The sizzling sound of frying rice filled the narrow kitchen. He Yu and Xie Xue sat at the somewhat greasy little dining table. Xie Xue was in a better mood, a relaxed smile on her face as she waited for her elder brother to finish cooking. He Yu also smiled perfunctorily, but on the inside, he was rolling his eyes.
The kitchen door covered in posters slid open. The familiar aroma of cooked rice wafted out first. Then Xie Qingcheng walked out and took off his apron. As usual, he was wearing a shirt tucked into tailored dress pants.
Despite his cold personality, he was still a good elder brother. Because his parents had died young, he had become the head of the household by default, looking after his younger sibling since childhood. As a result, his culinary skills were quite excellent.
Seeing her brother with his rolled-up sleeves bring a tray over and put it down on the simple little table, Xie Xue cried out in surprise and quickly jumped up to help him arrange the food and set the table.
"It smells amazing. Ge, you're the best, you're the best! I love you so, so, so much! Let's eat! I'm starving!"
Xie Qingcheng's expression was solemn. "Girls shouldn't blather on like this. It's inappropriate. Go and wash your hands first."
Then he turned to He Yu and said, "You too."
It had been ages since He Yu had eaten this kind of fried rice.
The rice Xie Qingcheng made was fluffy and golden, each and every grain distinct—when He Yu was little, he would stand by the stove and watch Xie Qingcheng make his little sister's favorite dish. He knew good fried rice needed to be made from leftover rice that was neither too moist nor too dry. Before the rice went into the pan, Xie Qingcheng would first mix it with beaten eggs in a large bowl until every grain of rice was evenly coated in golden yellow.
Once the oil in the pan was hot, he would swiftly add in two more fresh eggs, scramble them, and immediately scoop them up. Then he would add lard and pour the egg-coated rice into the frying pan and stir-fry on high heat.
But this wasn't exactly authentic Yangzhou fried rice. To suit Xie Xue's tastes, Xie Qingcheng modified the recipe and never added peas, but this didn't make it any less delicious.
All three plates of golden, piping-hot fried rice glistened under the lights, with small pieces of diced ham, tender shrimp, and delicate green onions sprinkled throughout. They looked and smelled extremely appetizing.
As He Yu ate, he schemed in secret.
He hardly tasted the food as it passed through his mouth. Xie Xue talked and laughed at the table, but because Xie Qingcheng was present, she directed most of her cheerful chatter toward her brother. The two siblings conversed comfortably, but because He Yu hadn't interacted with the two of them in so long, he struggled to get a word in edgewise, becoming a nonexistent backdrop.
Said backdrop wasn't happy at all. He needed to find an excuse to send Xie Qingcheng away.
"Do you want some more?"
While lost in thought, he'd already silently finished the fragrant fried rice. He Yu snapped out of it and politely responded to Xie Qingcheng, who was looking at him, "I'm good."
"Ge, I want more! Give me some more!"
Xie Qingcheng left with Xie Xue's plate. Xie Xue bit down on her chopsticks and said to He Yu, "My brother's fried rice is way better than yours. It's so delicious—why don't you have another bowl?"
He Yu faked a smile. "One person who can break the scales is enough. I won't cause further trouble."
"Hey! What's your problem?! You don't like me, huh?"
"You're the one who complained that mine wasn't as good as his!"
As the two of them squabbled, Xie Qingcheng's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Xie Xue, what's this bucket of water doing here?"
"Oh." Xie Xue immediately stopped quarreling with He Yu. As if she hadn't just been giggling with him, she sat up straight and said solemnly, "The school said the water's going to be shut off tomorrow. I filled a bucket with water just in case, but the kitchen is too small and it gets in the way if I put it anywhere else, so I can only put it on top of the chest."
"If you put it up so high, what if it falls when you open the kitchen door without paying attention?"
"Aiya, Ge, you don't need to pay it any mind," the dumbass replied.
"It'll be fine."
Xie Xue spoke off-handedly, but He Yu was listening intently. He was someone who liked to pull a girl's pigtails if he had a crush on her. As he listened to their conversation, his pretty, pure almond eyes glanced toward the kitchen as a terrible idea suddenly occurred to him.
The three of them finished eating dinner. Xie Qingcheng didn't like to clean up, so He Yu, with his image of being a gentle, reliable, and exceptional boy, naturally took on the task of washing the dishes and pans.
"Do you need help?" Xie Xue asked.
"I'll let you know in a bit if I do," He Yu said with an insincere smile.
He turned to walk into the kitchen and closed the door.
The moment the door shut, his smile disappeared.
He Yu carefully examined the angles in the room. He first moved the bucket of water a bit farther outward on the chest of drawers, to a position where it would fall when the kitchen door was opened. Then he very calmly took out the hair dryer that Xie Xue kept in the second drawer. Without batting an eyelid, he put it into the sink and turned the faucet on.
Xie Xue had saved up half a month's salary to buy this high-end hair dryer. With a loud splash, Young Master He—whom she'd never suspect—thus drenched it into an impressive-looking but useless piece of scrap.
Excellent.
He Yu wiped the water off the hair dryer and placed it back into the drawer.
The preparations were complete.
He glanced coolly through the ajar door at the girl chatting with Xie Qingcheng, then turned around and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. He calmly turned on the faucet again, dispensed some detergent, and began to wash the dishes.
He simply looked like the epitome of a good person! A shining example of an upstanding young man!
However, those who had done too many bad things were likely to encounter retribution.
He Yu was on the cusp of seeing his carefully devised and meticulously planned efforts come to fruition. He shook the water off his hands and was getting ready for the female lead to run into the disaster of the "coincidence" that he'd orchestrated when he suddenly heard footsteps outside the kitchen. He Yu immediately turned his head, only to see the shadow of a tall, straight backed man through the frosted glass.
He Yu's almond eyes widened, but before he could prevent anything, he heard Xie Qingcheng say, "He Yu, I'm coming in to wash my hands."
"Wait—"
The word was halfway out of his mouth before he heard a massive noise. The bucket of water that He Yu had intentionally readjusted on the chest of drawers rocked in a circle. Then, with an almighty crash, that full bucket of water—the bucket that should have landed on Xie Xue according to He Yu's original plans—tipped over, its contents cascading right over Xie Qingcheng's handsome face!
Fuck!
Not a single fucking drop was wasted!
Both men were at a complete loss for words.
Water splashed everywhere, rendering the entire room a mess. The bucket, which had achieved its goal with smashing success, dropped to the ground and rolled around beside Xie Qingcheng, who was drenched from head to toe. In the end, it leisurely rolled out of the living room, like an old man taking a walk, and came to a perfectly satisfied stop before Xie Xue, who had hastily run over at the commotion.
Xie Xue had witnessed the entire series of events from outside the kitchen. Now, she was trembling in fear.
She was done for…
She was fucking done for!
Xie Xue watched as her completely soaked big brother slowly turned toward her. His skin was quite fair to begin with, but after being drenched so thoroughly out of the blue, his complexion seemed even paler while his eyes and brows looked even darker. Water dripped from the wet wisps of hair plastered to his forehead, streaming past his eyebrows to his eyes, wide open in disbelief. He narrowed them subconsciously before returning to his senses.
"XIE XUE!!"
Xie Xue flinched, shrinking in terror.
Xie Qingcheng flipped his dripping bangs back and raged, "I already told you not to put the bucket on the drawers!!"
"I'm sorry—I'm sorry!" Quivering, Xie Xue scurried into the room and grabbed a mop and paper towels. She handed the paper towels to her brother as she rummaged through the drawers for her hair dryer. "Ge, I didn't expect it to fall either… It was clearly fine earlier… Dry your hair first, don't catch a cold."
Behind her, He Yu guiltily blinked his warm almond eyes.
Xie Xue pulled Xie Qingcheng into the living room, completely oblivious as she took out the hair dryer that He Yu had ruined with water.
She plugged it in and pressed the button to switch it on.
Nothing happened.
"Eh?"
She pressed the button again.
Still nothing.
Speechless, she could only keep on pressing the button to no avail.
"…Ge." As Xie Xue looked at her brother's extremely dark expression, she felt like her death was practically imminent. In a shaky voice, she said, "Th-the hair dryer seems to be broken…"
Xie Qingcheng shot her a glance through icy peach-blossom eyes.
"This is the four-thousand-yuan hair dryer you told me about?"
Xie Xue nearly fell to her knees. How could she be so unlucky?! Xie Qingcheng hadn't understood why she needed to buy a hair dryer that was more expensive than a regular television in the first place. He'd cursed her out roundly for it, but she kept reiterating how great this hair dryer was, how good it was for the hair. Most importantly, it was very high-quality and would last at least twenty years.
"I swear that I'll use this hair dryer for twenty years!" Xie Xue had proclaimed. "Otherwise, you can chop my head off as idiot tax!"
Her words from back then echoed in her ears. Under Xie Qingcheng's chilling gaze, Xie Xue felt her nape prickle with cold. She involuntarily took a few steps back and reached up to cover her neck.
Just as she was at a loss for what to do, Xie Xue glimpsed He Yu wiping his hands and walking out from the kitchen, as if he had done nothing wrong. Suddenly struck by an idea, she ran hastily over to He Yu as though she had seen a life-saving deity and wept.
"He Yu! Can I ask you for a favor?" she cried. "My hair dryer broke! Who knew I'd be so unlucky?! Do you have spare clothes in your dorm? You have a hair dryer, right? Can you take my brother over there to change? Laoshi thanks you!"
She was acting so courteously in front of her brother again. After a moment's silence, He Yu smiled and decided to play along. "Xie-laoshi, you're really being too formal."
He looked toward Xie Qingcheng.
Xie Qingcheng was sitting with his back against the couch, water still dripping from his chiseled jaw. His casual gray shirt had been completely soaked through. The fabric stuck to his skin and faintly exposed the outline of his chest and his slim waist. His thin lips were slightly pursed as he stared darkly at Xie Xue, as if he were getting ready to choose righteousness over family and obliterate this failure of a sister on behalf of the world.
He Yu looked at him and felt the onset of a slight headache.
According to his original plans, the person who was supposed to end up soaked and helpless was Xie Xue. She should have been the one following him back to his dorm to blow-dry her hair.
How did it become Xie Qingcheng instead?
He Yu was straight, and he also disliked doctors. His Elderliness Xie Qingcheng was completely unwelcome in his room. But he had no other choice; there was no turning back now. He'd already gotten Xie Qingcheng into such a state, and Xie Xue had already asked him for help.
He could only sigh softly and walk over to Xie Qingcheng. To the gloomy-faced doctor sitting on the sofa, He Yu said, "You're already soaked, so you should stop glaring, Doctor Xie. Why don't you come with me to get changed? My dorm's only ten minutes away from here. Let's go." The male dorms at the School of Fine Arts in Huzhou University were four-person rooms. It was still dinnertime when He Yu and Xie Qingcheng arrived. All his roommates had gone out to eat, so no one was inside the dorm.
"Wear these." He Yu took out a clean shirt and a pair of pants from his closet and handed them to Xie Qingcheng.
"A sports T-shirt?" Xie Qingcheng scoffed.
"What's wrong with it?"
What was wrong with it? Well, men only wore such clothing when they were in school; Xie Qingcheng hadn't put on something like this in decades. He couldn't even remember how he looked in shirts like this anymore, not to mention they didn't suit him at all now.
"Give me a dress shirt."
"Tsk, sorry about that, Doctor Xie. You don't get to choose." He Yu's smile was so light and perfunctory it was like gauze. Since Xie Xue wasn't here, he could drop all pretense. His pitch-black eyes were devoid of the slightest hint of sincerity, and his tone was less than courteous when he said, "Ah, I really only have one shirt that's in your size. My dress shirts are too big for you."
Xie Qingcheng looked up, his gaze piercing through his wet bangs and landing on He Yu's face. The mockery lurking at the corners of He Yu's mouth seemed much more obvious now that he'd done away with his feigned politeness. He arched a brow as he met Xie Qingcheng's eyes.
"Don't want to wear it? Then you'll have to walk out naked."
Xie Qingcheng silently snatched the clothes out of He Yu's hand. His expression was stiff as he trudged to the washroom.
While waiting for Xie Qingcheng to change, He Yu was struck by déjà vu…
He said to the man behind the frosted door, "By the way, Doctor Xie, I remembered something all of a sudden. Remember that time when I went to your university dorm—"
"I don't remember. Get lost."
He Yu laughed. He hadn't even completed his sentence before Xie Qingcheng cut him off with his denial—how was this any different from admitting outright that he hadn't forgotten that old grudge?
Clearly, both he and Xie Qingcheng recalled that incident from before.
Grievances didn't stem from nothing; even something as minor as this article of clothing was long-awaited retaliation against Xie Qingcheng. He Yu found himself feeling a little pleased at this thought. Perhaps this was how it felt to turn the tables many years later.
"Then hurry up." Without Xie Xue, He Yu could barely keep his true colors from shining through brightly in front of Xie Qingcheng. He leaned against the bathroom door with his arms crossed and smiled. He knocked on the pane of frosted glass. The roguish note in his voice was apparent as he said, "We still need to go back and see your sister after you're done."
A few minutes later, Xie Qingcheng flung the door open. It slammed into He Yu, nearly knocking him over. Caught off guard, He Yu let out a muffled groan and bent over, clutching his nose.
Xie Qingcheng looked at him indifferently. "Why were you standing so close?"
He Yu was in so much pain that he let his mask slip. "Xie Qingcheng, why are you so unreasonable? You're the one who slammed the door into me!"
When his stubbornness got the better of him, he still used Xie Qingcheng's full name in private.
Xie Qingcheng hesitated. "Go get some ice for it."
"Where am I supposed to find ice?" He Yu let go of his reddened nose bridge and kneaded it. He managed to suppress his anger but couldn't resist talking back. "You look a lot like ice to me. Might as well hold your hand to my nose instead."
Xie Qingcheng imagined the scene for a moment. With a chilly expression, he tersely replied, "Too gay. I'm homophobic." Xie Qingcheng shoved He Yu away. He circled around him to enter the dorm and began searching.
He Yu was at a loss for words. "What? That's not what I meant. If you're homophobic, then I'm even more homophobic…"
"Where's the hair dryer?" Xie Qingcheng didn't let him continue. He also couldn't be bothered to listen to his explanation.
"…On the chair."
Xie Qingcheng plugged the hair dryer in and began blow-drying his hair. He Yu, who was still somewhat upset, stood on the balcony. From a distance, he stared at Xie Qingcheng. He simply couldn't understand how a person like this could be Xie Xue's biological brother.
Xie Xue worshipped her elder brother and saw him as a savior of sorts, but He Yu didn't understand what it was about Xie Qingcheng that made him so worthy of her devotion. He was just an old man.
But as he stared, He Yu's mind began to wander.
Xie Qingcheng was the young He Yu's childhood nightmare. He Yu had always feared him, yet he still had to see him because Xie Qingcheng was his doctor. In front of him, He Yu had embarrassed himself and lost all his composure. Xie Qingcheng had witnessed all the times he had gone mad. Once, He Yu was struggling wildly against his medical restraints, screaming at him like a crazed, trapped beast. Xie Qingcheng had leveled a cool gaze at him and walked toward him under the glare of surgical lights.
He Yu had caught a whiff of the icy-cold scent of disinfectant on Xie Qingcheng before a needle pierced his skin…
At that time, he thought that Xie Qingcheng was so tall. And so cold. Xie Qingcheng was strong and irrefutable, hovering over him like a dark cloud—a bogeyman he could never escape in his lifetime.
Who would have thought that, after a few years apart, He Yu was now the one who had to look down at Xie Qingcheng.
He Yu lowered his gaze to look at Xie Qingcheng.
What had happened?
Xie Qingcheng didn't seem as scary anymore.
Perhaps people's childhood impressions were enduring, even if they were inaccurate. For example, if one looked back at TV shows that seemed endlessly long when they were a child, they'd realize that the shows might have had but twenty-something episodes; or the sheepdog that they had once feared, that seemed bigger and sturdier than a horse, in fact only came up to an adult's knee in old photographs.
Perhaps this was the sort of psychological discrepancy He Yu felt toward Xie Qingcheng. He Yu's gaze lingered on Xie Qingcheng—long enough for him to notice.
Xie Qingcheng shot He Yu a cold look. "What are you looking at?" He Yu was quiet for a moment. "Just seeing whether or not my clothes suit you."
Xie Qingcheng didn't reply.
"They really are too big," said He Yu. "Xie Qingcheng, I remember you used to be very tall."
"I don't feel the need to show off my height and build," Xie Qingcheng said coolly.
He turned around and continued to dry his hair. However, just before he faced away, his expression seemed a bit dark.
In that instant, He Yu realized that his childhood bogeyman was merely an ordinary person—a slightly slender man, at that. He Yu's white T-shirt hung loose on Xie Qingcheng, the dip at the collar exposing pale skin, like a gulf at the base of a snowy mountain stream, cast in shadow by the garment.
Weird—why had he been so afraid of Xie Qingcheng back then?
He Yu was still caught up in his musings when Xie Qingcheng finished drying his hair. Straight men didn't bother much with their appearance; he only casually ran a hand through his locks in front of the mirror before putting down the hair dryer and turning back to He Yu. "I'll get going. I'll return your shirt tomorrow."
"No need. I'm not accustomed to wearing clothes that other people have worn. Just toss it after you change—it was getting old anyway."
Xie Qingcheng didn't press. He pushed aside the still-damp ends of his hair once more and said, "All right, then I'll be on my way."
"You're not going back with me to Xie Xue's?"
"No," said Xie Qingcheng. "I have other plans tonight."
"Writing papers?"
Xie Qingcheng wasn't in the habit of hiding his personal affairs, or maybe he just didn't care. He glanced over at He Yu as he was putting his watch back on his wrist and said, "A matchmaking date."
He Yu, who was only making small talk and not paying much attention, didn't react to these words right away. He even felt secretly happy that Xie Qingcheng finally had the good sense to leave. Several seconds later, however, his words finally registered in his brain, as if the distance from his ears to their destination was a reflex arc long enough to loop the earth.
He Yu's head whipped around in shock, his almond eyes flying wide open.
Wasn't Xie Qingcheng married?
Why was he going on matchmaking dates?
Why hadn't Xie Xue mentioned this to him before?
Countless questions surged through his head. He Yu blinked as he grasped at the central thread of this jumble of thoughts.
He practically gaped at Xie Qingcheng's apathetic face, half of which was submerged in shadow. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "You… got divorced?"