Chapter 98
JIANG CHENG HAD NEVER really felt one way or another about Valentine’s Day, but this year, when he was in a position to feel some kind of way, he ended up not having any time for it.
Holidays and rituals were never that important to him anyway. He was too busy studying, working through questions, and memorizing texts. His eyes were focused on study materials from various subjects—but, as always, his peripheral vision was occupied by his boyfriend as he sat on the bed and played on his phone.
It was a few minutes until Valentine’s Day.
Snow was falling outside. He could hear the sharp howls of the north wind as it scraped past his window. Even the sound of it made him feel cold.
And yet it was quiet in the room. There was heating, a midnight snack, the murmur of his own voice as he recited the text under his breath, and the scratch of pencil against paper. There was also Gu Fei: The mere sight of his boyfriend filled him with a sense of peace.
Rather than gifts and gestures, a moment like this, solid and palpable, was what he really wanted.
Exams on my left shoulder and love on my right.
Oh ho ho.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first season of Contestant Jiang Cheng’s mental live stream. Recently, Contestant Jiang Cheng has been devoting all of his energy to the warm-up portion of the university entrance tournament. Coach Y, speaking from experience, what do you think of his current state?
This contestant possesses very strong individual skills as well as excellent self-control. He exhibits good emotional stability during competitions. For many contestants, this tournament is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If he can give it his all, I believe he shall achieve a very good result.
Do you think he has already given it his all?
Clearly, he has not—there is something else in his peripheral vision… Hey, isn’t that the champion from the Steelworks Morons Tournament live stream?
His phone made a sound from where it lay at the corner of his desk. Jiang Cheng heard it, but it felt as though he hadn’t. The phone immediately went off again.
The phone has gone off a total of two times.
When he was in study mode, this was Jiang Cheng’s only analysis of the sound. As to why his phone had gone off—a text message, WeChat, or news notification—what it was about, and whether he should take a look… None of those thoughts that would normally follow appeared in his head.
After the second notification, though, Gu Fei clicked his tongue quietly.
Jiang Cheng immediately came back to reality and looked at Gu Fei. “Hm?”
“Who’s the other one from?” said Gu Fei.
“The other one?” Jiang Cheng didn’t understand. He picked up his phone and saw two messages waiting for him.
One was from Pan Zhi.
- Happy Valentine’s Day! Bet I’m the first message you got. Automated sending is guaranteed to be right on time, trumping lovebirds everywhere who need time to draft romantic prose!
The second one was from Gu Fei.
- Look at me.
Jiang Cheng blinked, then looked up at Gu Fei.
“Whether or not it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m always here,” Gu Fei said. “Happy Valentine’s Day, boyfriend.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Jiang Cheng answered, grinning, “boyfriend.”
“Who sent the other one?” Gu Fei pointed at the phone. “Did it arrive before mine?”
“Ah, yes.” Jiang Cheng realized with a start. He cracked up as he stuck the screen in Gu Fei’s face. “It’s Pan Zhi.”
“Fucking—” Gu Fei took one look and laughed. He took Jiang Cheng’s phone from him and sent a voice message back to Pan Zhi: “Got a lot of time on your hands, huh, Pan Zhi?”
Pan Zhi immediately sent a voice message back: “I can’t believe you found out already. Happy Valentine’s Day. Good night! You two hurry up and go play.”
“He actually scheduled it?” Gu Fei clicked his tongue a few times in a row. “This guy is maddening.”
“He’s got nothing better to do.” Jiang Cheng laughed and ripped off a piece of air-dried beef. It was the bag they’d bought from the supermarket over New Year’s. It hadn’t taken more than a couple of days for them to reach the bottom of the pack. Now he had to rip out a tiny piece at a time and take wimpy little nibbles, not daring to take large bites. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of crap this guy has on his phone. He can’t go three months without a factory reset, and it takes maybe three resets before he has to get a new one.”
“Can you take it all in one bite, please?” Gu Fei said, looking at him. “We have another bag. Do you really have to do that?”
“There’s another bag?” Jiang Cheng was confused. “I thought we only had one?”
“We bought two,” Gu Fei reminded him, sighing. “I guess I overestimated your power. Even you experience memory loss when you study.”
Jiang Cheng stuffed the rest of the piece of jerky into his mouth. “Ahh—much better! Now that’s satisfying! Why didn’t you say so earlier?! I’ve been nibbling at it like melon seeds the whole night, making each piece last eighty bites.”
“I just realized that you’ve been saving it.” Gu Fei stood up, grabbed the bag to look inside, and pushed it back into Jiang Cheng’s hand. “Bring it with you to eat on the way. Let’s go.”
“Go where?” Jiang Cheng asked, looking out the window. He couldn’t tell how heavy the snow was in the dark.
“To set off fireworks, of course.” Gu Fei walked to the window to look out too. “It’s a little lighter now. Wanna go? I just figured if we wait to do it during the day, there’ll be too many people everywhere. There’ll be even more people if we wait until tomorrow evening.”
“Yes, let’s go stretch our legs. Let’s go play.” Jiang Cheng stood up, his eyes still glued to the textbook. After reading the last passage, he finally stretched and recited, “Traditional architecture is an important marker for demonstrating traditional Chinese culture; it’s also known as a frozen form of art. The invention of the written word is a marker of humanity’s progression into an era of civilization… The difference is, Han text is an important marker of Chinese culture. Along with historical records and classical texts, it is evidence of Chinese culture’s deep-rooted historical origins…”