CH 53

Chapter 53: Lingbo Plank Road

The two of them were close to hitting each other. Yue Zhishi stood up without a single thought and went to stand in front of Song Yu. Qin Yan, Shen Mi and other guys came in time to pull apart the two guys in conflict so that they didn’t actually end up fighting. 

Despite being in the basketball team for so long, Song Yu had always been like a ghost. If Qin Yan hadn’t been there with him, Song Yu might’ve forever floated outside the crowd, never speaking and never socially interacting — he never mixed in unless it was for training or for a competition. But he may have always been cool and indifferent, but he had never clashed with another team member before.

His blow up this time didn’t seem like him at all, so many people found it very strange. Of course, people were more surprised that the mixed-race junior brother Qin Yan had been taking care of was actually Song Yu’s little brother.

“Stop, stop. This is only our first day, no need to ruin our team spirit.” Qin Yan was in the middle, trying to lighten the situation. He patted Wang Zhi’s shoulder. “Zhi bro, our little friend here really wasn’t lying to you when he said he couldn’t drink. You wouldn’t know this, but we used to be in the same secondary school. Le Le suffered an allergic reaction during one of our school opening ceremonies and almost went into anaphylactic shock. It was so scary. His life was saved only because his brother was luckily there too. Look, we’re meant to have fun tonight over dinner — if something really happened, whose fault would it be?” 

His words were like a needle wrapped in cotton, subtly and yet cleanly reminding Wang Zhi. Qin Yan turned around and then said to the other team members, “I’ll pay for all the alcohol myself today. I’ll treat all of you, drink as much as you want. Don’t force it if you don’t want to drink, I’ll call over a waiter in a bit for some coke and sprite. Everyone should enjoy themselves.” 

“Why buy coke?” Nan Jia threw him a look, a slightly annoyed look on her face. “Does no one want to drink the milk tea I bought earlier? Since everyone likes drinking alcohol so much, I won’t buy milk tea for you guys ever again. Such a waste of time and effort.”

The expression on Wang Zhi’s face kept changing. His initially stiff face now looked more uncomfortable, and he looked as if he wanted to say something. The other guys heard Nan Jia and immediately said things like, “Of course not, I like milk tea best. Who likes alcohol.” 

“I really, really don’t like it when guys force people to drink. No matter if they’re forcing guys or girls, it’s always against their will.” Nan Jia looked at Wang Zhi. “You study law too. You should know how many civil disputes are caused by alcohol.” 

Nan Jia had already spoken like this — even if he wasn’t willing, Wang Zhi still gave in a bit irritably. “Fine fine fine. Just fucking blame it all on me.” 

“All right, all right, let’s just pretend nothing happened.” Qin Yan glanced at Shen Mi and chuckled. “Look at how red Xiao Shen looks after gulping down half a bottle.”

As he continued chatting about things to ease the atmosphere, Qin Yan held onto Song Yu’s arm, as if he was afraid Song Yu would throw a fit and run off. He also gave Song Yu a look. “Calm down, don’t be angry.” 

Song Yu’s face continued to be icily indifferent. He didn’t want to say a single thing more to the other people, so he flicked Yue Zhishi a look. “Sit next to me.”

“Okay.” He had been recovering from his fright, worried gege would start fighting with that Wang Zhi, when Yue Zhishi once again cheered up. He happily followed behind Song Yu in satisfaction. The junior brother from earlier, who’d had so many questions as he sat next to Song Yu, started foolishly giggling once he heard he was now sitting next to senior Nan Jia. There was nothing he wanted more.

“Sure enough, no matter how charismatic a senior brother is, he can’t compare to a senior sister,” Qin Yan sighed as he sat down. He couldn’t hold back his laughter once he saw Yue Zhishi. “Le Le, you’re so energetic now that you’re over here. I looked at you a few times when you were sitting on the other table, and you looked like you were cramping.” 

“I want to sit with you guys.” Yue Zhishi was being slightly, a tiny bit dishonest. He actually only wanted to sit with Song Yu, so he very quickly changed the conversation, trying to lighten the guilt he felt at lying. “Senior Qin Yan, what did you guys order? I want roasted green pepper.”

“We’ve ordered that already. We’ve ordered everything you like eating.” Qin Yan peeked at the silent Song Yu and leaned onto the table to say to Yue Zhishi, “Look at how important you are. Your brother’s been with the basketball team for so long, and yet he’s never joined us for dinner. He must’ve come only for you. This is also his first time ordering stuff, he usually doesn’t care and eats whatever.” 

He then looked at Song Yu again. “Look, don’t be mad at Wang Zhi. That guy’s not afraid of anything, and he’ll get into trouble sooner or later once he graduates. No need to fight with him — it won’t be nice if rumours get out.” He once again lightly bumped his shoulder against Song Yu and said, grinning, “If someone’s angry, I’m not angry; if you wreck your body from anger, no one can replace you.”

Qin Yan had thought Song Yu wouldn’t reply to him, but Song Yu unexpectedly said, “Really? Then who immediately went to find my replacement after I’d only lifted one foot to leave?”

“Hey, don’t be so petty.” Qin Yan cracked up. “Le Le, look at your brother! Help return some justice to me!”

Yue Zhishi was originally biting on his chopsticks, and he started to laugh along after he heard this exchange. He gazed at the side of Song Yu’s face. “Who told you to leave.” 

Song Yu turned his head over, giving Yue Zhishi a not very happy look. Yue Zhishi immediately lifted a hand to touch his arm, whispering I was wrong, I was wrong as a pleading look filled his face. Song Yu only turned his head back after being coaxed a few times and silently drank some boiled water.

The barbecue skewers came one after another, the spicy cumin fragrance highly tantalising to the appetite. Yue Zhishi picked up the skewers and used his chopsticks to pull the roasted food off the iron sticks, eating slowly after he placed the now empty skewers to the side.

“How was your fieldwork this time?” Qin Yan chatted as he ate. “Were you guys really sleeping in tents?”

“Mn.” Song Yu said the terrain of the mountains they’d gone to was unusual; the villages were all at the foot of the mountains, and there were very few people living in that area.

“You should go learn some rock climbing or some wilderness survival stuff, just in case something bad…” Before Qin Yan could finish his joke, Song Yu had already elbowed him — the second half of his words were all pushed back into his stomach. Qin Yan initially thought Song Yu couldn’t handle the teasing, but he very quickly realised, glancing at Yue Zhishi who was sitting next to Song Yu.

Song Yu also looked over. Fortunately, Yue Zhishi was always very focused on his food whenever he ate, and he looked like he was brawling with a barbecued chicken foot and didn’t hear what Qin Yan had said.

Qin Yan changed the subject, his voice slightly louder. “S.Yu, you don’t treat me like a brother at all. Going out for studies can also be considered as going on a trip, and yet you didn’t even bring me back a local gift.” 

Having finished his chicken foot, Yue Zhishi coincidentally heard Qin Yan. “He didn’t bring a gift back for you?”

Song Yu twisted around to give Yue Zhishi a look, as if warning him not to say anything, but Yue Zhishi completely didn’t take notice at all — he cared only about showing off to Qin Yan. “Gege brought me something.”

“As expected, you can’t be friends with people with damned younger brother complexes,” Qin Yan complained.

Yue Zhishi groped out that little stone in his pocket with a great deal of enthusiasm and sent it over to Qin Yan, his arm reaching across Song Yu. “Look!”

Qin Yan puffed out a laugh the instant he saw the rock. He didn’t even take it. “What’s this, I thought it’d be something nice. He only picked up a dirty rock for you.” 

“It’s not!” Yue Zhishi was very dissatisfied with Qin Yan and wanted to explain to him what it was — but the Song Yu sitting in between them pulled his hand back. After Yue Zhishi freed himself, he stubbornly went around Song Yu and forced Qin Yan to look at the other side of the stone. “Senior, look at this side. The outside looks really plain, but it’s very beautiful on the inside.”

“Ah…” Qin Yan only then saw it. “It’s blue on the inside.” But his sense of novelty lasted for only a few seconds. “But this is still just a rock.”

Yue Zhishi felt like there was no way he could fully explain. This was clearly a very precious stone, yet Qin Yan didn’t care.

Having noticed Yue Zhishi’s disappointment, Song Yu looked over. He said to Qin Yan, pretending to speak carelessly, “This is a turquoise.”

Qin Yan did have a decent family background. He might not be able to recognise the raw stone, but he understood as soon as he heard the name. “Really? Turquoise? How much does this usually go for?”

Song Yu mildly said, “The clearest, deepest blue ones cost several thousand rmb for one gram. This one’s high clarity and is a sky blue colour. Calculate it yourself.”

“Holy shit.” Qin Yan immediately changed his attitude. “Yu bro, you’re too fucking amazing. You can make a fortune just by picking up rocks. Do you have any left for me? That one’s too small, do you have one the size of a watermelon?”

Song Yu didn’t bother with him anymore, silently eating his food.

“I didn’t know it was this expensive.” Yue Zhishi leaned in very closely to Song Yu, almost sticking onto his arm. “Did you really find it?” 

“What else?” Song Yu gave him a piece of roasted green pepper. “Stop looking at it and eat.”

Yue Zhishi listened to him obediently. After eating a whole meal together, he realised the majority of the other team members were actually not bad, all of them having delightful senses of humour.

Everyone was slightly curious about Yue Zhishi’s outer appearance and his brotherly relationship with Song Yu. It was human nature to be curious, and Yue Zhishi had long gotten used to it.

But he wasn’t used to Song Yu suddenly starting to explain: he said they weren’t true brothers, and they didn’t have any blood relation at all. He never used to say this and used to never care how other people interpreted their relationship — as long as he didn’t need to mention Yue Zhishi’s passed away parents.

So Yue Zhishi now found it a bit foreign, hearing Song Yu personally admitting their relationship. He wasn’t feeling regret because they weren’t true brothers. He was feeling something else entirely, something indescribable. 

Everything felt very contradictory — it felt like Song Yu was publicly acknowledging their relationship, and yet it also felt like he was implicitly resisting against being defined as brothers.

The dinner ended, and everyone respectively returned back to their dorms. Nan Jia said Shen Mi seemed drunk and suggested taking him back with another guy from the law faculty.

“Looks like that newly arrived Shen Mi might have a chance with Nan Jia,” Qin Yan started to joke in a gossipy manner. “I think they look quite compatible.” 

Yue Zhishi thought — it might not actually be like that.

“It’d be good if something happened.” Song Yu spoke very quietly, his words a bit muffled.

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing.”

Yue Zhishi strolled around with Qin Yan and Song Yu. The campus was very large, and they mindlessly walked around without a destination in mind.

“Where’s your girlfriend?”

It was already the third time Song Yu asked this question.

“Why do you keep worrying about my wife?” Qin Yan didn’t get Song Yu’s hidden meaning at all. “She went out to find a close friend today, throwing me away all by my lonesome self.”

Pretending to sob, Qin Yan once again slipped his arm around Song Yu’s shoulders. “Look at how good I am. Even though you’ve stood me up for so many years, I still won’t abandon you and your cute little brother.”

Yue Zhishi said, very frankly, “It’s okay, I don’t need you to stay with me, senior Qin Yan.”

“What’s with you?” Qin Yan laughed in exasperation and said, trying to intimidate him, “I’m going to sell your little rock.”

The three of them were almost at the campus’s side entrance near the East Lake. A gust of wind rose, and humid air rushed at their faces. Qin Yan suddenly received a phone call — it seemed to be from his girlfriend. Yue Zhishi noticed that even though he usually spoke roughly and really enjoyed joking around, he always spoke particularly gently to his girlfriend, his voice soft and tender.

“Ah, you’ve gone over? Don’t go by yourself, wait for me. You’ll be bullied if you go by yourself. Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

Seeing Qin Yan hang up his call, Song Yu raised an eyebrow. “What, your girlfriend going to a fight?”

“What are you joking about.” Qin Yan neatly put away his phone. “She doesn’t want to live in the dorms anymore now that she’s about to take the postgraduate entrance exams. Didn’t I also say earlier that I needed to start preparing for internship interviews? We’ve talked about renting a place outside, it’ll be more convenient.” 

Yue Zhishi was very curious. “Are you guys going to move in together?”

“Of course, why would we each rent a place separately?” Qin Yan smiled. “She just said she made an appointment to see a place on her way back. She liked it as soon as she saw it online. I’m heading over now to go with her. Comrade Xiao Yu, sorry, but it’s finally come to the time when I, your friend, am standing you up.”

It was exactly what Song Yu wanted, and he asked in passing, “Which neighbourhood? Is it a nice place?”

“It’s not too bad. It’s a loft with two floors, and it looks quite cozy. The important thing is that she likes floor to ceiling windows so she can look out to the lake.”

Right before Qin Yan left, Song Yu said, “Take a video, I’ll watch it later.” 

“You want to move out too?” Qin Yan said, “Aren’t you already guaranteed a postgrad spot? Everything’s pretty much finalised, isn’t it?”

Yue Zhishi was a bit surprised — Song Yu had never mentioned this to him.

“I just want to have a look.” Song Yu didn’t say much else, hurriedly rushing him away.

In a flash, it was only the two of them left. Yue Zhishi wanted to say something, but Song Yu’s eyes gazed into the distance. “Let’s go over there. I don’t think you’ve been there before.”

Yue Zhishi was distracted as expected, and he looked towards the area Song Yu mentioned. There were quite a few people coming and going. “What’s that place?”

“Lingbo Gate.”

Song Yu brought Yue Zhishi over. As soon as they arrived, all they could see was a large span of rippling, undulating lake water, the view suddenly spreading right before their eyes. The sky had already darkened, the sun at the tail-end of its day, and only a dark blue sky remained, merged with lake water.

Many, many narrow plank bridges interlocked each other on top of the lake right outside Lingbo Gate, the roads connecting together. Yue Zhishi pretty much immediately understood why this place was called Lingbo Gate — the rising water of the lake was separated from the bridges by only ten or so centimetres, and many students and tourists stood above, as if they were truly walking on water, taking lingering steps on the waves.

“Let’s get on there too.” He ran over, pulling Song Yu’s wrist. He only realised then that the plank bridges were even narrower than he’d expected; they were half a metre wide at the most, thin and long. There were also no railings built onto the planks. The planks were supported by a great deal of stone pillars plunged into the lake, each separated by half a metre, and they held up the winding and circular plank road.

It was the first time Yue Zhishi walked on here, and he was a bit afraid, worried he might fall in. His two hands subconsciously stretched out, balancing himself, and he walked ahead while frequently looking back. “I won’t fall down, right? I haven’t swam in a long time, and I’ve only worn this jersey once.”

Sure enough, he valued his life. Song Yu found him too noisy, so he caught his hand. “You won’t fall.”

They walked like that, one in the front and one in the back. They walked into the depths of the lake while holding hands, and Yue Zhishi paused once they reached a corner. “I want to sit here.”

They sat down on the plank bridge, just like many of the other people at Lingbo Gate. The sky had deepened even further, the dark blue turning into a much richer colour. The wind of September mingled with the damp smell of the lake, and it softly puffed onto their faces. Light illuminated the distant far shore of the lake, twinkling brightly and gently.

Yue Zhishi swung his legs and shifted closer to Song Yu. “Gege, did you use to come here often?”

Song Yu looked into the horizon, shaking his head. “I’ve only sat on the bench on the shore. This is my first time on the plank bridge.”

This was inconceivable to Yue Zhishi. “This place is so beautiful. How come you didn’t come here before?”

It was because it was so beautiful — I wanted to leave my first experience to when you arrived.

It wasn’t only Lingbo Gate’s plank bridge. There was also the open air cinema in the Plum Garden playground every Friday, the slowly blooming cherry blossoms covering each rooftop every spring, the archway in front of the oldest dormitory building reflecting the sea of golden gingko trees in the distant hills, to the administrative building sports ground covered in pure white snow every winter… 

Song Yu mutely walked past too many places by himself, never once stopping — it was like if he paused for just a little longer, these places would no longer be as beautiful the next time he came with him.

Even though at that time, he had thought Yue Zhishi might not even come to this university. 

Song Yu was silent for a short while, and then he randomly found an excuse to dodge Yue Zhishi’s question. “Because I didn’t want to sit on the ground. It’s too dirty.”

Yue Zhishi found it very funny, despite how Song Yu’s words were in line with someone obsessed with cleanliness. “Then aren’t you sitting on the ground now? What’s the difference?”

“The difference is that you’re here.” Song Yu looked at him and said in a serious manner, “If I didn’t come up here as well, how would I explain it to my mother if you fell down?”

That was true.

“Okay.” Yue Zhishi swayed his long legs. He was about to speak when a guy a few metres away jumped directly into the water from the plank road, splashing Yue Zhishi with water and startling him. He immediately wanted to get up, but Song Yu held him down.

“That’s very normal.” Song Yu was still holding his hand. “Look at how many people are swimming.”

Only then then Yue Zhishi notice that there a bunch of people swimming in the lake nearby. They looked like they were playing very happily.

“There are even lake jumping festivals in the spring, where people jump into the water using all kinds of methods.” Song Yu focused on the lake surface, looking as though he was thinking of a memory. “Some jump in with their bicycles, some go in with a springboard. There are even some couples who jump in hugging each other.” 

Under the faint shimmer of the lights, Yue Zhishi gazed at the side of Song Yu’s face. He felt like he was speaking very gently, and so were his blank eyes — as if he’d personally seen all of these, as if he’d come here many times and seen all kinds of different people.

He wanted to know if Song Yu came here by himself, or if he came with someone else. But as soon as Yue Zhishi imagined Song Yu sitting on the bench on the shore by himself, he felt very distressed. He wasn’t really able to accept the solitary, extremely lonely image of Song Yu being himself and would feel upset for him.

But it was like Yue Zhishi had no way of imagining Song Yu coming here and sitting on that bench together with someone else. He would feel distressed for himself.

These contradictory emotions were like slow-acting drugs, and they corroded Yue Zhishi’s heart bit by bit. He initially didn’t feel them at all, but gradually, these feelings became stronger. They attacked from time to time, and they caused him to sink into negative illusions for no reason at all.

“Sometimes you can ride a boat here.” Song Yu interrupted his train of thoughts. “We can try our luck next time.”

“Mn.” Yue Zhishi said, “It must be really nice to watch the sunset here, right? Can we come here next time to watch the sunset? When you’re not busy.”

Song Yu nodded.

Yue Zhishi thought about Qin Yan renting a place of his own, so he said carelessly, “I like looking at the lake too. The scenery here’s really nice.”

“Our house might be really big, but we can only see the greenery in our neighbourhood. It must be wonderful to be able to see the lake from the balcony.”

He was very satisfied just by visualising it. Yue Zhishi looked all around him, realising there were more people at the corner of the plank bridge where the person had just jumped off. They were also two men, but they leaned against each other closer than he and Song Yu were, their heads almost laying on each other.

Yue Zhishi was a bit curious, so he peeked at them for a little while longer. He noticed in shock that they were holding hands, and their fingers were even intertwined.

An undefinable feeling emerged in his heart at this; the next second, where his eyes could see, the guy on the right turned his head over and kissed the person next to him very briefly. The kiss was very quick, and because of his bold action, his face was covered by a shy and lovely smile. 

The sky was now fully dark, the surface of the lake glistening. Those secret, concealed emotions were blown away by the wind and scattered into those glittering fragments, dissolving into the lake water.

“What are you looking at?” Song Yu subconsciously followed Yue Zhishi’s line of sight and looked over. He also noticed that pair of men, but he didn’t say anything.

Yue Zhishi turned his face around. His head lowered, the palms of his hands braced by the stones on the plank road. He uneasily swung his dangling legs. “Nothing.” 

He may have said that, but Yue Zhishi was still not used to concealing anything from Song Yu. So after two seconds, he looked over and said to Song Yu, “They kissed just now. I saw it.”

Song Yu wasn’t as surprised as he’d expected, only calmly saying, “Really.”

Yue Zhishi nodded at him. “They were even holding hands.”

He realised very belatedly that the two men kissing didn’t actually make him think about the video he’d been accidentally forced to watch during his junior high graduation. On the contrary, he found the kiss very pure — especially the smile on the face of the guy kissing.

He was so cute — he must really like his boyfriend.

Seeing Yue Zhishi not speaking, Song Yu wondered if he needed to say something, but unexpectedly, Yue Zhishi asked him, “Gege, would you find it very weird for them to kiss?”

When he spoke, Yue Zhishi shifted the hands he’d braced on the plank. The tips of his fingers touched Song Yu’s — they were a bit cold. Song Yu looked at Yue Zhishi and moved his eyes away as if he was totally unconcerned. He spoke flatly, “What’s weird about it? It’s nothing to do with us.”

It was like he wasn’t asking a question in return and was only making a simple statement.

“Then can you accept two guys being together?”

Faced with Yue Zhishi’s question, Song Yu fell into a kind of deadlock — he didn’t want to give any kind of guidance, and yet he also didn’t want to say anything against his own heart.

“It’s not up to me whether I accept it or not. It’s their business.”

His words sounded a bit too heartless, so Song Yu added, “As long as they truly like each other, they have done nothing wrong.”

“That’s true,” Yue Zhishi softly echoed, as if he was convincing himself.

Song Yu realised he had a truly unfeeling heart. The person he liked was right in front of him, and that person was asking him a question he could use to publicly reveal his hidden love. And yet he still didn’t do anything — because he was an older brother.

The relationship between them was like a bubble that would burst at being touched. Yue Zhishi was free to act as recklessly as he wanted, but he needed to act with great care and caution, bearing all of the consequences. 

He hoped he was truly a piece of obstinate rock. He would have no consciousness, and he could continue on stubbornly, without weakening.

The wind cooled down, and Yue Zhishi stuck closely to Song Yu’s arm. It was like he was searching for some warmth, and he once again smelled the pleasant fragrance on Song Yu’s body.

He didn’t know when it started — he wanted to embrace Song Yu, wanted to possess his entire person. At learning that Song Yu had so many memories that he hadn’t been in, Yue Zhishi would feel powerless.

It was like he suffered through a serious illness. He’d originally thought he could chase after someone without asking for anything in return, but he actually wasn’t that generous.

He needed a response — he needed a Song Yu that belonged solely, exclusively to him.

This slightly pathological possessiveness was about to completely devour Yue Zhishi’s heart.

He had no way of continuing their conversation just now, so he sniffed and changed it to something different.

“Gege, when’s the next time you’re going out for fieldwork?” Yue Zhishi asked.

Song Yu said he wasn’t sure, and Yue Zhishi asked again if he could follow along. Song Yu refused. “It’s a bit dangerous.” 

Yue Zhishi yielded very sensibly. “Then you’ll bring me back some stones, right?”

He turned his face, looking at Song Yu. “Only for me.”

“I will.” Song Yu gave him a firm promise. “But these stones are useless. You don’t research them, so they’re meaningless to you.”

“Then will they be more meaningful if you give them to other people?”

Song Yu frowned at Yue Zhishi’s abrupt question. “Why are you asking that?”

Yue Zhishi wasn’t able to respond and didn’t give him an answer.

He suddenly felt a deep sense of insecurity in each and every area. He was frightened — someone who might make Song Yu care more for them might appear, and then he’ll no longer have his position in Song Yu’s life. He was even more frightened of Song Yu suddenly disappearing one day and never coming back. 

“I just don’t want you to give things to other people. Is that okay?”

Song Yu keenly sensed the change in Yue Zhishi, so his heart softened very quickly. He raised his hand, lightly stroking the top of Yue Zhishi’s head. “Okay.”

He didn’t want to disappoint Yue Zhishi. “I’ll do my best to find different mementos for you. They might not be worth so much every time, so don’t expect too much.” 

Yue Zhishi pulled out the turquoise Song Yu had given him, lowering his head to stare at that sliced and glowing, blue side. “That’s okay. I’ll be really happy no matter what you give me.”

These gifts that crossed mountains and rivers — he’ll safely guard all of them.

“Why?” Song Yu abruptly wanted to ask, so he blurted out the question.

This time, Yue Zhishi was very honest. “Because if I know you’ll give me a present once you come back, it’ll be easier for me to accept you leaving.” 

Hearing those words, only then did Song Yu understand.

Yue Zhishi had actually heard the things Qin Yan had said at the dinner table, the jokes about him learning how to rock climb in case of accidents. He’d only pretended he didn’t hear, pretending he was focusing on eating; he didn’t want them to feel awkward around the dinner table because of him.

Song Yu also suddenly realised — in fact, Yue Zhishi wasn’t as absent-minded or as easy to trick as he’d thought.

It had been a long time since he’d been a child who didn’t understand anything.

“Gege.” His voice dropped. “You can go to very far away places, or very dangerous places, if you really want.” 

Yue Zhishi’s hand was clenched so tightly. It wasn’t that he must have mementos — he wasn’t that childish. Even if someone who might give more meaning to those stones truly appeared, that was fine too.

“But you can’t forget — I’m still waiting for your present.”

Yue Zhishi only wanted one promise from Song Yu, one habit, that would make him remember to protect himself every single moment. Remember that there was someone waiting for him.

He looked at Song Yu, the lakeside wind blowing high the hair on his forehead and exposing his beautiful features. He opened his mouth, the tone of his voice a rarely heard calm.

“I was too young back then, and I had no way to hold them back. They never returned after they left, and I had no choice but to accept it. But I’m older now. I don’t want to accept anything like that again.” 

“Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me by myself,” Yue Zhishi said.