Chapter 48

Qin Weihang slowly walked up to him, still carrying the military-style camouflage backpack on his shoulder from when he went to the climbing gym this morning. He looked like the Qin Weihang that he first met when Professor Wang Qiulin was doing roll call—like the winter wind, indifferent and laid-back, he said: “Are there any birthday gifts you want?”

An Ning couldn’t help but ask: “… How long have you been standing there?”

“I was waiting for you to hang up.” Qin Weihang said.

An Ning strongly suppressed the trace of embarrassment, and asked inexplicably, “How do you know when my birthday is?”

Qin Weihang laughed. This laugh had a very complicated sound, swinging between delight and restraint: “What? Is your birthday some state secret? Didn’t they have us write down our e-mail during the first constitution class?” He said, “Isn’t the string of numbers following your email your birthday?”

This made An Ning feel that it was unfathomable: “You didn’t know me at that time.”

“I indeed didn’t know you, but your handwriting…is very special, so it left a deep impression on me. Later, I read the notes you wrote and they matched.”

An Ning smiled with embarrassment, and said: “My handwriting is ugly.” In fact, you can be direct, I won’t be offended by whatever you say.

Qin Weihang said: “It’s okay, after looking at it for a long time it’s…quite pleasing to the eye.” This seemed a bit counterintuitive, but when he sees the writing he would think of the owner of the handwriting, so he was not lying. He said, “I don’t know what you want for your birthday, so I didn’t prepare anything. Do you have a gift you want?” He had never gone through a lot of trouble when preparing a birthday gift for someone. In the past, a classmate invited him to a birthday party, so he just asked directly what they wanted. Moreover, no one would hold back with him.

An Ning was so touched: “No need for a gift. Actually, I’m already very happy with this ‘Happy birthday’ you said to me.”

The large group going to the cafeteria went past them in a single file line. Qin Weihang looked at the honest and sincere roommate, and said after quite a while: “If you act like this, it’ll be very embarrassing for me.”

His voice was soft and low, and it faintly seemed as if he was at a loss. An Ning immediately changed his position and found that it would really be embarrassing for Qin Weihang, so he changed his words: “How about you take me to go rock climbing? Rock climbing in the wild!”

This surprised Qin Weihang. So it was not because he wasn’t passionate about it anymore, but because he wasn’t passionate about artificial rock walls anymore? “Aren’t you afraid?” he asked.

“If you are there, it doesn’t seem to be very scary anymore.” An Ning said with a smile. He said this sentence as casually as possible, so as to suppress the uncontrollable throbbing in his heart.

The other person looked at him with trust in his eyes, so Qin Weihang believed that An Ning was really not afraid. He might be the one who was more afraid. He had never thought that this day would come so fast. He wanted to be like Zhong Jing who would take him rock climbing in the wilderness in the past; bringing a person who he taught himself to go rock climbing. He wanted to begin taking responsibility for this person because the other person believed in him wholeheartedly.

“Sure.” If the other party was so courageous, then what reason was there to say no? “But you can’t wear glasses, do you have contacts?”

This made An Ning distressed. Contact lenses were too expensive for him and they were not a necessity. He had only changed two pairs of frame glasses so far. Just how much money would need to be spent in a year on contact lenses that would be thrown away? Thus, he had never considered it.

Qin Weihang said: “Then I will give you a pair of contact lenses, which will be considered a birthday gift.”

“No way, it’s a bit expensive!”

Qin Weihang didn’t know the market price for contact lenses. He frowned and asked, “Are they expensive?”

An Ning actually didn’t know the specific price, he was just guessing: “It must be more expensive than glasses.”

Two people looked at each other. An Ning can’t help but think, Qin Weihang’s cool and blank look was too cute…

What Qin Weihang thought was: He looked like a dumbfounded rabbit.

“Let’s look it up, then.” Qin Weihang took out his phone.

An Ning followed Qin Weihang to a flowerbed that was on the side and sat down. He watched Qin Weihang raise his long legs and hunched his back. A boy with a height of 1.86 meters had a big hand, so he was able to quickly swipe his thumb on the screen while holding the phone with one hand.

An Ning stared dazedly at Qin Weihang’s left arm resting on his stilted knee while using his right hand to operate the phone so smoothly with only his thumb. Then he realized after a few seconds of sluggishness that he could also check, so he took out his phone too.

“You don’t need to check it,” Qin Weihang said, then showed him the phone, “Here.”

On the screen was the page of a shopping website and the prices of contact lenses could all be seen at a glance. There were annual, monthly, and daily disposables. An Ning pushed up his glasses while looking over. It was unexpectedly much cheaper than he thought. He thought it would start at 300 yuan($46), but he didn’t expect it to be around 100 yuan($15), and there were even those that were dozens of yuan. What brands were these…

Before he could even see it clearly, Qin Weihang had already put the phone away and raised his eyebrows, “Didn’t you say it’s expensive?” It really makes me wonder if you were teasing me for not knowing.

An Ning immediately felt relieved and touched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment: “Actually, I don’t know the prices very well.”

Qin Weihang took the phone back, glanced at him, and said, “Don’t fool me in the future.” He also muttered, “I thought it would be thousands.”

An Ning was really close to laughing out loud.

Qin Weihang stood up and said, “Let’s go and get a prescription.

An Ning also stood up. He said earnestly, “Thank you.”

“I said it’s a birthday gift, so there’s no need to thank me.” Qin Weihang walked against the flow of people going to the cafeteria, “Do you not know how expensive the presents I gave to my classmates were? Your gift is too cheap in my opinion. Although the important thing is not the price…”

An Ning looked at Qin Weihang’s exceptional back, already thinking about what to give Qin Weihang for his birthday. Unfortunately, he also remembered Qin Weihang’s birthday from that time when they had to write down their emails, but it was still early. It was in July of next year, so he still had time to save money and properly prepare.

When he was getting a prescription for his glasses in the past, An Ning would only go to cheap glasses shops, but this time he entered the most famous local glasses shop. During the eye exam, Qin Weihang was waiting on the sofa outside. An Ning walked out and saw Qin Weihang on the sofa, looking down and scrolling on his phone. Two girls were previously sitting on the sofa, making the sofa look very delicate. Now, Qin Weihang was sitting on the sofa alone, making the sofa look cool.

Qin Weihang also had a pair of black sunglasses on his face, which drooped on the bridge of his nose. He was looking at the phone from above the sunglasses.

It was only a short time but he had already bought a pair of sunglasses, An Ning thought.

Seeing him come out, Qin Weihang raised his head and took off his sunglasses, folded the sunglasses with one hand, and put them on the neckline of the T-shirt, and then asked, “How is it?”

An Ning nodded, “You look handsome!”

Qin Weihang looked at him with the corners of his mouth sunken, and slowly asked: “I meant your eye exam.”

An Ning let out an ‘ah’ sound, then looked like he had a headache: “My degree has become a lot worse.”

Qin Weihang was not surprised: “Did you not notice it yourself? Even I noticed.”

An Ning was surprised: “How did you know?”

“You squint when you look at me.” Qin Weihang said.

An Ning went silent.

The clerk recommended contact lenses to them. An Ning directly told them to recommend a cost-effective one. The clerk recommended Hydron. An Ning asked for the price since it looked a little more than 100 yuan. He was thinking about the ones that he saw online that were dozens of yuan, so he asked: “Is there a cheaper one?”

The female clerk said, “This is the first time you will be wearing them, so it’s better if you don’t wear one that is too cheap.”

Qin Weihang was already a bit speechless after hearing the price, but the person in question had on a bright expression of ‘Then I want this one’ while staring at him, thus he wasn’t able to say any objections for a while. Instead, he directly asked the clerk: “Which is the best one?”

The clerk recommended Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue silicone hydrogel series.

Qin Weihang asked: “Is there any difference?”

Then the two people learned about the pros and cons of contact lenses and the difference between hydrogels and silicone hydrogels under the knowledge of the clerk.

After listening, Qin Weihang nodded and said to the clerk: “Then we’ll take this one.”

The clerk saw that the two of them had their own opinion, so she asked: “Is it Acuvue or Hyd…”

“Acuvue.”

Before An Ning had time to ask the price, Qin Weihang made the final decision; as if it was him who was going to wear the contact lenses.

The clerk smiled and went to get the contact lenses. An Ning opened his mouth and said: “Qin…”

“I’m the one paying, so don’t worry about it,” Qin Weihang lazily leaned back against the counter. After interrupting him, he glanced at him, “Or do you want to teach me how to spend money?”

An Ning shook his head repeatedly.

Qin Weihang turned his gaze away, looking only at the direction of the clerk, with a posture of not allowing others to make a comment.

An Ning instantly understood—he didn’t plan to listen to me at all. The cool guy’s A.T Field was fully launched at him at this moment.

After bringing the contact lenses, An Ning wore the contact lenses under the guidance of the clerk. He was not used to it, so his eyes kept blinking and was unable to put it in for a long time. Moreover, his head kept getting higher and higher, thus the clerk laughed. An Ning blushed and glanced secretly at Qin Weihang but was unsuccessful. Qin Weihang was originally standing next to him by the counter, but when he had glanced over, Qin Weihang had gotten up and stood behind him. An Ning only heard Qin Weihang laughing very lowly behind him, and he turned to look at him subconsciously. The clerk said: “Turn your eyeball so that it could go to the center of your pupil.”

Then his vision finally became clear. From the corner of An Ning’s eyes, he saw Qin Weihang circling back to him. He had one arm on the counter, leaning against it while looking at him. Qin Weihang came into the center of his field of vision at this moment, and An Ning couldn’t help but open his mouth wide and said, “Ah…”

Qin Weihang frowned: “What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?”

The female clerk tried hard to save face: “It will be a little uncomfortable the first time you wear it.”

An Ning’s heart pounded wildly. It was not because he was uncomfortable, but it was the first time he saw Qin Weihang so clearly like this. He didn’t expect Qin Weihang to be so handsome under a clear vision. For the first time, he could see the direction of each strand of hair on Qin Weihang’s eyebrows, the shadows cast on the whites of his eyes when his eyelashes were lowered, and the beautiful double eyelids that looked like it was drawn on… Qin Weihang was as handsome as a flash of lightning. No wonder the clerk was so attentive when he entered the store…

Qin Weihang stood up from leaning against the counter and said to him: “You should go walk around outside to get used to it.”

The face of Qin Weihang in the center of his field of vision returned to the height of 1.86 meters. An Ning walked out of the store, looking at the world in front of him that suddenly became 100 degrees clearer. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off. He turned around and went back into the store. Qin Weihang was already scanning the QR code to pay. He wanted to see how much money he spent on his phone, but Qin Weihang was tall. He stood behind Qin Weihang and wanted to glance at his WeChat’s payment notice, but Qin Weihang lifted his elbow to the counter—his shoulder blocked him firmly.

The clerk snickered and kindly said: “There is a membership discount.”

An Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Oh boy, he even directly became a member! Qin Weihang put his phone in his pocket, grabbed the care products presented by the clerk, and turned around to give them to An Ning. He lifted the sunglasses on his neckline and said, “Buying this automatically promoted me as a member, it wasn’t for you that I became a member.”

It would’ve been fine if he didn’t say it, but now that he said it, An Ning wanted to make a hole in the ground and go in it.

Walking out of the shop, Qin Weihang looked up at the flower shop in the distance and said, “Did you see the flowers over there?”

An Ning looked over. The flower shop was quite far away, but he still saw the splendid scene clearly. Qin Weihang asked him, “What flowers are at the entrance?”

This time, An Ning could see clearly without squinting, and said with a smile: “The red ones should be roses.”

Qin Weihang looked at him and said, “You now don’t need to squint anymore when looking at me.”

It was dark when they came out of the subway station. An Ning looked up, and for the first time, he saw the lone star over the city. The lonely but persistent star made him think about Qin Weihang who was walking slowly in front. He suddenly realized that Qin Weihang’s walking pace had slowed down. Compared to that time when they had a meal together, it was much slower. He suddenly became no different from those who were strolling leisurely, enjoying the holidays and the nighttimes.

Qin Weihang seemed to have noticed that he had stopped, so he also stopped, turned back, and looked at him. An Ning couldn’t help but say to him: “The stars are so bright.”

The light pollution in the city was very serious. When he looked up, he couldn’t see the sea of stars like in the movies; only a lone star. It was really capable of being able to pass through the polluted atmosphere and muddy artificial lights and fall into the eyes of humans.

Shining brightly was its* skill, An Ning thought.

[*TN: The author used ‘he’, but it could be a mistake, so I changed it to ‘it’.]

Qin Weihang also looked up and said, “You will see more tomorrow.”

An Ning nodded with a smile but thought in his heart: I won’t, there won’t be any brighter stars than it.

He stepped forward, walked side by side with Qin Weihang in the crowd, and said, “Thank you for your contact lenses.”

Qin Weihang said, “The gifts I gave to my classmates and friends were much more expensive than this one, but that was my parent’s money that I used. The one I gave to you is different.”

An Ning was stunned.

“The money I used are my rock climbing competitions’ award money,” Qin Weihang looked at him and said, “so you have to be happy today.”