For several days, Chen Annan couldn’t calm down because of this incident.
He was truly afraid—afraid of retaliation. Although they said that old bastard had been locked up, he didn’t know for how long, or when he might get out.
He had originally wanted to find a chance to tell the family, but then, as luck would have it, he ran right into the incident of Lu Qingyuan skipping class. That made Lu Wenyuan angry too. Seeing the gloomy atmosphere at home, he didn’t want to add to the chaos. All he could do was silently carry his little backpack every day and walk along the main roads where there were lots of people.
Several times, when classmates called out to him from behind, he’d startle like a frightened quail.
And recently, he had become terrified of the rain. As soon as a rainy day came, he didn’t even want to go to school. He’d try every trick, using a hot water bottle to heat his forehead until you could practically fry an egg on it, then go find Lu Wenyuan to help him ask for sick leave.
But he failed to find Lu Wenyuan and ran into Lu Qingyuan first.
Lu Qingyuan didn’t even need to ask. Just by looking at the kid, based on his thorough understanding of him, he went straight to Lu Wenyuan to explain the situation. When it came to lying, his expression didn’t change at all, nor did his heart race.
Chen Annan thus loafed around at home for a day. That night, the rain grew heavier, and the muffled spring thunder clapped one after another, as if trying to tear apart heaven and earth, forcing everything germinating in the soil to burst forth.
The world seemed to be left with nothing but the roaring downpour. Chen Annan had shut the windows tight, burrowed into his bedding, like a shivering little puppy.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when suddenly the mattress dipped sharply. A large hand reached out silently and fished him out of the blankets.
Chen Annan let out a low “Ah,” instantly shrinking his neck back. The blanket was lifted, his vision suddenly clearing, and he met a pair of eyes.
The room was lit by a small desk lamp; its light became a faint halo in Lu Qingyuan’s eyes, brimming with a touch of gentle tenderness.
At some unknown moment, Lu Qingyuan had spread a layer of bedding next to Chen Annan. Now he silently grabbed Chen Annan and pulled him into his own cocoon of blankets. He also fished his legs over, resting them on his own, then took his hands and placed them around his waist.
Their eyes met. Chen Annan foolishly said, “We haven’t made up yet.”
“Made up,” Lu Qingyuan stated without much emotion.
Chen Annan, already having his arms around the other’s waist, was still fretting a tiny bit verbally. “But I haven’t said I want to make up yet, you know.”
“What you say doesn’t count,” Lu Qingyuan said, as willful as ever. He lifted Chen Annan’s head, then slid his own arm underneath as a pillow, letting him rest in an extremely comfortable position.
Both were silent for a moment. Chen Annan took the opportunity to curl up in his brother’s arms. After thinking it over, he asked quietly, “Then… will you still let me read comic books?”
“Which volume of Conan do you want to read?”
“I finished up to Volume 39 last time.”
“I’ll go buy them for you tomorrow. Up to the very latest volume. Will that be enough?”
“Enough.”
It hadn’t been quiet for long before Chen Annan started mumbling again. “Manman sent me a QQ message yesterday, saying she hopes I can come back and write songs for them.”
“From now on, you must be home before nine o’clock. You’re not allowed to ignore my calls. I’ll tolerate you coming back half an hour late at most. Before you go out, you must tell me clearly where you’re going.”
“And if I’m later than that?” Chen Annan asked.
“Then you can stop coming to me to sleep,” Lu Qingyuan said ruthlessly.
“Okay.” Chen Annan blinked up at his brother. From this angle, he could see his brother’s Adam’s apple bob.
Another pause, then Chen Annan pressed his lips together and asked quietly, “I got a 48 on this math test. Can I still watch cartoons?”
“…”
“Can I?” Chen Annan deliberately repeated.
“…” Lu Qingyuan forced himself to endure, then gave in. “Turn the TV volume down low when you watch.”
“And will you–”
“Yes.”
“And can you–”
“Yes.”
Having gotten the answers he wanted, Chen Annan then coyly buried his face against his brother’s chest. Listening to that steady, powerful heartbeat, he said very reluctantly, “Fine, then. I’ll reluctantly agree to make up with you.”
Lu Qingyuan pulled him tightly into his embrace. So tightly. “Sleep.”
“Good night.”
The rain outside was still heavy; the thunder and lightning seemed ready to rip a gaping hole in the sky. But now, Chen Annan felt he wasn’t quite so afraid anymore.
His nostrils were filled with his brother’s scent. That smell seemed to permeate him, guarding him all around, making them stick close and snug together. The scalding warmth flooded his entire body, truly making him feel at ease. No matter what emotion he was drowning in, this scent could calm him down.
Perhaps it was because this enveloping warmth was simply too comfortable, or perhaps this familiar scent was just too reassuring, but that night, Chen Annan had a very long, very long dream. A dream that left him panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
In the dream, the grassland was vast and wide. He was rolling around with someone else, their hair covered in grass clippings.
Strangely enough, though it was a dream, that urgent, longing desire from deep within his heart felt so real. The hands bracing him were well-defined at the knuckles, the chest strong and powerful. A fierce bite landed on his lips, making sharp pain and distinct pleasure bloom simultaneously.
If the familiar scent was deeply comforting, then the sensation was absolutely a blazing flame. It ignited him with the force of a prairie fire, instantly roaring into an unstoppable inferno.
Chen Annan had never experienced such a strange and wondrous feeling before. That scent guarding him was simply too familiar.
The scent of laundry detergent, seeping through sweat—the exact brand most used at home.
When Chen Annan opened his eyes the next day, he was dazed for a good long while. Then he reached a hand down to check. Immediately after, a boom went off in his head and he was completely dumbstruck.
It wasn’t as if he had never taken biology class, but when this kind of thing actually happened, he was so mortified he didn’t know what to do. He froze there for what felt like an eternity, his slightly parted lips failing to close.
This chaotic, messy dream had been intimate and transgressive. It presented scene after shameful image in his mind, silently clamoring, playing like a silent film.
Chen Annan abruptly covered his face. The scalding heat raced from his face to the very tips of his ears. Hastily, he pinched his ears, rubbing them fiercely into a patch of soft crimson, trying his best to create a self-deceiving facade.
After a moment, he stealthily climbed out of bed, dug his underwear out from the chaotic pile of clothes, and slipped into the bathroom to change.
Terrified that anyone might detect something amiss, he quietly and secretly washed and hung his underwear to dry, deciding to weld this unspeakable secret to the very bottom of his heart.
But Lu Qingyuan felt Chen Annan had been acting extremely strange lately. The boy had, bafflingly, grown very protective of his underwear.
For instance, just as Lu Qingyuan was about to approach the clothes rack, Chen Annan would instantly dash over, blocking his path. “What’s up? Why’d you suddenly come here?”
Lu Qingyuan would say, “It’s going to rain, I’m taking in the laundry.”
“Oh, okay. My clothes, I’ll take them in myself.” Saying this, Chen Annan would fumble to retrieve his underwear and stuff them into his pocket.
Lu Qingyuan: “…Aren’t you going to take in your other clothes?”
Chen Annan would hurriedly say, “I know, I’ll take them in now.”
Lu Qingyuan: “…”
Another example: Lu Qingyuan had originally intended to help Chen Annan tidy up and put away his clothes. But just as he got started, Chen Annan, with the speed of a radar-guided missile, burst into the room. With a loud “Aiyah,” he flung himself onto the pile of clothes, arms stretched out wide as if to block any possibility of peeking, and asked in an extremely unnatural voice:
“Did you leave something in my room?”
“…” Lu Qingyuan gave him a strange look, then another. “You don’t need me to fold your clothes today?”
Chen Annan freed a hand to wave him off. “Oh, this kind of small thing, I can do it myself. Quick, go do your own stuff.”
Lu Qingyuan really felt this was too bizarre. That night, as he passed Chen Annan’s room, he actually saw Chen Annan holding up his underwear to the light, looking as if he was trying to spot some kind of clue, examining them with extreme seriousness—turning them over and over.
What? Was his underwear a limited edition Conan crossover or something? Lu Qingyuan couldn’t figure it out, but he didn’t put much thought into it.
Lu Qingyuan not putting thought into it scared Chen Annan to death, though. He was constantly terrified he hadn’t washed something properly and that the evidence would be discovered. Every time his brother’s glance so much as drifted his way, he’d break out in a cold sweat, restless as if sitting on a bed of needles.
During the day at school, he found Xie Xi. Equal parts bashful, reserved, and curious, he asked him: “Hey, Xie Xi, have you ever had one of those dreams?”
Xie Xi scratched his head. “Which kind?”
Chen Annan gestured vaguely. “Aiyoh, you know! That kind! That kind!”
“Ohhh!” Xie Xi had a sudden realization. “Yep, had one. Had one.”
Chen Annan asked sneakily, “Then what was the dream like?”
“Lemme recall,” Xie Xi mused. “Hmm… pretty chaotic, I think. Can’t really remember what the other person looked like specifically, but the smell was very distinct… Overall, it was awesome—super awesome! But there was a regret too.”
Blushing furiously, Chen Annan hurriedly covered his eyes, deeply embarrassed. Hearing someone else talk about this for the first time was way too shameful. Yet his ears were perked up high, afraid of missing a single detail.
Xie Xi said with immense regret, “Because the dung beetle didn’t finish pushing over the school. It only knocked down the teaching building, and it was the first-year building at that! I’m already in second year! It was so close to finishing the job—my dad just had to yank me out of bed. Sigh… Tell me, why wasn’t I born a Transformer? Then I could just stomp and shatter the school with one kick!”
Chen Annan: “…” He really shouldn’t have asked this idiot.
However, Chen Annan didn’t drop the question just because his good friend was a fool. This dream was like a thunderclap after the spring rains, stirring up every hidden, tiny, secret joy like bugs awakened from the soil.
When class started, Chen Annan couldn’t help but lean over to his deskmate and whisper, “Have you ever had that kind of dream?”
He Hanming replied calmly, “Yes.”
“I haven’t even said which kind yet,” Chen Annan said.
He Hanming said indifferently, “Isn’t it just having a wet dream and then nocturnal emission?”
“Hey!” Chen Annan hadn’t expected his deskmate to just blurt it out so bluntly. He was startled, thinking: That’s way too shameless!
“Before you even asked me, practically all the guys in class have secretly discussed it no less than ten times already.” He Hanming didn’t even look at him, his pen scratching swiftly across his scratch paper. “Generally, a male’s first nocturnal emission occurs during the stage of sexual maturation between the ages of 14 and 16. It’s a normal physiological phenomenon.”
After saying this, he suddenly stopped his pen and turned to look at Chen Annan. “So? Did you dream about someone in particular?”
