After spending an entire day resting at the hotel, Fang Li still felt like he’d been run over by a truck—aching and sore all over. The next morning, Qin Weidong couldn’t wake him up no matter what he tried. In the end, he had no choice but to grab Fang Li’s clothes and dress him himself.
The clothes from yesterday had been torn beyond repair, so Qin Weidong had driven into town early that morning to buy new ones. When Qin Weidong tried to pull socks onto Fang Li’s feet, Fang Li, annoyed and half-asleep, kicked him right in the face.
“Quit messing with me…! Let me sleep a little longer…” he grumbled, yanking his feet away and curling back under the blanket. His voice was still hoarse from the night before, tinged with a sleepy drawl.
Before long, Fang Li felt something heavy press down on the blanket. He didn’t even need to look—he knew it was Qin Weidong. Qin Weidong buried his head in Fang Li’s neck, his warm breath tickling his skin. In the past, if Qin Weidong wanted to kiss him, Fang Li would just let him. But now he knew—kissing wasn’t the end of it anymore. Remembering the kind of pain that followed made Fang Li want to split in two.
He reached out and pushed Qin Weidong’s head away. “Go lie somewhere else… It’s hot!” he protested.
Qin Weidong mumbled into his neck, “You were the one who started talking first…”
Fang Li rolled his eyes so hard he practically strained a muscle. He shoved Qin Weidong’s head again and snapped, “So I’m not even allowed to talk now?! What do you want me to do, tape my mouth shut?!”
Qin Weidong glanced at the time, stripped off his pants, and wrapped himself around Fang Li, closing his eyes. “Don’t move… I’ll just sleep with you a little longer.” He squeezed his eyes shut, not daring to look at him again.
At twenty years old, Qin Weidong was full of restless energy. Now that he had crossed that line—with the person he cherished most in the world waiting for him on the other side—there was no going back. The taste of it only left him wanting more. If it weren’t for the fear of truly angering Fang Li, he would have swallowed him whole.
Held tight in Qin Weidong’s arms, Fang Li couldn’t even think about sleeping anymore. He wanted to get mad, but when he looked at Qin Weidong, covered in bruises and cuts from the night before—marks he himself had left—he couldn’t muster the anger. Overnight, those bruises had turned even uglier, making him look like someone who had been punished at some ancient courthouse.
Sigh… how did things end up like this…
……
Half-asleep, Fang Li finally woke around noon. Qin Weidong coaxed him into eating a little, then drove him to the gate of the technical school. For a co-run night school like theirs, the enrollment procedures were far from formal—if they missed the midway deadline, there was simply no way to get a refund. But Qin Weidong couldn’t care less about a hundred or two hundred yuan; the task entrusted to him by Wei Jianghe was still waiting. He had to get to Jinyang as soon as possible—moreover, Fang Li’s health could not wait.
The two of them went to Fang Li’s dorm to gather his things, preparing to set off in the afternoon. Fang Li searched for his dorm key for a long time. Finally, when he managed to twist the key in the lock, the door was suddenly flung open from inside. It was Ding Haoyang, whose split lip was still bruised and purple. He greeted Fang Li with evident relief:
“Fang Li! You’re finally back! We were so worried about you—we even thought of calling the police!”
Fang Li jumped in shock. Inside the dorm were Qi Jian, Feng Hui, Wu Ke, Yang San’er, and Chen Xin; the entire band was there, all wearing looks of concern.
“Ah… I’m fine…” Fang Li mumbled.
“Fine? You disappeared for two whole days! We even thought that guy had kidnapped you…” someone exclaimed.
Just as Ding Haoyang was about to pull Fang Li aside to check if he’d been bound like in some Hong Kong horror flick, a hand from behind Fang Li blocked him. Ding Haoyang froze, and then Yang San’er immediately recognized the man:
“Brother Ding, that’s the guy who punched you at the nightclub door the other day!”
Of course, Qin Weidong instantly recognized Ding Haoyang as well. But when he saw Ding Haoyang casually extending his hand toward Fang Li, a frown crept between his brows. Fang Li shot him a warning look—a silent request not to cause a scene in public.
Seeing Fang Li’s reproach, Qin Weidong was forced to restrain his temper for the moment. He responded in a cool, measured tone, “Qin Weidong.”
At that, Yang San’er clapped his hands and shouted, “Who cares what your name is! Fang Li, let’s go!”
That single word—”go”—drove Qin Weidong into a cold fury. “Go with you?” Qin Weidong sneered bitterly, “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Hey! Are you looking for a fight?!” Yang San’er yelled in response.
Feng Hui, who stood to the side, didn’t recognize the band members. He only knew Qin Weidong and Fang Li. Seeing that Yang San’er was about to throw a punch, he immediately sided with Qin Weidong and said, “Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you’re doing? Ganging up on one guy? Try throwing a punch if you dare!”
“So what if we do?! That night we just weren’t ready! If we had been, you’d see who would’ve been bleeding by now!”
Seeing tensions rise again, Fang Li shot a glare at Qin Weidong. This bastard, he thought, had gotten everything he wanted from him—body and soul—and still couldn’t be a little more magnanimous?
He raised his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Stop, stop, STOP! Cut it out!!” It was the loudest he could manage, and even then, he coughed twice right after, his throat aching badly.
Everyone turned to look at him, and Qin Weidong even said with concern, “Careful with your voice…”
Whose fault was that? Fang Li couldn’t be bothered to respond.
He took a deep breath and exhaled, then said, “Let me introduce him—this is Qin Weidong, he’s from my hometown. What happened that night was just a misunderstanding.” Fang Li hesitated, a little reluctant, even regretful, but he still forced a smile and said, “Anyway… I won’t be singing with you guys anymore. We’re moving to Jinyang, leaving this afternoon.”
What?! Everyone in the band froze in shock. Only Feng Hui looked genuinely happy. “You’re moving to Jinyang? That’s great! Once I’m back there, I’ll show you around!”
Qi Jian quickly tugged at him to shut him up.
Ding Haoyang was the first to react. “What? Fang Li, you’re leaving?! Why so suddenly? We were still in talks with the bar owner about future gigs…”
Fang Li said, “We’ve finished the gigs for this month. I won’t be singing next month. Besides…” He smiled awkwardly, “Besides, what I did hardly counts as singing. I was basically just a model standing in front. You guys can find someone else who knows how to dress up.” He patted his pocket, then turned to Qin Weidong. “Where’s the money? Where’d you put it?”
Qin Weidong replied, “Your jacket.”
Fang Li let out a soft “Oh” and reached into the inner pocket of his new jacket. Although he was deeply reluctant and it hurt to part with it, he couldn’t resist Qin Weidong’s insistence that he not keep the money.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” he said. “Take this as my way of making it up to you. As for the rest… you’ll have to find someone else.” He placed all the money he had earned from “singing” these past few weeks—sixteen hundred yuan—onto the table.
Ding Haoyang was stunned. He remembered how badly Fang Li needed money. It was the band captain, Wu Ke, who finally spoke. He picked up the money and handed it back to Fang Li.
“Fang Li, this money is yours. Keep it. I’ll talk to Manager Nan Feng and get him to pay you the rest of this month’s withheld salary.” Their arrangement was to get paid a month in arrears—finish one month, get paid the next—so part of the salary was still pending.
Fang Li thought about it. There should be around four hundred yuan left, but he still shook his head. What use was it? Qin Weidong wouldn’t let him keep it anyway.
Seeing Fang Li refuse the money, Ding Haoyang panicked, realizing he really meant to leave. “Captain Wu! You’re just going to let Fang Li go like this?! No way! Our Southeast Northwest Band just started! We finally found a steady gig! We’re just getting off the ground!” Ding Haoyang was truly desperate. He didn’t want Fang Li to leave. Before, they had only gotten odd jobs here and there. The band was little more than a name—members came and went. But with Fang Li, it was the first time Southeast Northwest had stabilized. The first time they actually earned enough to live on, like a real band!
Ding Haoyang rushed over to Fang Li and pleaded, “Fang Li, don’t go! We’re doing so well now! We’re making good money! If we keep at it for a few more years, we might actually make it big! We could earn even more! We could become a real band!”
Qin Weidong blocked Ding Haoyang’s way, saying coldly, “He’s not going to sing with you anymore.”
“And who are you to decide that for him?!” Ding Haoyang tried to shove Qin Weidong aside, but realized quickly that he was no match for the man’s strength. Qin Weidong frowned in annoyance; he hated people who couldn’t understand plain words.
Seeing Qin Weidong’s expression darken, Fang Li hurriedly stepped in to mediate. “Ding Haoyang, I really can’t sing anymore…”
“Fang Li! Think about it again! You love music, don’t you?! All of us—”
“Ding Haoyang!” Wu Ke cut him off sharply. “Fang Li’s already helped us a lot. We’ve made good money—that’s enough. He had to dress as a woman to perform with us, even sing in a voice that wasn’t his own. Was that really singing? Was that even a real band? Precisely because he loves music, we can’t treat him like this! It’s not fair to him!”
Wu Ke’s words settled over the whole band in silence. Indeed, while they performed as themselves on stage—even if it was just at a nightclub—they were at least being genuine, and their music was real. But Fang Li was different. Every second Fang Li stood on that stage, he was pretending. They couldn’t force him to continue like that.
Ding Haoyang’s eyes reddened. Before leaving, he said to Fang Li, “Maybe one day, we’ll make it to Jinyang. When that day comes, we’ll make sure you can sing your own songs on stage.”
Fang Li smiled faintly and said, “Okay.”
Wu Ke then took the rest of the band and left.
After much back and forth, Fang Li finally kept two hundred yuan—Qin Weidong agreed to it too. Fang Li didn’t have much to pack. When Qin Weidong looked at his luggage, it was the same few pieces Fang Li had brought when he first arrived—no more, no less. But Fang Li didn’t seem to mind. He had always been at school, with little opportunity or need to spend money, and besides, it wasn’t something he cared about much. Material things had never mattered much to him. Whether something was expensive or nice, he rarely bothered to distinguish. Just like the outfit Qin Weidong bought for him that morning—Fang Li had no idea how much it cost. He only knew it felt comfortable to wear, and that was enough.
When Feng Hui heard that Qin Weidong was heading to Jinyang to become a deputy manager, he was surprised—but not all that surprised. He had long felt that Qin Weidong was not someone who would stay under his second uncle’s command for long. Some people just carried an aura about them—you could tell they didn’t belong here, even if you couldn’t quite picture where they did belong.
With Qin Weidong gone, the remaining work at the Xiahe mine would fall to Feng Hui. It was troublesome—Old Fu kept tampering with the accounting, causing endless headaches for Feng Hui.
“If anything urgent comes up, call me,” Qin Weidong said. They had spent a long time working together at Xiahe and were fairly close.
“I’ll remember. But I should learn to handle things myself. I can’t keep relying on you forever.” Ever since being with Qi Jian, Feng Hui had changed. From a carefree, rich young man, he had started wanting to take responsibility.
Qi Jian was very reluctant to part with Fang Li. Fang Li was one of his few friends—someone who never mocked or laughed at him. Feng Hui quietly said to him, “Don’t worry, baby. Once your classes are done and I’ve wrapped things up at the mine, I’ll figure out a way to take you back to Jinyang too.”
Fang Li and Qin Weidong got into the car. On the way, feeling a little tired, Fang Li only noticed when they reached the Changding toll station that this car didn’t have the old cigarette boxes or business cards that Boss Xu had once thrown inside. It was spotless, almost brand new.
He asked Qin Weidong about it and only then learned that it was the company car assigned to Qin Weidong’s new position. Qin Weidong reached over and ruffled Fang Li’s soft hair, then raised the car window on his side. “Don’t let the wind blow on you—you’ll get a headache.”
Seeing that Fang Li didn’t respond, Qin Weidong asked, “What are you daydreaming about?”
Fang Li snapped out of it. Qin Weidong brushed his bangs aside, and Fang Li said, “I never thought… that we’d go to the provincial capital… or have our own car.”
Back when they had fled from Chongsi in utter disgrace, they hadn’t had a penny to their name. Even the only valuable thing they owned—the old car—had been burned. At the time, he had thought they would end up begging just to survive. Yet now, barely a year later, they had their own car, carrying them toward the bustling provincial capital. Everything had changed so fast…
Fang Li was genuinely happy for Qin Weidong, but Qin Weidong could see the faint trace of worry hidden in Fang Li’s eyes and brows.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“We…” Fang Li hesitated.
As if he had already guessed what Fang Li was going to say, Qin Weidong calmly pressed, “We what?”
“We’re like this…” Fang Li said hesitantly, struggling to find the words. “Qin Weidong, you’re a man, and I’m a man too. For us to do… things like that night…”
The cars ahead moved forward, the toll barrier lifted, and Qin Weidong retrieved his change. He turned to look at Fang Li and asked, “Are you still thinking about leaving me?”
Fang Li stared into Qin Weidong’s eyes, feeling that if he even hesitated for a second—no, even just nodded slightly—Qin Weidong could probably kill him on the spot with just his eyes alone. But he wasn’t afraid of Qin Weidong. It was just that deep down, Fang Li already had his own answer.
“Of course not.”
Leave Qin Weidong? He had never once considered it. From the moment he had brought Qin Weidong back with him, they had been together. Their need for each other was something ingrained into their very instincts.
Qin Weidong could see the conflict in Fang Li. For Fang Li, the simplest solution to many problems was simply not to overthink them.
“Don’t think about it,” Qin Weidong said. “You never thought about it before, so you don’t need to think about it in the future either. Just remember—stay by my side. I’ll take care of everything else.”
Indeed, there was nothing in this world that could trouble Fang Li for too long. Whether it was money or life’s hardships, no matter how thorny or difficult, as long as he handed it over to Qin Weidong, Qin Weidong would always find the best solution for him. On this, Fang Li had no doubts whatsoever.
Feeling lazy again, Fang Li yawned and nodded. “How much longer until we get to Jinyang?”
“Not long,” Qin Weidong said. “Be good. Take a nap. When you wake up, we’ll be there.”
Axolotl Translations 
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