Ch3 - little wontons

Li Tongzhou’s mood was particularly good. He looked at him and said, “Do you want to come over to my house to complete homework?”

Guo Jingyu stared at that face and agreed without even thinking about it. 

After following him off the bus and walking for a while, Guo Jingyu’s ringtone suddenly sounded from the depths of his bag. He searched for some time before he finally unearthed a palm sized little device that resembled a flat cordless phone, a PHS (personal handyphone system). He held it in his phone for a good while before he finally reacted and pressed the answer key, which immediately transmitted his mother’s loud voice: “Guo Jingyu! School’s over but you haven’t come home, where have you gone haring off to this time? I’m telling you, you definitely can’t hide today, no matter what excuse you make, you still have to come back…”

Guo Jingyu said: “Ma, I’ll go back home in a bit, I’m at Li Tongzhou’s house doing homework.”

 

 

Mother Guo’s voice immediately quieted a touch. In front of her son’s friends she still left him some face, especially if it was Li Tongzhou. “You’re really at xiao Zhou’s house?”

Guo Jingyu smiled, “Really. Why would I trick you? I’ll let him speak to you.” 

Guo Jingyu gave his phone to Li Tongzhou, who stared blankly for a moment but eventually took it and earnestly and seriously responded. He didn’t tend to socialize much, yet for every question Mother Guo asked, he would methodically answer, his voice low and unhurried, even a little overcautious.

 

Guo Jingyu stood to one side admiring the device plastered to his ear; it could be considered a product of the times. There were a few years when the PHS was popular back then. The fees were particularly cheap, but later on, for some unknown reason no one used it anymore. Slowly, smartphones rose in popularity, and everyone found it especially convenient to stay in touch through voice messages and video calling. He’d nearly forgotten about this model.

After he finished taking in the PHS, he slightly adjusted his line of sight and appreciated Li Tongzhou’s hand and the side of his face as he continued to take the call.

Guo Jingyu was artistically inclined, and was particularly sensitive to the way things appeared, their lines if it was a flat piece of art, their contours if third dimensional. Simply put, he was someone who attached great importance to good looks, particularly of others.

 

Before, he’d thought Li Tongzhou was good looking, now, seeing him again, his heart was filled with only fondness, without even a single trace of anything else.

The person he liked stood in front of him, and everything about him was good.

Li Tongzhou’s skin was icily fair, his nose was particularly tall and straight when viewed from the side, when his lips were tense they would purse into a line, but when speaking they would ease a little. The aura of cold detachment that clung to his body was a product of his home environment, he wasn’t arrogant or haughty. Rather, it was unintentional and all thanks to his strict upbringing. He finished speaking with Mother Guo and handed the PHS to Guo Jingyu, “Ayi said for you to go back before eight tonight.”

 

Guo Jingyu, cheerfully: “Very good, you even asked for leave on my behalf already?” 

“Well, because there’s a bus that comes at eight. If you want to go a little earlier, around seven forty should also be okay…”

Guo Jingyu seized his shoulder, patted it, and brought him along, walking and saying: “Hey, I was just happy, why are you being nervous. I would actually love to leave an hour later, even. Oh right, which unit do you live in again?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Li Tongzhou usually ate alone, if Guo Jingyu didn’t go play soccer or game with other people, he’d also accompany him to eat together.

This was Li Tongzhou’s everyday routine.

He was used to being alone, but he was also used to Guo Jingyu, he much preferred eating accompanied by Guo Jingyu than eating alone.

If luck prevailed, in the evening Guo Jingyu would also come over to his house to do homework, and could stay longer. 

Li Tongzhou didn’t like liveliness and excitement himself, but he liked the upbeat, cacophonous,   chaotic energy that clung to Guo Jingyu, as if wherever he went he could always find something interesting. As long as this person was here, even the lights at home became warmer, and his heart felt at ease.

Li Tongzhou had an obsession with cleanliness, after being tidied, things would be organized into categories and stowed carefully. Everything had its place, and it was the same in his home.

 

As soon as Guo Jingyu entered, he noticed the three sets of Toshiba laptops on the living room table, next to a long lens digital camera. There was a self circulating fish tank and bonsai in the entrance hall, with koi inside, the pan of the latter was covered in a layer of ancient coins whose veracity couldn’t be determined. Yet even so, the wealth of this display couldn’t be fake.

At this point, laptops were at their most expensive, any random model being priced at twenty thousand was normal, not to mention the digital camera there on the side. The lens alone had to be seventeen thousand, enough for a normal person to afford half an apartment. 

Li Tongzhou followed his line of sight and looked too, but obviously misunderstood, “Let’s play games after we finish our work, okay? Last time’s save file is still preserved for you, you can continue to play it.”

“What game?”

“Emperor’s Blade.”

Guo Jingyu didn’t even remember he had played single player games before, it was all too distant, but seeing Li Tongzhou’s earnest appearance, he must have been absolutely addicted for some time back then. 

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The two had eaten barbecue outside, so once they got home they directly began working on their school assignments. They went to Li Tongzhou’s room and sat facing each other. Guo Jingyu’s legs were long, and he neglected to keep them in check, as soon as he didn’t pay attention they’d bump the knees just opposite. At first, he would unconsciously withdraw them, but thinking about it, the person opposite was Li Tongzhou. If he touched once or twice, it wasn’t necessarily clear who was taking advantage of who; after all, back then it was Li Tongzhou who confessed first.

Guo Jingyu’s courage grew a little. No longer really restraining himself, he found a comfortable position to extend his legs and touch his knees to the other set opposite, occasionally swaying and rubbing them across their surface.

As expected, Li Tongzhou raised his head and eyed him, but very quickly lowered his head to continue solving problems.

Guo Jingyu just held the book in his hands, alternating between reading a line of words and looking at a person. 

According to memory, after two months they would enter the second year of high school, swiftly followed by class separation. It was also then that he went to study art, and saw Li Tongzhou less, the two sent dozens upon dozens of messages every day and still it wasn’t enough. Even Guo Jingyu’s roommate who was dating someone at the time didn’t have as much to say as they did, and joked that Guo Jingyu was the one who behaved like he was participating in an early romance.

Guo Jingyu didn’t think there was anything wrong back then, he just particularly missed Li Tongzhou.

Two weeks after that, the day of his birthday, Li Tongzhou took advantage of a long distance bus to come find him, gave him a birthday present, and confessed.

Both of their birthdays were in the winter. The snow came early in the north, and there just happened to be a snowfall. 

Li Tongzhou stood beneath the streetlight, wearing a thick wool overcoat, his shoulders covered in a layer of white. The snow beneath the light was falling incessantly, but he just quietly stood there waiting, waiting, waiting. Not until he saw Guo Jingyu did he take two steps forward, hand over the gift, then ask in a small voice if they could be together.

…..

“Jingyu, what are you thinking?” Li Tongzhou used his pen to tap the table, reminding him to do his work.

Guo Jingyu directly set his book down. He was only using it to look at the person opposite anyway. Propping his chin up on his hand, he looked at him now and smiled: “Thinking of the future.” 

Li Tongzhou, baffled: “What about it?”

“Just thinkin’ about how we’ll change in the future, and what we’ll become.”

 

Li Tongzhou thought he meant to discuss his dream planning or his educational aspirations, so he also put down his book to quietly listen.

The corner of Guo Jingyu’s lips tilted upwards slightly, and he said: “In the future, you might be a little taller than you are now? I’ll definitely grow tall, your ge’ll be one point eight meters to start, well shaped, absolutely a handsome guy, if you bring me out in public I’ll give you so much face….” 

Li Tongzhou interrupted him: “I’m older than you.”

“Fine, fine, you’re the oldest, you’re my ge.” Jingyu didn’t mind, continuing in high spirits: “In the future let’s spend every birthday together, okay? I remember there’s not many days between us, you’re at the end of November, I’m in the beginning of December, it’s just right.”

Li Tongzhou nodded and agreed.

Guo Jingyu reached the end of his thought and remembered Li Tongzhou’s grades, and urged: “You continue to read, you must preserve your grade.” He had so many years of artistic training and such comprehensive knowledge of the fundamentals that he was especially confident in himself. Conversely, Li Tongzhou didn’t test well and had to repeat, this time around he had to watch him carefully. 

Li Tongzhou obediently picked up his book again and continued to read.

His words were few, didn’t often communicate with others, but from the speed at which he flipped the pages, it was clear his mood had improved again.

In his heart, Guo Jingyu already saw him as his little boyfriend. However he looked at him, however appealing he was. This feeling contained a tinge of heartache; from the very depths of his heart, he wanted to treat Li Tongzhou well. Anyway, his book was a lost cause, might as well get up and go to the kitchen and boil some wontons. Li Tongzhou ate disorganized meals that never stuck to a regular schedule, his digestion wasn’t too good, he should eat something warm in the morning.

The flour was stored quite high. Guo Jingyu had to raise himself onto the tips of his toes to get it. Li Tongzhou walked over and reached up and grabbed it for him from behind, “I’ll do it.” 

Guo Jingyu turned his head and took in their relative heights. To tell the truth, there was only two or three centimeters of difference between them, but when it came to fetching things it really did come down to that much.

Guo Jingyu said suspiciously: “Why do you get to sit in the front, if you’re so tall?”

Li Tongzhou said: “My grades are good.”

“…..” 

The third to last row was the dividing line, there was an incomparable gulf between them and the terrible students in the last two rows. If not for Li Tongzhou being so tall that sitting too much further up would block the view of every student behind him, the teacher wanted to stick this precious treasure in the very first row to admire right beneath their eyes every single day.

Guo Jingyu suddenly had second thoughts. So what if he watched him strictly now?

In this period of time, Li Tongzhou still wasn’t his person.

– 

T/N: hello everyone, this is loach! I’ll be taking over from this chapter onwards. This is my first project, so I’m rather excited! I love second chance romances and I’m loving these characters and their relationship dynamic so far. I hope you will too! 

 

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