CH 67

Chapter 67: Overtones

Yue Zhishi recovered a bit of consciousness from his heavy slumber when his alarm rang for the second time. Keeping his eyes closed, he stretched out an arm and aimlessly groped around for a long while before he finally found his phone; he poked at the screen multiple times before the alarm turned off.

He wasn’t fully conscious yet. He squinted, wanting to see what time it was, and numbly pressed on the power button on the side. It was 9:03am. He’d initially prepared to go back to sleep, but abruptly, he realised the home screen was foreign to him — he only then realised it was Song Yu’s phone. 

Their phones were the same model and the same colour, and even their cases were the same. Yue Zhishi had bought his phone copying Song Yu. 

Only his home screen was of an anime character he liked, while the phone in his hand showed a photo. It was the sun setting across the edges of Lingbo Gate, resplendent shards of gold scattered amongst the gleaming shimmers of the lake. 

He clearly was barely awake, and yet just that one photo scraped against the soft spot in Yue Zhishi’s heart. It wasn’t the lake he saw, nor the sunset — but rather Song Yu, as he sat on the bench by the side of the lake, alone.

Yue Zhishi didn’t dare think about what kind of mood he had been in as he took the photo. 

Only one thin, pure white curtain was drawn in the room, and the autumn sunlight shone through, filling up the entire space. Yue Zhishi put down the phone and snuggled back under his blanket; Song Yu was lying on his side next to him. His sleeping face was very still, but it was somewhat gentler compared to how he usually looked. Yue Zhishi moved in until they were very close together, and he quietly focused on this face he’d looked up at since he was a child. 

He’d never thought Song Yu would like him. That option had long been eliminated from his mind through both the ethical rules and common values of being a little brother. But the strange thing was, Yue Zhishi also hadn’t thought Song Yu would end up liking someone else. Born with a cold yet handsome face, he was self-disciplined, outstanding and reserved — it was expected for others to chase after him, but he would definitely never stop and wait for someone else. 

And yet that person had waited for him for so many years. 

Despite saying just stay where you are and wait for me, he’d hesitated and not dared to move forward, turning into the actual person who’d stood still and waited.

Yue Zhishi half rose, not wanting to wake him up. He very lightly leaned over and kissed Song Yu’s lips; his original plan was to give a brief morning kiss, but because he was reluctant to leave, he stayed for a few more seconds and ended up losing control. 

He didn’t know when Song Yu’s arm had wrapped around his back. It held down his lower waist and immediately flipped him over, pressing him into the soft mattress as Song Yu deepened their kiss.

Song Yu’s other hand caught one of Yue Zhishi’s wrists and pinned it next to his pillow. As Yue Zhishi closed his eyes, Song Yu slid his fingers through the gaps between Yue Zhishi’s fingers, interlacing them together a bit forcefully.

Yue Zhishi called out gege from time to time in the midst of their kiss. His voice was soft and breathy, and his free hand rested on Song Yu’s back, fingers gripping his cotton pyjamas. He really enjoyed the feeling of Song Yu pressing him down with his entire bodyweight; he felt highly secure, so tightly surrounded by him that no one would be able to split them apart.

Stopping while he still could, Song Yu retreated just as the kiss deepened to a certain point.

Yue Zhishi was breathless. “When did you wake up? I didn’t even realise…”

Song Yu gave the side of his neck an extremely soft kiss. His voice still slightly scratchy, he said, “When the alarm rang.”

“You know how to fake sleep too well.” Yue Zhishi’s voice carried a touch of complaint, like a child grumbling about being fooled. He pulled his neck away and pushed at Song Yu’s chest. “Were you waiting for me to steal a kiss from you? Do you feel particularly pleased with yourself?” 

After propping himself up, Song Yu caught Yue Zhishi’s face in between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing those cheeks until Yue Zhishi’s lips poked out. He gave him a smooch, truthfully saying, “I wasn’t waiting. I didn’t think you’d do something like that.”

Yue Zhishi’s heart once again melted into a puddle, and when Song Yu let go of him, he hugged Song Yu’s arm, saying he wasn’t allowed to think like that in the future and asking if he slept well last night.

“Yes.” Song Yu adjusted the slightly curly hair on Yue Zhishi’s forehead. “I fell asleep really quickly while holding you.” 

On his first day of being nineteen years old, Yue Zhishi was very satisfied at Song Yu having had a solid night of sleep. It was as though it was foreshadowing that both he and Song Yu would have great fortune in the upcoming year.

But in his heart, he rapidly shoved away that thought. He reorganised his thoughts, and thought it was fine if he wasn’t lucky — as long as all his luck was given to Song Yu.

Yue Zhishi pretty much never lingered in bed unless he was with Song Yu. His habit of always being early was also learned from Song Yu, but whenever they slept together in the same bed, Yue Zhishi especially liked to laze about and idle away some time. 

Except he’d promised to have lunch together with everyone — as the birthday boy, there was no way he could be late.

After cleaning up, Yue Zhishi took off his shirt and suddenly remembered he’d left his dorm in a fluffy pair of pyjamas. He couldn’t wear it out in public, and so he stood at the side of the bed in a daze. Song Yu saw red spots dotted across his upper body, spreading from his neck to his belly. He’d clearly already held back his strength, and yet he still left behind marks.

He shifted his eyes away and pulled out a black button-down shirt and a pair of long pants, giving them to Yue Zhishi.

Yue Zhishi had a narrow waist, and Song Yu guessed his pants wouldn’t fit. He went downstairs to grab the belt they’d undone and had chucked on the floor.

The living room was more disordered than he’d thought. Clothes were messily scattered everywhere, and his glasses were also left on the rug. If it had been a normal day, Song Yu would’ve never been able to tolerate something like this at all.

Picking up his glasses, he placed it on top of the cabinet and started to clean up their clothes. For some reason, he subconsciously cleared his throat when he saw the smears left on his black knit, and then he threw all of the clothes together into the washing machine.

He went back upstairs with his belt, and he heard Yue Zhishi quietly humming as he arrived at the door of their room. His two hands were shaking out that large blanket, and he bent over, earnestly straightening out the bed. He was only wearing the black shirt Song Yu gave him earlier, his pair of slender, straight and long legs openly exposed. He was barefoot.

Song Yu knocked on the door, and only then did Yue Zhishi sharply turn his head around, immediately breaking into a smile when he saw him.

“Why aren’t you wearing pants?” Song Yu pulled his eyes away from his legs and focused on Yue Zhishi’s face.

“I was waiting for your belt, or else they’d just fall down.” Finishing with the bed, Yue Zhishi swept out a hand towards him, as though he was a little child in kindergarten waiting for his teacher to praise him for folding his blanket after his afternoon nap. “Look.”

Song Yu threw the belt onto the bed, strictly ordering him to put on his clothes. He paused for a moment, and then he asked, “Do you dress like this in your dorm too?”

Yue Zhishi was sitting on the bed, pulling on his pants. “How could I? The dorm’s so cold.”

Was that the point?

Somewhat helplessly, Song Yu went towards his closet and found a cream-coloured woollen sweater Yue Zhishi could wear. He repeated, “You can’t dress like that outside.”

“I knowww,” Yue Zhishi said, dragging out the last syllable. He fastened the belt and promised, “I definitely won’t catch a cold or a fever again.”

As he listened to Yue Zhishi’s entirely oblivious words, Song Yu started to wonder if the person in front of him was the same Yue Zhishi who’d lured him into doing wrong things last night. 

“But my throat’s a bit sore this morning. I keep wanting to cough.” Yue Zhishi leaned his head over, rubbing his Adam’s apple. He softly mumbled, “Don’t know why.”

Song Yu cleared his throat self-consciously as he remembered something completely unsuitable for the current moment.

“Drink more water,” he said, his words completely useless.

“These gold cuff buttons are so pretty.” Yue Zhishi raised his hands and looked at his cuffs. He lowered them, looking at himself in the mirror, and said, “I’ve been so busy since school started. It’s been a long time since I cut my hair — it’s so long now.”

Song Yu gazed at Yue Zhishi’s reflection in the mirror. The wavy brown hair on his forehead was long enough to cover his cheekbones, and he’d pushed half of it behind his right ear. The hair at his neck had also grown out, partly hiding the mole on his nape. With his head half-lowered, Yue Zhishi was buttoning up that loose, comfortable sweater on his body with his pale and slender fingers. His eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes, and the shirt collar was half-open, revealing a faint red mark on his collarbone.

Compared to how youthful and spirited he used to look, Yue Zhishi, now wearing Song Yu’s clothes, seemed to have an extra air around him — it was subtle and languid, created from the aftermath of satisfying desire.

He walked over and secured the buttons on Yue Zhishi’s black shirt all the way up to the very top.

“It’s hard to breathe like this.” Yue Zhishi didn’t want to cooperate.

“You might start coughing if your throat gets cold,” Song Yu said, having found a more reasonable excuse for his desire to monopolise Yue Zhishi.

They were meant to all meet up at 12pm, with Jiang Yufan having booked the restaurant. Serving Hunan-style food, it was a restaurant Yue Zhishi very much enjoyed, and Jiang Yufan had sent Song Yu a message earlier in the morning, even saying Yue Zhishi hadn’t returned to their dorm all night.

Song Yu replied saying he knew, and drove over with Yue Zhishi.

When they arrived below the restaurant, Yue Zhishi detached his seatbelt and was about to hurry out — but Song Yu didn’t undo the locks in the door. “Wait a minute.”

He opened a storage container next to his hands and pulled out a very exquisite, midnight blue gift box covered in velvet. He offered it to Yue Zhishi.

“What’s this?” Yue Zhishi took it, eyes gazing at Song Yu.

“Birthday present,” Song Yu simply replied.

Opening it, Yue Zhishi saw an elegant mechanical watch. It was covered with sapphire glass, and radial waves unfurled across the watch face like water on a lake, a faint, cool blue sheen reflecting under the the sunlight. The indices, hour and minute hands were a silvery white, and the long and slim second hand was a beautiful sea blue.

“It’s gorgeous.” Yue Zhishi’s eyes were glowing. He held up the watch, flipping it over, and realised he knew this brand. He tugged over Song Yu’s hand. “Is this the same brand as the watch I bought for you?” 

But the watch Song Yu gave him was clearly much more expensive.

“Mn.” Taking the watch, Song Yu helped Yue Zhishi put it on; the size of the watch face he’d chosen was just right for Yue Zhishi’s wrist. He looked over it and nodded, as though he was satisfied with the result of what he’d spent many days choosing. “It really suits you.”

“I’m now a guy who owns a watch too!” Yue Zhishi held his wrist a bit further away and then looked towards Song Yu. “Was this really expensive?”

“It was okay.” Song Yu asked him if he liked it, and Yue Zhishi excitedly nodded, saying, “Of course.” In reality, even if Song Yu had given him a printed birthday card, he still would’ve happily displayed it on his desk to look at every day. 

“This definitely costs more than the one I gave you.” Yue Zhishi pursed his lips. “Wait until I start earning some money and then I’ll buy you a better one, okay?”

“No need.”

As though he was afraid Song Yu thought he wouldn’t be able to afford it, Yue Zhishi immediately said, “I’m going to be a lawyer in the future, I’ll definitely be able to earn lots of money.”

“I know, little lawyer.” The corners of Song Yu’s mouth lightly curled up. Lowering his eyes, he looked at the watch he’d worn for so many years as it sat on his wrist. “But this one is already very good.”

Yue Zhishi drew his wrist over. The watch he’d gifted still looked like new; there were almost no signs of wear as a faint porcelain glow diffused from the black watch face. After nine years, he too received a watch from Song Yu from the same brand — it was like serious, yet long in coming, answer.

“Does this count as a couple watch?” He beamed, gazing at Song Yu.

“Yes.” Song Yu stroked his cheek and brought him in.

Only very close friends were invited to this birthday lunch, and most of them were also from Wuhan U. Yue Zhishi still needed to go home for dinner later that night. He and Song Yu entered the booked room one after another, and they saw Qin Yan, Jiang Yufan and their girlfriends already sitting inside.

Seeing Yue Zhishi, Jiang Yufan said, “Le Le, you’re finally here. Shen Mi and senior Nan Jia just left to buy milk tea. Xiao Cheng said he can’t come, his mom’s sick so he had to rush back to take care of her.”

Xiao Cheng was the dorm mate Yue Zhishi had gone to buy instant noodles with. Yue Zhishi nodded and asked about their other dorm mate. “What about brother Yang?” 

“He’s been called by his instructor to get some work done. Probably won’t be able to come.”

Qin Yan sighed. “Instructors all love ordering about you new students who still listen to them. It’s fine, it’ll get better once you get past this year.” He looked at Song Yu. “Did you two come together? Your little brother asked you to pick him up?” 

“Mn,” Song Yu vaguely replied, walking over to sit on Qin Yan’s right hand side. Yue Zhishi also followed, sitting close to him, and after they’d finished ordering dishes, Shen Mi and Nan Jia came back with milk tea. The restaurant room instantly came alive.

Nan Jia was sitting next to Yue Zhishi. “Here, the green milk tea you like. Half sugar.”

“Thank you, senior.” Yue Zhishi took it from her, poking through the top with a straw, and drank a large mouthful. Qin Yan’s hand accidentally slipped as he was poking through his own straw, and his drink spilled over the table, dripping a bit onto Song Yu’s pants.

“Aiyah, sorry sorry, my fault, let me kneel in apology.” Thinking Song Yu might explode with his obsession with cleanliness, Qin Yan kept madly apologising. But surprisingly, Song Yu seemed to be in a good mood, and he only stood up, walking away after he said he was going to clean himself up.

“Oh, right, Le Le.” Jiang Yufan lifted his head to look at him as he snapped apart a pair of chopsticks for his girlfriend. “Where’d you run off to last night? You didn’t even bring your phone. When Xiao Cheng said you weren’t coming back after he came back up, I even thought he was joking.”

“Well…” Yue Zhishi was nibbling on his straw, his eyes slightly evasive. 

Qin Yan joked, “Le Le, you wouldn’t have found someone behind your brother’s back, right?” He leaned over Song Yu’s chair and looked at Yue Zhishi. “Hurry and tell me, which little lady’s got her hands on you?”

“No one has,” Yue Zhishi immediately denied.

“Then where’d you go?” Jiang Yufan worriedly said. “You guys wouldn’t know this, but he ran out wearing his pyjamas and house slippers.”

“Really?” Nan Jia studied Yue Zhishi’s clothes and shoes, her eyes ending up on the gold buttons on his cuffs. The longer she looked at them, the more they seemed familiar, as though she’d seen them somewhere before.

Yue Zhishi was seriously panicking; his ears started to burn as he thought about the things that had happened last night, and his brain promptly went into disarray. He wasn’t good at lying to begin with, and now, he was even more unable to give them an excuse.

He didn’t expect Shen Mi to speak. He was smiling, voice careless. “I called him out last night to an internet cafe. We booked a room and played games all night. Didn’t he just finish his preliminary round? I wanted to take him out to relax.”

Without considering why Shen Mi helped rescue him, Yue Zhishi grabbed his excuse like it was a lifeline. “That’s right, I hung out with him at an internet cafe all night.” 

Jiang Yufan unconsciously helped him patch up his story. “You wouldn’t have gone back to the dorm for a change of clothes this morning, would you? The three of us left super early, and we didn’t bump into you.”

“That’s right.” Yue Zhishi nodded his head in agreement like a chicken pecking rice, and he threw a grateful look at Shen Mi, who’d saved him from disaster.

“Let’s eat, let’s eat,” Shen Mi called out. He then turned around and asked Nan Jia, “Senior, weren’t you talking about the arts festival’s preliminary round earlier on the way here? How about it, do you have any front line news you can leak out?”

Nan Jia didn’t seem to be paying much attention. She didn’t hear what Shen Mi had said, and she waited until he repeated his question before nodding. “Yes.” She smiled as she looked at Yue Zhishi. “Le Le, I was sorting out the evaluation forms from the judges yesterday, and I saw your score was really high. All the comments were also really good, so you’ll definitely be able to get into the school team.”

“Are you serious?” Yue Zhishi was extremely happy. “That’s fantastic news. Then I can start getting ready for the upcoming competitions.” 

“That’s right. The results will be announced in the next few days, and then I’ll have a meeting with you and your other teammates.” Nan Jia patted his shoulder. “You’re our law school’s new rising star this year. Tell me if you’re lacking anything, I’ll do my best to help you.”

“I’m not lacking anything.” Catching Nan Jia’s hand, Yue Zhishi swung it up and down and didn’t stand on ceremony at all. “But I really need a beautiful female model. It’d be best if she was beautiful enough to be the school flower, and still be beautiful no matter what kind of clothing she wore.” 

The entire table burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe the law school’s school flower and school grass bargain like this in private!” 

“Hahahahaha you set yourself up for that, senior Nan Jia.”

Nan Jia was also laughing so hard she couldn’t sit straight. “Fine fine fine, how could I refuse after you begged me? Then you have to design a beautiful dress for me.”

“I will I will, I’ll give the best-looking one to you.” 

Song Yu opened the door to the room, heading back to his seat. He didn’t interrupt, seeing their gleeful chatter, and only poured a cup of hot water for Yue Zhishi to let it cool down. 

“Not bad, not bad. I’ll wait to watch Le Le at the finals.” Qin Yan grabbed a bit of the cold appetisers for his girlfriend, and then teased again, “Since you’ve passed the preliminary round, then I guess our Le Le didn’t waste last night’s internet cafe room.”

Frowning, Song Yu turned his head and looked at Yue Zhishi. “Internet cafe?”

Qin Yan explained to him, “Oh, you didn’t hear yet? Your brother went behind your back last night and stayed overnight at an internet cafe with this Shen Mi here. They played games all night. I didn’t expect him to also be someone addicted to the internet.” 

“Really?” Song Yu pushed up the glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, sounding rather thoughtful. 

“What’s wrong with it?” Qin Yan thought Song Yu wasn’t happy, and so he went to stand next to Yue Zhishi, speaking for Song Yu. “I think this older brother of yours is so strict he’s almost like a dad. It’s beyond normal for an eighteen, nineteen year old boy to play games somewhere overnight. Someone as obedient as Le Le is ridiculously hard to find. Am I right, Le Le.” 

With his face covered with a look that said aren’t I so loyal, he raised his chin at Yue Zhishi — but Yue Zhishi was silently begging him to speak less.

Song Yu gazed at Yue Zhishi’s direction, and his voice seemed fairly calm. “Do you think I’m strict?”  

“No,” Yue Zhishi swiftly said without even thinking about it. “My gege is the kind of good gege that’s ridiculously hard to find.” 

Everyone around the table chuckled in amusement. “Le Le, how could you be so cute.”

Song Yu stared at Yue Zhishi and arched an eyebrow. He inquired, voice deep, “What game was so fun to play?”

Yue Zhishi pressed his lips together, his heart running. With a very light voice, he weakly replied, “…it was just a normal game.”

At this moment, Shen Mi didn’t come out to help him, and he looked entirely like he had no relationship with him at all, knowing nothing except how to drink his milk tea.

“Looks like you didn’t enjoy yourself enough.” Song Yu’s hand was gently wrapped around the white porcelain cup, his thumb lightly rubbing against the smooth surface. He spoke with an indifferent voice, clean from any inflection, but only the two of them seemed to be able to understand the words that came out of his mouth.

“I, I did….” Yue Zhishi pretty much couldn’t continue further, his face about to go up in flames. 

“Take me along next time?” Song Yu curved down his head, gazing into his eyes.

Yue Zhishi’s Adam’s apple slid up and down, and he meekly nodded, whispering, “Okay.” 

The author has something to say:

Refined_rascal_unlocked

Without his previous love rival annoying him, Song Yu wouldn’t have even realised he had the ability to drive a high speed rail train while sitting at the dining table