That sentence came too suddenly.

Yue Zhishi didn't know what was wrong with him either; a shrimp he had just picked up with his chopsticks fell back into his bowl.

Lin Rong didn't quite understand. "What do you mean, not going?"

"I'm not going abroad." Song Yu was very calm. "I'm going to take the college entrance exam, and I've already decided what I want to do in the future and what major to study, so I don't want to waste time exploring other options."

Yue Zhishi finished the dinner in confusion.

In comparison, his parents' attitude seemed more casual. In Song Jin's heart, hearing that Song Yu had his own plans for the future was more satisfying than hearing him choose one of the options he had been given.

Lin Rong had never focused her parenting on grades and prospects. She knew Song Yu was a mature child, and the best love she could give him was respect.

Only Yue Zhishi didn't understand. So he sat on the sofa in a daze, stroking Orange's fur again and again. Orange was exceptionally well-behaved today and didn't run from his arms.

Of course, within this lack of understanding was a slightly delayed happiness, because it meant the distance between them had suddenly shrunk from across the ocean to a range he could accept.

It wasn't until Song Yu stood in front of him that Yue Zhishi came back to his senses and looked up.

"Come out with me." Song Yu tossed an jacket over and walked towards the entryway alone.

Late spring. The temperature at night was delicate. Yue Zhishi wore the jacket Song Yu had given him, and the delayed effect of the medicine finally seemed to kick in, making him feel less unwell. Cycling through the deep night, the soft wind rushed up to envelop his body, like swimming in warm water, with the streetlights casting ripples of light.

They rode past a fairly large lakeside park where many people were strolling in the night. Song Yu parked his bike in front of a brightly lit convenience store and went inside to buy something. Yue Zhishi waited for him obediently outside, just like when he was little.

When he was a child, Yue Zhishi was very greedy. Every time he entered a convenience store, he would be rooted to the spot, wanting to buy everything he saw. But most of the things in the convenience store were things he couldn't eat. If he wasn't allowed to buy them, he couldn't help but cry, making things difficult for everyone.

Later, Song Yu came up with a solution—he would order Yue Zhishi to stand outside the convenience store's floor-to-ceiling glass window, at a fixed spot, and not move. Song Yu would go inside and buy what was needed as quickly as possible, constantly looking back to check on him. If Yue Zhishi was obedient enough, he would reward him with an ice cream.

It was the same this time, but because those childhood days were long past and Yue Zhishi was no longer the child who needed supervision, this unwritten rule hadn't been enforced for a long time. So when he took the ice cream cone from Song Yu's hand, it still felt a little unfamiliar.

The ice cream cone carried the chill of the freezer, and Song Yu's fingertips were cool too.

"Congratulations." Song Yu led him to a long bench and sat down. "A reward for your improvement on the midterm exams."

Although his words didn't carry much congratulatory emotion and the prize was just an ice cream cone, Yue Zhishi's happiness was obvious. He lowered his head to tear open the wrapper and discovered it was a flavor he had never had before.

White Peach Oolong flavor, it said on the wrapper.

"You can only have one bite." Song Yu's tone became a little ruthless again. "You have a cold, you can't eat too much."

Yue Zhishi didn't pay much mind to his words. He found that this ice cream cone was a little different from others. His first reaction after opening it was even a little disappointed because the top didn't have any fancy chocolate or chopped nuts. Instead, it was covered with a white, semi-transparent layer of jelly. Yue Zhishi took a bite, and the cold made his teeth ache slightly.

It turned out to be a layer of peach-flavored jelly.

He belatedly recalled Song Yu's words. "Only one bite?" He looked at Song Yu, his brows furrowed. "But this top layer isn't very good, and I didn't even get to the ice cream part. It's like I didn't eat anything at all. Besides, no one's cold gets worse from one ice cream cone."

Only when it came to food would Yue Zhishi's thoughts become exceptionally clear as he argued his case.

In the end, Song Yu compromised. He leaned back on the bench and gazed at the lake in the distance.

A faint mist floated over the lake. A couple was kissing under a streetlight. He glanced at Yue Zhishi again and found that he was really eating the ice cream very seriously, taking a bite and then using his eyes to look at what was inside.

After finishing the jelly layer, Yue Zhishi thought it was just so-so. He tentatively took a bite of the light pink ice cream.

It was unexpectedly delicious.

He turned his face to look at Song Yu, his eyes brightening. "It's milk tea flavored."

"What?" Song Yu turned his head to look at him, a little bewildered.

"This ice cream is milk tea flavored, like an Oolong Macchiato." Yue Zhishi's tone lifted considerably. "Do you want to try some?" He held up the ice cream cone, offering it over, not shoving it into his mouth like he would have when they were little.

But after offering it, Yue Zhishi remembered that Song Yu didn't like sweets, so he withdrew his desire to share.

The moment he pulled his hand back, Song Yu caught his wrist, brought it over, and took a bite of the ice cream from his hand, just a small taste.

By the lake, a mischievous child threw a stone. The entwined couple under the streetlight pulled apart. The moon in the center of the lake spread out in surprise, shattering into thousands of shimmering fragments.

Yue Zhishi pulled his hand back, his wrist red.

Song Yu was silent for a few seconds before giving an assessment, "Not bad."

The two of them sat quietly. Yue Zhishi ate while peeling off the cone's wrapper and setting it aside. It was a laborious effort, but in the end, he was very satisfied, leaning back against the chair. "I think my cold is halfway gone."

Song Yu didn't laugh at his childishness. He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over. Yue Zhishi was a little dazed. He took the somewhat crumpled paper and, squinting under the streetlight, realized it was the study abroad plan he had written before.

"How did you get this?" Yue Zhishi was so agitated he almost stuttered. He snatched the paper, wanting to crumple it into a ball again, or even, like in a TV drama, swallow it to destroy the evidence.

"I've already memorized it." Song Yu directly shattered his fantasy. "Last time you took my book, I went to your room to get it. You weren't there, and your desk was a mess. I was looking around and accidentally saw this wad of paper."

"Accidentally?" Yue Zhishi very directly questioned his choice of words.

"Yes." Song Yu's expression didn't change. He even offered a suggestion, "Besides, secrets you don't want people to discover should be destroyed in a timely manner."

He successfully convinced Yue Zhishi.

Indeed, he should have just torn that discarded plan to shreds right then and there.

"Why did you give up?" / "Why are you not going abroad anymore?"

The two spoke at the same time, their words overlapping.

Song Yu fell silent. They both waited for a moment before Yue Zhishi spoke first, "I originally..."

He thought for a moment, then said very directly, "You were going abroad, and I didn't want to be separated from you, so I wanted to go too."

Hearing this, Song Yu's hand, which was resting on the bench, gripped the edge. A bird flew past the lakeside, its wings brushing the water's surface, leaving a trail.

Lowering his eyes, Yue Zhishi continued, "But I don't have any money. The allowance I usually save up isn't even enough for the English exam registration fee, so I made a plan to study and work part-time to save money."

"But I later realized I probably couldn't save that much money, and I didn't want to spend Uncle and Auntie's. Besides..." He thought of what happened at the hospital that day, paused, but changed his reason when he spoke, "Auntie Rong probably doesn't want me to go either. She'd be all alone at home and would definitely be sad."

The timeline on this plan started from the day Song Yu talked with his father that evening. According to the schedule, a small checkmark was made for each day completed. The last checkmark stopped on the day of the hospital visit.

The night Song Yu witnessed him hiding in the corner by the kitchen counter, silently eating a cinnamon roll.

"So you gave up on going abroad and just decided to study hard for high school?"

Yue Zhishi found Song Yu's tone a bit strange, like a rhetorical question, but more awkward than a normal one, as if he were a little angry.

"Are you not happy?" Yue Zhishi asked.

His big, innocent eyes just stared at Song Yu. Song Yu pressed his lips together. "Why wouldn't I be happy."

Yue Zhishi said, "Oh," thinking his feeling was probably wrong. But for the time being, he didn't really want to answer Song Yu's question directly, because he didn't want to say he was practicing in advance because he was afraid of being separated from Song Yu. That sounded a bit stupid.

So he just nodded. "I was supposed to study hard anyway. I'm third in my class now."

Song Yu didn't press the matter.

Yue Zhishi repeated his earlier question, "Brother Song Yu, why did you decide not to go abroad?" He thought of the discarded plan that had been found and held up the wad of paper. "It couldn't be related to this, could it?"

He had just said he didn't want to be separated, which felt a bit like emotional blackmail, so he added, "I did say I wanted to study abroad with you, but even if I can't go, I wouldn't stop you."

This came out a little overconfident, but that's the kind of child Yue Zhishi was. The care and affection he had received his whole life had allowed him to grow into a child who could express his emotions directly.

"It's not entirely because you gave up on going abroad," Song Yu answered, sidestepping the main point.

Yue Zhishi wasn't too disappointed. If Song Yu had said it was because of him, he would have thought the guy was possessed.

"Actually, I was never set on studying abroad; it was just an option on the table." Song Yu gazed at the lake's surface. "I hadn't completely figured out what I wanted to do in the future before. I thought about it for a long time recently and finally made a decision."

He took a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Yue Zhishi as well.

"What's this?"

Song Yu glanced at him. "Remember what I told you last time about the gift your dad gave me? You said he'd never given you one."

"Is this the map he hand-drew?" Yue Zhishi's eyes lit up.

Song Yu's tone became a little helpless. "I drew this. It's from our first trip together when we were kids, in Jiuzhaigou. This is a topographical map of the area."

Yue Zhishi brought the map closer. "So amazing. I still remember the photos we took together. It was so beautiful there."

Song Yu hummed in agreement and continued, "I'm going to stay and take the college entrance exam, and study the major I want to study." He looked up at the sky and was surprised to find a few exceptionally bright stars.

Yue Zhishi really liked this feeling. The fact that Song Yu was willing to tell him the things he hadn't finished saying at the dinner table made him feel especially content.

"Brother Song Yu, can you give me this map?"

Song Yu looked at the lake. "What's so great about it? It's not like your dad drew it."

He was just joking, but he didn't expect Yue Zhishi to grab his arm, very direct and earnest. "I just want the one you drew."

Actually, Yue Zhishi was nervous. He thought it was highly likely Song Yu wouldn't give it to him. After all, it was the first topographical map he had ever drawn, and of the place they had visited on their first trip. It was very commemorative.

But what he didn't expect was for Song Yu to look at him and say, very casually, that he could.

"Really?" Yue Zhishi couldn't contain his excitement and moved closer, almost touching him. "Are there no conditions?"

Who would rush to ask for conditions?

"You've reminded me." A very slight smile touched the corners of Song Yu's mouth. "You can exchange one of your drawings for it."

What a great deal! Yue Zhishi agreed without hesitation. "Okay, you can pick whichever one you want! I..."

Wait a minute.

Seeing him suddenly pause, Song Yu deliberately asked what was wrong.

Yue Zhishi blinked. "Which drawing are you talking about?" He'd already seen the plan, so the drawing on the desk... could it be...

Song Yu became even more composed. "Probably the one you're thinking of."

'No way.' Yue Zhishi shot to his feet with such force that Song Yu thought he was about to jump into the lake.

The light from the convenience store shone on him, illuminating his bright red ears.

'I secretly saw Song Yu feeding stray cats and even drew a picture of it. Am I like some kind of pervert from a TV show?'

Song Yu wanted to tease him a little more, so he looked up and asked, "That reluctant to part with it?"

"No." Yue Zhishi explained, "I saw it by accident." And then accidentally drew a picture. The excuse sounded ridiculous, and it didn't even answer the question, so he trailed off. He didn't know why he had been so hot-headed and spoken without thinking. "It's not the first time I've drawn either. I drew lots of little manga characters before, but you never wanted them when I offered them to you."

"When did I ever not want them?" Song Yu looked at him. "You're the one being all sneaky."

Yue Zhishi retorted, "I was watching in broad daylight." He added, "Not only did I see it, I'm going to go tell Orange that you have other cats on the side, a whole bunch of them."

Song Yu froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, a kind of laugh that hadn't been heard in a long time.

Seeing him like this, Yue Zhishi felt the tension that had been building up inside him for so many days finally dissolve. But he vaguely felt that he hadn't been himself lately—a little insecure, beating around the bush, inexplicably sad, and inexplicably happy. He could directly say he didn't want to be separated from Song Yu without any burden, but he couldn't naturally explain the drawing he had made late at night.

Seeing that Song Yu was still laughing, Yue Zhishi felt a little embarrassed and told him to stop, grabbing his arm to try and pull him up.

But Song Yu grabbed his arm in return, the laughter on his face fading as he calmed down.

"Give it to me. I like it a lot," he said seriously.

The author has something to say:

Lele: I think I've grown up

Cornetto, I really like your White Peach Oolong cone, please release a pure ice cream version without the white peach jelly, hope you know what's good for you (doge)