When Zhang Yuze returned to his department, he found that Zhao Xiaole and Xiao Jie had not yet gone to lunch, waiting for him. Dr. Zhang was a little moved, so he went up to ask: “Why are you waiting for me? All the good food is already gone.”
Zhao Xiaole was busy looking at the news of her bonus being deducted that month. She locked her mobile phone in despair and said weakly: “It’s boring for us to eat alone. Only with you can we have fun.”
Zhang Yuze promptly took a step back.
Zhao Xiaole continued: “Anyway, you’re bound to catch us every time we gossip, so it’s better to just say it in front of you. Anyway, nothing is more annoying than us performing directly in front of the main character!”
Zhang Yuze stood a little further away in silence, for fear of being infected with some terminal mental illness.
During the meal, Zhang Yuze told them about the overseas exchange opportunity. Zhao Xiaole bit her chopsticks and nodded: “It’s a good thing. You should have gone abroad for further study a long time ago. With your ability, there’s no problem in getting a promotion as soon as you come back.”
As for Xiao Jie, he used his little starry eyes to silently express: “Damn, Dr. Zhang, you’re really excellent!”
However, Zhang Yuze swallowed the rice in his mouth and took another sip of water before saying: “But I’m not going to go.”
Zhao Xiaole & Xiao Jie: “?!”
“I’m going to give this opportunity to Xu Li.”
Zhao Xiaole: “…”
Xiao Jie: “Damn.”
Two pairs of eyes glared at Zhang Yuze, and in the clear stupidity, there was the shape of a great question mark.
Zhao Xiaole said weakly: “Dr. Zhang, there’s a sentence that I don’t know whether to say or not…”
And yet, Zhang Yuze wasn’t one to play according to routine: “Then don’t talk about it.”
Zhao Xiaole: “…”
After a while, Zhao Xiaole, who was busy holding back and stuffing her mouth with rice, finally couldn’t take it anymore. She slapped her chopsticks on the table and said with a bang: “No, I still have to say it! Dr. Zhang, having a love brain is a disease that must be cured!”
Xiao Jie: “Damn, you’re right!”
Those words resounded throughout the sky. Thanks to her, there were at least a dozen people in the canteen who heard it. At the same time, everyone knew who the old dean’s post about having a love brain referred to.
The corners of Zhang Yuze’s mouth twitched: “Thank you.”
…………
In the afternoon, the leaders temporarily decided to transfer some experts to the suburbs to hold an exchange meeting, and Dr. Zhang was among the unlucky chosen ones. He was still so damn sleepy from drinking the previous night, not to mention that his car was also restricted. In the double torture of body and spirit, he took four subway routes to the suburbs for a meeting.
Sitting in the conference hall, Zhang Yuze was so tired that he fought with his upper and lower eyelids. In line with the principle of not humiliating the old dean, he pinched his thighs to cheer himself up.
In the end, he was even bored enough to take out his mobile phone and send a chat message to Xu Li.
Zhang Yuze: Come here and get scolded.
Xu Li replied quickly, and the content was clear: ???
Zhang Yuze sent his location and typed: There’s nothing good about me staying with you all day and night. Yesterday, you should have known that I’d be sent to the wilderness for a meeting. My car is also restricted. I should have died instead of going crazy with you in a bar, drinking unlucky wine for nothing.”
Xu Li gave a bitchy expression and quickly replied: You deserve it, Dr. Zhang.
Zhang Yuze: I am dead.
Xu Li: Don’t be angry.
Zhang Yuze: Just let me die.
Xu Li: Boyfriend, aren’t you a little too cute?
Zhang Yuze: Then you go ahead and die.
Xu Li: Fine, then I’m dead.
There was no reply for a minute.
Xu Li: I came back to life and then died again. Has my boyfriend calmed down?
Zhang Yuze laughed angrily. Just talking nonsense with Xu Li really supported him to listen to the whole meeting with a sober mind, preserving the fighting spirit of the old dean.
When he came out of the hotel lobby after the meeting, Zhang Yuze raised his face in despair and looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky… Accompanied by the never-ending cold wind that blew up his clothes and drilled into his body along the collar.
The outdoor temperature had dropped a lot compared to the morning, so he was now severely underdressed.
Zhang Yuze cursed secretly: Damn, blow the fuck all day long, freeze everyone to death, no one should live…
At the thought of taking the subway home against that cold wind, Zhang Yuze had a headache. After thinking about it, he decided to splurge and simply take a taxi back!
People should be willing to spend money for themselves~
And so, he opened the taxi app, which showed that the taxi fare was 300 yuan1about 40 USD, and then put his mobile phone back silently…
It was hard to earn money and shit was hard to eat, so one still had to spend wisely~
Just as he was determined to walk towards the subway station, he suddenly heard someone calling for him. Looking for the sound, Xu Li was standing outside the hotel gate, waving to him through the railing, and holding a thick coat in his hand.
“Why are you here?!” Zhang Yuze was stunned for a second and then quickly stepped up.
Xu Li handed him the bundle of clothes in his arms, including a thick scarf, and said with a smile: “Because I saw that it was snowing outside, and my coat is not very thick. I then remembered that someone seemed to be afraid of the cold, so I came here to send you warmth.”
Zhang Yuze didn’t know what expression to put on. In fact, he was quite moved in his heart, but he didn’t want Xu Li to be too proud, so he could only keep an awkward appearance.
In the end, he put on the clothes and wrapped his head with the scarf, feeling that his whole body was finally alive. But when it came to words, the only thing he managed to do was awkwardly mumble: “Thank you.”
“Don’t be too moved.” Xu Li patted him. “I also think I’m very great.”
“Don’t climb the pole.” Zhang Yuze gave him a blank look and walked to the subway station with him. On the way home, Dr. Zhang put his hands in his pockets, while Assistant Xu stretched out his only usable hand and groped around the edge of his pocket. After easily squeezing his hand into Zhang Yuze’s coat pocket, he held his hand.
“Can’t you be more professional in this relationship? Don’t you remember holding hands?” Xu Li said.
“It’s really hard to remember when you only have one arm hanging.” Zhang Yuze sighed but did not throw his claw out, holding it instead.
“What’s for dinner?” Xu Li looked at him with a smile. “Thank you for accompanying me to the bar yesterday. I’ll treat you.”
“Yo, you’re quite generous.” Zhang Yuze glanced at him.
Xu Li took out his mobile phone to look for a nearby restaurant and said casually: “You must be kidding, when have I ever been stingy with you?”
Zhang Yuze was still immune to that set of tactics, so he bluntly asked: “How many ignorant young men have you coaxed with those words?”
Xu Li pretended to think about it and said desperately: “Just five, six, seven, eight… Ninety, not too many.”
However, Zhang Yuze answered coldly: “Don’t think that you’ll get a death-free pass just for bringing me a coat.”
Xu Li quickly held his hand, lest Dr. Zhang raise his fist again.
At that moment, his mobile phone vibrated. Zhang Yuze looked down only to see that it was a message from the one and only… Shen Mo.
After so many years of not speaking to each other, Zhang Yuze never changed this account, still using the same number from his college years. As for other social media accounts, he was too lazy to clean up, simply letting Shen Mo lie in his friend list. Anyway, he would never contact him again. Whether to delete his number or not was irrelevant.
It’s just that he didn’t expect Shen Mo would contact him first.
“Who is it?” Seeing that his boyfriend’s face was wrong, Xu Li raised his chin, looked frivolous, and smiled while asking: “Your mistress?”
“Check it out. As if I’m afraid of you.” Dr. Zhang was not scared of any skeleton in his closet, so he handed his mobile phone to Xu Li. And yet, soon after handing it over, he felt something was wrong…
… Why was he so damn eager to clean his name in front of Xu Li?!
Xu Li came over with his big head and saw the sender’s name at a glance. He was about to read the message when his eyes made direct contact with a huge block of text, at least 800 words.
Poor underachiever Xu was dizzy at first glance, complaining: “Wow, he wrote you a novel.”
As for the genius Zhang Yuze, he managed to browse the small composition sent to him by Shen Mo in mere seconds. In general, there was no key point. Just something about seeing the fresh snow and remembering a lot of things from the past, falling in love, and so on…
… It looked like he was eager to wax poetically about all of their memories together, taking them out one by one.
Xu Li waved his hand: “Don’t read it. Your teeth will get sore.”
Zhang Yuze barely glanced at the message before putting away his mobile phone. “I won’t read it. I’m not interested.”
Xu Li laughed for a long time, gave him a thumbs up, and continued to act shamelessly: “I have to say that Dr. Zhang is really cruel to his ex, you don’t give them any face at all. I dare not break up with you. It would be terrible if I accidentally became your ex one day.”
Zhang Yuze: “Don’t worry, on the day you break up with me, I’ll set up a ten tables banquet at the head of the village. I’ll even set off firecrackers to celebrate and put up a banner with [Warmly celebrating Zhang Yuze getting rid of his foolish ex] on it.”
The corners of Xu Li’s mouth twitched: “So I’m better than Shen Mo. All he’s got is getting ignored.”
On the way to the restaurant, Zhang Yuze thought about Shen Mo’s text message. Although the long paragraphs held nothing meaningful, Shen Mo’s last sentence still carried some impact: I remember that one winter when we took baked sweet potatoes and ran to the mountain behind the school in the middle of the night, eating while watching the snow scene and hugging each other for warmth. Now that I think about it, today is just like that. Brother Yuze, it’s snowing tonight. Let’s go out and make an appointment again, just like back then, okay?~
Of course, Zhang Yuze wouldn’t go. He was no longer the fool who would run on top of a mountain to date on a snowy night.
Looking back on the years of love, Zhang Yuze told Shen Mo more than once that he was afraid of the cold, but even if Shen Mo knew, he never cared. It was common to pull Zhang Yuze out in the wind and snow, not to mention that when he was at school, he often made Zhang Yuze stand in the wind and snow to queue up for him to buy milk tea.
Zhang Yuze was truly angry when thinking about those things, feeling even more that love was really harmful. If he had to compare the two “relationships” of his life, Shen Mo would never in a million years do what Xu Li did that day, coming all the way just to deliver a coat.
Thinking of that, he looked at the fool beside him and found him a little pleasing to the eye. He couldn’t help laughing and cursing: “Stupid.”
Xu Li was still bowing his head, trying to pick a good restaurant and mumbling: “Now you don’t even need a reason to scold me. You just open your mouth and come at me.”
“I want to scold you, what, I can’t??” Zhang Yuze smiled at the corners of his mouth, admiring Xu Li’s eye roll.
The two of them picked a bullfrog restaurant in a large shopping mall near the subway station. It happened that there was a discount on that day, so they ordered a little more. In the end, both of them were too full.
Xu Li burped while saying: “I don’t even dare open my mouth to speak now, for fear that the bullfrog I just ate will jump out of my stomach and run away.”
“Let’s go and digest it.” Zhang Yuze couldn’t stand it either, so he simply pulled Xu Li to go shopping in the mall.
When passing by a small commodity store, Xu Li suddenly pointed to the window and said: “Look, your love affair with Shen Mo.”
Zhang Yuze looked up and saw rows upon rows of green knitted hats on the top of the window2I believe everyone already knows that “wearing a green hat” is a metaphor for getting cheated on.
“…”
And so, Xu Li was sharked just as he deserved.
Prim and proper Dr. Zhang had no interest in that kind of small commodity store. All of those colorful gadgets were girls’ favorite things, unable to touch his serious, cold heart. Unexpectedly, Xu Li took the initiative to pull him inside for a look, saying that he wanted to buy a keychain.
The corners of Zhang Yuze’s mouth twitched. He looked at Xu Li picking out those delicate small objects and said speechlessly: “I can see that you’re quite girlish.”
Xu Li didn’t spare him a single glance, saying naturally: “Boyfriend, we don’t have any couple accessories. Do you think that’s appropriate?”
“Why not?” Zhang Yuze sneered. “Did you read some strange post on the Internet again? I say you need to ask for a sponsorship since you advertise Baidu all day long.”
“How about this one?” Xu Li ignored his sarcasm and took down a yellow chick from the shelf. The chick slanted its eyes and pouted, looking done and over with its life. Xu Li held it, compared it with Zhang Yuze, and laughed: “Hahaha, look, this thing is simply carved from the same mold as you. You look at least eighty percent similar.”
Zhang Yuze stared at him with the same slanted eyes as the chick.
In line with the principle of not giving up, Zhang Yuze squatted down and searched in a basket full of keychains. Finally, he took out a fox pendant with satisfaction. The little fox raised its eyebrows with a flattering expression and a “Brother, come play with me~” expression in its little, beady eyes.
“This is how you look when you act coquettish!” Zhang Yuze laughed at Xu Li.
Despite the mocking, Xu Li took the little fox, looking happy. “Okay, Dr. Zhang said I was a vixen, so it’s worth it. Let’s go and pay the bill.”
Zhang Yuze was surprised: “You want both of them.”
Xu Li replied: “Yes, I’ll take the little yellow chicken, you take the little fox, and we’ll use them as a couple’s keychain.”
Zhang Yuze took over the little fox in disgust, but he still honestly took out his key and put it on. As for Xu Li, he also took out the key to his house… Oh no, to be precise, it was the key to Zhang Yuze’s house. He hung the little yellow chicken version of Zhang Yuze and laughed while looking at it for a long time. However, his brain suddenly began to twitch, so he stupidly asked: “If we break up in the future, will you keep it?”
Zhang Yuze didn’t think much about it. He just thought of his break-up scene with Shen Mo and said coldly: “No, I never keep old things from old people.”
“So scary…” Xu Li sighed. “First of all, let me say that I don’t intend to break up with you, but if it were me, I would keep this little yellow chicken even after we went our separate ways.”
“Why?” Now it was Zhang Yuze’s turn to be surprised.
“I don’t know. I just want to keep it.” Xu Li shrugged his shoulders and smiled at him again. “Maybe I’ll think of you when I see it. I think that would make me very happy.”
An inexplicable and indescribable feeling rose in Zhang Yuze’s heart again, but he still scolded him in his mind: He’s a bastard, a scumbag, everything he says is just practiced love words!
And so, he took a deep breath quietly, calmed down, and didn’t let Xu Li find out that his heart slightly moved.
In that way, the little yellow chicken and the little coquettish fox… The eighty percent similar and the “Brother, come and play with me~” went home together.
