Chapter 57

Yu Ran was still reliable and gave him a place for them to go. It was called Longyin Ancient Town, a place that people who come to A City for sightseeing will not miss. It was a historical and cultural attraction with many local snacks. From A University, they’ll have to take the No. 3 line, and they’ll arrive in less than an hour.

In the end, Yu Ran still couldn’t help but ask: Why is it An Ning again?

Qin Weihang lay his back on the bed, slowly tapping a line with his finger: Yes, it’s him again.

Yu Ran: …

Qin Weihang put down his phone and went to sleep. He didn’t immediately close his eyes, but stared at the bedside lamp on the opposite side. In order to not disturb his sleep, An Ning adjusted the bedside lamp until it was very dim. Qin Weihang looked at it silently for a while, remembering what Yu Ran said, and unconsciously thought, why is it you again?

You are the first top student I have a favorable impression of. You are the first person I taught rock climbing for free. You are the first person I brought over to my place. And you are the first person that I’m taking to buy local specialties for your family.

Then he whispered that name: “An Ning.”

“Huh?” An Ning turned his head after hearing the sound.

He saw Qin Weihang lying on the pillow, tilting his head to look at him, saying: “Turn the lamp on brighter.”

He smiled and said, “It’s okay, I can see.”

“Adjust it brighter.” Qin Weihang said stubbornly.

An Ning blinked—the light in the bedroom was dim, but Qin Weihang’s eyes were still bright and deep, and the low-pitched voice in the silence made him unable to resist. He was like a rabbit that was frightened by a panther. He silently reached out to turn the lamp brighter.

Qin Weihang watched the light lit up, illuminating the boy’s somewhat dazed and surprised face.

It was like the cat that was shivering under his palm.

He closed his eyes and recalled the time when he was in high school. The boy sitting in front of him would always bully the girl in the front row. He would pull at her hair from time to time and kick down her stool. Seeing that made him upset, wondering if this person was sick in the head. Now he understood that boys were just that stupid; the more they like someone, the more they want to bully, but in fact, there were no ill-intentions.

An Ning looked at the opposite bed. This was the first time Qin Weihang fell asleep in his direction. Qin Weihang had closed his eyes in response to the light. From the lax eyebrows to the relaxed lips, to the body gently resting on the bed, and the arm strength that was completely different from his own—they were like a temptation that was brighter and more beautiful than the radiance of spring.

He lowered his head sharply and stared at the vocabulary book, thinking, I must be crazy, this is the school grass, not the school flower…

The next morning, when An Ning woke up, he felt as if both his hands were useless, and he couldn’t even prop them. After washing on the balcony, Qin Weihang looked back at An Ning holding a cup of water and brushing his teeth. Before, when An Ning brushed his teeth, his mouth would be full of foam, but right now he wasn’t moving much. He even wanted to tell him that he could use his water flosser, but he just thought of it and didn’t say it.

An Ning carried his backpack and went out with Qin Weihang, but did not ask Qin Weihang where he was going to take him. On the subway, he was holding the railing and felt too sore to make an effort to hold on tightly. At one of the platform, their subway car caught up with the one ahead, so it suddenly slowed down. He was unprepared, and his hand was not steady, thus he was caught off guard and went backward. When he bumped into Qin Weihang, his collision should be quite forceful. Qin Weihang originally was holding the hanging strap with one hand and looking down at his phone. When he bumped into him, the hand holding the phone immediately propped on the railing, and the phone made a clunking sound as it hit the railing. An Ning felt his shoulders directly knocking into Qin Weihang’s chest. Although Qin Weihang was wearing a wide down jacket, he was wearing it unzipped, with only a not too thick T-shirt on him. However, even then, Qin Weihang didn’t get knocked down; he was simply like a wall that was behind him.

But it was just that…

Both of them looked down at Qin Weihang’s feet—he had stepped on that pair of black and red AJ4.

[*TN: Air Jordan 4 sneakers.]

Even the patterns of the soles can be seen, An Ning thought with shame. This was how harshly it was stepped on…

“I’m sorry…” he apologized.

Qin Weihang said it was fine.

Even the two boys on the opposite seat were watching them. One of the boys took out a tissue and handed it to Qin Weihang, saying, “Use this to wipe it, buddy.”

Qin Weihang took it and said thank you, bending down to wipe off the shoe prints.

Qin Weihang stood up. An Ning looked at him and suddenly felt a strange, funny, and sweet pressure. Qin Weihang was the kind of boy who was impeccable from head to toe. It was the kind in which traveling with him required proper care and can’t get him dirty. Otherwise, even passersby will cast condemning glances of ‘How can you do something so reckless?’

He looked down at Qin Weihang’s AJ4 again, and thought with a smile, it was too wrongful.

The destination was an ancient town. It was the first time he came here, so An Ning felt that it was a new experience. This ancient town was different from the newly-built ancient town in the Black Horse Climbing Base. One can tell that it was rebuilt on the basis of a real ancient town. However, neither of them expected that the flow of people would be so much today. The streets of Longyin Ancient Town were relatively narrow. There were several lively scenic spots, and the path with many people was difficult to go through.

In order to pass the stone arch bridge in front, they were squeezed into the crowd of people at the moment. Qin Weihang walked ahead, while An Ning could only stick to his back, struggling to walk. There were people all around him, and he had never seen so many people in his entire life.

Qin Weihang turned around and said, “Don’t get lost.” An Ning smiled bitterly: “I can’t get lost even if I want to…” Qin Weihang smiled and turned back.

Qin Weihang wore a black Canada Goose jacket today. He dazedly stared at the red collar that was turned inside out. This down jacket was particularly fluffy and large. If he wears it, it can hide a watermelon inside. When people were crowding close to each other, he subconsciously thought about putting his hand on Qin Weihang’s back, but then immediately realized that he shouldn’t, so he could only grab his own backpack shoulder strap. Although in fact, through such a thick down jacket, even if he really touched Qin Weihang’s back, Qin Weihang might not even feel it. When people were pushing against others, he heard the sound of his elbows rubbing on Qin Weihang’s down jackets from time to time. He thought with fatigue, when will they be done walking on this path…

There were so many people and the voices were even noisy, so he raised his voice and asked Qin Weihang: “Were there also so many people when you were here before?”

Qin Weihang said: “I have never been here before, but I have heard of it.”

An Ning nodded and looked at Qin Weihang’s tall back enviously. It was nice to stand out from the crowd.

Later, Qin Weihang turned his head and asked him: “Will you feel suffocated if you stick too close to me?”

An Ning looked up, stunned: “Ah, why do you ask?”

Qin Weihang tilted his head and looked him up and down: “I guess you might. Come here, go in front of me.”

During junior high, Zhong Jing had taken him shopping. At the time, he was not as tall as Zhong Jing, and when he was following Zhong Jing, it was also crowded like this. He could only see Zhong Jing’s back and was feeling suffocated. The height difference between him and An Ning was much worse than that between himself and Zhong Jing. Although An Ning said that he was 1.75 meters, this should be an inflated height. He felt that An Ning was only 1.73 or 1.74 meters tall and couldn’t be taller than that. Of course, it was also possible that he himself had grown taller again.

An Ning was pushed to the front by Qin Weihang. In front of him was a girl with a ponytail. He suddenly felt that his vision had broadened and his mood was better. He thought in his heart, this person was too considerate.

Qin Weihang stood behind him and his backhands were naturally placed on An Ning’s shoulders. An Ning’s shoulders almost shook. I’m finished, my mind is starting to become a mess again.

Calm down, calm down. This was just a way of placing the hands, it was no different from holding the railing in the subway!

But occasionally he would still be very sensitive to the movements of the two hands on his shoulders, especially when they stayed there for too long. Qin Weihang was obviously tired, and he would stretch his hands forward; replacing them with his wrists on An Ning’s shoulders. Previously, he was only propping them lightly, but now he could feel the weight of Qin Weihang’s entire forearm resting on his shoulders. From the corner of his eye, he could catch a glimpse of Qin Weihang’s hands hanging on his shoulders.

The stone arch bridge can finally be seen up ahead. Once they cross it, the road behind the stone arch bridge would be much wider. An Ning felt relieved, but he suddenly felt Qin Weihang’s hand retracted and pinched his shoulder. He was pinched, so his back straightened with a quiver. Then he heard Qin Weihang’s voice behind his ears, saying, “Look at that side.”

He looked to the side, and suddenly saw a pair of young lovers in a direction almost parallel to them. The boy was walking behind the girl, putting both hands on the girl’s shoulders and talking behind the girl’s ear, looking very intimate

It was true that the hands were placed like that, and it was also true that they were being intimate…

His ears were hot when he saw the scene, and he didn’t know why Qin Weihang had him watch it. Then he heard Qin Weihang say: “I want to climb up there and get some air.”

He came to his senses, then saw an old city wall across the street. The bricks on the city walls were mottled, and they looked very easy to climb on. It turned out that this was what Qin Weihang was talking about. He breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

After crossing the arch bridge, the crowd was finally no longer so crowded, but they still had to wait in a long line to buy things. When An Ning finished buying and was paying, the bag was taken by Qin Weihang. An Ning squeezed out from the crowd to keep up with Qin Weihang’s long stride. He thought it was funny—I’m not even a girl, so why was he being such a gentleman? It’s making me embarrassed.

Throughout the walk, he shared the food that was bought with Qin Weihang. When he went to buy a local famous snack, egg yolk pastry, the shop’s scanner broke down, so the clerk shouted at the queue: “Those with cash have priority!”

Egg Yolk Pastry

As a result, among the people, it was only An Ning that had cash. Even Qin Weihang felt that it was inconceivable. He watched An Ning take out the money from his backpack, and wondered if this person’s backpack was Doraemon’s pocket, which had everything.

[*TN: From what I know, China is pretty advanced when it comes to the payment system. You can pay using your phone practically everywhere.]

There were two types of egg yolk pastry; mung bean egg yolk filling and red bean egg yolk filling. An Ning turned back and asked Qin Weihang: “Which one do you like?”

Qin Weihang wanted to say that he was the one buying it, so why was he asking him. However, in the end, he didn’t say anything and replied: “Red beans.”

An Ning bought the red beans filling. When Qin Weihang took it, An Ning put on his backpack while saying: “You should try one!”

Qin Weihang took a piece, with a feeling of not knowing if he should say, “You’re trying to cover it up, but it’s too obvious.”* He looked at it and said: “It’s too big.”

[*TN: An idiom was used here, and I’m assuming QWH is referring to AN buying red beans, so he can let QWH eat it.]

An Ning looked at the very pocket-sized egg yolk pastry in his palm, thinking that this was obviously just a bite-size portion.

Qin Weihang divided the egg yolk pastry in half and said, “Each person gets half.”

An Ning was about to take it, but then retracted his hand: “My hands are not very clean since I just touched the money.”

He lowered his head and looked in his backpack for something like a tissue so that he can wrap it with, but then Qin Weihang had already brought half of the egg yolk pastry to his mouth, and said calmly: “Then I will have to trouble you to open your mouth.”

An Ning, without thinking, opened his mouth toward Qin Weihang’s hand that was holding the egg yolk pastry. Qin Weihang glanced at the way he was earnestly waiting to be fed and slowly put the egg yolk pastry into his mouth.

An Ning was stunned, because Qin Weihang’s finger touched his lips, causing his scalp to explode. He numbly kept the pastry in his mouth, then heard Qin Weihang ask: “Is it delicious?”

He raised his eyes and saw Qin Weihang, with the finger that was used to feed him, place the other half of the pastry in his own mouth—that finger also touched his lips. Qin Weihang didn’t seem to have any discomfort, rather, he looked at him calmly, his gaze penetrating.

An Ning chewed and nodded with a guilty conscience.

He didn’t even taste the delicacy of this piece of yolk pastry. His taste buds only tasted like Qin Weihang’s fingers, which was very mild and salty. It may also be that he was completely overpowered by love—he could even taste the hot and provoking flavor of gunpowder smoke.

That was the taste of the opponent completely conquering him and firing a fatal shot at him.

Since long ago, he had been shot squarely in the chest by Qin Weihang’s gun for who knows how many times.