The cream on the T-shirt was a sticky mess from shoulder to collar, leaving Xie Lan with no choice but to change.

When he went upstairs and saw the marks in the mirror, he specifically chose a high-necked T-shirt to hide everything that needed hiding.

With Wang Gou’s mood being so unstable, the group quickly finished the crawfish and wrapped things up. Dou Sheng tidied up two guest rooms and stuffed the four guys into them, two by two. Che Ziming had originally insisted on a “heart-to-heart” with Wang Gou, but was flatly rejected; Wang Gou insisted on sleeping in the same room as Dai You.

It wasn’t until one in the morning that the house finally quieted down.

Xie Lan took a quick shower and lay in bed scrolling through Weibo. Someone had already moved his YouTube birthday tribute video to Bilibili, and the short clip of Dou Sheng’s “cake incident” had already garnered tens of thousands of likes. The comment section was filled with birthday essays, enough to keep Dou Sheng reading until morning.

Just as he was about to send a final “Goodnight” to his boyfriend, his phone vibrated.

A voice call—from Dou Sheng.

Xie Lan hesitated, glanced at the wall separating them by two bedrooms, and pressed answer. He pressed the phone to his cheek. “Why call when we’re so close?”

“I miss you,” Dou Sheng’s voice came softly through the line. “Texting is tiring, and I wanted to talk to you.”

Xie Lan gave an “oh.” “About what?”

“Nothing in particular…” There was a silence on the other end, accompanied by the faint rustle of fabric and bedding. Dou Sheng whispered, “Anything is fine, I just wanted to hear your voice. Oh, right—do you want to go to the river to watch the sunrise?”

Sunrise by the river?

Xie Lan instinctively looked out at the pitch-black window. Having lived at Wangjiang Liying for so long, he had seen the river at night countless times—looking out when tired from doing problems late at night, or seeing it from the bridge on the way home—but he had never once thought about the sunrise.

He spaced out for a moment until Dou Sheng called his name twice.

“Going?” Dou Sheng’s tone carried a hint of longing. “We don’t have to get up super early, just go downstairs around five. The misty morning light is the most beautiful. Mostly, I want to look at the river, not just the sun.”

Xie Lan agreed immediately, but paused and asked, “Should we invite the others?”

“I’ll ask,” Dou Sheng hissed. “They’ll probably want to tag along. Gou-zi loves morning runs, and Che Ziming is down for anything.”

While the call stayed active, Dou Sheng dropped a message in their group chat:

@Gou-zi Wang Wang, feeling any better? Xie Lan and I want to walk by the river tomorrow morning at 5:30. Anyone want to join?

Xie Lan watched him tag Wang Gou, a strange feeling bubbling in his chest. “Hey, don’t you think Gou-zi is being weird?”

“Extremely weird,” Dou Sheng muttered. “Based on normal observation, does he look like someone who hates the rich to you?”

Xie Lan pondered. “Not at all. The whole thing today feels stranger the more I think about it, but I can’t put my finger on it…”

As they spoke, someone replied in the group.

Gou-zi Wang Wang: Sorry, I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. Everyone, please forget the nonsense I said earlier. I’m heading back to the countryside to see my family the day after tomorrow, so I’m going back to the dorm early tomorrow to pack. I won’t join for the sunrise.

Following his message, the others chimed in.

Latte Coffee (Dai You): I won’t go either. I’ll head back with Gou-zi since we’re going the same way.

Cherries (Che Ziming): My dad is getting a shipment tomorrow; I have to head back around six to eat with my grandma.

Herring (Yu Fei): Too lazy to move. I’ll head out with the group tomorrow.

The result was unexpected. On the other end of the phone, Dou Sheng hesitated before typing an “OK” in the chat.

“I think something is very wrong,” Dou Sheng hissed. “Actually—” He cut himself off, rolled over, and muttered as if to himself, “It couldn’t be…”

Xie Lan suddenly felt nervous. “Couldn’t be what?”

Dou Sheng brooded for a moment before saying uncertainly, “I feel like Wang Gou’s behavior today was a bit deliberate, but his actions don’t have a necessary connection to my guess… By the way, what exactly happened before I came out of the bathroom? Was he aiming for you first when he smashed the cake?”

Xie Lan hummed. “Me first. I was talking to Yu Fei, and he just suddenly snapped.”

Dou Sheng immediately pressed, “Talking to Yu Fei about what?”

Xie Lan recalled, “Just the geometry problem from the competition. We were checking our answers.”

A long silence followed on the line. Then Dou Sheng clicked his tongue. “Then I really can’t figure it out…”

Xie Lan’s mind was also replaying the night. The cold sensation of being hit by a cake was still fresh in his memory. That shirt was currently soaking in the sink; it would stay there all night before going in the wash tomorrow, and he wasn’t even sure if it would come clean.

Thinking of this, a spark of realization flashed through him. He instinctively reached up and touched his collarbone through his pajamas. It had been dark in the bathroom, and neither he nor Dou Sheng had noticed any marks; he only saw them when he went upstairs to change.

However, the living room had been very bright.

A chill ran down Xie Lan’s spine.

Dou Sheng spoke again: “I have a feeling Wang Gou knows something. About us.”

Xie Lan’s fingers holding the phone trembled. “Why do you think so?”

“Just a feeling,” Dou Sheng muttered. “Mainly because Che Ziming already knows. He wouldn’t intentionally spread it, but I’m afraid he might have let something slip without realizing it.”

Xie Lan felt a wave of suffocation and couldn’t help saying, “Actually, the spot where Wang Gou hit me with the cake…”

“Yeah?” Dou Sheng asked. “What about it?”

Xie Lan gritted his teeth. “There were… marks.”

Both ends of the line fell into a simultaneous silence.

Xie Lan’s head was buzzing. His toes curled against the bed, and his fingertips retracted into his sleeves. “When do you think he found out?” he asked desperately.

“I’m not sure…” Dou Sheng said hesitantly. “It’s hard to say. He definitely saw it when he hit you with the cake, but he might not have guessed it was me. If he just happened to see the marks and didn’t want Yu Fei to see them, that would be easier to handle. His first instinct would probably be that you’re secretly dating some girl.”

Xie Lan: “…Miss Dou-zi, may I ask how that’s better than him finding out about us directly?”

Dou Sheng: “…I actually can’t say.”

They sat in silence, punctuated only by the sound of the cat, Plane Tree, purring. Xie Lan realized the cat wasn’t with him; it must have snuck into Dou Sheng’s room.

After a long while, Dou Sheng asked softly, “If everyone found out, would you be unhappy?”

“It’s not that…” Xie Lan denied immediately, rolling over with a long sigh.

He knew in his heart that Dou Sheng’s love was as clear as day; he would never want to keep it hidden from those close to him. Even Xie Lan himself, knowing the environment wasn’t entirely open or inclusive, didn’t want to hide forever. He just liked Dou Sheng so much—Dou Sheng was so good, why shouldn’t people know?

The key was the subtle sense of shame. When Che Ziming caught them on that rainy day during provincial training when the power went out, he hadn’t felt too awkward. But now, just thinking that Wang Gou might know—and not knowing how long he had known—made his skin crawl.

It was a complicated state of mind.

“Should we just be direct?” Dou Sheng asked. “Let me gather my thoughts, and we’ll go ask Gou-zi directly?”

---

Che Ziming finished his shower and came out of the guest bathroom looking for the hairdryer Yu Fei had taken. He pushed the door open, but the room was empty—no person, no hairdryer.

“Where’d he go?” he wondered. Passing the other guest room, he casually pressed down on the handle. “Is Herring in here with you guys?”

By the time he finished the sentence, he had already seen Yu Fei inside, along with the discarded hairdryer.

“Why’d you run off with the hairdryer?” Che Ziming muttered, stepping inside. “I’ll just blow-dry my hair in here. The outlets in my room are too low and the bathroom is damp.”

No one answered him.

Wang Gou and Dai You were sitting on the head of the bed, left and right. Yu Fei was sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed. All three had expressions of utmost gravity.

Che Ziming plugged in the dryer, blew his hair for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered earlier and clicked it off. He turned to Wang Gou. “Gou-zi, you feeling better?”

“Better,” Wang Gou swallowed hard.

Che Ziming nodded. “Good. Honestly… you shouldn’t think that way. We can all understand that kind of psychology, and we don’t need to give you life lessons; you know them yourself. The pressure will only get worse once Grade 12 starts. You have to try to keep an open mind. You can’t let emotions control you, you know?”

Wang Gou looked at him in silence. Che Ziming sighed, sounding a bit dejected. “To be honest, I didn’t think you had these thoughts. I always thought you had a great mindset… Do you actually consider us true brothers?”

Wang Gou remained silent for a long time before saying, “You are my best friends.”

His voice was low, but it carried a rustic solemnity that made Che Ziming’s nose sting with emotion.

Che Ziming let out a long sigh. “Alright, as long as you say that, it’s fine. Let’s turn the page on this. Herring, stop staring at him like that; today was Dou-zi’s birth—”

Yu Fei shot him a glance. “I just got here. I’m not giving him a hard time; I just wanted to ask him something.” His tone softened as he weighed his words. “Gou-zi, I just think… your behavior today wasn’t rational.”

“Hiss—” Che Ziming frowned. “Enough already. Rational or not, it’s human nature, get it?”

Yu Fei didn’t even bother talking to him. He continued to scrutinize Wang Gou, then looked thoughtfully at Dai You. The two across from him stared back warily.

“Are you guys playing Animal Planet?” Che Ziming frowned. “A hunt? Or taming a hawk?”

Wang Gou cleared his throat. “What wasn’t rational?”

“You said today that you hate ‘stupid rich kids.’ So why did the cake go straight for Xie Lan first?” Yu Fei furrowed his brows, expressing his doubt carefully. “If we’re talking about rich kids, the order should be me first, then Dou-zi. Xie Lan is third at best. If we’re talking about ‘stupid,’ the order should be Che Ziming, then… well, no one else.”

“Holy shit, are you toxic?” Che Ziming flared up. “I’m the only stupid one? Think again!”

Yu Fei ignored him, continuing to stare at Wang Gou, not missing a single subtle change in expression. Wang Gou’s eyes instinctively flicked to the left as if looking for Dai You, but he pulled them back halfway.

Dai You cleared his throat. “It’s true. Gou-zi, what’s going on? Did… oh, did Xie Lan do something to upset you? Tell us, we can help give him some suggestions.”

Yu Fei immediately looked at Wang Gou. Seeing Wang Gou’s wavering gaze and obvious inability to respond, he shook his head. “Impossible. Everyone else got cake in the face; only Xie Lan got hit on the shoulder. There’s no way you hate Xie Lan.” He paused, then suddenly lowered his voice. “I’d sooner believe you were protecting him. But protecting him from what?”

The room went silent.

The two at the head of the bed exchanged looks. No one spoke. Yu Fei watched them, his gaze becoming even more pensive. Che Ziming froze too, mulling it over for a while until he suddenly felt uneasy. He put down the hairdryer and sat at the foot of the bed. “What riddles are you guys playing?”

No one answered.

In the dead of night, their gazes circled among the four of them, shifting unpredictably.

Finally, Yu Fei spoke: “I discovered a secret today, but I don’t know who else knows it.”

Wang Gou and Dai You’s shoulders instantly went rigid. Dai You cleared his throat. “Based on your tone, you already have a guess?”

“Yes,” Yu Fei said. “I think Gou-zi also knows a secret, but I’m not sure if we’ve discovered the same one. What do you think?”

Dai You looked at him for a moment, then said cautiously, “Actually, I also discovered a secret. The one Gou-zi and I are keeping should be the same one.”

The air seemed to freeze. The three of them stared at each other for a moment and then nodded slowly.

Che Ziming swallowed hard. “Actually… I have a secret too. I… I fucking suspect we’re all talking about the same thing!!”

Another silence. Like an agonizing negotiation.

“Wait! Let’s straighten this out.” Yu Fei gestured for everyone to stay calm. “We are currently four parties… no, three. Three parties with secrets, but we can’t be sure the others are safe, so no one should speak impulsively yet.”

Everyone nodded in unison.

Yu Fei then pointed toward Wang Gou. “Let me confirm first—the thing you said earlier, ‘You guys owe me,’ was that directed at everyone?”

Wang Gou instinctively glanced at Dai You. Seeing Dai You nod after a moment’s hesitation, he said, “No.”

Che Ziming immediately grabbed Yu Fei’s hand and pulled it toward his own mouth. “Define the scope! Does it include me?”

Wang Gou shook his head. “Doesn’t include you.”

Yu Fei pulled his hand away and pointed at himself. “Does it include me?”

“No.”

Che Ziming said immediately, “I bet it doesn’t include Dai You either.”

Yu Fei’s gaze traveled between them. Cautiously, he said, “I’ll follow Cherries’ vote.”

The four of them looked at each other and took a deep breath. A flash of realization crossed their eyes simultaneously, then they tactfully returned to a cautious state.

The words were on the tip of Yu Fei’s tongue, but just as he was about to speak, Wang Gou grabbed his leg. Wang Gou looked conflicted. “Stay calm, stay calm—I’m guarding this secret for a brother with my life. Let’s reveal a bit more.”

“Fine,” Yu Fei nodded. “After all, we aren’t sure how much each of us knows or what exactly we know. I’ll go first: I found out just now. I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.”

Che Ziming followed up: “I found out back in July when provincial training started. I also saw something I shouldn’t have seen.”

Yu Fei’s brows shot up. “July? You’re way too impressive.”

Che Ziming’s back straightened with a weird sense of pride. “That’s right. I reckon I’m the earliest of all of us, and the scene I witnessed was incredibly impressive. If you just saw something today, it definitely wasn’t as intense as what I saw.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Dai You said coldly. “Gou-zi was a month earlier than you, and I was a few days earlier than Gou-zi.”

Wang Gou nodded in agreement. “And we used to see things we shouldn’t have seen every single day… intense or not.”

Four people gasped at once.

---

Xie Lan walked to the door of Wang Gou’s room. The door was slightly ajar, leaving a very narrow crack through which he couldn’t see anything. He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock. Just as his knuckles landed crisply on the wood, he heard a jumble of low exclamations from inside:

“The two of them are together!”

“They’ve gone gay!”

“Xie Lan and Dou-zi are together!”

“Dou-zi and Xie Lan did that!”

Silence.

In the middle of the night, all sound in the house vanished.

Outside the door, Dou Sheng’s hand was clamped tight around Xie Lan’s wrist. Both froze in mid-air, their hands trembling uncontrollably.

Inside the room, the joy that had flared in their eyes hadn’t even faded before they collectively entered “idiot mode.”

The people outside didn’t dare move.

The people inside didn’t dare make a sound.

The Door of Death.

After what felt like a century, Dou Sheng, still holding Xie Lan’s wrist, silently pulled him behind him and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath came from the room, but no one responded.

“Open up,” Dou Sheng’s voice sounded a bit desolate. “Let’s talk.”

The buzzing in Xie Lan’s head hadn’t faded yet. Hearing this, he instinctively slammed his hand over Dou Sheng’s mouth.

“No talking!” His voice wasn’t loud, but Dou Sheng heard him clearly, and those inside the room could hear a faint sound.

Every second felt like an eternity.

A bell was clanging in Xie Lan’s head, and a phrase suddenly came to mind: The soul has flown and the spirit scattered.

“Don’t talk… Please.” His other hand tugged at the hem of Dou Sheng’s pajamas. “Book me a flight back to London.”

“Don’t go!” Wang Gou’s anxious voice came immediately from inside. “Why go back to London?”

Yu Fei’s voice followed. “Exactly, it’s a tiny matter. What is there to run away from?”

Che Ziming said softly, “And you two knew that I knew a long time ago. This time the ‘circle of those in the know’ just expanded a bit. It’s fine.”

Yu Fei’s tone suddenly became fierce. “They knew that YOU knew???”

“Uh.” Che Ziming’s voice grew smaller with guilt. “I… I walked in on the scene. That day with the heavy rain, when the power went out, in the bath—”

The voice cut off abruptly as a crisp slap echoed, sounding like someone had just smacked someone else across the mouth.

Dou Sheng and Xie Lan outside: “…”

Dai You was death-gripping Che Ziming’s mouth. Ignoring the muffled protests, he shouted to the outside: “I agree with Xie Lan. We’re not talking. Everyone back to their own rooms, to their own beds. Tomorrow morning when we wake up, we’ll sync the information, but no one is allowed to mention the past. How about it?”

“Deal!” Yu Fei said immediately.

“Deal!” Wang Gou echoed.

“Mmph… mmm… Okay!” Che Ziming added.

Xie Lan was dizzy. He had to grip Dou Sheng’s hand hard to keep from taking a step back. He said with difficulty, “De… al.”

Deal my ass. I’m going back to book my ticket. I’ll wait until the first exam… forget it, I’ll wait until the National College Entrance Exam to come back. I’m quitting math competition.

Dou Sheng let out a deep sigh. “Then we’re going back to our room to sleep… Uh, going back to our rooms to sleep.”

“Okay,” everyone in the room said in unison.

Dou Sheng led Xie Lan back, rubbing his cold palm comfortingly.

Suddenly, Yu Fei’s voice came from the room again: “Xie Lan, don’t feel burdened. We don’t mind at all.”

“We all support you,” Wang Gou added. “As long as you guys are happy.”

Dai You also said, “Gou-zi even dragged me to go buy ‘Destiny Steamed Buns’ for you guys.”

Che Ziming sighed softly. “But you guys have to stay together forever.”