Chapter 35

“We’re screwed, we’re screwed.” Du Miaomiao scrambled up from the edge of the bed, frantically stuffing the masturbation cup back into its box. “Your uncle saw it… I mean, your brother… He’s not gonna think we got that as a gift for you, is he?”

“Now that’s what I call thoughtful,” Gao Xia muttered under his breath.

“He won’t.” Watching the two of them act like they’d been caught doing something wrong was pretty amusing. Qin Zui decided not to tell them where the cup had actually come from. He just took the box from Du Miaomiao and put it back on the bookshelf.

When they filed out of the bedroom one by one, Jiang Chu and Lu Yao were sitting on the couch watching TV. Lu Yao had Zhou Teng cradled in her arms, stroking him as she animatedly introduced Jiang Chu to the number one, two, and three idols featured in some variety show.

Jiang Chu was leaning back on the sofa, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. Qin Zui could tell he wasn’t interested. He was listening with a nonchalant air, but was still laughing and going along with Lu Yao.

“Wow, that many idols? I thought you only liked Qin Zui,” Gao Xia said, picking up the half-eaten cake to finish it off.

“That’s different.” Lu Yao pouted. Her fondness for Qin Zui had never been much of a secret. “I like Shen Teng too. Does that mean I can’t like my idols?”

As she said this, her hand, which had been stroking Zhou Teng, suddenly stopped. She lifted him by his front legs and turned him around. “Oh my god!” she exclaimed. “I knew this cat looked familiar! Look at him! Teng Teng!”

Du Miaomiao and Gao Xia crowded around, stared at Zhou Teng for a second—Zhou Teng struggled unhappily—and the three of them burst into hysterical laughter.

“What are you laughing at?” Jiang Chu reached over and flicked Du Miaomiao on the forehead. “Didn’t your uncle tell you?”

“He said you had a little cat that looked like Jay Chou, he never said it looked like Shen Teng too!” Du Miaomiao rubbed his forehead, then, like a little animal, he leaned in close to Jiang Chu and sniffed. “Uncle Jiang, have you been drinking? With my uncle and them?”

Jiang Chu was just about to say no when Qin Zui grabbed Du Miaomiao by the back of his collar and yanked him away.

“Have you guys eaten yet?” Jiang Chu pulled out his phone and scrolled through some delivery apps. “I was thinking you’d come by in the afternoon, and I’d come back after dinner with my coworkers and you’d all be gone. But you just skipped evening study hall outright…”

“Could you be any more direct, bro!” Gao Xia yelled.

“Just look for yourselves and see what you want to eat,” Jiang Chu said, tossing his phone to them with a smile. “Order it.”

The three of them ordered two pizzas. Since Lu Yao wasn’t eating dinner, she just got a salad. They ate, drank, and chatted until around eight or nine. With evening study hall officially over, they got up to leave.

“Qin Zui, call them a ride.” Jiang Chu’s head was a little fuzzy. He didn’t feel like seeing them out.

“It’s alright Uncle, we’ll call one ourselves,” Du Miaomiao said.

“Let him do it.” Jiang Chu didn’t agree. “I can see your trip on my end. Don’t go all the way over here to see me and then get kidnapped on your way home, I’d never be able to explain it.”

“You’re so thoughtful, Uncle!” Lu Yao shook her head, impressed. “Qin Zui, I declare I’ve switched my allegiance.”

“Get a grip!” Gao Xia and Du Miaomiao shouted. Qin Zui was gathering up the empty boxes and trash from their meal into a garbage bag, and handed it to them to take out.

No sooner had the three kids left than Jiang Chu collapsed limply onto the sofa. He rubbed his face and called out to Qin Zui, “Come here, I need to talk to you.”

“Hold on.” Qin Zui went to the kitchen and made him a glass of honey water.

“Thanks, just put it there.” Jiang Chu didn’t move, just pointed at the coffee table. “Right now, I’d rather have something cold.”

Qin Zui went and opened a can of yellow peaches for him instead.

Taking the can, Jiang Chu sat up, resting one foot on the edge of the coffee table. He rubbed his forehead again.

“What were you three doing in the room just now?” He didn’t eat the peaches, just drank a few sips of the cool, sweet syrup.

Ahhh. Refreshing.

“Du Miaomiao found that cup. We were just messing around,” Qin Zui said.

“Did you forget there was a girl in the living room?” Jiang Chu looked at him, then took another sip.

“She didn’t see it,” Qin Zui said.

“It’s not about whether she saw it or not.” Jiang Chu paused. Whenever he drank his brain got a little sluggish, so he had to formulate his words carefully. “At your age, you get worked up easily. See something and your mind just wanders…”

Qin Zui frowned.

“There’s news about it all the time,” Jiang Chu clicked his tongue. “A group of guys hanging out with one girl, and they start egging each other on, get all riled up with that brutish energy, and then just force themselves on her.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Qin Zui cut him off.

“I know you wouldn’t. Gao Xia and Du Miaomiao aren’t that kind of messed-up kid either…” Jiang Chu suddenly realized how hard it was to talk about sex education. Not just for parents or schools—even being brothers, he and Qin Zui didn’t know how to say it without sounding creepy.

“But do you think about what Lu Yao might be thinking?” He tried a different angle.

Qin Zui just looked at him, not speaking.

“If… I’m saying if,” Jiang Chu tried another approach, “one day you have a daughter—alright, just imagine you have a little sister. Your little sister is hanging out with three male classmates. And those three guys are inside a room checking out a masturbation cup. You might know those kids aren’t bad, but would you feel okay about it?”

“And another thing. Even if you were just playing games in there, having a great time, and leaving her to sit by herself in the living room watching TV… she was the one who came to visit you and bought you food. Do you think that’s fair?” Jiang Chu said.

Seeing Qin Zui just staring at him without replying, Jiang Chu suddenly found it hard to go on.

“I’m not blaming you. It’s more like… how do I say it…” He wondered if Qin Zui thought he was questioning him in a bad way, and was angry. He knew that Qin Zui was actually pretty considerate towards girls, even if he wasn’t interested in them.

Qin Zui hadn’t expected Jiang Chu to say any of this. He honestly hadn’t thought it through that well.

He had been about to tell Gao Xia and the others to put it away and head back out. It was just bad timing that Jiang Chu had come home right at that moment.

But he didn’t defend himself.

It wasn’t because he was angry. It was because he couldn’t help but think about how good Jiang Chu really was.

Easygoing, self-assured, with a bit of a roguish streak now and then. But no matter who he was dealing with, he always put himself in their shoes.

And he wasn’t trying to do it on purpose. It felt more like an innate part of his thinking, one of his instincts.

Careful and thorough.

A… profoundly kind person.

Facing someone like that, staying unaffected by him was incredibly hard.

“Are you like this with everyone?” Qin Zui asked, looking at him.

“What?” Jiang Chu was stunned. He couldn’t keep up with Qin Zui’s sudden, sharp turn in thought.

Qin Zui didn’t say anything. He thought for a moment, then apologized: “I wasn’t thinking.”

Jiang Chu was just going to leave it at that anyway. Qin Zui hadn’t really done anything wrong, and the kid taking the initiative like that to own up made him feel an indescribable mix of emotions.

“Hey, I wasn’t lecturing you.” He reached out and ruffled Qin Zui’s hair. “And no one’s ever told you this stuff before.”

“Besides, I know you’re mature. I was a complete mess when I was your age. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started acting like a decent person.” Jiang Chu started laughing as he said it. “Back then, I went out to eat with a girl once. I walked ahead of her into the place, completely forgot she was right behind me, and let the door swing back and smack her right in the face. She chased after me and beat the hell out of me for half an hour.”

Qin Zui laughed. The two of them smiled like idiots at each other for a long time. One of Jiang Chu’s quirks was that his sense of humor got even weaker when he drank, and he couldn’t stop laughing. He flopped back onto the couch, almost spilling the peach can syrup everywhere.

“Ahhh—” His brain felt like mush from laughing so hard. Jiang Chu closed his eyes and let out a happy sigh, then said out of nowhere, “I really am like your dad.”

Right as Qin Zui was picking up the empty can to put it back in the fridge, his eyebrow shot up. He turned around and swatted Jiang Chu right on the ass.

After cleaning up the can and washing all the cups and spoons, Jiang Chu had already fallen asleep on the couch.

Qin Zui turned the TV volume down. He wanted to tell Jiang Chu to sleep in his bed, but he just sat there and watched him for a while without calling out to him.

Half his face was squished against the cushion and the armrest, looking totally deformed.

He reached out a finger and poked Jiang Chu lightly on the cheek.

No reaction.

Qin Zui’s mind was telling him to pull his hand back, but his arm had a mind of its own. Not only did it stay there, but his fingertip lifted, then gently pressed against Jiang Chu’s lips.

When the thought first occurred to him, he felt pretty calm. But the moment his finger actually touched Jiang Chu’s mouth, that tiny soft sensation hit him like a jolt of electricity, shooting straight down his pulse and slamming into his chest.

This was going to be trouble.

Neither the masturbation cup, nor the messing around with Gao Xia and Du Miaomiao, had stirred up any kind of urge in him. But with Jiang Chu… he had to admit, there was a twisted need inside him.

And as his fondness for Jiang Chu grew—or rather, as his liking deepened, as he became more and more attracted to Jiang Chu—this urge only got stronger.

Qin Zui stared at his own finger, still resting on Jiang Chu’s lip. A surge of fantasies washed over him. He wanted to replace his index finger with his thumb, to roughly pry Jiang Chu’s mouth open. He wanted to shove his fingers inside Jiang Chu’s mouth. He even wanted to shove in…

“Mrrow?” Zhou Teng, perched on the coffee table, had been watching Qin Zui’s finger tracing patterns in the air for a long while. He let out a soft meow and reached out his own little paw to tap at it.

“Hm?” Jiang Chu woke up from the tap. “Did he hit me?” he mumbled, staring at Zhou Teng in confusion.

“No.” The second Jiang Chu’s eyes opened, Qin Zui yanked his hand back and curled it into a fist. “Go sleep in your bed.”

“Ah.” Jiang Chu rubbed his lips as he sat up. He reached out and absently touched the plaster cast on Qin Zui’s calf. “I didn’t even realize I fell asleep. Did your leg get hit while the three of you were messing around?”

“Mm.” Qin Zui’s heart was pounding a little fast. He stared at Jiang Chu’s hand on his leg. A part of him wanted to knock it away immediately, and another part wanted him to keep touching it longer.

But Jiang Chu only gave his knee one more rub, patted it, then stood up and swayed back to his own room.

~~~~~~~~

That night, Qin Zui stayed up very late.

His mind was a mess of dirty images. Normally, a quick jerk-off session would take the edge off, but remembering what Jiang Chu had said to him about getting riled up, about brutish energy, just pissed him off.

Right then, the thought of doing something about Jiang Chu made him feel like he was spiritually descending into the realm of beasts.

He was restless for a long time, then finally just got out of bed and did the exam papers Gao Xia had brought.

He wrote from eleven o’clock until one-thirty in the morning. Qin Zui leaned back in his chair and cracked his neck. He decided to get a glass of water and go to the bathroom, then wash up and go to sleep.

Just as he picked up a cup by the water cooler, a dull thump came from Jiang Chu’s room, like something heavy hitting the floor. Then he heard Jiang Chu groan in pain.

Qin Zui put down the cup and went over to push open Jiang Chu’s door.

Jiang Chu never locked his room. He didn’t even bother closing it all the way, just pulled it to. Qin Zui walked in and saw Jiang Chu, who had fallen completely out of bed, half hanging over the side, one leg dangling as he tried to scramble back under the covers.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” Jiang Chu jumped when he saw Qin Zui come in, asking first.

“Fell out of bed?” Qin Zui went over and pushed him back in.

“I dreamed I was rolling around on the prairie, and I fell halfway into a ditch.” Jiang Chu was half-asleep. He rolled over, obediently getting back into the middle of the bed. He sprawled out on his back, belly exposed, and draped an arm over his face. “Fuck, that hurt…”

He was just wearing his underwear. Qin Zui stared at him for a moment in the dim light, then bent down and pulled the covers over him. He turned and went to the bathroom to pee and wash his face.

A few minutes later, just as Jiang Chu was drifting back off, the door creaked open again. Qin Zui came in, set a glass of water on the nightstand, grabbed the small blanket, and swung his legs onto the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Chu squinted at him, turning his head.

Qin Zui pushed Jiang Chu’s head back, turning him so his back was to him. “Go to sleep.”