Chapter 6

When arriving at the station, there were many people who wanted to get off. Everyone went to the door ahead of time, and An Ning was caught in the wave of people. Qin Weihang was behind him. He didn’t need to look back to know that there were a lot of people. The feeling of someone taller standing behind you was quite different. When the car slowed down, he slumped forward, and Qin Weihang’s hand pressed his right shoulder to help him stabilize. When he squeezed out the door, Qin Weihang kept his hand on his shoulder, guiding him out of the crowd. An Ning was a bit envious. It was good to grow tall since he could habitually protect others.

After getting off the subway, An Ning followed the crowd and went up the escalator. He had never been to this station. When he came up, he found that there were more than a dozen exits. Qin Weihang stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder and said, “This side.”

He didn’t ask where they were going and followed Qin Weihang, turning left and right towards Exit 3. The subway station was bustling on the weekends, and there were few people who were alone. People walked and talked in twos and threes, however, Qin Weihang seemed to have nothing to chat with him about. An Ning was already used to it. If Qin Weihang stopped to tell him “There’s a lot of people,” and asked him “Have you been here before?”, he would wonder if it was really Qin Weihang.

The escalator leading above ground was full of people. An Ning just arrived at the base of the escalator when he saw Qin Weihang walking up the stairs. He hurriedly pushed his way through the crowd and followed Qin Weihang.

The stairs were very long, and Qin Weihang had long legs, so it seemed like he was walked effortlessly up the steps. He never looked back or stopped to talk to him, but An Ning didn’t mind the silence between the two of them. An Ning followed diligently and earnestly all the way up. Sometimes he had to speed up to chase after him. He found it amusing, though. It was obviously Qin Weihang who was leading the way, yet why did it seem like An Ning was a stalker following a handsome guy?

The handsome guy wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt with zebra crossing pattern on it. The word WHITE was on the back of the shirt. An Ning still remembered this design because he remembered Salinger* wearing the same style. He thought it was only celebrities that could afford to wear it. He didn’t expect to see the person next to him to also be wearing it. Along with the dark military-style camouflage backpack on Qin Weihang’s back, it seemed that on this entire street, only he could pull it off.

[*TN: The author has another novel, and the ML’s name is Salinger(Lin Sai). He’s the bassist for the band LOTUS.]

Outside the subway station, the night breeze brought the lively sound of the night market. When An Ning looked around, the whole street were full of dazzling neon lights of restaurant signs. It was almost nine at night, and none of them seemed to be closing any time soon.

Qin Weihang kept walking straight ahead. He was not like the others on the street; wandering around, admiring the beautiful night view, and enjoying the last moments of the weekend. Qin Weihang had a definite destination, and he was focused on getting there. An Ning couldn’t restrain the curiosity of this silent roommate, guessing where his destination was and which neon sign would be chosen by Qin Weihang.

Unexpectedly, he followed Qin Weihang further and further away. The lively food street was left behind, and the surroundings gradually calmed down. They followed a stone path and walked into a fork road. Then, they arrived at what seems to be a private courtyard house. There was a half-length bamboo curtain hanging at the door. Qin Weihang raised the curtain with his hand and walked in. An Ning glanced at the words on the bamboo curtain and went in too. He immediately heard the sound of spring water, which cleverly shielded the traffic noise outside. Was this quiet courtyard actually a restaurant?

Almost every restaurant at the street he passed by were crowded with people. Some of them even had people lining up on the sidewalk, but it seemed like no one was here. An Ning followed Qin Weihang and walked along the deep path lined by bamboo fences. When the entrance of the restaurant came into view, he saw the antique white wall. Standing outside the entrance was a waitress wearing a dark blue uniform with a small white apron. On her head was a dark blue chef’s hat. The waitress seemed to know Qin Weihang. When she brought them into the restaurant, she asked, “Did something happened yesterday?” Qin Weihang let out a “Mhm.”

The place was actually not that big—there were a few rattan chairs outside the lobby, and the coffee table in the center was a peculiarly shaped tree stump. He didn’t know whether it was a real tree stump or a man-made one. There was a tea set placed on the table. The beam in the lobby was also entirely made of wood. The doorway had a big pot of kaffir lilies. There were three different sizes of private rooms, and the waitress led them to the smallest one. The door of the private room was an ancient Chinese-style door, but it had a modern design. The door can also be pushed and pulled both ways. An Ning secretly gulped; the price of such a restaurant must not be cheap.

Entering the small private room, there was a small terrace outside. So, although the room was small, it felt very open. Outside the terrace was the view of the courtyard. A small string of lanterns hung under the eaves, illuminating the rockery in the courtyard.

Qin Weihang took off his backpack and set it aside. After he sat down, An Ning also awkwardly sat down. The waitress directly handed him a gilded leather menu without passing by Qin Weihang. The waitress gave it to him very solemnly, so An Ning, who was already leaning in his chair, hurriedly straightened his back to take the menu. The inner pages of the menu was a kind of white flower paper, with only the name of the dishes in a regular Chinese calligraphic style writing. There was neither a picture nor a price. He couldn’t figure it out from merely looking at the name of the dishes, nor can he find the price after flipping through the menu. Eventually, he turned to Qin Weihang for help, “How about you order for us?”

Paper

(Chinese)Regular Script

Qin Weihang had just gotten up to open the door of the terrace a bit. After he heard this, he walked over and took the menu. He asked him while sitting down, “Is there anything you can’t eat?”

An Ning said there wasn’t.

Qin Weihang flipped through the menu and ordered four dishes: fish maw soup, shrimp stewed with green onions, braised beef briskets, and pan-fried asparagus. An Ning saw that he wanted to order more, so he couldn’t help but interject, “About that…it’s just the two of us, let’s not order too much.” He said it without much confidence.

Fish Maw Soup

Shrimp w/ Green Onions

Braised Beef Brisket

Fried Asparagus

Qin Weihang raised his eyes to look at him, and finally said, “They have very little portion. Let’s order one more dish and two bowls of fried rice.”

His expression was serious when he said that. An Ning felt that if he said no, Qin Weihang would really not order any more, but he couldn’t say no at all.

Qin Weihang finally ordered a plate of braised pork with pickled vegetables and the signature fried rice. He returned the menu to the waitress, and leaned on the back of the chair. The chair had a semicircular backrest. An Ning found that Qin Weihang really liked to lean back lazily like this; with his arms leaning on either side or in front. It reminded him of a black panther nesting in the chair, with slender limbs nowhere to rest.

Braised Pork

When the dishes were served, An Ning couldn’t help but ask Qin Weihang, “Are these expensive?”

Qin Weihang said it was okay.

An Ning was a little uneasy. “Is it more expensive than your red envelope*?”

[*TN: For anybody not familiar with WeChat, money given or received through the app are called red envelopes. AN is referring to the time when QWH sent him the 2000 yuan.]

Qin Weihang listened to his cautious tone, endured the urge to laugh, and said with a serious face, “Regret giving back my red envelope now?”

An Ning stared and pointed at the dining table, “Is it really more expensive than the red envelope?!”

Qin Weihang didn’t expect the other party to be so serious. He straightened up from the chair, cleared his throat, and said, “It’s not that expensive. After all, we only ordered five dishes.”

An Ning thought about it—that seemed logical. It was not like one dish could be four to five hundred yuan($60-70). He also didn’t seem to hear him order anything like shark fin and abalone…

First came the fish maw soup, and then the dishes were served one after another. Qin Weihang just said, “Help yourself,” and picked up his chopsticks to start eating.

Seeing him so casual, An Ning also eased up.

Qin Weihang was right, although the dishes here were exquisite and delicious, the portion were really small. Fortunately, Qin Weihang ordered two bowls of fried rice. When serving the fried rice, An Ning noticed that there was crab meat in the fried rice. After a bite of it, he knew it wasn’t any ordinary crab meat. He curiously asked the waitress, “What kind of crab is this?”

Before the waitress could answer, Qin Weihang on the opposite side said, “It’s just normal crab.”

An Ning looked at him dubiously.

Qin Weihang ate without raising his head and said, “Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.”

An Ning sighed with pain in his heart, it was indeed expensive.

The waitress held back a smile very professionally, and left without disturbing them.

Taking advantage of the gourmet food, An Ning considered chatting with Qin Weihang. After eating, he said without hesitation, “In fact, the two of us don’t need to come to such a high-end place for a late-night meal.”

Qin Weihang raised his eyes and looked across the table. An Ning had lowered his head to eat seriously, and his expression was filled with satisfaction. Every bite seemed to have an expression of ‘How much money is this? I need to savor it.’ Seeing this, he laughed a little. He lowered his head and continued eating, then said, “Neither did you say that we can’t come here. You followed me all the way here and didn’t say anything.”

An Ning reflected on himself. It turned out that Qin Weihang didn’t talk to him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take the initiative to talk to Qin Weihang! He nodded and said, “I was just…a little curious about where you want to take me to eat.”

Qin Weihang still had a mouthful of fried rice with crab meat in his mouth, and he couldn’t help but let out a laugh. After eating that mouthful, he looked up and said, “Where do you think I will take you for a meal? The kind of place from urban legends of an immortal chef hidden in a tattered stilt building? The kind where you take a bite of the food and the inside of your head will explode? Like Cooking Master Boy?” An Ning smiled with a little embarrassment. He didn’t expect Qin Weihang to say so much in one breath, and he even read Cooking Master Boy before. If he weren’t born with that deep and lazy voice, his mischievous tone would sound almost like other boys his age.

Qin Weihang put down his chopsticks and put his hands on the table. He sized up the room and said, “Didn’t expect it to be so tacky, right?”

“It’s not tacky, it’s formality*,” An Ning said. He sighed helplessly in his heart, the formalities of you rich people.

[*TN: Someone helped me with this part. Hopefully it makes sense?? My interpretation is that Qin Weihang thinks the place is too tacky to take someone to. An Ning thinks it’s pretty normal, but in his mind, he still thought it was a pretty high-end place to take him to. He realizes that the taste of rich people is of a different standard compared to regular people.]

It didn’t take much time to finish eating. When they left, An Ning wanted to eavesdrop on the amount of money spent. However, he couldn’t believe that Qin Weihang had walked directly to the main entrance. He looked back at him and said, “Let’s go, it’s been paid already.”

An Ning had no choice but to leave. After going out, he asked in a puzzled manner, “When did you?”

“When I went to the terrace, the terrace was connected to outside,” Qin Weihang said. He looked at An Ning again and said, “It’s really not expensive. I just like the environment here.”

An Ning knew that Qin Weihang didn’t want him to feel burdened, so he laughed twice and said, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t bothered by it.” Actually, his heart ached badly. He couldn’t help but fear that this one meal would’ve cost him a month’s worth of salary. A month’s salary was enough to cover half of a semester’s tuition. However, this meal was really delicious. He hasn’t come to such a high-end place to eat since he was a child. He ate a lot and his stomach was fuller than usual. Especially that plate of braised pork with pickled vegetables that was served afterward. It had the most amount out of all the dishes on the table. As soon as the pork was served, Qin Weihang directly asked the waitress to bring it to him. He then picked up his chopsticks to divide the plate into two. He stood up and gave half of it to An Ning and said, “Half for each person.”

He was a little embarrassed. Although it was equally split, his physique was incomparable to Qin Weihang. It was a bit like a skinny dog and a Siberian wolf eating one portion. It may be enough for the dog, however, the wolf may not be full. He didn’t know if this was Qin Weihang’s habit when he usually eats with other people. He wondered if he would bring out the same heroic spirit in a court’s(the royal kind) dining hall. However, it makes the people who eat with him unlikely to be overcautious or courteous, eating very comfortably.

They returned to the path they took before, and in a blink of an eye, they arrived at the subway station. An Ning even felt it was a little unfortunate that the distance back to the station was too short.

“Then I will go back to school,” he said.

“Let’s go together,” Qin Weihang said. He walked down the entrance of the subway station and continued, “You and I are in opposite directions.”

The two entered the subway station together, and the subway for An Ning had just arrived. He turned around and said goodbye in a hurry, “Goodbye, then!” Carrying his backpack, he rushed into the car.

When he got on the subway car, he didn’t rush to go deeper inside but stood by the door. Through the door window, he could see the back of Qin Weihang, who was slowly walking to the opposite side and waiting for the subway. There were more and more people waiting for the subway. That back figure walked a few steps forward with the flow of people. He seemed to gradually melt into the crowd, however, it failed to make his presence less prominent.

An Ning smiled when he saw that. Qin Weihang seemed to be trying to blend in with the crowd, but he couldn’t at all. He will always be a scenic view in the crowd, a landmark in a building complex, and he could easily catch people’s eyes with only a back view.

Well, blame your mother for making you tall and handsome; a crane in a flock of chicken*.

[*TN: I left it as is. It’s an idiom for standing out against a bunch of normal people.]