Wolves of a Pair Prowl Together

“Shit!” Wan Fei was running while covering his right rib. When he turned and saw Qiu Yi, he gritted his teeth and cursed, “Is this grandson looking for a beating?”

Qiu Yi was still wearing a mask, exposing the gauze next to his left eye. 

Without a word, Bian Nan lowered his head and ran forward. He didn’t know Qiu Yi’s intention for coming here. To fight? To prove? To provoke?

Wan Fei quietly cursed in distaste all the way. 

“He’s looking for a beating, unsatisfied with not having his head split open last night,” Wan Fei was still cursing after running a whole round. For someone who had never been defeated in a fight, being struck by Qiu Yi’s baton last night was as unforgettable as one’s first love, “If I hadn’t… Fuck why is he still there?”

When Bian Nan heard this, he raised his eyes and glanced at the spot. He was a little surprised that Qiu Yi was there even now, still looking this way with both hands in his pockets. 

“What’s he doing?” Bian Nan couldn’t help asking.

“Who knows,” Wan Fei paused. Leaning close to his ear, he said with a low voice, “Is it because of you?”

Bian Nan grinned at Wan Fei wordlessly. 

It was Pan Yifeng who had lead the fight last night, and he probably had a feud with Qiu Yi before. But in theory, Qiu Yi had already defeated Pan Yifeng fairly well, to the point where Pan Yifeng couldn’t even come out to run rounds today. If anyone were to enter the other side’s territory to provoke them, it should be Pan Yifeng. 

Bian Nan also thought that Qiu Yi had probably come here for him because of the iron rod yesterday.

He spun his head around and glared at Qiu Yi.

The road was very narrow, and the distance between them was not far. Bian Nan could even see Qiu Yi’s golden light brown eyes under the sunlight. 

Qiu Yi’s sight aligned with his, and he suddenly raised his hand to point at the gauze on his face.

“Serves you fucking right!” The pain in Bian Nan’s shoulder was still excruciating. He didn’t want to point to his shoulder like some friendly interaction, so he cursed, turned around and ran forward.

The running team turned a corner in front and ran out of sight. Qiu Yi lowered his head and took out the phone that had been ringing in his pocket for half a day and glanced at the number. It was Zhang Xiaorong.

“Mn?” he took off his mask and answered the phone.

“Where are you?” Zhang Xiaorong asked.

“Xiaofu supermarket entrance,” Qiu Yi said.

On the phone, Zhang Xiaorong was evidently stupefied, “Why are you there?”

“Watching the scenery,” Qiu Yi said, “Can you get here in ten minutes?”

Zhang Xiaorong didn’t speak, seemingly hesitant. Just as Qiu Yi was about to directly hang up the phone, she said, “Alright, wait for me then.”

“Mn,” Qiu Yi hung up the phone, put on his mask and continued to gaze across the street.

Zhang Xiaorong arrived at the supermarket within ten minutes. When she saw Qiu Yi, she gathered her hair with a smile, “why did you come here?”

“It’s close to your school,” Qiu Yi said. He could tell that Zhang Xiaorong had put in some effort to dress up beautifully.

“What happened to your face?” Zhang Xiaorong looked at the gauze on his face, “was it yesterday…”

“What do you want to give me?” Qiu Yi interrupted her.

“Why not take me back to school first,” Zhang Xiaorong tactfully asked, glancing across the street. “Have you eaten the xiao long bao1 at the gate of our school? It’s delicious.”

“What do you want to give me?” Qiu Yi asked again.

“I’ll give it to you after breakfast, treat me to xiao long bao first,” Zhang Xiaorong smiled with her hands clasped behind her back.

Unmoving, Qiu Yi stared at her without a word. 

A few seconds later, she stretched out her hand and placed something in Qiu Yi’s palm, “I made a few. I gave some to my classmates and they laughed at me; you don’t laugh at me too.” 

Qiu Yi looked at the object in his hand. It was a handmade black fluffy keychain.

“Thank you,” Qiu Yi turned the keychain back and forth, “Your hands are quite skilled.”

“My hand can…” before Zhang Xiaorong could finish, she glanced up across the street. Suddenly, her face became a little stiff and she hid behind him, “How stupid.”

Qiu Yi didn’t look across. He tilted his head and watched Zhang Xiaorong with a smile, “Scared he’ll see it?”

“Ah?” Zhang Xiaorong smiled while still peeking across the street, “Who?”

“Bian Nan,” Qiu Yi said.

“Who are you talking about,” Zhang Xiaorong lowered her head, pulled her coat and frowned, “why should I be afraid of him seeing me? It’s not like we’re a thing.”

“Really,” Qiu Yi smirked, turning his bicycle around and straddling it, “Get on.”

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xiaorong sat down on the back seat and held onto Qiu Yi’s waist. 

Bian Nan flipped his lunch box on the table and it slid towards Wan Fei’s direction on the opposite side. Wan Fei stretched out a finger to hold it, “Not eating? If you’re not eating, give it to me.” 

“Whatever,” Bian Nan had an ugly expression on his face as he threw his spoon into the lunch box.

The porridge in the lunch box splashed on Wan Fei’s hand. He tsked and wiped his hand on his clothes, “I actually didn’t think you’re so interested in Zhang Xiaorong. How come you’d be this angry?”

“These are two different things,” Bian Nan irritably took his lunch box back, “Why do you think this man is so childish!”

“It’s childish for you to be angry about this too,” Wan Fei looked at the lunch box, “Not letting me eat anymore?”

“Buy it yourself,” Bian Nan lowered his head and bit into a bun hard. “What’s wrong with me being childish? I’m at the age of being fucking childish.” 

Wan Fei considered the culture class in the morning to be his sleeping time. He rested his head on the desk and slept like the dead, even snoring loudly. Fortunately, he was sitting in the last row. As long as the teacher wasn’t interrupted by those who talked non-stop, he couldn’t care less. 

Bian Nan took his phone out and placed it next to Wan Fei’s face, recording it for two minutes. He even took two pictures of Wan Fei’s sleeping postures, then leaned back in his chair and stared at the teacher in a daze.

Bian Nan seldom slept in class. Even if he was tired to death, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He spent the whole class dazedly staring at the teacher. Their new young literature teacher had once said, “Bian Nan, if you don’t want to attend class, you can look outside the window. If you keep staring at me like this, I’d think you’d want to come up and fight with me.”

Bian Nan stared at the teacher all morning, while Wan Fei slept. In the last class, he snored so much that the English teacher couldn’t stand it anymore. Pointing to Wan Fei, he said, “Wake him up. It’s fine to sleep, but this is like a broadcast2!”

Bian Nan pushed Wan Fei hard. Wan Fei muttered a few words with a grumpy face but still didn’t wake up.

Bian Nan rolled two dirty tissues and stuffed them in Wan Fei’s nostrils. Wan Fei carried on for about ten seconds until he was suffocated awake.

After class at noon, Bian Nan showed WanFei the photos on his phone, “Sending them to Xu Rui later.”

“Are you still human!” Wan Fei pointed at him.

“Nope,” Bian Nan smiled and was about to play the recording for Wan Fei when his phone rang. It was his dad.

He answered the phone, “Dad.”

“Aunt said you’re not going home again this weekend?” His dad’s voice came through. 

“Mn,” Bian Nan stood up, walked out of the classroom and leaned against the corridor railing, “Go back and fight with Bian Hao?”

“You saying these words,” Dad sighed, “You two brothers talk about fighting all day long.”

“You’re the only one in the family who thinks that he and I are brothers,” Bian Nan said, “Haven’t you reflected on it yet.”

“Don’t talk back to me. Don’t want to go back, then so be it. I’ll pick you up in the afternoon, let’s go for dinner.” His dad’s tone meant no room for argument, hanging up the phone without even waiting for Bian Nan’s response.

“Eat or not?” Wan Fei came out of the classroom and leaned against the railing beside him.

“Eat.” Bian Nan massaged his shoulders and went downstairs with Wan Fei.

There was only one canteen in the sports school; besides the competition season when they could still stomach the dishes, these masters were irritable about it every day. Usually, there was a selection of meat, but it lacked colour and flavour. The canteen staff was definitely feeding a pig farm. What you get depends on your mood, and how they cut it also depends on the mood. Bian Nan once asked exactly for green pepper-fried beef, and bell peppers in his vegetables. 

Bian Nan stared at the dishes on the plate. Without an appetite, he ate absent-mindedly3.

“Going to the infirmary later?” Wan Fei looked at Bian Nan who had been eating with his left hand.

“Mn,” Bian Nan sighed, “Remember, I fell from the top bunk.”

“Then fell on me…” Wan Fei nodded and tsked again, “Do you think Lao Jiang would believe it?”

“Believe it or not, he’d kill us anyway,” Bian Nan said.

The injury on Bian Nan’s shoulder wasn’t too serious. The school nurse examined it to make sure that there were no issues with his bones, sprayed some medicine, and it was done.

However, during the afternoon training session, Lao Jiang didn’t believe a single word of their story about one falling from the top bunk and hitting the other.

“Are there any other injuries?” he asked Bian Nan after they had run three kilometres.

Bian Nan rolled his shoulder and popped it twice, “No, just shoulder…”

“Six laps of relay runs and six sets of weight-lift squats,” Lao Jiang interrupted, “Four laps of 30-meter sprints.”

Bian Nan didn’t speak, he turned around and started running.

Ten-meter relay running actually strained the shoulders. One often couldn’t feel it but would gain deep understanding once hurt. 

After Lao Jiang assigned all the training tasks, he stood at the side and stared at Bian Nan.

“Got into a fight right?” Lao Jiang said when Bian Nan sprinted past him.

“No,” Bian Nan stopped and sprinted back.

“Wan Fei lied on the ground and let you fall on him?” Lao Jiang sneered.

Bian Nan turned and sprinted forward again, “He was stretching.”

“Bullshit4,” Lao Jiang said.

Bian Nan didn’t speak anymore. After six laps of running back and forth, he whispered, “Can the tasteless food without oil from the cafeteria still make you fart?” 

Today, Lao Jiang didn’t bother him too much. His shoulder injury had a great impact on his training, and he had injured his right shoulder. In addition to not punishing him, Lao Jiang didn’t assign him to any practice activities that required a lot of shoulder movements such as ball-serving training either. 

At the end of the training, he stared at Bian Nan and told him to have a good rest for the next two days, then made him copy the school rules 30 times.

“We still have school rules?” Bian Nan asked in surprise while he squatted at the school gate with Wan Fei to wait for his father.

“Legend says we do, didn’t Lao Jiang give us a sample.” Wan Fei was engrossed in eating his bowl of sour hot noodles.

“The sample book is handwritten. I copied it like it’s scripture, even had to translate it first…” Bian Nan moved his arm, “Shit, I want to see Qiu Yi again. It’s not over until I beat him to death!”

“Is it because he hit you or is it for Zhang Xiaorong?” Wan Fei handed the paper bowl to him, “Want a bite?”

“No,” Bian Nan pushed the bowl away, “Because of both. What do you think Zhang Xiaorong likes about him?”

“…he’s handsome,” WanFei continued eating, “Don’t all the girls like his kind of style.”

“Didn’t see it clearly, I just saw the mask,” Bian Nan dusted the ashes off his shoes, “Handsome my ass, he’s just a bitch. The colour of that bike and even those contact lenses…”

“Contact lenses?” Wan Fei was shocked, “How do you know he’s wearing them?”

“Fuck, didn’t you see his golden eyes?” Bian Nan tsked. His only impression of Qiu Yi’s appearance was the pair of eyes he had seen when running this morning.

“Nan ge,” Wan Fei put down his chopsticks, placed the paper bowl at his feet, and turned to look at him, “Those weren’t contact lenses, he’s mixed.”

“What?” Bian Nan’s eyes widened, “Mixed?”

“Xu Rui said Qiu Yi’s mom is Russian. Didn’t you notice that his nose is very high, his outline is more distinct than normal people, and he’s very fair…” Wan Fei said.

“How should I have noticed that? He was covered up so tightly, as if he had just robbed a bank,” Bian Nan stood up in annoyance, “So what if he’s fair? He’s better than me because he’s fair? What do men need to be so fair for?” 

“Xu Rui said it’s called beauty and grace5.” Wan Fei threw the bowl into the nearby trash can. 

“Then you’re pretty fair too. Even eating a piece of shit is easier than you chasing Xu Rui,” Bian Nan leaned against a tree and grinned. 

“I’m not mixed,” Wan Fei pointed a finger at Bian Nan, “The way you’re talking, can’t you just have a good conversation!” 

“What’s so great about being mixed,” Bian Nan took out a piece of gum, “I’m also mixed blood from both sides, my mom…”

After saying those two words, Bian Nan suddenly stopped. Whenever he said the words ‘my mom’, he would experience an unspeakable strange feeling, the difficulty of gathering his emotions about his biological mother preventing him from finishing his sentence. 

Wan Fei understandably didn’t continue this topic, and squatted on the roadside again, “Come to my house after dinner with your dad tonight.”

“I’ll see.” Bian Nan was suddenly in no mood to talk.

They squatted on the roadside in silence for a while. When Bian Nan saw his father’s Land Rover, he kicked Wan Fei’s ass, “He’s here, let’s go, we’ll take you to your house.”

Wan Fei knew Bian Nan’s father pretty well. After getting on and greeting him, he even started a lively conversation. When Wan Fei got off at his place and Bian Nan and his dad were alone, the car suddenly became inexplicably silent. 

“What do you want to eat?” his dad broke the silence after a while.

“Anything,” Bian Nan took the CD folder to play some music. After looking through it for a long time, he realized that the CDs he had put in the folder were gone. The folder was filled with Bian Xinyu’s K-pop oppa and Bian Hao’s symphony music that he pretended he’s forced to listen to. 

He threw the folder back in the rear seat and turned on the radio.

“Xinyu sorted out the CDs the other day and probably forgot to put your CDs back,” his dad glanced at him, “I’ll go home and find them for you, okay?”

“No need,” Bian Nan smiled, “It’s not my favourite deck, and I seldom ride this car, so it doesn’t matter.” 

Bian Nan was the only one living at school. Usually, the ones riding the car were the happy four-member family.

His dad couldn’t make up his mind about what to eat either and drove around the city for more than an hour. Bian Nan sighed. He knew that his dad wanted to find a restaurant he hadn’t eaten in with Bian Xinyu and Bian Hao. When he was a child, he would make a fuss about it. Now he didn’t care about these things, but his dad had always paid attention to it.

“Didn’t you eat wild mushrooms- what was it- with Uncle Xu a while ago?” Bian Nan said.

“Yeah, it’s a new one. It’s not bad, the wild mushrooms are from Yunnan,” his dad slowed the car down, “Want to eat that?”

“Mn.” Bian Nan nodded.

“Then let’s go,” his dad changed the direction towards Nancheng, “Didn’t you like meat6? Have you become a vegetarian?”

“Coach Jiang said I need to lose weight.” Bian Nan randomly gave a reason.

“You need to care about weight to play tennis?” his dad frowned, “Your aunt said you seemed to have lost weight last week.”

“How can I not care? I can’t run if I’m heavy,” Bian Nan smiled. His dad wanted to make him feel that his aunt cared about him, but after the new year, he had definitely put on nearly ten kilograms, so his words were too fake, “She only walks the dog every day, what’s she doing talking about losing weight?” 

“Where did you inherit this sarcasm from?” his dad shook his head.

“My mom’s side,” Bian Nan said.

After saying this, his dad sighed, and the atmosphere in the car froze over again with an air of awkwardness.  

Bian Nan was silent for a while, feeling a little like an asshole. He rubbed his nose and said, “I have no money on my card.”

This topic can effectively change the atmosphere. Bian Nan knew that every time his dad heard about him asking for money, he would become very happy.

“I’ll give you a big sum tomorrow,” his dad said immediately.

“Thank you, Dad.” Bian Nan looked down at his hand.

Although it was the weekend, there were not many people in the restaurant. His dad wanted a private room, but Bian Nan pointed to the booth facing the street, “There, it feels like a conference diner in a private room.”

“Alright,” his dad smiled.

After the two sat down, a waiter placed two menus in front of them and asked, “What kind of tea would you two like?”

“What kind of tea is there?” Bian Nan looked up at the waiter.

With this glance, he looked at the waiter’s light brown eyes and froze. 

The fuck? What kind of fate was this!

Footnotes–

Chinese soup dumplings with meat fillings and delicious soup super yummylol that sounds weird but basically, he was snoring so loud that it felt like a broadcast有一筷子没一筷子: ate one chopsticks-full, then the next without any food放屁- fart (bullshit)玉树临风: from “Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking” by Du Fu: Zongzhi – story about a handsome and beautiful boy who fell like a yushu after being drunk.无肉不欢: idiom direct tl- no meat, no joy