Gu Qingzhou's personality wasn't exactly good, even vaguely paranoid. Few people could stand it. But compared to others, he was used to hiding all those thorns inside. People who weren't familiar with him would only find him cold and aloof.

As his deskmate for nearly three years in high school, Jiang Xu had the relative misfortune of personally witnessing and experiencing all of Gu Qingzhou's foul tempers. So, thinking about it now, he felt his situation was increasingly worrying.

The two had somewhat similar tempers and personalities, so being brothers or friends would have probably been a good choice. Back then, Jiang Xu had been full of enthusiasm to be brothers with Gu Qingzhou, the sincere kind. But he never, ever expected the other guy to be gay...

To tell a big truth that others wouldn't believe, it was Gu Qingzhou who first pursued Jiang Xu back then. With his cold and stubborn personality, it was hard to imagine he would ever have a day where he humbly pursued someone. So much so that Jiang Xu thought he was joking. Coupled with his youthful delinquency, he'd messed with the guy quite a bit back then.

Liking men—such a thing was too far-fetched for the Jiang Xu of the past.

Gu Qingzhou drove on his own and didn't look at him, leaving Jiang Xu to feel idle. He looked at his phone screen, which was shattered to pieces, but couldn't bring himself to tap it to play games or anything. He pinched the bridge of his nose and made small talk: "So, you've been doing well these past few years."

Gu Qingzhou's voice was faint, betraying no emotion. "Oh, is that so."

Of course, it must be, absolutely. Jiang Xu was just about to heap on some praise to ease the tension, but before the words could leave his mouth, he heard the other say, "It's alright. It doesn't really matter if I'm doing well or not, as long as I'm better off than you."

Those last few words were very meaningful. After Gu Qingzhou spoke, he casually glanced at Jiang Xu. His gaze made one squirm, yet his face held a smile, making it impossible to tell if it was a casual joke or intentional ridicule.

Jiang Xu: "..."

Gu Qingzhou's tongue was as venomous as ever, as if it had been soaked in arsenic for forty-nine days, poisonous enough to pierce one's heart and rot their lungs.

For the rest of the journey, Jiang Xu tactfully shut up. He didn't like looking for trouble for himself. He leaned lazily against the car window, his eyes reflecting the rapidly receding scenery outside. But his hands couldn't stay still, clicking his lighter open and shut, looking like he was about to smoke another cigarette.

Gu Qingzhou stared straight at the road ahead. "I'd advise you not to."

Jiang Xu hadn't intended to, but hearing that, he felt he just had to. He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it right in front of him, a blatant provocation. Finally, he raised an eyebrow and retorted, "So what if I do? What are you going to do about it?"

Gu Qingzhou's expression didn't change. "If you smoke, you can get out and walk down from the overpass yourself."

Jiang Xu immediately extinguished the cigarette.

He'd forgotten he was in Gu Qingzhou's car right now. Getting kicked out was no laughing matter.

Old Luo's treat this time was quite lavish. The location was set in a five-star hotel, with two large private rooms combined. Colleagues from the office sat on one side, and relatives and friends on the other. Gu Qingzhou and Jiang Xu arrived a bit late; when they got there, the tables were full except for their two seats.

Old Luo probably didn't expect them to arrive together. He froze for a moment at the sight, then quickly got up to greet them. "Manager Gu, come, come, have a seat. Xiao Jiang, you too."

Gu Qingzhou exchanged a few pleasantries and took the seat to Old Luo's left. Jiang Xu, naturally, couldn't sit next to him, so he quickly circled around and sat to Old Luo's right, right beside Li Si'ao.

Li Si'ao was quite surprised to see him. "Yo, I thought you weren't coming."

Jiang Xu glanced at him. "Free food, and I don't have to pay. Why wouldn't I come?"

Li Si'ao clicked his tongue twice, unable to hide the gossip on his face. "How'd you end up coming with Manager Gu? Bro, I'm not trying to be mean, but your speed at latching onto a high branch is a bit too fast."

Hearing this, Jiang Xu put down his chopsticks and retorted, "When did you go blind?"

Was Gu Qingzhou a high branch? He was clearly a spiked club. If you tried to climb him, you'd be lucky to get away without being impaled to death.

Li Si'ao was not pleased and nudged him with his elbow. "Hey, why are you cursing at people!"

Old Luo, seeing them whispering over there, had a flare-up of his "leader syndrome" and knocked on the table. "You two, what are you muttering about over there? Share it with the rest of us for a laugh."

Jiang Xu coughed. "It's nothing, we were just discussing client information."

"You, you, up to your old tricks again," Old Luo said, patting Jiang Xu's shoulder. He introduced him to Gu Qingzhou, "This Xiao Jiang, he's the most diligent one. Even though he's only been with the company for a few years, his performance has always been at the top. Manager Gu can definitely nurture his talent."

Hearing this, Gu Qingzhou took a sip of water and said without any discernible emotion, "Is that so."

The alcohol was getting to Old Luo's head. He pointed at Jiang Xu from across the way. "He's a bit lazy. He always likes to play games during work, or else he's sneaking off. But he's a young man, it's inevitable he's a bit restless. A few more years of experience will do him good."

With every sentence Old Luo spoke, Jiang Xu's eyelid twitched violently. He already had plenty of dirt on him; wasn't this just eagerly handing Gu Qingzhou ammunition? Only the others, not knowing the real situation, looked at him with envious eyes, thinking that Old Luo was paving the way for Jiang Xu in front of the new leader.

Gu Qingzhou said, "Rest assured, I will definitely nurture him well."

After three rounds of drinks, Old Luo was a bit drunk. The middle-aged man, over fifty, seemed to finally realize that his busy work life would end tonight. The rest of his days would be no different from other old men's—staying at home, planting flowers, tending to his grass, and whiling away his final years. He staggered to his feet and pulled people along to toast them one by one.

Gu Qingzhou didn't drink, politely refusing. "Sorry, I have to drive later, I can't drink."

Old Luo, his face and neck flushed red from drinking, didn't make things difficult for him. He turned with his glass to Jiang Xu beside him and said with a thick tongue, "Come, Xiao Jiang, you... you have a glass too!"

Jiang Xu still had to rush back to finish some drawings tonight, how could he dare to drink? He held up a hand to refuse. "No, no, no, I can't drink."

Old Luo's eyes widened. "What, you have to drive too?"

Jiang Xu: "...I don't have a car."

He just had a small bicycle, and it had been wrecked by Gu Qingzhou's big BMW this morning. The thought of it was heartbreaking.

Hearing this, Old Luo laughed so hard he fell back into his chair. The people next to him were laughing too. Gu Qingzhou watched with a cold gaze and took a sip of the drink in front of him—he probably felt that Jiang Xu had changed a lot.

The place where they'd gone to high school had been too chaotic back then. Street punks gathered in droves, and you risked having to pay protection money just for stepping out to buy soy sauce. Among the nearby high schools, Jiang Xu was one of the school tyrants you couldn't afford to provoke. He had a cigarette in his hand all day, acted ostentatiously, and went around picking fights while wearing the blue and white uniform jacket of Hai Cheng High School. He was a menace everyone avoided.

The current Jiang Xu seemed to have had his inner sharp edges worn smooth. But it didn't matter. No matter how he changed, or what he became, in Gu Qingzhou's eyes, he was still as shameless as before.

When the party was about to end, Old Luo was already passed out drunk and had to be supported into a car by his wife and relatives. Jiang Xu checked the map and found that there were no more buses at this hour. A taxi from here would cost at least fifty yuan and up. Weighing his options, he decided to go back the way he came.

The night outside was dark. The clamor of the evening rush hour had given way to silence. The wind lifted Jiang Xu's hair, and the neon lights of the opposite building were reflected in his eyes, smoothing some of the hidden rebelliousness within them. He leaned on Gu Qingzhou's car door and said, "Manager Gu, mind if I catch a ride?"

Hearing this, Gu Qingzhou looked at Jiang Xu. He suppressed the malicious thought of slamming the door on the other's hand and crushing it into a pig's trotter, smiled, and readily agreed. "...Of course, you can."

'Gu Qingzhou has become a lot kinder.'

After getting in the car, Gu Qingzhou asked, "Do you still live in the same place as before?"

Jiang Xu gave him the new address. "That old alley was demolished long ago. I rented a small studio apartment near the company, it's convenient for work."

Gu Qingzhou didn't say anything, just turned on the GPS and followed the directions. Jiang Xu said, "How come you're still so bad with directions?"

Gu Qingzhou wasn't a Hai City local. He had transferred there in the second semester of his first year of high school. When assigning seats, the teacher had him just sit in an empty spot in the back, and as luck would have it, he ended up being Jiang Xu's deskmate. Gu Qingzhou couldn't clearly remember how the first day went. He only remembered that he listened attentively in class the whole time, while the weirdo next to him covered his head with his school uniform and slept through the morning, the afternoon, and the entire evening self-study session. He was even more incredible than the lazy goat.

Hai City many years ago wasn't like it is now. Alleys and lanes crisscrossed, and the street signs were faded. It was easy to get lost even during the day, let alone at night. At that time, Gu Qingzhou had just moved to the city with his mother and hadn't memorized the roads yet. After the evening self-study session, he headed home under the cover of night, missed the last bus, and ended up getting lost in a daze.

Newly arrived in a strange city, his heart was full of resistance. He clutched the slip of paper with his address, neither asking for directions nor calling his family. He sat on a bus bench by the road and stayed there for several hours.

It still rained a lot that year. It started to rain that night, and unfortunately, the bus stop was very shabby, without even a shelter. Gu Qingzhou had no choice but to get up and take cover in front of a repair shop behind him. He looked at his phone; it was already eleven at night, but the screen was empty, with no messages or missed calls. A rebellious mood suddenly struck him, making it impossible for him to swallow his pride and make a call home.

The entire street had already closed for the night. The repair shop was also starting to pull down its shutters. A few young punks with earrings and dyed hair walked out, laughing and talking, cursing every other sentence. One of them, a punk with red-dyed hair, saw Gu Qingzhou, glanced at the school uniform he was wearing, and then nudged a black-haired teenager. "Aiyo, Jiang Xu, isn't that someone from your school? Little bro, not going home in the middle of the night, trying to pick up girls?"

The teenager called Jiang Xu looked over upon hearing this. Gu Qingzhou raised his eyes and met his gaze.

Among the crowd of slouching punks, Jiang Xu was the only one with black hair. He had a silver cross earring on his left ear, wore a black work vest, and had a few streaks of motor oil on his face, but they didn't detract from his handsome looks. He was about to light a cigarette, but hearing the words, he put out the flame. He squinted his eyes and sized Gu Qingzhou up and down with interest, then chuckled after a moment. "Yo, it really is a classmate of mine. Looks kinda familiar... couldn't be my new deskmate, could it?"

Gu Qingzhou hadn't even gotten a clear look at his deskmate's face today. Coupled with his withdrawn personality, he just faintly closed his eyes and didn't respond.

Jiang Xu said, "Well, what do you know, it really is my deskmate. Not going home in the middle of the night. You're not planning to skip class tomorrow, are you? Skipping class is no good."

The people around them burst into laughter. The red-haired guy said, "Fuck, a delinquent like you is lecturing others? Stop leading people astray! Let's go, let's go, I still have to work tomorrow."

Jiang Xu put on his helmet, rode a motorcycle out of the repair shop, and left. The street fell silent again. Gu Qingzhou took out his phone, looked at it, then turned it off. Looked at it, then turned it off again. The roar of the motorcycle had already faded into the distance, yet it suddenly became clear again.

He looked up and saw the guy who had claimed him as a deskmate stopped on his motorcycle not far away. He had one foot on the ground for balance. The dim yellow streetlight made the raindrops on his helmet glisten. Then he took off his helmet and raised his voice, "Hey, where do you live? I'll take you home."

It was a bit cold because of the rain. Jiang Xu had put on his school uniform jacket. Half a wing was drawn on the left sleeve with a marker, now somewhat blurry and faded from being washed. Only then did Gu Qingzhou believe that this was the sleeping god who was even more incredible than the lazy goat.

Gu Qingzhou was bold and unafraid. Hearing this, he walked straight over, sat on the back of the motorcycle, and handed the address slip to Jiang Xu.

Jiang Xu glanced at it. "Heh, that's pretty far out."

As he started the bike, he looked back at him. "You've got some guts. Aren't you afraid I'll drag you off and sell you?"

Gu Qingzhou narrowed his eyes, staring blankly at the back of his head. Then he heard Jiang Xu complain, "Even if I sold you, nobody would want you. No chest, no ass."

His thoughts returned to the present. The car sped through the rainy night, crossing not just roads but also the blank years of absence. Gu Qingzhou was very silent the whole way. It wasn't until he stopped at the intersection opposite Jiang Xu's home that he spoke. "Get out."

Jiang Xu said, "Thanks."

He opened the car door and was halfway out when, remembering something, he sat back down. He touched the tip of his nose and asked hesitantly, "So, do you still hate me?"

Gu Qingzhou glanced at him, probably finding the question incredibly shameless, and replied perfunctorily, "I don't."

Jiang Xu didn't move. "You answered so quickly, it sounds a bit like a lie."

Gu Qingzhou: "..."

Gu Qingzhou was so exasperated he laughed. He adjusted his tie. "Don't worry, I'm not the grudge-holding person I used to be. After so many years, we should all be a little more mature, hmm?"

Jiang Xu was half-convinced. "So you really don't hate me anymore?"

This time, Gu Qingzhou paused, deliberately staying silent for a few seconds before saying, "Yeah, I don't hate you anymore."

Jiang Xu believed him. He breathed a sigh of relief, got out of the car, closed the door, and reminded him, "Get back early."

Through the car window, Gu Qingzhou watched him walk toward his home, his back gradually disappearing into the darkness. He tapped the steering wheel out of boredom. A moment later, a low, inaudible sneer escaped his lips, his face expressionless.

Naive.