Fu Yuhan naturally understood the implicit meaning in this sentence.
His hand was still held in Wen Yu’s, and the touching skin suddenly felt burning hot. He realized his actions were indeed inappropriate.
The main thing was, although both of them had the same sexual orientation, Fu Yuhan had no thoughts about Wen Yu. Plus, after two years of being at odds, now that they had made peace, Fu Yuhan subconsciously treated him like a friend similar to Chu Lei and the others, using a similar attitude toward him.
The instant realization made him feel a bit embarrassed and awkward.
What was more noteworthy was that although he had crossed the line, Wen Yu’s way of addressing him had also changed.
“I’ll remember that.” Fu Yuhan tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to pull his hand back, “But what’s with ‘Xiao Han’… didn’t you used to call me ‘Old Fu’?”
“When I called you ‘Old Fu’ didn’t you complain too?” Wen Yu’s gaze swept over, asking as if casually, “When’s your birthday?”
“January 28… why?”
Wen Yu’s eyes rolled, his expression remaining normal: “Nothing, then you are indeed younger than me. Calling you ‘Xiao Han’ is no problem, right.”
This wasn’t about whether there was a problem or not.
Who had ever called him “Xiao Han”? Either elders, or Yang Fan who had grown up with him since childhood.
And when they called him “Xiao Han” it felt completely different from when Wen Yu called him that. Wen Yu’s words just now, along with that form of address, always made him feel there was something a bit…
Ambiguous.
Fu Yuhan suspected it was because of his own boundary-crossing actions.
“No problem… it just sounds awkward.” Fu Yuhan avoided his gaze, saying softly, “Let’s just eat.”
“If there’s no problem then I’ll call you that.”
“…Whatever you want.” Fu Yuhan said.
Having achieved his goal, Wen Yu also picked up his chopsticks.
When eating, the two generally didn’t talk. Fu Yuhan was naturally quiet, and Wen Yu had been trained this way by his father. Habits formed over many years couldn’t be changed just like that. Midway through, Wen Yu wanted to start a conversation but couldn’t find a suitable topic, so he had to give up.
Boys’ hair was short. By the time they finished eating, Fu Yuhan’s hair was no longer dripping water. Wen Yu finally didn’t have to rack his brains thinking about whether he could help dry his hair, and finally remembered that his house had something called a hair dryer.
When he took it out, he felt a bit embarrassed: “I should have thought of this earlier.”
“It’s fine,” Fu Yuhan said, “I’ve already recognized your ‘ten fingers that don’t touch spring water.'”
“That phrase in this context should be a derogatory description.” Wen Yu thought and said.
Fu Yuhan plugged the hair dryer into the power source: “I indeed wasn’t praising you.”
As he spoke, he turned on the hair dryer and started drying his hair. Among the half-dry hair, there were a few relatively longer strands that swayed back and forth in the wind from the outlet. Wen Yu glanced at them and started thinking again about “whether he could help dry his hair.”
…Stop it.
This matter couldn’t be dwelt upon.
Fu Yuhan didn’t know how many thoughts had flashed through his mind beneath that calm expression, only knowing that Wen Yu stood beside him watching for a long time as if he had never seen modern automated equipment.
Fu Yuhan felt awkward being watched by him, so he used the highest setting to dry his hair to about 80% dry before turning off the hair dryer.
“Are we continuing to play this afternoon?” Wen Yu asked, “Or do you need to study?”
“My backpack is at school.” Fu Yuhan reminded this “culprit,” “But I have to go to class this afternoon.”
“Painting?”
“Mm.”
“I’ll take you there.” Wen Yu immediately said.
Fu Yuhan looked at him, somewhat puzzled: “That place isn’t far?”
“It’s fine, I’ll take you.” Wen Yu found an excuse, “I happen to need to buy some things on the way.”
Since he put it that way, Fu Yuhan thought about it and agreed. Although he had something to do in the afternoon, he could still play for a while in the morning. After all, this was the weekend after midterm exams. Fu Yuhan went with the flow and gave himself a short vacation with peace of mind, hugging a cushion and curling up on the sofa to continue watching Wen Yu play that game he had cleared many years ago.
–
The two chatted while playing, and the morning passed quickly. Near noon, Fu Yuhan planned to get up and take his leave.
Wen Yu was a bit persistent about “eating together,” which Fu Yuhan didn’t mind, but he had originally planned to eat something simple and hadn’t reserved enough time, so after eating they had to take a taxi to the art teacher’s house, which wasn’t far away.
“Should I come find you this afternoon?” Before Fu Yuhan got out of the car, Wen Yu asked.
“Huh? Find me for what?” Fu Yuhan was stunned and turned back to ask, “Do you have something to do?”
Not really, but firstly Wen Yu wanted to spend more time with him, and secondly he saw that Fu Yuhan seemed more relaxed at his place.
“I want you to have dinner with me.” Wen Yu found a reason.
“…Are you actually three years old?” Fu Yuhan laughed, thought about it and said, “After this ends, I might need to go to the hospital.”
“I see.”
His eyelids drooped, and he seemed somewhat disappointed. Fu Yuhan inexplicably felt reluctant, hesitating: “How about… we’ll see when the time comes? I’ll go to the hospital to check, and if there’s nothing wrong I’ll come back to find you.”
“Okay.”
Fu Yuhan got out of the car.
After the person walked into the residential complex and disappeared, Wen Yu finally leaned back, his whole body relaxing, and told the driver to drive back.
He slumped for a while, then took out his phone.
The boss had already replied to him long ago, but unfortunately Wen Yu had been busy talking with Fu Yuhan and hadn’t had time to pay attention to him. Only now did he have the mood to reply to messages.
Boss: How many times last night?
Wen Yu: ?
Wen Yu: How can you be so vulgar.
Boss: We’re all men, be direct.
Boss: For example, did you use protection?
Wen Yu: Nothing happened, okay? We didn’t get to that point at all.
Boss: Then you’re not good enough, Xiao Qi. I wasted my effort specially calling him over for you.
Wen Yu: …I really thank you, I almost couldn’t be human.
If he had unconsciously called out Fu Yuhan’s name when he was saying “don’t go” yesterday, he didn’t know if they could still chat normally today.
Fu Yuhan still had Yang Fan in his heart.
When Wen Yu gradually recovered from the initial chaos and helplessness, he figured it out—you have to eat one bite at a time, pursue someone one step at a time. Fortunately, he had plenty of time.
He would definitely find a way to get Fu Yuhan into T University.
And… he needed to savor the feeling of liking someone for the first time in his life.
For a long time before, Wen Yu had felt that eternal vows were just lies fabricated by humans. He heard that Wen Ziming had once said many sweet words, but this didn’t affect his speed of remarrying.
Fu Yuhan might have come to cure him.
Boss: If you’re talking about your drunken antics, I’ve already heard about it and laughed.
Boss: Being young is so good, little kids are just cute. Next time we have a gathering, we’ll have new topics to chat about.
Wen Yu: …
Wen Yu: Haha, I think I can still afford to smash up a bar.
Boss: …You’re really violent.
Wen Yu pressed the power button, locked the screen and stuffed the phone back in his pocket, turning to look out the window.
Actually, setting aside the embarrassing matter of making a drunken fool of himself, being able to hug Fu Yuhan, he seemed to really not be at a loss.
…Although he didn’t remember it.
–
That day’s art class content was figure sketching from life. The teacher had invited an elderly lady model for them, who sat on a specially made high stool while a group of exam-preparing students each held drawing boards and sat below choosing angles and positions for sketching.
Fu Yuhan chose a frontal view.
The three common angles for exams were frontal, three-quarters, and profile, with three-quarters being the easiest to draw, while the other two angles each had their own difficulties. Fu Yuhan always felt a bit stiff when drawing frontal views, so he planned to practice well.
While several people were drawing, the teacher came out from another room and told them that they would start practicing color next week, asking them to prepare paints in advance.
This was quite awkward. Fu Yuhan had only played with watercolors by himself and had never learned gouache painting. He didn’t even know which colors to buy. During the break in the middle of sketching, he went to ask the teacher.
To paint gouache, you needed to prepare more than 40 colors from pure colors to advanced grays. Even buying the most ordinary set of paints would cost two to three hundred yuan, not including other materials and tools. Most importantly, dozens of paint cans took up a lot of space, and he obviously couldn’t bring them home.
He Yan really disliked him painting. She wholeheartedly hoped he would get into a “proper” undergraduate program.
Almost instinctively, he thought of Wen Yu.
Speaking of which, he was really getting more and more used to asking Wen Yu for help. In the past, he would either find ways to solve things himself or could only steel himself to ask Yang Fan for help when he had no other choice. Yang Fan’s parents also looked after him, and sometimes Fu Yuhan felt he was really troubling them, but asking Wen Yu for help carried no psychological burden at all. This person lived alone, had a temper big enough to give his stepmother attitude, and seemed like no one could control him.
Fu Yuhan took out his phone to message Wen Yu, not even realizing how overly skilled this action had become.
Fu Yuhan: Yu-ge, we’re starting color painting next week. If I buy a bunch of paint cans, can I borrow a place at yours to store them?
Wen Yu replied after a while.
Wen Yu: That’s fine… but will you have dinner with me?
Wen Yu: We’ll go to the hospital after eating.
This person was really persistent.
Fu Yuhan shook his head and replied agreeing. So after class ended, he ran into a tall person with long, straight legs at the teacher’s front door.
Among the people taking the class together, there was only one boy, and all the rest were girls. Seeing Wen Yu posing at the door, their eyes went straight. Fu Yuhan vaguely heard two girls quietly discussing whose boyfriend this person might be. At that time, Fu Yuhan was about to walk over to find him, and hearing this discussion made his scalp tingle.
The downside of being gay was that your knees were easily hit by arrows. He could only pretend he hadn’t heard anything.
“Let’s eat at my place,” Wen Yu said, “Auntie came early today and is already cooking. I’ll take you to the hospital after we eat, okay?”
“Did you catch some kind of chauffeur syndrome?” Fu Yuhan followed him out, somewhat speechless, “I’m a grown person, it’s not like I can’t take transportation myself.”
“Didn’t you tell me to be more genuine and follow my own heart?” Wen Yu didn’t turn back, deliberately saying this lightly, “Well, I just want to take you, you can’t make me hold it in, right?”
Fu Yuhan reasonably suspected this person was being unreasonable, but unfortunately he had no proof. He nodded: “Fine, fine, whatever you want.”
Only then was Wen Yu satisfied.
The two took a taxi back to Wen Yu’s house, sat together and ate a homestyle meal made by the auntie, and after the meal, Wen Yu took a taxi to send him.
The hospital wasn’t as close as the art teacher’s house.
The car drove for half an hour before arriving. Before getting out, Fu Yuhan told Wen Yu to be careful on the way back, then closed the car door and walked into the inpatient department by himself.
Qin Xiaolu was still staying in the temporary ward from yesterday; the hospital hadn’t freed up a new bed for her. In the temporary ward, family members only had space for one stool to rest. When Fu Yuhan walked in, he saw that both Uncle Qin and He Yan present looked exhausted.
Xiao Lu was sleeping, with several needles in the back of her hand connected to IV bottles above.
Uncle Qin was okay, but He Yan’s eyes were bloodshot and she looked terribly haggard. Seeing Fu Yuhan, she glared over, her voice rough and hoarse: “Your dad contacted you?”
Fu Yuhan didn’t want to lie, so he nodded.
“If you want to go live with him, then go,” He Yan’s gaze returned to the bed, “I don’t have the fortune of children and grandchildren.”
“…Did I say anything?” Fu Yuhan was speechless, “Should I just leave now then?”
“Then go ahead and leave!” He Yan suddenly shouted.
Fu Yuhan lowered his eyes and glanced toward Xiao Lu—he had originally come to check on her—her face was pale, and you could tell her body was weak, though it was hard to tell how serious it was.
Uncle Qin elbowed He Yan: “Can’t you speak properly? The child still remembered to make a trip here!” After saying this, he looked up, “Xiao Han, don’t mind her. You know your mom’s sharp tongue… actually she still thinks of you. She was knitting you a sweater just recently.”
“I know, Uncle.” However, words were inherently very destructive weapons. Fu Yuhan felt explanations were useless and didn’t want to discuss it further, “How is Xiao Lu? Do you need me to stay overnight?”
“No need, no need. Her condition is relatively stable today.” Uncle Qin’s bloodshot eyes from staying up curved slightly as he smiled at him, his face full of wrinkles bunching together, “No need to stay tonight. You’re in senior year, just take care of yourself—we found a caregiver for the day shift. We’ll go home to sleep in a bit and come back for the night shift.”
“I actually can…”
“Senior year,” Uncle Qin reached out and patted him, “Take good care of yourself—your mom and I both think so.”
“I’d be stupid to spend money on a caregiver,” He Yan sneered, “He doesn’t want to study anyway, what’s the point of reviewing. I’m still spending money to hire someone to free up time for him, and I still have to go back to work overtime… He only knows his hands-off father.”
Uncle Qin was almost helpless: “He Yan…”
He Yan turned her face away.
He could only look apologetically at Fu Yuhan: “Xiao Han, your mom doesn’t mean that, she’s just…”
“Just hates my dad.” Fu Yuhan continued with a cold expression, “I know. But I’ve been staying at a classmate’s house these past two days.”
“Oh, oh, good, good.” Uncle Qin asked, “I heard from your mom that you haven’t taken any living expenses recently… do you still have money? Let me give you some…”
“No need, I have money.” Fu Yuhan dodged his hand trying to give him money and turned to leave, “If Xiao Lu’s condition is okay, I’ll head back first, so Mom won’t be upset.”
“Sigh!” Uncle Qin sighed.
After Fu Yuhan went out, he turned a corner and went to the nurses’ station to ask the head nurse about Qin Xiaolu’s condition. After confirming there was nothing wrong for now, he headed downstairs.
Uncle Qin was a simple, good-natured man who couldn’t match He Yan’s sharp tongue, so Fu Yuhan staying there was destined to be nagged at. It was better to go home and sleep peacefully.
Whenever times like this came, he especially envied Wen Yu for having his own place to live.
He was thinking this when he looked up and saw Wen Yu.
The other person was standing in front of the main entrance where he had gotten out of the car earlier, just standing there.
“Why didn’t you go back?” Fu Yuhan was somewhat surprised.
“I figured you coming to the hospital would probably end up in an argument with your mom,” Wen Yu glanced at the time, “I didn’t expect you to come down in just ten minutes.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
“Shall we go?”
“Where to?”
“I don’t know,” Wen Yu looked completely indifferent, “anywhere is fine, up to you—after exams aren’t you supposed to just mess around?”
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
