CH 71

The rain outside the window gradually stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, revealing a crescent moon hidden behind them.

Zhou Qingbo slept peacefully on the bed. Pei You sat by the bedside for a while, seeing that Zhou Qingbo didn’t show any signs of waking up, he stood up gently, pulled aside the curtain, and walked out.

The rescue team had cleared the mountain roads and were heading into town overnight. Only one or two logistics personnel remained in the camp to care for the injured. Pei You followed the sparse lights in the camp, circling around twice, before finding the medical tent somewhat awkwardly.

There were two young people on duty. Pei You explained his purpose and before he could even introduce himself, someone handed him a medical kit.

“Take it.” The young man waved his hand generously, saying, “Use it and just leave it in Xiao Zhou’s tent when you’re done. If we need it, we’ll come get it.”

He spoke in a relaxed manner, with a hint of familiarity that made it seem like he and Pei You weren’t complete strangers, but rather had met before.

Did Zhou Qingbo mention him? Pei You wondered.

But as much as he pondered, Pei You didn’t dwell on this question for too long. He politely expressed his gratitude, then carried the medical kit back to the tent.

Zhou Qingbo maintained the same position as when Pei You left. His arm now rested on the edge of the bed, as if groping for something.

Pei You bent down and lifted his arm back onto the bed, then sat on the bedside, opened the medical kit, and took out a small bottle of iodine solution.

Zhou Qingbo was awakened by a faint stinging sensation on his hand. His sleep quality had been excellent initially—he had always remained unmoved even when there was thunder and lightning amidst strong winds and rain. But these past ten days, with worries on his mind and on standby in the disaster area, his sleep patterns had grown shallower. Even though he had found Pei You now, he still struggled to adjust.

The disinfectant irritation was minimal, and the pain was slight. Zhou Qingbo groggily opened his eyes from his half-sleep state, feeling a coolness first.

Pei You sat by the bedside, his back partially facing Zhou Qingbo. Zhou Qingbo’s arm rested on Pei You’s knee, and he gently applied the medicine and blew on it, as if caring for something fragile.

A gentle breeze brushed across the back of his hand, leaving a warm and ticklish sensation on his skin. Zhou Qingbo blinked his eyes slowly, his gaze fixated on Pei You’s silhouette, near-greedily.

These ten days, without much to eat or a proper place to stay, Pei You had also visibly lost weight. His shoulders had become slender lines under the white T-shirt, exposing only a slim neck.

Due to the limited light, Pei You’s movements were cautious and careful. Occasionally, he would have to get up to fetch a tissue or rearrange a dirty cotton ball.

Perhaps to prevent waking Zhou Qingbo, Pei You didn’t turn on the light. In the dim tent, only the moonlight gently poured in, outlining a faint silver glow on him.

Zhou Qingbo’s thoughts stirred slightly, and as Pei You sat back down by the bedside, he couldn’t help but tighten his arm, hugging Pei You’s waist.

Pei You didn’t even realize he had woken up. He was startled by this sudden action, subconsciously extending his arm to place the iodine bottle back on the folding table.

“Qingbo, you—”

Before Pei You could finish his sentence, Zhou Qingbo had quietly approached, half-closed eyes embracing Pei You from behind, intimately resting his head on Pei You’s shoulder and softly inhaling.

Pei You had lost most of his belongings in the ruins and was currently wearing Zhou Qingbo’s clothes. Although he had tidied himself up, he hadn’t applied any cologne like he usually did. Snuggling against him, Zhou Qingbo could smell the pleasant scent of laundry detergent on his clothes, and suddenly, he remembered that he hadn’t always been a firm advocate of being single.

—That was during his youngest, most adolescent, and most ignorant period. Zhou Qingbo had carried uncertainties and curiosity about his sexual orientation, and he had also fantasized about how his future lover would be.

A young person’s thoughts are simple and straightforward. There were no thoughts about things like “promising future” or “wealthy background.” When he thought about his future late at night, he envisioned the simplest things.

For instance, he imagined his future partner to be gentle, considerate, preferably wearing white shirts, speaking softly and gently, not adhering to tough love or easily causing harm to him.

Teenage love fantasies always carried a slightly tender and innocent flavor, resembling fairy tales while also reflecting a certain self-expectation. They are childishly perplexing.

He, too, like countless seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys, hoped his other half would be gentle, virtuous, and attentive. However, as he grew older and his understanding of his sexual orientation deepened, he became more aware of the process of coming out, as well as the inconvenience it would bring to his relationship with his family. After careful consideration, he simply decided to become an advocate of singlehood.

Perhaps fate is a wondrous thing. It goes round and round, looping back, and eventually brings one back to the starting point after they’ve forgotten all their expectations.

“Poof—”

Thinking of this, Zhou Qingbo suddenly chuckled, playfully snuggling his head onto Pei You’s shoulder.

“Destiny,” Zhou Qingbo’s eyes, accustomed to sunglasses, found it a little hard to adjust to the light, and he subconsciously turned his head away. “It’s just so magical.”

His exclamation was disjointed, leaving Pei You quite puzzled. He couldn’t help but want to turn and look at him.

However, they were too close, and Zhou Qingbo was resting his head on Pei You’s shoulder. When Pei You turned, his profile brushed Zhou Qingbo’s lips, leaving behind a gentle kiss.

“What are you doing?” Zhou Qingbo arched an eyebrow, teasingly asking, “Stealing a kiss from me?”

“…No,” Pei You hadn’t yet grown accustomed to this kind of intimate banter. He cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and shifted the conversation, “What about destiny?”

“Nothing,” Zhou Qingbo kept him in suspense, then slightly turned his head, barely touching Pei You’s cheek with his lips, and smiled, “It just feels like fate, like I was meant to meet you from birth.”

Zhou Qingbo was frank and sincere, never stingy when sharing his feelings. Affection and closeness came naturally to him. Pei You suppressed a smile and lightly responded, “Me too.”

Not only Zhou Qingbo, but Pei You also sometimes felt the sense of “destined to be” between them. At times, he couldn’t help but think that maybe all those more than thirty failed blind dates were merely laying the foundation for meeting Zhou Qingbo.

As they conversed, new messages popped up on the folded table’s phone, lighting up and then dimming the screen, casting a soft glow on Pei You’s profile.

Zhou Qingbo squinted his eyes as he was momentarily uncomfortable with the light. He was about to turn away when Pei You noticed and shielded his eyes. Pei You reached for the phone and adjusted the screen brightness to the lowest level.

Zhou Qingbo found Pei You’s consideration and protection rather comforting. He lazily squinted his eyes again and asked in a muffled voice what the messages were about.

“Seems like it’s a WeChat message,” Pei You said. “From the group here in the disaster area, asking about you.”

Zhou Qingbo made friends easily. On his way here, he had encountered countless people, from his fellow rescue team members to survivors he had helped. People had heard about his “searching from afar” efforts and spontaneously formed a group to inquire about his whereabouts.

Now that they suddenly heard someone reporting that he had been found, those in the group were growing curious.

Zhou Qingbo was feeling a bit slow due to exhaustion. He responded to the messages and only then belatedly remembered that Pei You’s photo was still on his locked screen. However, now that he had seen it, it was too late to hide it. Zhou Qingbohanded the phone over to Pei You, taking the initiative to “explain.”

“I took that picture secretly. I actually wanted to tell you the next day, but I forgot,” Zhou Qingbo mumbled softly, “Later, when I came out to look for you, I found the screenshot in my album and remembered.”

“Since I couldn’t find you, I set this picture as my wallpaper and looked at it during breaks,” Zhou Qingbo said.

At that time, Zhou Qingbo’s state of mind was a bit unstable. He always felt that the only faint and fragile connection between him and Pei You was this picture. It was almost as if that photo was to disappear, any trace of Pei You’s existence in his life would vanish as well.

Such a state of mind was clearly abnormal. Therefore, Zhou Qingbo eventually set the photo as his wallpaper. Whenever he had a moment, he would take it out and look at it to ease his longing and “stabilize his emotions.”

Whenever the days of their disconnection were mentioned, Pei You’s mood became somewhat complicated. He subconsciously held Zhou Qingbo’s hand, gently caressing it twice, then asked, “So, the rescue team members know me because of you?”

“Um… probably,” Zhou Qingbo thought for a moment and said, “I haven’t shown them your photo though. But If they recognize you, it must be from seeing you with me.”

Pei You’s heart felt sour and bittersweet. He couldn’t resist but reach out and touch the bruise on Zhou Qingbo’s hand.

“In fact, I also…” Pei You paused, seemingly searching for the right words, then hesitated for a while before continuing, “I was also anxious. When I couldn’t reach you, I kept having nightmares. In my dreams, I went back to Beijing to find you, wanting to talk to you about the topic we had agreed on before. But in my dream, you told me that going through anxious days just once was enough, and more than that was pointless, so you weren’t planning to be with me.”

“Really?” Zhou Qingbo chuckled softly, unable to resist teasing him. “Am I that petty in your dreams?”

“No,” Pei You didn’t catch his teasing tone and hurriedly explained, “It’s just… I felt bad for making you worry. I promised you that I’d always answer your calls and never go silent again, but I didn’t fulfill that promise.”

It’s okay,” probably seeing that Pei You was genuinely blaming himself, Zhou Qingbo, unusually soft-spoken, didn’t escalate the matter. Instead, he said gently, “It’s not your fault.”

“But it’s still best not to let it happen again,” Zhou Qingbo said with a smile. “My heart is a bit fragile. It can’t handle too many storms. It might shatter into pieces.”

Pei You softly acknowledged, and after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly said, “When I was arranging your luggage earlier, I saw the piece of paper.”

Zhou Qingbo blinked slightly, took a moment to register what he meant, then made a thoughtful sound. While lightly playing with Pei You’s fingers, he said, “What’s wrong? Did I write it messily?”

Zhou Qingbo was willing to go to great lengths for Pei You, but if Pei You found out about his efforts, he wouldn’t pretend to be virtuous and hide it. He straightforwardly admitted, “I couldn’t help it. I was so anxious at the time that I just wrote down any possible scenario.”

“Not messy, it’s good.” When Pei You brought up this matter, his mood seemed to dampen. He shook his head, hesitated for a while, and then said, “You’ve worked hard to find me.”

“Indeed,” Zhou Qingbo half-closed his eyes, hummed twice, and muttered, “When we’re back in Beijing, you’ll have to compensate me well… a bit more.”

It seemed that Zhou Qingbo didn’t want to dwell on this topic for too long. He also didn’t want Pei You to get caught up in this. As soon as he finished speaking, he tightened his arm around Pei You’s waist, gently pulling him back onto the bed with him.

“Feeling tired,” Zhou Qingbo yawned and said, “Let’s not talk about this. Just sleep.”

“Wait… wait a second.” Successfully diverted by Zhou Qingbo, Pei You struggled subconsciously. He said, “I haven’t given you your medicine yet.”

“No need.” Zhou Qingbo was incredibly drowsy and didn’t waste any time. He simply “suppressed” Pei You and declared firmly, “Physical injuries don’t matter. You should first make up for the emotional distress you caused me.”

Pei You: “…”

It was evident that Zhou Qingbo had indeed suffered quite a bit of “emotional distress.” He wrapped his arms around Pei You’s waist and held him like a large body pillow. To Pei You’s surprise, his attempts to pull away didn’t work; Zhou Qingbo was clinging on tightly.

“Alright,” Pei You compromised and said, “Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?”

Where did he not feel discomfort? Zhou Qingbo thought to himself. His back hurt, his arms were weak, his legs were sore, and there was a strange swelling sensation. However, Zhou Qingbo had grown used to discomfort during this time and assumed it was due to muscle strains. He kicked off his shoes beside the bed and mumbled a vague no

With Zhou Qingbo’s arms still wrapped around him, Pei You had almost forgotten about his earlier decision to stay awake all night. As he listened to Zhou Qingbo’s even and continuous breathing beside his ear, he unconsciously relaxed his body and fell asleep while still leaning against him.

For the past ten days, this was the first truly peaceful sleep Pei You had. He had a dreamless night, and he only woke up when it was already bright outside the tent due to the noisy commotion.

Probably aware of Zhou Qingbo’s habits, the rescue team members didn’t rush to open the tent but rather stood at the entrance and called out to him. They informed Zhou Qingbo that the rescue team was planning to enter the town that day and that he should gather at the assembly point.

However, Zhou Qingbo was in such a deep sleep that he didn’t react to their calls. Pei You slipped out from his embrace and was about to shake Zhou Qingbo’s shoulder to wake him up when he noticed that Zhou Qingbo’s body was unusually warm and burning up.