiao Chuan, I gave it to him as a condition."

Shen Duoyi hurriedly denied responsibility: "That's not my fault."

"I'm not blaming you." Qi Shi'an held the steering wheel and smiled, after smiling for a while he became somewhat distracted. "Actually, I thought you wouldn't remember. The next day when I sent you home, you were so nervous and embarrassed, staring out the window without blinking, and as soon as we stopped you couldn't wait to open the door and run."

The road was wide, the SUV racing through the whistling wind, and Shen Duoyi looked at the night scene and said softly: "I've always remembered, that's why I drive a black Volkswagen now too, because it gives me a sense of security." Though he had been flustered then, sitting in the car had also given him a contradictory feeling of peace.

The brakes were suddenly slammed, the tires severely scraped against the ground, dragging out a sharp, screeching noise. If not for the seatbelt, Shen Duoyi would have hit the dashboard. After steadying himself, he turned his head in panic, looking at Qi Shi'an with shock and confusion.

Qi Shi'an stared straight ahead, his face expressionless.

He had once told himself that seventy percent of people in the country drove black Volkswagens, so he shouldn't imagine too much. He had even thought Shen Duoyi didn't remember what car he drove that day at all.

But it turned out Shen Duoyi did remember.

And even said it gave him a sense of security.

Qi Shi'an slowly spoke: "Have you ever thought that what gives you that sense of security isn't the car at all, it's me."