Yi Zhe didn't know why Xu Tangcheng suddenly brought forward the date but when he woke up the next day and saw the message, he immediately replied: Sure.

Xu Tangcheng left the lab at dinnertime. The elevator door opened and he bumped into Yu An who was just coming back from outside.

"Oh, going out to eat?" Yu An exited the elevator and called out to him. "I'm going back to get something, wait for me."

"Sorry." Xu Tangcheng thrusted one hand into his pocket and shook his head. He pressed the elevator button to go down. "I'm going out."

"Not coming back tonight?" Yu An was rather curious.

"Yeah." Xu Tangcheng nodded. Seeing that Yu An was going to ask further, he explained right away. "I'm going out to have some fun."

The elevator arrived at that moment. After this brief explanation, Xu Tangcheng waved goodbye to Yu An. His phone received a message from Yi Zhe saying that he was already downstairs and that he saw a new milk tea place next to the No. 21 building, so did Xu Tangcheng want to have milk tea? Xu Tangcheng read the message as he stood in the elevator and was just about to reply when he suddenly recalled that he hadn't pressed the floor button.

He looked up. The elevator door was slowly closing. To his surprise, he saw that Yu An was still standing there. He hadn't left.

When he saw Xu Tangcheng look over, Yu An made use of the remaining gap in the elevator door to wave at him with a smile.

Yi Zhe was waiting by the flowerbed downstairs. He was crouched on the raised area, holding his phone up and looking at something, the light in his hands shining on his face. Xu Tangcheng walked over and noticed that he was carrying a small black bag on his back that he had never seen before. When he picked it up for a look, it turned out to be a camera.

"Where did this camera come from?" Xu Tangcheng asked.

"I borrowed it from Zheng Yikun." Yi Zhe stood up. One shoe rubbed against the edge of the flowerbed and he slid down. He ran a thumb along the strap of the bag and said, "I plan to buy one."

Xu Tangcheng was just about to ask why he wanted to buy one when he heard him continue to say, "To take pictures of you in the future."

A pebble was kicked away to somewhere far. The noise should be disorderly, yet because of the emotions contained in those words, it turned into music in his ears.

Yi Zhe already took out the camera while they were still on campus. He jogged a couple of steps to stand in front of Xu Tangcheng. The branches were bare by the lake. In the gradually darkening twilight, a small red light lit up on the camera, like it was enticing Xu Tangcheng to come forward.

"Watch your step," Xu Tangcheng reminded him. "Don't walk into other people."

"I won't, I'm keeping an eye out." Holding the camera up, Yi Zhe took occasional looks back while walking backwards.

Two grown boys playing with a camera on campus—no matter what, it looked rather strange. Seeing that a lot of students passing by were slowing down to watch the two of them, Xu Tangcheng was easily embarrassed and took a couple of quick steps to catch up with the very excited person.

"All right, stop taking pictures for now."

"No." Yi Zhe raised his elbow up high, avoiding Xu Tangcheng's outstretched hand. The camera lens was nearly plastered on Xu Tangcheng's face. Xu Tangcheng dodged to the side; Yi Zhe followed his movement closely, not letting him off, and even drew back the corners of his mouth to say laughingly, "Your skin is really nice. Even taking pictures like this, I can't see the pores."

Xu Tangcheng cocked his head. He only made a token attempt to dodge Yi Zhe then dropped the subject, letting him play around as he wished. It was strange; when the camera touched his skin, it was obviously cold, yet it seemed capable of even keeping away the winter wind.

When they reached the vicinity of Blue Harbour, afraid that it wouldn't be convenient to park the car if they went further, Xu Tancheng parked next to Chaoyang Park. When getting down, Yi Zhe unfastened his seatbelt and said, "I'll be able to take the driving test soon."

Both of them lived in the same campus environment, and both of them were similarly students. In their usual daily interactions, Xu Tangcheng had actually not felt a very obvious age gap. This line from Yi Zhe that was brimming with anticipation made him realise with a start that Yi Zhe was just about to turn a full eighteen years old.

Meanwhile, Xu Tangcheng himself was still wearing a thin red string around his wrist, the current year being the second time he was going through the year of his zodiac sign^[1].

Seeing that he was still not getting down from the car after a long while, Yi Zhe walked around the front of the car, opened his door and bent down. "What's wrong?"

Xu Tangcheng shook his head. Stepping into the chilly air, he couldn't help stamping his feet.

The two of them walked towards the commercial district. After just a few steps, they turned into a little street. On one side of the street was a wall, on the other side was the glistening surface of the water. It was Yi Zhe's first time there. Seeing the water there, he was very amazed. "Where is the water from? A lake?"

Xu Tangcheng shook his head. He knew that Blue Harbour was said to have three water-facing sides but as for exactly what kind of body of water it faced, he wasn't very sure.

"There's a lake in Chaoyang Park." Based on his impression and his existing knowledge of the geography there, he deduced, "Maybe it's that one?"

Even though neither one of them was sure about the source of the water, the scenery was good so they still walked to the water's edge and stood there for a while.

Yi Zhe tried to capture a photo of the water surface with the camera but it was hard to get the focus right so he quickly gave up on it.

"It's too dark, the photo isn't clear." He turned the lens around and continued to have it face Xu Tangcheng. "I'll take pictures of you instead."

This was just a small street that served as an access road. The streetlights were so dim they might as well have not been there. On top of that, it was not a holiday today and there weren't many people coming here at this hour. There were only a few cars stopped at the roadside and the pedestrians were sparse. Xu Tangcheng no longer avoided him like he had on campus and just rested against the stone railing, letting Yi Zhe tinker around as he wished.

"Is that thing of yours going to run out of battery later?"

"It won't," Yi Zhe said. "I purposely charged it up fully."

For someone who couldn't ever find his key to remember this kind of thing, he must have really put his heart into it.

"Yi Zhe." After exchanging a few joking lines, Xu Tangcheng suddenly stared right into the camera and called Yi Zhe's name.

Xu Tangcheng suddenly being serious caught Yi Zhe by surprise. Then, he inclined his head to the side. "Huh?"

But Xu Tangcheng's gaze did not fall on him. Instead, he gazed directly into the lens, like he was recording a video.

"For your eighteenth birthday, what present do you want?"

This question came all of a sudden. Yi Zhe was completely unprepared for it. It seemed like since he was young, he had never thought of this thing called a birthday present. He had experienced it before his parents divorced, but that was only once when he was in his father's car and couldn't resist saying that it was his birthday.

What he wanted…

He thought along those lines but very quickly realised that his current psychological state was basically free of desires and wants—no, he wasn't totally free of desires and wants, it was just that what he wanted was already right before his eyes.

"I don't want anything." He stated the first half frankly but felt that the second half was rather sappy so he only looked at Xu Tangcheng and repeated it in his heart.

Having you is enough.

"Think about it." Xu Tangcheng laughed. "Eighteen years old, you'll be an adult. I want to give you something nice."

A night of escape from the lab, the dimness of the streetlights, they all made it so that after Xu Tangcheng spoke those words, there was even a very obvious surge of emotions in his heart. He didn't want the camera to record anything out of the ordinary so he turned around and faced the water surface where the wind was teasing unceasingly.

He hadn't smoked for a long time. Xu Tangcheng fumbled in his pocket and came up empty.

He turned to ask Yi Zhe and was nearly hit in the eye by the camera.

"Oh no." Yi Zhe quickly put down the camera and went near him to check. "Did it knock into you?"

"No."

Even though it was fine, Xu Tangcheng still took the chance to give him a look. "Didn't I tell you to stay further away from me?"

"Okay."

This time, Yi Zhe listened to him and took a step back. Xu Tangcheng's hand that was just about to slip into Yi Zhe's pocket hung in midair. The two of them stared at each other, frozen for a couple of seconds. Yi Zhe took another step, coming back to stand where he was, bringing his pocket to Xu Tangcheng's hand.

Xu Tangcheng fished out a cigarette and lit it up.

"Have you decided?"

"Hmm?" Yi Zhe leaned beside him and took pictures of him smoking, of his side profile that brightened and dimmed along with the lambent flame of the cigarette.

"Your birthday present."

"Hmm…" Yi Zhe's thoughts wandered far and wide for a while, and he came up with something. "Sing a birthday song for me?"

Xu Tangcheng turned his head to the side and laughed. The smoke from the cigarette drew a circle in the air.

"Your request is too small, isn't it? I can sing a birthday song for you right now."

He was joking with him but Yi Zhe felt that it was a pretty good idea. He immediately twisted his shoulder around and held the camera up properly. "Then, sing now."

"What do you mean, sing?" Cigarette wedged between his fingers, Xu Tangcheng pointed vaguely to the side. "If you keep doing this, other people will think that I'm some kind of celebrity shooting an ad here."

"Ignore them. Anyway, what I want to shoot is a documentary." Yi Zhe lowered his voice and even sounded a little wheedling. "Sing for me now? If you sing softer, they won't be able to hear you. I've never even heard a birthday song before."

Xu Tangcheng hadn't intended to play along with him but he had always been someone who fell for soft tactics rather than hard ones. It wasn't a big deal in the first place and after hearing Yi Zhe's words that sounded slightly nasal, he had no more desire to turn him down.

A grown boy nearly 1.9 meters tall. He was usually very cool all the time but when he acted childish, it was more potent than if a girl did the same.

"All right." Xu Tangcheng turned his head up slightly towards the person beside him. "I'll indulge you for the whole night."

He said he would sing but the entire song turned out to have not even half a "Happy Birthday" in it; to be more precise, there wasn't even any lyrics. Sometimes he pressed his lips together and hummed, sometimes the content would be richer—there would be a series of da-da-da.

When the beginning notes came out, Yi Zhe felt that it wasn't right. When Xu Tangcheng was done humming, he looked at the person whose eyes were almost closed in the camera screen and said curiously, "That's not a birthday song."

Xu Tangcheng immediately retorted, "Didn't you say you've never heard it before?"

"I've never heard other people sing it for me but it doesn't mean I don't know what a birthday song is."

Xu Tangcheng ignored him. One arm resting on a stone sphere on top of a pillar and a hand supporting his head, he laughed cheerfully all on his own.

This reaction made Yi Zhe feel even more that something wasn't right. He held the camera up and drew near Xu Tangcheng, letting out a hmph and asking, "Did you trick me?"

"Nope." The eyes Xu Tangcheng directed at him were open and free of guilt, frankness written all over them. "I'm wishing you a Happy Birthday."

He drew hard on the cigarette, then turned his head to the side and exhaled in that direction before turning back again and looking into the camera. He explained, "There's more than one birthday song. This is a birthday song from another country, that's why I only remember the melody and don't know the lyrics."

"Is it?" Yi Zhe's tone was still full of suspicion. "Then tell me which country it is."

"Ecuador," Xu Tangcheng immediately answered.

He was as solemn as swearing the truth but Yi Zhe still mulled over it.

Xu Tangcheng waved and changed the topic decisively. "Aiya, just look at what kind of birthday present it is that you picked. Why don't I give you a camera? You want one, don't you?"

"No," Yi Zhe refused very quickly. "I want to buy it myself."

He had worked as a home tutor for a term at least. He had saved up quite a bit.

When he was done smoking that one cigarette, Xu Tangcheng stubbed it out on a nearby trash can and threw it away.

"Then take your time to think about it." He walked two steps ahead. Seeing the very distinct sea of blue and white lights not far in the distance, he turned and beckoned the person who was still standing in the same place deep in thought, and teased, "Let's go, Young Lady Yi. Gege will take you to see the lights."

He had never tried using this tone to talk to Yi Zhe. He thought Yi Zhe would bristle but unexpectedly, there were hurried footsteps catching up to him. The person coming to him did not express any disagreement with his words just now and instead said, "I've figured out what I want."

"What is it?"

Yi Zhe bent down and drew close to his ear. His voice was very soft. "That day…"

Just one phrase, with no proper sentence structure; Xu Tangcheng naturally did not know what he meant. He looked curiously at the stammering person. "Which day?"

"That day when you got drunk, at the hotel."

When he heard that, Xu Tangcheng suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart. He cleared his throat and again looked to the front, pretending to be calm. "Oh."

He prayed that Yi Zhe would be more innocent, more simple, and not speak out the words he was guessing in his heart. But Yi Zhe had a resolve and courage that disappointed his hopes greatly.

"That day, we didn't… didn't do that, right?" A very tiny smile crept up Yi Zhe's face. It was not wanton, and the intentional restraint made it seem to hide a secret, appearing very sweet. "When I reach legal age, can we… continue it?"

They had been together for so long it was unlikely anyone would believe that their relationship had gone no further than hugging, holding hands and kissing. They had kissed until their faces were flushed and their hearts racing, both panting for breath, but after that, Yi Zhe had only held Xu Tangcheng and let them both calm down for a long while.

Xu Tangcheng finally understood what it meant by digging a pit for yourself to jump into. Why had he turned it into such a grandiose thing, wouldn't it be good to just buy him a camera and be done with it?

As much as he was regretting it in his heart, his face still maintained the same expression, not showing anything. He shook his head calmly, "No."

"Why not?" Yi Zhe was stunned for a moment. He protested softly, "Didn't you say I can choose anything?"

The intoxication that night was really a unique situation. Xu Tangcheng's heart had contained something he wanted to do and he had not been completely drunk. What he had said, what he had done—he could still recall them later on.

His thoughts were a little out of his control. His face blushing, he swiftly went through what happened that night and, unexpectedly, found an excuse to put a stop to Yi Zhe, this young man whose heart had the early stirrings of love.

"Hey, then do you remember what I said that night?"

"What you said?" Xu Tangcheng was keeping him in suspense and Yi Zhe played along.

"I said, if you miss this chance, it will never come again."

Those words immediately rendered Yi Zhe dumbstruck. He froze where he was for a couple of seconds, then rushed over to him. "No, wait, that doesn't count as missing the chance. You're just trying to get out of it. You said just now that you'll let me choose."

"I'm letting you choose a present." Xu Tangcheng came to a stop and replied with a question, "What kind of nonsense are you picking?"

"It's not nonsense." Yi Zhe spoke directly from the heart. The next words out of his mouth made Xu Tangcheng choke when he wasn't even drinking water. "You were even asking me to."

This debate in this kind of open-air public walkway really seemed to come with its own tinge of embarrassment. Xu Tangcheng didn't want to discuss whether or not it was a request in this place and immediately retorted, "Who told you to be afraid?"

"I wasn't afraid," Yi Zhe immediately refuted. "I was respecting you."

His voice wasn't loud when he spoke those words. In actual fact, the whole time the two of them were debating back and forth, even when Yi Zhe argued or refuted, he had used a very gentle and quiet tone throughout. But perhaps due to the quietness of their surroundings, three girls holding balloons at the side still turned towards them in unison.

Xu Tangcheng looked around them and coincidentally met their eyes. There were a few seconds of awkwardness between the four people. Xu Tangcheng could still be considered calm; he raised his eyebrows and under the gaze of those few people, he lifted a hand and patted Yi Zhe's head. "Be good, your brother here understands what you mean."

He failed to get his reward and was even taken advantage of in public; on top of that, there was also that narrowly missed chance from that night for something so important. Yi Zhe didn't even have the mood to lift up the camera anymore and bothered Xu Tangcheng the whole way, asking incessantly if Xu Tangcheng would agree.

When crossing the road, Xu Tangcheng was afraid he would be hit by the cars and pulled the person in front of him to his side. Yi Zhe's body rocked along with the movement and when he glanced at him, Xu Tangcheng realised that the little red light on the camera was still lit up.

"You didn't switch off the camera the whole time?" He pointed at the camera, a little disbelieving.

Yi Zhe lifted his arm to see and answered calmly, "Nope."

He was using someone else's camera to record and the two of them had even been debating something improper for so long. This made Xu Tangcheng feel very insecure.

"It's fine. Others won't see it. I'll transfer it out when we get back."

But Xu Tangcheng looked at him in silence for a couple of seconds, then tugged at his hand to bring the camera up and even purposely steadied it with both hands.

"Hold it properly. I'm going to speak," he said.

"Okay."

On the roadside, next to the flow of cars with their lights on, Yi Zhe focused the lens on Xu Tangcheng's face.

"I'm holding it properly. Go on."

There were no more cars in either direction. Xu Tangcheng only said five words, then began taking large strides towards the commercial district on the other side.

"Don't even dream of it."

The one who wanted to see the lights was Yi Zhe, the one who was still sulky after seeing the lights was also Yi Zhe. Xu Tangcheng suddenly felt apologetic to him; after all, he was the one who let Yi Zhe pick in the first place.

Did he go too far with the teasing?

He shot Yi Zhe a furtive look. When he saw that face that bore obvious traces of disappointment, he couldn't help laughing in his heart.

How could he take his words so seriously?

He tugged at Yi Zhe's arm and came to a stop. Pointing at a wide and tall flight of steps nearby, he asked, "Doesn't that look quite nice?"

Yi Zhe heard him and robotically focused the lens on that large flight of steps. A few seconds later, he took a couple of steps back and turned towards Xu Tangcheng.

"Go up there and I'll take a picture of you. I see that the lighting is pretty good for pictures."

There were many children on the steps. Some were jumping around, some were sitting down and chatting, and there was also a small boy and a small girl swinging their fists as they raced to see who would reach the top first.

Xu Tangcheng walked up. Below his feet, a yellow light shone, giving him the feeling of the opening scene in a movie, a long and slow take. The audience knew that it would be a good story but the actual shape of it was still unknown so they could only follow the rhythm of the opening scene, waiting in anticipation, guessing.

Yi Zhe called out behind him, telling him to turn around, but Xu Tangcheng kept climbing up.

When he reached the halfway point, he finally turned around and beckoned Yi Zhe with his hand.

Yi Zhe didn't understand but very quickly bounded up. He stood one step below Xu Tangcheng and with this, the height difference between them was reversed.

Xu Tangcheng bent down slightly and took the camera from Yi Zhe's hands.

"You want to take pictures?"

Xu Tangcheng nodded. He hooked the strap on his own hand. After adjusting it, a pair of gloves suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

"In that case, put on the gloves." As Yi Zhe spoke, he reached out to take the camera and pushed the gloves into Xu Tangcheng's other hand with the same movement.

It was a pair of knitted grey gloves, the stitches neat and tidy. Xu Tangcheng had not seen them before, they should have been newly bought.

"They're clean. I was afraid you would want to take pictures so I purposely went to the supermarket to buy them."

Xu Tangcheng had thought that might be the case, yet for an instant, he could not tell how it made him feel.

"Then why didn't you wear it just now?"

"I'm used to it. I also didn't wear gloves when going to school in winter in the past, did I?" Yi Zhe stretched his hand out before him, opening and closing his fingers, showing them to him. "My skin is thick and won't freeze. You're not the same, I feel like your hands have never been warm."

Yi Zhe took his hand. Indeed, his palm was very warm, like a tiny sun. All of a sudden, Xu Tangcheng remembered when Grandma had warmed his hands when he was young and said jokingly, "It's not good if Xiao-Tangcheng's hands are cold. If they're warm, then that's good. Warm hands are hands that can love others."

He was eighteen years old.

How fortunate was he.

He had only wanted to use the camera for a few seconds but he didn't want the gloves to go to waste so he still put it on.

"You go up," he said. "In a while, I'll take a video of you from the bottom. When you start running down, I'll start recording."

Yi Zhe listened to him speak but didn't understand why he needed to run. Xu Tangcheng still maintained the same position with his head slightly lowered, fitting the gloves comfortably on his hands. He lifted his eyes and glanced at Yi Zhe with a smile, then said, "Five seconds. If you can run from the top all the way to my side, you can do anything you want for your birthday."

The amount of information was rather large.

Yi Zhe was still staring blankly. Meanwhile, Xu Tangcheng took the camera from him, patted his shoulder, and walked down. When he passed by him, he also added, "Be careful, you're not allowed to fall."

When he came up, it was the opening scene; when he went down, it was an ending that was only lacking a post-credits scene.

It wasn't that Xu Tangcheng really wanted Yi Zhe to do something. He just suddenly, very selfishly, wanted to record a video of him running towards him while bathed in this gentle light.

He returned to the bottom and only then recalled that they hadn't decided on a signal to start. Not wanting to shout out loud, he took out his phone and called the person who was looking at him the whole time.

"Before you start, raise your hand. When you put down your hand, I'll start recording."

"Mm," Yi Zhe replied.

Even across such a far distance, Xu Tangcheng felt like he could see clearly the blazing light in his eyes.

"Yi Zhe," Xu Tangcheng called out to him, very soft, very intimate. He didn't know if Yi Zhe could see him clearly but a smile still showed on his face. "Firstly, don't fall down. Secondly, good luck and run faster. Thirdly… run handsomely, it's going to be recorded."

"Okay."

The serious tone gave Xu Tangcheng absolute certainty on the result of this challenge.

"Tangcheng-ge."

He wanted to hang up but Yi Zhe stopped him.

"Take one more step back." On the other end, Yi Zhe's tone became quite a bit more spirited. Even when they were debating earlier, his tone had not turned tough but right now, it was like a banner flying in the north wind. "Take one more step back so that I can hug you."

The lights were the ocean, the sounds the vast universe. In the lens, Yi Zhe came from far to near, so swift that it seemed like he would collide into his very soul, rousing a wholehearted cheer from him.

The recording ended with the camera shaking violently—floor tiles, shoes, pants legs, and also two overlapping shadows, all surging forth with no rhyme or order into an exciting epilogue.

"How many seconds?"

"I don't know."

Xu Tangcheng's entire body was locked in a pair of sturdy arms. Warm breaths brushed against the side of his face.

How many seconds, what importance did that have?

They were going to last a lifetime.

"It must have been within five seconds, I ran very fast." Their courage was so great at this moment; so many people were passing by them, yet neither let go of the other.

"I could do it, but it's not because of that thing." Yi Zhe tightened his arms and told the person in his arms. "It's only because of you. I can run very fast. As long as you agree, no matter where you're standing, I can always hold you."

Words of love spoken by someone in their teens were not words of love, but merely:

Yesterday night I dreamt of you. When I woke up in the morning, the birds were singing and there was a plate of strawberries on the dining table. I picked the nicest one and just when I was about to put it into my mouth, I suddenly wanted to give it to you.

And so, I brought it to you, regardless of the thousand of miles between us.

Over Yi Zhe's shoulder, Xu Tangcheng could still see that flight of steps. When he came, it was in a flurry of dust; when he stopped, he was still the light.

Eighteen years old.

The hand Xu Tangcheng twisted into Yi Zhe's clothes gripped tighter and tighter.

So it turned out that his young man was truly grown up now.

T/N:

[1] The line about Xu Tangcheng wearing a red string and it being the second time he was going through the year of his zodiac sign is a reference to:

本命年 (ben ming nian) - The Chinese zodiac sign consist of twelve animals, each representing one year in a twelve-year cycle. Ben ming nian refers to the year of the zodiac animal you're born in. E.g. if you're born in the Year of the Rabbit, the year you turn twelve will be the next Year of the Rabbit and it is your first ben ming nian. The year you turn twenty-four is your second ben ming nian, and so on. In this chapter, Xu Tangcheng is mentioned to be going through his second ben ming nian, so it means that he is currently twenty-four.

犯太岁 (fan tai sui) - Tai Sui, sometimes translated as "Grand Duke of Jupiter," refers to a particular set of deities in Taoist belief. It is believed that if it is your ben ming nian it means that you're fan tai sui, i.e. offending Tai Sui, and it will be a difficult year for you. There are typically various ways to offset the negative effects; the red string Xu Tangcheng is wearing around his wrist is one of them. How strongly people believe in this varies from person to person and probably depends on factors like geographic location, family beliefs, etc, but given that Xu Tangcheng's family is very traditional, it makes sense for them to follow tradition to a certain degree.