Fan Jun raised his hand slightly, paused it in the air for a moment, then raised it a little higher. Opening his eyes to look at him, he casually touched the bridge of his own nose as well: “What?”

“…It’s nothing,” Zou Yang said.

He didn’t know why he wanted to touch it; maybe he just had the urge to after staring at it for so long.

The scar on Fan Jun’s face carried a different kind of visual impact due to his unnervingly cruel past.

However, the moment his fingertips lightly brushed against it, Zou Yang withdrew his hand.

In that fleeting instant, it was as if all the injuries Fan Jun had ever suffered slid clearly across his fingertips.

Zou Yang didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed.

“I thought… there was something on my face.” Fan Jun lay there without moving. Perhaps because Zou Yang was the only one in front of him, he didn’t pull the brim of his hat back down.

But the sunlight was too glaring, so his hand fell back over his eyes.

“You…” Zou Yang leaned back a bit, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, “That scar, do you feel it when it’s touched?”

“…Yes.” Fan Jun touched his own scar again. “It just doesn’t feel as distinct as other places.”

“Zhang Chuanlong has a scar on his butt,” Zou Yang said. “Got it from a fall when he was a kid. It’s a pretty big scar, and he said that spot has no feeling; when you touch it, there’s not even a sensation.”

“Maybe it’s because the location is different.” Fan Jun turned his face to look at him. “Aren’t kids usually spanked on the butt? There are fewer nerves there, so it doesn’t hurt as much.”

Yeah, Zou Yang paused.

The bridge of the nose and the lips… that must hurt so much…

“Did it hurt?” Zou Yang asked.

“Do you want to hear the truth?” Fan Jun smiled faintly.

“Yeah.” Zou Yang nodded.

“It didn’t hurt,” Fan Jun said softly. “It didn’t hurt at all.”

“How… is that possible?” Zou Yang was stunned.

“I was too scared,” Fan Jun said. “So I couldn’t feel the pain.”

Zou Yang lost his voice, not knowing what to say.

Comfort him? He didn’t know how. And in the face of something like this, comforting words seemed completely meaningless anyway.

He tried to think of something else to say to change the subject.

But for a moment, he couldn’t find anything.

“But this one wasn’t from being hit,” Fan Jun touched the scar on his upper lip. “This one was from a bump.”

“How did you bump it?” Zou Yang asked.

“He kicked me, and I smashed into the table,” Fan Jun said.

“Then isn’t that still from being hit?” Zou Yang frowned, his hand reaching out subconsciously.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch Fan Jun’s lip, Fan Jun dodged backward slightly.

It was very subtle.

Zou Yang’s hand froze in the air for 0.1 seconds before quickly pulling back.

What are you doing?
Touching the bridge of his nose is one thing, but what does touching someone’s mouth mean? And doing it endlessly, too…

“I wasn’t…” Fan Jun also felt a bit awkward. “I…”

“That thing I just…” Zou Yang started speaking at the exact same time.

Then they fell silent together again.

Neither knew what to say, both hoping the other would say something, only to realize they were both thinking the exact same thing.

Majoring in Chinese Language and Literature isn’t always useful, huh.

Fan Jun didn’t actually mind Zou Yang touching him.

It was just that he had almost never experienced a touch like that.

He was an instructor. Every day, with his students—whether male or female—there would be various strikes, grapples, and throws, inevitably involving some physical contact…

But contact like Zou Yang’s was different.

There was no clear reason or intention, no warning, no cue.
No defense.

It was a very light, subtle, gentle, and hesitant brush against what was—both physiologically and psychologically—his most sensitive spot.

He had never experienced that before.

“My mom said…” Zou Yang took off his glasses and looked down to wipe them, “…you also know how to cook?”

“Ah?” Fan Jun was momentarily stunned before coming back to his senses. “Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘oh’?” Zou Yang turned his head and glanced at him. “Do you really know how?”

“I guess… I know a little.” Fan Jun hesitated for a moment, then sat up. He reached back and tugged at his clothes to shake them out; they were completely soaked.

“What did you have for dinner last night?” Zou Yang asked.

“Da lu mian [Noodles with gravy],” Fan Jun said.

“That’s pretty badass,” Zou Yang put his glasses back on. “Where did you learn that?”

As soon as he asked, he let out a sigh.

…Ask, ask, ask. Do you really need to ask? Nobody cooked for him when he was a kid, obviously!

But life is just like that. It’s very difficult to completely sever the past from the present. Your present is, to a large extent, exactly because of your past.

Zou Yang suddenly understood a bit why Fan Jun had seemed so silent when they first met.

Perhaps it was because any casual chat would inevitably touch upon his past.

“My mom taught me,” Fan Jun said.

Zou Yang was just about to put on his glasses. This answer from Fan Jun made his hand tremble, and the earpiece of the glasses almost poked him in the eye. He turned his head and looked at Fan Jun with some surprise.

Aside from his mother’s passing, this was the second time Fan Jun had ever mentioned his mom.

“…Oh.” Zou Yang knew this topic couldn’t continue. He just let out a sound of acknowledgement, his brain spinning rapidly.

It spun so hard it practically scrambled like a broken egg yolk, but he couldn’t come up with any other topic.

Finally, he even decided to take out his phone and swipe a few times, pretending to send some messages to forcibly terminate the conversation.

Before his hand could even pull the phone out of his pocket, Fan Jun spoke again: “But she only taught me each dish once or twice, so I didn’t learn them too clearly.”

Zou Yang slowly pulled his hand back out of his pocket.

“She said…” Fan Jun wasn’t looking at him either. With his arms resting on his knees, he just stared at the grass ahead, “…in the future, when I live alone, I have to learn a little…”

When he reached the second half of the sentence, Fan Jun’s voice began to tremble.

Zou Yang shifted closer to him, sitting right beside him, feeling somewhat at a loss. Laoma had repeatedly instructed him not to bring up Fan Jun’s mother—that was a forbidden zone.

Zou Yang was also very clear that his mother was absolutely Fan Jun’s forbidden zone.

But he completely didn’t expect Fan Jun to bring it up himself.

What should I do if Fan Jun brings it up himself?!

He slowly lifted his arm behind Fan Jun, hesitating whether to give him a hug.

If it were one of his dorm mates, he would have thrown an arm around their shoulders long ago.

But because of that slight flinch from Fan Jun earlier, he really didn’t dare to just reach out casually again.

He could only hold his arm suspended behind Fan Jun’s back, silently sitting closely beside him, listening to him speak.

“It’s just that I didn’t expect I’d be… alone… so soon.” After saying this, Fan Jun pulled his hat down further, lowered his head, and rested it on his arms.

Zou Yang’s heart gave a violent clench. Without hesitating any longer, he threw his arm around Fan Jun’s shoulders and pulled him firmly toward himself.

Fan Jun didn’t resist, but he wasn’t exactly compliant either; he could feel that Fan Jun’s body was a bit stiff.

He probably wasn’t used to being held like this.

Zou Yang didn’t care about that much anymore. Nothing else mattered as long as Fan Jun didn’t cry.

His hand patted Fan Jun’s arm lightly, over and over.

Growing up, due to Laoba‘s philosophy of “boys shouldn’t be too delicate,” he had almost never been comforted, so he didn’t know what else he could do right now.

Fan Jun didn’t move, nor did he make a sound. He just sat quietly, hugging his knees with his head down.

Zou Yang’s brain and body had completely frozen up too. He quietly kept one arm around Fan Jun, propped his chin up with his other hand, and stared silently at the river water in front of them.

By now, the sunlight had become glaringly bright. The dappled light glinting off the surface of the river made it hard to keep his eyes open, and they started to sting. Zou Yang took off his glasses, tossed them onto the grass next to him, and rubbed his eyes.

From time to time, people would walk by on the riverbank below the grassy slope. The river was quite clean, so it was probably the top spot for morning strolls and exercise in Nanzhouping.

A few middle-aged aunties walked past in front of them, looking at the two of them with some curiosity.

Zou Yang didn’t move, and he didn’t withdraw the arm around Fan Jun. Even though this scene was indeed a little strange—it might be fine at school, but in Nanzhouping, it was somewhat hard to explain.

After the aunties passed, two old men walked by.

With their hands behind their backs, the old men constantly shifted their gaze between the path and the two of them, their heads swinging back and forth.

Next came a young couple.

The two of them stared at them from far away.
They were even covering their mouths, whispering something to each other.

Zou Yang felt a little annoyed. The aunties and old men hadn’t shown much reaction, but these two young people were actually gossiping about it?

As the guy walked past them, he even pulled out his phone.

Just as the guy sneakily pointed his camera lens toward them, Zou Yang reached out and flipped him the middle finger.

The two of them froze, staring at him.

Zou Yang didn’t want to disturb Fan Jun, so he didn’t make a sound. He just used his middle finger to point at the two of them again, and then flipped it up firmly once more.

“Psycho,” the guy cursed under his breath, before being pulled away by his girlfriend.

Zou Yang didn’t care; he just smiled at him.

Fan Jun couldn’t hear him anyway.

A little while later, Fan Jun stirred and lifted his head.

Zou Yang quickly turned to stare at his profile.

Fan Jun hadn’t made a single sound the entire time, so he didn’t even know if Fan Jun had actually cried or what…

He hadn’t cried.

There were no tear tracks on Fan Jun’s face, nor were his eyes red.

“I’m fine.” Fan Jun turned his face to look at him.

“Yeah.” It was only then that Zou Yang suddenly realized his arm was still wrapped around Fan Jun. He quickly let go, turned around, blindly patted the grass a few times, picked up his glasses, and put them on.

His nose was a bit itchy, but he didn’t pay it any mind.

“You…” Fan Jun raised his hand as if to reach for his face, but stopped halfway and pointed to his own nose. “Here, there’s a blade of grass.”

“Oh!” Zou Yang touched his face; there was indeed a blade of grass pressed against the bridge of his nose. “No wonder I felt a little itchy…”

Fan Jun smiled slightly: “Zou Yang.”

“Don’t say thanks,” Zou Yang immediately cut him off. “Don’t thank me, no need…”

“Mm,” Fan Jun replied.

With no one passing by at the moment, the surroundings fell silent again. Zou Yang hesitated, wondering what they should do next.

“Let’s continue.” Fan Jun stood up.

“Continue… what?” Zou Yang stood up as well.

The two of them patted their pants off together.

Fan Jun shot a glance at his backside, and Zou Yang also looked back over his shoulder: “What? Did I pee myself?”

“Can’t tell on black pants.” Fan Jun smiled. “Let’s go. Back to class.”

Zou Yang checked the time. The one-hour class slot was almost entirely gone. It had taken them twenty minutes to jog over here, and including their stroll by the river, that was barely half an hour.

And then they just lay here and hung out for another half hour…

“Coach, class is already over,” Zou Yang said.

“You have two classes today. Next, we’ll practice footwork.” Fan Jun walked back a few steps, hopped lightly along the riverbank, and started moving forward with advance steps.

“I said today’s class is double pay.” Zou Yang stood still, not moving.

“This one is on the house,” Fan Jun said without looking back.

Zou Yang still hadn’t fully recovered his senses; his whole body felt heavy, and he absolutely did not want to move.

He could only jog with small steps behind Fan Jun: “How about… you just give me ten minutes on the house?”

“Don’t slack off.” Fan Jun glanced back at him.

The coach’s aura suddenly descended from the heavens. Zou Yang quickly switched from a light jog to advance steps to follow him.

Fan Jun was still very serious during class. Regardless of what had just happened, once he entered teaching mode, he was a completely different person.

All the way along the riverbank, Zou Yang followed behind him, constantly switching between advance steps, retreat steps, step-ups, step-backs, and shuffle steps. It wasn’t a very long riverbank, but it took them half an hour of advancing and retreating to finish it.

“This is more tiring than a 5K,” Zou Yang said.

“Perfect then,” Fan Jun said. “Run back.”

“Screw off!” Zou Yang yelled.

Fan Jun laughed and checked the time: “Hungry? I’ll treat you to something to eat.”

“Steamed dumplings,” Zou Yang said immediately.

“Let’s go,” Fan Jun said.

It was a very rundown little shop located on the street behind the mall’s back entrance, selling large meat buns and steamed dumplings. Business was booming. It was right around lunchtime now, and quite a few people were in line.

“We have to line up?” Zou Yang said.

“No need, wait here for me.” After Fan Jun said that, he walked into an alleyway right next to the little shop that was so narrow it could only fit one person at a time.

Not long after, he emerged carrying two bags of food.

“Let’s go, don’t let anyone see,” Fan Jun whispered as he passed by him.

Zou Yang hurried to keep up: “Did you steal them?”

“What’s wrong with your brain?” Fan Jun smiled. “It’s obviously protection money.”

Back at the new gym, Fan Jun took the items out of the bags and placed them on the table.

A box of buns, and a box of steamed dumplings.

“They’re all pretty good. Try them both,” Fan Jun said.

“Mm.” Zou Yang grabbed a nearby chair. When he sat down, he found it was a bit wobbly. He looked down and saw that one of the chair legs was bent.

He originally hadn’t wanted to ask more about Fan Jun flipping the freezer yesterday, but right now, he really couldn’t hold back: “Did you two really not fight yesterday?”

“Really didn’t.” Fan Jun also came over and looked at the chair leg. “This was probably from being smashed into.”

“Smashed by who?” Zou Yang asked.

“The freezer,” Fan Jun said, grabbing another chair to swap with him. He then sat down on the broken chair himself.

“Did Lü Ze…” Zou Yang ate a steamed dumpling, “…curse at Laoma?”

Fan Jun glanced at him: “No.”

Zou Yang looked at him.

“He cursed at you,” Fan Jun said.

“Something like being a busybody, overstepping bounds, or a dove occupying a magpie’s nest?” Zou Yang said disdainfully.

“It wasn’t…” Fan Jun looked at him, “…that refined.”

Zou Yang clicked his tongue (tsk), lowered his head, grabbed a bun, and took a huge bite out of it.

“Are you eating this aggressively for a post-workout meal?” Tan Ru walked in from the door carrying a takeout bag. Seeing the food on the table, she raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not like I’m cutting fat,” Zou Yang smiled. “Want some?”

“Not disciplined,” Tan Ru walked over, pinched a steamed dumpling, and popped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes and chewed enjoyably, then quickly ran toward the training area. “Being undisciplined is pure happiness… fleeing, fleeing, fleeing…”

“Where… are you eating lunch?” Fan Jun asked.

“For lunch I…” Zou Yang was about to say I’ll just try your cooking, but immediately stopped himself.

“Going back to keep Sister Shan company?” Fan Jun covered for him.

“Yeah,” Zou Yang said, looking down and eating a steamed dumpling. “At a time like this, I have to be on her side.”

“Mm,” Fan Jun nodded.

“Are you going to cook every day from now on?” Zou Yang asked.

“Pretty much, though Uncle Lü will cook a bit too,” Fan Jun said.

“The Champion doesn’t cook? Just eats?” Zou Yang felt a bit annoyed.

“He… can also cook,” Fan Jun frowned. “It’s just that it’s not very edible.”

“Damn,” Zou Yang laughed. “Then he’s even worse than me.”

“Is that so?” Fan Jun smiled and looked at him.

“When I have time, I’ll show you my skills,” Zou Yang said. “Stir-fried tomatoes with eggs.”

“Alright,” Fan Jun nodded.

After finishing this wild post-workout meal, Big-head Yu dragged a freezer over.

A few people in the gym worked together to transfer the water and drinks from the old freezer into the new one. Standing to the side, Zou Yang couldn’t find a way to help out.

When Fan Jun turned his head and their eyes met, Zou Yang walked toward the door and mouthed: “I’m leaving.”

“Mm,” Fan Jun followed him out. “Taking a cab back?”

“I rode my bike here,” Zou Yang said.

“Then…” Fan Jun glanced back at the people working hard behind him, “…stay safe.”

Zou Yang laughed.

Fan Jun smiled as well.

“I’m off,” Zou Yang walked backward two steps toward the elevator. “I’ll message you when I want to book a class.”

“Mm,” Fan Jun replied.

After Zou Yang’s figure was completely blocked by the elevator doors, he returned to the shop and, together with Big-head Yu, moved the new old freezer against the wall, then dragged the old broken freezer downstairs.

Once he finished that task, there was nothing left for him to do. He sat behind the front desk, feeling a bit sleepy.

He hadn’t slept well yesterday, and he should have caught up on sleep this morning anyway…

He leaned back in his chair, pulled his hat brim low, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes.

Just as his body relaxed, he suddenly felt a slight touch on the bridge of his nose.

For an inexplicable instant, his heartbeat accelerated.

He abruptly opened his eyes.

There was no one there.