The mobile phone on the vanity suddenly went dark, and the sight of Xie Lan’s dazed face in the mirror vanished into the darkness.

Across the door, the sound of Dou Sheng playing games became a bit clearer.

“What kind of talisman are you taking? Don’t give blind advice if you don’t understand.”

“Save the good steel for the blade; keep it for now.”

Xie Lan stood silently for a long time. Just as he finished composing his turbulent emotions and prepared to step out, his phone lit up again.

A name he was very reluctant to see flashed on the screen: “London.”

The vibration noise against the ceramic sink was a bit loud. After a moment of hesitation, he picked it up.

Xie Jingming’s voice was as gentle as usual.

“Son, what are you doing?”

Xie Lan felt a bit dazed holding the phone. He had forgotten the last time he heard this man speak Chinese.

After a long pause, he replied, “I’m with a classmate. Is something the matter?”

His left index finger curled unconsciously as he turned and walked into the darkest corner of the bathroom.

Xie Jingming said, “I’m having lunch with colleagues. It suddenly occurred to me that you’ve been back in the country for two months now. It should be getting close to summer over there. What are the seasonal vegetables in China in April again…”

Xie Jingming opened the floodgates of small talk. Before long, Xie Lan was feeling dizzy from the circuitous conversation. He lowered the phone in confusion for a moment, then brought it back to his ear.

“You left right before your last birthday, and I didn’t have time to tell you about the gift I ordered. It finally arrived a couple of days ago. Guess what violin Papa chose for you? You’ve dreamed of—”

“Dad, stop beating around the bush.” Xie Lan lowered his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m a bit tired today. If you’re still trying to get me to come back, my answer remains the same.”

The chatter on the other end stopped abruptly. Xie Jingming went silent for a moment before switching to a serious tone. “But it’s time for you to come back. Your classmates have already started applying to schools. If you have grievances, we can talk. For example, regarding Elizabeth—Papa can take a step back and go back to being just friends with her for the time being. What do you think?”

For the time being. A step back.

It took immense willpower for Xie Lan to keep from scoffing aloud. “From the day you started dating, this matter became unchangeable. Furthermore, the main reason I returned to China has nothing to do with you. I came to fulfill my mother’s—”

Xie Jingming interrupted him irritably, “To attend the university she was admitted to back then. Top universities in the UK have exchange programs with schools over there. You can apply to go for a two-year experience then. Do you really intend to stay estranged from your father for the rest of your life?”

“I’m sorry,” Xie Lan’s tone was calm and detached. “I made it very clear before I went back: I won’t be returning to the UK for at least five years.”

Xie Jingming flew into a rage. “How can you be so unreasonable? I let you speak Chinese, I let you stay away from Auntie Elizabeth, I even agreed to let you do a domestic exchange—what else do you want? Xie Lan, why exactly are you so determined to stay in China?”

Xie Lan turned to look at the mirror, remaining silent.

Perhaps because the tug-of-war had lasted so long, he had become somewhat numb to Elizabeth’s existence at some point. Her business with Xie Jingming had nothing to do with him. Attending his mother’s university was indeed his original intention for staying, but at this moment, he was suddenly unsure—unsure if that was still the only reason.

When Xie Jingming mentioned returning to the UK just now, what flashed through his mind was actually the “Top 100” award he wanted to help Dou Sheng win.

Xie Jingming continued angrily, “I am warning you for the last time: there is a limit to throwing tantrums. If I really cut off your credit cards and stop sending money to Auntie Zhao, what will you do then?”

“I have my own ways to feed myself,” Xie Lan said quickly. “There’s really no need for you to pretend to be ‘just friends’ with Elizabeth for my sake; a step back will eventually be followed by a step forward. Dad, everyone should live the way they wish. I won’t interfere with you, so please don’t interfere with me.”

After a long silence on the line, Xie Jingming suddenly spoke with sudden clarity: “Have you met someone in China? You’re so dead-set on staying… are you in a relationship?”

He hit the nail right on the head.

Xie Lan’s scalp began to tingle again, but he quickly replied calmly, “No. How did you get onto that topic?”

He didn’t wait for another round of lecturing from Xie Jingming and added hurriedly, “My classmate is calling me. I can handle the money situation myself. Goodbye.”

He hung up and pulled open the bathroom door as if escaping.

Shadows flickered in the small bedroom, and eerie music played from the speakers. Dou Sheng was huddled in a beanbag chair, the very picture of tension.

“How do the twelve Heavenly Stems go again? Oh, wait, my homeroom teacher sent a voice message.”

As he spoke, he reached out to mute his mic and looked up at Xie Lan.

“Everything okay? Was it your dad?”

Xie Lan gave a hum of affirmation, sat down beside him, and picked up a controller. “Still threatening to cut off my allowance to make me go back. It was a bit more formal than before.”

Dou Sheng paused upon hearing this, then gave a casual smile. “It’s no big deal. From now on, your living expenses will be docked from my pocket money. Consider it a loan.”

Xie Lan glanced at him. “Well, thank you then.”

“Don’t be so quick to say thanks. My money isn’t that easy to borrow,” Dou Sheng said with a smile. “Principal plus interest—you’ll have to pay it back properly in the future.”

Xie Lan had things on his mind and didn’t speak. Dou Sheng looked at his profile, his tone dropping a bit. “By the way, sorry for that fall earlier. I was scared witless by the game and only thought about running. You don’t mind, do you?”

Xie Lan murmured, “It’s fine.”

The bullet comments were already scrolling past in a frenzy.

– You call this listening to a homeroom teacher’s voice message??

– Could you at least take out your phone and act a little?

– What are they saying? I’m so curious!

– I’m going to crawl through the internet cable to eavesdrop!

Dou Sheng unmuted his mic. “Everyone settle down, the female ghost is coming out soon. Xie Lan, keep up. I’ll protect you.”

– Show some face, please.

– Bah!

– Who’s protecting whom? Psh.

– Er Mao, hurry up and strike your teammate!

Xie Lan wasn’t in the mood to look at the comments. The flustered state he had finally managed to suppress had been completely undone by Xie Jingming’s words about “being in a relationship.”

He moved the joystick to make his character follow Dou Sheng’s, staring blankly at the game screen.

After a while, the character in front suddenly turned around, pulled a yellow piece of paper from a bag, and slap—pasted it onto the forehead of Xie Lan’s character.

Xie Lan froze. “What is this?”

– ???

– You’re giving a survival item to your sidekick?

– How are you going to fight the BOSS??

– WTF?

– Are you kidding me??

Dou Sheng gave a nonchalant smile and said to Xie Lan, “This is called an Exorcism Talisman. Paste this on your forehead and you’ll be immune to all toxins and evil will flee; it can disperse all ghosts.”

Xie Lan was stunned.

He mechanically controlled his character to keep following Dou Sheng, his heart pounding wildly.

What did that mean? Did Dou Sheng see that he had “ghosts” in his heart and wanted to exorcise the unclean things in his mind?

Just as Xie Lan was hesitating, he saw Dou Sheng cover his mic, eyes fixed on the screen, and say in a very low voice: “What’s there to be flustered about? Da Mao’s got your back.”

Xie Lan was startled.

Bullet comments:

– What WHISPERED secrets are they telling!!

– I’m dying of curiosity, dying of curiosity!

– Ahhh, can you let me focus on the game or not!

Dou Sheng chuckled and let go of the mic. “Alright, alright, focus on the game. Continuing.”

Through the rest of the puzzle-solving and level-clearing, Dou Sheng seemed to deliberately tone down his startle responses. Even when he was nearly scared to death, he just gritted his teeth and squeezed a throw pillow frantically, never lunging at Xie Lan to hug him again.

Xie Lan figured Dou Sheng had also felt the awkwardness of that moment earlier, so he was consciously keeping his distance.

At the end of the level, the female ghost BOSS finally appeared. The bullet comments were all urging Dou Sheng to take the talisman off Xie Lan and put it on himself before going in for a head-on confrontation.

Xie Lan glanced at the comments. “How do I take this talisman off? Do I press B?”

Dou Sheng said, “It’s fine, keep it on. What’s given to you is yours.”

As he spoke, he put down the controller, stretched his wrists, then picked it up again and said, “Viewers, high-energy Dou is coming.”

He controlled his character to walk directly to the barrier, sprinkled yellow powder, and opened the “Gate to the Underworld.” A blurry female ghost appeared in the distance. As the screen shook, she lunged at the camera in flashes. Dou Sheng dodged her behind a stone tablet on a bridge, nearly getting his face clawed several times, but escaped narrowly each time.

Xie Lan stopped playing and turned his head to watch Dou Sheng. The controller made rapid clack-clack-clack sounds in Dou Sheng’s hands. He was fully focused, muttering under his breath, eyes fixed on the female ghost on the screen.

“Circle, circle again, circle again! Die for me!”

The character pulled out a Soul-Severing Blade but missed the strike; the blade got stuck in the stone tablet. The female ghost rushed forward instantly. Dou Sheng controlled the character to dodge with a backflip. The ghost suddenly grew larger, and the character rolled under her to her rear. The controller’s joystick made a mechanical straining sound as Dou Sheng frantically pressed for a backflip to return to the stone tablet. He charged up, pulled out the Soul-Severing Blade, and performed a jumping downward slash, cleaving through the ghost’s face.

A massive “Level Cleared” notification flashed. The comments immediately filled with “666.” Dou Sheng tossed the controller aside and let out a long breath.

A vivid sense of triumph swirled in his eyes. He gave a “tsk” at the comments. “See? See? I told you, a survival item like a talisman is optional. You can clear the level without it.”

– You’re full of it.

– Who was it that just said ‘save the good steel for the blade’?

– Whined for ten minutes just to get that talisman.

– The blade = Xie Lan.

– Thank you, I ‘ship’ it today too.

Dou Sheng tutted. “Alright, stop the blind teasing. That’s all for today. We’re ending the stream. Oh right, this is Xie Lan’s stream.”

Xie Lan was staring blankly at the talisman on his character’s forehead when he was suddenly cued. He looked back in a daze.

Dou Sheng smiled. “Say goodnight to the viewers.”

“Oh.” Xie Lan gave a slightly awkward smile to the camera. “Goodnight, everyone.”

– Wuwuwu goodnight.

– Lan-zai is so charming.

– One smile from Lan-zai and the game atmosphere is gone.

– Goodnight! Goodnight! Goodnight!

Dou Sheng didn’t hesitate, shutting down the stream immediately. He then got up and quickly dismantled the console base, unplugging various cables.

Xie Lan hesitated for a moment, then stood up. “I’m going back to my room.”

Dou Sheng, currently getting his feet tangled in a pile of wires, said offhandedly, “Go to sleep early. There’s competition training tomorrow.”

“Mhm.”

It was past 11:00 PM by the time Xie Lan finished his shower. The hot water had cleared his head a bit. He sat on his bed, drying his hair with a towel while coaxing Wu Tong. After a while, he suddenly heard the door opening next door, followed by the sound of a hairdryer.

Dou Sheng had likely just finished his shower as well. Both bedroom doors were open, so the sound of the hairdryer drifted out quite blatantly.

Xie Lan sat on the bed, dabbing at his hair occasionally. Listening to the hairdryer, his mind began to wander.

As if possessed, he kicked off his slippers and walked silently in his cotton socks across the floor to Dou Sheng’s slightly ajar door.

First, he looked up at the clock on the hallway wall and the two hanging paintings.

Then, as if casually, he stole a glance inside.

This angle happened to face the crack of the open bathroom door. Dou Sheng was standing in front of the mirror drying his hair. He was wearing light gray wide-striped pajama pants and a tank top that clung to his body. The uneven hem of the shirt would occasionally hitch up as he stretched his arms, revealing a glimpse of his smooth, firm side-waist.

Crystal-like water droplets splashed from his fluffy hair, vanishing into the air. Dou Sheng ran his fingers through his hair, and the faint outlines of the young man’s muscles on his arms were visible.

That familiar feeling of breathlessness returned, and Xie Lan felt a chill in his heart.

How did the Song of Everlasting Regret go again?

Xie Lan’s lust for beauty made him pine for a kingdom-toppler,

Boarding for many days, yet his wish went unfulfilled.

A youth of the Dou family has just grown to manhood,

One cannot survive without stealing a few glances.

Isn’t this the end of me?

Xie Lan stood expressionless at the door, reciting poetry in his head. Suddenly, there was a click. Dou Sheng’s raised arm had caught the plug, and the hairdryer went quiet instantly.

The moment Dou Sheng turned to plug it back in, Xie Lan spun around and left, his heart thumping wildly.

“Xie Lan?”

“…”

Dou Sheng put down the hairdryer, ran his fingers through his hair, and walked out. “What are you doing here? Need something?”

Xie Lan turned around with difficulty. After a moment of silence, he said, “Ah, looking for the cat.”

“The cat?” Dou Sheng subconsciously glanced into Xie Lan’s room. “Isn’t she right on your bed?”

“…”

Xie Lan turned back stiffly and met the gaze of Wu Tong, who was lying by his pillow.

“The cat is…” He swallowed hard. But I’m about to be gone.

His toes gripped the floor tightly inside his socks. Dou Sheng frowned and looked him over for a moment, then suddenly smiled with realization.

“Is there another bug? Too embarrassed to say? There have been more bugs lately since it’s been raining. I just stepped on some unknown thing in the bathroom.”

Xie Lan breathed a long sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly. “Mhm, a bug. It’s that ‘money-stringer’ (scutigera) again. A really long one.”

Dou Sheng walked toward Xie Lan’s room. “Holy crap, there’s another one? Wu Tong, what are you even for?”

The cat looked at Dou Sheng listlessly, squinted her eyes, and went back to sleep.

Dou Sheng casually moved the nightstand. “Where did you see it? How long was it?”

Xie Lan’s mind was a mess. He gestured randomly. “About this long. Right around the bed.”

Dou Sheng was shocked. “Ten centimeters?”

“…” Xie Lan awkwardly halved the distance between his fingers. “Five centimeters.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.” Dou Sheng let out a sigh of relief. “Probably under the bed. I’ll look.”

As he spoke, he braced one hand on the bed, twisted his waist, and slid right under the bed onto the floor.

“Not here,” a muffled voice came from under the bed. “Just some toys Wu Tong hid. Where did you see the bug?”

Xie Lan took a deep breath, trying his best to act out a sense of desperation. “Right here!”

“Coming!” Dou Sheng kicked off his slippers from under the bed, grabbed the bedframe, and slid back out. The shower he just took was wasted; his back and shoulders were covered in a layer of dust.

“Where?” He circled around with a slipper in hand.

Xie Lan pointed frantically outside the door: “It ran out!”

Dou Sheng immediately chased after it with the slipper. As soon as he left, Xie Lan silently closed the door behind him.

Click. Locked.

There was dead silence outside for a moment. Dou Sheng was stunned by this smooth operation.

“What the…?”

Xie Lan sighed and said in a low voice, “Sorry, I’m afraid it’ll come back in.”

“Oh, right.” Hearing him say he was afraid, Dou Sheng’s voice softened immediately. He raised a hand and rubbed the door twice.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll look around first. It might have gone downstairs.”

Xie Lan hummed. “Thanks.”

The lights were off, but Xie Lan couldn’t sleep. He lay in the darkness listening to Dou Sheng searching for the bug outside for half an hour. He took out his phone, opened his chat with Dou Sheng, typed a few words, and then deleted them.

After a long time, he silently opened his personal profile and stared at his nickname, “Renaissance.”

Dou Sheng stood outside his door and asked softly, “Asleep?”

Xie Lan wanted to tell him to go to sleep quickly, but the words got stuck in his throat.

He seemed to have lost the ability to speak normally with Dou Sheng.

When Dou Sheng didn’t receive an answer, he yawned and walked away in his slippers.

Xie Lan only let out a long breath once the last bit of movement next door disappeared.

He tossed and turned in bed for a long time before opening his profile again and typing a new nickname: “Sick.”

---

After a week of exam preparation, both of them slept exceptionally soundly that night. They were woken up the next morning by Xiao Ma kicking the door.

Xie Lan hurriedly washed his face and grabbed his bag. He was still groggy on the car, leaning back in his seat to continue sleeping.

Xiao Ma rolled down the front window. The fresh morning breeze after the rain hit his face. After several minutes, Xie Lan slowly woke up. He interlaced his fingers to stretch his wrists and tried to straighten his back in the seat.

He turned to his left. Dou Sheng was sleeping “folded” over; the top of his head was against his knees, his center of gravity so stable that even a sudden brake wouldn’t throw him forward.

Xie Lan sighed and sleepily opened Bilibili.

His private message list was exploding as usual. He yawned as he scrolled down, then his finger paused.

@K: Hello, Student Xie Lan. I am Wu Cheng, a PR representative for K-Brand Violins. I really admire your playing ability and arrangement style. We have an entry-level violin that is suitable for beginners. We would like to cooperate with you to release a promotional video. I wonder if you are interested? My contact information is…

Xie Lan read this passage several times, somewhat surprised.

Since he “debuted” by showing his face on stream, he had received many small promotional offers, but this was the first time it was a legitimate brand in a perfectly matching field. He clicked on the product link to look at the violin. K-Brand originated in France and was quite well-known in Europe. This entry-level violin was flawless for its purpose, priced at a bit over two thousand yuan, which was quite appropriate.

“What is it?” Dou Sheng woke up, leaning back in his chair and stretching. “You’re looking so intently.”

“A promotion offer.”

“Eh? Let me see.” The sleepiness faded from Dou Sheng’s eyes as he carefully read the invitation twice, then clicked the link and looked for a few minutes.

“It looks quite reliable. Do you want to take it?”

Xie Lan gave a hum of affirmation.

He was indeed a bit tempted. His savings wouldn’t last long, and since Xie Jingming was going to cut off his funds, he had to make plans as early as possible.

Dou Sheng smiled. “I think you can take it. You can just use their violin for your next music video. It’s not a difficult task. Just ask clearly if they accept us labeling it as an ad; the fans won’t mind.”

Xie Lan murmured, “I’ll add him first.”

“Add me to the group chat as well.” Dou Sheng yawned again. “I’ll review the contract. I won’t say anything else.”

Xie Lan nodded. He first added the person on WeChat. While waiting for the request to be accepted, he casually scrolled through his list and suddenly noticed something was wrong.

“You changed your nickname?” Xie Lan asked in surprise.

Dou Sheng rubbed his sleepy eyes. “Yeah.”

Dou Sheng’s nickname had changed from “RJJSD” to “Dr. Bean.”

Xie Lan felt a slight sense of strangeness. “Why did you change it to that?”

Dou Sheng gave a snort. “I was about to ask you the same thing. You’re allowed to be ‘Sick’ in the middle of the night, but I’m not allowed to switch careers to medicine?”

Xie Lan was speechless. After a long time, he put away his phone and turned to look out the window.

The two names didn’t actually have much parallelism, but if you read them together, they sounded very much like a “set.”

Just like “Da Mao” and “Er Mao.” He hadn’t felt much about the names before, but now he felt something was weird.

Xie Lan took a deep breath and went back into his shell.

---

Xie Lan stayed in his shell for the entire day of training. In the morning, Teacher Liang said someone from the Bureau of Education was coming to record the style of the provincial training camp, so more students would be called up to solve problems. As a result, Xie Lan was called upon mid-morning. Xie Lan went up and, without a word, solved all the problems on the blackboard that could be solved. He didn’t explain anything either, just came down in silence.

Teacher Liang’s expression was complicated, and the small classroom was pin-drop silent.

When Xie Lan passed Guo Ruize on his way down, Guo Ruize leaned over and asked, “Oh Great One, why the sudden burst of energy today?”

Xie Lan glanced at him. “Speak like a normal person.”

Guo Ruize: “You were assigned one problem, but you did all four.”

Xie Lan froze.

He forced himself not to look back at the blackboard and said indifferently, “Oh, I didn’t notice.”

“…”

Back at his seat, Xie Lan boredly flipped through the exercises distributed today.

For him, there wasn’t as much “meat” as last week. He glanced at Teacher Liang and opened a notebook.

In the notebook were competition problems that Old Ma had given him individually. Every problem had genuine difficulty and was worth pondering carefully.

But Xie Lan wasn’t in the mood to do these insane problems right now. He used the notebook as a cover, making it look like he was calculating, but in reality, his gaze kept slipping over the top edge of the notebook to steal glances at Dou Sheng.

Dou Sheng seemed to be listening very intently to the camp’s lecture. Every time Xie Lan looked over, he was invariably looking down taking notes.

The weather was great today, with blue skies and white clouds. Dou Sheng sat by the window, the breeze ruffling his hair. His profile as he focused was very handsome.

Xie Lan had a guilty conscience. He only solved one problem the whole day, yet he had no idea how many times he had secretly looked at Dou Sheng.

According to his own estimation, it would probably take a complex calculus formula to figure it out.

Finally, they managed to last until nearly 8:00 PM. Teacher Liang finished handing out personalized assignments and stepped out for a bit.

Everyone began to chat relaxedly at their seats. Xie Lan finally got into the zone and started rapidly calculating the spatial vectors Old Ma had set. Just as he was writing feverishly, Teacher Liang came back and patted the lectern.

“That’s all for today. I just went out to get the USB drive from the Bureau of Education teachers. Some classroom footage recorded today will be displayed at the Bureau of Education for about a week. Not to mention the videos, the reporter took two photos of everyone listening to the lecture from the front door—one in the morning and one at dusk. Choose which one you want to use.”

As Teacher Liang spoke, he plugged the USB drive into the computer and lowered the projector.

Xie Lan’s back stiffened, and he jerked his head up.

Throughout the entire day, any candid shot of him would very likely catch him looking at Dou Sheng.

It wasn’t hard to imagine Dou Sheng’s bewildered expression upon seeing the photo. He might really draw a talisman and paste it on Xie Lan’s forehead to exorcise him.

The words “HELP ME” drifted through Xie Lan’s numb brain.

His gaze was unfocused as he watched the folder pop up on the projector. Teacher Liang clicked on the JPG files with a crisp sound, and two photos appeared one after the other.

The world seemed to return to silence at that moment.

Xie Lan looked at a corner of the photo with a face of ash—after a long time, he let out a long, silent sigh of relief and slumped back into his chair.

By some miracle, in the two candid shots from the morning and evening, he wasn’t caught looking at Dou Sheng. Instead, both photos happened to catch Dou Sheng looking at him inadvertently. Safety level: maximum.

Xie Lan felt like he had been resurrected, but he was physically and mentally exhausted. He turned and met Dou Sheng’s gaze.

Dou Sheng’s tone was somewhat tentative. “Are the photos okay? I feel like I look a bit ugly.”

“They’re fine,” Xie Lan said hurriedly and steadily. “I think they both look great.”

---

Author’s Note:

After dinner, Dou Dan (the egg) passed through the living room, its back looking full of the vicissitudes of life.

The person typing called out to it: “What’s wrong now?”

Dou Dan said helplessly: “I secretly observe Lan Dan (the lazy egg) every day, but it seems to have found out. It kept staring at me today!”

Dou Dan let out a long sigh: “The ‘egg’ is panicking.”

Would you like me to translate another chapter or perhaps summarize the dynamics between Xie Lan and Dou Sheng for you?