Fan Jun’s gaze followed his to Zou Yang’s wrist.

Actually, only a small section of the wrist was showing beneath the cuff of his jacket. Under normal circumstances, no one would have noticed it if Shan-jie hadn’t happened to be reaching for food too.

“It’s nothing,” Zou Yang said quickly, grabbing a piece of meat and dropping it into his bowl. “It’s just…”

Just what? Apparently, Zou Yang hadn’t figured that part out yet, because after saying “just,” he even glanced over at Fan Jun.

“…I grabbed him a bit,” Fan Jun could only make something up on the spot. “During training today.”

“You used that much force?” Uncle Lü froze.

“Did he?” Hou’er, witness at the scene, lowered his head and sank into thought. A few seconds later, he looked up. “You didn’t even grab—”

“It’s just…” Fan Jun looked at Hou’er. “After I hooked his leg and threw him backward…”

“He even got thrown by you… oh.” Hou’er was a very quick-witted little monkey. He instantly caught on. “Right! It was then. When he was falling, you yanked him, and even swung him half a turn…”

“…I did not,” Fan Jun said.

“Anyway, it was an accident,” Hou’er declared, delivering the final verdict.

“It’s fine,” Zou Yang finally said. “I can’t really feel much. It just looks scary.”

“I’ll get you some medicinal liniment later for it,” Shan-jie said.

“Okay.” Zou Yang nodded.

“Be more careful in the future,” Uncle Lü said. “Zou Yang may have some basics, but he’s still different from the old students…”

“Mm.” Fan Jun nodded.

Though Zou Yang was still better than quite a few of those old students.

Lü Ze didn’t say a word. His expression wasn’t great, and there was still a trace of confusion in it.

But Fan Jun knew he wasn’t going to ask.

He could only forcibly accept the idea that Zou Yang’s skin bruised at the slightest touch.

Maybe because he’d trained pretty thoroughly today, Zou Yang seemed hungry. The scallion pancakes Uncle Lü made somehow smelled even better than the ones his mom made, and the stewed dishes were fragrant too. On top of that, the kids were chattering while they ate, making the place so lively no one could get a word in edgewise, so he didn’t even need to force conversation. He just kept his head down and ate.

It felt like his stomach had been smoothed out from being stuffed so full.

After the meal, the kids, led by Hou’er, started a group dishwashing operation. It looked highly dangerous. Zou Yang suspected the reason there weren’t two matching bowls in the martial arts school’s kitchen was because of this exact step.

Leaning back in his chair, he took out his phone and was about to ask the guys in the dorm what they were doing that afternoon.

The group chat was lively. The three of them were discussing how to spend the May Day holiday. Back in freshman year, they used to cry to the heavens and earth and think of every possible way to go home even for a weekend; now, every time there was a holiday, all they wanted to do was figure out how to have fun.

He was in the middle of typing when Liu Wenrui called.

“Yeah?” Zou Yang answered.

“Did you check the group chat?” Liu Wenrui asked.

“I’m looking at it now,” Zou Yang said. “What’s up?”

“Our plan. Any objections?” Liu Wenrui asked.

“No objections.” Zou Yang had no idea what plan he was talking about; he hadn’t had time to read it properly at all.

“You definitely didn’t read it.” In some respects, Liu Wenrui understood him very well. “Then it’s settled. On the first, mahjong; on the second, amusement park; on the third, hiking…”

“Wait, what?” Zou Yang was shocked. “What are we doing on the first?”

“Mahjong,” Liu Wenrui said. “Stagger the travel rush, you know? Those two just learned, and they’re addicted. The two of us can cure them of it in one go.”

“…What mountain are we hiking on the third?” Zou Yang struggled to keep asking.

“How many mountains are there total? Are you even a local?” Liu Wenrui said. “Quit interrupting, let me finish! On the third, hiking. On the fourth, going to take artistic photos…”

“What?” Zou Yang’s voice jumped.

“And on the fifth, museum.” Liu Wenrui also raised his voice and insisted on finishing.

“Why don’t you all go to the hospital on the fifth and get your brains checked instead?” Zou Yang said.

Although Zou Yang absolutely could not tolerate this holiday schedule, these people had gotten travel money from home by saying they were going on a trip, only to plan to loaf around near the city the whole time.

And do it in such a bizarrely tasteful way.

But if he didn’t go, he genuinely had no idea what else he could do over those few days.

After hanging up, he leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

Fan Jun turned his head. “What?”

“Nothing.” Zou Yang really had no way to explain this May Day itinerary to someone else, so he casually asked, “Does the martial arts school close for May Day?”

“No, we rotate shifts,” Fan Jun said. “You want to have class?”

“…No,” Zou Yang said.

“Oh, going out?” Fan Jun asked.

“Yeah.” Zou Yang nodded and said no more.

For some reason, it was just a perfectly normal refusal of his coach’s invitation to train, yet suddenly it left a slight bad taste in his mouth.

Over the years, during all kinds of holidays big and small, Zou Yang had actually mostly spent them with classmates anyway.

Compared with going out and squeezing through crowds, his mom preferred resting at home. Before high school, she would at least take him out to buy something or eat a meal, while his dad…

Thinking about it now, every time his father had still been busy with work during holidays, he had probably been accompanying his daughter instead.

“Let me transfer you some money,” his mom said, taking out her phone. “Even if you’re just hanging around in the city, you’ll still have to eat and drink.”

“I…” Zou Yang had originally wanted to say he had money, but after hesitating, he still nodded. “Give me five hundred.”

“Is that enough?” his mom asked.

“It’s enough. We’re not spending money today,” Zou Yang said. “We’re playing mahjong at Liu Wenrui’s house today. I might even make some.”

His mom froze for a moment before she understood, then laughed. “How did you all even come up with that?”

Who knew how they came up with it. But it didn’t really matter. Zou Yang didn’t have any plans anyway. There was nothing he especially wanted to do, nowhere he especially wanted to go, and no one he especially wanted to see.

That whole day of mahjong, thanks to the seamless cooperation between Zou Yang and Liu Wenrui, the two rising stars of the mahjong world lost the entire day away before they had even properly risen.

By comparison, the amusement park trip on the second day seemed much more fun.

And cheaper.

As usual, Liu Wenrui drove his family’s car. His driving had not improved. He drove hesitantly, blending in perfectly among a bunch of out-of-town license plates whose drivers clearly didn’t know the roads either. At a glance, he looked exactly like someone from out of town who had just rented a car.

“Let’s bring Fan Jun along,” Liu Wenrui suddenly said halfway through the drive, completely out of nowhere.

“What do you mean, bring him along?” Zou Yang was stunned.

“Isn’t the turn ahead toward Nanzhouping? Bring him along,” Liu Wenrui said. “We’re going to the amusement park, right? That punching machine, the one where you scored 800 before—have him go hit it.”

This suggestion of Liu Wenrui’s, which received the strong approval of the two people in the back seat, was completely baffling. Although Zou Yang also, bafflingly, kind of wanted to agree…

“…How are you not embarrassed to say something this boring out loud?” Zou Yang said.

“That machine definitely has problems,” Liu Wenrui said. “We need to get an expert to test it.”

“Are you insane?” It took Zou Yang a while to even remember the machine. Back then, the three of them had spent ages on it without any of them ever scoring above 650, so they had become convinced the machine was rigged.

They had held that grudge for a whole year.

Completely ignoring the fact that Zou Yang himself had managed to score 800.

And now they had finally run into Fan Jun.

It was the exact same logic as when Liu Wenrui, back in middle school, dragged along a classmate who practiced shooting to go pop balloons at the park.

Their chance for revenge had arrived.

But setting aside that boring little segment, going out really was more fun the more people there were.

It was just that… Zou Yang lowered his head and looked at his phone, casually tapping open Fan Jun’s Moments.

Fan Jun hadn’t posted anything today. His usual frequency was only three to five posts a week anyway—ads for the martial arts school, photos of his dog, and now sometimes the cat too.

Zou Yang opened the chat box and moved his finger pointlessly over the screen, not knowing what to say.

He and Fan Jun didn’t seem close enough yet for a simple “come out and hang with us” kind of invitation. Of course, Zou Yang himself didn’t mind, but he wasn’t sure what Fan Jun would think.

“Just call him, don’t text,” Li Zhiyue said. “We’re almost at the intersection!”

“Hurry up.” Zhang Chuanlong kicked the back of the seat.

“This is my family’s car, not a taxi! Get your stupid foot off!” Liu Wenrui cursed, then added, “Zou Yang, call and ask.”

Pushed by the others, Zou Yang quickly opened his call log and dialed Fan Jun.

“Hello?” Fan Jun’s voice came through. It sounded like he was at the martial arts school.

“Are you at the school?” Zou Yang asked.

Liu Wenrui pointed at the navigation. Five hundred meters to the turn.

Before Fan Jun could answer, Zou Yang asked another question, “Do you have class today?”

“No,” Fan Jun said. “Why—”

“We’re almost at the mall.” Zou Yang gestured, and Liu Wenrui steered the car into the right-turn lane.

This time, Liu Wenrui parked directly in the lot at the mall’s main entrance. He was absolutely not taking the back road to the rear entrance anymore.

“Wait here for me,” Zou Yang said as he got out.

“Don’t you want us to go with you?” Li Zhiyue said. “Wouldn’t it look more polite if we made it grander?”

“If he doesn’t want to go, then with a whole crowd standing there, he won’t even be able to say no.” Zou Yang shut the car door and walked into the mall.

The moment he entered the martial arts school and saw the person leaning by the front desk, he almost didn’t recognize that it was Fan Jun.

Loose work pants, a black T-shirt, a jacket without a hood, and a black bucket hat.

He was so used to seeing Fan Jun in sportswear, sneakers, and a track jacket that suddenly seeing him in a non-athletic outfit gave him the strange feeling that he needed to get to know him all over again.

“Didn’t go out to have fun?” Fan Jun asked.

“On the way to have fun,” Zou Yang said, leaning against the front desk too. “We were passing by here, so I thought I’d ask you to come along.”

“With Liu Wenrui and the others?” Fan Jun asked again.

“Yeah.” Zou Yang nodded. “We’re all in the same dorm, so we’re basically always together.”

“Are you trying to…” Fan Jun hesitated for a second. “Invite Tan Ru along?”

“Holy crap.” Zou Yang nearly jumped. He hurriedly waved both hands. “No, no, no. Zhang Chuanlong doesn’t have any ulterior motives. He just purely admires girls of the war-goddess type.”

“Oh.” Fan Jun smiled a little and asked another question. “Where are you going?”

“Our plan today is to… go to the amusement park.” After saying it, Zou Yang looked at Fan Jun.

Fan Jun didn’t show much expression. He only frowned slightly. It was impossible to tell whether he was thinking or silently looking down on contemporary college students for discussing things forever, only to decide to spend May Day at the local amusement park.

What a disgrace to college students.

“Okay,” Fan Jun said. That slight frown apparently hadn’t been disdain after all.

“Then… shall we go now?” Zou Yang asked. “Do you still have anything to do?”

“No. If I have nothing to do, I just stay here anyway.” Fan Jun walked to the entrance of the training area and looked inside. Hou’er immediately bounced over. Fan Jun gave him a few instructions. “Call me if something comes up.”

“Okay,” Hou’er answered, then bounced back inside.

An amusement park.

He had never been to one.

He didn’t even know where it was.

If Zou Yang hadn’t already shown up in person and only then told him, even if he had been given two hours’ notice in advance, he probably would have refused.

It wasn’t the amusement park itself that made him uneasy.

Leaving Nanzhouping did.

But he actually wanted to go.

That kind of ordinary holiday outing with friends—nothing specially planned, just deciding on the spot and going.

There was almost no trace of that in his memories.

“You drive instead,” Liu Wenrui said the moment he saw Fan Jun, immediately giving up the driver’s seat.

“Did you invite me just for this?” Fan Jun sat in the driver’s seat.

“Listen to that,” Li Zhiyue laughed. “How could it be just for that? There have to be other reasons too.”

“Hey!” Liu Wenrui squeezed into the back seat. “Don’t say it like that. You make us sound so practical.”

“We are very practical,” Zhang Chuanlong said. “Yesterday, before you and Zou Yang treated us to dinner, you first won several hundred off us. Very practical.”

“I don’t want to touch mahjong again for the rest of my life,” Li Zhiyue said.

Fan Jun smiled and glanced at Zou Yang.

“They’re just too bad at it.” Zou Yang fastened his seat belt.

Because he was driving, Fan Jun took off his hat and followed the navigation out of the parking lot.

The navigation wasn’t set directly to the amusement park. There was another stop in the middle that required a slight detour.

“It’s a newly opened internet-famous pastry shop,” Zou Yang said. “They sell those kinds of pastries we used to eat as kids. Let’s buy some to try.”

“Mm.” Fan Jun nodded. He was a little tempted. Lü Ze absolutely must not find out.

Who knew how young “as kids” meant? Before Aunt Li had taken him home, he had never eaten any snacks or pastries at all. After that, he still didn’t eat much of them, and Uncle Lü’s family wasn’t exactly well-off either. Things had only started improving a bit in recent years…

If you were walking, Nanzhouping felt huge. But if you were driving, it took less than half an hour to leave behind that neighborhood that seemed twenty years behind the rest of the city.

Looking out the car window at the bustling streetscape and the chaotic stream of traffic, Fan Jun had the feeling of having crossed into another world.

It felt novel.

And unsettling.

The car stopped in a parking space across from the pastry shop, and as soon as they got out, they could see the line on the other side.

But since it had already been open for a while, there weren’t too many people.

“Twelve people. Should be pretty quick.” While queuing, Zou Yang quickly counted, then took out his phone, opened the promotional page, and held it in front of Fan Jun. “Take a look first and see what you want.”

Fan Jun leaned over to look. “Anything’s fine.”

“They don’t sell that,” Zou Yang said. “I’m treating. If it’s free, you might as well eat.”

“This one and this one.” Fan Jun pointed to a plum blossom-shaped little cake and a green cake of some kind he couldn’t identify. Among all these “childhood” pastries, there wasn’t a single one he recognized.

“Okay.” Zou Yang turned back. “What about you guys?”

“Get two of everything so we can try them all,” Liu Wenrui said.

“Get lost,” Zou Yang said.

It was their turn quickly enough, and Zou Yang ordered all the pastries everyone had chosen.

While they were waiting for the staff to pack the boxes, a young woman squeezed over beside them. “Do you still have that mung bean cake…”

“Queue up,” Zou Yang said.

“I’m not cutting the line.” The young woman smiled and looked at the two of them. “If you still have it, then I’ll go line up.”

“Oh.” Zou Yang answered.

“We still have some,” the shop assistant replied to her.

“Oh, okay.” The young woman stepped back a little after that, but she didn’t leave. Instead, she glanced over at the two of them again.

Zou Yang turned his head and looked too. At that moment, Fan Jun suddenly turned around. “I’ll wait for you by the car.”

Before Zou Yang could say anything, he had already strode away.

“Sorry,” the young woman said hesitantly, taking a step in Fan Jun’s direction and then stopping. “Classmate, can I ask—what’s the surname of that classmate just now?”

Zou Yang didn’t answer immediately. He took the bag from the shop assistant and looked at her, all kinds of questions bouncing around in his head.

“Is his surname Fan?” the young woman asked again.

Zou Yang’s heart gave a jump. Something felt off. He turned to look back, but Fan Jun was already nowhere in sight.

“No, his surname is Zou,” Zou Yang said.

“Zou…” The young woman looked again in the direction Fan Jun had gone. “I thought he was someone I knew.”

“That’s probably impossible,” Liu Wenrui said, draping an arm over Zou Yang’s shoulder. “Our classmate is a tourist from out of town.”

“I see.” The young woman smiled. “Then I must have mistaken him. It’s been too long, I can’t remember clearly. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” Zou Yang also forced a smile.

Only after they crossed the street did Li Zhiyue, who had been silent the whole time, finally speak. “Damn, good thing we had the tacit understanding not to answer first… what’s going on?”

“No idea.” Zou Yang looked toward the car, but didn’t see Fan Jun.

“I know even less,” Liu Wenrui said. “Since Zou Yang said Fan Jun’s surname is Zou, then he definitely didn’t want her recognizing him…”

Fan Jun wasn’t by the car. Zou Yang looked around, but still couldn’t spot him.

Just as he was about to call, his phone chimed.

It was a message from Fan Jun.

Only two words.

Supermarket.

“Get in the car and wait for a bit,” Zou Yang said, then walked toward the supermarket diagonally ahead of the parking spaces.

The supermarket wasn’t big. Zou Yang only made it halfway around before he saw Fan Jun standing in front of the last row of shelves at the back, the brim of his bucket hat pulled almost down to the tip of his nose.

“What happened?” Zou Yang walked up beside him. “Do you know her?”

“What did she ask you?” Fan Jun turned his head and asked.

“She asked if your surname was Fan.” As soon as Zou Yang said it, he saw Fan Jun’s lips press tightly together. He quickly added, “I told her your surname was Zou, and Liu Wenrui said you’re a tourist from out of town.”

“…Oh.” Fan Jun let out a light breath.

“Are you okay?” Zou Yang looked at him, then couldn’t help reaching out and lifting the brim of his hat a little. “Little Zou?”

Fan Jun smiled. “She was an older girl from my old neighborhood.”