That was a mysterious room. Wen Yu had locked it in front of him before, so for Fu Yuhan, this door was equivalent to meaning “do not disturb.”
Although he was a bit curious about what was behind the door, he also knew that what was back there should be Wen Yu’s secret.
Last time when he saw Wen Yu take that broken Gundam inside, he had casually locked the door. Today, for some reason, he hadn’t locked the door properly.
There’s a saying: “A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.”
Of course, Fu Yuhan didn’t think he was such a noble person, but putting himself in Wen Yu’s shoes, if it were him, he probably wouldn’t want Wen Yu to see his secrets either. So he didn’t think much about it, walked over, and gently closed that door again, never looking inside throughout the process.
After doing this, he returned to sit by the sofa and slowly finished a glass of water.
Perhaps out of a psychology of avoiding suspicion, even though he hadn’t planned to take a nap, he unknowingly fell asleep on the sofa.
—Until he was woken by a huge commotion.
Fu Yuhan squinted, groggily seeing a familiar silhouette standing in front of that door, and mumbled: “What’s wrong?”
Half a minute earlier, a vague thought had suddenly floated through Wen Yu’s sleeping mind—he had forgotten to lock the door last night.
Usually when he was alone at home, he would indeed occasionally forget to lock that door, but today there was another person in the house.
When he realized this, Wen Yu suddenly woke up, his body instinctively rolling off the bed and stumbling into the living room.
Because he was too hasty, he even bumped into a cabinet midway.
The huge noise was particularly jarring in the quiet weekend morning, waking the person sleeping soundly on the sofa. Wen Yu panted heavily, his chest heaving violently, barely managing to calm himself down.
“What’s wrong?” He heard that person’s muffled mumble from his throat.
“Did you…” Wen Yu gradually moved his gaze over, “see… anything?”
“Hm? You mean that room?” Having his nap suddenly interrupted, Fu Yuhan’s thoughts were still somewhat fuzzy. He propped himself up a bit and sat properly on the sofa, closing his eyes to wake up, “Didn’t see anything.”
“Really?” Wen Yu didn’t quite believe it, because if Fu Yuhan hadn’t noticed anything, he should have asked “see what?” instead of this response.
If the positions were reversed—if this were Fu Yuhan’s house and he had a secret room he forgot to lock—Wen Yu might have gone in to look.
He had always believed that humans had endless voyeuristic desires, and everyone was equally base.
However, for some unclear reason, he had a subconscious thought that seemed to naively believe Fu Yuhan’s words.
“Mm, it was blown open a bit by the wind just now.” Fu Yuhan rubbed his eyes, “Don’t worry, I closed the door directly… ahh—”
He yawned, a bit of physiological tears seeping from the corners of his eyes, so he didn’t see Wen Yu’s gaze looking at him, showing a burning intensity in the darkness.
“You’re not curious at all?” Wen Yu asked in a suppressed voice.
“I am curious.”
Fu Yuhan opened his eyes, fully awake: “But secrets are secrets precisely because people don’t want others to know, right?”
He looked over, meeting Wen Yu’s gaze, and was slightly stunned.
Wen Yu immediately put away that kind of look and smiled instead: “Mm, that’s right—wait for me a moment, I’ll go change clothes and wash up. We can set off soon. By the way, did you eat breakfast?”
“I did.” Fu Yuhan picked up his phone to check, “But it’s noon now.”
After sleeping, he didn’t feel it, but it was already 11 o’clock. Fu Yuhan sniffled.
This action gave him more nasal tone. Wen Yu’s steps toward the bathroom paused: “I told you to get a blanket, why didn’t you? Sleeping without covering yourself, aren’t you afraid of catching cold?”
“Because I originally didn’t plan to sleep.” Fu Yuhan said.
It was somewhat strange—in his very few experiences of “visiting others’ homes,” he had never had the experience of unknowingly falling asleep.
Too presumptuous.
Fu Yuhan thought about it and could only attribute it to the fact that there were no adults in Wen Yu’s house, making the atmosphere more relaxed.
Wen Yu raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He found the key and locked that door again, only then feeling at ease as he went into the bathroom to wash up. His movements were quick—after more than ten minutes he had tidied himself up and left the house with Fu Yuhan.
Saturday, there were few pedestrians on the roads near the school, and even the small restaurants had little business.
Wen Yu said as they walked: “Perfect timing to take you for lunch.”
“You’re taking me?” Fu Yuhan smirked. “I’ve lived in this area for almost ten years, I should be more familiar with it than you, right?”
“You can ‘take’ me to eat too.” Wen Yu emphasized the word and smiled. “Then paying the bill is also your responsibility.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
To strike a snake, hit its vital point; to strike a poor student, just say “paying the bill.” Having stubbornly refused to take meal money from his mom for a week, Fu Yuhan’s balance was about to be depleted, and he was still counting on today’s work to get by.
“Yu-ge,” Fu Yuhan immediately gave in for the first time, his attitude very sincere, “I was wrong.”
Wen Yu lowered his head and laughed.
This person had been saying he didn’t want to lose to him just recently, but now he had learned to bow his head.
Actually, eating at the small restaurants around here wasn’t expensive, but what does “a penny can stump a hero” mean? This was it.
But it had to be said, Wen Yu found him very interesting like this.
He took Fu Yuhan to a pan-fried bun shop in a nearby alley and ordered two servings of pan-fried buns and two bowls of wontons. After eating, they called a car and headed toward the eastern suburbs.
“I went back and thought about it that day,” Fu Yuhan asked him a question in the car, “I actually… don’t have any muscles. Are you sure they’ll want me?”
“Mm, you don’t need muscles, just no excess fat.” Wen Yu turned to glance at him, his gaze unconsciously falling near his lower abdomen. “You don’t exercise at all—would I fantasize that you have muscles? If it really wasn’t suitable work, why would I recommend it to you?”
“…Mm.”
Fantasizing and such… this kind of conversation happening between two gay guys seemed a bit strange. With the unknowing ride-share driver still present, Fu Yuhan was immediately speechless.
Anyway… it was good that there were no requirements in this regard.
Fu Yuhan looked somewhat uneasy.
Not understanding why, Wen Yu just assumed he was nervous because he’d never done this kind of work before, so he used the travel time to tell him about the photographer’s basic situation.
The photographer’s name wasn’t particularly distinctive. Because he ranked fourth in age among a group of people who played together, he got the nickname “Old Four,” which was easy to remember.
Wen Yu was younger than him, so he simply called him Fourth Brother.
Fourth Brother had an ordinary name but was not an ordinary person. He had dropped out of school early, then wandered the world, relying on passion to travel and photograph everywhere, actually becoming a somewhat famous photographer domestically.
But he didn’t like working at photo studios. After getting older, he found some connections and specialized in taking photos for Taobao shops with more personal style. Over time, he had a batch of fixed partner shops and even established his own commercial studio.
“You don’t need to be nervous later. Just pose however Fourth Brother tells you to.” Wen Yu told him. “Anyway, he said if this collaboration goes well, he’ll look for you again if there’s suitable work in the future.”
“Thank you.”
“No need.” Wen Yu said. “Fourth Brother has quite a temper. If he doesn’t like you, my pleading won’t help; if he’s willing to work with you long-term, that’s because you performed well yourself and has nothing to do with me.”
“But without you, I wouldn’t know him at all.”
“Forget it, I’m not helping you to get your thanks.” Wen Yu smiled. “It’s better for us to happily bicker with each other.”
Today’s shooting location was in an abandoned factory in the eastern part of the city. As soon as they got out of the car, they saw ruins piled with rubble. Wen Yu took out his phone and made a brief call. Soon, a young man who looked to be in his twenties came out to greet them.
“Where’s Fourth Brother?” Wen Yu asked.
So this wasn’t Fourth Brother yet. Fu Yuhan thought silently—he had just been wondering why someone with such a free and wandering life experience looked so young.
“Fourth Brother is inside editing photos. There’s been a lot of work these days, and he says he’ll edit one at a time.” The young man smiled and turned to size up Fu Yuhan. “The one you found is pretty good—his build is also better than the previous one.”
Although the young man meant no harm, for a moment Fu Yuhan felt like a pig on a chopping block.
He secretly pinched himself.
“Let’s talk inside.” Wen Yu didn’t say much.
The three of them walked through the ruins one after another and entered the interior of the abandoned factory. Part of the factory roof had been opened up, with a beam of daylight leaking down from there. Someone was setting up lighting and softboxes in the shadow area, while a bearded middle-aged man sat by a temporarily set up workstation nearby.
If it weren’t for the youthful feeling still in his eyes when he looked over, Fu Yuhan would have almost thought this “Fourth Brother” was already forty-five.
“Fourth Brother.” Wen Yu called out from far away.
“Little Seven is here.” Fourth Brother glanced over with some surprise and called out, “Yo, the goods you brought me back are really not bad—why are you standing so far away?”
“…”
Great, now Fu Yuhan felt even more like a pig awaiting slaughter.
“Cigarettes.” Wen Yu lifted his chin and frowned. “How many packs have you smoked? It stinks.”
“Tsk, little brats just don’t understand. How can you get through working all night without smoking a couple cigarettes?” Fourth Brother resentfully threw his cigarette butt into a nearby disposable cup and turned to glare at him. “Happy now?”
Wen Yu waved his hand to disperse the air and slowly walked over.
Wen Yu’s attitude was familiar: “I brought the person. Let’s shoot early and finish early.”
“Why are you always thinking about finishing work?”
Fourth Brother cursed, then turned to ask: “What should I call you?”
“Fu Yuhan.” Fu Yuhan said each word clearly.
Fourth Brother smiled: “Don’t be so formal, or you won’t be able to let loose during the shoot. San Mao—”
He raised his voice to call out. The young assistant who had just come out to greet them responded: “Yeah!”
The assistant ran over quickly: “What now?”
“Take Fu Yuhan to change into today’s clothes for shooting. Let’s test the feel.”
“Got it!” San Mao answered in an affected tone, pulling Fu Yuhan toward the hallway. “Come on, let’s get you changed.”
Fu Yuhan glanced at Wen Yu. Wen Yu nodded.
After the two left, Fourth Brother, who had just been smiling kindly, suddenly curved into a roguish smile and looked at Wen Yu teasingly: “Little Seven, honestly tell me, what’s your relationship with this person really?”
Wen Yu looked completely candid: “Didn’t I tell you? He’s my love rival.”
“You’re bringing your love rival here?”
“He’s a love rival anyway.” Wen Yu said. “No other relationship.”
“Oh, then,” Fourth Brother paused, “your love rival, which means he’s gay and single, right?”
Wen Yu stiffened.
He lowered his gaze and looked down at Fourth Brother, lightly rotating his wrist with a cold attitude.
“Fourth Brother, you’re getting on in years.” He said softly. “Eating tender grass would seem undignified, don’t you think?”
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
