Chapter 19
“Shici, your uncle knows your Teacher Bianbian!”
Hearing this, Shici quickened her pace, casually placing the large bag of disposable cups on the table: “Huh?”
She pulled out her chair and sat down, looking at Xiang Ye: “Huh? Really, Uncle?”
Xiang Ye, unlike his niece and cousin, remained calm, looking like he didn’t want to bother with them: “You believe her?”
Shici’s excitement immediately diminished by half. She turned to ask her cousin: “Why did you say that?”
“I… well…” The cousin laughed, placing both hands on the table and staring at Xiang Ye. “Cousin! Tell the truth, do you know Teacher Bianbian?”
Xiang Ye said clearly and concisely: “I don’t.”
Cousin: “Then why did you just now…?”
Xiang Ye retorted: “What did I do just now?”
Cousin: “You just now…”
The cousin turned to look at Shici’s expectant expression: “Oh no, what happened just now?”
Shici said speechlessly: “…Auntie.”
The cousin grabbed her husband’s hand: “Do you remember what cousin said just now?”
The cousin’s husband, clueless: “What?”
Cousin: “…What use are you?”
“This friend,” the cousin’s tone suddenly softened. “Jiang Chaochao?”
Jiang Chaochao snapped back to attention: “Hmm?”
The cousin asked in desperation: “Do you remember what Xiang Ye said just now?”
After she said this, Jiang Chaochao turned to look at Xiang Ye.
Xiang Ye also happened to turn and look at Jiang Chaochao.
Their eyes met.
Jiang Chaochao felt so, so, guilty…
So in the next second, Jiang Chaochao’s gaze returned to the cousin: “What did he say?”
The cousin slowly closed her eyes: “Fine.”
Just then, Xiang Ye suddenly asked Jiang Chaochao: “Do you know what we’re talking about?”
Jiang Chaochao: “Huh? Talking about what?”
Xiang Ye asked again: “What are you thinking about?”
Jiang Chaochao shook his head: “Nothing, just spacing out.”
Xiang Ye: “Bored?”
Jiang Chaochao continued shaking his head: “No, I’m still eating.”
Xiang Ye didn’t ask further, just smiled.
The topic died there.
After everyone finished eating and drinking, they all moved to the back garden. They played cards, fed the fish, took pictures, and spent the rest of the afternoon.
Usually, Sunday gatherings like this would continue into the evening, but because the cousin’s husband and Xiao Jing had dinner plans, Shici had tutoring classes, the cousin had yoga class, Xiang Ye had to meet a client, etc., etc., everyone dispersed around six o’clock.
On the way back, Jiang Chaochao thought about everyone taking turns to explain why they were busy tonight, and couldn’t help but laugh.
His laughter attracted Xiang Ye’s curious gaze.
Jiang Chaochao explained, “I realized I’m the only one free tonight.”
Xiang Ye asked: “What do you usually do at night?”
Jiang Chaochao: “If I’m at home, I watch movies or TV shows. If I didn’t practice the piano during the day, I’ll practice at night. If I go out, I usually meet up with friends for dinner.”
Xiang Ye gave an “mm-hmm”: “What about tonight? What do you plan to do when you get back?”
Jiang Chaochao touched his chin: “You got me there.” He thought for a moment and said, “I was actually expecting to be out tonight too.”
Xiang Ye made a soft “ah” sound: “My fault.”
Jiang Chaochao naturally didn’t mean it that way, but since Xiang Ye said it…
Jiang Chaochao: “Yes, your fault.”
Xiang Ye smiled and asked, “Want to come with me to meet the client?”
Jiang Chaochao: “Huh?”
Xiang Ye said again: “You seem a bit socially anxious.”
Jiang Chaochao: “You can tell?”
Xiang Ye: “Someone was trying very hard to appear sociable.”
Jiang Chaochao: “I wasn’t.”
Xiang Ye didn’t care: “But you were spacing out most of the time.”
Jiang Chaochao laughed: “That’s true.”
Xiang Ye: “I was wondering yesterday if you would be unwilling to come out with me today.”
Jiang Chaochao choked.
Wasn’t it because!
Wasn’t it because…
“The allure of barbecue,” Jiang Chaochao said. “You have no idea how much I was craving barbecue yesterday, and then you came along.”
Xiang Ye: “Really?”
Jiang Chaochao: “Yes.”
Xiang Ye said again: “I noticed someone seemed a bit different today.”
Jiang Chaochao instantly felt awkward. He didn’t even bother arguing, just sat there: “Was I?”
Xiang Ye smiled: “You know I’m talking about you.”
Jiang Chaochao felt even more awkward: “I don’t know.”
Xiang Ye didn’t speak.
“Then tell me,” in the end, Jiang Chaochao couldn’t resist. “How was ‘someone’ different today?”
Xiang Ye’s expression was a triumphant smile.
Jiang Chaochao could only pretend not to see it.
“He was,” Xiang Ye said slowly, “a bit more familiar today.”
Jiang Chaochao: “Oh.”
Xiang Ye continued: “A bit more at ease.”
Jiang Chaochao: “Oh.”
“Was he?” Xiang Ye asked.
Jiang Chaochao looked out the window: “If you say so.”
Xiang Ye reached out and tapped the brim of Jiang Chaochao’s hat again.
“Later,” Xiang Ye said, “I’m going to a seafood restaurant. I’m not the main guest tonight, we’re just going to eat. Interested?”
Jiang Chaochao could picture it.
Quite cute, actually.
But after thinking it over and over, “No, thanks, I’m socially anxious.”
Relatives and friends were one thing, but what was the point of him going with Xiang Ye to a business setting?
Xiang Ye didn’t force him: “Okay,” he said again, “If you get bored, look for me. I’m responsible for not having arranged your evening.”
“Really?” Jiang Chaochao couldn’t help but provoke him. “What if I look for you, what can you do?”
Xiang Ye: “I’ll drop everything and come to you.”
Jiang Chaochao laughed: “Then don’t go now, I’m bored now.”
Xiang Ye: “Okay.”
As he said this, Xiang Ye opened the car’s phone system and clicked on a contact named Mr. Lin.
But just as the call connected, Jiang Chaochao pressed the end call button.
Jiang Chaochao: “Who is this?”
Xiang Ye: “The client tonight.”
Jiang Chaochao: “Are you serious?”
Xiang Ye: “Do I look like I’m joking?”
“I was joking,” Jiang Chaochao surrendered. “Fine, you can go.”
Even though he said that, Jiang Chaochao still couldn’t resist teasing, “Go ahead, leave me alone at home, lonely and with nothing to do, it’s fine.”
Beep.
Xiang Ye dialed Mr. Lin again.
Jiang Chaochao pressed the end call button again.
Then he burst out laughing: “Hahaha, what are you doing?”
Then he said again, “Just take me home, we’re almost there.”
Probably because the call still went through, after driving down another street, Mr. Lin called back.
As if it was his last chance, the moment Xiang Ye answered the call, he gave Jiang Chaochao a look.
Jiang Chaochao mouthed: “You go.”
So next, Jiang Chaochao sat there, listening to Xiang Ye and Mr. Lin talk about this and that, and he also understood that Xiang Ye wasn’t some unimportant minor figure in tonight’s dinner.
Not long after the call ended, they arrived at Jiang Chaochao’s place.
It did seem like they were a bit more familiar now.
No, they were much more familiar. This time, when Jiang Chaochao got out of the car, he simply said “bye-bye,” and Xiang Ye drove away.
A very normal dropping-off-at-home situation.
As if they would do this many more times in the future.
While walking outside, he felt quite normal. It wasn’t until he returned to his room, alone, in the quiet environment, that Jiang Chaochao almost lost his composure.
All the emotions he had suppressed today surged up at once.
Everything he and Xiang Ye had said to each other.
The way Xiang Ye patted his hat and pinched his cheek.
And the sense of belonging he felt beside Xiang Ye.
The things Xiang Ye said…
Damn, he was so happy.
A delayed but even more intense kind of happiness.
What did it all mean?
Jiang Chaochao was a bit confused.
After calming down for a while, Jiang Chaochao opened his phone.
If he didn’t understand, he would ask others.
So he went to a forum he had frequented for a while.
Yes, it was a forum where gay men shared their stories.
He used to come here to read stories.
Today, he was the protagonist.
So next, Jiang Chaochao posted his first ever post.
Title: “Asking, is he really straight?”
As he started writing, Jiang Chaochao realized that this kind of inquiry post was really difficult to write.
Writing too much felt like the background was too long, and it also felt like they had only met a few times, how could there be so much to write about?
But writing too little worried him that the netizens wouldn’t understand, that they wouldn’t have the patience to read a few lines and then leave.
Jiang Chaochao wrote and deleted, deleted and wrote, trying to focus on some of the recent conversations between him and Xiang Ye and their small interactions.
After checking it and feeling it was alright, Jiang Chaochao gritted his teeth and posted it.
Seeing the “post successful” message, he put down his phone and went to take a shower.
He didn’t expect that when he came back, the world had collapsed.
Ten replies, nine of them saying: Straight, next.
Only one slightly gentler one, advising Jiang Chaochao: Bro, get out while you can.
The netizens’ words were colder than Antarctic ice.
Jiang Chaochao was naive. When he posted, he was worried that everyone would be too encouraging, saying things like “Is he even straight?” or “Go for it, bro, what are you thinking?” to boost his morale and confuse him, so he had held back a lot at first.
Now, seeing this result, Jiang Chaochao felt unwilling to accept it.
So he added a few more things that happened today in the comments.
Like Xiang Ye saying he wanted to understand him.
Like Xiang Ye pinching his cheek.
Like Xiang Ye saying he was going to cancel his evening plans to be with him because he hadn’t arranged his evening.
…
After posting these, the post became even more lively.
But lively in what way?
“Bro, this, just this? Not to discourage you, but let me tell you this, the straight guy I like would hold me at night and say, ‘Dude, you smell so good, can I take a bite?’”
“Since that’s the case, bro, let me discourage you too. My straight male friend would secretly prepare fireworks for me on Valentine’s Day, then hold my hand and watch them with me, wishing that I would have a smooth-sailing and happy life.”
“Then, bro, let me join in too. My straight man, even though he’s married, calls me every day. Yesterday he said he missed me a lot and asked if I was free to meet, he wanted to cook for me.”
“Bro, don’t overthink, they’re all straight guys’ tricks.”
“Bro, straight guys often cross boundaries with their bros, we’re just the ones overthinking it.”
Then someone asked:
“Bro, does he know you’re gay?”
Jiang Chaochao replied:
“No.”
That person replied:
“That’s good. Then you’re still pure bros now. Some straight guys, after knowing their friends are gay, will tease them even more. What you should do now, bro, is keep a calm mind and treat him as a friend.”
Then someone else said:
“Agree with the above. If not, bro, get out early, it won’t do you any good. You’ve encountered your straight guy tribulation.”
Jiang Chaochao, who had returned home full of excitement, now felt his heart sink.
Fine.
Okay.
That’s true.
Okay.
Hmph.
Ridiculous, he didn’t even do anything, just asked about the possibility of Xiang Ye being gay.
As if he had done something wrong, he didn’t even like Xiang Ye that much.
Ridiculous.
Jiang Chaochao stopped reading, he exited the app.
Not enough, he killed the app in the background.
Still not enough, he long-pressed the icon and uninstalled the app.
Good.
Enough.
He pursed his lips, lay down on the bed, and found a variety show, projecting it onto the wall.
He lay flat for a while, then turned on his side, then lay flat again, then crossed his legs, but quickly put them down.
Finally finding a comfortable position.
Then he gradually found the variety show funny.
After one episode, Xiang Ye was no longer on Jiang Chaochao’s mind.
That is to say, what Xiang Ye, it was just a new friend he had recently met.
What straight guy tribulation, it wasn’t that dramatic, it wasn’t that serious.
The screen jumped to the next episode, with almost two minutes of ads. Jiang Chaochao took out his phone and scrolled through it for a while.
He routinely checked the group chat and WeChat messages, and after finishing, he went to Weibo.
He was surprised as soon as he opened it.
There was an unread notification “1” for new followers.
—You have a new follower, Hefeng.
Jiang Chaochao couldn’t believe it. He sat up and immediately clicked on this “Hefeng.”
It was Xiang Ye, no mistake.
Xiang Ye, followed, him?
Or did Xiang Ye follow Bianbian?
Jiang Chaochao was confused. What did it mean?
What did it mean?
Jiang Chaochao immediately recalled the conversation between Xiang Ye and his cousin at the barbecue.
When he was listening at the time, he had been wavering between “Probably not?” and “Could he have found out?”
So, so…
What, what did it mean?
Because Teacher Bianbian was his niece’s favorite artist, so he casually followed him?
Was Xiang Ye that kind of person?
Before Jiang Chaochao could figure it out, a message suddenly popped up at the top of his screen.
Jiang Chaochao was startled for the second time today.
Yes, it was Xiang Ye.
XY: “I’m done.”
XY: “I bought you some double-skin milk, are you free? I can bring it up.”
