The moment they opened the door to their rented house, Yu Hao felt like he had withdrawn from one kind of life and returned to his long-lost past. Beyond the door was Beijing’s world of ice and snow, while within it was the verdant Ying City, as well as the dense white fog of early winter. Zhou Sheng turned on the lights, and the warm light illuminated this three-room rented house.
The dining table, sofa, and even the tablecloth and shelves had never even been moved. The shelf with the coffee pot beside the dining table still looked just as it did the day Yu Hao left—after his departure, Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng wouldn’t make coffee at home, so it had just been left there like that for half a year.
“We’re back.” Zhou Sheng said.
“Finally back.” Yu Hao felt like he had entered an illusion of returning home from a long journey. There was very little dust in the mountains, and he only needed to clean it a little before Chinese New Year’s Eve. Fu Liqun put his bag down and said to Cen Shan, “Go take a bath first?”
Cen Shan uttered an “un” and said, “Rest for a while ba.”
Most of Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng’s clothes had been left here. Previously, the three of them had agreed to terminate their lease after graduation and let the lease last until June, just in case they still needed to stay here for a period of time to write their graduation thesis. Yu Hao tidied up simply, while Zhou Sheng went to open the fridge to look for some food.
At three o’clock late at night, Cen Shan moved a chair and sat in the bathroom to bathe Fu Liqun. Cen Shan was wearing clothes, but Fu Liqun was stark naked as he let her wipe his back. He sat with his head lowered, and his back facing the bathroom door. The bathroom door opened a crack, and the steam inside swirled in the air. Yu Hao heard them talking when he passed by and just found it amusing; when they were still staying in their dormitory, the three of them would see one another without any clothes on once in awhile, so it wasn’t anything strange.
Yu Hao mixed hot water with milk powder and made four cups of the beverage. Zhou Sheng drank it, and soon after, the bathroom door closed. When Fu Liqun came out again, he had already shaved, and his hair was wet while he dried Cen Shan’s long hair with a hair dryer. Cen Shan had changed into Fu Liqun’s shirt, which hung loosely on her, and she stood barefoot outside the bathroom.
Fu Liqun was a lot paler now and was slightly slimmer too. Yet after tidying himself up, he had returned to his previous school hunk appearance. After Fu Liqun finished using the bathroom, he whistled at Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng to signal for them to bathe.
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng laughed as they messed around in the bathroom. When Zhou Sheng was fighting, he had scraped the back of his hand and his elbow, so he stood while raising his hands. Yu Hao was naked as he bent over to help rub the area below his ribs and his abs, which tickled Zhou Sheng a lot. A moment later, he pressed Yu Hao again, and Yu Hao cried out from the bathroom.
“Two kids.” Cen Shan was both crying and laughing.
“Don’t get too excited.” Zhou Sheng said, “Or else we won’t be able to sleep later!”
“It’s the holidays anyway, we don’t need to go to work,” Yu Hao answered, “We can sleep in. Yi, sis-in-law, that ear stud…”
Cen Shan had coiled up her hair today, revealing the ear studs she wore. Every time Yu Hao saw Cen Shan, she would have her hair down, so he could see her ear stud today particularly clearly today.
“Yeah.” Cen Shan casually said, “I’ve always been wearing it.”
It was nearly six o’clock after they were done. It was snowing in Ying City, and heating hadn’t been turned on for nearly a month, so it was both humid and cold. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng hugged each other under the blanket to warm each other up, but he felt like this really was the most comfortable place in the world.
“I get seven days off.” Yu Hao said to Zhou Sheng, “This is so wonderful!”
“If you really want a holiday, you can even quit and just not go to work.” Zhou Sheng said.
On the Beijing side, Lin Ze had rearranged Yu Hao’s vacation days for him. He knew that he was preparing for his graduation thesis, and during December, Yu Hao had hardly taken any weekends off, so he gave Yu Hao ten days off. Of course, he still had to continue writing his manuscripts and hand in some small interview manuscripts at set dates. It would all be fine as long as he finished the feature. He even gave Yu Hao two months off at the end of the year.
Zhou Sheng let Beijing know what was going on. He would handle his college’s matters and his graduation thesis while he’s here for the New Year this time, and his specific return date would remain to be determined.
This long vacation should be their last carefree holiday before formally leaving their campus. Yu Hao slept all the way until noon. He checked his and Zhou Sheng’s wage card and was instantly over the moon.
There’s money again! Yu Hao’s monthly salary, wages for his manuscripts, and his end-of-year bonus had net him about 20,000 yuan, while Zhou Sheng had 30,000 yuan after adding his monthly bonus.
The breakfast bought by Fu Liqun was on the table. Cen Shan hadn’t woken up yet. It was rare for Zhou Sheng to not touch Yu Hao all over after waking up, and he instead sat in the living room while chatting seriously with Fu Liqun.
When Yu Hao came out, the two of them stopped for a moment. Zhou Sheng said, “So everything in your dream wasn’t a hallucination.”
Fu Liqun held the Golden Crow Wheel in hand with a face filled with disbelief. After having breakfast, Yu Hao pulled a chair out to start settling their accounts at the dining table without interrupting their conversation.
“I was constantly thinking about this yesterday.” Fu Liqun said, “This is too damn fantasy-like.”
“At first, I was thinking of doing the same as with Ou Qihang,” Zhou Sheng snapped his fingers and frowned deeply, “To make you forget everything. But from the looks of it, that would be even more unsafe.”
Yu Hao glanced at Zhou Sheng. He knew that their biggest misjudgment was what they did to Ou Qihang to keep their secret, which led to even graver leaks down the road. If they hadn’t forcibly erased Ou Qihang’s memory, then he could have even cooperated with them to hide it from Huang Ting…
“I understand.” Fu Liqun said, “When do we continue?”
“On the second.” Zhou Sheng said, “There are still some things I need to think about some more…Wifey, what are you calculating?”
Yu Hao was currently struggling with the calculator while he tried to settle the accounts with an irritated look on his face. The sounds ‘zero, zero, ze-ze-ze-ze-zero’ revealed how he felt quite gloomy in his heart.
“I’m doing an AA with Chen Laoshi.” Yu Hao blew up, “Why must he always drag us to sit in business class every time he goes out aaaahhhhh!!!”
Lin Ze reimbursed Yu Hao’s airfare, room, and board expenses, but his expenses while following Chen Yekai would end up making him eat dirt. Yu Hao had used up about 7 to 8,000 yuan throughout the entire journey, and although Chen Yekai didn’t say anything, he had to pay him back the money.
Fu Liqun said, “Put it on me. I’ll go find a job after the New Year and pay him back slowly.”
“I’ll pay it back first.” Yu Hao said to Fu Liqun said, “Leave it for the time being.”
Zhou Sheng said, “Clear the accounts at the end of the previous year, and we can all celebrate the New Year happily ba. Don’t mention money again, my head hurts when I hear it being mentioned. Sigh.”
Cen Shan’s lazy voice could be heard in the room, she was calling for Fu Liqun. So Fu Liqun got up, hit Zhou Sheng a few times with his pillow, then leaned in to kiss him on his cheek.
“Ai!” Zhou Sheng shouted angrily.
Fu Liqun came over quickly, and Yu Hao was unexpectedly kissed by Fu Liqun as well, and he shouted with Zhou Sheng. Fu Liqun then rushed to open the door like a gust of wind to accompany his wife.
“Nutjob.” Zhou Sheng grabbed a few pieces of tissue paper and wiped at his face desperately.
“Yi why is there still 6,000 here?!” Yu Hao discovered a new continent and suddenly recalled that a public number had asked him for several manuscripts before. He quickly checked, and sure enough, he had forgotten about it because he was too busy. “This is great! This is great!!!”
After Yu Hao settled the accounts, he found out that their expenses were all within control. As long as Zhou Sheng didn’t do anything reckless, they would still be able to save up a sum after returning to Beijing and pay their rent. He set aside the money required for food and clothing and decided not to touch the reserve cash left in the card they had— he bought a 5% financial product. Although Fu Liqun had made a loss of 100,000 yuan, there was still 2 million left. Money gives rise to even more money; they would be able to earn a profit of 100,000 a year, which was equivalent to the salary of a fresh graduate.
For someone who finished nine years of compulsory schooling, three years of high school, in addition to four years of undergraduate education — 16 years of arduous studying — would only in the end be equivalent to the interest borne out of a 2 million capital in the capital market. When he thought of this, Yu Hao couldn’t help but sigh ruefully.
“It’ll be enough.” Zhou Sheng said, “Don’t worry. Other people can work and moonlight for ten years without saving a single cent. You haven’t even graduated yet, and you’re already worrying about having enough money to eat every day.”
Cen Shan had gotten up too. It was the 27th today. After breakfast, the four of them returned to college, and even Xue Long had gone home. Fu Liqun took two sets of clothing. Yu Hao looked at Li Yangmin’s bed in the dormitory — it was tidied up neatly.
A lot of time seemed to have passed since they were in this place they once lived. Zhou Sheng tidied up most of their things. Yu Hao packed the books in a box and prepared to send part of it back to Beijing, while he would set up a stall as a graduate and sell the rest to his juniors after school reopened.
“We’re really leaving.” Yu Hao looked at the dormitory and said, “I suddenly feel a little reluctant to part with this.”
The three of them looked at this dormitory, and a thought surfaced in all their minds — what was their greatest harvest from university? Perhaps the best thing that had happened was getting to know one another.
The next day, the four of them went shopping to buy some new groceries. Fu Liqun and Yu Hao each pushed a cart, Cen Shan was on the phone, and Zhou Sheng was selecting ingredients carefully. Yu Hao said, “Don’t buy too much, it’ll be a waste.”
Zhou Sheng, “We’re staying here for ten days, we can finish it. Such a large family still needs to eat and drink their fill.”
Yu Hao laughed. He had received his manuscript fees, so he just let Zhou Sheng be ba. They have enough living expenses anyway.
Fu Liqun asked, “Will Young Master be going back to visit his parents?”
“Too lazy to bother about them.” Zhou Sheng answered, “I’ll just spend it at home ba.”
Fu Liqun said, “I’ll be taking your sis-in-law back to my home tomorrow, and we’ll be back on the 30th to celebrate it too.”
“Sure.” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll cook up New Year’s Eve dinner.”
Lin Ze had sent Yu Hao a bunch of New Year’s pictures of Beijing and other places, and made him describe the pictures. He also had come up with a special issue for the Spring Festival. The huge capital city was nearly empty; almost everyone was gone. Jin Weicheng would be on duty during the 30th and the first day of New Year’s, then it would be Lin Ze’s turn on the second.
On New Year’s Eve, when Zhou Sheng placed the dishes on the table, Yu Hao turned on a video — Chen Yekai and Ou Qihang were on the other end.
“May you have a prosperous New Year.” Ou Qihang smiled, “Happy New Year~”
“Happy New Year.” Chen Yekai was wearing a new woolen sweater, which was the same brand as the one Ou Qihang was wearing. He had clearly taken Ou Qihang out to buy new clothes as well. Ou Qihang turned the camera to let Yu Hao and the rest see his mother, and everyone greeted one another. Ou Qihang’s mother had cooked their New Year’s Eve dinner. Yu Hao suddenly felt that when they wore clothes from the same brand, even though it wasn’t couple wear, there seemed to be the atmosphere of a gentle, older man who was with a young man around them. Chen Yekai and Ou Qihang did match each other well.
Ou Qihang’s mother greeted them before returning to the kitchen.
“Yo!” Zhou Sheng said, “Where did you buy your clothes? It’s not bad! I want new clothes too!”
“Yo.” Fu Liqun said, “Looks like you guys are having quite a good time ma! Where’s mine?”
Zhou Sheng, “Why did you only buy clothes for Xiao Ou?”
Chen Yekai and Ou Qihang used their gazes to signal to Zhou Sheng not to mouth off at the same time, but Zhou Sheng said, “Will Kaikai be sending us red packets this year?”
Yu Hao, “The red packet can’t be small okay?”
Chen Yekai said, “Yes, yes, yes, I’ll give it to you on the second. I’ll see you then…” Then he said to Ou Qihang, “Okay, turn off the video ba.”
Yu Hao said, “I still have more to say!”
“How could you bear to turn it off just like that?!” Zhou Sheng said, “What have you guys been playing these days?”
Ou Qihang, “We didn’t play anything, just ate and shopped, and visited some exhibitions.”
Chen Yekai kept getting teased by them, and he now used his gaze to signal to Ou Qihang to stop talking to them, so Ou Qihang grinned as he turned off the video. On their side, they poured some wine, clinked glasses, and began eating their New Year’s Eve dinner.
