Chi Wang tilted his head back slightly, feeling a breeze sweep across his pupils, cool and refreshing. He blinked slowly a few times.
"Better now?" Su Lian propped up his eyelid with his left hand, like a doctor examining a patient, and gently blew on it again.
Chi Wang didn't answer, just stared at him thoughtfully. His eyelashes drooped slightly, and his pupils were light in color, shimmering like amber beads in the sunlight, clear and translucent.
He paused for a few seconds, then spoke softly: "Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are very beautiful?"
Su Lian's fingertips became slightly sweaty as he replied untruthfully, "No."
"You really don't know how to take a hint, do you? When someone compliments you, shouldn't you say thank you?" Chi Wang released his grip on the school uniform, casually flexing his fingers, thinking that the fabric of Third High School's uniforms was a bit rough.
"Thank you, you're good-looking too," Su Lian responded perfunctorily, clearly insincere. "Can we start studying now?"
"So perfunctory," Chi Wang clicked his tongue, extremely reluctant to sit back down at the desk. He casually picked up a ballpoint pen and twirled it, his gaze falling on a corner of the room.
"How about I perform a drum solo for you? I look pretty cool when I play drums, want to see?"
"Chi Wang." Su Lian raised his voice slightly, calling him by his full name.
He felt like a father worrying about his son's studies, but at this moment, his paternal love was rapidly eroding.
Chi Wang sensed he was approaching the man's limit and wisely backed off: "Alright, alright, I'll stop fooling around."
Su Lian spread out several subject test papers on the desk, arranging them one by one, and analyzed rationally: "I think the subject you can improve the fastest in right now is Chinese. You probably won't understand much if I try to explain the other subjects, so let's start with memorization."
Thinking of his completely blank classical poetry section, Chi Wang drawled suggestively: "Isn't your Chinese also..."
"We'll memorize together," Su Lian cut him off, casually flipping open to a passage. "In one hour, I'll test you on 'The Difficulty of the Shu Road'."
"Ah, harder than scaling the blue sky," Chi Wang's fingertip traced over that line of bold text, feeling that Li Bai was indeed the top-tier poet, perfectly expressing his current mood.
Just as he was silently reciting the first few lines, his phone beside him dinged several times in succession, with a bunch of pop-up notifications appearing on the screen.
"Always some troublemakers disturbing my studies," Chi Wang pressed down on the book with one hand while unlocking his phone screen with the other, opening the chat with Chi Qing. "What's wrong with this girl, sending messages from upstairs..."
His voice trailed off as his expression gradually became confused.
Su Lian looked up from the textbook and turned to him: "What did your sister send?"
"A bunch of images and videos discussing social relationships between human-like species."
"Speak plainly."
"Boy's love comics."
"..."
Are young girls these days all so precocious?
Su Lian suddenly felt at a loss, awkwardly turning a page in the textbook: "Why is she sending you this?"
"I'm quite puzzled myself." Chi Wang propped his head on his hand, typing on the screen: What are you up to? Come upstairs and explain.
Two minutes later, there was a polite knock at the door. After getting the owner's permission, Chi Qing carefully pushed the door open, as if afraid of seeing some inappropriate scene.
Chi Wang stared at her Pikachu cartoon pajamas with disdain in his voice: "We have a guest, and you're this unkempt?"
"A woman adorns herself for those who appreciate her. You two aren't worth it." Chi Qing put on the hat with ears, her expression cold as she glanced at Su Lian with a heartbroken and resentful look. "Did you see the pictures and videos? Any thoughts?"
"No thoughts," Chi Wang said with a straight face, speaking slowly, "I'm straight."
Chi Qing wore an expression of "I've seen through everything" as she looked down at her brother: "Oh, straight."
"Why are you being so sarcastic?" Chi Wang casually tapped, and an image of two beautiful boys kissing popped up, dominating the entire screen, looking quite erotic.
His finger paused for a second as he raised an eyebrow slightly: "Did you send this to the wrong person?"
"No, it's for you," Chi Qing enunciated each word, "You can discuss it thoroughly with Su Lian."
"Get lost, you're shipping your own brother now? Don't disturb my studying." Chi Wang grabbed her by the back of the neck and pushed her out, complaining, "What kind of stuff are you looking at all day?"
Chi Qing scoffed inwardly, thinking, I've given you the study materials, so I'll leave now, okay?
The door was closed again, and Su Lian's gaze was still fixed on the phone screen, not moving away.
"Want to see? I can forward it to you," Chi Wang said with a smile at the corner of his mouth, drawing out his words teasingly, "I didn't expect our little Teacher Su to like this kind of thing."
Su Lian's expression changed slightly as he firmly refused: "Stop, I don't want to."
"Take out your QR code, I'll add you on WeChat," Chi Wang waved his hand, lightly tapping his arm.
Su Lian emphasized again with more force: "I don't read boys' love comics."
"I was just teasing you, why are you taking it seriously?" Chi Wang couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I just thought it was strange that we're so close but haven't added each other as friends yet."
Are we that close? Su Lian lowered his eyes.
He had always felt that the current Chi Wang was quite unfamiliar, whether in terms of living habits or way of speaking, completely different from the one he knew.
Including his interests and hobbies - before stepping into this room, he never knew that Chi Wang liked collecting figurines or could play the drums.
The Chi Wang in his twenties had long since concealed his sharp edges, leaving only maturity, stability, thoughtfulness, and gentleness - all good qualities.
In contrast, he, the former boyfriend, knew nothing at all, which was quite a failure.
"Does it take this long to think about adding a friend?" Chi Wang looked at the person with unfocused eyes and exited the WeChat page. "Forget it if you don't want to."
"You scan mine," Su Lian snapped back to reality, responding quickly and decisively.
Perhaps they could try to become a little more familiar.
Chi Wang methodically added him as a friend, muttering: "What nickname should I give you? Nemesis, deskmate, or little Teacher Su, which do you like?"
"I have a name," Su Lian felt a headache coming on. What should have been a good study session seemed to be going off track again.
"Names are too formal," Chi Wang had a burst of inspiration, his knuckles moving slightly. "Done."
Su Lian added Chi Wang's full name as a contact and glanced askance at the top of the neighboring phone: My Nemesis Deskmate.
...Too many elements, it was suffocating.
He glanced at the time on the lock screen and reminded him: "It's been twenty-seven minutes since we came in, you have thirty-three minutes left until the recitation test. If you can't recite it, there will be a punishment."
"Damn, why didn't you mention punishment earlier?" Chi Wang felt he had been tricked again. He tossed his phone aside and turned to ask: "What's the punishment?"
Su Lian pondered for a few seconds, his tone very casual: "Just a 3000-meter run, I guess. If I can't recite it either, I'll do the same."
Chi Wang thought, as expected of the cool health freak, it's exercise again.
But overall, it was milder than health porridge.
This time he was smarter and asked while pressing down on the textbook: "For this exam, did you not remember, or were you just too lazy to fill it in? I always feel there's something fishy."
"I find these things that require rote memorization uninteresting," Su Lian deflected skillfully.
Chi Wang made a sound of agreement: "Great minds think alike, I feel the same way."
As he spoke, he quietly prepared to close the textbook.
Su Lian quickly pressed it down, changing the subject: "However, considering the 250 yuan hourly rate, I've decided to overcome this."
Chi Wang pursed his lips, sitting still.
"You're not afraid of losing to me again, are you?" Su Lian's voice was soft, inexplicably arousing Chi Wang's competitive spirit.
"Bring it on." He suddenly sat up straight, spread open the book, and buried his head in studying.
The room suddenly fell silent. Chi Wang stopped fidgeting, leaving only an expressionless profile that looked quite serious.
Su Lian's lips curved up slightly as he glanced at the familiar poem, reading the annotations below to pass the time.
When time was up, Chi Wang closed the textbook and began reciting haltingly. Although difficult, he only made one mistake in the entire text, better than expected.
But a mistake was still a mistake, and the person who had worked hard at memorizing for the first time wore an unhappy expression, emanating a great deal of resentment.
"I accept the punishment, your turn," Chi Wang kicked the swivel chair with his long legs, turning to face the other person.
For some reason, Su Lian suddenly thought of the phrase "sharing joys and sorrows," and his heart softened.
He pretended to stumble and deliberately left out two lines, which Chi Wang caught: "You didn't recite it all either, don't you also need to be punished?"
Su Lian nodded calmly: "Mm."
"It's rare to see you at a disadvantage." Chi Wang's mood improved. "Shall we run together after evening self-study on Monday?"
Su Lian smiled along: "Alright."
After finishing the explanation of the Chinese exam paper, it was nearly eight o'clock, and Su Lian was asked to stay for dinner. Chi Bianhai had the housekeeper prepare a large spread, worried about not being a good host.
"Little Su, thank you for your hard work today," Chi Bianhai said warmly as he pushed a pile of dishes towards him. "Chi Wang, this child, just doesn't listen very well."
Su Lian sat up straight, politely saying, "It's no trouble, I need to review myself as well. However..."
Chi Wang's heart skipped a beat when he heard this transition, feeling that nothing good would follow.
Sure enough, he heard the second half: "Tutoring alone isn't enough. Chi Wang needs to change many habits too. He always stays up late, so he's bound to be drowsy in class."
"Yes, I've told him many times," Chi Bianhai nodded in agreement. "You're a boarding student too, right? I'll give you the authority. Please keep an eye on him for me."
Su Lian: "Alright, I'll supervise him to sleep and wake up early, and exercise regularly."
Chi Wang: "..."
Are they playing some kind of rhyming game?
After years of unbridled freedom, suddenly having someone to manage him made the world feel quite surreal.
"If only you were my son," Chi Bianhai stared at the reserved young man eating, admiring him from every angle.
Chi Qing, who had been eating silently, abruptly interjected: "Maybe he really could become your son."
After all, her brother's boyfriend would be her future brother-in-law, which wasn't far off the mark.
Everyone: "?"
Chi's Mother looked shocked, her soup ladle clanging as it fell into the bowl: "Chi Bianhai, you haven't been seeing other women behind my back, have you?"
"Where did that come from?" Chi Bianhai felt more wronged than Dou E, quickly distancing himself, "That's not the case at all. Isn't little Qing just thinking..."
The experienced couple exchanged glances, letting out an ambiguous "Oh."
"Don't misunderstand, I don't like him anymore," Chi Qing, catching her parents' implications, gave her brother a sinister look, emphasizing, "After all, I can't steal someone else's love."
Su Lian grew more confused as he listened. Whose love was being stolen? From the tone, it seemed she knew something about the situation.
Could it be that his sister had also traveled back in time?
Chi Wang took a sip of soup, savoring it: "You're quite generous in sharing. He is quite popular with girls now, there are several in our class."
Misunderstanding the situation, Chi Qing said sourly: "So you're jealous inside."
"I'm fine, I don't care about these things," Chi Wang placed a piece of braised pork in Su Lian's dish. "You like this, don't you?"
Chi Qing clicked her tongue. Her brother was being quite generous as a boyfriend. She admitted defeat.
The siblings talked at cross purposes, communicating on different wavelengths, back and forth, seamlessly.
Su Lian spent most of the time silently eating, just listening to their conversation.
His parents had divorced early, and his home had always been just two men, both cool in temperament, with little communication.
Now, a family chattering aimlessly like this, laughing and joking, was a liveliness he hadn't experienced in a long time.
The atmosphere in Chi Wang's family was really quite nice. In a way, he envied it.
After dinner, Su Lian checked the time and stood up to say goodbye: "It's getting late, I should head back."
"I'll have someone drive you back, it should be quite far from here," Chi Bianhai waved, asking the housekeeper to call for the driver.
Chi Qing stuffed a large piece of dessert into her mouth and nudged Chi Wang with her elbow: "Brother, aren't you going to send him back?"
"He's a grown man, does he need to be sent?" Chi Wang also stuffed a piece into his mouth, glancing up at Su Lian. "If you need it, I suppose I could."
Su Lian picked up his bag, shaking his head: "No need."
Chi Qing pulled her brother up from the sofa, pushing him towards the door as if disappointed in him: "Don't ask, just do it. Do I have to teach you everything?"
Chi Wang was puzzled but threw on a jacket and was forced out the door: "Fine, then."
The two sat side by side in the back seat. Su Lian turned his head to look at him: "You really don't need to send me."
Chi Wang lowered the car window, and a gust of late summer evening wind rushed in, carrying the sound of cicadas and humid air.
He stretched his hand out the window, trying to catch the intangible breeze: "That girl is worried about you. I've got nothing else to do anyway, so let's just enjoy the ride."
Su Lian felt something was off, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he let it go.
He gave the driver an address, then leaned against the window to doze off, eventually falling into a deep sleep.
In his hazy state, he felt a warmth above his head, but he was too tired to open his eyes.
As the car slowly came to a stop, Su Lian felt a light pat on his shoulder. He looked up to find his head resting on a large hand with a small, inconspicuous mole on the inside of the ring finger.
He turned his head slightly, rubbing against it, and murmured sleepily, "Brother, I'm so tired."
There was a moment of silence, and a few seconds later, Su Lian suddenly awoke, quickly sitting up straight.
"I'm sorry, I fell asleep," he said, catching a glimpse of Chi Wang withdrawing his arm, the back of his hand covered in mottled red marks from where Su Lian's head had been resting.
"Your hand..."
"I saw your head banging around, afraid you'd hurt yourself, so I cushioned it for you," Chi Wang flexed his hand, smiling as he waved it. "Bye-bye, see you on Sunday."
"Mm, goodbye," Su Lian got out of the car in a daze, standing in the wind on the street, feeling a bit confused.
In that moment of drowsiness, he couldn't remember clearly if he had called him "Brother Chi" or not.
The other hadn't asked anything, and in his panic, he had forgotten to thank him.
Su Lian took out his phone and opened his chat with Chi Wang. The chat history was still blank.
Suddenly, a small line of text appeared at the top: The other party is typing...
Su Lian tightened his grip on the phone, locked the screen, and suddenly felt nervous.
Had Chi Wang heard him? What would he think? How should he explain? Maybe he should just play dumb.
The next second, a banner notification showed that the other party had sent a video.
Su Lian thought, "Oh no, this is probably some gay video. Chi Wang must have gotten the wrong idea."
He steeled himself and opened the chat.
Chi Wang: [We start leading exercises on Monday, so don't slack off these two days. Here's a video of the between-class exercises, practice a lot.]
Su Lian: "."