The cream on the T-shirt was sticky from the shoulders to the collar, so Xie Lan had to change his clothes.
He discovered the marks on his body when he went upstairs and looked in the mirror, so he deliberately picked out a narrow-necked T-shirt to cover everything that needed to be covered.
Wang Gou was in a state of uncertainty, so the others hurriedly finished their crayfish and packed up. Dou Sheng cleaned up two guest rooms and put the four guys in two.
Che Ziming originally strongly requested Wang Gou to have a heart-to-heart talk in one room, but was rejected. Wang Gou insisted on sleeping with Dai You.
The quarrel lasted until one o'clock in the middle of the night, when the house finally quieted down.
Xie Lan took another quick shower and lay down in bed to check Weibo.
Someone has already moved the birthday video he posted on YouTube to Bilibili. The short video of Dou Sheng's birthday cake has already received 10,000 likes, and the comment section is full of birthday essays, which will probably be enough for Dou Sheng to keep watching until tomorrow morning.
He was just about to say goodnight to his boyfriend one last time when his cell phone started vibrating.
Voice call, from Dou Sheng.
Xie Lan was stunned for a moment, glanced at the wall separating the two bedrooms, and pressed the answer button.
He put the phone against his cheek, "Why are you calling when we're so close?"
"I miss you." Dou Sheng said softly on the phone, "I'm tired of texting, I want to say a few words to you."
Xie Lan said, "What did you say?"
“Nothing…” There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, with the faint sound of fabric rubbing against quilts. Dou Sheng whispered, “You can say anything, I just want to hear your voice. Oh, by the way, do you want to go to the riverside to watch the sunrise?”
Sunrise by the river
Xie Lan subconsciously looked out the pitch-black window - having lived in Wangjiang Liying for so long, he had seen the night view of the river countless times: watching it from the window when he was tired of doing homework late at night, watching it from the cross-river bridge when taking the bus after school, but he had never thought of watching the sunrise.
He was distracted for a moment until Dou Sheng called his name twice in his ear.
"Will you go?" Dou Sheng's tone was full of yearning. "You don't have to get up very early, just go downstairs around five o'clock. It will be the best when the sun is hazy. The main thing is to see the river, not the sun."
Xie Lan agreed immediately, but paused and asked, "Should we call everyone?"
"I'll ask." Dou Sheng hissed, "I guess they will definitely follow. Gouzi usually loves to run in the morning, and Cheming is willing to do anything."
The call was still on hold, and Dou Sheng sent a message in the group.
-Dog Wangwang, are you feeling better? I, Xie Lan, want to go for a walk by the river, tomorrow morning at 5:30, is there anyone who wants to join us
Xie Lan looked at him tagging Wang Gou and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
"Hey, don't you think the dog is a little weird?"
"Very strange." Dou Sheng muttered, "Based on my usual observations, do you think he is someone who hates the rich?"
Xie Lan pondered for a moment, "I don't think so at all. Today's incident seems strange no matter how I think about it, but I can't explain it..."
As he was speaking, someone in the group responded.
-狗子旺旺: Sorry, I've been under a lot of pressure recently. Please forget what I just said. I'm going back to my hometown to see my family the day after tomorrow. I'll go back to the dormitory early tomorrow to pack up and won't go to watch the sunrise.
Following his message, others also expressed their opinions.
-Latte Coffee: I won’t go either, let’s go with the dog
-Cherry: My dad will deliver the goods tomorrow, I have to go back to have dinner with my grandma after 6 o'clock
-Herring: I'm too lazy to move. I'll retreat with everyone tomorrow.
The result was a little beyond Xie Lan's expectations.
On the other end of the phone, Dou Sheng was also a little hesitant and sent an "ok" in the group.
"I feel like something is very wrong." Dou Sheng hissed, "Actually—"
He stopped talking halfway, turned over, and muttered to himself: "It shouldn't be..."
Xie Lan suddenly became a little nervous, "What?"
Dou Sheng pondered for a while before he said uncertainly, "I think Wang Gou's behavior today was a bit deliberate, but his behavior has nothing to do with my guess... By the way, what happened before I came out of the bathroom? Was he the first person to take a photo with the cake?"
Xie Lan nodded, "He took the photo of me first. I was talking to Yu Fei at the time, and he suddenly went crazy."
Dou Sheng immediately asked, "What did Yu Fei say?"
Xie Lan recalled, "Let's talk about the geometry problem in the competition and check the answer."
There was silence on the phone for a long time, and then Dou Sheng sighed, "That's hard to figure out..."
Xie Lan's mind was constantly recalling tonight. The cool feeling of being hit on the body by a cake was still fresh in her memory. The clothes were still soaked in the sink. It had been soaked all night. She would throw them in the washing machine tomorrow, and she didn't know if they could be washed clean.
When he thought of this, he suddenly seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and subconsciously raised his hand to touch his collarbone through his pajamas - the bathroom was very dark at the time, and he and Dou Sheng didn't notice the traces left until he went upstairs to change clothes.
But the living room is very bright.
Xie Lan suddenly felt a chill on his back.
Dou Sheng added: "I always feel like Wang Gou seems to know something about us."
Xie Lan's fingers holding the phone trembled, "Why do you feel that way?"
"It's just a feeling." Dou Sheng muttered, "The main thing is that Che Ming already knows about our relationship. He won't take the initiative to spread it, but I'm afraid he'll be stupid and let something slip out."
Xie Lan was choked when he heard this, and couldn't help but say: "Actually, the place where Wang Gou took the cake today..."
"Hmm?" Dou Sheng asked, "What?"
Xie Lan gritted his teeth and said, "There are... marks."
There was silence on both ends of the phone.
Xie Lan's head was buzzing, his toes were digging into the bed, and his fingertips were tucked into his sleeves.
"When did he know that?" he asked desperately.
"Not sure..." Dou Sheng hesitated, "It's hard to say... He must have seen it when he used the cake to hit me, but he might not have guessed it was me. If he just happened to see the mark first and didn't want Yu Fei to see it, then it would be easier. His first instinct should be that you are secretly dating some girl."
Xie Lan: "... Miss Douzi, how is this better than discovering us directly?"
Dou Sheng: “…I can’t even say it.”
There was silence on both ends of the phone, with only the sound of Wutong purring. Xie Lan realized that the cat was not around and had secretly run to Dou Sheng's room without knowing when.
After a long while, Dou Sheng asked in a low voice: "If everyone knew about this, wouldn't you be unhappy?"
“No…” Xie Lan denied it immediately, turned over and sighed.
He always knew that Dou Sheng's love was obvious and he would never keep it a secret from the people around him. Even he himself, knowing that the domestic environment was not open and tolerant enough, was unwilling to keep hiding it.
He just likes Dou Sheng very much. Dou Sheng is so good, why shouldn’t people know about it
The key is still a subtle sense of shame. He didn't feel too embarrassed when he was hit by a car on the day of the provincial training due to rain and power outage, but now he felt numb all over when he thought that Wang Gou might have known about it, and he didn't know when he knew it.
It’s hard to describe the human mentality.
"Why don't you just play it straight?" Dou Sheng asked, "Let me think about it, and then we can go and ask Gouzi directly?"
After taking a shower, Che Ziming came out of the guest bathroom and looked for the hair dryer that Yu Fei had taken away.
When I pushed the door open, the room was empty, not even the person or the hair dryer was there.
"Where did he go?" he wondered. Passing by the guest room next door, he carelessly pushed down the door handle. "Is Herring in your room?"
As he finished speaking, he had already seen Yu Fei in the room and the hair dryer thrown next to it.
"Why did you run off with the hair dryer?" Che Ming muttered, "I'm just drying my hair in your room. The socket in my room is too low and the bathroom is damp."
No one paid any attention to him.
Wang Gou and Dai You sat on the left and right of the bed, while Yu Fei sat cross-legged alone at the foot of the bed, all three of them with serious faces.
Che Ming plugged in the hairdryer and dried his hair twice, then suddenly remembered what had just happened and turned off the hairdryer.
He turned around and asked Wang Gou, "Is the dog feeling better?"
"Better." Wang Gou swallowed.
Che Ziming nodded, "That's fine. Well... you really can't think like that. In fact, everyone can understand your mentality. We don't need to tell you the truth of life. You know it yourself. When school starts, the pressure of senior year will be even greater. You still have to work hard to think positively. People can't be carried away by emotions, understand?"
Wang Gou looked at him in silence. Che Ziming sighed and said with some disappointment: "To be honest, I didn't expect you to have such thoughts before. I always thought you had a good attitude... Then do you really regard us as your true brothers?"
Wang Gou was silent for a long time before he said, "You are my best friends."
His voice was low, but it was filled with a simple and serious tone that made Che Ziming's nose sore.
Che Ziming sighed, "Oh, fine, just saying this is enough. Um... let's put this matter behind us, Herring, don't come into my house and stare at me. After all, today is Douzisheng-"
Yu Fei glanced at him and said, "I just got here too. I'm not trying to make things difficult for him. I just wanted to ask him something."
He slowed down his tone and chose his words carefully: "Dog, I just think... your behavior today is not very reasonable."
"Hiss—" Che Ming frowned, "Alright, what's reasonable or unreasonable? It's human nature, understand?"
Yu Fei was too lazy to talk to him and continued to examine Wang Gou. After a moment, he looked at Dai You thoughtfully.
The two people opposite him also stared at him cautiously.
"Are you guys playing the animal world here?" Che Ziming frowned and asked, "Hunting or training hawks?"
Wang Gou cleared his throat, "What's unreasonable about that?"
"You said today that you don't like stupid rich second-generations. Then, why did the cake go to Xie Lan first?" Yu Fei frowned and expressed his confusion carefully, "When it comes to rich second-generations, the ranking should be me first, then Douzi, and Xie Lan is only third at most. When it comes to stupid people, the ranking should be Che Ziming first, then... and no one else."
"Fuck, this is poisonous, right?" Che Ming suddenly got angry. "Am I the only idiot? Think about it?"
Yu Fei ignored him and continued to stare at Wang Gou tentatively, not missing any subtle changes in his expression.
Wang Gou subconsciously slanted his eyes to the left, as if he wanted to look at Dai You, but he retracted his eyes halfway.
Dai You cleared his throat, "That's right. What's wrong with Gou Zi? Oh, by the way, is there something that made you unhappy with Xie Lan? Tell us, and we will help you give him some suggestions."
Upon hearing this, Yu Fei immediately looked at Wang Gou. Seeing that Wang Gou's eyes were wandering and he obviously couldn't respond, Yu Fei shook his head and said, "Impossible. Everyone in the circle had cake-covered faces, but only Xie Lan was patted on the shoulder. No matter how you think about it, it can't be that he hates Xie Lan, right?"
He paused and suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I would rather believe that he is protecting Xie Lan. But what is he protecting?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the room suddenly became quiet.
The two people at the bedside exchanged glances, neither of them said anything. Yu Fei watched them exchange glances, his eyes becoming more thoughtful. Che Ziming was also stunned, and after carefully tasting his lips for a while, he suddenly felt a little uneasy.
He put down the hair dryer, sat down at the end of the bed, and whispered, "What are you talking about?"
No one answered.
In the silent midnight, their gazes roamed back and forth among the other three people's faces, their eyes changing unpredictably.
After a long while, Yu Fei said, "I discovered a secret today, but I don't know who else knows this secret."
Wang Gou and Dai You immediately straightened their shoulders. Dai You cleared his throat and said, "From what you said, I already have some guesses?"
"Yes." Yu Fei said, "I think Gouzi also knows a secret, but I'm not sure if we discovered the same secret. What do you think?"
Dai You looked at him and said cautiously, "In fact, I also discovered a secret. My son Gouzi should be keeping the same secret."
The air seemed to freeze. The three of them looked at each other in silence for a moment and nodded slightly.
Che Ziming swallowed his saliva with a gulp, "Actually... I also have a secret. I... I now suspect that everyone is talking about the same thing!!"
Everyone was silent again.
Like a tense negotiation.
"Wait! Stretch it out." Yu Fei stretched out his hand in front of everyone, demonstrating a pressing motion. "We should be four parties now... Oh no, three parties. Each of the three parties has a secret, but we cannot be sure of each other's safety, so no one should speak impulsively for now."
Everyone nodded in unison.
Yu Fei then gestured to Wang Gou, "Let me first confirm, when you said 'you owe me' today, were you talking to someone?"
Wang Gou subconsciously glanced at Dai You, and when he saw Dai You hesitate and nod, he said, "No."
Che Ziming immediately pulled Yu Fei's hand to his mouth, "Draw a boundary! Does it include me?"
Wang Gou shook his head, "Not included."
Yu Fei pulled his hand free and pointed it at himself, "Does that include me?"
“Not even that.”
Che Ziming immediately said, "I guess Dai You is not included either."
Yu Fei looked around among the crowd and said cautiously, "I want to get Cherry's ticket."
The four of them looked at each other and took a deep breath.
There was a flash of insight in their eyes at the same time, and then they returned to a cautious state tacitly.
The words were on the tip of Yu Fei's tongue, but just as he was about to open his mouth, Wang Gou grabbed his leg again.
Wang Gou looked very struggling. "Everyone, stay calm, stay calm. I am guarding this secret for my brothers with my life. Let's talk about it later."
"Okay." Yu Fei nodded. "After all, we are not sure how much each other knows and what we know. Let me tell you first. I just discovered that I saw something I shouldn't have seen."
Che Ziming continued, "I found out when I first entered the camp for provincial training in July, and I also saw things I shouldn't have seen."
Yu Fei frowned upon hearing this, "July? Isn't that too awesome?"
Upon hearing this, Che Ziming straightened his back and felt a strange sense of pride. "That's right. I guess I was the first one among us to know about it, and the scene I witnessed was quite awesome. I just saw it today, and it must not be as exciting as what I saw."
"You're overthinking it." Dai You said coldly, "Gouzi was born more than a month earlier than you, and I was born a few days earlier than Gouzi."
Wang Gou immediately nodded and agreed, "And we used to see things we shouldn't see every day...both exciting and not so exciting."
All four of them gasped at the same time.
Xie Lan walked to the door of Wang Gou's room. The door was ajar with a very narrow gap, and he couldn't see inside. He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock on the door. Just as his knuckles landed on the door, he heard a low, uneven cry from inside.
"They are fine!"
"They're bent!"
"Xie Lan, the beans are ready!"
"Douzi, that's what Xie Lan did!"
silence.
In the middle of the night, there was suddenly no sound in the house.
Outside the house, Dou Sheng's hand was tightly clasped around Xie Lan's wrist. The two of them froze in mid-air, their hands shaking slightly uncontrollably.
In the room, the four people's joy that suddenly surged in their eyes had not yet faded away before they collectively entered dementia mode.
The people outside the door dared not move.
The people inside the door dared not to come out.
The door to death and ruin.
It seemed like a century had passed. Dou Sheng grabbed Xie Lan's wrist, silently pulled her behind him, and raised his hand to knock on the door.
Tap, tap.
There was a sound of gasps in the room, but no one responded.
"Open the door." Dou Sheng's voice was somewhat desolate, "Let's talk."
The buzzing in Xie Lan's head had not yet dissipated, but when she heard him say this, she subconsciously covered his mouth with her hand.
"No need to chat!" His voice was neither loud nor soft. Dou Sheng could hear it clearly, and the people inside the door could also hear it vaguely.
Every second seems so long.
Xie Lan's head was banging like a bell, and he suddenly thought of an idiom in a trance.
Scared to death.
"Don't talk... please." He grabbed the hem of Dou Sheng's pajamas with his other hand, "Book me a ticket back to London."
"Don't leave!" Wang Gou's anxious voice came from the door immediately, "Why go back to London?"
Yu Fei's voice was heard as well, "That's right, it's just a trivial matter, what's there to avoid?"
Che Ziming whispered, "Besides, they both knew that I knew about it a long time ago. It's just that the number of people who knew about it has increased a bit this time. It's okay."
Yu Fei's tone suddenly became fierce, "Did they know it earlier? Did they know it???"
"Ah." Che Ziming's voice became a little lower with some guilt. "I... I was at the scene of the accident. It was raining heavily that day, and there was a power outage that day. I was... in the bath..."
The voice stopped abruptly, and there was a crisp sound in the room, as if someone had slapped another person in the face.
Dou Sheng and Xie Lan outside the door: "..."
Dai You tightly covered Che Ziming's mouth, and regardless of someone's protest, he shouted outside: "I agree with Xie Lan. Let's not talk anymore, let's go back to our rooms, find our own beds, and when we get up tomorrow morning, we will synchronize our information, but no one is allowed to mention the past, how about that?"
"Deal!" Yu Fei said immediately.
Wang Gou: “Deal!”
Che Ziming: "Eh... eng~oh!"
Xie Lan felt dizzy and held Dou Sheng's hand tightly to prevent herself from taking a step back.
He said with difficulty: "Become...friends."
What a waste, I'll go back and book a ticket. Wait until I try... Forget it, I'll wait until the college entrance examination to come back and give up the math competition.
Dou Sheng sighed deeply, "Then let's go back to our rooms and sleep... Well, let's go back to our rooms and sleep."
"Okay." Everyone in the room said in unison.
Dou Sheng took Xie Lan's hand and walked back, rubbing his cold palm comfortingly.
Suddenly, Yu Fei's voice came from the room again, "Xie Lan doesn't have any burden, it doesn't matter to us."
"They all support you." Wang Gou added, "As long as you are doing well, that's all."
Dai Youyi said: "Gouzi even insisted on asking me to beg for fate buns for you guys."
Che Ziming sighed softly, "But we must always be together."