City C was only this big. It was an ordinary small northern city and wasn't any sort of scenic area with exceptionally lovely views. There was really nothing fun to do there. After spending two days outside, Yi Xun felt that there was no point any more and decided to just take root in Xu Tangcheng's home. Every day, he came over right before noon or later in the afternoon, and left in the evening. Sometimes he brought something fun with him, sometimes he brought something to eat. He didn't act like a stranger at all.

It was also thanks to the way he did not act like a stranger at all that Xu Tangcheng could see Yi Zhe every day for the last few days of the vacation.

Even if there were so many complications in the feelings between the two of them right now, Xu Tangcheng believed that the current state of things would get better one day. At the very least, it wouldn't be like the past where he couldn't see him the whole day and could only make guesses in secret, worrying about the other person's feelings.

Unlike Yi Zhe's silence, Yi Xun was very good at interacting with others. He was only a half-grown kid, yet no matter what the topic of conversation was, he could pick it up and say a few words. He would never let an awkward and nothing-to-say scene happen. He would ask about all sorts of things and inquire solicitously about how they were all doing, pleasant words coming out of his mouth the moment it was opened. Even Xu Yueliang and Zhou Hui were completely taken with him and frequently could not stop laughing.

It was just a few days, yet it gave Xu Tangcheng the illusion that Yi Xun had always lived with them and had never left.

But sometimes, when he sat on the sofa in the living room, when Yi Xun and Xu Tangxi were at the side debating over which movie did some foreign moviestar look more handsome in, that ordinary and cozy scene could suddenly fill him with a grievous sorrow.

Because the one who stayed here, who lived here, had undoubtedly been Yi Zhe.

Every time he had that thought, he would fall into silence. Yi Zhe usually sat quietly beside Yi Xun, watching T.V. There were four people in the living room, yet there seemed to be a clear line dividing them, a different atmosphere for each group of two.

Distant and strange. Familiar and friendly. Everything seemed to be in the wrong place.

Xu Tangcheng could never stop himself from looking at Yi Zhe, and would also always be trying his best to think of something to chat with him about. But when Yi Zhe cast a quick glance in his direction, his mind would scramble like he had been caught doing something bad.

Seeing that there weren't many fruits remaining on the coffee table, Xu Tangcheng got up and walked into the kitchen with a relieved sigh. Yi Zhe had followed him at some point and when Xu Tangcheng put the apples on the dish, he said, "Let me."

Looking at Yi Zhe's slightly bent back, Xu Tangcheng suddenly realised that it turned out that there were some feelings that could not be suppressed. The ache in his heart, the desire to get close—these were all primal emotions that emerged in a steady stream. No matter how hard he tried to restrain himself, he was no match for a single look from the other person, a single view of the other person's back.

It was only a short vacation, yet he felt like he could no longer bear the weight. It was as though the suppressed emotions had turned into a burden while he was unaware.

The two of them washed the apples. When they filled the dish, Yi Zhe suddenly asked Xu Tangcheng where the shop that he said sold delicious pan-fried buns was.

"You want to buy some?"

"Yeah." Yi Zhe lowered his head and picked up an apple. "Yi Xun will be leaving the day after tomorrow. I want to buy something tasty for him."

Xu Tangcheng nodded and told him the address. Afraid that he wouldn't be able to find the place since he had never been to that street, he also purposely pointed out the shops near the place that had eye-catching facades.

"Since he's leaving the day after tomorrow, let's go back to Beijing together. We'll leave the day after tomorrow, in the morning. We'll first drive him to the airport, then go back to campus."

After a brief hesitation, Yi Zhe nodded in agreement. Before going out, he said to Xu Tangcheng, "Tangcheng-ge, thank you."

Xu Tangcheng stood behind him, watching him say those words and then stride out of the kitchen. After looking in that direction for a long while, he finally took up the dishrag and slowly wiped dry the tabletop where water had dripped.

In the afternoon, Xu Tangcheng went to the supermarket to buy some matcha powder. He stood in front of the racks and went through the choices, wavering between the big pack and the small pack. In the end, thinking of Yi Zhe's expression when he was eating sweets the past few days, he took the big pack.

He might as well make a bit more and bring some to him.

The next morning, Yi Zhe brought over four portions of pan-fried buns. Clad in his pajamas, Xu Tangcheng stood at the front door, head fuzzy and a little surprised. "Aren't you not staying at home?"

"Yeah." The person outside the door nodded, face still slightly flushed from physical exertion. He took one step forward, nearer to Xu Tangcheng, like he was blocking the cold wind that was pouring into the house through the door. His sudden approach distracted Xu Tangcheng and he froze for a moment, staring at that face that was right in front of him.

"I saw that the line was very long. It wasn't easy to reach my turn so I bought a bit more for you guys."

"Ah…" Xu Tangcheng's speech was still a bit sluggish. "Where's Yi Xun?"

"Not awake yet," Yi Zhe said.

The temperature in the corridor was too low. Yi Zhe was afraid Xu Tangcheng would be cold, so he turned to leave without delay, and also kept urging him to go back in. Xu Tangcheng was probably still in the haze of having just woken up. He held the pan-fried buns in his hand, watching Yi Zhe leap down the stairs and wave at him, and all of a sudden, his thoughts drifted far away, recalling a very unremarkable scene in his memories.

And looking at it, that scene had nothing to do with the present.

When he was in senior high, a boy in his class had a girlfriend. The boy brought breakfast to the girl's home when he picked her up every day. Xu Tangcheng bumped into them once by chance. He walked behind them and unintentionally saw them holding hands. The way they held hands was rather special. He wasn't simply holding her hand, nor were their fingers intertwined; instead, the boy was holding the girl's curled fist, bravely covering that tiny hand in the bitingly cold wind.

He closed the door in a daze and was again enveloped by the warmth inside the house. And only then did Xu Tangcheng feel how lovely a morning it was, as though what Yi Zhe had brought over was not pan-fried buns but instead, a small and cozy flame. The flame carried a brightness, very weak, not at all showy. This tiny bit of light was just like the scene in his memories, touching very lightly on his emotions—not even worth a mention compared to the great surging waves—yet it steadily flickered its way into his heart, and in this gentle and supple manner, it melted something that his heart was strongly holding on to.

He leaned against the door and brought the pan-fried buns in his hand up to his eyes. Then, he raised his other hand and pushed the bag until it spun. The bag spun unceasingly in one direction until the handle was twisted to the maximum tautness it could reach and could not go any further. Then, with the soft push of a finger, it slowly spun loose.

Towards another clear and bright direction.

In the space of one vacation, Xu Tangcheng's baking skills could be said to have advanced sharply. But it was still the first time he was making matcha-flavour cookies. He didn't have a firm grasp of how to use all the many types of different ingredients. Even though the process of making the cookies after adding matcha powder wasn't all that different from the original flavour cookies, there was still the question of how to prevent the matcha flavour from being overwhelmed while still maintaining the rich milk taste. The amount of other ingredients used needed to be adjusted.

Just like a relationship between two people: when an indeterminate independent variable was added, for the situation to regain its balance and peace, a lot of dependent variables had to be subtly adjusted.

The first batch of cookies came out of the oven. Xu Tangcheng tasted one and determined that there was probably too much butter, the matcha taste was rather weak. Hence, he again looked up some information, adjusted the combination of ingredients, and baked a second batch.

While waiting for the cookies to be done, he checked the baking guide, planning to try and bake a chiffon cake. He had just prepared the ingredients when the sound of footsteps came from behind him. Xu Tangcheng thought it was Yi Zhe but unexpectedly, when he turned around, he saw Yi Xun walk over biting on an apple.

"It smells so good." Yi Xun wandered over to his side and looked at the things laid out on the table. He asked, "Tangcheng-ge, what are you making?"

"I want to bake a cake now but I've never done it before. It's probably going to fail." After saying that, he pointed at the oven. "What you're smelling is matcha cookies."

Next to him, Yi Xun lifted his chin slightly and looked in that direction.

"That's amazing."

"Do you eat this?" Xu Tangcheng asked him. "You can try it."

That was what he said but he saw Yi Xun looking utterly uninterested. He more or less understood that the "That's amazing" line just now was just a superficial and polite praise, so he tactfully did not say anything more. He picked up an egg, planning to continue with his cake. But the instant he lowered his head, he spied the watch on Yi Xun's wrist and his hand that was knocking the egg against the rim of the bowl hesitated.

With this hesitation, the egg naturally did not crack nicely. When he broke the shell open, a small piece of the shell fell into the bowl. Xu Tangcheng's brows furrowed together a little. He carefully picked out that piece of shell with a chopstick before opening his mouth and saying casually, "Your watch looks nice."

"This one?" Yi Xun's gaze shifted from the bowl. He lifted his wrist and shook it. "Oh, I wanted to buy a watch previously so I just picked one at random."

Xu Tangcheng did not pay attention to things related to luxury but he could recognise this watch. He complimented it again, then smiled and said, "It's pretty expensive."

Yi Xun pouted, like he couldn't care less. "It's all right."

There was a row of tomatoes on the windowsill. He picked one up at random, looking like he wanted to eat it, and asked Xu Tangcheng, "Has this been washed?"

Xu Tangcheng shook his head. "If you want to eat it, wash it yourself first. Someone grew it themselves, it's organic…"

He wanted to say that it was organic and that it had a sweeter taste than the normal store-bought ones but halfway through his words, he saw Yi Xun raise his eyebrows and immediately put the tomato back. Then, standing right beside him, Yi Xun patted his hands together to get rid of the dirt, unminding of anything else.

Xu Tangcheng was rather stunned. Then, without making a sound, he moved the things under his hands a little further away.

"Actually, I don't really know about watches. I asked my friend to pick one for me."

Xu Tangcheng stared at that tomato and reflected on himself, wondering if he had made a fuss over nothing. Yi Xun was just a boy in junior high. Being lazy, not liking to do physical labour, not paying attention to some small details related to manners—all these should be normal.

"Is that so? Then, your friend has pretty good taste." Putting aside that small interlude, he looked at Yi Xun and finally brought up the topic of conversation to what he had been wanting to talk about the whole time. "Does your dad give you a lot of pocket money? I've been wanting to tell you that the things you brought on the first day you came here are a bit too expensive. You're still in school, you don't have to buy those things for us."

"It's to express my regards." Yi Xun turned around. He stuck his hands in his pocket leisurely and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Even so, it should be appropriate to the situation. Just a little is enough."

Yi Xun curled his lips. "But these things aren't expensive to me."

When he saw that Xu Tangcheng seemed startled, Yi Xun laughed. "It's true. You guys probably can't imagine how much pocket money my dad gives me."

He could read the smug and proud expression on Yi Xun's face. Xu Tangcheng nodded, suddenly realising that there seemed to be no need to continue this round of interaction. But Yi Xun seemed to be stirred up by this subject that he had brought up. Xu Tangcheng didn't speak but Yi Xun didn't stop, and cheerfully continued to talk on his own.

"I'm telling the truth, Tangcheng-ge. I don't even remember clearly what happened here in the past. I only remember that I loved coming over to your house."

Xu Tangcheng looked up and stretched his lips into a smile at him.

"Speaking of that, it's strange. What do you think—there are so many things from when I was young that I don't remember at all but there's just this one scene that I remember…"

At this point, Yi Xun paused for a long while, obviously waiting for Xu Tangcheng to ask him. Meanwhile, a feeling of discomfort rose in Xu Tangcheng from somewhere. Without minding the other person, he sieved flour into the beaten egg yolk and milk mixture, ignoring this opening.

"It was just before my parents divorced. They were arguing in the house. At that time, I thought it was very strange. I didn't understand why they were arguing so fiercely that day when my dad had always openly ignored my mum." Yi Xun cocked his head and asked, "Do you know what they were arguing about?"

At first, Xu Tangcheng did not answer. Without saying a word, he walked around Yi Xun to the sink to wash his hands. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw that Yi Xun was still looking at him, so he made a noise with his nose as a response.

"They were arguing over who gets which kid after the divorce."

The person who had been listening indifferently the whole time suddenly seemed to have been poked with a needle, turning tense in an instant. He faintly sensed that the following words would not be pleasant but because it was related to Yi Zhe, related to Yi Zhe's past, he wanted to continue listening.

But this time, Yi Xun didn't rush to continue like he had earlier. After a long pause, he finally snorted a laugh. "Both of them were actually insisting that they wanted my brother."

Xu Tangcheng could not overlook the disdain in Yi Xun's tone. He lowered his eyes and shook his hands, shaking off the excess water. By the time he had dried his hands and turned around, there was already a solemn and serious cast to his face, "Why?"

"Who knows?" Yi Xun shrugged, looking at him. "I've never understood why either. At that time, they both clearly liked me more."

Probably because he was remembering something unpleasant, Yi Xun's tone was no longer as lively as it had been earlier. His voice rapidly became lower, the coldness in his eyes making Xu Tangcheng feel rather alarmed.

Unconsciously, he gripped the towel in his hands tighter. Even his breathing became much softer.

"No matter what the reason is, when a little child hears that both his parents do not want him, of course he will be sad. But it doesn't matter now. I'm doing pretty well. And I wanted to go with my dad in the first place anyway."

At this point, Yi Xun finally laughed again. "That's why, I feel that my dad was pretty amazing back then. He was clearly the one who earned most of the money we had but he didn't want any of the wealth. My brother is also pretty amazing. He actually chose my mum for real."

Xu Tangcheng stared blankly. He could tell that there were hidden meanings in Yi Xun's words but he didn't dare believe his ears.

"What do you mean?"

He hoped with all his heart that the next words from Yi Xun's mouth wouldn't be the ones he was thinking of, that Yi Xun truly knew why Yi Zhe had chosen their mother, that he knew how much Yi Zhe cared for him. However, reality always liked to disappoint. Sometimes, the things that he had never even imagined, truly and seriously existed in all their absurdity.

There was the delicious smell unique to sweets in the kitchen. Sweet and rich and gentle, yet, in the middle of the aroma, he was listening to a story that could not be any more cruel.

"It's clear to see. At that time, my mum had money while my dad was penniless, that was why he chose my mum. But that's fair, who doesn't want to live a better life?"