Xie Lan, fearing he would be swallowed alive by Old Ma’s surging love, hesitated for a few moments before silently turning and leaving.

As soon as he stepped out of the building, Old Ma called him.

“Weren’t you coming to check the wrong questions?”

Xie Lan gave an “Ah” sound. “I checked with Dou Sheng and already know where the mistake is.”

And I don’t want to be detained for an afternoon of reading comprehension practice.

Old Ma sighed lightly. “Don’t get too upset. Number theory and recursion were very difficult this time. You were the only one in the whole province who didn’t make mistakes. Actually, they are all your defeated opponents.”

Dou Sheng said lazily from the side, “Phone is leaking sound. The defeated opponent is listening right here.”

Old Ma choked. “Don’t make trouble. Oh right, Dou-zi did well on the exam this time, deserves praise. For the second question of number theory you didn’t solve, I’ve compiled related questions and sent them to you.”

Dou Sheng drawled, “Then thank you very much.”

Xie Lan said a few more words to Old Ma before hanging up.

Dou Sheng yawned and asked, “What did he say?”

“Tactfully informed me that reading comprehension practice is about to start.” Xie Lan’s face fell, and he sighed deeply. “Why can’t questions be written properly?”

In the sultry summer afternoon, even in an air-conditioned room, people felt muddled. Xie Lan went home to continue reading debate materials. Dictionaries filled the table. The iced coffee had melted into a puddle of water underneath. He could only curl his arms and sleep on the table.

He had a very long dream.

In the dream, he was a child. Xiao Langjing held his hand as they walked up the steps outside Wangjiang Lane. He was wearing a straw hat, climbing up step by step.

Xie Lan was taken abroad at the age of three and didn’t have this memory. He wondered for a long time until the little boy turned his head, and he vaguely realized that it might not be him.

The little boy lifted the brim of his hat. On his chubby face, the indifferent look of his grown-up self was faintly discernible. His eyes shifted slightly, and he yawned.

The woman also turned back, took off the straw hat for him, and the two continued walking up.

Turns out that wasn’t Xiao Langjing either; it was Zhao Wenying.

…

“Didn’t you say he was studying?”

“Mm… was studying just now.”

“When was just now?”

“Three or four hours ago, I guess. Sigh, Mom, why do you care?”

“I need to wake him up. If he sleeps so deeply, what will he do at night?”

“…True.”

Fingers resting on the book curled. Xie Lan struggled to wake up, only to realize his whole body was numb.

The dazzling sunlight outside the window had become soft. He poked the phone screen: 17:12.

“Lan-lan.” Zhao Wenying came over and put down a plate of cantaloupe. “Don’t drink coffee too late. Eat some cool fruit to wake up.”

Xie Lan zoned out for a while before coming back to his senses, pleasantly surprised. “Auntie Zhao is back?”

“Yeah, finally home to rest.” Zhao Wenying smiled. “Come look, I bought you lots of gifts.”

Zhao Wenying must have just returned home not long ago. Lipstick not wiped off yet, perfume scent radiating from her.

She carried bags big and small inside. Dou Sheng followed in, sat on Xie Lan’s bed, and leaned back. “Come, let me see what gifts Ms. Zhao bought for her biological son, Little Friend Xie Lan.”

Zhao Wenying frowned and pulled him. “Get up! Don’t sit on someone else’s bed.”

Xie Lan quickly said, “It’s fine, I’m not particular about these things.”

More than just sitting on the bed.

Thinking of their lawlessness when Zhao Wenying wasn’t home, Xie Lan felt a wave of guilt.

Zhao Wenying always brought gifts when returning from business trips. Xie Lan declined at first, but later got used to it.

Since Xie Jingming stopped providing living expenses, he transferred money to Zhao Wenying every month himself—food, rent, car rides, calculating generously. Zhao Wenying never refused, accepting whatever amount, but always quickly bought a pile of gifts to stuff back to him.

“T-shirts and sweatpants, for you two to wear during school training later. Also Dou-zi said he wanted to buy formal wear? I bought shirts, trousers, and leather shoes. Didn’t buy suit jackets; kids don’t need to wear the full set.” Zhao Wenying took them out one by one, suddenly turning to look at Dou Sheng, abruptly cold: “You have them too. Styles are about the same. Don’t say I favor one over the other.”

Dou Sheng snatched those clothes, clicking his tongue. “About the same is good. We are now a Bilibili couple.”

His tone was light and relaxed. He flipped through the tags while talking, not looking at Zhao Wenying at all.

Xie Lan’s heart tightened.

Zhao Wenying laughed and scolded, “Just be wild. Keep talking nonsense in videos, see if Lan-lan gets annoyed with you!”

“He likes me very much.” Dou Sheng smiled and raised an eyebrow at Xie Lan. “Right?”

“Mm.” Xie Lan lowered his eyes. “Like.”

His heart was in his throat when he answered, but as soon as the words fell, his head was vigorously rubbed by Zhao Wenying.

“So well-behaved!” Zhao Wenying said indignantly. “How was Langjing so good at giving birth! How did I give birth to such a thing?!”

Dou Sheng yawned, lazy tone. “Easy to solve. Xie Lan can be your son too in the future.”

Zhao Wenying clapped her hands. “That would be wonderful, couldn’t ask for more. Darling, back in high school we indeed said I’d be the godmother in the future.”

Xie Lan could only look elsewhere and nod gently.

This trip was long, and gifts were plentiful. Zhao Wenying also gifted a pair of new headphones. Natural sound quality, good noise cancellation, nice appearance. Xie Lan couldn’t be more familiar with this brand; these headphones cost around ten thousand. He refused immediately but was forced to accept by Zhao Wenying.

After Zhao Wenying happily went out holding a pile of packaging boxes, Dou Sheng sighed low. “This differential treatment. When I asked my mom for them before, she told me to get lost.”

The small neckband rested on his neck, two earphone cords hanging in front. Xie Lan tugged at one of them, a bit dazed.

He had owned these headphones before—same series, probably three or four generations older than this model. Xiao Langjing bought them for him when she was still alive. He left in a hurry this time and left them in the London home.

Zhao Wenying seemed to have a magical power. Clearly so different from his mother, yet she always made him remember again and again, feeling closer and closer to her.

Dou Sheng got up and pushed the door shut, asking in a low voice, “How do you think my mom’s attitude is?”

Xie Lan hesitated. “Hard to say.”

Obviously saw the Bilibili videos, but joking openly precisely showed she didn’t think in that direction at all.

Dou Sheng hummed. “No rush. We’ll test the waters bit by bit, boiling the frog in warm water.”

Xie Lan nodded.

He paused for a moment, then frowned. “How can you say Auntie Zhao is a frog?”

“Just a metaphor, and you get anxious.” Dou Sheng clicked his tongue. “My status in this family is gradually becoming awkward.”

---

After dinner, N unread messages suddenly popped up in the class group. Final exam results were out.

Xie Lan’s ranking in the class didn’t move, still at the bottom, but he scraped into the top 100 of the grade. Hu Xiujie praised him by name directly in the group with all subject teachers.

Total score 648. The finals went smoothly this time. Science comprehensive only deducted 22 points, English 12, math deducted 1 point somewhere unknown, not a big problem.

The only point loss was still Chinese, 83 this time, almost no improvement.

Hu Xiujie also posted last year’s Gaokao data. Xie Lan was 110 points higher than last year’s Science Tier 1 line. Plenty of room for choice, but far from enough for the purple acceptance letter.

Classmates and teachers of all subjects brushed a wave of congratulations. Old Qin also posted: Xie Lan’s future lies in Chinese, let’s work hard!

Old Ma replied to him: Don’t worry, there’s still math competition escorting him. I will teach Chinese along with it.

Old Qin: Fist and palm salute.jpg

Xie Lan replied with a big thanks.

With Zhao Wenying at home, he and Dou Sheng couldn’t do anything, only throwing stickers at each other through a wall. Xie Lan was bored enough to climb thousands of floors in the group chat before finally enduring until bedtime.

Lying in bed, he couldn’t help clicking open the report card again.

Getting this score was already quite satisfactory. Old Ma specifically instructed him to relax, prioritize aiming for recommended admission through the league. If not, aim for independent recruitment next year; Yinghua had one or two students every year getting policies lowering admission to the Tier 1 line.

Zhao Wenying also sent a big red packet to congratulate him, insisting he accept it.

It seemed everyone was eagerly expecting, not pressuring him, just cheering him on desperately.

Xie Lan hesitated for a while, but still screenshotted the report card, along with Hu Xiujie’s messages about the cut-off lines, and sent them to Xie Jingming.

He hadn’t logged into Messenger for a long time. Xie Jingming’s messages from this period lay inside. After tearing off the face last time, he almost stopped feigning enthusiasm, using very normal wording to fulfill a father’s duty.

Xie Lan’s fingertips quickly swiped past those concerns.

The last one was a week ago, a date engraved in Xie Lan’s bones—the deadline for reporting to the UK Math Competition National Team.

A date he once thought very important, but now he almost couldn’t remember what he did then. Probably just daily worrying about his boyfriend starving himself to death.

Xie Jingming didn’t mention anything competition-related, just sending a message with calm wording: “Elizabeth and I have thoroughly decided to be together. Not asking for your forgiveness, but hope you can respect it. Also, mentioned the 2+2 program with UK universities before, you were unwilling. I checked again; domestic universities also have such programs, both 2+2 and 3+1. Dad hopes you consider it. A father’s wish to live with his son is also understandable.”

Xie Lan read it several times, indescribable feelings in his heart. After a long time, he replied: “I should be going to the same university as Dou Sheng later. If he also wants to exchange, I’ll look into such programs. But it’s just exchange; I still want to settle in China in the future.”

He sent the screenshots of the report card and cut-off lines over too.

I can get into Mom’s school, no need to worry. Can support myself now too, zhuo zhuo you yu (more than enough).

Oh, wrong again, chuo chuo you yu.

Waited a few minutes, no reply.

Xie Lan put down the phone, turned over, but suddenly couldn’t sleep. He poked open Xie Jingming’s INS again.

Many new photos he hadn’t seen.

There were photos of Xie Jingming and Elizabeth barbecuing together, accompanying her to take the dog for a checkup, drinking coffee near the London Art Gallery. After returning home, Elizabeth baked scones, the kind with pistachios Xie Lan liked—probably requested by Xie Jingming out of habit.

They seemed to be cohabiting in an apartment in the city center. Xie Jingming went back to the old house to dust a week ago, casually taking a photo of an album of Xie Lan’s childhood he stumbled upon. It was the album collecting various violin competitions. The one in the shot was a family photo during an award ceremony.

Xie Lan suddenly felt a sting in his nose.

He poked open Messenger again.

Forget it, I want to study mathematics in the future, not much need for exchange abroad. If you come to China to play, you can contact me.

Message sent, lying quietly in the chat box.

Xie Lan felt very calm inside, but he couldn’t sleep at all.

When he first returned to China, he actually didn’t think “a lifetime” was that far away. When he took that step, he thought he was just moving away from the old life, not knowing a crack was growing silently behind him, pushing him to completely sever ties with the past.

Xie Jingming owed Xiao Langjing, but he was competent to him as a son.

Perhaps he had no right to blame too much, just… hard to hide the disappointment. The more he thought, the heavier the disappointment became, heavy enough to wrap a person tightly inside, unable to struggle.

Xie Lan put on the headphones Zhao Wenying gave him and binge-watched Dou Sheng’s past videos all night. Even when he fell asleep at dawn, Dou Sheng’s voice was still in the headphones.

**

It wasn’t until the next morning, sitting behind the debate table, that the melancholy of last night was washed away, but his brain was still buzzing with “Dou-speak.”

Xie Lan didn’t come during the prelims, so he didn’t know there would be so many people watching the competition. Judges, student council, other clubs, melon-eating crowds… a mighty contingent of over a hundred people, filling half of Yinghua’s largest lecture hall.

Representatives of both sides were communicating the process with the host. Dou Sheng went for the opposition side.

Dou Sheng dressed very formally. The rigorous, cold attire complemented his personal nonchalant temperament. The white shirt had straight shoulder lines, hem tucked into blue-black trousers. The trousers draped properly, highlighting his straight, long legs even more, completely outlining the boy’s broad shoulders and narrow waist.

The surface of his leather shoes was spotless. When he returned to sit next to Xie Lan, his pant leg lifted half an inch, ankle bone protruding under dark men’s silk socks.

Clearly every gesture was full of boyishness, yet a subtle tension flowed secretly.

The phone vibrated frantically at this time.

Che Ziming sent a candid photo just taken in the class group. Dou Sheng stood up next to Xie Lan, one hand in his pocket. Under the formal wear, his expression appeared cooler than usual. Xie Lan was restrained as usual. Dressed similarly, one sitting one standing, both looking down at debate materials.

• Che Li Zi: I’d call them twin brothers.
• Dong Shuijing: …Shipping it hard, thanks.
• Liu Yixuan: Twin brothers? That’s your association?
• Herring: Damn annoying, which lecture hall exactly?
• Che Li Zi: Just the Grand Auditorium, hurry up, starting soon.
• Mao Lengxue: KY (read the room) sentence: You two get together for real.
• Dai You: I approve, wishing you mutual respect (ju an qi mei).
• Wang Gou: I approve, wishing you a harmonious union for a hundred years.
• Vincent: Interjecting, this photo has already spread to twenty-plus class groups in arts and sciences…
• Dong Shuijing: Mother of god scary! My Moments and Qzone are full of it now. There is a spy in this group!
• Che Li Zi: Who is it! Who stole my picture!

Xie Lan nudged Dou Sheng with his elbow, poking the phone over calmly.

Dou Sheng looked down. “Shot pretty well. Can you Photoshop these people out? I want it as computer wallpaper.”

Xie Lan was confused: “?”

In a daze, the competition began.

“Good morning teachers and students! Today is the end-of-semester final of Yinghua High School Debate Club. Thank you all for coming. Today’s topic is: Should one’s life ambition be to leave home or return home. Proposition: Leave Home; Opposition: Return Home. Now introducing the debate members of both sides. First, Proposition First Debater.”

Opponent First Debater stood up and bowed.

Going down the order, it was soon their turn.

“Opposition Second Debater, Xie Lan.”

As soon as the word “Lan” fell, enthusiastic applause erupted from below. Xie Lan stood up and bowed.

“Opposition Third Debater, Dou Sheng.”

Dou Sheng stood up, nodded casually, and sat down.

“Opposition Fourth Debater, Lin Bei.”

Applause was a bit quieter, but Lin Bei still smiled confidently and generously at the audience.

Debate officially started. First segment, Constructive Speech.

Starting with the Proposition. The opponent First Debater stood up. “My side’s view is that one’s life ambition should be to leave home. As the saying goes, a good man’s ambitions are in all four directions…”

Xie Lan was the Second Debater. Once both sides finished constructive speeches, he had to stand up immediately to refute the opponent’s argument. The team had blindly guessed the opponent’s points and sorted out response strategies one by one. He just needed to hear their expression clearly, then pick some from the preparations to fight back.

Xie Lan was tense, listening nervously like doing a listening comprehension test.

The opponent First Debater was called Lu Zhenqi, speaking incredibly fast. Xie Lan stayed tense until the end, roughly grasping four points. The first three were vision, material, and ambition, which Lin Bei had guessed correctly. But the fourth point was missed, sandwiched in a pile of parallel sentences, not heard clearly, only catching a few keywords. Fortunately, he digested and understood quickly.

Opponent First Debater finished. Opposition First Debater stood up for constructive speech.

Xie Lan took advantage of his teammate’s speech to quickly go over his draft in his mind.

Three minutes passed quickly. Host said, “Next, enter the Rebuttal phase. Please have Opposition Second Debater refute the opponent’s view, time limit two minutes.”

Over a hundred pairs of eyes below looked at Xie Lan. Dou Sheng’s finger tapped lightly on the side of his leg, signaling him to relax.

Before opening, Dou Sheng had instructed him: speak slowly, no rush. As long as he expressed the points, it was fine; Dou Sheng would cover everything.

Xie Lan brewed for a moment, slowed down his speech speed, and said composedly, “The opponent’s four points do not hold water in my side’s view. Vision, material, ambition—these three are not directly related to leaving home. This is a basic cognitive error. When stating the topic of returning home or leaving home, perhaps the opponent debater mistakenly interpreted leaving home as the vast world, and returning home as… content with a corner (an yu yi yu).”

In his peripheral vision, Dou Sheng kept tapping the table lightly and steadily with his index finger, as if steadying his heart. Even when he stuttered slightly reciting the awkward idiom, the rhythm of the finger didn’t change.

Xie Lan took a deep breath to relax and continued, “My side believes returning home is for accompanying family, cherishing the familiar environment, which does not conflict with the above three points. As for finding family members (xun zhao jia ren), my side believes not all families face this task. My side’s rebuttal is complete.”

He finished in one breath and sat down, only then suddenly feeling a strange silence in the lecture hall.

Dou Sheng’s index finger remained frozen in the air in a lifted posture. Two seconds after he sat down, it tapped hesitantly on the table.

The four opponent debaters looked confused. The Second Debater froze for a long time before standing up to refute their argument according to the process.

Whispers started off-stage. Xie Lan felt a big “DANGER” written on his forehead, instinctively glancing at Dou Sheng beside him.

Dou Sheng frowned in deep thought. Seconds later, he hurriedly wrote a sentence and pushed it over.

• Finding family members? Was it “Finding Ren Mai” (connections) LZQ said? Did you misunderstand Ren Mai?

Xie Lan’s brain buzzed.

Ren Mai (Connections/Network). He had seen this word once in reading, memorized the meaning, but never used it. If it appeared on paper, he should recognize it, but in listening, he didn’t react at all.

His first association at the time was “Ren Mai” (Person Stepping), maybe using some subject-predicate inversion to modify the part of speech? Or he heard the order reversed. Anyway, he felt the opponent obviously wanted to express “people who step out,” “people who leave home.”

Xie Lan closed himself off on the spot, pushing the note back to Dou Sheng.

Dou Sheng sighed lightly and wrote again: It’s fine, get amnesia.

Get amnesia?

Just destroy me.

Opponent Second Debater finished rebuttal. Entering the Cross-Examination phase. Opponent Third Debater stood up to question, first asking the First Debater. The teammate here responded freely. Immediately, it was Xie Lan’s turn.

Xie Lan watched the opponent Third Debater stand up, suicidal impulses brewing.

He stared nervously at that opening and closing mouth, terrified of hearing a question about “Ren Mai” or “Ren Mai (stepping).”

Fortunately, the club member saved face for the president, selectively forgetting the speech that shocked the whole audience just now, and only threw a gentle question.

Xie Lan breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and answered, “My side insists that returning home allows for better emotional communication. Although technology is advanced, face-to-face conversation and companionship cannot be compared to the internet. In a state of being together, a large amount of communication occurs naturally between people, whereas after being far apart, one can only rely on cultivating the habit of regular contact.”

All prepared in advance. Originally wanted to expand, but hurt by that incident just now, he just recited the full text and sat down honestly.

Three questions and three answers, passing without mishap. Immediately, it was Dou Sheng’s turn to stand up and question the opponent’s three debaters in order. Questions were sharp, attitude professional. Coupled with his cold tone, it actually caused several stirs in the audience.

Third Debaters of both sides summarized the cross-examination. Then the host announced Free Debate.

Opponent Second Debater was a boy who loved joking. He used to tease Xie Lan often in the Debate Club. As soon as he stood up, Xie Lan had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, his eyes came straight at Xie Lan—

“Question for Opposition Second Debater. Your side keeps claiming leaving home has no relation to material, vision, and ambition, but I think you misinterpreted my side’s meaning. Based on a developmental perspective, whether your home is a rural village or an international metropolis, it is only a limited environment. The further world has a broader sky. In ancient times, there was Mencius’ mother moving three times (Meng Mu San Qian). Would a mother harm her own child? Of course not. Mothers hope for their children’s good development more than anyone else. So my side insists that considering problems with a developmental eye, children should be encouraged to leave home. How do you view this?”

A long string of gibberish. Xie Lan remembered two and a half sentences.

And it was the last two and a half sentences.

Meng Mu San Qian (Three Thousand)?

Before standing up, he whispered quickly, “Who is Meng Mu?”

Dou Sheng replied quickly, “Mencius’ mom.”

“Three thousand moms??”

“…Not important, avoid it.”

Xie Lan had already stood up.

Everyone expected. Some people tried hard to hold it in, but the corners of their mouths were already showing signs of turning up.

Avoiding “Meng Mu Three Thousand” was fine, but the previous points were unclear. Xie Lan only vaguely felt the opponent kept emphasizing the point that the outside world is bigger.

He took a deep breath. “The outside world is indeed bigger. Regardless of whether the hometown is big or small, my side never denied this point. Borrowing the opponent’s evidence, since you are willing to admit technology helps communicate emotions, why ignore technology helping to open horizons? In my side’s view, making up for emotions is more difficult than making up for knowledge. Please explain, opponent debater.”

As if oxygen was instantly pumped into a vacuum room, applause that shouldn’t exist in a debate competition even rang out below.

Dou Sheng exhaled. Xie Lan sat down, and he immediately stamped Xie Lan’s thigh with his thumb.

Opponent Third Debater stood up to answer Xie Lan’s question and kicked the ball back. This time Dou Sheng took it directly, outputting fast speech, and pushed back with an even more piercing attack.

During rehearsals, he had been lazy. This time he seemed like a different person, fighting the opponent’s Second and Third Debaters alone. Sharp words, quoting classics as soon as he opened his mouth, coupled with a tone sometimes sincere sometimes contemptuous, he refuted the opponent into disarray. The humorous sarcasm interspersed even caused laughter from the audience.

Since joining the Debate Club for so long, Dou Sheng hadn’t shown his skills. Or rather, having been classmates for two years, he had never seriously verbally sparred with anyone, not even when flaming haters in the livestream room.

He stood up continuously, sometimes casually with one hand in his pocket, sometimes tapping the table lightly with his wrist to emphasize his tone. One person created the momentum of a hail of bullets. The opponent’s Second and Third Debaters were routed, completely controlled by his rhythm, completely forgetting there was still a person named Xie Lan.

Lin Bei turned her head, looking up at Dou Sheng blankly, dumbfounded.

Maybe it was the boyfriend filter. Xie Lan’s autistic feeling from the earlier blunder slowly dissipated in this verbal battle.

Every time Dou Sheng stood up, level with Xie Lan’s peripheral vision was the hip shape shown under the trousers, and the wrist bone exposed from the meticulous cuff when a certain someone tapped the table.

Very distracting.

Too shameful. He actually lay flat and zoned out during a debate competition, completely throwing the initial absurdity to the back of his mind.

Until a question from the Proposition Second Debater suddenly intruded into Xie Lan’s ears.

“Opponent debater keeps emphasizing the sense of belonging to home, but how many people in the world, after seeing various sceneries, still choose the distance and form new families? Is there no sense of belonging there? My side believes the new sense of belonging should be stronger, enough to cover old people and old things. Human development is dynamic; the concept of home should also follow…”

The timer rang. Host interrupted: “Proposition time is up. Please answer, Opposition. Note, Opposition has only twenty seconds left.”

Xie Lan listened to these questions, stunned for a moment.

His index finger on the table moved slightly. Dou Sheng was about to stand up, saw his finger movement, leaned sideways, and whispered, “You do it?”

Xie Lan hummed and stood up.

“Is a newly established belonging necessarily stronger? This illusion of being stronger might come from time accumulation, or perhaps from the most proximate stimulus in time. My side has been emphasizing ‘initial.’ The initially contacted environment and people formed a belonging. This belonging might be mistaken as gradually fading, but it exists forever. A British poet once used a line to express homesickness—Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea? If you, like him, have inadvertently thought of the past, then it proves that the sense of belonging has always existed.”

Surroundings suddenly quieted down a bit.

Xie Lan sat down. At an angle invisible to everyone, Dou Sheng gently squeezed his hand.

The closing statements of the Fourth Debaters on both sides were brilliant. Debate ended. While the judge teachers discussed the results, the debate members went out the back door to wait.

Xie Lan checked the time, wanting to wash his face to clear his head.

The restroom in the administration building was single-user configuration, in a quiet corner with lush potted plants at the entrance. Xie Lan just turned on the faucet when the door was knocked.

“Me.”

Sunlight shone into the restroom through the blinds. Xie Lan stood in front of the mirror. Dou Sheng was beside him, back against the door, hands in pockets, lazily hooking one foot next to the other.

A trace of clear, shallow smile held in his black eyes. “Boyfriend sparkled today.”

Xie Lan washed his hands under the tap. “Making a joke right at the opening. The members were kind, otherwise I’d be finished.”

“That’s nothing. When I came out just now, they were all sighing about how President’s British accent was explosively charming (Su).” Dou Sheng straightened up, walked to Xie Lan, and whispered, “I think so too.”

Xie Lan shook the water off his hands, about to turn off the tap, but Dou Sheng turned the tap even larger.

The sound of water flow in the restroom was loud. Two boys in shirts and trousers kissed each other. Xie Lan’s thighs pressed against the cool granite of the sink, leaning back towards the mirror. The flush on his cheeks spread into the meticulously buttoned collar. He grabbed the fabric on Dou Sheng’s chest; a large water stain instantly spread on the white shirt.

Clicking sounds were masked in the water sound.

A few minutes later, Dou Sheng came out of the restroom, chest of his clothes half wet, expression as calm as ever.

No one was in the corridor outside the lecture hall. Che Ziming drilled out from the back door, clicking his tongue. “Where did you go? Your team won! Come take photos! Also group photo for outstanding clubs. Where’s Xie Lan? Hey, what happened to your clothes?”

“Splashed water washing face downstairs.” Dou Sheng yawned, walking straight in. “Xie Lan went to the restroom too, right? Don’t know.”

Che Ziming rolled his eyes. “Are you blind? There’s a restroom right there, why go downstairs?”

Just as he finished speaking, the restroom door nearby opened. Xie Lan came out too, equally expressionless.

“I was using this one.”