“Mom, it’s boiling out and the living room has no AC. How am I supposed to sleep out there? Am I still your actual son?”
Zhang Hong didn’t react.
She’d only been half-serious anyway. Her son had just gotten her through one of the biggest moments of the year — she wasn’t about to exile him to the couch over it.
Xu Ye, sensing an opening, pressed his advantage. “Fine. I’ll sleep in my room. If Yuxin’s going in there, she can just share with me. I’ve got thick enough skin to handle the gossip.”
That landed him a firm slap on the back of the head.
“What is wrong with you. Yuxin sleeps with me tonight. Your father takes the floor.”
“Now we’re talking.”
Since the gaokao, Zhang Hong had noticed her son had become more outgoing — looser, more confident. She thought it was a good change. But the shamelessness was a new addition. Nobody in the Xu family had ever had cheek like that before.
Where was he getting it from?
Wang Yuxin, who had been watching all of this with arms crossed, finally offered her verdict:
“I wouldn’t want to sleep in your room anyway. Boys’ rooms smell weird.”
“Every gust of wind from me is practically perfume.”
“Ugh, you’re disgusting.”
Xu Ye sat down next to her, grinning. “So how were your end-of-year exams?”
“Fourth in class. Thirteenth in school.” She looked at him primly. “Want the breakdown by subject?”
Xu Ye blinked. He’d forgotten about this — his cousin had always been sharp. Top of the class through primary school, middle school, high school. Eventually made it into Zhejiang University. The one genuine academic standout in the whole family.
He’d been trying to make her squirm. Instead he had nothing to say.
Wang Yuxin, reading his expression with satisfaction, immediately switched tactics and sidled up to him. “Xu Ye gege — Auntie said you work at a bar on weeknights?”
“It’s a music bar. Very different.”
“Can you take me?”
“Absolutely not. You’re a child. Stay home and behave.”
She wrapped both hands around his arm and went straight for the pout. “Please, Xu Ye gege~”
Girls her age were often in the thick of the rebellious phase — thirteen, fourteen, some of them already getting into trouble. Yuxin was on the tamer end of the spectrum.
“Cute as that is, no. I don’t get home until midnight. Your mom would never agree to it.”
She scrunched up her nose, wounded.
Xu Ye sighed. “Okay, here’s the deal — tomorrow I’ll take you out.”
“Really?!” The scowl vanished. “I want to see a movie! And buy new clothes! And eat barbecue and crayfish and—”
“Stop, stop, stop. I said I’d take you out. Movies cost money. I don’t have money.”
Her little eyes slid sideways at him. “You’re so cheap.”
“I’m broke.”
“Mom literally just gave you a red packet.”
“That’s earmarked for something else.”
She threw up her hands. “Fine. I don’t need your money. I have my own.”
Yuxin’s dad was a senior physician at the hospital. Considerably better paid than Xu Ye’s civil servant father.
That thought landed.
Xu Ye put an arm around her shoulder and lowered his voice. “Yuxin — let your gege take a look at how much you’ve got saved up.”
“Why?”
“I’ll hold onto it for safekeeping.”
Before Yuxin could respond, Zhang Hong — who had apparently been standing directly behind them for some time — grabbed Xu Ye by the ear.
“You’re trying to scam your own little cousin now?”
“Ow ow ow—”
“Yuxin, don’t listen to a word he says. Keep your money where your parents put it.”
“Okay, Auntie.”
That night, after getting home from the bar, Xu Ye showered and sat on his bed with his phone.
He checked the news. Then his portfolio.
His mom’s five thousand had gone straight into the account. Qingqing’s ten thousand for the song rights — already transferred to the brokerage weeks ago. His stock account now sat at just under eighteen thousand yuan. For a prospective university student, that was respectable. For someone whose stated goal was seven figures within a year, it was nowhere near enough.
He sighed. Every time he felt the gap between where he was and where he needed to be, his mind drifted in a familiar direction.
Chen Qingqing. The little heiress.
He opened WeChat.
Xu Ye: you still up?
Qingqing was on the couch. She sat up when she saw the notification.
Qingqing: not that early.
Xu Ye: how come you never message first?
Qingqing: why would I?
Xu Ye: because we’re friends now?
Qingqing: do friends have to talk every day?
Xu Ye: obviously.
Qingqing: I never know what to say.
Xu Ye: talk about anything. hobbies, interests, the past, the future, people you’ve met, places you’ve seen, things you’ve been thinking about. sometimes just life in general.
Qingqing: I don’t feel like being home tomorrow. I’ll buy you lunch.
Xu Ye: out of nowhere?
Qingqing: because you eat like a pig and I find it entertaining.
Xu Ye: actually — I promised my little cousin I’d take her out tomorrow afternoon. you want to come?
Qingqing: I don’t like crowds.
Xu Ye: she’s in primary school. still basically a child.
Qingqing: fine.
Xu Ye: I’ll message you the details tomorrow afternoon.
Qingqing: okay.
Xu Ye: goodnight.
Xu Ye: as a friend, you should know how reciprocity works.
Two minutes passed.
Qingqing: goodnight.
The next morning.
“Xu Ye gege~”
“Xu Ye gege~”
It was like someone had installed a notification sound directly next to his ear.
He surfaced slowly, cracked one eye open, and found Wang Yuxin standing over his bed. He flinched, then settled.
“What.”
“It’s past eight.”
“I didn’t get to sleep until midnight. Please. Five more minutes.”
“Okay.” A beat. Then, very small: “Okay.”
Half an hour later, the living room filled with singing.
“In a fairytale castle where magic lives filled with the taste of dreams the enchantment spreading to every corner of the universe…”
Wang Yuxin was bouncing on the couch, phone in hand, belting out Magic Castle — a new release from TFBOYS this past March. [TL: TFBOYS is a Chinese idol boy group formed in 2013. At this point in mid-2014, they were not yet at the peak of their fame. Their breakthrough song 《宠爱》 and especially 《青春修炼手册》 later that year would launch them into becoming one of China’s biggest pop acts of the decade.]
They hadn’t fully taken off yet. That was coming in about a month.
Xu Ye emerged from his room looking like someone who had survived something. He took in the scene — tiny cousin, too much energy, volume set to maximum — and shuffled wordlessly toward the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, eating breakfast:
“Xu Ye gege, when are we going out?”
“This afternoon.”
“What time this afternoon?”
“We’ll see.”
“Xu Ye gege, what are we having for lunch?”
“Nothing.”
“…”
“Xu Ye gege, why aren’t you talking to me?”
“…”
“Xu Ye gege, is it just the two of us this afternoon?”
“There’s one more person.”
“Who?”
“An older girl.”
“An older girl?”
(End of Chapter)