The old city renovation had turned into an architectural mishmash, with the walls of the narrow alleys barely two meters high.
Yan Xiu sat atop one of these walls, tablet in hand, one leg bent and the other half-crossed, looking precarious. He had one leg dangling over the other side of the wall, clearly startled by someone’s presence. From his expression, it seemed he was considering jumping down to the other side.
Unfortunately, the other side of the wall was a dead-end, with no roads in any direction. If Yan Xiu jumped down there, he would truly be a fool.
He glanced down and saw Yu Sui’s eyes curved, his double eyelids accentuating his cheerful expression, his lips curled in a smile.
Yu Sui was still in his school uniform, neatly dressed, looking particularly well-behaved, but Yan Xiu felt he was a bit of a spoiled brat.
“Deskmate, what a coincidence!” the spoiled young master said.
Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side1三十年河東三十年河西 (sān shí nián hé dōng sān shí nián hé xī) is a chinese idiom meaning that circumstances are subject to change over time, often implying that someone who is powerful may become weak later and vice versa.. After being pursued2T/L: some might misunderstand this, but Yu Sui was ‘pursued’ by Yan Xiu because he was a troublemaker, and not anything else~ by Yan Xiu for a semester, he finally turned the tables and pulled off a big move.
On his phone, Yang Feiwen was still diligently relaying updates to Yu Sui.
As a friend, Yang was quite reliable. Although he usually gossiped about Yu Sui everywhere, in situations like this, he kept his mouth shut and didn’t leak a single word.
The classmates had only seen Mai Dayong and Shen Ji, but Yang Feiwen had tracked down the passerby who posted the video and privately messaged them, asking if they could take a picture of the person with the mole on his face in the front.
Gossip Fei: [They just got in the car. Damn him! He deserves to be locked up for ten days to half a month.]
Gossip Fei: [The wall at our school was raised by one meter. After school today, someone saw Director Vulture bringing two repairmen to fix the wall. They’re probably working on it now, and they’ve even added it with barbed wire.]
Gossip Fei: [I asked around. Mai Dayong and Shen Ji are busy trying to transfer schools, but they haven’t found a school willing to accept them yet.]
Gossip Fei: [So satisfying!]
He had been sending messages for a long time without getting a response from Yuu Sui, so he switched to a class group chat.
Yu Sui tapped his phone and sent the photo he had just taken.
Yang Feiwen immediately replied.
Gossip Fei: [???]
Gossip Fei: [You did it?]
Fish Can: [No]
Fish Can: [I didn’t make it in time]
Fish Can: [I only caught the tail end]
Gossip Feei: [Then who did it?]
Fish Can: [Who knows?]
After sending the message, Yu Sui tossed his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Yan Xiu, amused by his expression.
Minister Yan had a dead end behind him and Yu Sui in front of him, leaving him no way out. He sat stiffly on the wall, locked in a standoff with Yu Sui.
“Did you do it?” Yu Sui pointed his thumb behind him, towards the noisy area outside the alley.
This area had been plagued by problems for years, and this year, the number of complaints had skyrocketed. The internet cafe owner followed the police alone, looking like he was ready to give up.
Mai Dayong’s expression was a sight to behold. He probably couldn’t understand how he had encountered the same situation twice. After the last incident, they tried their best to avoid lingering around here at night.
But now, in broad daylight, they were cornered again.
This time, they had clearly seen the person responsible but there was no chance for revenge.
Yan Xiu lowered his gaze to his tablet: “You wish.”
Yu Sui was indeed wishful thinking. He automatically interpreted Yan Xiu’s words as “yes,” and then asked, “How did you find them?”
Young Master Yu was full of nonsense. That day, his description of the model had been seventy percent truth and thirty percent fabrication. Besides, Yandu was such a big city—how many people could possibly fit that description? An ordinary persona wouldn’t have been able to track them down.
At the time, Yu Sui wanted to solve it himself, unwilling to bring up the lingering issues from his past for discussion.
Yan Xiu couldn’t possibly answer him. With an expression that seemed to say, “Whatever you say, it’s not my problem anyway,” he stuffed his tablet into his backpack, turned around, and jumped down.
He didn’t possess Yu Sui’s masterful skill of feigning innocence, so his attempt fell completely flat.
Yu Sui suppressed a laugh and asked a different question: “So, what are you doing here?”
After that, he came up with an excuse for Yan Xiu. “Sketching?”
This excuse was downright terrible. Places like this were everywhere in Yandu—there was even one near No. 26 High School. There was no reason for him to come all the way here.
Young Master Yu wasn’t the least bit afraid of Yan Xiu anymore. He wrapped his arm around Yan Xiu’s neck and bumped into him, muttering, “You’re so awkward. Have you never been beaten since you were a child?”
Yan Xiu: “…”
He stumbled forward at the young master’s knock, completely failing to maintain any semblance of cool composure. Utterly exasperated and speechless, he clamped a hand over the young master’s chattering mouth and said sternly, “You’re so annoying. Have you never been beaten since you were a child?”
His slightly cool palm rested against Yu Sui’s face. With the back of his head resting against Yan Xiu’s chest, Yu Sui could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Forced into a hunched position, Yu Sui let out a couple of muffled protests before hurriedly raising both hands in a clasped fist above his head, signaling surrender.
As soon as Yan Xiu let go, Yu Sui grabbed him. “Come on, I’ll treat you to ice cream.”
Yu Sui didn’t go home for dinner that evening. He dragged Yan Xiu around to explore nearby restaurants he thought were worth eating nearby, only to discover that Yan Xiu had an extremely bland palate.
It wasn’t noticeable at the school cafeteria, where there were only a few food counters, and if a table had more than three people, at least two of them would end up with overlapping dishes.
Yu Sui picked and chose, handing Yan Xiu a bottle of soda water before taking back the ice cream Yan Xiu had barely touched.
Yan Xiu glanced down, noticing that Yu Sui wanted to continue eating the ice cream. He raised his eyebrows and suddenly reached out to take it back.
“What are you doing?” Yu Sui was a little confused. “You want to eat again?”
Yan Xiu didn’t want to: “Eating two will give you diarrhea.”
Here we go again.
The strict minister of the disciplinary committee.
Yu Sui, already accustomed to this, wiped his hands and said, “Your girlfriend will definitely be annoyed by you in the future.”
Yan Xiu ignored him. He seemed to have given up resisting. From the corner of his slightly cold eyes, he glanced at the young master’s face and seemed to sigh.
That day, they took the subway home. Yan Xiu accompanied him to the outside of Tianluo Bay and waited until the young master disappeared around the corner before heading off in another direction.
Tang Ying was a little surprised that her son hadn’t come home for dinner today. “Didn’t you say you were coming back for dinner? How did you suddenly end up hanging out with a classmate?”
Yan Xiu changed his shoes in the entrance, twitching an eyelid. “I just bumped into him.”
Tang Ying knew her son well. Seeing his expression, she understood and asked, “Did you run into Xiao Sui?”
It was only when Yan Xiu encountered Yu Sui that he often wore this expression—somewhere between speechless and exasperated, wanting to complain but feeling utterly helpless.
Yan Xiu hummed vaguely and walked into the house, carrying his backpack to his room. As he walked, he pulled out his phone to check it, then suddenly halted in surprise, pausing for a moment.
Yu Sui sent two photos. It was unclear when they were taken, and both pictures were taken outside the food stall. In one photo, Yan Xiu stood under a streetlight with his bag slung over his shoulder; the other was a selfie of two boys, entirely reliant on their looks to carry the shot. The image was so blurry it appeared as a ghostly remnant, with one of them missing an ear.
“Go upstairs and put down your bag. Why did you stop there?” Tang Ying approached in her slippers. Seeing her son seemed to be laughing, she became even more puzzled. “Oh, this child, what are you laughing at all? Can you tell me?”
Yan Xiu came to his senses and subconsciously tilted the screen inward, hiding it from Tang Ying’s view. He called out to her with a deadpan expression, “Mom.”
“Oh, keeping secrets.” Tang Ying glanced at him curiously. “Alright, alright, don’t look at me like that. I won’t peek…”
Yan Xiu headed upstairs and casually touched the screen. He saw Yu Sui’s profile picture appear next to the small red dot in his Moments.
The young master had posted two pictures on Moments, but the pictures in Moments were slightly different from the two he had sent Yan Xiu.
In both pictures, Minister Yan’s red cartoon scarf stood out.
Minister Yan felt mocked. He stared silently for a moment, then gave it a like.
The young master’s caption was quite charming—he’d posted a row of bowing emojis, ending with a simple “thank you” spelled out in letters.
But Yu Sui wasn’t done yet. A moment later, he privately messaged Yan Xiu again.
Fish Can: [I won’t worship Doraemon anymore]
Fish Can: [I’ll worship you instead]
At this point, Yan Xiu was completely provoked.
He stood frozen on the stair, emanating a chill for a while, before finally tapping his phone a couple of times and sending a picture he’d saved for a long time.
The other side immediately fell silent. Two seconds later, Yu Sui spammed him with a row of stickers,
No one knew that, deep in the night, the sleepy young man, dozing off in someone else’s dorm room with his mouth open and clutching his phone, had actually been captured.
Yan Xiu didn’t actually take a photo; Most likely, he’d idly sketched a draft one day, vividly recreating Yu Sui’s lazy, endearing demeanor. However, this image of him sleeping with his mouth open challenged Yu Sui’s idol persona a bit too much.
Yu Sui, unable to compete, went silent.
Yet, the good mood from that day lingered for a long time, unaffected even by Yu Jingyuan ‘s return home.
He felt as though he were touching a study egg, and one day he finally found a crack. Tapping gently along that crack, he felt a handful of soft fur.
Yu Jingyuan had recently landed a major business deal. Ambitious by nature, he had spent years expanding the market for Fulai Dao.
He had long set his sights on a vast territory, observed it for nine months, and now he had finally decided to take action.
This trip was going to be quite a while, so he had been staying home much longer recently. Yuan Yu was busy making preparations for his departure.
But their youngest son seemed completely unaware of it all. On weekends, he dragged himself downstairs to eat and left immediately after, seemingly unwilling to spend even a second with his father.
Yu Jingyuan suddenly put down his chopsticks. “Is he that busy?”
Yuan Yu and Yu Zhen exchanged glances. Yuan Yu, as usual, went upstairs to call Yu Sui down, but was stopped by Yu Zhen.
“Busy,” Yu Zhen said calmly.
Yu Jingyuan’s simmering anger suddenly subsided. He glanced at his daughter suspiciously. “Really?”
Yu Zhen nodded. “Really. He has exams coming up.”
Yu Jingyuan’s expression still looked displeased. He had never seen his lazy son take anything seriously. He didn’t believe an exam would keep him busy—clearly, he was just avoiding him.
Yu Zhen glanced at her father, well aware of his temperament. “His grades are decent, and he’s put in some effort. Dad, you can’t have a good conversation with him if you keep this attitude.”
Yu Zhen was straightforward, rarely beating around the bush. As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Jingyuan’s face darkened, as if he wanted to reprimand her.
But Yu Zhen had already finished her meal, so she set down chopsticks and took a phone call, apparently about work. Wiping her mouth, she walked away from the table.
Yu Sui was indeed busy.
By the large bay window, a woolen rug was spread out. The young master sat cross-legged on it, chewing on the of a pen, holding a blank draft notebook, and staring blankly at the treetops outside that reached up to the third floor.
He had unfinished assignments from his lyric-writing class, and as the semester drew to a close, the teacher kept casting meaningful glances his way, subtly urging him to complete them.
Writing lyrics wasn’t difficult—he could easily whip up something nonsensical on the spot.
But this time, he really liked the tune the teacher played this time. It felt like a random collage of natural elements, connecting unrelated things in a way that created unexpected intersections.
But if he were to write seriously, it would require a lot of time and effort.
And right now, Yu Sui’s mind was blank, plagued by a vague, elusive feeling—as if he had grasped something but couldn’t quite hold onto it.
The tree outside was planted a long time ago, even before their family moved in. Beneath it was a swing, built by Yu Jingyuan for Yuan Yu.
Flowers once twined around the swing, but they kept withering and attracting insects, so Yuan Yu eventually replaced them all with artificial ones.
Yu Sui’s gaze drifted aimlessly downward, lingering on the swing for a while until he noticed a small red cloth tied to a stick in the soil nearby.
Probably left by some child who had visited.
Though completely unrelated, Yu Sui couldn’t help but think of the red armband Yan Xiu had tuced into his pocket on the track.
Yu Sui pulled out his phone, took a picture of the small red patch below, and sent it to Yan Xiu.
His chat history with Yan Xiu was a back-and-forth exchange that had unintentionally accumulated over time. Initially, most of their conversations went like this:
Fish Can: [I signed the registration form for you.]
Good Day: [Okay]
Good Day: [You skipped class again?]
Yu Xian Cantou: [No, I went to the bathroom]
But lately, their chats had become increasingly trivial, even discussing things like mistaking facewash for toothpaste in the morning—and somehow managing to stretch that topic for half a day.
His phone vibrated. Yan Xiu had sent a photo.
A splendid hand held the red armband, followed by a single period as a reply.
Yu Sui enlarged the photo; it had been taken outdoors.
His thoughts wandered. Did he go out early in the morning? What was he doing?
Just then, there was a knock on his door.
Yu Zhe’s voice came from outside, “Can I come in?”
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1