TC Extra 1

Coming out of the ice cream shop, Qi Xing held a cone of a different flavour in each hand, taking advantage of his parents not being around to eat to his heart’s content.

He stood by the roadside licking his ice cream while waiting for the family driver to pick him up, curiously looking around.

This area belonged to the high school division of his school, and classes had just let out, so there were people everywhere; for the sake of this little treat, he, an elementary school student, had deliberately taken a detour of two streets to come here.

It was terribly hot, and the child swayed his head from side to side, finding everything rather boring. As his gaze wandered aimlessly, he noticed another person not far ahead.

A high school student, a boy, leaning against a bicycle with his head lowered as he looked at his phone, his face cold and expressionless.

Qi Xing stared at him flippantly, but what he was thinking was, ‘This big brother is really beautiful.’

Unlike those other obnoxious high school boys who reeked of sweat and were always eager to show off their fists to intimidate people, this big brother before him was clean and neat, looking as though he had stepped straight out of one of the comics he had read, with even the strands of his hair seeming to shine.

The child licked the cream off his lips, entirely lacking any awareness that an elementary school student and a high school student could not possibly become friends, and walked over.

“Big brother—”

Hearing the clear childish voice draw out the words, Ye Xingzhou raised his eyes. Standing before him was a child around ten years old, looking at him with a brilliant smile. “Big brother, you’re really handsome. Can I be friends with you?”

Ye Xingzhou’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, his expression somewhat cold as he remained silent.

The child raised the ice cream in his hand before him. “You can have this. It’s strawberry-flavoured.”

Ye Xingzhou’s gaze fell on the slightly melted ice cream and paused.

He had no idea where this child had come from, and perhaps it was another prank orchestrated by someone. Ye Xingzhou had never believed that children were necessarily innocent and pure—at the very least, there had never been a time when he himself was innocent or pure.

Especially this child in front of him, who looked like a porcelain doll but had an unruly expression; who knew whether he might be some little devil?

Seeing the big brother staring at his ice cream without moving, Qi Xing assumed he wanted to eat it but was too embarrassed to accept, so he enthusiastically pushed it forward again and simply stuffed it directly into his hand: “Here you go.”

The moment his hand was grabbed, a flash of impatience passed through Ye Xingzhou’s eyes, and his brows furrowed even more.

The melted cream ran over his fingers, filling him with disgust. Sullenly, he threw the ice cream into a nearby trash can.

“Stay away from me.” Ye Xingzhou’s tone was fierce.

The child froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Why did you throw it away? You big villain! If you didn’t want it, then forget it, but why did you throw it away? And you yelled at me, what are you yelling at me for?What makes you so great? You owe me my ice-cream!”

Sure enough, he was still just another annoying, obnoxious high school boy!

When Lin Zhinian came out of the bookstore, he saw Ye Xingzhou looking displeased as he wiped his hands with a tissue. In front of him stood a child wearing an elementary school uniform, his eyes red as he glared at him furiously and demanded that he compensate him for the ice cream, while Ye Xingzhou ignored him completely.

The sight left Lin Zhinian somewhat confused. He called Ye Xingzhou’s name, and Ye Xingzhou glanced at him before mounting his bicycle. “Let’s go.”

He rode off first. When Qi Xing saw that the person had run away, he became even angrier: “You’re not allowed to run away! You bullied a child! You have no shame!”

He chased after him for several steps, but naturally could not catch up. He stopped, panting as he stamped his foot.

Lin Zhinian looked back at him several times, but ultimately said nothing and rode after Ye Xingzhou.

The child sulked over the matter for several hours, then turned around and forgot all about it.

The next time he saw that good-looking but detestable high school student was a week later. Craving snacks, he once again took a detour toward the high school division after school to buy some, and while cutting through the central park as a shortcut, he happened to come across a group of high school students fighting inside.

Qi Xing naturally loved watching drama and was not afraid of trouble. Anyone else who encountered such a scene would certainly have hidden as far away as possible, but he stood nearby with a lollipop between his lips and began watching.

Although it was called a group fight, it was really a case of many bullying one. Seven or eight people were surrounding and beating up a single person, but the one being attacked was extremely formidable; even while fighting so many people at once, he had not been knocked down, and although his face was injured, he had not fallen much behind.

Qi Xing recognized him at a glance. The one being beaten was the villain who had thrown away his ice cream last time, and he felt somewhat gleeful at his misfortune, watching with even greater enthusiasm.

Ye Xingzhou threw punch after punch, each strike exceptionally vicious. Of the eight people opposing him, three had already been beaten so badly they could not get back up, though he himself was not in much better condition; he had just been struck by the wooden club in one of their hands, and his ribs were probably broken, leaving him to hold himself up entirely through sheer determination.

After finishing his lollipop, the child decided that if they continued fighting, this detestable villain would probably have his face ruined. His eyes rolled, and he suddenly shouted,

“Officer, there’s people fighting over here!”

Seven or eight pairs of eyes turned toward him at once. Qi Xing loudly shouted in the direction behind the bushes, “Officer, over here! They’re still fighting!”

The thugs surrounding Ye Xingzhou looked at one another. With the bushes blocking their view, they could not immediately tell whether Qi Xing was telling the truth, but they were guilty after all; after hesitating for several seconds, they scrambled to their feet and fled in the other direction, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

There were, of course, no police officers. The child walked forward, raised his head, and held out his hand toward Ye Xingzhou with an imposing air. “Pay me back for my ice cream!”

Ye Xingzhou ignored him completely, picked up the schoolbag and uniform jacket he had thrown onto the ground earlier, casually slung them over one shoulder, and turned to leave.

“Big villain!” Qi Xing flew into a rage. He should never have saved this villain; it would have been best if they had ruined his face!

Ye Xingzhou showed no reaction at all and strode away.

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One day, with nothing better to do, Qi Xing found a yellowed high school graduation photograph tucked inside one of Ye Xingzhou’s old books. At a glance, he spotted Ye Xingzhou standing at the far end of the last row: the tallest one, with the coldest face, but also the most handsome—it could not have been anyone else.

He stared for a moment at the slightly youthful yet still incomparably pretentious Ye Xingzhou in the photograph, then suddenly made a sound of surprise. “Sugar daddy, have I met you before?”

Ye Xingzhou glanced up. Qi Xing looked at him, then lowered his head to look at the photograph again. Ye Xingzhou’s hair had been shorter and his skin paler during high school, but his appearance had not actually changed much; still, if it had not been for the school uniform he was wearing, Qi Xing would long since have forgotten the bastard he had only met twice in total as a child.

He fell silent.

“When I was in elementary school, I once went to buy ice cream near the high school division’s entrance and took a liking to a good-looking bastard. I wanted to treat him to one, but not only did he reject my kindness, he threw away my ice cream and was mean to me,” Qi Xing said darkly.

Ye Xingzhou remained calm. “Mm.”

“Later, I ran into him fighting someone in the park. I helped scare away the people beating him up, but he still ignored me and left without even saying thank you. With a bastard like that, shouldn’t I have minded my own business and just let him get beaten?”

Ye Xingzhou nodded again. “Mm.”

Qi Xing was speechless; it had been Ye Xingzhou? It really had been Ye Xingzhou?

“Bastard, did you already know?”

Ye Xingzhou did know, though not particularly early. Once, when he had gone to Qi Xing’s parents’ house for dinner, Qi Xing’s mother had shown him photographs from Qi Xing’s childhood; after flipping through only a few, he had remembered that the arrogant, smug child from back then had turned out to be Qi Xing.

The ways of the world were often this mysterious. It turned out they really had met long ago, even though the memory was not particularly worth commemorating.

The moment Qi Xing saw his attitude, which was practically an admission, he became displeased, climbed onto him, and grabbed his collar. “How can you be so annoying? It was bad enough that you didn’t appreciate someone showing you kindness, but you even put on that sour face. No wonder you had no friends.”

Ye Xingzhou leaned back into the sofa, tilted his head slightly up to look at him, and asked mockingly, “You call that showing me kindness?”

“What else was it?” Qi Xing angrily poked him. “I told you that you were handsome, wanted to be friends with you, and even gave you ice cream. What would you call that if not showing you kindness?”

Qi Xing stared at him. “How are a child’s sincere words sweet-talking? And what was wrong with melted ice cream? It was still ice cream. Why did you have so many demands for an elementary school student? I was showing you kindness. You can even think of it as me trying to pursue you.”

A mocking look entered Ye Xingzhou’s eyes. “You had already learned to pursue men in elementary school. You were quite capable.”

Qi Xing clenched his fist. “Are you trying to start a fight?”

Ye Xingzhou rarely laughed aloud, and Qi Xing glared furiously at him. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” Ye Xingzhou’s gaze travelled over him as he said unhurriedly, “You were rather cute when you were little. You really were a baby. What a pity.”

Qi Xing felt strangely uncomfortable at his words. “You’re a pervert.”

He was still unhappy. Since this baby had been cute, why had that bastard Ye Xingzhou still been so mean to him? Had Ye Xingzhou treated him better back then, would they not have become friends long ago?

“Qi Xing.” Ye Xingzhou saw through his thoughts at a glance and reminded him, “High school students don’t become friends with elementary school students. You were asking for the impossible.”

Qi Xing sneered. “High school students don’t become friends with elementary school students, but a thirty-year-old man will force himself on a young man in his early twenties.”

Ye Xingzhou showed no shame. “What’s wrong with that?”

Qi Xing remained gloomy for a while, then said quietly, “Ye Xingzhou, maybe you were actually the catalyst for awakening my sexual orientation.”

Although he had been ignorant and confused at the time, as an elementary school student, had he not been tempted by this man’s good looks, he would never have boldly gone over to show his interest, nor would he have become embarrassed and angry after being rejected.

Unfortunately, that tiny spark of awakening had only just caught fire before it was extinguished. Not only that, but from then on, he had instinctively kept his distance from Ye Xingzhou’s type—aloof, pretentious men who acted too cool for everyone—when in fact, at the very beginning, Ye Xingzhou’s type had been exactly what he liked.

Ye Xingzhou said nothing, pressed a hand to the back of his head, pulled him down toward himself, and kissed him.

Of course there was regret. It turned out that during the period when he had been at his most isolated and helpless, Qi Xing had already appeared and helped him; apart from Qi Xing, there had been no one else.

Fortunately, they met in the end, not too early and not too late. They had not missed too much, and there was still far more ahead of them.

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