Zhang Yuwen glanced at Huo Sichen, who was looking at his phone as he ate at a table a short distance away. Chen Hong, Chang Jinxing, Yan Jun, and Zheng Weize had better luck and managed to get four seats together.
Zhang Yuwen went to get his food and returned to find that the person beside him had left, and Yan Jun shifted into the seat next to him. Zhang Yuwen shot him an inquisitive look.
“I don’t want to be the third wheel, so I brought my pot over here,” Yan Jun explained. “And Chen Hong keeps nagging about how this isn’t healthy or that has too many calories.” Zhang Yuwen laughed, and Yan Jun asked, “What do you want to eat? I can get some meat for you, if you want.”
“No, thanks. This meat is tougher than my great-aunt.”
Yan Jun roared with sudden, exaggerated laughter. Not far away, Huo Sichen glanced at them.
Yan Jun started a video call to Xiao-Qi, who was drinking milk but paused when she saw Yan Jun. “Pa-pa!”
“Look who’s here!” Yan Jun turned the camera to Zhang Yuwen.
Xiao-Qi still hadn’t learned to address anyone other than Yan Jun, but she recognized Zhang Yuwen and smiled at him. Yan Jun spoke to the caregiver at the childcare center next. They were already starting to put Xiao-Qi to bed, so Yan Jun disconnected the call.
“That must have added to their workload,” Zhang Yuwen remarked.
“They have full-time childcare services in case the parents have an emergency to attend to,” Yan Jun said. “I just have to pay for the additional service when it happens. I can’t do this all the time, though.”
“Yeah…” Zhang Yuwen felt for Xiao-Qi, but staying with Yan Jun was so much better for her than being sent to an orphanage. Yan Jun was doing everything he could to give her all the love he had to offer. Zhang Yuwen knew Yan Jun thought the same, so he offered him some comfort. “You need to have your own life too, even if you only carve out little bits of it. You have to be in a good frame of mind to care for her. Her emotions depend on yours.”
“Yup, I’ve noticed that too,” said Yan Jun. “I can’t take good care of her unless I take good care of myself.”
Yan Jun had sweated a lot during their hike, and he smelled slightly, but not unpleasantly, of sweat tinged with the aggressive testosterone unique to athletic men. It reminded Zhang Yuwen of the flip he did earlier. “Did you specialize in sports in school?” he asked.
“Not exactly. I trained in high jump for a couple of years, but then my father passed away. So instead of going to university, I followed in my brother’s footsteps and joined the workforce,” Yan Jun explained. Zhang Yuwen nodded. “What about you? You’ve never mentioned your parents.”
“They’re divorced, and they have their own families now. My grandparents raised me, but they passed away while I was still in school.”
Yan Jun hummed in acknowledgment and picked out some food for Zhang Yuwen, who ate it.
“What did your grandparents do?” Yan Jun asked.
“They were doctors.”
“Sorry, should I not have—”
“No, no,” Zhang Yuwen said, amused. “I’ve already eaten it, see? Let me get you some vegetables.”
“I know children from doctor families are…” Yan Jun trailed off.
“Not me,” Zhang Yuwen assured him. Zhang Yuwen knew what Yan Jun wanted to say. It was true he rarely ate from someone else’s bowl; he grew up in a household fastidious about cleanliness, after all, and they never ate food that had been in contact with someone else’s utensils. Teasingly, Zhang Yuwen said, “The hot pot would have killed the germs anyway, and prohibiting the sharing of food has no real significance other than psychological reassurance.”
Yan Jun laughed, with a look on his face like a shy high schooler’s.
“No wonder you and Chen Hong have so much to talk about,” Zhang Yuwen added.
“Yeah.” Yan Jun reverted to his usual serious expression. “He’s a jock too, so we get along well.”
That wasn’t all: Another thing Yan Jun and Chen Hong had in common was that they were more mature than the others, having firsthand experience of the hardship of making a living in this society. They could act as each other’s dumping ground for negative energy, and also encourage each other from time to time.
“I guess I must come across as a boring person,” Yan Jun said.
Huo Sichen came over, and they both looked up at him. “I’m done eating,” he told them. “I’ll go back to my room first.”
Zhang Yuwen was a little embarrassed about having left Huo Sichen to eat alone. “I’m almost done too.”
“No, no,” Huo Sichen said hurriedly. “It’s fine. Take your time.” Yan Jun waved goodbye to him, and Huo Sichen patted them both on the shoulders before leaving.
“You just don’t like to talk,” Zhang Yuwen said, picking up the thread of their conversation. “But you’re a very gentle person once people get to know you better.”
“I’m boring. You don’t need to reassure me.”
Zhang Yuwen could tell that Yan Jun wanted to fit in with them, to joke around without holding back and burst into hearty laughter with everyone else, but he just couldn’t find the right way into the conversation. Talking about work was dull and wouldn’t resonate with anyone, and Xiao-Qi… Well, it would be better not to overdo it. Everyone liked Xiao-Qi, but they didn’t necessarily want to listen to Yan Jun monologue about the art of parenting.
Yan Jun rarely paid attention to the pop culture the rest of them were into, and when it came to joking, he just didn’t have Zhang Yuwen’s comedic timing, and things sometimes ended in awkward silence. But Zhang Yuwen could tell from the flip Yan Jun did earlier that he wanted to have fun with them.
“You’re very cool,” Zhang Yuwen said softly. “You know? Cool guys are very attractive. When I was a kid, I tried to act cool by not talking for several days…”
“And?”
“And then I was taken to the psychiatric ward for evaluation and ended up getting a beating.”
Yan Jun didn’t quite know what to say.
“Let’s go see the snow,” Zhang Yuwen suggested.
Having eaten their fill, they put on their jackets and went to the platform at the top of the mountain to take in the snowy view. Outside, the cold wind howled. It was really freezing out there.
“Are you cold?” Yan Jun asked.
Zhang Yuwen waved his hand. In truth, he was shivering from the chill, but it was bearable. Sleet swirled in the sky, the snowflakes yet to fully form. At the side of the platform was a wide—and slippery—marble surface.
A thin layer of ice had formed on the ground. “You can ice skate here,” Zhang Yuwen said. He stepped onto it and made a skating motion, and Yan Jun followed close behind him. “Be careful,” Zhang Yuwen said, but just as the words left his mouth, he slipped.
Yan Jun reached out to pull him up, but he was dragged down with Zhang Yuwen instead. Panicking, Zhang Yuwen tried to get up, and he ended up tripping Yan Jun a second time in the process.
The others came outside. “Are you guys wrestling?” Zheng Weize asked.
“Stop taking photos!” Zhang Yuwen was mortified with all the visitors watching him, yet there Chang Jinxing was, snapping away.
“Why do you always have your camera?” asked Yan Jun.
“I thought it was Huo Sichen,” Chen Hong said from his position off to the side.
Everyone was taking in the sorry sight they made, but no one came over to help. “Give us a hand, here!” Zhang Yuwen pleaded.
At last, Yan Jun had almost made it to the steps… Then he slipped into a split, startling everyone for a moment. Then they broke into applause. Yan Jun was speechless.