Part Twelve: Brothers (1)

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Summer was finally here. Xia Zhi had a very favorable impression of this scorchingly spicy season, not only because he was born during this season, but also because of the presence of gorgeous hot men, exquisite skin, and beautiful muscles beneath thin clothing.

“Ah oh—yi!”

Ye Qia looked at Xia Zhi’s grimacing face and asked, “This is the third time you’ve made a weird noise. What is it?”

“Look, look.” Like a young girl, Xia Zhi secretly pointed at a father and son pair far away. “That man’s chest hair is so long it’s reached his chin! And there’s also that huge butt, don’t you think it resembles a funnel? So freakin’ ugly!”

Ye Qia looked from afar and said, “Isn’t that a smear of chocolate sauce?”

“Is it?” Xia Zhi craned his neck like a duck who’d been seized by the neck, squinting as he looked hard for a moment. “I guess so.”

Ye Qia stopped in his tracks, turning to glance at Xia Zhi’s face. “Are you nearsighted?”

“No!” Xia Zhi shouted immediately, then lowered his voice and said rather unconfidently, “No, my eyes are good.”

“Are they?” Ye Qia pointed out an ice cream shop in the distance. “How much is the vanilla ice cream?”

Xia Zhi hesitantly looked for a while, glared back at Ye Qia, then stood on his toes and stretched out his neck, staring desperately for a long time before saying with uncertainty, “Fif…fifty?”

Ye Qia mercilessly smashed his delusions. “That shop has no vanilla ice-cream.”

“…”

“When are you going to get glasses?”

“Never!”

“Can you stop being so childish? Isn’t it just a pair of glasses?”

“I can see fine!” Xia Zhi insisted stubbornly. “I don’t want to wear glasses!”

Ye Qia asked, perplexed, “Why?”

“There is no why, I just don’t.” Seeing that Ye Qia was about to speak, Xia Zhi rushed to say, “Forget me, look at yourself!”

Ye Qia was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a long sleeved shirt and pants. Not one inch of skin was exposed. Before heading out, he had even slathered on a near-centimeter thick amount of sunblock, taking almost half an hour to apply it.

“This isn’t the same, it’s necessary for my work.”

“Why would your work need this?” Xia Zhi looked baffled. “It’s not like you’re the pretty boy type, why do you need to stay so pale?”

“Because psycho killer types are currently trending.” Ye Qia withdrew his hands into his sleeves. If he hadn’t been forcibly obstructed by Xia Zhi, he would’ve gone out wearing gloves. “I can’t be a psycho if I’m not pale.”

“…”

Seeing Xia Zhi’s expression, Ye Qia said, “What, you’re the one that wanted to come out and have fun.”

“Right, I’m the one that wanted to come out,” Xia Zhi said in annoyance. “But you didn’t need to dress up like this. Look, everyone around is staring at you!”

“The one they’re staring at is you. You’re the one making a scene.” Trying his best to remain patient, Ye Qia said evenly, “You wanted to go to a theme park, so I came. You wanted to have fun, so I’m accompanying you. What more do you want?”

“W-what, what, what do I want?” Xia Zhi was so angry he was stuttering, glaring in disbelief. “I saw how tired you were from work so I dragged you out to let loose!”

“I didn’t want to come out here and sunbathe,” Ye Qia grumbled. “And there are so many people and so many children here, it’s noisy and hot…”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Xia Zhi yelled, angry and embarrassed. “It’s all my fault! Alright? I’m leaving, you’re welcome to do as you wish. Go home and go back to your yoga!”

After saying this, Xia Zhi walked off in earnest.

Ye Qia held in his anger, standing stiffly in place as he watched Xia Zhi walk away, not uttering a sound.

Ten steps later, Xia Zhi stopped, turned and shouted furiously, “Why aren’t you chasing me?”

“Are you a girl, pulling a stunt like this out of a romance film?”

“Fuck, is this how you talk to someone?!” Xia Zhi hated being called girly the most. At this moment, he turned and came back, roaring, “I’m not leaving, what’re you going to do about it? I’m back! I’m standing right in front of you!”

“…”

Ye Qia’s expression was slightly distorted. “Are you thirsty?”

“I am!” Xia Zhi looked around and continued to roar, “What do you want to drink?!”

“Vanilla ice cream.”

“Goddamn, you lied to me again! That store has no vanilla ice cream!” Xia Zhi said this, then suddenly a light went off in his head, “Wait! I get it, that shop actually does have vanilla ice cream and you purposely said they didn’t, and now you’re lying to me again…”

Ye Qia pulled out a bill and slapped it onto Xia Zhi’s chest, interrupting his chatter. “The shop next to it has vanilla ice cream.”

“…”

Two grown men bought ice cream and iced tea and hid in the shadow of a tree to escape the heat, idly watching people come and go.

“You really didn’t want to come?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you refuse?”

After a long silence, Ye Qia said, “You seemed really happy about it.”

The air instantly went out of Xia Zhi’s anger. He downed most of the cool tea and felt much calmer. Just as he was about to say something to ease the mood, a familiar figure suddenly crossed his line of vision. He was stunned for a moment before jumping up and tossing the cold tea into Ye Qia’s chest to give chase, leaving him with only one sentence: “Wait here for me.”

Ye Qia had no chance to ask before Xia Zhi disappeared. He waited for a while in boredom and was starting to get restless. He pulled out his phone and called a few times yet there was no answer. After the third call, he decided to go look for him.

Unfortunately he didn’t find him even as it got dark.

Ye Qia was genuinely worried now. Just as he was getting ready to make a police report, his phone suddenly rang. He hurriedly answered, “Xia Zhi, where are you?”

“I’m behind.”

“Where?”

“Behind…”

Ye Qia whipped around to discover Xia Zhi standing right behind him covered in blood. There was a large tear in his shirt and his collar was completely red. Frightened, he hurried over to support him, asking urgently, “What happened? Where are you hurt?”

Xia Zhi was dazed for a few seconds before clarity returned to his eyes. He slowly reached out and hugged Ye Qia, saying in a trembling voice, “I thought I almost wouldn’t see you again.”

“…”

When Ye Qia brought Xia Zhi to see Magician, it was nearly dark. Magician stood at the entrance, taking one look before reluctantly bringing them inside. During the examination, he pinched Xia Zhi into a yelping mess. After he was done pinching him he said, “There’s nothing serious, it’s all flesh wounds.”

“Check again.” Ye Qia said, “Are there any internal injuries?”

“Nah.” Magician tossed the pair of scissors onto the tray and impatiently said, “It’s just a few scrapes, he’s even relatively alert. He’s fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m certain!”

“You guarantee it?”

Magician frowned, his voice lowering, “You don’t trust me?”

Ye Qia seemed to realize something and his tone softened. “That isn’t what I meant.”

Xia Zhi sat on the side, sizing up the two of them. A strange thought formed in his mind: It couldn’t be that Magician liked Ye Qia, could it?