If it were anyone else calling him "brother" this and "brother" that all day, Chen Chao would have had enough long ago. But perhaps because he was used to hearing Miao Jiayan call him that, he didn't find it awkward. When Miao Jiayan first started calling him that, he was just a short little kid. Coupled with his natural disposition, the address didn't sound out of place coming from his mouth.

So, when did Miao Jiayan stop calling him "brother"?

The blame for this had to fall on Ding Wentao.

One day during the winter vacation, Ding Wentao was utterly bored and came over to find Chen Chao, bringing his game console. Chen Chao's upstairs room didn't have a TV, so they couldn't play games. Finally, out of options, Ding Wentao pulled a handheld game console out of his pocket.

Miao Jiayan didn't know Chen Chao had a guest. He came over carrying a small iron basin, calling for Chen Chao as he went upstairs.

"Brother?"

The moment he pushed the door open, Miao Jiayan froze.

In the room, Chen Chao was leaning against the head of the bed, on the phone, one leg bent with his knee against the wall. Ding Wentao was lying diagonally at the foot of the bed, holding up the handheld console, playing Tetris.

Miao Jiayan was wearing a set of thick, white fleece pajamas printed with little pink elephants and a pair of cotton slippers Grandma Chen had made for him. The first time Chen Chao saw him wear them, he laughed for a long time, saying they looked like the cotton-padded jackets and trousers of the old days. Miao Jiayan laughed along with him, saying, "I think they're quite cute." Right now, he stood frozen at the door, still holding the small basin.

Ding Wentao looked towards the door, his eyes not even on the game console, yet he could still press the buttons with a "papapa" sound.

"I'm not going, I'm staying here for the New Year," Chen Chao said into the phone. Seeing Miao Jiayan come in, he gestured with his chin, signaling for him to enter.

"Still calling him 'brother'," Ding Wentao mimicked in a strange, teasing voice, his gaze falling back to the game console. "So sappy."

Miao Jiayan tucked his chin in and subtly shuffled his feet back a little, wanting to leave.

Chen Chao made a "hiss" sound and kicked Ding Wentao, then looked at Miao Jiayan, using his eyes to urge him to hurry in.

Miao Jiayan held the small basin with both hands and came over to place it on the table.

"It's not that I don't want to, I just don't want the hassle." Chen Chao glanced into the small basin; inside were canned hawthorns.

"You do your thing, Mom, I'm really not going," Chen Chao said.

Miao Jiayan stood by the side the whole time. The "biubiubiu" sounds from Ding Wentao's game console were constant and sounded very noisy.

Chen Chao said a few more words and hung up the phone, asking Miao Jiayan, "What is it?"

"Canned hawthorns, Grandma and I made them last night," Miao Jiayan said in a small voice. "I've pitted all of yours."

Chen Chao leaned over and tried one with a spoon. The sour and sweet taste filled his mouth. Chen Chao said, "Delicious."

"What's this," Ding Wentao moved closer, "Let me try!"

Miao Jiayan had only brought one spoon. The moment Ding Wentao scooped one up, Miao Jiayan instinctively opened his mouth and cried out, "Hey."

Unfortunately, he couldn't stop him. Ding Wentao had already put it in his mouth.

Miao Jiayan glanced at Chen Chao. Their eyes met. Miao Jiayan pursed his lips, turned around, and left.

"It's actually pretty good, nice and sour," Ding Wentao said, completely oblivious, still commenting as he ate.

Chen Chao picked up the Tetris game Ding Wentao had been playing midway and started to play.

"Here," Ding Wentao intended to share with Chen Chao, passing the spoon over and saying naturally, "You eat some more."

"You eat it," Chen Chao didn't take it. "I don't like sour things."

"Oh," Ding Wentao believed him and started eating by himself. "Tastes better than the store-bought ones."

"Then you can have it all," Chen Chao said.

Miao Jiayan came back a few minutes later.

He was holding a small bowl with another spoon in it, which he brought over and handed to Chen Chao.

The bowl contained the same canned hawthorns as before. This time, Miao Jiayan didn't even put it on the table, placing it directly into Chen Chao's hands.

Miao Jiayan remembered all of Chen Chao's various and sundry particularities very clearly.

"Have you eaten?" Chen Chao asked.

"I still have a lot more," Miao Jiayan replied. "I saved some for myself."

"Didn't you say you don't like sour things?" Ding Wentao, the blockhead, was still asking.

"That's why I'm eating the small portion," Chen Chao said.

"Then wouldn't eating a little less from that one be the same?" Ding Wentao glanced at the bowl in Chen Chao's hand. "Do you have to scoop it out into a separate bowl to eat?"

Chen Chao found him noisy and said, "Why do you talk so much."

Miao Jiayan's hair was tied up that day. The thick fleece pajamas, cotton slippers, and tied-up hair made him look especially well-behaved, and even more like a girl than usual.

He just sat in the chair watching Chen Chao eat. When he was about to finish, Miao Jiayan pulled out a tissue and handed it over.

Ding Wentao, at the side, burst out laughing with a "pfft."

"The way you're dressed really looks like that something," Ding Wentao looked Miao Jiayan over a couple of times and said with a laugh, "You look just like one of those little wives from a TV drama."

Miao Jiayan had been listening to him seriously, but when he said that, Miao Jiayan turned his face away again.

"You know, when the men go out to work, don't they have wives like this at home in little cotton-padded jackets, serving them food when they come back at night?" Ding Wentao was so amused by his own joke he couldn't stop laughing. "Brother Chao, don't you think so!"

"Like hell," Chen Chao ignored him. "Just eat your food."

"Bro..." The address Miao Jiayan was about to call out was swallowed back. He uncomfortably called out, "Brother Chao."

That was what Ding Wentao called him. It sounded normal, not laughable.

Chen Chao looked up at him. Miao Jiayan said, "I'm heading back."

Chen Chao asked him, "How much homework have you done? Want to do it here?"

Miao Jiayan shook his head and left, carrying the empty bowl.

It's unclear if it was because of Ding Wentao's teasing imitation or for some other reason, but from that day on, Miao Jiayan no longer called Chen Chao "brother."

The soft, clingy "brother" had changed to the very ordinary "Brother Chao."

Chen Chao didn't feel anything about it. It was just an address; everything was the same.

Apart from this change in address, everything about Miao Jiayan was the same as before. He still often ran over to Chen Chao's place, but now he would first look toward Chen Chao's window for a while to see if Ding Wentao was there. If Ding Wentao was there, he wouldn't come over.

That year, Miao Jian and his wife didn't return for the Spring Festival. Miao Jiayan safely passed another winter. Eldest Aunt and Youngest Aunt returned with his younger cousins. The cousins didn't speak to him, and Miao Jiayan didn't care. He hardly stayed at home anyway, usually spending his time in the neighboring courtyard.

That spring, Miao Jiayan's hair grew well past his shoulders. Grandma Miao went with him to the barbershop in town. Grandma Miao got a fashionable perm of fine wooly curls, and Miao Jiayan's hair was also styled. His hair was fine, soft, and glossy, cascading down his back. Grandma Miao repeatedly said, "Beautiful."

After getting his hair done, Miao Jiayan stood by his window and called out, "Brother Chao." Chen Chao was memorizing vocabulary and didn't stand up, just calling back, "What is it?"

Miao Jiayan: "Do you think my hair looks good?"

Chen Chao shouted: "Can't see, come over here and let me look."

Miao Jiayan ran over with a "deng deng deng." His hair had been blow-dried to be very smooth and flowy at the barbershop. When he walked, a few strands by the side would lift with the breeze. Tied around his wrist was a gray-plaid hair tie his grandma had bought for him in town just now.

Chen Chao praised him: "Looks good, like a schoolgirl from a Hong Kong movie."

Miao Jiayan then smiled, his sharp chin managing to produce a double chin, which made him look endearingly clumsy. "I don't think so, I'm not that pretty."

Chen Chao said honestly, "Not when you smile. You look too goofy when you smile."

Miao Jiayan had only one white dress. When Chen Chao had first arrived, it looked big and long on him, but now it fit perfectly.

The dress was no longer as white as it once was, but it was still very clean, having turned a soft, creamy white.

No white remains unstained; time leaves its mark on everything, whether fast or slow.

The rain was heavy that year. A solid week of rain had every family in the village scrambling. No matter what was planted in the fields, it couldn't be saved from so much rain.

Both the Miao Family and the Chen Family had to drain their fields. The two families, wearing raincoats and rain boots, went to the fields every day. The Miao Family had a lot of land, and even with hired help, they couldn't keep up. Chen Chao spent those few days helping out at the Miao Family's place. He was no longer as clumsy as he was at the beginning; now he could handle many of the farm tasks competently.

Every day, Miao Jiayan would tie his hair into a small bun and hide it in the large hood of his raincoat. The moment he took off the hood, he looked like a little immortal attendant guarding the gate of some deity's home. Chen Chao said that revealing his forehead like this made it look especially round. Miao Jiayan would touch his own forehead and say with a laugh, "Our family all have bulging foreheads."

Chen Chao was almost knocked over by how rustic his term for "bulging forehead" sounded. He took a step back and said, "Speak properly."

Miao Jiayan was still smiling, smiling so much that his hood slipped back a little, and raindrops splattered on the bridge of his nose. Miao Jiayan wiped it with the back of his hand and asked Chen Chao, "It's been two years, have you learned the local dialect yet?"

Chen Chao said with a numb expression, "As if I have nothing better to do than learn this."

When school started that summer, Chen Chao was in his third year of junior high.

The time he spent studying at night gradually lengthened, and his light stayed on late. Miao Jiayan's grades were still in the upper-middle range of his class, neither good nor bad.

Chen Guangda's business seemed to be picking up. Every time he called, he sounded quite proud.

He said to Chen Chao on the phone, "Son, just do your best on the high school entrance exam, no pressure."

Chen Chao asked him, "Are you planning to stop leaving me behind as a stay-at-home child?"

Chen Guangda just laughed "haha" and said, "Dad will do his best to make it happen."

The third year of junior high started early, so the summer vacation was only half a month long. They couldn't escape the hottest part of the summer.

With the scorching heat of the previous two years as a buffer, Chen Chao was relatively calm this summer. Both fans were on, the window was open, he took frequent cool showers, and the nights were not so hard to endure.

Two mosquitoes buzzed endlessly by his ear. No matter when, Chen Chao could never make peace with mosquitoes.

Chen Chao raised his voice and shouted, "Miao'er!"

Miao Jiayan had just come out of the shower and was drying his hair. The towel was still on top of his head. He quickly answered, "Yeah!"

"I've got mosquitoes!" Chen Chao yelled.

Miao Jiayan tied the towel on top of his head: "Okay, I'm coming to take care of it!"

Chen Chao yelled again, "It bit me!"

"Coming, coming!" Miao Jiayan turned off his light, closed his door, and went to the next yard with a mineral water bottle.

Pushing open the door to Chen Chao's room, he saw Chen Chao working on problems with his shirt off. Miao Jiayan said, "I'm here, I'm here."

Chen Chao had actually been shouting for a while already, but Miao Jiayan was in the shower and hadn't heard. Chen Chao couldn't swat them and had long since become extremely annoyed by the buzzing.

Miao Jiayan asked, "Did you open the window screen?"

"Didn't open it, they squeezed through the door crack," Chen Chao said with a frown.

Miao Jiayan, with his hair tied up like a little Arabian boy, shook the water bottle and said, "This will be over in a second!"