“Yes, sir!” Chang Jinxing replied loudly. He flashed Zhang Yuwen his handsome, innocent smile and looked him in the eye. “Then what if I want to date you, Yuwen-gege?”
Chang Jinxing was a few months younger than Zhang Yuwen, and the cute act he was playing left Zhang Yuwen defenseless against this flirt. Zhang Yuwen put his hands in his pockets and kicked at him. “Shoo, shoo, shoo.”
He sat down and looked at Chang Jinxing’s camera. Having made coffee, Chang Jinxing came to stand behind the sofa and leaned over to touch the camera, moving his handsome face close to Zhang Yuwen’s.
“What a player.” Zhang Yuwen was long used to these tricks. “Stop flirting. Your moves don’t—work—on—me!”
Chang Jinxing burst out laughing. Zhang Yuwen put down the camera. Hearing some noise from Zheng Weize’s room and not wanting to cause any misunderstandings, he took the coffee and stood up. “Thanks.”
“I paid the rent,” Chang Jinxing said. “Are you gonna give me a little reward?”
“I’ll treat you to a meal sometime,” Zhang Yuwen said.
“Just the two of us, or with everyone?” Chang Jinxing asked. Zhang Yuwen ignored him and walked away.
Chang Jinxing could be both endearing and exasperating. He always behaved so suggestively, and he would flirt and run, but no one could get mad at him because of his good looks. Zhang Yuwen wasn’t bad himself, a solid seven out of ten if Chang Jinxing was an eight, so it wasn’t like Chang Jinxing was out of his league.
He had no interest in Chang Jinxing, but he longed to be in love again. It had all started when he thought of his ex out of the blue during the hike yesterday, and it just got worse when he slept in the same bed as Huo Sichen. It had been a long time since he last shared a bed with someone else. Then, after they got home, Chang Jinxing’s teasing seemed to awaken something inside Zhang Yuwen, and he suddenly wanted very much to be in a relationship.
He wanted someone to like, to pursue passionately and splurge on, to please and pamper without complaint. He wanted to be staring at his phone, waiting for messages that could come at any time, and to feel his spirits lift when they arrived. He wanted someone who would only have to say the word, and he would drop everything just to be with him.
He wanted to make love anywhere and everywhere, just like the time five years ago when he and his ex were head over heels for each other. He had banged his ex in the fire escape of the school building one spring night like they were two animals in heat. That was a sublime experience.
Zhang Yuwen heard Chang Jinxing leave again, so he took his laptop and went to the dining room to continue generating trash. But between the series of blows he’d been dealt and his current restlessness, he couldn’t get a single word onto the page. Writing such bland words every day made Zhang Yuwen feel like a programmer clocking in on time, day in and day out, to create bugs. Flipping through his earlier chapters, he began to doubt himself. What kind of nonsense was this? It was like the shitty pile of legacy code in the Google–Android codebase.
He finally shut his laptop, deciding to give up.
“Hong-ge, I want to date,” Zhang Yuwen said suddenly, startling Chen Hong and interrupting his lunch.
Thinking Zhang Yuwen had taken a fancy to him, Chen Hong was flattered. “What? You…you wanna…”
Zhang Yuwen ate his lunch, finding everything flavorless. His fledgling career was showing no progress either. Life was like a pool of stagnant water; he was repeating the same few things day after day. When he was eighty, he’d be buried with that pile of unfinished trash. Just the thought of it made him despair.
“Do you know anyone you can introduce me to?” Zhang Yuwen asked.
“Oh…” Comprehension dawned on Chen Hong. He sat at the dining table, looking suspiciously at Zhang Yuwen, who raised an inquiring eyebrow in return. Chen Hong couldn’t resist teasing him. “You couldn’t have fallen for that straight guy, could you?”
“Absolutely not!” Zhang Yuwen said reflexively.
When he met Chen Hong’s eyes, though, something seemed to occur to him. It was a barely perceptible thought, one that had been floating around in his mind ever since he met Huo Sichen. Like a thread from a spiderweb fluttering in the wind, it was hard to spot.
“Maybe a little,” Zhang Yuwen admitted reluctantly.
Chen Hong was stunned by his honesty but managed to maintain a nonchalant expression. “I knew it.”
Zhang Yuwen still hadn’t quite figured out his feelings yet—whether he wanted to fall in love or if he’d already fallen for a specific person. “You know anyone suitable?” he asked. “You have a lot of friends, right?” Of his four roommates, he knew Chen Hong had to have the most contacts.
“I’ll look around for you.”
“If I get together with someone you recommend, I’ll waive your rent for a month.”
Chen Hong sat bolt upright. He got up and hurried back to his room, grabbed a notebook, and returned with it to sit at attention. He had to take this seriously. “What’s your type?”
“No specific type,” Zhang Yuwen said. “Maybe tall and thin. Better if he’s a bottom, but I don’t mind if a vers wants to try switching. Hm… This time around, I want someone a little more mature. I don’t mind if the top is the younger one.”
“Oh, so you like a younger top? How about a golden retriever guy? The cute, innocent sweetheart type?”
“I’m not looking for someone to top me!” Zhang Yuwen corrected. “I’m the top! I’m the younger one!”
“Oh, I see,” said Chen Hong. “So you want a mature guy.”
“Yeah, guys who are mature are less likely to pick quarrels. Not too mature, though. I don’t want anyone over forty. I’m looking for a spouse, not a sugar daddy. I’m all good as long as he has a stable job.”
“Then Chang Jinxing is out. I heard he doesn’t have a regular job.”
“No roommates! What are you thinking?”
“Okay, then I’ll voluntarily withdraw from the competition too,” Chen Hong said. Zhang Yuwen blinked blankly at him. “What do you like for appearance? Like, any celebrity comparison?”
“Uh…” Zhang Yuwen had seen his fair share of celebrities, and some of them had faces that made him weak in the knees. Chen Hong posed a good question, though. What kind of guy did he like?
All that came to mind was his ex’s gentle gaze, which was a bit reminiscent of his grandmother’s. Perhaps because of his family background, Zhang Yuwen was inclined to choose a partner who shared some similarities with his maternal grandparents. After a simple reorganization of his thoughts, Zhang Yuwen realized the guys he liked fell into two broad categories: the gentle, caring, and understanding bottom, and the steadfast, optimistic, and assertive top.
The gentleness and thoughtfulness came from his grandmother, qualities that Zhang Yuwen also found in his ex. His ex had been thoughtful and understanding, at least when they first got together. On the other hand, steadfastness, shouldering family responsibilities, and giving everyone a sense of security were all qualities that his grandfather had. He was a doctor and a former surgeon. His hands were steady, and his emotions rarely fluctuated. He was like a mountain: reassuring and reliable. His grandfather often smiled, and he was optimistic about life.
Zhang Yuwen didn’t explain that to Chen Hong, though. He just listed some qualities briefly. “A little gentler…and steady… Cancer. Right. I like Cancers.”
“Okay, I got you,” Chen Hong said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t consider one of us? Yan Jun’s a Cancer.”
“If you suggest that again, the matchmaking fee will be halved.”
Chen Hong got to his feet and left.