Tong Xilin knew Zhou Qi all too well.
He felt not the slightest bit of surprise at these words. He flicked his eyelids at him once, then continued counting the steps as they went downstairs.
“There’s no one you don’t find annoying.” Qi Yuan and Pang Xiaoda were still behind them, so Tong Xilin kept his voice low too. “You find everyone annoying.”
“It’s not the same thing.” Zhou Qi clicked his tongue. “Won’t eat the fruit, won’t eat dinner. Been cold to me since the moment he saw me. Does he have a problem with me, or is he always this stuck-up?”
He’s just too mindful of boundaries.
Tong Xilin didn’t know how to explain this psychology to Zhou Qi. Qin Ji worked daily to maintain decorum. He also didn’t want to lay someone else’s situation out in the open.
“That’s just his personality. It’s not aimed at you.” Tong Xilin could only offer this explanation. “Don’t overthink it.”
Qi Yuan was the complete opposite extreme from Qin Ji. He stretched a hand out from behind, hooking one arm around each of their necks—Tong Xilin and Zhou Qi—and shoved his head right between them.
“What secrets are you whispering about?” He asked cheerfully. “Let me listen in too.”
Tong Xilin smiled. He turned his head and waved at Pang Xiaoda, who was lagging behind alone, signaling him to catch up. He suggested: “Let’s go eat barbecue.”
The BBQ restaurant near the school was bustling at this hour. They didn’t even go inside. They found a table outdoors, sitting under the night breeze, chatting.
Students passed by on the road continuously. Everyone seated around them was also around their age—people urging dishes to come faster, laughing and joking over drinking games. The aroma of barbecue mixed with the spirit of youth, giving everyone a wide-open feeling.
With Zhou Qi along, Qi Yuan drank alcohol this time. The two of them together ordered half a case of ice-cold beer.
Pang Xiaoda had originally planned to just have cola again, but infected by their atmosphere, he grabbed a bottle of beer too. Tong Xilin didn’t touch a drop. He took a lemon water.
“Which school’s Brother Qi at?” Qi Yuan thought to ask halfway through the meal. “Far from here?”
“Can’t compare to your key university.” Zhou Qi openly and without embarrassment named his school.
Qi Yuan let out an “Ah” and said it was still pretty close, not far.
“Thought you were in Tianjin too.” Pang Xiaoda casually added.
“So what,” Zhou Qi laughed, “I’m not allowed to come hang out with you guys if I’m not in Tianjin?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Pang Xiaoda quickly laughed and clarified too. “Come more often. When you come, Qi Yuan and I can mooch meals.”
Tong Xilin listened to them chat, chiming in from time to time. The exhaustion from recent military training felt significantly diluted.
As the meal was winding down, when he went to settle the bill with the Boss, he ordered some extra grilled items on the side, packed to take back.
When he returned, he heard Qi Yuan asking Zhou Qi where he’d sleep that night.
“Want me to squeeze in with you for the night?” Zhou Qi tossed a skewer onto Tong Xilin’s plate. “Or you guys don’t go back to the dorm either. Let’s go get a hotel room and stay out.”
“Let’s head back. We can make squeezing in work.” Tong Xilin was thinking about Qin Ji but didn’t say it outright. “If we wake up late tomorrow, we won’t make it in time for training.”
They’d eaten for two hours. By the time they got back to the dorm, as expected, the building was already locked for the night.
Qi Yuan @’d Qin Ji in the dorm group chat, shouting for Brother Ji to hurry down and help.
Qin Ji didn’t reply in the group. He came down directly, very quickly. After swiping them in, he smiled and said to them: “I had a feeling you guys would get locked out.”
“Thank goodness we’ve got you.” Pang Xiaoda couldn’t hold his liquor. One bottle and he was already a bit wobbly, leaning on Qin Ji as they walked upstairs.
Back at the dorm, Qi Yuan went to the bathroom while Pang Xiaoda went to wash up. Zhou Qi, having come empty-handed, sat in his chair waiting for Tong Xilin to get him a change of clothes.
Tong Xilin first handed the packed barbecue to Qin Ji: “Got some extra grilled for you.”
Qin Ji hadn’t expected Tong Xilin to actually bring him something. He’d thought it was just a polite remark. What’s more, Tong Xilin hadn’t just packed him leftovers—he’d specifically spent money ordering fresh items.
He stared at the still-steaming barbecue bag and froze for a moment, then quickly arranged an appropriate expression. Warmly, he said: “I’m really not hungry.”
“Eat a little.” Tong Xilin didn’t argue with him, just placed the bag on his desk. “This place tastes pretty good.”
He went to his cabinet and got Zhou Qi a T-shirt and shorts suitable for sleeping. Just as the two were about to head to the washroom together, Qin Ji, phone in hand, called out to Tong Xilin: “How much was it? I’ll transfer it to you.”
Zhou Qi, leaning against the doorframe with the clothes in hand, had been scrutinizing Qin Ji the whole time. Hearing this, he turned his head toward outside the door and rubbed his nose.
The items he’d ordered for Qin Ji were nearly fifty yuan. Tong Xilin, expression unchanged, said: “Twenty.”
“Thanks.” Qin Ji transferred the money and smiled at him. “Next time I’ll treat you to a meal.”
On the way from the dorm to the washroom, Zhou Qi slowly, leisurely clicked his tongue again.
“Why do you keep clicking your tongue?” Tong Xilin looked at him.
“Find him annoying.” Zhou Qi could say anything to Tong Xilin. “When it comes down to it, he still wants to eat. Told him to come and he wouldn’t. Now he’s pretending to transfer money. Can’t he guess what that bag of stuff actually cost?”
Tong Xilin didn’t respond this time.
After they’d showered and tidied up, he said quietly: “Him and I are the same kind of person.”
If Kong Ji hadn’t taken him back, that is.
“What?” Zhou Qi hadn’t caught that.
“Did you brush your teeth?” Tong Xilin looked at his empty hands.
“Didn’t bring a toothbrush, what am I supposed to brush with?” Zhou Qi dipped a finger in toothpaste and scrubbed messily inside his mouth a couple times. “Don’t be so fussy.”
Zhou Qi had arrived with a thunderous noise. The next day, while Tong Xilin and the others went to military training, he slept in at the dorm. By afternoon, he’d caught a train back.
He wasn’t actually on break after all. He’d just taken advantage of a weekend to come see Tong Xilin and kill time, but he still had to get back.
Military training lasted a full twenty-one days. The entire freshman student body prayed for rain for twenty days. Finally, on the last day, they got it—a torrential downpour.
But this rain came at the wrong time.
If it had rained during regular training time, the instructors would definitely have called for a break. The last day was the inspection ceremony. The school leaders and some regimental commander had all arrived, along with the school newspaper and some media. Never mind rain—even if stones were falling from the sky, it had to proceed.
Though extreme weather was annoying, at a time like this it also brought a certain thrill.
The entire field of students was soaked like drowned rats. Carrying their resentment and their impending sense of liberation, they marched in formation, shouting their slogans loud enough to shake the heavens.
Originally, there was supposed to be a closing ceremony in the afternoon. The rain made it impossible to continue, so it was cut short and dismissed half a day early.
The bathhouse was packed with people. Tong Xilin hurried through a shower, and the whole dorm burrowed into their blankets back in the room.
It was still raining outside. The sky was gray and overcast. Raindrops pattered against the window, making people feel lax and drowsy.
The air conditioning was actually a little cold. Tong Xilin wrapped his blanket tighter and, beneath the covers, rubbed his right calf.
Just as he was drifting off, his phone buzzed beneath the pillow, startling his eyelids into a twitch.
It was a WeChat friend request. A black-and-white profile picture. The request message read: I’m Jiang Lin.
Subconsciously, Tong Xilin switched to the messages screen to look at Kong Ji’s profile picture. It had been almost a month since that last “nudge.”
Puzzled, he accepted Jiang Lin’s friend request and politely greeted him: Uncle Jiang.
Jiang Lin didn’t type back. He replied with a string of laughing voice messages: “Every time you call me Uncle, I always feel like I’m forty or fifty already.”
Tong Xilin didn’t know what to say. He was still struggling to type something in the input box when Jiang Lin’s voice messages came bursting out one after another.
Jiang Lin: “Are you at school right now?”
Jiang Lin: “Got some stuff for you. Was abroad for an exhibition a while back, just got back. Your uncle’s too busy—went straight off to Shanghai. Asked me to bring these over for you.”
Jiang Lin: “I’m almost at your school. Rain’s too heavy—don’t you come out. Just send me your dorm number and I’ll bring it in.”
Tong Xilin sat up in bed, a small knot forming between his brows.
He quickly typed back to Jiang Lin: Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Jiang.
Tong Xilin: The dorms are hard to find. I’ll come out to meet you.
Jiang Lin cheerfully continued sending voice messages: “No worries.”
Jiang Lin: “I’m not there yet. Don’t come out just yet. Wait till I get there and I’ll call you.”
Clutching his phone, he spaced out for a moment. Tong Xilin got dressed and went down to sit at the desk.
The dorm was quiet. Everyone was asleep. Pang Xiaoda was even pulling a string of muffled snores. He opened Kong Ji’s WeChat, looked twice, then closed it. After a while, he opened it again, then closed it again.
The tightly shut curtains kept the dorm room dim. His mood was like the sound of the rain outside—pattering, muffled, heavy.
After waiting nearly half an hour, Jiang Lin sent him a location pin. A phone call followed immediately. Tong Xilin grabbed an umbrella and walked out to meet him.
“Can you find this address I sent?” Jiang Lin asked him.
“Yes.” Tong Xilin took the phone down to look at the location. It was a pharmacy next to the school. “It’ll take me a little while to walk out there. Uncle Jiang, wait for me a bit.”
Jiang Lin said “Ah,” his tone relaxed: “No rush. Take your time coming, don’t get soaked.”
The last time he’d seen Jiang Lin was back in senior year of high school, when he was dorming. Also at the school gate—it was late at night. He and Kong Ji had come back from out of town to bring Tong Xilin things.
Tong Xilin still remembered Kong Ji leaning against the car door, smoking.
In this heavy rain, there weren’t many people on the road now. Tong Xilin fast-walked with bursts of jogging all the way. Through the pouring curtain of rain, he saw Jiang Lin standing under the covered entrance of the pharmacy, lifting an arm toward him.
“Over here!” Jiang Lin called to him.
His shoes and pant legs were already soaked. The pharmacy steps were too slippery. He slipped the moment he stepped on them.
“Careful, careful.” Jiang Lin quickly steadied him. “If you took a fall here, for goodness’ sake, your uncle would turn on me.”
Tong Xilin pursed his lips and smiled. Still not knowing how to respond, he could only greet him again, calling out “Uncle Jiang.”
Jiang Lin had brought him an enormous paper bag—an expensive brand, clearly packed with care. To save space, several pieces of clothing were placed together, along with some small, miscellaneous gifts.
“And this.” Jiang Lin reached toward the pharmacy counter and picked up a small bag. “He checked the weather on his phone and saw it was raining over there. Asked me to buy you a pack of hand warmers.”
Tong Xilin’s fingers curled at his sides. He accepted the hand warmers.
“Hand warmers in the middle of summer. Have you caught a cold?” Jiang Lin asked with concern. “So I just grabbed a box of cold medicine too.”
“Thank you, Uncle Jiang.” Tong Xilin didn’t explain. Through the paper bag, he squeezed the hand warmers again and again.
“Always so polite.” Jiang Lin cheerfully lit a cigarette. “Alright, I’ve given you the stuff. My mission’s accomplished. Head on back in now. I’ve gotta rush back too—piles of things to do.”
Tong Xilin nodded. He saw Jiang Lin off to the curb to catch a taxi, then carried the bag and slowly walked back toward school.
He didn’t go straight into the dorm, afraid of disturbing the others’ sleep.
Pushing open the door to the adjoining utility balcony, he found a sheltered corner, out of the rain and wind. He took a photo of the paper bag and sent it to Kong Ji.
He crouched there, spacing out for five full minutes. Kong Ji’s reply came through: Nothing to say?
Tong Xilin rested his chin on his knee, both arms wrapped around his legs as he typed: Thank you, Uncle.
Kong Ji: Let me see you.
Before Tong Xilin could prepare himself, Kong Ji’s video call request came through.
