TL: Hua
Childish innocence can cause a subtle awkwardness for the individuals involved. Yu Qingtang and Xu Baizhang briefly met each other’s gaze, momentarily unsure how to respond.
The class teacher came over and led the children away. “Alright, class, let’s not disturb the uncles’ date. It’s time for us to go learn over there.”
As the noisy crowd moved away, Yu Qingtang could still hear their farewells.
“Goodbye, Uncle.”
“Goodbye, Uncle’s boyfriend!”
The little ones dispersed to the adjacent hall, and the entrance quieted down.
Yu Qingtang turned around, and Xu Baizhang was right beside him.
He said awkwardly, “Sorry, I think I messed things up.”
“It’s fine.” Xu Baizhang tilted his head. “Shall we go look around?”
The two walked side by side further inside. This science museum was very famous, with different halls catering to different age groups and fields.
Xu Baizhang: “Which exhibition hall are you interested in?”
Yu Qingtang: “Do you want the honest truth?”
Xu Baizhang waited for him to speak.
“Standing here, I just feel like I’m being oppressed and dominated by science.”
Yu Qingtang first studied science in high school and switched to the liberal arts class in his senior year.
“It’s strange, actually. My dad majored in physics, and my mom researched chemistry, yet those two subjects are the only ones I could never grasp.”
Xu Baizhang: “Every field has its specialists. You are excellent in other areas.”
Yu Qingtang: “I should be glad my parents supported my switch to arts back then; otherwise, I’d never be able to hold my head up.”
Xu Baizhang chuckled. “I know which hall to go to now.”
“Where?” Yu Qingtang followed him.
“First to chemistry, then to physics.”
Yu Qingtang also laughed, “Is this considered adding insult to injury?”
Xu Baizhang: “It’s fighting poison with poison.”
Visiting the high school chemistry hall was like a review of his student days. Theoretical knowledge was presented in different ways, making the dry content interesting.
Yu Qingtang walked to the next section.
[Flame Color Reaction]
“I remember this. When metal elements burn, they will show different flame colors. Fireworks are based on this principle. This part has test points. The flame color reaction is a physical phenomenon.”
Xu Baizhang: “One hundred points.”
Yu Qingtang was a little excited. “Good thing I didn’t forget everything.”
Xu Baizhang handed him a glass rod embedded with platinum wire. “Want to try?”
“Yes!” Yu Qingtang randomly dipped it into one of the solutions to be tested and heated it in the outer flame of an alcohol lamp. A yellow flame appeared.
“Yellow, yellow,” Yu Qingtang looked down, then quickly up. “Is it sodium? Located in the third period, the first main group of the periodic table, an alkali metal?”
Xu Baizhang lingered on his thoughtfully concentrated face and nodded.
Yu Qingtang was both surprised and delighted. “Indeed, I remembered correctly. Sodium was a key point back then.”
Seeing his interest, Xu Baizhang pointed to other reagent bottles. “Try something else?”
“Okay.”
After completing the cleaning operation, Yu Qingtang took another reagent and observed the flame. “Green, is it copper?”
“Absolutely correct.”
Yu Qingtang was immersed in the pleasure of recalling knowledge. He dipped into another bottle of reagent. “Strange, is it still sodium? No, it’s not quite the same.”
Xu Baizhang stood diagonally behind him and coughed softly. “Perhaps it’s missing a prop.”
Yu Qingtang glanced at the experimental bench. “Right, I forgot about this.”
He picked up a piece of blue glass and observed the flame through it. “Purple, element number nineteen, potassium. Like sodium, it’s also an alkali metal.”
“Potassium solutions often contain trace amounts of sodium ions, which can interfere with the phenomenon. So, you need to observe it through blue cobalt glass to filter out the yellow light.”
Yu Qingtang turned to him and smiled, his eyes sparkling like crystal beads, as if seeking praise. “Right? This was also a common test point.”
Xu Baizhang’s heart was burning and about to melt. “I suspect you are being modest when you say you are not good at chemistry.”
“No, this is first-year high school knowledge, very simple. Second and third year aren’t that easy.”
Xu Baizhang: “To remember this knowledge so clearly after more than ten years, I believe you were excellent from the start.”
“Thank you, Doctor Xu, for the praise and affirmation.”
But being excellent and consistently being first place are vastly different.
Yu Qingtang put the glass rod back in its place. “Let’s go, let’s see something else.”
Leaving the flame test, they also made a voltaic pile and finally visited the physics hall to see electromagnetism and optics experiments.
When they came out of the Science and Technology Museum, it was just dinnertime.
Yu Qingtang sat in the passenger seat. “What should we eat?”
Xu Baizhang said, “Do you have any preferences, Mr. Yu?”
“I’m open to anything. I like Hunan, Sichuan, Cantonese, and Shandong cuisines, and street food is fine too, of course.”
Xu Baizhang started the car. “Alright, I’ll decide.”
The evening rush hour was still jammed, but they chatted, and the time didn’t feel long.
The car stopped at a private dining restaurant. Yu Qingtang rarely came to places this far out, and from the decor, he could tell the prices wouldn’t be low.
The staff led them to a private room, a semi-open space with an outdoor view on one side.
The Chinese decor featured warm red wood tones, with circular chandeliers overhead and a candlestick on each side. The lighting was dim, casting overlapping shadows.
After Xu Baizhang ordered, he asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”
“No need.” Yu Qingtang closed the menu. “I don’t know if it’s because we have similar tastes or if Doctor Xu understands me, but everything you ordered is what I love to eat.”
The curve of Xu Baizhang’s lips was almost imperceptible.
During the meal, Yu Qingtang noticed something particular about him. “Doctor Xu, you don’t eat meat?”
Today’s dishes are half meat and half vegetarian. Xu Baizhang would also pick up some vegetarian side dishes from the meat dishes, but he never picked up a piece of meat.
“It’s not that I don’t eat it; it’s just that it might be better not to.”
Yu Qingtang saw him take out his thermos. “Does it conflict with Chinese medicine?”
“Not exactly.” Xu Baizhang slowly explained, “Meats are mostly warm-natured foods, easily leading to excessive liver fire, forcing out fluids, causing irritability, anger, insomnia, and vivid dreams. Vegetables are the opposite.”
Yu Qingtang listened quietly, put down his pork ribs, and picked up some purple cabbage instead. “By the way, has anyone ever told you that you have a very pleasant voice?”
“Occasionally, but I don’t really have a concept of it.”
Yu Qingtang: “Your voice quality is exceptionally good. In our professional terms, it’s ‘Heaven’s gift for a livelihood.'”
Xu Baizhang: “Mr. Yu also thinks it’s pleasant?”
“Not just pleasant, but also a familiar feeling.”
Xu Baizhang tightened his grip on his chopsticks slightly. “Familiar in what way?”
Yu Qingtang’s scalp tingled. He suddenly recalled his third year of high school, that reckless, crazy, rebellious period.
The past was unbearable to remember, and that person also studied medicine. Yu Qingtang tentatively asked, “Which university did you graduate from, Doctor Xu?”
Xu Baizhang: “Medical University.”
Yu Qingtang: “…”
His shoulders stiffened, as if he was being publicly executed.
“And when did you graduate from your undergraduate program?”
Xu Baizhang: “2014.”
Yu Qingtang did the math in his head. He had met that person in 2013, who was then a sophomore. A medical undergraduate program was five years, so that person would have graduated in 2016.
Yu Qingtang breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Baizhang: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Yu Qingtang smiled. “Your voice is very pleasant. I really like it.”
“Thank you.”
Dinner was also paid for in advance by Xu Baizhang.
On the way back, Yu Qingtang spent the entire time searching for restaurant reviews. “Next time we eat, I absolutely must treat you.”
Xu Baizhang agreed and parked the car at the entrance. “We’re here.”
Yu Qingtang turned his head to look out the window. “So fast.”
It felt like no time had passed.
Xu Baizhang took out a box and handed it to him. It was square, palm-sized, and exquisitely packaged. “For you.”
Yu Qingtang was pleasantly surprised. “What is it?”
Xu Baizhang: “Open it and take a look.”
Yu Qingtang unwrapped it and paused.
Xu Baizhang: “Thank you for lending me your handkerchief yesterday.”
“You’re too polite. It was just a handkerchief.”
“And I merely returned a handkerchief.”
The other’s explanation was clearly illogical. He had lent an ordinary, old handkerchief but received a brand-new Burberry one.
Seeing his hesitation, Xu Baizhang said, “Please accept it, alright?”
“Thank you, I really like it.” Yu Qingtang didn’t want to spoil the mood, so he put the box away. “I’ll head up now. See you another day.”
Yu Qingtang unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the door.
“Mr. Yu,” Xu Baizhang called from beside him, his tone like a flickering flame. “Are we… now considered…”
The words were very subtle and left unfinished, but Yu Qingtang understood. “Mm, that’s right.”
It was a bit of a non-answer.
Yu Qingtang was annoyed with himself. He was almost thirty, yet he was suddenly acting like a middle school student, shy and awkward.
Xu Baizhang said, “Are you… seeing anyone else?”
Yu Qingtang recalled the phone call in the coffee shop. It seemed the other person not only heard it but also held a “grudge.” So, he was so eager to ask him out again because he was afraid Yu Qingtang would see others?
“No, I’m not,” he said without hesitation.
After saying goodbye and leaving, Yu Qingtang got into the elevator, still thinking about the previous conversation. He sent a WeChat message.
[Doctor Xu, I haven’t seen anyone else. I’ve only seen you.]
The elevator door opened, and a message simultaneously came through.
Xu Baizhang: [Me too, only you.]
The words were imprinted in Yu Qingtang’s eyes, and his pounding heart felt like it was baking under the scorching sun.
Those words were far too ambiguous.
Back home, Yu Qingtang immediately reported the day’s events to Liu Siyan.
This included their visit to the Science and Technology Museum to recall high school knowledge, enjoying a delicious private dinner, receiving a luxury brand handkerchief as a gift, and the words exchanged before they parted ways.
Liu Siyan was more excited than him. “Is this considered official, like, an actual relationship?”
“Hmm, I guess so.”
Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, they had emphasized their exclusivity to each other, so it was naturally an understood relationship.
“Tsk, you two are moving fast! Looks like my comprehensive guide to date spots was pretty accurate. At this rate, maybe the seventh date will be at a love hotel, hehe.”
Yu Qingtang went to the fridge to get an orange. “Can we be serious for a bit? We just confirmed our relationship; we haven’t even held hands yet.”
Why did it come back to that again?
“The relationship is confirmed; holding hands, hugging, and kissing will all happen naturally.”
“Hard to say; he’s a bit different.”
Xu Baizhang seems quite conservative and probably slow to warm up in that regard.
Liu Siyan: “Then take your time. Innocence is the most romantic thing.”
Yu Qingtang: “I’m almost thirty. Where am I going to find innocence?”
“Men are boys until they die. You haven’t dated before, so this is the purest first love!” Liu Siyan grew more excited as she spoke. “Go get ’em, boy!”
“…Alright, I’m hanging up.”
Yu Qingtang showered and got into bed. He opened his WeChat Moments and scrolled through two pages, seeing Xu Baizhang’s update.
It was a picture similar to last night’s, the night sky in front of his apartment building. Last night there was no moon, but today there was a full moon.
It also came with a caption.
[I’m very happy today too. /smile]
The default smiling emoji itself carries a sense of humor, and paired with Xu Baizhang’s persona, it was even more amusing.
Yu Qingtang chuckled for half a minute and clicked like.
And he replied: [I’m also very happy. /smile]
Less than half a minute later, Yu Qingtang received a new message.
Xu Baizhang: [Good night. /grinning face with smiling eyes]
Yu Qingtang’s eyes were filled with the grinning emoji. He could tell Xu Baizhang was truly happy.
He typed out a message, then deleted it before sending, changing it to a voice message: “Good night…”
The message was left blank for five seconds, and the voice sounded like an elongated soft cotton thread: “Boyfriend.”
Half a minute later, Yu Qingtang received an identical voice message, like a fuzzy tickle in his ear.
“Boyfriend, good night.”
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