“Why?” Fang Li didn’t understand. His first instinct was to ask, “Is Boss Xu asking you to stay in Yicheng?”
“Not sure. But I’ll find a way to make money—I don’t need you to worry about that. What’s the point of you going to night school?”
“Then what should I be doing?”
Qin Weidong frowned on the other end of the line. He didn’t understand why Fang Li would even ask that. “Come to me. Let’s go back to how things used to be.”
“What do you mean ‘how things used to be’?” Fang Li’s voice suddenly rose, unable to contain the emotion. “I used to be the young master of the mine—but not anymore. Now I’m nothing… Qin Weidong, I don’t have any skills. I can’t even support myself!”
“So what?” The crease between Qin Weidong’s brows deepened, irritation creeping in. “Tell me what you want. Whatever it is, I’ll figure it out. Just give me a little time. Isn’t that enough?”
“That’s not the point at all!” Fang Li didn’t know how to put it into words. It felt like someone had reached into his chest and twisted his heart—and that someone was none other than the most important person to him: Qin Weidong. “Qin Weidong, I don’t want to rely on you for everything. I don’t want to be the kind of man who breaks down crying in your arms every time something goes wrong. Don’t you get that?!”
“What happened?”
Qin Weidong’s expression turned serious in an instant.
Fang Li realized he’d let something slip in his panic and hurried to cover it up. “N-No… it’s nothing…”
But Qin Weidong had already caught the tremor behind his words. “Tell me. What happened?”
His deep voice echoed in Fang Li’s ears, and all at once, his eyes burned red and that ache welled up inside. “It’s really nothing… You must’ve misheard…”
The sadness Fang Li was barely holding back came out as a whisper—but to Qin Weidong, it was deafening. All the anger in him instantly disappeared the moment he heard those three words: It’s really nothing.
“Lili?” he called, voice shaking.
And that was the moment Fang Li couldn’t hold it in any longer.
He admitted it—he had hidden behind Qin Weidong for far too long. So long that he’d grown used to handing off all his problems and difficulties for Qin Weidong to solve, never once learning how to face adversity on his own. And now that he had finally decided to stand on his own two feet—just this once—it was proving so much harder than he had imagined.
And when Qin Weidong called him “Lili” again, it made him want to let go of every ounce of strength he’d been clinging to…
“Weren’t you just yelling at me a minute ago?” Fang Li said, voice trembling with grievance.
Qin Weidong’s tone softened. “Lili, I’m sorry. Just tell me—what happened?”
Fang Li bit down on his lip. “I lost the money… all three thousand yuan you gave me… I lost it…”
In the end, he couldn’t hold it in. He never could when he was with Qin Weidong. He wiped at the tears rolling down his face and turned his back so the dorm manager wouldn’t see him crying.
“Qin Weidong… am I really just completely useless?!”
When he realized it was only about the lost money, Qin Weidong actually felt a slight wave of relief—but the moment he heard Fang Li’s sobs over the phone, his heart twisted in pain. “Don’t cry, Lili… It’s okay. It’s just money. If it’s gone, it’s gone.”
But the moment those words left his mouth, Fang Li’s tears only came down harder.
“How is it okay?! That was three thousand yuan! Why aren’t you yelling at me or something? You should be yelling at me!”
Qin Weidong gripped the phone tighter and tighter as he listened to the crying on the other end. He glanced at the clock hanging in the hotel—if he took the national road back to Changding, it would take about two and a half hours. If he drove fast, maybe less than two.
“Lili, listen to me. Go back to your dorm and get some sleep. I’m coming to you now, alright?”
“Aren’t… aren’t you in Yicheng?”
Fang Li sniffled, but Qin Weidong just repeated gently that he should go get some rest and not think about anything else.
After hanging up, Qin Weidong rushed upstairs to ask Xu Jianchuan for leave. Xu Jianchuan was sprawled on a massage bed, two attendants working oil into his back.
Qin Weidong never took time off. Back when they were developing the Xiahe Mine, he had handled everything from mining to transport to smelting. He worked around the clock, sometimes for days without sleep, and never once complained.
When Xu Jianchuan asked where he was going, Qin Weidong simply said that his younger brother in Changding wasn’t feeling well—he needed to go check on him.
The assessment and inspection team sent by Kunshan had yet to fully arrive, and the top leadership wouldn’t be coming until tomorrow. So Xu Jianchuan gave him a day off.
“Alright,” he said, “but my brother-in-law and the Kunshan manager in charge of the acquisition will be here tomorrow. I told you before—about tagging along with the Kunshan evaluation team to learn. I managed to get you in. Tomorrow’s their first meeting. You have to make it back in time. Don’t delay the real business, and don’t embarrass me.” As a small-time private owner of a clothing factory, Xu Jianchuan had no way to personally connect with a massive state-owned enterprise like Kunshan. They were clearly doing it as a favor to Director Wei.
Qin Weidong agreed. Xu Jianchuan tossed him the car keys and let him go.
……
In the middle of the night, Fang Li stood at the school gate. The streets were silent and deserted. All the shops were closed. He had been waiting for a long time, now sitting on the fruit store’s steps. Summer brought swarms of mosquitoes, and his legs were covered in bites.
Fang Li dozed off at some point. Around 1 a.m., the sound of a car engine came from the corner. In those days, cars were rare. The headlights woke him, and the car came to a stop right in front of him.
“…Qin Weidong.”
Still half-asleep, Fang Li didn’t need to open his eyes to know it was him. Before he could fully come to, Qin Weidong had already lifted him off the ground.
“Didn’t I tell you to wait in the dorm? Why don’t you ever listen?”
Fang Li leaned his head against Qin Weidong’s chest, breathing in the familiar scent on him. He murmured honestly, “You said you were coming—I couldn’t possibly sleep. I just… I wanted to see you sooner.”
Qin Weidong carried him to the car, placed him inside, and fastened his seatbelt for him. Even though most people wouldn’t bother with a seatbelt at that hour, he did. His gaze dropped to Fang Li’s pale calves—dotted all over with angry red mosquito bites.
Now fully awake, Fang Li noticed where Qin Weidong was looking. He scratched at a bite, grumbling, “You didn’t yell at me when I asked you to over the phone. Don’t start scolding me now…”
Qin Weidong only gave him a look—exasperated, helpless. He reached over to stop Fang Li from scratching.
Then he started the car and drove them to a hotel nearby.
Fang Li had never been to this place before. After parking the car, Qin Weidong told him, “Wait in the car. I’ll go get us a room.”
Fang Li nodded. After a short wait, Qin Weidong returned with the room key, then picked Fang Li up on his back and carried him upstairs. Fang Li caught a glimpse of the price list in the lobby and was startled: “Qin Weidong, it’s eighty yuan a night here…!”
“Mm. This place has hot water.”
Once inside the room, Qin Weidong turned on the shower. He lifted Fang Li with one arm and set him on the sink. Fang Li thought to himself that in the time they’d been apart, Qin Weidong’s arms seemed even stronger.
He touched Qin Weidong’s brow and said, “Looks like you’ve gotten a bit tanner…”
Qin Weidong crouched down to remove his socks and shoes. This was always how things were between them—natural, effortless, like breathing.
Even though they’d argued on the phone just a couple of hours ago, none of it seemed to matter.
“Isn’t it exhausting, with all the responsibilities Boss Xu gave you?”
“It’s manageable.”
“Liar—it must be really tiring. Feng Hui told me last time. He said you’re juggling so much, trying to save time and cut costs, barely even getting any sleep.”
“That loudmouth Feng Hui.”
Qin Weidong stood up and rinsed a bar of soap under the faucet, gently lathering Fang Li’s mosquito-bitten legs. Once he was done, he checked Fang Li’s arms and legs that were still exposed and said, “Roll up your shirt. Let me take a look.”
Fang Li obediently rolled up his shirt, revealing his thin stomach and back.
“I lost the money. You’re really not mad at me?”
At that, Qin Weidong’s hand paused. He looked up at Fang Li.
There was something hard to describe in that gaze—confused, questioning. Fang Li grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny and reached out to push his face. “What are you staring at me like that for?”
“Why would you even ask that?” Qin Weidong asked him.
“What do you mean, why?”
Seeing that Fang Li didn’t understand, Qin Weidong thought for a while, and his resolve only grew firmer.
He tossed Fang Li’s socks and shoes into the sink, then led him under the showerhead. As the hot water poured down, Qin Weidong frowned and said, “You never used to ask things like that before. Who taught you? I’m telling you, you should quit that night school sooner rather than later.”
He could tell Fang Li was struggling—learning nothing, and even picking up bad habits. When Fang Li had been with him, when had he ever cried?
Fang Li stood under the hot water for a long time before finally catching on to what Qin Weidong meant.
He didn’t know what to say at first, but then he couldn’t help himself—he laughed.
Qin Weidong tore open the shampoo he’d bought at the front desk, squeezed some into his palm, and began to lather Fang Li’s hair. “What’s so funny? Not crying anymore?”
Fang Li’s head bobbed slightly as he rubbed. “Qin Weidong, I lost the money. Getting scolded is what I deserve…”
Who would blame others for corrupting someone after they’d lost money?
“If you’d done something wrong, I would scold you. But this wasn’t your fault. And to cry over it?” Qin Weidong turned Fang Li’s face toward him. In his eyes, the matter wasn’t worth shedding tears over. But if Fang Li cried, then something was wrong.
He added, “Coming to a place like that night school was a bad idea from the start.”
Fang Li had just been touched by his care—now he was completely speechless.
“Qin Weidong, do you really have such a problem with that night school?” Fang Li gave up and asked, helpless.
Qin Weidong nodded.
He actually nodded…
Fang Li was about to say something when he looked up and saw the hot water pouring down over Qin Weidong’s head, trickling past the long, dark scar across his brow. The wound had healed, but the deep scar would never truly disappear.
Fang Li’s throat tightened. “Then… at least wait until you come back from Yicheng… okay?”
Perhaps because it was so rare for Fang Li to be this obedient, Qin Weidong wrapped an arm around his waist and lowered his head to kiss him on the lips.
The next morning, Qin Weidong brought Fang Li to the nearest bank by the school to deposit money.
He’d brought the entire 35,000 yuan that Xu Jianchuan had paid him. He kept 5,000 for himself and deposited the remaining 30,000 into an account under Fang Li’s name. At the counter, the bank clerk issued them a passbook.
Fang Li stared at the numbers in the booklet, reading them over and over again.
“You really gave it all to me?” he asked anxiously. “Is this okay? We gave them that much money and all we got was this tiny little booklet?”
Back at the mine, everything had been paid in cash. He had never seen a passbook before—such a thin slip of paper for so much money felt unsettling.
“That’s how it works in the city,” Qin Weidong replied.
He helped Fang Li tuck the booklet away. “I’ve still got things to do in Yicheng, so I need to head back. If you need money, just come here to withdraw it. I showed you how just now.”
Fang Li nodded. “Okay, okay, I remember. Don’t talk to me like you did at the bank though, like I’m some little kid. The bank lady kept laughing at me. I get it after one explanation…”
Qin Weidong ruffled his hair and brushed the fringe away from his forehead, revealing Fang Li’s bright, delicate features. He had cried the day before, but thankfully there was no swelling today. “Your hair’s getting long.”
“Will you cut it for me when you come back?”
“Sure.”
Xu Jianchuan’s car was parked not far from the school. Qin Weidong glanced at the time—by the time he got back, Wei Jianghe and the others would probably be arriving.
As he opened the car door, he asked, “You really don’t want to come with me to Yicheng?”
“I already promised you I wouldn’t go back to night school… I should at least finish out the last few classes.”
Fang Li didn’t have time for regret now. This was the best excuse he could come up with. After all, he had already agreed to try out for the club with Ding Haoyang the next day.
When he’d lost the money, Ding Haoyang had tried everything to help him. Now that he had money again, he couldn’t just turn his back and ditch him. That’d be too heartless.
Besides… he really did want to give it a try.
Axolotl Translations 
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