My Two Dads

“Mo,” Lu You Qi leaned down and looked at Yang Mo’s laptop screen. “The design question I asked you last week, can you send the source code to me again?”

Yang Mo came back from the bathroom after finish washing up and replied, “My laptop died a few days ago, so the file is gone.”

As their finals approached and they were busy wrestling with their assignments, his laptop causing him trouble was quite a headache to handle. “Are the other files alright?” Lu You Qi asked with concern.

Yang Mo: “Yeah. The important ones are backed up in my USB drive.”

Lu You Qi glanced at the clean desktop screen of his laptop and suggested, “You can sign up for an account at CSDN. And write down your thoughts and source codes as well. Keep it for record purposes.”

Yang Mo was in the state of being an internet hobo1.

Usually, if the software could be used online, he wouldn’t download it. If he could log in as guest user, he wouldn’t sign up for an account. Even if he did sign up, the account would be dead like a zombie. Aside from browsing records, there wasn’t a single trace of his activity.

Yang Mo thought that Lu You Qi had a point, so he rewrote the question for him and went to sign up for an account as told.

Lu You Qi looked at that greyish default avatar icon and randomly generated alphanumeric mixed user nickname. He helplessly said, “Mo, can’t you…present yourself a little better.”

His own roommate’s WeChat and Weibo profile pictures were also the same.

“It’s pointless to.” Yang Mo said, “These things are used to express the user’s personality, mood and state as to achieve a better social effect. It’s not like I use them to make friends or express myself.”

“Alright, alright…you have a point.” Lu You Qi clicked his tongue, “I think you actually have difficulty with naming things instead.”

Yang Mo: “That’s part of the reason. That’s why I said it’s pointless to dwell on it.”

Lu You Qi sat cross-legged on his bed. After receiving the documents from Yang Mo, he shook his head, sighed and smiled bitterly.

Sometimes he felt like Yang Mo was out of loop with this fast-changing era.

After everything was done, Lu You Qi stretched a little, laid down and started his time of surfing the internet. He raised an eyebrow, “It seems tomorrow is the start of entrance exams.”

Lu You Qi sighed in an old-fashioned way, “Ugh, I really miss being young.”

Yang Mo used a tone like he was caring for a 19-year-old empty nester and said, “Are you free the afternoon after tomorrow.”

Lu You Qi tapped into his schedule and said, “Yeah.”

“Come along with me, to pick up someone.” Yang Mo said, “I promised the one I’m tutoring, that I’ll pick her up after her entrance exams.”

“Tsk,” Lu You Qi initially thought he was being asked out to be treated to a meal, so he said, “Why is it me? Go look for that little junior of yours. He loves clinging to you, isn’t…”

Yang Mo interrupted him and said, “I fell out with Han Shi Yu.”

Lu You Qi’s tongue instantly knotted itself. After a long silence, he managed to get past his stutters to say, “Ah?”

He racked his brains but couldn’t think of what Han Shi Yu could do to make Yang Mo say something like breaking up with him.

There was no echo of a reply back from the desk for a long time, except for the sound of keyboard keys being tapped on.

Lu You Qi could tell that his roommate held his little junior with great importance – perhaps because he was prone to his soft-hearted nature too, Yang Mo was always very attentive to his affairs.

This was something Lu You Qi was quite envious over.

Setting aside Han Shi Yu, even he himself was somewhat dependent on Yang Mo. This roommate of his could think of almost anything for others, but never tried interfering unnecessarily. When he interacted with others, he would maintain a comfortable, refreshing relationship where people wouldn’t want to leave, feel bored or annoyed.

When others asked what his ideal type is, Lu You Qi would often joked that if Yang Mo was turned into a woman, then sprinkle more gentleness and cuteness on him – but misfortunes come out of the mouth often, so he suffered many disastrous educational sessions from Yang Mo because of that.

There was a limit to his teasing too. Lu You Qi pursed his lips together into a thin line, got off bed and patted Yang Mo’s shoulder. He asked, “Are you free tonight?”

Yang Mo replied, “Yeah.”

Lu You Qi: “Wanna get some skewers together?”

They often come to this barbeque shop in front of the East campus and almost all the recurring customers were students from this area, especially Shou Cheng University.

The selling point “Shou Cheng University’s entertainment and leisure spot” was very attractive to people. This place ended up becoming a “high-class place” where people who had free time dropped by to hang out and acquire some cultural experience.

Although, in reality, aside from gaining a whole body filled with the smell of cumin, there was nothing else to experience here.

Yang Mo wore his cap backwards, with his forehead fully exposed, in short sleeves and shorts. He walked into the shop with Lu You Qi.

The female owner could recognize his face since a long time ago. Seeing how he was dressed today, she laughed, “Seems like summer came early.”

Yang Mo greeted her with a ‘jie2 and walked towards his usual spot. The female owner swept a glance at the two of them and laughed again, “Oh, changed your little boyfriend?”

Yang Mo: “……”

Lu You Qi hurriedly called out, “Jie, don’t cause me to be beaten up by him.”

The female owner smiled brightly and said, “Han Shi Yu came by a few days ago and also sat in that spot. I asked him why he didn’t come with Yang Mo. Guess what he said?”

Yang Mo thought to himself, that it definitely wasn’t a good thing for sure.

The female owner: “He said, ‘I’m still a little boyfriend now, have yet to be converted to an official one’.”

Yang Mo treated it as a joke as he listened, putting on a smile to meet their laughter.

The female owner brought over a plate of sizzling hot meat skewers.

Lu You Qi fetched two bottles of cold beer and said, “Mo, want one?”

Yang Mo sullenly took one over.

Lu You Qi: “How’s your drinking capacity?”

Yang Mo: “Never drank before.”

Lu You Qi blinked, passing him the bottle opener and said, “Then, I’ll accompany you to try out the taste of life today.”

Lu You Qi suddenly thought it was strange too, “Why does it feel like I’m comforting a lost young man who is seeking death after having his heart broken by love.”

Yang Mo: “….”

He took a bottle of cold coke and said, “I’m not drinking. Shut up and eat your skewers.”

Lu You Qi: “Oh.”

“Senior, have you ever had a taste of life?”

At that time, Han Shi Yu was in the infirmary, hooked up to an IV, wrapped in blankets while blowing his nose.

Yang Mo was sitting on the edge of the bed, noticed the IV bottle was empty and stood up to change it for him.

He said, “Speak in human language.”

Han Shi Yu: “Have you ever drank alcohol…”

Yang Mo rewarded him with a smack on the head.

Han Shi Yu used his normal hand to cover the back of his head and yelped, “Ugh.”

Yang Mo: “Do you even know why you’re here now?”

Han Shi Yu and his classmates had a weekend of ‘drunken dreams’ and went overboard. After getting rained on, a stomach ache and a fever had hit him the next morning.

When the others woke up, they called him for half a day. But seeing how he wouldn’t get up, his friends cooperated and helped him muddle through the first class’ roll call.

It was not until halfway through the first class that Xie Chen Min received a message from Han Shi Yu. He said he was going to die soon.

Xie Chen Min wasn’t able get out of the class during that time, but he couldn’t leave their youngest alone just like that so he turned to Lin Chu for help.

It just so happened that Lin Chu had no class for the first period that day and was in Cheng Shao’s office. Yang Mo was also there so he happened to learn about this from him.

At that time, it hadn’t been too long since the two of them hacked someone’s account together. Yang Mo was aware that they weren’t that close yet, so he didn’t understand why Han Shi Yu would come and deliver lunches to him so often.

In his heart, Yang Mo had felt indebted towards him, so he took Lin Chu’s place, went to the east campus’s men’s dorm and sent the “dying” Han Shi Yu, who was on his last breath, to the infirmary.

Han Shi Yu never thought it would be Yang Mo who came.

Even though he was already like a wilted dog’s tail flower, he sprouted with vigour the second he saw this person.

After the IV bottle was replaced with a new one, Han Shi Yu who had just woken up, glanced at the time and tapped on his head, “Shit.”

Yang Mo: “I helped you applied for a sick leave, so your remaining classes are off for the day.”

Han Shi Yu sighed in relief, “Oh…”

After replying that, his stomach growled miserably. Before dropping by the infirmary, he had basically vomited everything out after all.

Yang Mo handed the thermos on the table to him and said, “There’s porridge inside. Make do with it for now.”

Han Shi Yu: “Oh…thank you.”

“I went through your backpack and looked for the key to lock the door to your dorm room.” Yang Mo confessed honestly, “Also, I placed the prescribed medicine in the outermost layer. The instructions on how to consume it are written on top of it.”

Han Shi Yu blinked a little before the corners of his lips turned up on its own, “Ge, you’re so thoughtful.”

Yang Mo gave him another smack on the head.

Han Shi Yu held the back of his head, “Ugh.”

Yang Mo frowned and said, “Have you learned your lesson.”

Han Shi Yu: “Yes, yes…”

At that time, the sunlight was like a mist diffused in the air, growing silently within their breaths.

The sterilized blanket in the infirmary was soft and white, easily coloured by the warmth.

Yang Mo sat on the edge of the bed, with his back facing Han Shi Yu.

His fingers flipping through the book in his hand stilled, because he felt something gently leaning against his back.

Han Shi Yu’s voice still carried a slight nasally tone to it as he said, “Ge, you’re so nice.”

Yang Mo’s eyelashes fell a little. The something that was carefully clinging to his back was a head.

Yang Mo felt an itch coursed through his whole body, suddenly he did not dare to move at all, like he was afraid to disturb a small puppy who got tired from barking and was now resting in the palm of his hand.

That one sentence from Lu You Qi earlier on had made him recall this incident.

After learning of Han Shi Yu’s feelings, Yang Mo had been thinking about what incident or matter that caused him to have such affection for him.

Even after flipping through all the moments they spent together over and over again, Yang Mo still couldn’t figure it out.

He stared at the bubbles in his glass and fell into a daze.

Lu You Qi said, “Feeling depressed or down usually isn’t just from a single incident. Instead, it’s accumulated from many small incidents that cause it to explode over time. Mo, there’s no meaning for you to dwell on why you are feeling this way. You should instead think more about how to get over it.”

Yang Mo heard his advice and frowned, “Did you misunderstand something? Where exactly do I look sad to you?”

Lu You Qi: “Didn’t you break up with Han Shi Yu…”

Yang Mo said coldly, “What does he matter.”

Lu You Qi clicked his tongue and said, “You are always so stubborn.”

In the evening, more people gradually gathered at the shop.

A group of people came to the table beside them. A few of them didn’t look like students either.

After sitting down, they rolled up their sleeves and began to talk loudly, their loud voices reaching further around their surroundings. The reason they came here to eat was for the lively atmosphere in the first place, and the crowd and noises were a norm, so Yang Moj didn’t mind it.

A tall, chubby man with all his features squeezed together said in a loud voice,” Hey, Xiao Zhang. I heard some parents made a ruckus in your university lately?”

The man called Xiao Zhang hastily asked him to lower his volume before answering, “The university covered it up, sigh, since it’s so shameful after all.”

The chubby man opened a bottle of beer as another friend joined in the fun and asked, “Yo, what was it about.”

Yang Mo, who was originally sipping beer on his own, noticed that voice sounded familiar so he glanced over to check, only to find out that Xiao Zhang was the one who requested for him to hack people’s accounts but pulled out of the deal afterwards.

Xiao Zhang lowered his voice and said with a scorn, “There’s a guy in the east campus who’s gay. His partner’s mother found out about it and came over.” He said, “She didn’t cause a scene, but just didn’t agree with his son engaging in such things. The caretaker was unlucky too, being caught up in it and had to placate them for half a day. Only then did the matter get supressed.”

The group of people was puzzled but couldn’t help but grow curious too, “Did they break up after that?”

Xiao Zhang shook his head, “I don’t know, nothing else happened after that.”

All of them let out a snort as the chubby man tugged on the hems of his wide pants before spatting out, “Isn’t that fucking disgusting.” The voices from this table were a little attention-grabbing, filling the air with such obscenities mixed in.

Lu You Qi glanced over at them. When he tore his gaze back, he noticed Yang Mo looked a bit off. “Mo?”

Xiao Zhang proudly said, “Hey, that guy from the east campus, wanna guess who it is?”

The chubby man grinned when he heard his tone, “How am I supposed to fucking guess it. Why, is he someone you hate?”

“Spot on.” Xiao Zhang, “He’s called Xie Chen Min. He fought with our class during the inter-house basketball competition, causing both classes to be disqualified from the game.”

The chubby man raised his chin and said, “You used some tricks?”

In front of these people, Xiao Zhang didn’t have to speak in a righteous or upright manner, so he grinned, “Aiya, just a little I suppose.”

He continued, “We fought privately as well and it became quite a big deal. But we also argued with them in the online forum for days. Then I got someone to hack his companion’s3 account.”

He added remorsefully, “But that fucker turned on me at the end. I was scolded by my teacher for that and got disciplined.” He cursed, “Disgusting bunch of people. No wonder he’s chummy with that group of gays.”

The chubby man and his companions laughed along.

Yang Mo downed the remaining bottle of coke on the table in one shot. Lu You Qi immediately noticed that the air around him wasn’t right and frowned, “Yang Mo…”

That call wasn’t able to hold him back. Before he uttered the last syllable, Yang Mo had already stood up.

The empty glass bottle almost toppled over, spinning unsteadily around the edge of the table with a ‘clang’ sound. Lu You Qi hurried to steady it so it wouldn’t break into pieces.

Nine years of compulsory education might not have taught Xiao Zhang that ‘the walls have ears’. His face dropped with when he saw Yang Mo.

“Who threw away your leash,” Yang Mo said coldly, “Are you done barking yet?”