Wolves of a Pair Prowl Together

At ten o’clock in the evening, Qiu Yi changed his clothes and walked out the back door of the restaurant. Standing next to the trash can at the back door, he lit a cigarette, held it in his mouth as he bowed his head and took out his phone.

There was a missed call on the phone ten minutes ago; it was his dad’s number. He dialled the number again.

The phone rang and was picked up in just one ring, a child’s soft voice came through, “Ge ge.”

“Qiu Yan? Why are you still up?” Qiu Yi frowned. “Did you call just now?”

“I’m already asleep. I’m calling you from bed.” Qiu Yan whispered.

“I’m coming back now, you go to bed right away,” Qiu Yi said, “If you’re awake when I get home, you’ll be done for.”

“I’m sleeping now,” Qiu Yan said quickly and hung up.

Qiu Yi took two puffs of smoke. There was also a lot of nonsense sent by Zhang Xiaorong on his phone, which he deleted and then put his phone back into his pocket. From behind him, the clicking of high heels sounded, and the smell of perfume filled the air as he turned back. 

“Man jie*,” he greeted the woman who had just come out of the back door.
(t/n: 姐 (jie) – a term used to address girls/women older than you)

Man jie’s name was Xiao Man. She was in her thirties, and one of the two bosses of the restaurant, usually responsible for the operation.

“You’ve worked hard today,” Xiao Man stopped and glanced at him, “You’re the one Zhang Ting introduced to us a while ago, right? Qiu Yi? I haven’t talked to you yet.”

Xiao Man did not treat anyone beneath her. She had a close relationship with all her employees, liked to be called jie and loved to chat with them when she had nothing to do.

“Mn.” Qiu Yi nodded and took a staggering step back from Xiao Man, putting out the cigarette in his hand.

“The smell of smoke is nothing,” Xiao Man smiled, watching him once again, “Where do you live? I’ll drop you off on my way back.”

“No, I rode here on my bike…” Qiu Yi said.

“How can you ride a bike in this wind,” Xiao Man interrupted and patted him on the back,  “Just throw your bike in my car. Let’s go.”

Before Qiu Yi could speak again, Xiao Man had turned around and walked to the parking lot.

Qiu Yi followed her with a frown.

Xiao Man’s car was a Toyota pickup truck, so Qiu Yi couldn’t even find a reason like ‘the bicycle wouldn’t fit in the trunk’. So he threw his bicycle in the back and got into the car.

“Zhang Ting said you’re in your second year of high school, right?” Xiao Man started the car and drove in the direction of his house.

“Mn,” Qiu Yi replied.

“Isn’t it hard to have classes and work like this?” Xiao Man asked again.

“It’s okay,” Qiu Yi looked out of the window, “I don’t feel anything.”

“For a student to work so hard, are there any difficulties at home?” Xiao Man tilted her head to look at him.

“Mn.” Qiu Yi turned towards her.

“If you face any difficulties, tell me. Our restaurant will help the staff as much as we can,” Xiao Man said.

“Thank you, Man jie.” Qiu Yi smiled.

“Not much of a talker, kid.” Xiao Man continued to watch him with interest.

“It’s cold.” Qiu Yi turned his face towards the window again.

This sentence made Xiao Man laugh for a long time. She finally reached out and patted him on his leg, “You’re quite amusing.”

Qiu Yi’s house was a little far from the restaurant, an old place in an alleyway at quite a good location. His dad had been waiting for the demolition, but no movement had occurred for more than ten years.

When he got home, the yard was very quiet, and the lights from several houses had been turned off.

He fished out the key and opened the door. The light in the living room had also been switched off, only a small night light was on by the door. A few rays of light were still shining faintly under the crack of his dad’s bedroom door.

Without switching on the lights, he gently pushed open the door of his dad’s bedroom and whispered, “I’m back.”

“Earlier than usual,” his dad said from his wheelchair.

“Qiu Yan is asleep. Keep your voice down,” Qiu Yi went into the bedroom and closed the door. “You can sleep, too. Do you want to use the bathroom?”

“Already gone,” Dad lowered his voice. 

“No need to keep waiting for me, I’m not sure when I’ll be home.” Qiu Yi pushed the wheelchair to the side of the bed and felt pain shoot up his ribs as he carried his dad towards the bed. He gritted his teeth and put his dad down before rubbing the spot where he had been hurt by Bian Nan’s knee. 

After shutting his dad’s bedroom door, Qiu Yi went into his room and from the light outside the window, he saw Qiu Yan lying on his pillow with most of his back exposed outside the blanket.

He walked over and bent down to stare at Qiu Yan’s face. The little kiddo’s eyes were closed and his eyelashes fluttered gently.

“Pretending huh,” Qiu Yi said.

Qiu Yan didn’t move, and his eyes were still closed, but his eyelashes trembled even more.

“Next time, if I don’t see you in bed by ten, you won’t have to sleep again in the future.” Qiu Yi said.

“Then can’t you come back early?” Qiu Yan opened his eyes and said, as if feeling wronged.

“Not pretending anymore?” Qiu Yi squatted down on the edge of the bed. “If I come back early, will you push dad out to beg if we run out of money?”

Qiu Yan bit his lips and buried his face in the pillow. After a while, his shoulder twitched slightly.

“Are you crying?” Qiu Yi got up and took his clothes off, changing into a t-shirt. He pulled the door open and walked out, “I’m gonna take a shower. You have ten minutes to cry.”

When Qiu Yi returned to the room after washing up, Qiu Yan was still lying on the pillow but was no longer crying.

He turned off the light, got on the bed and lay down next to Qiu Yan. Reaching out, he slapped him on the butt, “Come here, ge will hug you.”

Qiu Yan quickly rolled over, got into his arms and hugged his waist.

“Hey,” Qiu Yi dodged, “don’t press on my ribs. It hurts.”

“Ge ge,” Qiu Yan buried his face in his arms and said with a nasal tone, “you were fighting again?”

“I didn’t start it,” Qiu Yi hugged Qiu Yan, while Bian Nan’s furious expression flashed before his eyes. He smiled, “I just owed it*.”
(t/n: kinda like he said something he shouldn’t have, or since he meddled in someone’s business he deserved it)

“I got a little red flower today because I got full marks on the math test.” Qiu Yan whispered with pride.

“Really? So smart,” Qiu Yi sat up, fished his wallet out from his jacket, and took a nickel out to put into the piggy bank by the headboard. He flicked Qiu Yan’s face, “Go to sleep.”

Qiu Yan was the happiest during weekend mornings. Usually, Qiu Yi would study in the day and go to work in the evening. He would still tutor several middle school students in the afternoon, so the only time he could spend with Qiu Yan was weekend mornings. 

From the moment Qiu Yi woke up and went out to buy breakfast in the morning, Qiu Yan would follow him around like a shadow, talking incessantly about his school, what the teacher had said, what the classmates had said, rambling on non-stop.

Qiu Yi generally didn’t answer, but every now and then, he would respond with a few ‘hmm’s, and Qiu Yan would continue speaking.

One morning, Qiu Yi was sitting in the yard playing with him, kneading playdough and drawing. Around noon, Qiu Yan rubbed his nose, and said hesitantly, “Ge, I want to eat beef jerky.”

“Okay,” Qiu Yi took out his phone and looked at the time. Usually, he didn’t allow Qiu Yan to eat snacks, but he would relax this rule on the weekends, “I’ll take you to buy some.”

There was a small supermarket at the entrance of the alley. Qiu Yan stood in front of the snack shelf, torn between beef jerky and tofu skin.

“I wanna eat them all, can we buy all of it?” he raised his head and asked Qiu Yi.

“No, pick one.” Qiu Yi replied simply.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Qiu Yan was a little gloomy.

“No,” Qiu Yi said. 

“I want them all.” Qiu Yan tugged at his pants.

Qiu Yi turned and headed for the entrance of the supermarket.

“Beef jerky, beef jerky, beef jerky…” Qiu Yan hurriedly shouted behind him.

“Big or small?” Qiu Yi walked back to the shelf.

“Big.” Qiu Yan pointed to the big pack.

“Are you going to eat lunch?” Qiu Yi smiled, picked up the big pack, and went to pay.

“Yes!” Qiu Yan bounced happily behind him.

Bian Nan and Wan Fei slept until noon before they were awakened by Wan Fei’s mom knocking on the door, “DInner time! Don’t sleep anymore! I really wonder if you guys usually even sleep at school!”

“We do sleep…” Bian Nan stretched out and kicked at Wan Fei a few times, “Just not enough…”

Wan Fei, who was almost thrown off the bed by him, sighed and sat up.

“There’s a message, right?” Wan Fei saw Bian Nan’s phone flashing on the bedside table and grabbed it to take a look, “Aiyo, Zhang Xiaorong?”

“Give it to me!” Bian Nan snatched the phone.

Bian Nan wanted to listen to the WeChat message Zhang Xiaorong had sent him half an hour ago. He held his phone to his ear and stared at Wan Fei.

Wan Fei waited. When he saw the irritation in Bian Nan’s expression, he lifted the blanket Bian Nan was wrapped in, “What’s the matter, afraid I’ll hear you being rejected?” 

“Shit, don’t act like a gangster, haven’t you seen enough when I was showering…” Bian Nan pulled at his underwear and laughed. “Young master is really about to be rejected, since it’s the first time, you can witness it.”

“Okay.” Wan Fei picked at his ears.

Bian Nan pressed to listen, and Zhang Xiaorong’s warm, gentle voice sounded from his phone, “How is your injury?”

“Fuck me!” Wan Fei howled, “Shit!”

Bian Nan was also stunned. This gentle greeting had swept away his previous displeasure with Zhang Xiaorong. He glanced at Wan Fei and spoke into his phone, “It’s alright. What are you up to?”

“Is it the sun or the moon that rose today?” Wan Fei ran to the window to draw the curtains. “It’s the sun! …did she feel guilty after seeing you the other day?” 

“What’s there to be guilty about? It’s not like we’re a thing,” Bian Nan threw aside his phone, jumped out of bed and put on his clothes. Running into the living room, he shouted to Wan Fei’s mom, “Great aunt!”

“Wash up and eat, I’ve already saved you a meal. If I hadn’t called you two, you weren’t planning on eating, right?” Wan Fei’s mom said with a smile.

After eating a large table of home-cooked dishes by Wan Fei’s mom, Bian Nan lay on the sofa, tossing the phone in his hand.

After ten or so tosses, Zhang Xiaorong replied, “I was stood up by my classmates. It’s boring to go shopping alone…”

Bian Nan held the phone, and gave it a thought, then called her directly. In several rings, Zhang Xiaorong answered the phone and gave a somewhat lazy hello.

“Where are you going?” Bian Nan asked.

“The pedestrian mall, where else can I stroll around,” Zhang Xiaorong said. “Why?”

“I’ll come over,” Bian Nan stood up and shrugged his coat on, “You can meet me at Manji in twenty minutes.”

Wan Fei’s house was quite close to the pedestrian mall, a taxi would take only about ten minutes to get there, hence Bian Nan arrived at Manji right on time.

He swept his gaze around but didn’t see Zhang Xiaorong inside, so he called her.

“I’m walking over from the cinema,” Zhang Xiaorong said in a dull tone. “Wait for me for two minutes. I’ve got things to carry so I’ll walk slowly.”

“Wait for me where you are, I’ll come over.” Bian Nan said. This was Zhang Xiaorong, towards any other girl, he really wouldn’t have this much patience. 

He hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket and was about to walk over to the cinema when he looked up and stopped in his tracks.

He-he.

He-he! Hehe…

You just can’t stop fate when it’s here.

But Bian Nan thought the most unexpected situation wasn’t that he could bump into Qiu Yi by walking merely two steps on the pedestrian street, but that there was Bian Xinyu standing next to Qiu Yi!

How could Qiu Yi even have any relation with Bian Xinyu?

What the fuck was going on?

For a long time, Bian Nan stood in place and stared at Qiu Yi, dumbfounded. He didn’t know whether to pretend he didn’t notice and walk away, or go up and punch him, or continue to be astounded.

Or say happy birthday to Bian Xinyu?

Qiu Yi was evidently quite surprised too, unmoving on the spot.

“Yo, Bian Nan?” Bian Xinyu broke the silence. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed that Bian Nan’s eyes were not on her. She turned to look at Qiu Yi, a little confused, “Hey, you two know each other?”

“Sort of.” Qiu Yi smiled.

“Let’s go.” Bian Xinyu cast a side-eyed glance at Bian Nan, pulling Qiu Yi’s sleeve and went straight ahead, trying to pass by Bian Nan.

Qiu Yi didn’t move. He was still staring at Bian Nan.

An indescribable feeling rose up inside Bian Nan. Even the unresolvable ties* with Qiu Yi were no longer his main focus. Qiu Yi with Zhang Xiaorong, Qiu Yi with Bian Xinyu—what’s going on? At the moment, he didn’t care, not feeling much in the face of Qiu Yi’s provocative eyes. 
(t/n: 梁子 (liang zi) – a metaphor for being difficult to resolve through resentment or contradiction)

He had only one thing on his mind, Bian Xinyu knew Qiu Yi. Would she tell Qiu Yi? What would she say?

He brushed past Bian Xinyu in silence and walked forward without looking back.

“Let’s go!” Bian Xinyu raised her voice and called Qiu Yi again.

Qiu Yi glanced behind him at Bian Nan’s back and followed Bian Xinyu’s footsteps.

After walking for a while, Qiu Yi asked, “What’s your relationship with Bian Nan?”

“Me and him?” Bian Xinyu sneered with disdain. “What can I possibly have anything to do with him? It’ll scare you to death after I tell you.”

“Oh.” Qiu Yi smiled and said nothing else.

Bian Xinyu sneered again, “Did you think that Bian Nan and I were siblings or something.”

“Aren’t you?” Qiu Yi glanced at her.

“Sort of, but it’s embarrassing enough to say,” Bian Xinyu frowned. “He was born to my dad with another woman.”

Qiu Yi’s footsteps paused as Bian Xinyu turned around and took a few steps back, her voice a little cold, “He’s a mistress’ son.”
(t/n: 贱三 (jian san) – here she used a derogatory and offensive name for mistress)

Qiu Yi remained silent.

After saying this, Bian Xinyu didn’t continue and changed the topic, “How about I get the tips of my hair permed?”

“Your school allows seniors to perm their hair?” Qiu Yi asked.

“What’s wrong with just perming the tips of your hair,” Bian Xin said. “Do you think it’ll look good after perming?”

“I don’t know,” Qiu Yi said.

“Hey, didn’t I visit when you were tutoring Chen Tingting during the winter vacation? The ends of my hair were also permed at the time.” Bian Xinyu reminded him.

“…I don’t remember.” Qiu Yi thought for a moment. 

“You don’t even remember that?” Bian Xinyu looked at him with a little disappointment. “But my hair was much longer then, don’t you remember that as well?” 

Qiu Yi covered his mouth with his hand and coughed softly, “You cut your hair?”

“Hey!” Bian Xinyu glared at him and raised her voice, “You don’t even remember what I looked like?”

“Not so much,” Qiu Yi said, “It’ll come back when I see you.”

When Bian Xinyu was about to say something else, Qiu Yi pointed in the right direction, “You’re going to get your hair done, right? I’m leaving, it’s almost time for my tutoring session. Happy birthday.”

Without waiting for Bian Xinyu to respond, Qiu Yi turned and strode along the road.

When Bian Nan saw Zhang Xiaorong, she was sitting on a bench by the roadside with her head down and playing on her phone. Her long hair covered half her face, appearing quiet and comfortable.

However, this scene that would have made Bian Nan’s heart flutter no longer had an impact on him. He walked over to Zhang Xiaorong and sat down.

“You startled me,” Zhang Xiaorong turned to see him and patted her chest. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“What’s the difference,” Bian Nan said, “Have you eaten yet?”

“I’m on a diet,” Zhang Xiaorong touched her face, “My face has become round.”

“I can’t tell, it’s quite pretty.” Bian Nan glanced at her.

“Why do you all say that?” Zhang Xiaorong smiled.

“All? Who else said that?” Bian Nan trailed off.

“No one.” Zhang Xiaorong grinned.

Bian Nan thought that Zhang Xiaorong’s suggestive smile was a little too obvious. He also smiled, “Qiu Yi?”

“Don’t assume,” Zhang Xiaorong hid her smile, and frowned again after two seconds. “He didn’t mean anything else either.”

Bian Nan was not a naturally patient person at all. In addition to the agitation of losing face from being fished out by someone after falling in the river, then kicked back in again, he didn’t know if Zhang Xiaorong’s words were intentional or not, and it bothered him, “did I even say he meant anything?” 

Zhang Xiaorong was at a loss. This was the first time Bian Nan had used such a tone while talking to her. She gathered her hair, “I didn’t say anything. You two are my friends. I just don’t want you to feel like you’re holding a grudge because of me…”

“Friend?” Bian Nan leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “I don’t know what’s going on with Qiu Yi, but I’m chasing after you. Don’t say you have no clue.”

Zhang Xiaorong lowered her head with a smile on her face, “Bian Nan…”

“I have a bad temper and very little patience,” Bian Nan interrupted her in irritation, “If you’re willing, you’re willing. If you’re not, just say it. Is it fun to keep me hanging like this? Are you enjoying yourself?” 

“What are you talking about!” Zhang Xiaorong’s smile froze on her face.

“Nothing,” Bian Nan stood up. “It’s the literal matter of saying if you’re willing or not. I won’t be accompanying you anymore if you want to keep both sides hanging.”

After saying this, he turned and walked away without looking back. Zhang Xiaorong shouted something behind him, but he didn’t hear it clearly.

Names in this chapter in order of appearance–

肖曼 – Xiao Man邱彦 – Qiu Yan