Chapter 15
MORNING CAME.
Huo Sichen woke from the cold night with one arm around Zhang Yuwen, Zhang Yuwen’s legs around him, and both of them, naturally, sporting morning wood.
In another room, Zheng Weize opened his eyes to find himself alone, though the bedding was still warm from Chang Jinxing’s body. It had gotten colder in the night, so they, too, stacked their blankets and slept together under them. When Zheng Weize woke once, around dawn, Chang Jinxing was sound asleep. Pretending to be asleep too, he’d snuggled into Chang Jinxing’s arms, feeling bliss like he’d never felt before.
Yan Jun and Chen Hong, meanwhile, didn’t feel the cold at all. They slept separately and didn’t even combine their blankets. Yan Jun got up early in the morning to brush his teeth and get dressed, then went to knock on his roommates’ doors.
“You guys up?” Yan Jun asked.
Still relishing the last bit of Chang Jinxing’s warmth, Zheng Weize rubbed his eyes and yawned.
Yan Jun knocked on Zhang Yuwen’s door next. Huo Sichen almost jumped out of bed, gripped by an unaccountable sense that he’d been caught red-handed. “Who’s there?” he asked warily.
“Me,” said Yan Jun. Huo Sichen rolled out of bed, put on his pants, and went to open the door, his hair still a mess. “Still sleeping?” Yan Jun asked. “Get up. Why’s your room so cold?”
“I don’t know,” Huo Sichen said. “Yours isn’t?”
Bleary with sleep, Zhang Yuwen sat up in bed, hugging the blanket like a child who had just woken. After a moment of eye contact with Yan Jun, he plopped back down.
Yan Jun checked the windows. “You guys didn’t close the ventilation window!”
Huo Sichen was lost for words. There was a ventilation window at the top corner of the floor-to-ceiling window that they hadn’t noticed. Cold wind had kept gushing into the room all night. Yan Jun closed the window for them, and the temperature indoors finally began to rise.
Zhang Yuwen came fully awake. Seeing Yan Jun lying beside him, playing with his phone, he asked quizzically, “Did you sleep here last night?”
“Yeah,” Yan Jun said, a smile quirking his lips.
Baffled, Zhang Yuwen’s mind flooded with questions. He couldn’t comprehend how the person sleeping beside him had gone from Huo Sichen to Yan Jun. Seeing Huo Sichen walk out of the bathroom after washing up only mystified him further. “The three of us slept together?” he asked, bewildered.
“Yup,” said Yan Jun.
“Yeah,” Huo Sichen chimed in. “You slept in the middle.”
Zhang Yuwen didn’t know what to say.
Zheng Weize, meanwhile, was searching for Chang Jinxing room by room.
“He’s downstairs taking pictures,” Chen Hong told him. “Are you done packing? If so, let’s go.”
Everyone went down and gathered outside the mountaintop platform. “Wow!” they exclaimed in unison.
Fate had brought them together to see the first snow on Elephant Gorge—a rare experience. After all, no one knew when the first winter snow would fall, and to happen to stay overnight on the mountaintop on that very night was serendipitous.
Chang Jinxing had gotten up early, and he was on the platform, snapping away. As the sun rose, its golden rays cast a gilded glow over the mountain’s snow-covered pines. A few tourists were out enjoying the snow as well. Chang Jinxing found a perfect spot to set up his tripod and take a group photo of the guys standing in front of the railing.
A reporter from the TV station was there too, going around interviewing people and filming. When the cable car started running, the number of visitors swelled. Everyone finally managed to get tickets to return to the city.
The TV reporter interviewed them one by one. “Looking at this snowy landscape, are you happy?”
“No, I’m Yuwen.” Zhang Yuwen covered his face with Huo Sichen’s fanny pack, not wanting to be on camera.
After a night of heavy snow, they were all shivering and worn out as they got off the tour bus. It was just too cold.
“Are we getting breakfast?” Zheng Weize asked. “I’m so hungry! Hey!” He shook Chang Jinxing, who kept sniffling and looking at his camera.
“Okay, okay,” Chang Jinxing said. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll pass,” said Huo Sichen. “I have to get home.”
Zhang Yuwen laughed. “Due for a scolding for staying out all night, huh?”
Without responding to him, Huo Sichen forced a smile and said his goodbyes.
“The temperature dropped so suddenly,” Chen Hong said. “It’s freezing out here.”
“I have to pick Xiao-Qi up,” said Yan Jun.
“I’ll go with you,” Zhang Yuwen said, surprising Yan Jun.
But Chen Hong had an idea. “Let’s all go together. We can grab breakfast on the way. It’s nearby anyway.”
They ate steaming hot porridge and fried dough sticks in a ground-level shop in the same building that housed the childcare center, and all of them felt much better after a hot meal. Then Yan Jun took them to the childcare center. Just as he’d said, there were a few children who had stayed overnight, with caregivers on rotating shifts looking after them.
When Xiao-Qi saw Yan Jun, she broke into aggrieved tears. Yan Jun was very busy, but it was rare that he had to leave Xiao-Qi in the childcare center overnight. She wasn’t even a year old, and already she seemed to understand some things.
The others’ hearts ached a little at this sight. But Yan Jun only had to pick her up, pat her, and say some comforting words, and Xiao-Qi stopped crying.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Yan Jun let Xiao-Qi lie on his shoulder, gently soothing her. “Papa was stranded on the mountain, but I’m here now.”
Xiao-Qi just hugged Yan Jun tightly around the neck and refused to let go.
“Stop taking photos already.” Yan Jun didn’t know what to do with Chang Jinxing. Even here he was trying to take a backlit narrative photo.
Under the beautiful sunlight of the early winter morning, the group strolled back to the warm and idyllic haven of No. 7 Riverbay Road. The moment they arrived, they each heaved a sigh of relief; they’d never realized just how wonderful a place home was.
“Home sweet home!” Zhang Yuwen said, heading directly to the kitchen to brew coffee.
“Oh, by the way, Yuwen.” Chang Jinxing set down his camera and put an affectionate arm around Zhang Yuwen’s shoulders. “I’ve got something good for you.”
Chang Jinxing transferred the money, and Zhang Yuwen received the rent in full, minus the deposit. Chang Jinxing’s luck had been good this past month; between his boyfriend-for-hire business and cash advances on his credit card, he’d gotten enough for the rent, although three months’ rent was already his limit.
“So, you finally remembered?” Zhang Yuwen asked.
Chang Jinxing grinned, still trying to act cute even though he’d gotten away with it. “Heh heh heh. You didn’t remind me, either. Want coffee? I’ll make it.” He took the coffee pot from Zhang Yuwen.
Zhang Yuwen glanced at Zheng Weize, who was returning to his room, and then back at Chang Jinxing, a warning look in his eyes. Chang Jinxing pretended not to notice and reached out to pinch Zhang Yuwen’s face, and Zhang Yuwen promptly retaliated.
“Careful!” cried Chang Jinxing, who was holding the pot of boiling water. “Hot water!”
“Don’t fool around if you want to be with him,” said Zhang Yuwen.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Chang Jinxing said. “Don’t talk nonsense.”
“You can’t lead him on, either, even if there’s nothing between you.” Zheng Weize may not have had a great deal of emotional intelligence, but he was a kindhearted kid, and Zhang Yuwen didn’t want to see him get hurt. Moreover, everyone in the house was on harmonious terms, and Zhang Yuwen didn’t want that balance to be upset. “You hear me?” he told Chang Jinxing severely.