012
“placing hands together in one pocket to keep warm, then…squeezing each other to death”
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DAY NINE【 DURING WINTER, PLACE HANDS TOGETHER IN ONE POCKET TO KEEP WARM AND HOLD EACH OTHER TIGHTLY】
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It had to be mentioned that Zhang Lingyi’s enthusiasm for pretending to by gay exceeded far beyond w.a.n.g Guangning’s expectations.
For the purpose of acting gay, he could actually give up his favorite activity of sleeping in.
When w.a.n.g Guangning opened the door early the next morning, he found Zhang Lingyi standing outside, calm and unruffled. He was waiting for him with a brilliant smile, showing off his matchless white teeth, “Ah, shou shou, good morning!”
w.a.n.g Guangning: “! ! !”
“f.u.c.k, what kind of clothes are you wearing?” He stared frantically at the military jacket Zhang Lingyi was wearing.
With an expression of grievance, Zhang Lingyi waved his hand, “Ah, I didn’t want to either. But I searched for a long time last night and found that I actually didn’t have a jacket with large pockets. If there aren’t big pockets, how can we hold our hands together in it? This is what I borrowed from my roommate!”
Zhang Lingyi looked down at his own large green jacket even though he was also very frustrated. Truth be told, last night when his simple and honest dorm mate had given him this jacket with a face of one giving away something they loved dearly, he was also left feeling a bit chaotic. However, he was confident that with his own incomparable temperament, he could absolutely bring out an att.i.tude like a European or American top model.
But w.a.n.g Guangning’s expression of grievance as if he would rather be dead was too exaggerated.
Wringing his hands, w.a.n.g Guangning said, “Although you don’t have any clothes with large pockets, but I do. You could’ve just told me…”
“But I am the gong…” Zhang Lingyi was at a loss .
w.a.n.g Guangning glared at him.
“Fine!” Zhang Lingyi gave in, “Then you change into your coat with the big pockets and I’ll go put on a different set of clothes.”
After finishing speaking, he ran upstairs.
His dorm room was in the building as w.a.n.g Guangning, however, his was on the sixth floor while w.a.n.g Guangning’s was on the fourth.
While waiting for Zhang Lingyi to change his clothes and come back down, w.a.n.g Guangning had also reluctantly put on his coat.
It was a double-breasted black fleece coat which even the elite were unable to look straight at.
“Yi?” Zhang Lingyi clicked his tongue, “Isn’t this the legendary Czech diaosi¹?”
[1] 屌丝: is a Chinese slang term which describes ordinary Chinese citizens who face struggles and hardships every day. (apparently also has other meanings- idiot, loser or douchebag depending on the context O.O)
“Get lost!” w.a.n.g Guangning directly used a book to pound at Zhang Lingyi’s head.
Smiling, Zhang Lingyi avoided it before immediately going over to him once again. Hooking his arm in w.a.n.g Guangning elbow in a very natural manner, he said, “Let’s go, xiao gong will take you to see the outside world.”
Although he said they were going to see the outside world, he actually ended up dragging w.a.n.g Guangning to a high-end commercial plaza to go shopping.
Zhang Lingyi walked amongst the expensively decorated sales counters, focusing on some of the flashy products. He glanced at jewellery, perfume and such, occasionally also asking for w.a.n.g Guangning’s opinion.
w.a.n.g Guangning gave a few perfunctory words and finally could not help but ask, “What exactly are you trying to buy?”
Holding a purple bottle of perfume, Zhang Lingyi replied, “It’s nearly my mother’s birthday so I want to buy a gift for her.”
Stunned, w.a.n.g Guangning said, “Then what does your mother like?”
“Expensive things.”
w.a.n.g Guangning was speechless, “Then you can just pick the most expensive thing and be done with it, right?”
“Of course not.” Zhang Lingyi said in disdain, “Don’t you know there’s no such as thing as most expensive, only more expensive? This young master’s wallet only had this much money, and I still need to leave some for New Year’s.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Of course I’m going to choose something at a medium price level, but gives the impression of being particularly expensive!” Zhang Lingyi said while placing the perfume down. “I can’t buy things like perfume, my mother will know its origins simply by sniffing it.”
Looking at Zhang Lingyi’s behaviour as he was picking up things and his description of his mother’s interest in perfume, w.a.n.g Guangning suddenly thought of all the gossip in F University concerning Zhang Lingyi. Hitting his arm, he said, “Hey, I heard your family is the wealthiest in G city, is that true?”
Originally, he had only taken it as boring gossip. However, upon seeing Zhang Lingyi’s att.i.tude, he was a bit uncertain.
Face twitching, Zhang Lingyi turned to him, “Please, don’t partic.i.p.ate in this kind of boring gossip, alright? I also heard that you were a descendent of the late Qing dynasty n.o.bles. Are rumours reliable? My family is just moderately affluent, but when my mother was young and beautiful, she was spoiled and praised so now she’s accustomed to it. She tends to compete with other people, so she wants the best of everything and ignores the rest.”
w.a.n.g Guangning inwardly sighed in relief. Fortunately he wasn’t one of the legendary rich second generation², otherwise…he supposed that their friendship would have quite a disparity compared to his own little family business.
[2] 富二代: is a Chinese term that refers to the children of the nouveau riche in China.
w.a.n.g Guangning didn’t care about comparing himself with Zhang Lingyi. Even during the time when they did not get along, w.a.n.g Guangning had never once thought of judging Zhang Lingyi’s personal character based on his family background.
Yet, now he did seem to care a bit about their respective backgrounds.
Fortunately…
Fortunately what, he also wasn’t clear.
After choosing for half a day, Zhang Lingyi finally selected a pair of high heels with slender platinum chains embedded with diamonds.
w.a.n.g Guangning stared at the chains and hesitated for a while. He finally couldn’t resist asking, “Your mother likes this kind of style?” It felt more like something a young girl or businesswoman would like.
Zhang Lingyi’s mother, had to be at least forty something, right?
Humming twice, Zhang Lingyi said, “Ah, yes. The style is very like that for young ladies, but I’ve already said my mother is very spoiled. If you dare mention her age to her, she’ll twist off your ears!”
While speaking, he swiped his credit card to pay before pulling w.a.n.g Guangning away.
As they left the shopping centre, the two people shivered.
“So cold!” Zhang Lingyi rubbed his arms.
w.a.n.g Guangning silently tightened his coat.
“Shou shou, how can you do that?” Zhang Lingyi slanted a glare towards him, then extended his own hand and said, “Here!”
w.a.n.g Guangning: “? ?”
Seeing that w.a.n.g Guangning did not understand, Zhang Lingyi couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Reaching out, he grabbed w.a.n.g Guangning’s hand and placed both their hands in the pocket of his coat.
“We have to place our hands together in the pocket to keep warm. Hey, and we have to interlock all our fingers too!” Zhang Lingyi said while frowning. Exerting all his strength, Zhang Lingyi rummaged through the pocket to find w.a.n.g Guangning’s hand, only to discover that it was tightly clenched.
The pockets of w.a.n.g Guangning’s coat were actually not that big, so it became very crowded when the large hands of both men were suddenly squeezed in. Furthermore, Zhang Lingyi even kept on moving his hand around in the pocket as if his life depended on it, causing w.a.n.g Guangning to burst into anger.
“Alright, enough.” w.a.n.g Guangning shouted impatiently, forcefully pulling out his own hand from the pocket. Then he proceeded to pull out Zhang Lingyi’s hand and fiercely interlocked their fingers before once again, forcefully stuffing their hands back into the pocket, “Done, let’s go.”
“Go go go.” Smiling mischievously, Zhang Lingyi walked forward.
In the narrow pockets of the coat, the two people’s fingers were tightly interlocked.
Both of them had lean figures, and their fingers were slender so the joints could be felt clearly.
w.a.n.g Guangning could distinctly feel the sensation of the bones in Zhang Lingyi’s fingers. They were hard, and the ridges were evident. The pocket itself did not possess any warmth, but his mood suddenly became rather complicated. His heart seemed to be restless, however, he was truly unable to comprehend why.
He suddenly felt as if there was something he was unable to speak out.
w.a.n.g Guangning’s fingers which were interlocked with Zhang Lingyi’s suddenly exerted strength and he squeezed hard. Instantly, Zhang Lingyi cried out in pain.
“f.u.c.k, shou shou, are you trying to murder xiao gong?” Not willing to be outdone, he retaliated.
“f.u.c.k, do you dare to use more strength?” Feeling pain, w.a.n.g Guangning then used even more force.
Thereupon, the ten fingers which were interlocked together to preserve warmth seemed to radiate warmth and gay love on the surface. However, the truth was the two people were actually squeezing each other’s fingers to death, neither willing to give way to the other.
This continued as they got onto the bus, sat through n number of stations and arrived at the front of the neighbourhood where Zhang Lingyi’s home was in. Only then did they finally glare at the other fiercely and snort.
w.a.n.g Guangning said, “Let go of my hand.”
Then the two of them pulled their hands out of the pocket, their knuckles already completely lacking strength as they drooped weakly.
“f.u.c.k, this young master has been pained to death.” Zhang Lingyi finally used one hand to lightly wrap the hand which had been squeezed, his entire face distorted, “w.a.n.g Guangning, you’re too ruthless.”
w.a.n.g Guangning wasn’t much better off than him, but his bones were stronger so he could still endure. Staring coldly, he said, “Less bulls.h.i.t, quickly lead the way.”
The district where Zhang Lingyi’s home was located was a well-known medium level neighbourhood in the centre of G city. It was a quiet place amidst all the noise and the district itself was quite new. The price of housing here was around thirty thousand, and while it was not very expensive, however the economic strength needed was above the average level in G city.
w.a.n.g Guangning’s home was in S city, and it was also located in a well-known garden district. Compared to Zhang Lingyi’s home, they were about the same.
w.a.n.g Guangning felt very comfortable knowing this.
Zhang Lingyi brought w.a.n.g Guangning all the way up to the 27th floor. His home had a standard three bedroom layout with two halls, and the river outside could be seen at the side of the balcony.
“Yi, how come there’s no one?” w.a.n.g Guangning stared in puzzlement at the simply decorated but desolate home. Seeing as Zhang Lingyi had bought gifts for his mother, he had thought there would be someone here.
“Oh, my parents are working at another place in the country. They’re not usually at home so I’m often alone here in G city.” Zhang Lingyi said in pa.s.sing as he threw the wrapped gift onto the table. Flinging the key, he turned into the hallway in front of the living room, “Didn’t you want to revise? Come with me to the study room.”
Zhang Lingyi’s study room was comfortable and warm. The entire one side of the wall was occupied by a white bookshelf and the walls were painted a cream colour, there were also wooden floorboards and multi-coloured foam sofas that seemed to allow one to sink right into. Finally, there was a French window overlooking a small balcony. At a glance, it gave people the urge to stay and never leave.
“Good³.” Tossing his book onto the desk, w.a.n.g Guangning quickly flew onto a round, light green sofa. Cheerfully, he said, “Zhen⁴ will stay here today. Xiao Yizi⁵, quickly come and serve zhen.”
[3] This was originally spoken in English by w.a.n.g Guangning.
[4] 朕: imperial use of ‘I’, used by the Emperor.
[5] 小逸子: initially, I thought this was another imperial term so I searched it up on Google and it came up with information about historical j.a.panese figures. Then I realised w.a.n.g Guangning was probably just calling Zhang Lingyi by a nickname, since the ‘yi’ in 小逸子 is the same as the ‘yi’ in Zhang Lingyi.