Between Us : Chapter 1: High School Boy

The car pulled over and came to a stop. Jiang Linsheng killed the engine and looked toward the passenger seat, “What’s wrong? Haven’t seen enough?”

Chen Qian was busy checking out his newly pierced lip in the sun visor vanity mirror. A tiny stud sat right in the center of his lower lip line. The professional who pierced it told him that he had the most beautiful lip shape of all the customers he had ever serviced.

Chen Qian opened his mouth slightly, then pursed his lips. His plump cupid’s bow pressed against his lower lip. This lip stud did not seem to make him look any less approachable.

“It seems to be a little swollen.” Chen Qian did not dare to move his mouth freely when he spoke, always feeling that his teeth would pull on the back of the stud embedded in his flesh.

Jiang Linsheng leaned over and held out his palm to Chen Qian, “Let me see.”

With a rustle of clothing, Chen Qian loosened his scarf and rested his chin on Jiang Linsheng’s palm, “It shouldn’t look too ugly, right? Or should I just take it out and let it grow back on its own?”

Jiang Linsheng’s hands were the same temperature throughout all four seasons; warm to hold in winter and not overly hot in summer. It was a tactile sensation that was comfortable and easy for a lover to become dependent on.

He supported Chen Qian’s chin to get a look. The car wasn’t lit, and the moonlight on the snowy night was thin. He had to lean very close to see clearly that the area near Chen Qian’s lower lip line was indeed redder and more swollen than usual, but it was not serious.

He wasn’t sure what Chen Qian was thinking, saying that getting a stud would make him look tough. Jiang Linsheng only felt that this dainty little stud, matched with this beautiful face, would at most only make people want to let their imagination run wild and take things a step deeper in a certain direction.

Chen Qian wasn’t one of those low-class little punks with ear cartilage full of cheap steel rings.

“If you like it, keep it. It looks quite good.” Jiang Linsheng tweaked Chen Qian’s lip, “It just might be a bit inconvenient sometimes.”

Someone who had just been pierced was very sensitive to any stimulation on their lips. Chen Qian dodged backward and pressed his finger against the spot that had been pinched, “Is it when I eat? I’ll just be a little careful.”

“You haven’t even digested the whole roasted lamb we ate tonight, can you think about something else?” Jiang Linsheng implied something without being explicit, then unbuckled his seatbelt to get out of the car, “It’s cold outside, you stay in the car, I’ll go buy the anti-inflammatory medicine for you.”

It was indeed too cold outside. The bitter wind aggressively slapped snowflakes against the car windows. The relentless signs of the storm made Chen Qian feel that if Jiang Linsheng’s car stayed by the side of the road for any longer, it would be buried by the heavy snow.

The last time it snowed this hard in Yunxia City was his second year of high school, but compared to the momentum, that year was much fiercer. After all, the situation where the entire city suffered a power outage for eighteen hours had not yet played out this year.

The driver’s side door had only just opened a crack when the cold air rushing in quickly dispelled the warmth inside the car. Chen Qian got a neck full of wind, hurriedly clutched his scarf tightly, and grabbed Jiang Linsheng’s sleeve with his other hand, “Wait.”

Jiang Linsheng sighed and sat back to put the hood of the down jacket over Chen Qian’s head, “So afraid of the cold? Why don’t I wait until the snow stops before I go buy it?”

The fur on the hood of the down jacket tickled his face. Chen Qian pulled off the hat and wrapped his scarf back up, “Didn’t you say you still have to work overtime tonight when you go back?”

“It’s not too urgent.” No sooner had Jiang Linsheng finished speaking than his phone chimed with a message notification.

“After taking a bath, adding a cup of black coffee, and working until two or three in the morning, only to repeat the vicious cycle the next day. Only you could handle this kind of work intensity.” Chen Qian unzipped his backpack, habitually checking if he had left anything behind, “I’ll go buy it myself. You don’t need to wait for me.”

Jiang Linsheng glanced out the window, “You’re going to walk home?”

“It’s only a few hundred meters. Think of it as digesting the food. Who told you to tease me about always thinking about the roasted lamb.” Chen Qian patted his jacket pocket and bent down to reach under the seat.

“What did you lose again?” Jiang Linsheng raised his hand to turn on the ambient light, “Get up, I’ll help you look. Don’t go bumping your mouth and complaining it hurts later.”

Chen Qian straightened up and scanned the illuminated range inside the car, “Have you seen my perfume?”

The perfume was a gift from Jiang Linsheng for his birthday the year before last. The base notes were a light fragrance mixed with oak and morning dew. Chen Qian liked it very much and had been using it without switching, so he felt reluctant to lose it with only a few milliliters left.

Jiang Linsheng rummaged through the miscellaneous items in the armrest box, making a clattering sound, “Didn’t you just use it tonight?”

“Yes,” Chen Qian reached into his bag again to dig around. Before getting the piercing after the meal, he was worried that the smell of barbecue on his body would bother others, so he specifically used the perfume to cover it up before getting out of the car, “It should be in the car, I didn’t drop it anywhere else.”

On the center console, Jiang Linsheng’s face-down phone leaked light, and there were occasional message prompts. It was unclear which unlucky subordinate had to report work to their boss online late at night.

“Forget it,” Chen Qian gave up searching, shouldered his bag, took his phone and power bank in his hand, and pushed the door open to get out, “I’m leaving now. Don’t stay up too late. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I’m going to do a spot check.”

“Leaving just like that?” Jiang Linsheng leaned over, wanting to grab his hand, “Did you forget something?”

Chen Qian leaned in with his hand on the car door, tapping his finger next to his lip stud. The smile on his lips held a teasing meaning, “Can’t give it tonight.”

Jiang Linsheng looked at him for a moment, then withdrew his hand in a compromising manner and grabbed his phone, which was constantly chiming, “Are you sure you don’t need me to drop you off? It won’t take long.”

The two men’s homes were in opposite directions, and driving was difficult on a snowy day. Jiang Linsheng could finish two more reports in that time. Chen Qian was used to being considerate of others. He didn’t answer but closed the car door. Before leaving, he stuck out a fingertip from his sleeve and drew a heart on the snow-fogged window.

Through the window, Jiang Linsheng waved his phone at Chen Qian, then started the car, turned the steering wheel to make a U-turn, and drove away. Before long, the two tire tracks cut into the road were filled in by the swirling snow.

Most of the shops along the street had already closed early, so the light spilling from the pharmacy’s glass door looked particularly soft and warm. Before going in, Chen Qian checked his battery and found a message Jiang Linsheng had just sent, just a few words—”Sweetheart, think about me more too.”

The text was quickly blurred by the cold mist. Chen Qian wiped the screen with his sleeve, turned off the phone, and roughly understood which aspect Jiang Linsheng meant by “inconvenient.”

His phone was fully charged. Chen Qian unplugged the data cable, stuffed it along with the power bank into his bag, and used his shoulder to push open the door to the pharmacy.

Besides anti-inflammatory medicine, Chen Qian picked up some medical supplies and items that were always kept at home. When checking out, he glanced a few more times at the nearest shelf. Thinking that it would be inconvenient to use his mouth for some time to come, he grabbed two boxes of condoms as well.

After buying the medicine, he stopped by the convenience store next door to buy a cup of coffee to warm his hands. When he came back out, the snowfall was much lighter. Chen Qian, however, was not in a rush to go home. He moved under a street lamp, tilted his head to appreciate the fine snow covered in light from this angle for a moment, and held his phone up, switching to selfie mode.

Actually, he was quite happy about the compliment the piercer had casually given him. Regardless of whether the businessman meant it or not, the joy of being praised could last until the moment he finished his diary before going to sleep.

Having received too much sarcasm and cold treatment at work, he seemed to need an equal amount of praise to balance his mood. That’s just the way he was; he couldn’t turn a deaf ear to it, but he was quite good at self-resolution.

Chen Qian switched angles and took dozens of photos, but wasn’t quite satisfied. The coffee against his palm began to cool, and he still hadn’t found suitable lighting.

He took two steps back, and the area captured by the front-facing lens was framed within the screen. Chen Qian unexpectedly met the eyes of a teenager who had wandered into the frame behind him. The person was clearly stunned.

Chen Qian hadn’t expected this situation. In the few seconds of staring at each other, he tilted the camera to avoid the awkwardness from spreading.

Unexpectedly, the teenager in the high school uniform spoke first, “You’re blocking the light.”

The opening line he hadn’t yet thought of was snatched away by the other party. Chen Qian turned around in surprise.

The street lamp’s light wasn’t particularly bright, but it didn’t shy away from spilling over a large part of the street chair two meters away, colliding with the shadows of the dense branches at the other end of the chair. The high school student, whose face was cut by the perfectly positioned light and shadow structure, occupied the entire double chair, with no intention of moving.

He had been sitting there since Chen Qian got out of the car. The coffee in Chen Qian’s hand had gone cold, and he was still sitting there, maintaining a loose, hunched-over posture holding his schoolbag. It was unclear if he had failed a test and been thrown out of the house, bag and all, or if he had forgotten his keys and couldn’t get back in.

In fact, Xu Jue had been sitting there much longer than Chen Qian imagined. Very few vehicles passed this road on a snowy day. He had counted about seventy or eighty of them with a blank stare, until the light-gold Mulsanne that had just left pulled him back to his senses. His desk mate was flipping through a magazine just yesterday, lamenting that this car had been discontinued so early.

Xu Jue clutched his closed vocabulary book, using his thumb to press against a certain page, pretending to memorize words, “Your shadow has been on my vocabulary book for a long time, making me keep misreading.”

Chen Qian looked down at his shadow, which clearly only fell on the ground, “Why don’t you study inside the convenience store? The lighting is better inside.”

“Occupying someone else’s territory without spending money, I’ll be kicked out,” Xu Jue said.

Chen Qian bit the straw and took a sip of coffee, “Then just buy a hot coffee to make it official; it’ll also keep you alert. It’s too easy to get sleepy studying in winter.”

Xu Jue was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly retorted, “Why don’t you take your photos inside the convenience store? The lighting is better inside.”

When the wind blew, the shadows of the bare branches flickered on his face, and Chen Qian couldn’t see his features completely, “Outdoor light and shadow are better to look at.”

Xu Jue said, “You flicked your camera toward my side several times. Are you trying to test the effect of this position?”

Chen Qian asked, “Are you done studying?”

Xu Jue didn’t answer entirely truthfully, “Just two words left.”

Chen Qian tried to negotiate, “I’ll treat you to a coffee, you go rest in the store for a while.”

Xu Jue didn’t like coffee. He picked up the schoolbag on his knees, shook it twice, and stood to one side, freeing up the chair, “You sit. It’s not my seat, no need to trade conditions with me.”

When the fabric of the school uniform brushed past his down jacket, Chen Qian raised his eyes and saw the boy’s face clearly. Without the cover of the tree shadows, the contours of this face were clearer—the eye sockets were round with slightly pointed corners, making his eyes look big and spirited. There was a faint trace of water on his high nose bridge, perhaps from the wet snow he had just rubbed off. The corners of his lips had a natural upward curve, likely the type that even the piercer would praise.

Just like when standing in front of Jiang Linsheng, Chen Qian’s height of 180 cm only reached the ear of this high school student.

Being too focused on comparing heights, he didn’t notice the road surface. Chen Qian tripped over something. He came back to his senses, bent over, and picked up the vocabulary book that had fallen into the snow.

Every enclosed letter or character on the cover of the book had been colored black. Chen Qian couldn’t help but laugh.

Xu Jue couldn’t save face. He snatched the vocabulary book and stuffed it into his bag, “This is my desk mate’s book.”

“I wasn’t mocking you,” Chen Qian sat down.

Xu Jue put his hands in his pockets, “It wouldn’t matter if you were. Who hasn’t done this in English class?”

“Is that so? I forgot.” Chen Qian adjusted the phone’s brightness and took a photo. It was good, but he accidentally framed the side profile of this high school student next to him photobombed.

Xu Jue felt that the other person wasn’t much older than him, “How could you have forgotten? How old are you?”

Chen Qian glanced at the school badge on the other’s chest, “You must be a senior, right?”

“Sophomore.”

“Then I must be about five or six years older than you,” Chen Qian switched angles, “Are you really not going to sit in the store for a while? It’s very warm inside.”

Xu Jue hoisted the schoolbag on his shoulder. The textbooks, stationery, leftover drinks, dead phone, and all sorts of other miscellaneous things made the bag heavy, but it lacked the cash he could spend.

“I’m not cold,” Xu Jue said, clenching his hands in his pockets. The school’s winter uniform had wide sleeves, high collars, and deep pockets, but it just wasn’t warm, “What about you? Are you not going home either?”

Xu Jue’s sentence was a bit disjointed. Chen Qian couldn’t tell if this person was more focused on asking if he was cold or if he was going home. He attributed this to the flighty thinking of a typical high school student.

Of course, he was more concerned about the word “either” that Xu Jue used. However, he didn’t expose it and gave an ambiguous answer, “I’ll leave once I take a photo I’m satisfied with.”

Xu Jue watched Chen Qian take a photo, zoom in and out to admire it for a long time, and then delete it in a repeated cycle, “The lighting here isn’t good, you need to change locations.”

“Change to where?” Chen Qian asked casually, grabbing Xu Jue’s hand and handing the phone over, “Sorry, please help me hold it. I’ve set a ten-second timer, it’ll be over soon.”

“Fine,” Xu Jue steadied the phone, “You char…”

“Hold it steady,” Chen Qian lifted Xu Jue’s wrist, then let go after reaching the appropriate height. His fingertips brushed against the side of Xu Jue’s palm, feeling ice-cold like melted snow.

There were only four seconds left on the timer. Xu Jue didn’t speak again, just staring fixedly at Chen Qian’s lip stud.

There was a girl in their studio who got an ear piercing during the National Day holiday. She came back complaining of pain, and it was still inflamed and oozing pus now in December.

Doesn’t it hurt when this person pierces his lip?

“Done,” Chen Qian pulled the phone from his hand, saved the photo, and looked up at him, “Where did you say to change to?”

Xu Jue put his hand back in his pocket, “Does your power bank still have power?”

Chen Qian thought about it and took the power bank, which was pressed to the bottom of the bag by the medical supplies, out of the bag, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t set conditions with me? You’ve been planning this long enough.”

“…” The thank you choked in his throat. Xu Jue realized that Chen Qian had seen through him, so he simply changed the topic flatly, “Go take a walk around Wan Deng Li. You’ll be able to take good photos in under ten minutes.”

Wan Deng Li was a well-known bar street in Yunxia City. Just as the name suggested—”Ten Thousand Lights”—when night fell, colorful lights would always favor this old street first.

Unlike other bar streets, Wan Deng Li was built within an old creative industry park. While retaining the local urban culture, it added many fashionable elements and was jokingly called an influencer check-in spot by young people.

“Wan Deng Li… that works,” Chen Qian smiled, watching Xu Jue lower his head to connect the data cable to the phone’s charging port, “You charge it first, I’m going to buy something.”

Chen Qian returned to the convenience store and bought another cup of hot coffee. Thinking that a seventeen or eighteen-year-old kid probably couldn’t stand it too bitter, he asked the clerk to add two extra spoonfuls of milk.

When he went out, Xu Jue was still standing next to the chair, but the schoolbag on his shoulder had been moved onto the seat.

Seeing Chen Qian come out, Xu Jue moved the schoolbag off the chair. That patch of the chair that had been covered was free of snow and clean.

“You sit. I have to go,” Chen Qian handed over the hot coffee, “It’s too cold here.”

“For me?” Xu Jue kept the motion of wiping his phone screen with his uniform sleeve, not knowing whether to take it or not. It wasn’t because he suddenly remembered his mom teaching his younger brother not to accept favors from strangers at the dinner table last night.

It was just that he felt his bad mood, whether caused by the weather or external blows, shouldn’t be easily resolved by a stranger he had spent less than fifteen minutes with.

“I’ll take a call,” Chen Qian pushed the coffee into his hand and walked away two or three steps, clutching his vibrating phone.

It was a call from Jiang Linsheng, saying the perfume had been found; it was jammed in the gap between the passenger seat and the armrest box.

“You’re downstairs? I’ll be back right away. You wait in the car,” Chen Qian walked further away while talking, turning a corner at the front of the street, “I wasn’t idling around, I just had a selfie addiction… I know, I’ll send it to you when I get home.”

The snow had stopped. Xu Jue didn’t notice when it stopped, perhaps because he was too focused on chatting with Chen Qian, even though they didn’t really talk about anything.

He sat back down. His left hand was warmed by the coffee through the paper cup, so he moved the cup to his right hand, switched his phone to his left hand, and—

Xu Jue paused.

The facial recognition on the phone scanned his face and lit up the screen. The battery had escaped the danger zone, the percentage having just jumped from 20 to 21.

The power bank was still working.