It wasn’t completely transparent, though. The top and bottom halves were clear, but the crucial middle section had a narrow strip of frosted glass.
Qin Zui continued filling the thermos. He looked up at the reflection of the glass wall in the mirror above the vanity and felt an inevitable itch deep down.
Jiang Chu had long legs. If he came in to shower, from the sofa, Qin Zui wondered if he’d be able to see his ass.
Various images began to conjure themselves in his mind. Realizing what he was thinking, Qin Zui suddenly felt he couldn’t control himself either.
Jiang Chu was still sick.
Could he get his mind out of the gutter? He was acting like a pervert.
Even though he reminded himself, after he finished getting the water and went back out to look at Jiang Chu, Qin Zui still had this strange illusion that Jiang Chu wasn’t wearing any clothes.
This slight, uncontrollable itch persisted until Jiang Chu finished taking his medicine, toured the room, and went to wash up and pee before bed.
Qin Zui was lounging on the sofa watching TV, one foot on the edge of the coffee table, the other leg bent with his elbow resting on his knee as he clicked the remote.
He glanced at Jiang Chu’s figure heading toward the bathroom. He didn’t remind him the bathroom was glass; it wasn’t like Jiang Chu was blind.
Qin Zui just held onto that secret, indescribable thought in his heart, waiting to see how Jiang Chu would handle the frosted glass wall.
But when a person gets sneaky, their brain tends to short-circuit.
Seeing Jiang Chu scratch his lower back with the back of his hand, Qin Zui blurted out, “You’re going to shower?”
The moment he said it, he felt a little awkward. That exposed his intentions way too clearly.
“Hm?” Jiang Chu yawned. “No, just gonna brush my teeth. Didn’t do much today anyway. I showered this morning.”
Qin Zui hummed in response, reached for a cigarette, and put it between his lips.
“You want to go first?” Jiang Chu suddenly turned back to ask him.
“No.” Qin Zui just happened to meet his eyes, then shifted his gaze back to the TV as if nothing was wrong.
Jiang Chu went into the bathroom. As he was washing his hands, he caught a glimpse of the glass wall in the mirror. Suddenly realizing something, he turned his head to look at the sofa where Qin Zui was sitting.
“Hey, little brother.” Jiang Chu walked over to the toilet and knocked on the glass wall.
Qin Zui watched him through the wall. The corner of his mouth, holding the cigarette, twitched slightly.
Jiang Chu raised one eyebrow. Staring at Qin Zui, he reached for the pull cord at the corner of the wall.
Swoosh! A whole row of bamboo blinds came down, covering the entire wall.
Then swoosh! again, Jiang Chu pulled the blinds back up and saw Qin Zui’s stunned expression.
“Fuck.” Jiang Chu couldn’t help but brace himself against the wall, laughing and swearing at the same time.
“Never seen this before? Only ever stayed in places with solid walls?” He swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swooshed the blinds up and down a few times, then walked out of the bathroom, went right up to the sofa, and turned to look again.
From Qin Zui’s perspective, the glass wall was now just a solid bamboo blind, blocking everything cleanly.
Just like Qin Zui’s expression, utterly speechless and numb.
A sense of shame and thick skin were probably things that could be honed.
When Jiang Chu realized Qin Zui might have been trying to see something through the glass wall, he thought he should be annoyed. At the very least, feel awkward. Or even angry about being mentally ogled.
But now, looking at the wall and then at Qin Zui’s expression, he just couldn’t control himself. He leaned against the TV and cracked up, laughing so hard his temples hurt.
“Still trying to scheme something? Still scheming?” A bit of air caught in his throat, and Jiang Chu coughed twice. Laughing and coughing at the same time, he felt all his energy drain away.
Finally catching his breath, he gave Qin Zui a smack on the back of the neck and said in a hoarse voice, “Put away your dirty thoughts for once. It’s getting old.”
He didn’t need to tell Qin Zui. At that moment, Qin Zui didn’t have a single thought left.
This feeling of having your dirty little thoughts exposed so clearly, and then swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swooshed away so completely…
It wasn’t Jiang Chu who felt naked. It was him.
If he’d just looked at the wall a little more instead of being so distracted just a moment ago, he would have noticed the blinds.
How embarrassing.
Qin Zui held onto this speechless state for a full two days.
The first day, Jiang Chu didn’t think much of it. He washed up, got in bed, and fell asleep. When he heard Qin Zui go to the bathroom and pull the blinds, he clutched the blanket and laughed for another fifteen minutes.
The next day, from morning till night, the older brother had their itinerary packed.
The hotel grounds were huge, with places to eat, shop, play, and soak, plus their own scenic area and a small commercial street.
Several times, Jiang Chu saw something interesting and wanted to turn around to call Qin Zui. But Qin Zui was either several people behind him at the back of the group, or being dragged around by Du Miaomiao, whispering about something. He wasn’t impatient with Du Miaomiao like the day before. The two of them actually looked quite harmonious.
Even when they went to soak in the hot springs that night, Qin Zui didn’t get in the same pool as Jiang Chu. Jiang Chu didn’t know when he’d gone to the other big pool where Da Ben and Fang Zi were. They had a circle of people playing cards.
The daytime was chaotic and loud, with so many people all talking at once. He hadn’t paid too much attention to Qin Zui’s attitude.
After all, the point of this trip was to get Qin Zui out to have fun. As long as he was happy, that was fine.
But now, if he still couldn’t tell something was off with Qin Zui, he really didn’t deserve to be his brother.
Was he upset about yesterday?
Jiang Chu thought back to what he’d said. Had one of his remarks hit Qin Zui’s pride?
Because Qin Zui hadn’t actually done anything. He hadn’t even said a word. And he’d never stayed in a hotel with a glass bathroom wall and blinds.
Maybe this was even his first time staying in a hotel.
He remembered the day Liang Xiaojia came, and how smoothly Qin Zui had handled finding a motel. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“What are you looking at?” Old Du had just finished showering. He draped a towel over himself and sat down in the pool, following Jiang Chu’s gaze across the way.
After confirming that Du Miaomiao was obediently soaking and not running around, he turned back with relief.
“Kids. When they’re out having fun, their hearts go wild. They like hanging out with people they don’t usually see.” Old Du leaned back and relaxed, closing his eyes contentedly.
“Ah.” Jiang Chu responded absently, picking up a glass of juice from the tray beside him and taking a sip.
They chatted for a bit, then Old Du asked him, “So, is this little brother of yours your responsibility from now on?”
“Basically.” Jiang Chu rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really manage him much. The old man gives him money when needed. He’s not a little kid anymore. He can take care of himself.”
“Mm.” Old Du hummed. “At this age, if they’re a little bit sensible, they’re easy.”
Jiang Chu smiled. “Miaomiao is much better than before. He’s willing to talk to people now. Before, when I brought him out, he’d just hide.”
Old Du’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “That’s with you guys. At home, he’s still like a firecracker. Can’t get two words out of him.”
“Has it always been like this with you two?” Jiang Chu was suddenly a little curious.
Being a “dad” really does change your perspective. He’d never talked about these things with Old Du in detail before.
“It wasn’t always like this.” Old Du opened his eyes and stared at the half-open skylight for a moment, lost in thought. “He was very well-behaved when he was little. Talkative, smiled a lot, carefree. Then he hit puberty a couple of years ago and started getting rebellious.”
“He must miss his parents too,” Jiang Chu said.
“Yeah.” Old Du nodded.
After a moment’s thought, Jiang Chu asked again, “Has Miaomiao ever been particularly close to you?”
“Close how?” Old Du glanced at him.
Jiang Chu opened his mouth, suddenly feeling a little guilty, wondering if the teeth marks on the back of his neck were still visible.
Luckily, Old Du was just asking casually, without any hidden meaning. He continued, “It was right after his parents passed away too. Poor kid. Cried every day. Cried himself to sleep in the middle of the night. He’d come find me. I was hurting too. I was so exhausted every day I’d hit the pillow and pass out, but I still had to be patient and pat him to sleep. Even after he fell asleep, he’d keep hiccupping from crying. He couldn’t be away from me for a second.”
Recalling that time, Old Du let out a faint sigh through his nose. He lowered his eyelids and stared at the steam rising from the water’s surface.
“Must have been heartbreaking,” Jiang Chu said.
“Heartbreaking, sure. But when he was being annoying, he was really annoying too.” Old Du said.
Jiang Chu laughed.
“Every day, I wanted him to hurry up and grow up, to stop draining me.” Old Du flicked his hand at the water’s surface. “But now, seeing him argue with me, picking fights, trying to keep his distance, wanting to run away, yelling about how he’s going to take the college exam at the end of the earth, how he doesn’t want to be controlled by me anymore…”
“He’s even talking about taking the exam at the end of the earth.” Old Du repeated with a soft laugh. He raised his arm and rubbed between his eyebrows, looking tired. “…It makes me wish he’d slow down.”
Old Du didn’t usually talk this much. This was the first time Jiang Chu had heard him talk about this stuff in such detail. It took him a moment to process it.
Qin Zui had only been with him for about half a year. His biological father had just died, his biological mother didn’t want him. No matter how much he could bottle things up and endure, he was only a teenager. This was definitely a time when he was emotionally vulnerable.
Like when Du Miaomiao had clung to Old Du just to be able to fall asleep.
And what about later?
A few years down the line, would he be like Du Miaomiao, not even wanting to talk to him, finding him outdated, not wanting to be under his watch anymore?
No, it wouldn’t even take three to five years. Qin Zui was taking the college entrance exam next year.
When the time came, he’d go off to university. He’d meet more interesting people. He’d date a few of his own kind. Every day would be a world of fun and excitement. During winter and summer breaks, he might not even want to come back. And no one would have the right to stop him.
Frowning and staring blankly for a while, Jiang Chu felt like he’d been soaking too long. His lungs felt a little tight.
After they’d had enough of the hot springs, the group went to grab a bite to eat. Jiang Chu was worn out from the day. He excused himself and went back to the room first.
“Qin Zui, you want to stay out a bit longer or come back?” He turned to ask Qin Zui.
Qin Zui hummed an acknowledgement, tightened the belt of his bathrobe, and followed him back to the room.
To get from the hot spring area back to the hotel building, they had to cross an indoor sky garden.
When they’d gone out, they were all fully dressed and it was fine. But now, heading back, they’d both been lazy and hadn’t changed out of their bathrobes. As Jiang Chu took two steps on the glass-bottomed walkway in the sky, he looked down and could vaguely see a reflection of the bottom of his robe.
“Holy shit,” he pulled his coat tighter, “What kind of hotel is this? Did Hua Zi come here to study and take back a stomach full of bad ideas?”
Qin Zui was a few steps ahead. He turned around at the words and glanced down at Jiang Chu’s feet. “Going commando?”
“Nonsense.” Jiang Chu tsked and reached out to grab the hem of Qin Zui’s bathrobe. “Dare you to go commando and let me see.”
“Don’t touch me.” Qin Zui sidestepped, blocking his hand.
“Hey, Little Dog.” Jiang Chu ignored him, using the moment of horseplay to throw an arm around Qin Zui’s shoulders and rub his neck. “You mad at your brother?”
Jiang Chu’s weight made Qin Zui sway a couple of times before he steadied himself. Feeling the breath pouring out from under Jiang Chu’s bathrobe collar, his neck involuntarily tensed.
“No.” He sighed helplessly to himself, but didn’t push Jiang Chu away again.
“Then why haven’t you talked to me all day?” Jiang Chu had seriously reflected on himself. Even though he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, Qin Zui hadn’t either. So, as the older brother, he’d make the first move to smooth things over. “Is it because of what I said yesterday? Did it hurt your pride?”
“I haven’t talked to you?” Qin Zui repeated the key point.
“Have you talked to me?” Jiang Chu raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you spend the whole day with Du Miaomiao?”
Qin Zui paused for a moment, then didn’t say anything.
They walked, with Jiang Chu hanging off him, until they reached the escalator. Only then did Qin Zui speak again. “Jiang Chu.”
“Yeah.” Jiang Chu answered.
“Don’t you think you can be really unreasonable sometimes?” Qin Zui’s eyes were lowered as he stepped onto the escalator. “Let go of me. Stand up straight.”
“Not really.” Jiang Chu was amused. He stood steady one step behind Qin Zui. “The general consensus my whole life has been that I’m very reasonable.”
“You told me to control myself. Told me to keep my dirty thoughts to myself. Told me to stop messing around with you.” Qin Zui turned his head, his gaze steady and fixed on Jiang Chu. “So I put a little distance between us. And now you’re uncomfortable.”
Jiang Chu was stunned.
“What kind of reason is that?” Qin Zui asked.
