Zou Yang’s deep voice carried a hint of raspiness from not being fully awake, like a brush with tiny, soft hooks lightly sweeping past Fan Jun’s ear and into the deeper parts of his body.

Certain desires that had fallen asleep along with his body now began to awaken with it.

But Fan Jun wasn’t entirely certain, so he caught Zou Yang’s hand: “Zou Yang?”

“Hmm?” Zou Yang buried his face in the crook of Fan Jun’s neck, nuzzling against it.

“You…” Fan Jun wanted to grab his phone to see what time it was.

“I had a nightmare,” Zou Yang’s voice was still very low, “I need to calm my nerves.”

For a moment, Fan Jun didn’t know what to say, his head buzzing.

“Let go,” Zou Yang said, “You have an injury. If I use force, I might split your wound open again.”

Fan Jun could feel Zou Yang’s pulse racing right beneath the fingertips he had pressed against the inside of Zou Yang’s wrist… Even after he let go, his fingertips seemed to retain the sensation of a faint, lingering tremor.

Zou Yang’s hand hooked into the waistband of his pants, pulling downward with a touch of urgency and a bit of roughness, his breathing lifting and falling against Fan Jun’s ear in sync with his movements.

“…Let me do it,” Fan Jun said.

Had he known, he wouldn’t have worn them.

When Zou Yang pressed his entire body against him, his skin felt like it was on fire, scorching the surrounding air into a scalding current.

Fan Jun threw the thin quilt covering his body to the side.

The injury on the left side of his chest really prevented him from applying any force, so he could only use his right hand to grip Zou Yang’s waist. He gripped quite hard, feeling as though his fingertips were sinking into the taut lines of muscle.

Zou Yang let out a low groan. The breath that had been hovering around Fan Jun’s ear suddenly pulled away as Zou Yang straddled his waist and sat up straight.

While looking down at him, Zou Yang grabbed his wrist.

Moving forward from the waistline, then guiding it further down…

The faint light filtering in from the living room reflected off Zou Yang, casting a soft halo that outlined the contours of his body—from his lower abdomen, to his waist, to his chest.

Gaze tracing upward, desire driving downward…

Zou Yang tilted his head back slightly and closed his eyes.

The room was exceptionally quiet. The intertwined breathing, the friction of skin on skin—every minute sound was magnified along with their heartbeats, sounding deafening in the dark.

He leaned his body back slightly and reached his hand behind him, his fingertips lightly tapping and landing on Fan Jun’s lower abdomen.

He could feel the skin tightening up bit by bit as his fingertips glided smoothly…

Don’t stop.

For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether this was the longing in his own heart or Fan Jun’s murmur.

…

With his head still tilted back, Zou Yang took a sharp breath and exhaled slowly, the blood vessels on the side of his neck pulsing clearly with each beat.

Before he could fully recover his wits, Fan Jun gripped his waist, flipped him over, and pinned him down onto the bed.

Immediately following that, Fan Jun rolled over, pressing tightly against him, and bit down hard on Zou Yang’s shoulder.

Zou Yang let out a soft hiss of pain.

This sound was quickly blocked between his lips by Fan Jun, the rushing wind of their breathing sweeping away all other noises…

Zou Yang opened his eyes, looking at the thin strip of light from the nightlight on the ceiling.

“Fan Jun, screw you,” he said.

“Hmm?” Fan Jun slowly rolled over to lie beside him.

“Screw you for biting me,” Zou Yang said.

“Does it hurt?” Fan Jun reached out to touch his shoulder, asking softly.

“I don’t know,” Zou Yang said, “I don’t seem to have much feeling right now.”

“Did I bite you so hard you became paralyzed?” Fan Jun carefully felt his shoulder again, then carefully inspected his own fingertips, “No blood.”

Zou Yang burst out laughing, and after a while, he asked another question: “What time is it?”

“I don’t know,” Fan Jun groped around the edge of the pillow, finding his phone, “It feels like dawn is about to break.”

“Holy shit, that won’t do,” Zou Yang frowned, “I haven’t even slept yet!”

“It’s just past five,” Fan Jun glanced at the phone, sat up, pulled a tissue from the headboard, and wiped his hands, “Clean up a bit, you can still sleep for two hours.”

“Not enough. Sleeping only two hours a night will kill me.” Zou Yang closed his eyes.

“Does the sleep you got earlier not count?” Fan Jun pulled a few more tissues, pulling Zou Yang’s left hand over to wipe it.

“I didn’t sleep until two…” Zou Yang felt a bit of despair. However, he noticed that Fan Jun’s left hand holding him was trembling slightly. He turned his head to glance at it, “Is your hand alright?”

“My hand is fine,” Fan Jun said, “It’s just that the wound hurts a bit.”

“Oh crap,” Zou Yang instantly grew tense and snapped awake, sitting up abruptly to turn on the bedside lamp, “Let me see.”

Fan Jun turned his head away, avoiding the sudden glare of the light: “…See what?”

See what.

The wound on Fan Jun’s chest was wrapped in bandages, so nothing could be seen anyway. Instead, the completely messy bed and the two of them… facing each other stark naked was on full, clear display.

Zou Yang hurriedly switched the light off again.

After tidying up and returning to bed, Zou Yang lay back down on his pillow, feeling a surge of exhaustion far stronger than before.

“I am seriously sleepy, both tired and sleepy.” He closed his eyes, “I was already tired and sleepy right after finishing my homework, but now… now I’m extra, extra tired and extra, extra sleepy…”

“Hurry up and sleep. If you keep muttering, the sun will rise,” Fan Jun reached out to cover his mouth, “Sleep peacefully, I’ll wake you up in the morning.”

“Yeah,” he responded.

Fan Jun’s biological clock didn’t seem easily disrupted. When Zou Yang was awakened by him in the morning, Zou Yang felt as if Fan Jun hadn’t slept at all.

They had gone to sleep after five, yet when Zou Yang was woken up by him at seven, Fan Jun had already finished walking the dog.

“Aren’t you sleepy?” Zou Yang had practically washed up with his eyes half-closed, and then half-closed his eyes while leaning against the wall to return to the living room.

“Sleepy,” Fan Jun said, “I can continue sleeping when I go to the shop later.”

“Holy shit,” Zou Yang thought of that lounge chair by the window in the shop, “I feel a bit unbalanced now…”

“Open your eyes and you’ll feel balanced,” Fan Jun patted him, raising his voice, “You aren’t in the dorm right now. It takes over forty minutes to get to your school. Pack your things! Hurry up!”

“Are you driving me?” Zou Yang stuffed his things into his bag.

“No, you can run over there.” Fan Jun handed his coat over.

“I haven’t had breakfast yet.” Zou Yang put on his coat.

“I bought it for you, take it and eat on the way,” Fan Jun grabbed a bag from the table and stuffed it into his hand, “Seriously, even Hou’er doesn’t hate going to school as much as you are being annoying right now.”

“What about when you were in school?” Zou Yang smiled. Upon opening the bag, he caught the fragrant scent of a multi-layered scallion pancake, along with a bottle of milk.

“When I went to school, I just went silently, eating something on the way,” Fan Jun said, “But walking from Uncle Lu’s house to No. 21 High School took less than ten minutes.”

“I was actually pretty much the same,” Zou Yang threw on his backpack and hugged Fan Jun, “No one to pick me up, no one to drop me off, buying breakfast by myself. Sometimes Liu Wenrui’s mother would make some, and she would usually have Liu Wenrui bring a portion for me…”

Fan Jun held him, lightly patting his back.

“Back then… I especially envied him,” Zou Yang said in a low voice, “If only his mother were my mother… Don’t tell my mom though, she’d be heartbroken.”

“Yeah, I won’t say it.” Fan Jun said.

“Actually, I still envy him now,” Zou Yang smiled, “But my mom can just be my mom. At least my mom doesn’t beat me, whereas Liu Wenrui is constantly being thrashed by his mom.”

“Yeah,” Fan Jun held him and guided him toward the door, “Talk on the way, you’re going to be late… Why do you have so many words…”

“What? People have two ears to listen with, and they haven’t complained about me talking too much.” Zou Yang said.

“Fuck.” Fan Jun burst out laughing.

“Are you not angry?” Zou Yang released him, opened the door, and walked out.

“No,” Fan Jun said, “Do you think I have a bad temper?”

“Depends on the person.” Zou Yang said.

“Yeah.” Fan Jun nodded.

The act of eating inside a car was something absolutely forbidden in his family in the past; it was considered ill-mannered and against the rules.

Even now, whenever Zou Yang ate inside a car, he felt as though he carried a slight sense of a retaliatory mindset.

However, today’s breakfast felt very comfortable and reassuring.

Fan Jun was no longer wearing his brace, and during normal movements, one couldn’t really tell that he still carried an injury on his chest. It was hard to say whether it was because his physical constitution was genuinely excellent or because he was good at enduring pain.

“That wound of yours,” Zou Yang watched Fan Jun while eating, “If it keeps hurting, you must go to the hospital and let a doctor check it.”

“Yeah, it’s just a bit of a tugging pain. The surface wound isn’t very large, but there are multiple lacerations inside,” Fan Jun said, “It doesn’t hurt much now.”

Zou Yang nodded and continued eating his pancake. Fan Jun hadn’t directly brushed it off by saying it was fine, which was a huge improvement.

When he arrived at the school, Zou Yang headed straight to the classroom. From a distance, he could see Liu Wenrui standing at the classroom door.

“It’s not cold? Why are you propped up here like a pillar?” Zou Yang asked.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t make it.” Liu Wenrui said.

“If I couldn’t make it, you could have just gone up and presented it directly,” Zou Yang said, “Just say that because you didn’t write a single word, your partner worked themselves to death trying to write this thing.”

“Screw you, did you work yourself to death? You were tripped to death by your own tongue!” Liu Wenrui entered the classroom, “So it’s true that we couldn’t let you present. What if you got worked up during the presentation and gave the teacher a scolding?”

“Neurotic.” Zou Yang burst out laughing.

Although it was work rushed out overnight, it wasn’t sloppy.

Having been pushed by his father since childhood, Zou Yang still held a certain advantage in his studies; his level of concentration alone could completely crush the other guys in the dorm, including the most reliable one, Li Zhiyue.

Liu Wenrui might be lacking in other areas, but his eloquence was smooth, and he presented quite well. It was clear that although he hadn’t written it himself, he had read through it carefully last night.

Once he went up and presented, the results were surprisingly good, earning praise from the teacher.

“I have to say, Zou Yang is truly awesome, capable of dating and studying at the same time,” Liu Wenrui lamented, “Unlike me, who chose to stay single for the sake of my academics.”

“The moment I think about how the future teacher of my child might be this guy,” Li Zhiyue swept a glance over Liu Wenrui, “I feel like choosing to stay single too.”

“You’ve broken my heart!” Liu Wenrui said.

“Which day are we going to audit the classes?” Zhang Chuanlong suddenly asked.

“The day after tomorrow, Friday.” Li Zhiyue said.

“Do we know which school we are going to?” Liu Wenrui asked.

“Probably No. 7 High School. Our university has always partnered with No. 7 High School.” Li Zhiyue said.

“Holy shit,” Liu Wenrui turned his head to look at Zou Yang, “No. 7 High School.”

Zou Yang was also stunned for a moment. Zou Tianrui attended No. 7 High School; she should be in her first year of senior high this year.

“We shouldn’t run into each other, right?” Liu Wenrui said.

“Who?” Zhang Chuanlong asked.

“His trash father’s daughter.” Liu Wenrui said.

“Running into him would be her bad luck.” Zhang Chuanlong said fiercely, cracking his knuckles.

“What are you doing?” Li Zhiyue looked at him, “What kind of mentally unstable state is this? Do you even know what we’re talking about?”

“Don’t know, didn’t listen,” Zhang Chuanlong was still acting fierce, “Want some milk tea? My treat.”

“Oh?” Zou Yang was a bit surprised.

“Yes.” Li Zhiyue and Liu Wenrui spoke simultaneously.

“There’s a newly opened milk tea shop,” Zhang Chuanlong said, “I saw someone post about it on their Moments. The lemonade is only one yuan ninety cents. Come on, I’ll treat you guys.”

“…You really know how to choose.” Zou Yang said.

This newly opened milk tea shop wasn’t near the school gate; it was located among the food stalls behind the school.

It couldn’t be called close, but it couldn’t be considered far either. Usually, going over there for a meal just meant a few of them slowly strolling over.

But halfway through walking today, Zou Yang felt it was a bit far.

After pulling an all-nighter to write homework, one should rest properly! Clearly, moving houses during the day had been quite exhausting after messing around for half the day! Other people experience lust only after being well-fed and warm, yet he had slept until he was hungry in the middle of the night and still desired…

“That’s the shop.” Zhang Chuanlong pointed ahead happily.

Zou Yang swept a glance. It was a small storefront, and probably because of the discount, it was quite crowded, basically filled with students from their university.

In this neighborhood, if one wanted to know where the discounts and promotions were, they just needed to see where a crowd of their classmates had squeezed together.

“Four cups of lemon tea!” Zhang Chuanlong said.

“I don’t want lemon tea,” Zou Yang said, “If you aren’t treating me to something else, I’ll buy it myself.”

“Treating,” Zhang Chuanlong clicked his tongue, “What do you want to drink? Tell me.”

Zou Yang spotted something familiar on the illuminated menu: “Hot ginger milk tea.”

Liu Wenrui and Li Zhiyue immediately followed suit and changed their orders, wanting to drink ginger milk tea as well.

The ginger milk tea wasn’t discounted, but the price wasn’t expensive either, and there was a buy-two-get-one-free offer, which was decent. The headache was that Zhang Chuanlong also suddenly abandoned his lemon tea…

“Two sets of buy-two-get-one-free means there are two extra cups,” he frowned, “Who do we give the extra cups to…”

“…How did you calculate that bill?” Liu Wenrui asked, “You should drop out of school.”

“Stop calculating,” someone behind the counter spoke up, “I’ll give you an extra cup for free, buy-two-get-two.”

“Great!” Zhang Chuanlong responded first, and only then did he ask, “Why?”

A sister standing behind the counter smiled: “I recognize you guys.”

“Huh?” Liu Wenrui was stunned for a moment, staring at the sister for a while, then suddenly patted Zou Yang hard, “Isn’t this the sister from the milk tea shop downstairs from Fan Jun’s place?!”

“It really is…” Zou Yang also recognized this sister, feeling quite shocked, “You still remember us?”

“Five cups at one time, of course I remember,” the sister said with a smile while making their ginger milk tea, “That was the first time I had ever made so many cups at once.”

“Did you open a branch here?” Zou Yang asked.

“The shop over there is closed,” the sister said, “Now I am only located here.”

“Our business here is good, right?” Li Zhiyue asked, “Lots of students.”

“It’s alright,” the sister nodded with a smile, then looked at Zou Yang, “That coach who was with you guys, is their martial arts gym still around?”

“It also relocated.” Zou Yang felt a sudden surge of emotion after finishing his sentence.

He wasn’t familiar with the people at the shopping mall back then anyway, just the martial arts gym, the dance studio, the maternal and infant store next door, and this milk tea shop downstairs. Now, only Chairman Rong and the maternal and infant store were left over there…

The gatherings and separations along this journey of life played out like this in corners unnoticed by anyone. By the time you took notice, many people and matters had already left no trace.

If back then… it was a good thing.

He lowered his head and quickly sent a message to Fan Jun.

【Zou yang】Little Junjun

【Fan】?

【Fan】Who are you

【Zou yang】Your boyfriend

【Fan】What’s wrong, Big Sheepy

【Zou yang】Showing you a shop

Zou Yang took two steps back and snapped a photo. While taking it, the sister even smiled and flashed a V-sign.

After the photo was sent to Fan Jun, Fan Jun replied almost instantly.

【Fan】Isn’t this the milk tea shop from downstairs at the mall before, and that sister, where is this

【Zou yang】Right next to our school, isn’t it magical

【Fan】Yeah

【Zou yang】Next time you pick me up after class, I’ll bring you here to drink

【Fan】You haven’t brought me to eat mashed potatoes yet

【Zou yang】You haven’t treated Zhang Chuanlong to a big meal yet

【Fan】Almost forgot, you set a time

【That person】Come over to my company’s side tomorrow afternoon

【Zou yang】Then let’s make it tomorrow, boyf—

Before Zou Yang could finish typing this sentence, he suddenly discovered that the chat box he had clicked into did not belong to Fan Jun.

“That person” was the contact note he gave to his father.

He hurriedly deleted the content inside the chat box.

Although he completely didn’t mind flaunting Fan Jun in front of his father just to make his father miserable, sending this kind of intimate little conversation to his father would disgust even himself.

However, if he was going to find his father tomorrow afternoon to ask for money, the meal would probably have to be rescheduled for another day.

“How about Friday,” Li Zhiyue said, “Right after we finish our practicum, we can go together. Let Fan Jun head over to No. 7 High School’s side; there are quite a lot of delicious foods there too.”

“Alright.” Zou Yang nodded.

“How come your father isn’t letting you go to his house anymore?” Liu Wenrui caught the main point.

“Who knows,” Zou Yang said, “Must have been angered last time.”

“He doesn’t seem like the type of person who backs down after being angered just once,” Liu Wenrui pinched his chin, “Hmm… could it be that there’s some family scandal that shouldn’t be aired in public?”

“Hmm…” Zou Yang suddenly became cheerful and pinched his chin as well, “Shouldn’t we quickly go and investigate this?”

“How do we investigate?” Fan Jun sat in the passenger seat. “Am I supposed to go upstairs to their company right now?”

“Are you crazy? That’s not called investigating, that’s called raiding the place.” Zou Yang laughed, gripping the steering wheel while looking at the exit of the building over there. His father’s company was upstairs, and the place they agreed to meet was a teahouse across the street.

“Let’s go, let’s head inside first and find a spot convenient for observation.” Fan Jun stepped out of the car.

“Yeah,” Zou Yang followed and jumped down from the car, “Observe what exactly?”

“Don’t know,” Fan Jun said, “Aren’t you just wanting to have some fun anyway?”

Zou Yang cast a smiling glance at him: “You understand me so well.”

“I took the time to understand you over the past two days,” Fan Jun said, “Lest someone claims again that I don’t understand my boyfriend.”

Zou Yang clicked his tongue.

The two of them entered the teahouse and found a seat by the window.

This shop mainly sold tea leaves; customers like them who sat down to drink tea weren’t many, and there were only a handful of tables in total. Fortunately, there weren’t many people around at this hour.

“What kind of tea would the two of you like to drink?” A waiter came over and asked.

“Just serve it according to President Zou’s usual preference,” Zou Yang said, “We don’t mind.”

“Alright.” The waiter finished speaking and walked away.

Not long after, Zou Yang saw his father walking across the street.

“That woman,” Fan Jun said, “is with him.”

“Which one?” Zou Yang was stunned for a moment. Looking over, there was only a woman who appeared to be around thirty years old crossing the street about three meters away from his father.

“The one currently crossing the street.” Fan Jun said.

“They didn’t exactly come out together, did they?” Zou Yang found it a bit hard to understand.

“They are together, they exchanged looks,” Fan Jun said, “Trust me, I’ve spent the last dozen years just watching people.”

Zou Yang didn’t speak, casting a glance at him, not knowing whether he should admire him or feel a ache in his heart.

His father entered the teahouse, and the waiter brought him over.

Before he could even sit down, Zou Yang caught sight of a bruise on the corner of his father’s eye at first glance.

To make it convenient to gather information, Zou Yang couldn’t infuriate his father at this moment. He endured it until the waiter finished serving the tea and walked away before asking: “Did someone beat you up?”

His father swept a glance at him: “Your father was beaten by someone, and you look quite happy?”

“…Do I?” Zou Yang touched his own face.

His father kept a cold face and didn’t speak.