The first time Jian Sui Ying met Li Yu was in his family"s living room.
As he walked through the front door with a cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth, he saw Jian Sui Lin sitting on the sofa with another boy, talking and laughing rather cheerfully together. That boy"s back was facing him and his sweaty Feyenoord [1]soccer track jacket stuck to his back, revealing the faint outline of his broad and healthy back. Their jackets—and especially the distal end of their pants was covered in mud, yet they still sat impolitely on the beige leather sofa. On the small coffee table in front of them were two empty CocCola cans that had been turned upside-down and two pieces of cake. To make matters worse, there was a dirty, mud ridden soccer ball at the side of his feet.
When they heard the sound of the front door opening, those two chatty boys paused. While one picked up his head, the other twisted his head around, swinging his eyes toward the door.
In that split second, Jian Sui Ying and that boy"s gaze locked. Suddenly, Jian Sui Ying could not move or take a step further. At that time, to say it a bit more elegant, it was "love at first sight", but to be more frank—the first time he saw him, "he was hard".
The thing was, every time he called that moment, all of it was just seemed like a bunch of f.u.c.king sins he had to repay.
In short, at that time, he felt his heartbeat sped up, a shortness of breath and the veins on his forehead throbbing vigorously. That boy, how would one describe him? His appearance—handsome, attractive and intelligent looking. To say it in Jian Sui Ying own wording, "looks like my personal taste".
Jian Dashao[2]like that kind of strong, healthy, handsome, red lips and white teeth pretty boy. What"s more, the one in front of him now was way better looking than the ones he had seen before.
He had always thought that that idiot younger brother of his, Jian Sui Lin, was considered to be one of the most delicate and pretty boy, yet the person in front of him now had a completely different kind of calmness and handsome traits. His eyes travelled from that boy"s dark red lips, to his fair and beautiful neck, all the way down toward the short pants that revealed his slender yet st.u.r.dy calves.
He had met countless people in his life, yet never before did he had the urgency to get close to someone. Unfortunately, he was Jian Sui Lin"s friend.
He suppressed his own desires and pretended not to give them a glance.
Seeing his unworried complexion, Jian Sui Lin quickly called out, "Ge[3], you"re back."
Jian Sui Ying simply said, "yeah" as he usually does, not paying much attention to him.
"Ge, this is my cla.s.smate, Li Yu. He"s the senior official"s grandson."
"Oh? How come I"ve never met him before?"
"Wasn"t Uncle Li transferred to a different province a long while ago? He just transferred back here this year. We"ve known each other since we were little, but we haven"t seen each other for a long time."
Jian Sui Ying remembered his father had mentioned that before, Mr. Li"s son was promoted and transferred back to Beijing—that was how he heard it but since he didn"t take it seriously, he didn"t pay much attention. The Jian and Li"s family partic.i.p.ated in the same Chinese New Year events and other festive gatherings, however, they were not especially close.
If he knew Mr. Li had such a delicate, refined[4]and precious grandson, he would have certainly rushed toward their door and wormed his way into being their friends.
He nodded and tried to control himself as to appear tranquil before he walked toward them.
When Jian Sui Lin stood up, Li Yu immediately did so as well.
With just one glance, it was easy to notice that Li Yu had grown up quite well. Now that he stood, he was already almost as tall as Jian Sui Ying—slender in stature, strong and robust in health. His handsome face was inkling between that of a man and an inexperienced boy. There was no need to mention the energetic air he exuded…and the more Jian Sui Ying looked, the more eager he became.
Jian Sui Ying"s fingers itched even more than before. He had always like to play with that kind of person—a person with that kind of figure can be called "beautiful and s.e.xy."
Jian Sui Ying extended his hand out and smiled, "Mr. Li"s grandson? Then you can call me Ge."
Li Yu"s expression was very calm—almost indifference, but it was not at all lacking in manners as he lightly grasped Jian Sui Ying"s hand.
"Jian Ge."
With just that one handshake, Jian Sui Ying"s fondness of him increased a bit more. It was rare to see such earnest mannerism from an eighteen maybe nineteen years old boy.
He intentionally patted Li Yu"s back, "Did you both just finished playing soccer? If so, don"t turn the air conditioner on so high. Since both your clothes haven"t dried yet, you might catch a cold."
With the strong and supple hand still within his own grasp, Jian Sui Ying could feel his own heartbeat jump some more.
Jian Sui Lin seldom seen his older brother with such an amiable manner toward him, so it couldn"t but to be filled with joy—it was to the point he could not hide his feeling. Complying with his brother, he quickly picked up the remote control. "I turned the temperature up a bit earlier."
Jian Sui Ying glanced at the cake on the table, "You both ate already?"
Jian Sui Lin replied, "Not yet."
"Why aren"t you eating properly after being tired from playing soccer? What are you doing eating all those sweets for? Where"s Wu Ma?"[5]
"Wu Ma had some things to do at home, so she left earlier this morning."
"Then there"s no one at home?"
"Dad"s not coming back tonight and mom…my mom also went out." Jian Sui Lin immediately became nervous when he realized what he had said wrong.
On any other given time, Jian Sui Ying would usually seize the opportunity to taunt him, but since he was in an exceptionally good mood today, he was not bothered. Instead, he said, "How about calling for take-outs? I"m also hungry."
Jian Sui Lin readily agreed, "Ge, what do you want to eat?"
"I want to eat that one…" Jian Sui Ying"s eyes turned until it met his brother"s hopeful eyes. Then his eyes fell on Li Yu whose thoughts he does not know. "All right, let"s not get take-outs, it"s not clean. Since it"s rare for your cla.s.smate to come by, you should make something instead. That eggplant dish you made last time was pretty good."
Jian Sui Lin was dumbfounded, "Oh, okay…Ge, you want to eat eggplant? I"ll go look in the kitchen." He turned and walked over toward the kitchen.
Once he walked away, Jian Sui Ying was left with Li Yu who felt more or less awkward.
Enthusiastically patting his shoulder, Jian Sui Ying smiled and said, "What are you standing for, sit down."
Li Yu politely smiled back and sat down, and Jian Sui Ying immediately follow suit, sitting beside him. He looked at the smooth and clear outline of his face—the more he looked, the more uncommon it was. Right now, he really wished he could press him against the sofa, rip the soccer jacket off his body and behave in a very unscrupulous manner.
Now that he thought about it, he never played with a boy wearing that kind of attire before. Later, when he has him in his hands, how much will his preference change?
Jian Sui Ying tried as much as possible to maintain a normal facial expression as he used an elder brother"s tone of voice to speak. "You guys are taking the college entrance examination [6]soon. Now that you"ve switched school, are you able to adjust?"
"It"s okay, there are exams everywhere." Li Yu just casually answered without much thought to it as his eyes travelled toward the kitchen.
Jian Sui Ying lit a cigarette but as he was about to place it in his mouth, he glanced at Li Yu, smiled and asked, "Do you want one?"
Li Yu slightly frowned, "Thanks, but I don"t smoke."
Jian Sui Ying looked at his not so ordinary porcelain face and the calmness that came with unfamiliarity. His fondness for him seemed to increase even more.
He was not blind—he could clearly see that Li Yu was blatantly ignoring him.
That was also not surprising. He was Jian Sui Lin"s friend after all, so he might have said some things behind his back that probably caused his friend to be at odds with him.
However, the more it was like that, the more challenging it was, right?
Jian Dashao really enjoyed the psychological conquest for that type of person—that is, the kind that loves to ignore him. It has just the right flavor to him.
But the thing was, it seemed he did not see the awkwardness in Li Yu"s eyes as he continued to closely talk nonsense to him. "You"re called Li Yu, huh. Which Yu?"
"Yu from the word jade artifact."[7]
"Oh, isn"t that a young lady"s name?"
Li Yu"s eyelids hung down slightly as he remained silent.
"That"s a very good name. If it was some other guy"s name, it would not work. But for you, it adds character— it"s natural." There was already a trace of ambiguity in the last words Jian Sui Ying said.
Who knew if Li Yu heard the vagueness in it or not since his eyelids were still lowered.
Jian Sui Ying forced a smiled, "Hey, have we met when I was younger? How old were you when you left Beijing?"
A flash of light crossed Li Yu"s downcast eyes before he said in an almost inaudible tone, "I don"t think so."
"Probably not then. I don"t have any impression of it. How old was Jian Sui Lin when he came to my house? I"ve also forgotten…at that time, you must have been also a kid. If you were handsome then as you are now, I definitely wouldn"t have forgotten. Hahaha."
Li Yu"s face was already displaying a slight sign of impatient, however out of consideration, he did not get up and leave.
Jian Sui Ying continued to ask, "How"s your grades? Which schools are you taking an exam for?"
"It"s okay and only local universities."
Jian Sui Ying"s skin was very thick, the more the person ignored him, the more exhilarated he was. He continued to chat along with worry. "That"s right, there"s a lot of good universities here. What"s good are there to go to an unfamiliar place? You must be really tired now. Xiao Lin Zi[8] often stays up until really late at night and doesn"t sleep. Actually, that"s not really good. Especially since the closer examination day is, the more rest is needed. If something were to happen to your health, it would interfere with things, right?"
"Right."
"It"s very good that you guys exercise during your spare time since your health is the most important after all."
As he said that, he once again seized an opportunity to pat Li Yu"s back, feeling the firm muscle beneath.
Li Yu awkwardly nodded his head, "I"m going to help in the kitchen."
"Hey, there"s no need for that. He can do something this small. You"re the guest, it"s okay for you to sit down…that"s right, I wanted to ask you, does Xiao Lin Zi have a girlfriend?"
Li Yu shook his head, "He doesn"t."
"He doesn"t? He should be really welcomed by the girls at school? I was a student once, at this age talking about love is not a big deal. It"s just, at this crucial moment, it"s better not to waste time. If he does have one, you have to tell me. I"m only saying this for his own good."
"Jian Ge, he really doesn"t have one."
"Oh, then do you have one?"
Actually, that was what Jian Sui Ying truly wanted to ask. Whether Jian Sui Lin had a girlfriend or not was a trifling matter to him.
Li Yu really didn"t want to sit there anymore, but he couldn"t just get up. Without any better option, he grudgingly said, "I don"t have one either."
Jian Sui Ying immediately became cheerful. He was more or less done and no longer needed to drag that nonsense talk on anymore.
The impatience in Li Yu"s eyes was already impossible to hide.
Actually Jian Sui Ying—this outspoken, straightforward, popular and generous man, have tons of friends, who he would have never gone as far as to provoke trouble from. But, in regard to Li Yu, he could just casually say a word or two and make that inexperience and naïve boy start to worship him.
Unfortunately, as Jian Sui Lin"s friend—there was no need to care for him. That"s what Li Yu thought.
Jian Sui Ying himself knew when to stop. Just leaving an impression on him was more than enough. If he were to bother him even more, that would certainly produce the opposite of the desired result.
“Then you sit here, I’ll go take a look in the kitchen,” Jian Sui Ying said before he got up and walked toward the kitchen.
Only then was Li Yu able to let out a sigh of relief.
When Jian Sui Ying entered the kitchen, he saw his little brother with an ap.r.o.n tied around his waist as he focused on stir frying the dish.
Jian Sui Ying leaned against the door frame, "How is it coming along?"
"Ge, it"s almost done. You should go back and sit down, the smoke is really huge here."
"It"s fine," Jian Sui Ying replied as he walked toward Jian Sui Lin"s side and looked at the emerald green peppers in the frying pan. "Smells pretty good."
Since Jian Sui Lin was young until now, his older brother had never looked kindly at him. Throughout the year, there were only a few days he was pleasant to him like this—that made it hard for him to adapt to.
Jian Sui Ying pretended to absent-mindedly ask, "Why did Mr. Li"s grandson transfer to a school back here at such a time? Can he keep up with the studies?"
"He can. He"s a really smart person."
"He flew here in such a formidable manner, the young girls in your school must be going crazy."
Jian Sui Lin laughed, "That"s right. The day he just arrived, the hallway was packed with girls who ran over to our cla.s.sroom to have look at him. Let"s just say, this is not an exaggeration at all."
Jian Sui Ying doesn"t know how to describe it, but mentality he was a bit pleased with himself. Most likely because he felt that his own eyes did not betray him.
Translator"s Note:
[1] Feyenoord Rotterdam – Dutch professional football (soccer) club based in Rotterdam, playing in the Eredivisie. The history of Feyenoord, a Dutch football club formed in 1908, is among the longest and most successful in Dutch football. The club won their first national championship in 1924 and over nearly a century has won thirty major trophies.
[2]Dashao - son of a rich family
[3] Ge - literal meaning, older brother, but is also a suffix used for an older male, regardless of status. I prefer using this over saying "brother" since later on, it sounds odd to the mouth for me to say like Brother Jian, Brother "whatever," so I"ll stick with Ge. J
[4] 如花似玉rú huā sì yù - literal idiom: delicate as a flower, refined as a precious jade
[5] Wu Ma -housekeeper/nanny *ma indicates mom
[6] NCEE – National College Entrance Examination (college entrance exam in PRC) 普通高等學校招生全國統一考試[Pǔtōng Gāoděng Xuéxiào Zhāoshēng Quánguó Tǒngyī Kǎoshì]
[7] Yu means jade, so Li Yu"s Yu comes from the word, jade artifact.
[8]Xiao Lin Zi - Jian Sui Lin = Xiao (little) + Lin + Zi (add to emphasis boy)