TC Extra 6

The year Ye Xingzhou graduated from high school, he was accepted by a university in the UK and left to study abroad.

At the time, Qi Xing had just entered sixth grade. Just like in previous years, the little boy happily spent the entire summer following his Big Brother around. It wasn’t until a few days before Ye Xingzhou’s flight that he heard from someone else that Big Brother was leaving, and that once he did, he would be gone for several years.

After hearing Ye Xingzhou confirm it himself, the little boy stood there with reddened eyes, holding back his tears for what felt like forever before finally blurting out, “I don’t want to be your friend anymore!”

Then he ran away.

Ye Xingzhou waited downstairs outside Qi Xing’s home for two days before the still-furious little boy reluctantly agreed to come out and see him. Ye Xingzhou took him to Qingping Garden, where the two of them spent the entire evening setting off fireworks.

“Big brother, you’re a bad guy. You never treated me like your friend. Everyone laughs at me for being your little tagalong. You must think so too. You wouldn’t even tell me you were going overseas to study. If nobody else had told me, would I only have found out after you were already gone?”

“You’re probably really happy, aren’t you? No one’s going to keep following you around anymore, so you won’t have to be annoyed by me.”

“High school students don’t want to be friends with elementary school kids. Once you’re a university student, you definitely won’t want to be friends with an elementary school kid like me either. So I don’t want to see you again. Bye-bye, I’m going to find other friends.”

The child sat on the stone steps with his head down, his voice becoming more and more muffled as he spoke, and he seemed increasingly aggrieved.

Ye Xingzhou handed him a sparkler: “Want to play?”

Against the backdrop of fireworks illuminating the night, Ye Xingzhou’s face seemed covered by a hazy veil, difficult to make out clearly. Only those gentle eyes, smiling as they looked at him, stood out.

“…What are you smiling at?”

“It was my fault for not telling you beforehand. I didn’t know how to bring it up, and I didn’t expect my little boy to be this heartbroken. I’m sorry.”

Ye Xingzhou spoke very seriously, not in a tone meant to coax a child; he was genuinely apologizing to Qi Xing.

“Then can you not go?”

“I can’t.”

As sorry as he felt, and as reluctant as he was to leave his little boy behind, he could only obtain what he had to obtain by following this path he had chosen.

The child may now understand now, but he would eventually when he grew up.

Qi Xing was angry and frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.

He was still too young. Even though the adults spoiled and indulged him, many things remained beyond his control, and he had no choice but to accept them.

“Qi Xing, I will never forget you.”

“As long as you still want me as your big brother, I definitely won’t be the first one to forget.”

“If you don’t believe me, we can pinky promise.”

Ye Xingzhou stretched out his hand and raised his chin to signal to him.

Qi Xing considered himself too old to believe in pinky promises anymore, but since Ye Xingzhou had suggested it, he reluctantly reached out his hand anyway.

You must not lie to me.

On the day Ye Xingzhou left, Qi Xing didn’t go to see him off. The little guy was probably still angry, and more than that, felt that it would be too embarrassing to go and cry in front of him. Even if he cried, that bastard would still leave, so it was better not to go at all.

After Ye Xingzhou left, Qi Xing threw all the model figures and snacks he had bought for him into the trash, but after only a night, he couldn’t bear it and quietly dug them back out again. In the end, he hugged the pile of things for a long time, staring blankly ahead while secretly wiping away his tears.

Over the following year, they actually kept in touch very little. Ye Xingzhou had only just arrived overseas and was busy adapting to both school and life; Qi Xing, an elementary school student, wasn’t allowed much access to the internet or his phone. Moreover, he was still sulking and refused to call Ye Xingzhou unless Ye Xingzhou took the initiative to call him first.

As a result, they ended up talking only once every month or two. Even when the calls connected, there wasn’t much to say. In the past, the little boy would chatter endlessly, telling Ye Xingzhou every tiny detail about everything that happened around him, but now, he didn’t want to say anything anymore.

Ye Xingzhou was actually quite helpless. Apart from sending gifts back from time to time, he didn’t know what other way he could make his little friend happy.

That summer, Ye Xingzhou didn’t return to China. Instead, he found an internship there.If he wanted to enter the Ye Group smoothly in the future, he needed to accumulate more experience and build an outstanding résumé and academic record.

The child’s anticipation slowly turned into disappointment. His god-grandfather reminded him that he could simply fly to England to visit big brother himself. He thought about it before shaking his head: “I don’t want to go. He’s so busy. Even if I go, he won’t have time to play with me.”

From that day onward, he never mentioned Ye Xingzhou’s name again, as though he had completely forgotten the big brother who had accompanied him for so many years.

After entering middle school, something major happened to Qi Xing.

During those two years, his father’s business expanded at an astonishing pace, and he became far too high-profile, offending too many people. He was kidnapped by someone hired by one of his father’s competitors.

The child was missing for five whole days before returning home. Luckily, he only suffered minor injuries. Qi Xing himself had always been rather carefree and wasn’t terribly shaken by the experience, but his parents were nearly frightened to death.

Ye Xingzhou only heard about this six months later when Old Master Chen called to tell him. By then, he and Qi Xing hadn’t been in contact for a very long time, so he had no idea something like this had happened.

“Qi Ronghua and his wife are both idiots. They’ve driven that little boy Qi Xing to the brink of depression. He doesn’t even like to talk anymore. If you have the time, you should comfort him. I’m an old man, and whatever’s on his mind, he won’t tell me.”

Ye Xingzhou had never imagined such a drastic change could happen to Qi Xing. After hanging up, he sat in silence for a long time. Four months later, he reconnected with his little friend.

Qi Xing’s face appeared on the computer screen. Contrary to what Old Master Chen had said about him becoming more reserved, he was smiling just like before: “So the busy man finally has time for me.”

Ye Xingzhou studied him carefully and quietly let out a sigh of relief, apologizing first: “I’m sorry, Xingxing. I broke my promise. I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

Qi Xing pouted, “Big brother really knows how to turn the tables. You’re the one who’s always busy, never having time for a little kid like me.”

“Mn, it was my fault.”

Just like that, in only a few words, the barrier that had stood between them for so long seemed to disappear.

It was only later that Ye Xingzhou realized that perhaps the reason the child who had been angry with him for so long suddenly forgave him was because, as Old Master Chen said, he genuinely didn’t have anyone else to play with anymore.

Ye Xingzhou’s heart softened, filled with guilt and heartache for Qi Xing. From that day on, no matter how demanding his classes became or how exhausted he was, he would always do his best to make time to chat with Qi Xing.

Gradually, things went back to how they were before where Qi Xing would tell him everything, regardless of whether he was happy or unhappy. He, in turn, tried his best to find topics to talk about sharing his new experiences overseas to make his little friend happy.

Since then, every summer, the child would fly to England and spend a month with him and during Christmas break, Ye Xingzhou would return to China to visit his little boy.

Time slipped by in the blink of an eye; it was already Ye Xingzhou’s sixth year in England, and he had completed his master’s degree and was working at an investment bank there. Qi Xing, meanwhile, had grown from an elementary school student into a high school student.

That winter break, Qi Xing flew to England alone. After getting off the plane, he called Ye Xingzhou. When Ye Xingzhou hurried to the airport, he found Qi Xing sitting on the floor in a corner of the arrivals hall, leaning against his suitcase and sleeping soundly.

When Ye Xingzhou woke him, Qi Xing stared at him blankly for three seconds before climbing to his feet and throwing himself straight into Ye Xingzhou’s arms.

Ye Xingzhou was knocked back two steps by the impact, steadied himself with both hands, and smiled helplessly.

The last time they had seen each other was the previous summer. During Christmas, Ye Xingzhou hadn’t been able to return to China because of work, so Qi Xing couldn’t wait until the next summer vacation and decided to secretly run over during winter break instead.

“Big brother, aren’t you super happy to see me?”

“Look how much taller I’ve grown! I don’t have to look up at you anymore.”

“If you make me happy, I’ll stay here and keep you company for the New Year, so you won’t be all lonely and pitiful.”

The kid was just as talkative as he was when he was little. Ye Xingzhou let him chatter on while guiding him into the car and fastening his seatbelt: “Sit properly, we’re going home.”

They chatted on and off in the car. Ye Xingzhou had taken leave at the last minute and had to answer two work calls along the way.

After hanging up the second one, Qi Xing suddenly asked, “You’ve already graduated, so why aren’t you going back to China? How much longer are you going to work here?”

“I’ll go back after gaining two years of experience,” Ye Xingzhou said casually before asking in return, “You’re about to start your final year of high school, have you decided where you’re going to university yet?”

Qi Xing was a little unhappy and didn’t really want to answer.

His parents’ idea was, of course, for him to study abroad. Wherever he wanted to study, his father would simply donate a building there and secure a spot for him, but Qi Xing didn’t care.

“I’ll just apply to a university here in Huaicheng.”

Ye Xingzhou raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: “Taking the National College Entrance Examination? Can you do it?”

Qi Xing: “…”

Whether he could or not, he had to.

Otherwise, if Ye Xingzhou returned to China next year while he went overseas for university… Wouldn’t they just end up long-distance again? Other people call it a long-distance relationship, but theirs is more like long-distance… friendship?

The thought made Qi Xing feel quite awkward, but couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

“I probably won’t be able to take much time off to keep you company, so don’t wander around by yourself. Call me if anything happens,” Ye Xingzhou instructed him.

“Am I causing you trouble by coming here?”

“No.”

Qi Xing could only stay in England for a week before returning home for the Chinese New Year, while Ye Xingzhou still had to go to work every day.

The next morning when Qi Xing woke up alone in the empty apartment, it finally dawned on him that Ye Xingzhou was no longer a student. Their schedules would only become more and more out of sync, and it would be difficult for him to find time to play with him like before. Showing up here without any warning really had caused Ye Xingzhou a lot of trouble.

Qi Xing couldn’t help sulking, unsure whether he was angry at himself or at Ye Xingzhou.

For the next week, he either stayed in Ye Xingzhou’s apartment playing video games during the day, or wandered around the nearby shopping malls and street markets by himself, utterly bored.

If only he hadn’t come…

When Qi Xing thought back to how excited he’d been before flying over, he honestly wondered whether he’d been possessed at the time.

On the last afternoon before leaving, he walked to a café across the street from Ye Xingzhou’s office, waiting for Ye Xingzhou to get off work.

Twenty minutes later, Ye Xingzhou came out, accompanied by a very beautiful blonde foreign woman. They stood by the roadside talking. Ye Xingzhou had his back to the street, so Qi Xing couldn’t see his expression clearly, but he saw that the woman was staring at Ye Xingzhou with a bright smile on her face. Qi Xing tightened his grip around his coffee cup, and suddenly, for whatever reason, he wasn’t happy anymore.

The woman got into her car and left first, and only then did Ye Xingzhou turn around and notice him, somewhat surprised.

Qi Xing slumped back into his chair, not wanting to pay him any attention. For the rest of that evening, no matter what they did, Qi Xing remained listless and depressed, ignoring Ye Xingzhou even more.

Ye Xingzhou glanced at him several times, scrutinizing his expression, seemingly lost in thought.

Back at the apartment, after showering, Qi Xing climbed into bed, declaring that he was going to sleep. He pulled the blanket over his head, turned around, and lay completely still.

Ye Xingzhou left him alone and opened his laptop to deal with some work before taking a shower himself and sitting down on the bed looking at him.

Qi Xing wasn’t asleep at all. He slowly peeked out from under the covers and glared at the person staring down at him: “What are you looking at?”

“What are you angry about?”

Qi Xing gave a quiet snort. “What could I possibly be angry about? I shouldn’t have come. I disturbed your date, and you must be annoyed with me to death.”

Ye Xingzhou only needed a moment to realize what he had misunderstood. “She was just one of my clients.”

…Was there really a need to smile so much when meeting clients?

Well fine—he didn’t see Ye Xingzhou smiling, it was someone else who was doing the smiling, but he was still unhappy and extremely frustrated, unable to explain why.

“Go to sleep early.”

Ye Xingzhou reached out and ruffled his hair. He didn’t say anything more and just turned off the light and climbed into bed.

As Ye Xingzhou lay down beside him, the warmth of his body drifted closer. Qi Xing awkwardly turned over, presenting him with his back. Closing his eyes, he forced himself not to listen to the erratic pounding of his heart.

Even though he had shared a bed with this bastard countless times growing up, tonight he felt unusually uncomfortable. It was completely inexplicable.

The boy couldn’t help but wonder if he was sick. Still caught up in his confused thoughts, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

He had a dream that night. In it, he was entwined and embracing his big brother, pinned down by Ye Xingzhou and heard him calling his name while panting. An abnormal heat surged in his body. He was drowning in it and felt a pleasure he had never felt before, making him lose control and unable to stop.

When Qi Xing awoke from his dream, the first rays of morning light were already filtering through the curtains.

The bed next to him was half empty; Ye Xingzhou had already gotten up.

The remnants of the dream made Qi Xing’s heart pound violently. He sat there frozen for a long moment before cautiously lowering his head and peeking into his pajama pants before letting out a cry of despair.

…He’s done for.

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