The electronic calendar on the corridor wall showed a temperature of 34 degrees.

The camera view stopped at the waist. The wind gently billowed the white shirt, occasionally pressing it against the boy’s lean waistline.

The number of viewers in the livestream room was skyrocketing.

• Ah ah did I catch it hot (live)?
• Just started, don’t rush.
• Is this Dou-zi?
• Holy sht, white shirt, long time no see.*
• Let me see which handsome guy has returned.

Dou Sheng bent his finger, click, popped the pull tab of the soda can, and raised the phone back in front of his face.

He held the coke can close and gently clinked it against the lens. Mist stuck to the lens, blurring the image, before he wiped it away with a finger.

“Cheers,” Dou Sheng said indifferently.

In the lens, he tilted his head back and guzzled down a can of coke, then gazed at the dazzling sunlight outside the window in a daze for a while.

• First can of coke after coming out of seclusion!
• Happiness super doubled!
• Dou-zi’s side profile always makes my heart skip a beat.
• Why is the streamer a bit cold?
• Seen… seen through the red dust (world)?
• He’s always like this, only towards Second Cat does he… hehehe.

The ice-cold coke slid down his throat and esophagus; sweetness and coldness rushed up all at once.

Dou Sheng moved his gaze back from the window, looking at the can in his hand with amazement. “Delicious.”

• 233333
• Child got silly from poverty.
• When is your video coming out?
• Camping for the video!

“Edited, just missing an ending. Uploading tonight.” Dou Sheng stuffed his hand into his pocket. “Just finished the competition. Xie Lan’s exam hall is a bit slow. I’ll end the stream when he comes out.”

More and more bullet comments appeared, but Dou Sheng’s gaze went past the phone, fixed on the classroom door not far away, only occasionally glancing at the screen.

His answers were lazy too.

“What happened, you can refer to the song titles Xie Lan posted on Weibo recently.”

“Exploding Dou-zi Pod means the sleeve fell off. Mm, pants didn’t explode, disappointed right?”

“Midnight Cannibalism, ate for over twenty days.”

“None of your business how I eat, won’t be eating you anyway.”

“You even ask what kind of part-time job, no books to read or no work to do?”

“Sorry, haven’t had a full meal yet, temper is still irritable.”

The cool and handsome guy suddenly sighed and squatted on the ground.

“Why isn’t Xie Lan out yet?”

• He’s anxious he’s anxious he’s anxious.
• Wife-Gazing Dou-zi.
• Someone has ‘Xie’ and ‘Lan’ written on his left and right eyeballs.
• Big Cat waiting for Second Cat to eat together.
• It’s a miracle you didn’t starve to death.

Finally, the sound of dragging tables and chairs came from the classroom. Dou Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. “Was really crazy with hunger for two days. The porridge in the cafeteria made me hungrier the more I drank. Later I worked for Xie Lan and exchanged for a fried chicken leg.”

As he spoke, he glanced nonchalantly at the comments, which were indeed spamming in formation as expected.

Dou Sheng scoffed. “No comment on what kind of work. In these twenty-plus days, can’t count how much care I received from my idol. Anyway, you can’t imagine my happiness.”

He stood up. “Xie Lan is coming out. Meet again by fate.”

• ???
• You only streamed for five minutes, dear.
• Don’t run! Finish your sentence damn it.
• Since having a wife, streamer doesn’t want fans anymore.
• Since having a wife, streamer doesn’t want fans anymore.
• Since having…

The livestream went black.

…

Exam Hall 2 finally released the students, who immediately surged out.

Xie Lan sat at the desk spacing out, taking a long time to cap his pen.

Che Ziming, sitting behind him, threw his pen down. “I want to die after answering this paper. What kind of dog thing was that last number theory problem! And what kind of dog thing was the second-order recursion problem, third from last!”

Wang Gou came over from the front of the classroom, sighing wearily. “Don’t use my name to curse, thanks.”

Che Ziming pressed a hand on Xie Lan’s shoulder. “Lan-ah, how did you do?”

“It was okay, didn’t feel too hard.” Xie Lan brushed him off, puzzled. “Especially plane geometry, it was too simple. Maybe used to balance those two difficult problems?”

Che Ziming’s expression froze. “?”

Wang Gou was greatly frightened. “Be a human being!”

“Don’t mess with our mentality!”

Xie Lan sighed, feeling somewhat lonely.

Just as he walked out, Dou Sheng jogged over, smiling. “How was it?”

The exam hall next door also let out. Dai You and Yu Fei came out to meet them. Xie Lan followed the crowd out, whispering, “Okay. But the last question of plane geometry, why prove quadrilateral PDEG is equilateral? The question was set a bit weirdly.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. This question really didn’t count as competition level, barely even a normal high school math problem.

The group noisily discussed where to eat. Xie Lan only spoke to Dou Sheng. Dou Sheng fell silent after listening.

After a good while, he shook his head vigorously. “Don’t know. Handed it in anyway, let fate decide.”

“Mm.” Xie Lan sighed. “How did you do?”

“Last number theory problem is dicey. Didn’t solve the second part, unsure about the first part. Didn’t have time to check the earlier ones either. Whatever.”

The debate competition preliminary also just ended. Xie Lan looked down to reply to a few messages from club members.

They walked out of the experimental building. Che Ziming said impatiently, “As long as we enter the league it’s fine. Think about something happy! My dad’s friend gave me a few auto show tickets. Do you guys want to go?”

“What auto show? Can I go?” Wang Gou leaned in curiously. “Want to see luxury cars.”

Che Ziming lowered his voice. “No luxury cars, lots of car model sisters.”

Wang Gou’s eyes lit up. “Want to see even more!”

Yu Fei wasn’t free. The rest all wanted to go. Dou Sheng shook his head and refused. “No time, accompanying Xie Lan to prepare for the Youth on Strings interview.”

“This needs someone to accompany? There are really many beauties at the auto show.” Che Ziming didn’t give up. “Tall, bikini, wavy hair. Don’t you love women?”

The sunlight blinded Xie Lan so he couldn’t open his eyes. He glanced casually behind him. Not sure if it was a dazzle, but he felt Dai You and Wang Gou, who were just talking, suddenly went quiet.

“Don’t love.” Dou Sheng yawned. “Right now I only love Xie Lan and hot pot.”

“Honest words.” Wang Gou looked serious.

Dai You also nodded. “Indeed.”

Che Ziming rolled his eyes to the sky. “You just f*cking flirt with Xie Lan every day. Xie Lan will despise you sooner or later.”

Won’t.

Xie Lan glanced at Dou Sheng and said in his heart, Still like him.

The hot pot restaurant was outside Yinghua’s east gate, across a long pedestrian bridge. It was a Chongqing hot pot place.

Xie Lan didn’t eat spicy food, so they ordered a split pot of tomato and butter. The soup boiled; the air conditioner was right overhead, but it was still hot.

Four long benches were arranged around the large table. Everyone kept their distance to avoid generating unnecessary heat.

Dou Sheng prepared to film the video ending. He set up golden shooting positions for his two noble cameras—one on the table, one on the stool next to it, giving a low-angle close-up of his profile.

“Sit closer to me.” He patted the seat next to him. “You have to be in the frame too, at least half your body.”

Xie Lan was still studying the sauce mix Dai You recommended. Hearing this, he naturally leaned over.

Che Ziming fanned himself vigorously with a flyer fan. After fanning for a while, he frowned. “Aren’t you two hot sticking together?”

“Ah?” Xie Lan’s heart skipped a beat, his chopsticks stirring the sauce pausing.

Dou Sheng said matter-of-factly, “Recording a video.”

“Can’t you move the camera further away for recording? Don’t know how to be flexible.” Che Ziming casually moved the camera back. “This way Xie Lan can move to the side. Good heavens, I feel hot just looking at you two.”

Xie Lan didn’t move. Dou Sheng looked up, staring at Che Ziming.

Che Ziming turned pale. “Why is your grateful look a little bit vicious?”

“Actually, eating hot pot should be about seeking heat to the death.” Wang Gou swallowed saliva and suddenly whispered, “In my hometown, we even heat the kang (heated brick bed) to eat hot pot. Everyone wishes they could hug while eating, sweating until soaking wet, burning inside and out. Mm… de, detox.”

Che Ziming was shocked. “There’s such an operation?”

Wang Gou hummed. “Want to try?”

As he spoke, he moved a small half of his butt reservedly towards Che Ziming.

“Hiss—is this thing for real…” Che Ziming looked hesitant. A few seconds later, he shook his head vigorously and pasted his butt over.

“Holy sh*t, so damn hot! So satisfying!”

Xie Lan: “…”

Dou Sheng calmly reached for the camera back. “I also think eating hot pot is satisfying only when hot.”

The table was noisy throughout the meal. Not just them; the class group chat was also lively. The competition class students had no sense of participation in the upcoming final exams; finishing the preliminary was heaven.

Xie Lan ate the shrimp paste cooked in the tomato pot, casually scrolling through messages in the class group.

Old Ma suddenly sent him a private message: How did the exam go? The stem of that plane geometry question was a bit convoluted. I worried about you as soon as I saw it.

Xie Lan held his chopsticks and poked the screen with one finger to answer: A bit convoluted, but I understood it.

Thought for a moment, added: Found it very simple after understanding.

Old Ma quickly replied with a thumbs up: Awesome!

Xie Lan then replied in order to the ad PRs, platform operations, and Youth on Strings staff he hadn’t had time to reply to these days…

“Eat first.” Dou Sheng whispered, using a pair of chopsticks that hadn’t touched chili to serve him food.

Xie Lan hummed. “You eat too.”

“Do I need to be told?” Dou Sheng smiled, rolled up a lump of meat with his chopsticks, chewed for two seconds, and swallowed.

He rolled three or four chopstick-fulls of fatty beef in a row. The meat slices were coated with hot pot soup and sauce. He slurped them into his mouth noisily, swallowed, then chugged a mouthful of ice beer.

“Too delicious.” A trace of emotion appeared on Dou Sheng’s calm face. “Dou-zi Heaven.”

The camera indicator light blinked, capturing the boy’s wolfing down. His cheeks bulged as he chewed quickly, Adam’s apple moving up and down. The hand holding chopsticks worked together with his mouth, extremely vivid.

Dou Sheng broke his fast today. He ate four plates of meat alone, not counting other things. He drank three cans of beer and two special cocktails, eating until he zoned out at the camera.

Mixing drinks made one drunk easily. His cheeks were rarely flushed, his black eyes seeming deeper behind a layer of translucent water film.

Xie Lan was tired of eating. His left hand rested on the bench, right hand poking the phone to continue replying to messages.

A moment later, the right hand replying to messages suddenly paused, slowly deleted that line of text, hurriedly sent a “Talk later,” and put it down too.

Xie Lan’s hands left the table, as if dazed from being full—the kind of daze with a red face and ears.

Under the table, Dou Sheng held his left hand tightly, palm burning hot. He picked up Xie Lan’s fingers one by one, squeezed them, put them down, squeezed a round, then touched his leg, played piano restlessly for a while, and continued to explore further inward.

Xie Lan swayed left and right instantly, cleared his throat, put his right hand back on the table, and poked open his phone.

He entered the unlock password twice before getting it right; his hand shook and pressed the wrong key the first time.

A few seconds later, Dou Sheng tilted his head back and moved his neck lazily twice, fishing the phone out of his pants pocket.

• Wu Hou Pu Tao Bing: Lots of people.
• Ren Jian Tan Liang Dou: All drank too much, it’s fine. I just miss you a bit. Even sticking close doesn’t feel enough.
• Wu Hou Pu Tao Bing: Then don’t touch my leg either, annoying.
• Ren Jian Tan Liang Dou: Mm. If really annoyed, how about I really work for boyfriend?
• Ren Jian Tan Liang Dou: Use hand. Go to the inner toilet.

Dou Sheng must be a bit drunk.

Xie Lan wanted to scream for help just looking at those words. Heart messy, spirit agitated, he turned his head to signal Dou Sheng with his eyes, but his gaze accidentally crashed into the mirror wall behind him.

—The button on his own shirt collar had fallen off at some point. Probably Dou Sheng didn’t sew it firmly. The collar was half loose now, revealing the boy’s fair, upright collarbone. On the collarbone was a pale red mark.

It was the mark gnawed out by someone last night.

“Burp—!”

Che Ziming opened his mouth and let out a burp with profound internal energy, pulling his own collar at Xie Lan. “Are there mosquitoes? You got bitten here.”

Xie Lan: “!”

Dou Sheng finally brought his other hand onto the table, taking the camera to check the footage with a serious face, as if he hadn’t heard.

Xie Lan could only bite the bullet and ask back, “Really? I didn’t notice.”

Beside them, Dai You, who entered a drunken state after two cans of beer, struggled to say, “Indeed there are mosquitoes. I got bitten several times these two days too.”

“Me too!” Wang Gou nodded along dazedly, paused, his nose wings suddenly twitching. “Fck, so fcking scary!”

Che Ziming jumped in fright. “What’s so scary about mosquitoes?”

“How the fck would I know?!” Wang Gou sobbed softly. No tears came down, but his whole body shook with genuine emotion, hugging Dai You tightly beside him. “Your big city mosquitoes are too fcking scary. One bite one bump, even the mouth got bitten crooked!”

Che Ziming was stunned by him. After a long time, he reached out randomly to pat his shoulder. “Ah, it’s okay. Big cities are indeed like this, have everything. These are experiences sooner or later.”

He advised with good words, but Wang Gou shook even more violently. Dai You was hugged silently by him, drinking alone while drunk.

A hot pot meal ended in chaos. When dispersing, Xie Lan felt everyone was not quite right.

But he didn’t care to ponder. He and Dou Sheng were both a bit floaty from drinking, holding on until home and falling asleep directly.

When he opened his eyes from this sleep, the house was pitch black, outside was dark too. The time showed 11:30 PM.

Xie Lan felt his mouth was so thirsty it was cracking. Picking up a cup to go out, he poked open messages casually.

One WeChat message from Dou Sheng, two hours ago, saying he couldn’t hold on and was going to sleep, goodnight in advance.

Xie Lan looked at that line and felt his video should have finished uploading. Poking open Bilibili to refresh, sure enough, top left corner of the homepage.

The video was over 40 minutes long, short movie length.

The cover was a close-up of Dou Sheng’s head and shoulders, spliced axially symmetrically. The left side wore that old T-shirt with holes, hair drooping somewhat decayingly, mouth corner flat, eyes calm revealing a trace of indifference. The right half was the familiar white shirt, eyes cool but with light in them, corners of the mouth also slightly upturned.

——[What did I experience in 25 days of falling into poverty? I conducted an urban survival challenge on 6 yuan a day]

---

Author’s Note:

The keyboard typist woke up hungry in the middle of the night. She went to the kitchen sleepily and opened the fridge door.

Paused.

Must be dreaming. She muttered, closed the door, and opened it again two seconds later.

Hmm?

The typist said in shock: Why is my fridge completely empty?

Burp. An egg burp sound suddenly came from the corner.

Dou-zi Egg lay in a pile of food heaped like a hill, burping.

An empty coke can slid down the hillside, rolling to the typist’s feet.

Dou-zi Egg said faintly: Being a rich egg again, die with no regrets.

Typist suffocated: But you ate my stuff…

Don’t mind so many details! A familiar voice came from inside the hill.

Typist confused face: Who? Who is there?

A moment later, another coke can flew out.

Lazy Egg drilled out from the crack, taking a deep breath.

Almost suffocated the egg. It said with lingering fear: Dou-zi Egg eats faster than I dig.