CH 50

Chapter 50: Catalytic Reaction

Remembering that Yue Zhishi and Shen Mi’s books were still in his car, Song Yu suggested switching cars with Lin Rong. They exchanged car keys, and Song Yu went out of Yanghe Qizhe. Not long after Song Yu left, Yue Zhishi chased after him.

Song Yu had already started the car, but he still rolled down the window and looked at him when he saw Yue Zhishi come out.

Yue Zhishi was panting a bit from his run. He leaned against the car window, called out gege and asked, “Are you not happy about something?”

Song Yu’s elbow was resting on the windowsill. He lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know either.” Yue Zhishi pursed his lips. “I keep feeling like you and Shen Mi aren’t getting along well, maybe I’m just imagining things. But I don’t like it when he speaks to you like that.” 

Song Yu saw how worried he looked and slightly wanted to laugh. “A friend’s come over for lunch, and yet you left him inside to run out by yourself. You’re even talking badly about him — is this really good?” 

He even said on purpose, “Shen Mi cares about you so much, he wants to go with you to everything you want to do. Unlike me, who still needs to go to a meeting even though I’ve already come back.”

Yue Zhishi felt like everything Song Yu said this morning was hard to deal with it, but he was amused by these words. “Your words are so strange.” He reached out a hand to adjust Song Yu’s watch, ensuring it faced properly upwards on his wrist. “Drive slowly, it should be fine if you’re late for a bit. You haven’t even started your postgraduate studies yet, but you’re already so busy…” 

“Do you want to leave with me?” Song Yu abruptly opened his mouth.

Yue Zhishi immediately froze — he even thought he heard wrongly and kept staring at Song Yu, the hand holding Song Yu’s wrist loosening. 

“Just joking.” A slight smile hung on Song Yu’s face. He stretched out a hand and squeezed Yue Zhishi’s nape. “Go back in and finish your food.”

He still left by himself in the end, as if he sobered up in the space of a moment.

And then Yue Zhishi also woke up. He returned back to Yanghe Qizhe by himself.

Before he went inside, Yue Zhishi touched his own nape. He wasn’t used to being touched there at all — in his memories, Song Yu had never done anything like that to him before. He was a bit not used to it, but he was also slightly pleased by the affectionate intimacy.

He hoped Song Yu would stop joking like that –- he really could take him away if he wanted. And yet he felt Song Yu was different from usual when he was joking: he felt even closer.

His contradictory and bewildered feelings left Yue Zhishi immersed in his own world after he returned. He didn’t really respond to Shen Mi’s chatter and also forgot to tell him to not speak to his gege like that.

After they finished eating, Lin Rong drove the two boys back. Shen Mi barely took the initiative to speak as they drove and was like a completely different person from when they first arrived. Yue Zhishi vaguely felt the atmosphere wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t really tell why. He’d never liked pondering over other people’s moods, and he also felt Shen Mi kept changing back and forth. Shen Mi was usually fine, but he’d changed into a different person after he met Song Yu and was different again now.

All of this left Yue Zhishi confused, but he didn’t want his friend and gege to not get along. 

Shen Mi’s home was in the same neighbourhood as the Song family’s and was very near. Lin Rong first dropped Shen Mi off at home, telling Yue Zhishi to help him take his books in.

It was very quiet in the elevator. Yue Zhishi stared at the constantly changing number on the screen, and he suddenly heard Shen Mi speak.

“Le Le, what do you think of your relationship with your brother?”

“It’s really good. He’s the best person I’ve ever met,” Yue Zhishi said without even thinking about it. His arms were a bit sore, so he supported the books against the elevator panels. “Haven’t I told you this many times?”

Shen Mi was quiet for two seconds. “True.”

He’d said so many times, but without truly meeting him, he’d still held a bit of wishful thinking.

Yue Zhishi thought about their lunch, thinking maybe Shen Mi was a bit biased against his ge. He explained again, “He honestly is a really good person. He’s so good you wouldn’t be able to imagine it.”

Shen Mi laughed out loud at hearing this. He glanced at Yue Zhishi as he continued carrying his books. “Do you know you sometimes sound like a child when you talk? Like a child who lacks a sufficient amount of adjectives to describe something — you’ve been using the word ‘good’ over and over again.” 

“That’s because I don’t know how else I could describe him.” Yue Zhishi followed Shen Mi out the elevator, his words very honest.

Shen Mi opened his door, pulling off his heavy schoolbag and placing the books in his hands into the entrance. He then took the pile of books in Yue Zhishi’s arms. “Thanks.” 

Yue Zhishi suddenly remembered. “Ah, I think you’ve left your basketball in the restaurant.”

“That’s fine, I’m not really in the mood to play today.” Shen Mi stretched his arms around. “I’m really tired. My back and waist are already sore just from moving these books.”

Yue Zhishi nodded. “Okay, since you’ll be at Yanghe Qizhe anyway, you can leave the ball there. We’ll play together next time.” Talking about basketball, he thought of the scene of Song Yu and him sneakily playing at school, and a smile appeared on his face. He then acted like he usually did and happily shared this with Shen Mi. “Let me tell you, my ge took me to play ball last night. I even did a dunk.”

But he very quickly and honestly admitted: “Even though the dunk was through cheating.”

Shen Mi also smiled. “No wonder.”

“No wonder what?” Yue Zhishi asked.

Shen Mi shook his head. He abruptly thought of something as well, telling Yue Zhishi to wait there for a bit, and then went into the living room. He took out something from the drawer underneath the tea table and rushed back to the entrance. “This is a ticket for the comic convention.” He gave it to Yue Zhishi. “I’ll remind you a day ahead this time.” 

“You’ve even bought tickets already.” Yue Zhishi took it, cheerfully staring at the ticket. “I’ll pay you back in a bit.” 

Shen Mi rubbed the back of his head. “You don’t need to. It didn’t cost much, and I only found a place to work because of you.” He pressed his lips together. “Uhm, it felt like your brother didn’t really welcome me when I went to look for you at home today. He didn’t believe I was your friend either and seemed a bit unhappy. So I lied and said I didn’t know he was your brother — I actually already knew who he was as soon as I saw him. He’s exactly like how you described.”

He just hadn’t been willing to accept it.

After frankly admitting it, Shen Mi looked again at Yue Zhishi. “But you — did you really not talk to him before about me?” 

“You shouldn’t have lied to him.” Yue Zhishi was very biased on what he focused on, but he was also very honest in replying to Shen Mi’s question. “I’ve mentioned you before, just not that much.”

‘Not that much’ pretty much meant he hadn’t mentioned him at all. Shen Mi was very clear on this, so he nodded. “Anyway, I didn’t really watch what I said today. My mouth kept going and said a lot of useless things. Don’t be angry. I won’t look for trouble. Now that I think about it, it was impolite and a bit foolish of me to rush directly to your place. Besides, I really do think your brother’s really amazing. I’m quite jealous of him.” 

His words came very quickly, to the point Yue Zhishi thought he misspoke his last sentence — accidentally saying ‘jealous of him’ instead of ‘jealous of you’. But he chose to automatically filter out this little ‘slip of the tongue’.

“That’s fine, I truly do have a slight problem with people saying my ge’s not good. I’ve been like this since I was a child. His personality really is a bit ‘strangers stay away’, and he’s always a bit cold interacting in the beginning with people he’s not familiar with. But you’ll understand later — he honestly is a really good person. So don’t target my ge, okay?” 

“I can tell you truly have an older brother complex from your head to your toes.” The smile on Shen Mi’s face slightly faded. “But in this world, there are a lot of people other than him.”

Yue Zhishi didn’t really understand what he meant, frowning in uncertainty. He focused on Shen Mi’s eyes, but he only received Shen Mi’s urging him to go downstairs without any further explanation. 

Once he got back in the car, he saw Lin Rong with a super large bar of chocolate from somewhere. She struggled to break off a piece to put into her mouth, and when she saw Yue Zhishi, she also broke off a piece for him. 

“I’ll take you home. I need to go back to Yanghe Qizhe in a bit.”

“I can also go and help,” Yue Zhishi said.

“Don’t, your brother just sent me a message saying you didn’t sleep enough last night and told me to send you home to sleep.” Lin Rong started up the car, her mouth still filled with chocolate and her words a bit muffled. “Shen Mi was also acting strangely today. This was his first time seeing Xiao Yu, right?” 

“Mn.”

“Xiao Yu just doesn’t like to talk. You’ll need to explain that to Shen Mi.”

“I’ve already told him. He understood.”

Lin Rong passed the chocolate to Yue Zhishi, turning around the steering wheel completely to exit in a different direction. “Shen Mi — this child really does care about you a lot. I feel he really does take you as a very close friend. When he came in to help with the dishes, I asked him if he was preparing to relax over the next few days, and all of his plans were things you like doing.” 

“I know he treats me really well.” Yue Zhishi searched up the price of the comic convention ticket, head lowered, and then transferred the sum to Shen Mi over WeChat. He was able to relax after doing so, and then he added, “All of my friends are especially nice.”

“But… I feel like Shen Mi is sometimes too anxious and can’t hide how possessive he is about his good friends. It’s not really a bad thing if he treats you well, but it’s a bit too obvious.” She chuckled, “Of course, he’s still a child. He can’t really control himself.” 

She also couldn’t understand it — he was usually very normal, how did he suddenly change after meeting Song Yu? It was like he had been very anxious to show off how well he got along with Yue Zhishi. 

Yue Zhishi listened to Lin Rong’s words, and after thinking for a while, he said, “I don’t think Jiang Yufan would be like that.”

“Xiao Fan is just as open-hearted as you, always like a happy foolish child. Hey, I haven’t seen him for a while. He wouldn’t happen to be dating, would he?” 

“How’d you know?” Yue Zhishi looked at Lin Rong, completely looking like he thought she could foretell things like a prophet. 

Lin Rong clicked her tongue a few times. “Boys your age are truly very easy to see through. Other than you and your brother — you two should be covered by peach blossoms, and yet you guys don’t have a single person you like.” 

Yue Zhishi fed Lin Rong a piece of chocolate. “But I do. I like Aunt Rong.” 

Being forcefully fed a piece of chocolate, Lin Rong replied in an unclear voice: “Boys your age just know how to sweet talk!”

“How could you mock my true heart?” Yue Zhishi said in the exact way Lin Rong normally did, causing her to have nothing to say in reply.

Once they arrived home, he sent a message to Song Yu, telling him in exact detail what Shen Mi had said earlier.

But after waiting for a long time, he only received a reply that had nothing to do with his message.

[Gege: I won’t interfere in your friendships with others. It’s fine as long as you think the other person treats you well.]

–

Before the exams, Yue Zhishi had truly wanted to sleep in as long as he could and catch up on all the sleep he’d been missing out on — but once he actually tried to do so, he realised it was actually very hard to do. A person’s biological clock was etched into their body’s memories, and he was unable to keep sleeping once his normal wake up time arrived. So later on, Yue Zhishi followed in Song Yu’s footsteps, cycling to the library every day to read books.

He was also aware that his interest towards law was actually very shallow. It was possible he might lose all interest once he read a civil law textbook, so he spent a lot of time reading. He would become quite excited once he read some exhilarating cases, and a day in the library went by very quickly.

In the endless last ten-plus years, Yue Zhishi had always been like this. He followed the roads Song Yu had strode in, walking in Song Yu’s footsteps to pass his own life.

Shen Mi didn’t actually invite Yue Zhishi to go out every day like he previously said he would. After meeting Song Yu once, he realised the relationship between the two of them was even closer than he’d imagined and would be very hard to shake — he decided he might as well retreat for the sake of the future. He helped Lin Rong at Yanghe Qizhe every day, and when it was quiet, he would read in the restaurant. 

Sometimes Yue Zhishi would also go to the restaurant. They’d eat together and then go home together since they lived so close; Shen Mi watched all the anime Yue Zhishi chased after, so they were always able to have something to talk about.

Song Yu’s summer holiday started later than expected, and he was called by Lin Rong to Yanghe Qizhe on his first day back.

Lin Rong had received an engagement banquet booking over this period of time. It was one of her best friends’ children, so she spent a lot of time and effort designing the menu and the venue decorations. Fresh blooms of Chinese wisterias, lilies of the valley and white roses had been delivered over, and they covered Yanghe Qizhe until the place almost looked like it belonged to the celestial heavens.

When Song Yu arrived, Yanghe Qizhe’s workers were organising the seating. He immediately saw Shen Mi, who was wearing the same uniform as him, and he was helping a female worker move chairs, carrying four all by himself. Separated by a few metres, Shen Mi also saw him and gave him a smile, calling out brother Song Yu.

Even though he didn’t have the best impression of him, Song Yu still nodded before he went around them, heading directly into the restaurant. As soon as he went in, he saw Yue Zhishi standing on a long table, holding a long strand of Chinese wisteria flowers. He was trying very hard to hang the flowers on the ceiling, but the drooping flowers kept falling onto his face and veiling his vision.

Just as Yue Zhishi was struggling, Song Yu stepped onto the table and took a hold of the flowers in front of his face, gathering them all together into his hand.

His vision was suddenly cleared, Song Yu’s face appearing behind the Chinese wisteria blooms, and Yue Zhishi’s eyes immediately brightened. “You’re back?”

“Mn.” Song Yu used his other hand to hang the strand of flowers onto the hook and then straightened them out. “We can hang the last bunch now.”

Yue Zhishi took a step backwards, but he’d spent too much time trying to hang these flowers and had forgotten he was pretty much standing on the edge of the table. He lost his balance after taking this one step, unable to stop himself from falling backwards — luckily, Song Yu’s sharp eyes and agile hands caught and pulled him directly into his arms.

“That was really scary.” Yue Zhishi rested in Song Yu’s arms, cold sweat covering his body. He lifted his head and saw Shen Mi come in with some extra chairs, and after seeing this scene, Shen Mi’s face turned a bit strange.

“Be careful.” Song Yu saw Shen Mi as well once he turned his head, and he dropped the hand clasped around Yue Zhishi’s waist. “Get down, I’ll hang up the rest.”

But Yue Zhishi was unwilling to leave. He circled around the table, as if he was afraid Song Yu would also commit the same rookie mistake as he did. 

Shen Mi detoured around them, mutely taking away the baskets of flowers leaning against the wall. He placed them all according to Lin Rong’s instructions, and then finally called Yue Zhishi over, telling him to stand in the restaurant and let him know if he displayed the banners correctly.

After finishing with the flowers, Song Yu stood next to the table, his eyes focused on the two people separated from him by a glass window. Yue Zhishi was telling Shen Mi to either shift left or shift right, the two of them gesturing to each other, and Shen Mi ended up doing something that made Yue Zhishi collapse onto the window in laughter.

They busied themselves until 9pm before the entire venue was fully decorated. Lin Rong needed to drive three female workers home, so Song Yu ended up driving the two boys.

Yue Zhishi and Shen Mi fervently talked about the upcoming comic convention and exhibitions. “I need to bring my DLSR, there should be many people cosplaying the characters I like in three days.” 

Shen Mi was leaning against the car door as he sat, able to completely see the side of Yue Zhishi’s face. “You can cosplay too, you’re better looking than all of them. Your facial features all stand out, and you wouldn’t even need to wear a wig if you cosplay certain characters.”

Yue Zhishi shook his head. “No, I like watching other people. I don’t like being watched.” 

Red light — Song Yu stopped the car, casually saying, “People will look at you even if you’re just standing there.”

“That’s right,” Shen Mi very naturally expressed his agreement. This time, it was like he learned his lesson, and he occasionally tried interacting with Song Yu as he talked with Yue Zhishi, asking things like how were Wuhan U’s cafeterias or how many people stayed in a dorm together. 

Even though he didn’t really like him, for Yue Zhishi, Song Yu still answered every one of his questions. The atmosphere around the three of them in the car was still a bit awkward, but it was better than the first time. Song Yu was very clear about Shen Mi’s heart, but he also felt Shen Mi was a child and didn’t want to expose him. He may not want someone plotting for Yue Zhishi existing around Yue Zhishi, but Song Yu didn’t have any right to interfere in someone else’s actions.

Or interfere in what Yue Zhishi wanted.

The cramped and narrow space of the car made it very suitable to observe others. Shen Mi’s line of sight always rested on Yue Zhishi, unlike when they were in school together. Yue Zhishi continued to constantly mention his gege using an adoring tone of voice, but he was only able to discover more things after he was given the chance to observe him directly. 

Yue Zhishi liked to grab Song Yu’s hand whenever he started to have fun chatting — even if that hand was on the steering wheel, he would still subconsciously reach out to touch it. It was like it had already become a habit, and Song Yu very much indulged it, not saying a single word.

All of this was caught in Shen Mi’s eyes. He wanted to say to Yue Zhishi, wouldn’t you disturb your brother driving? but after calming down, he decided to give up on it.

After last time, Shen Mi knew he couldn’t act like that. 

Yue Zhishi rolled down the window, saying he’ll see him tomorrow, after they reached Shen Mi’s building. Shen Mi smiled as well, and he thanked Song Yu right before he left.

Yue Zhishi once again sneaked into Song Yu’s room once they got home. He was already very familiar with what he needed to do to get in — he only needed an excuse of either bringing in fruit or milk to get in the door, and then he’d laze around for a bit while Song Yu wasn’t paying attention. He’d stay until Song Yu realised he was still there and kicked him out.

He felt like Song Yu’s reflexes were actually very slow. He could be like Cotton Candy and nest in his room, undiscovered. 

Song Yu lay on his bean bag, his hand holding a book. Yue Zhishi came in holding a bowl of grapes and then sat down next to him, bending over very naturally without a single thought. “Gege, let’s play some games.”

“Isn’t Shen Mi also really good at it?” Song Yu flipped a page, voice lightly drifting over.

Yue Zhishi frowned. “But I want to be team up with you.”

“He should be waiting online for you right now.”

He really wasn’t able to understand Song Yu’s attitude. Song Yu had never once cared so much about one of his classmates before — he’d even called Jiang Yufan as Jiang Yifan for a time. But every time he bumped into Shen Mi, Song Yu would say things he would normally never say, would act in baffling and inexplicable ways.

Yue Zhishi put down his phone, staring at Song Yu. “Why do you keep bringing up Shen Mi?”

Song Yu’s appearance looked utterly peaceful and calm, full of patience and tolerance. “No reason. I just think he’s not bad.”

“And?” Yue Zhishi’s phone screen lit up. He unlocked it again and returned back to the homepage of that game.

Song Yu said he had nothing else to say, but he opened his mouth again after only a short amount of time, his voice extremely casual. “Can Shen Mi dunk?”

“Yes.” Yue Zhishi changed the clothes on his in-game character to the blue colour Song Yu liked; he’d specifically bought the outfit. “He’s our class’s small forward.” 

Song Yu said, “Mn,” and then flipped another page of the book he hadn’t been able to read at all. He flatly listed out a bunch of Shen Mi’s good points. “He can play basketball and can play games. He’s very open and cheerful and knows how to speak. He’s tall as well.”

“I’m not short either.” Yue Zhsihi immediately placed his legs on top of Song Yu’s legs once he heard his words. “I’m 180cm already, look at how long my legs are.”

“Minus one centimetre, right.” Song Yu glanced at home, purposefully pretending to remove Yue Zhishi’s leg in disdain. “I’ve seen your college entrance physical examination report.”

“It’s already been over a month, I should have grown one centimetre by now.” Yue Zhishi was a bit dissatisfied. “Besides, I’m open and cheerful too. I might not be able to play basketball or games as well as he can, but I…”

Song Yu turned his face over, looking at Yue Zhishi. “You what?”

“I’m good-looking.” Yue Zhishi felt embarrassed after he said it and lowered his head to stuff a grape in his mouth — but he ended up wrinkling his entire face by the sourness. “These grapes are terrible, we can’t eat them.”

Song Yu stiffened the corners of his mouth, keeping the calm and distant look on his face, and met Yue Zhishi’s eyes. “Then do you think Shen Mi’s good-looking?”

The tart and biting taste of the grapes still remained in his mouth, and that immature flavour continued to affect Yue Zhishi’s brain. He stared at Song Yu without moving, as if he wanted to read something from his face.

The room was very quiet. Song Yu’s phone suddenly rang, someone unknown calling. He lowered his head, giving it a glance — a pale and slender hand appeared in his field of vision, grabbing away Song Yu’s phone and muting it.

Song Yu raised his head, wanting to say something, but Yue Zhishi was one step ahead. His carefully planned and deliberately enigmatic and sarcastic words seemed to have entered Yue Zhishi’s ears and turned into something completely different, going in a direction Song Yu had not expected.

“I think he’s not as good-looking as I am.” If these words had come out of someone else’s mouth, they may have been overly confident — but Yue Zhishi had always been this candid. This time, Yue Zhishi — who was usually hard to anger — sounded a bit irritated and held onto Song Yu’s phone without intending to return it.

“If you don’t agree with me, then I have reason to doubt your sense of beauty.”

The author has something to say:

System prompt: Player Song Yu has launched his [Enigmatic, Sarcastic] attack, accidentally triggering the [Sweet and Sour Cheese] cutscene.

Shen Mi: I’m Truly just a tool

Mom doesn’t understand. Read carefully, mom also doesn’t understand why Shen Mi is like someone else entirely when faced with gege. She only thinks Shen Mi treats Le Le well, and that he has a friend’s sense of possessiveness.