This was the first time He Qinglan had ever refused Zhou Zhuoyuan’s request. A flicker of anxiety and a heavy wave of guilt crossed his face. “Sorry, Little Yuan. I have to head to Country A for a bit—there’s some family matter I need to handle. I’m really sorry I can’t go with you. Let me check if Pei He has time.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan didn’t mind too much. He’d long since prepared himself mentally for his boyfriend needing to spend the winter break with family. “It’s no big deal. I can go by myself. You don’t need to keep troubling Pei He all the time.”
Pei He was his love rival, but he was also the one who’d played matchmaker for them. He Qinglan had a thick skin when it came to making outrageous requests of him, and Zhou Zhuoyuan sometimes felt bad about it.
If He Qinglan ever asked him to travel with Pei He and take care of him, he’d get jealous enough to pick a massive fight.
He Qinglan hesitated for a moment, acknowledging how much Pei He had helped them lately, but he steeled himself anyway. “I’ll ask him just once. I won’t push it.”
While waiting for Pei He’s reply, after some internal struggle, He Qinglan finally said resolutely, “If he can’t make it, ask Sun Yuqing. If Sun Yuqing’s busy too, then try Ji He. I won’t mind you going off alone with him.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan felt a bit exasperated by his boyfriend’s excessive worrying. “But I actually prefer going solo. I only invited you because I didn’t want to be apart.”
He Qinglan sometimes got completely flustered by his sweet words, but Zhou Zhuoyuan’s litany of big and small health issues quickly brought him back to reality. “No way, Little Yuan. It’s freezing there, and you’d be in a strange place all by yourself. I just can’t relax about it. What if you get sick? I couldn’t fly back from overseas in time.”
Fortunately, Pei He’s message pinged in right then: …What dates?
Seeing Zhou Zhuoyuan’s unhappy expression, He Qinglan leaned in and planted a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll be back before New Year’s, and then I can stick with you nonstop.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan looked puzzled. “Before New Year’s? Don’t your family live abroad full-time?”
He Qinglan nodded. “Yeah, they don’t do New Year’s. Once I wrap things up, I can head right back.”
It had to be something major for He Qinglan to rush off like that.
Zhou Zhuoyuan thought of another issue. “So you’ll be alone here for New Year’s? Won’t that be lonely? No need to hurry back—after the holiday works just fine.” He’d felt pretty lonely spending New Year’s by himself in North City once.
He Qinglan simply replied, “My relationship with my family isn’t great.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan paused, a pang of heartache hitting him. He tugged He Qinglan’s head down and kissed his forehead. “Then I’ll spend New Year’s with you.”
~~~
Zhou Zhuoyuan ended up ranking even higher than expected in the Final Joint Exam, thanks to his rock-solid foundation and sharp aptitude. A blessing in disguise—without many good friends in his first dozen-plus years, he’d had pitifully few distractions and poured all that extra time into studying, laying a sturdy groundwork.
Humming a horribly off-key tune, Zhou Zhuoyuan packed his bags for the trip to North City. The report Zhou Zhuoli had brought back wasn’t stellar but wasn’t awful either. Zhu Wan had okayed a week of fun there, with a return to the Zhou Family three days before New Year’s. But once he was in North City, who was to say when he’d actually come back? It’d be his call.
To make sure he could sit for the Gaokao without issues and keep his date with He Qinglan, though, he only planned to stretch it a couple extra days with an excuse about being sick.
He Qinglan’s flight had departed half a day earlier, so he was already gone. That left Pei He and Guan Qi stuck in the dorm, putting up with the racket Zhou Zhuoyuan was making.
Maybe it was the impending departure from the city, but Zhou Zhuoyuan’s mood was sky-high.
Pei He glowered as he hunted for his earphones, which had gone missing somewhere. Guan Qi, meanwhile, sulked over the fact that they were heading out together without inviting him.
Zhou Zhuoyuan found the earphones and quit humming. He grabbed both suitcases, hauled them to the door, and dumped them there. “Pei He, you ready yet?”
Pei He quietly tucked the earphones back into their case. “I’ve been ready forever.”
~~~
Zhou Zhuoyuan watched the buildings on the ground dwindle into tiny specks, his initial excitement slowly ebbing away.
He pressed his face to the window, staring at the city where he’d spent eighteen years of his life. Back then, he’d bolted from here in a panic on a train and wound up in North City more by accident than design. Now, looking down from this vantage, an inexpressible melancholy stirred in his chest.
This trip felt different from his travels before. This time, it was a farewell in preparation. After the Gaokao, he’d head to Capital City for university and stay there for good, never coming back.
To the Zhou Family as they knew him now, he was still Zhou Zhuoyuan—the one who hadn’t committed some heinous crime yet, the one who could be straightened out. In truth, he was the Zhou Zhuoyuan who already carried a human life on his conscience and had cut ties with the Zhou Family for good.
He would never turn back.
Just a few more months…
A hand suddenly appeared between his forehead and the window. “Far God, you’ve been staring for ages. Mind if I take a photo?”
Zhou Zhuoyuan: “…”
If only he knew that Pei He had secretly spent two hundred bucks trying to start a Crane Top Red Fan Support Group, only to back out at the last minute and get a hundred back. Then he might have had a comeback.
Calming himself, Zhou Zhuoyuan watched Pei He snapping away at the window like mad. “Are you really okay going to North City? It’s just a small city—no famous sights or anything.”
Pei He admired the dozens of nearly identical photos he’d just taken. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got nothing going on anyway, and he’s covering the flight and hotel.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan sighed. “You’re so good to Little Lan.”
Pei He: “?”
He asked awkwardly, “You call him Little Lan? That’s so cheesy.”
Zhou Zhuoyuan hadn’t expected him to fixate on that. “Doesn’t he call me Little Yuan too?”
Pei He got another faceful of affection shoved at him. “But you’ve never called him Little Lan in front of us. Are you doing this on purpose to rub it in?”
Because of Pei He’s long bangs and pitch-black eyes, Zhou Zhuoyuan couldn’t read his expression. But he realized his words might hurt the sensitive Pei He, who was still smarting from his romantic setbacks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I won’t call him that around you anymore.”
Pei He couldn’t figure out where that weird discomfort had come from earlier. Maybe it was because he didn’t have any cute nicknames himself. Little Crane sounded like Little He, and Little Pei was just Little Pei. Was that why his parents always called him “son” over and over?
~~~
Pei He picked up his checked luggage and turned around to find Zhou Zhuoyuan crouched on the ground, inspecting the wheels on both suitcases.
“What’s wrong? Did they get damaged?” he asked.
Zhou Zhuoyuan stood up and gave them a push. One wouldn’t roll at all, and the left wheel on the other went bouncing off on its own.
“That’s the problem,” Zhou Zhuoyuan said helplessly. “I’ll go to the service desk and swap them for new ones.”
The airline’s efficiency was abysmal. By the time they’d filled out the forms, gotten the new bags, and repacked, they’d completely missed the shuttle bus to North City.
It was getting too late, so they decided to spend the night at the airport hotel.
The city with the airport was a hot tourist spot, and it was peak season over winter break. The hotel they picked had only one standard room left. It wasn’t the only option, but Zhou Zhuoyuan wasn’t a fan of the airline’s meals. He’d skipped most of dinner, planning to grab something after landing, but the suitcase fiasco had eaten up their time. Now his stomach was starting to bother him.
This hotel was the closest one. Pei He got Zhou Zhuoyuan settled, then dashed out to buy the wontons he’d spotted on the way.
The airport wontons were overpriced and tasted awful—like the food from the Zhou Family’s original menu. The only upside was they didn’t turn his stomach psychologically.
After eating half a bowl, the discomfort in Zhou Zhuoyuan’s gut eased up. He slumped over the hotel desk, fiddling with his phone, waiting for Pei He to come out of the bathroom.
The northern heating was fantastic. Before long, Zhou Zhuoyuan started dozing off. By the time Pei He emerged, he was out cold, not stirring a muscle.
Pei He: “!”
He rushed over and poked Zhou Zhuoyuan’s nose to check his breathing. Thankfully, it was steady—no wonton-related disaster.
Pei He let out a long breath of relief. Then he noticed a tear slowly trickling from the corner of Zhou Zhuoyuan’s eye, sliding down his cheek and vanishing into the crook of his arm, lost in the folds of his sleeve.
