Chapter 36
Editor: Princess
Luo Changzhou’s breath seemed to still linger on his lips, and Yu Pei didn’t even dare to lift his head to look at Luo Changzhou’s face. No matter how Luo Changzhou coaxed him, he refused to raise his head.
When Luo Changzhou saw him being so shy, he chuckled softly and decided not to force him anymore. He asked him, “Are you hungry? Let me take you to eat first.”
Yu Pei nodded, so Luo Changzhou took his hand and led him down the mountain along the same path they had taken earlier.
Only then did Yu Pei notice that their current location was almost at the very peak of this mountain. He turned back to glance at the place where he and Luo Changzhou had just been, and discovered that it was a large open space surrounded by piles of wooden planks and materials. Nearby, there were also many vibrant wild flowers, which created a rather charming atmosphere. However, it wasn’t exactly a breathtakingly beautiful scenery. How had this place become what Luo Changzhou called “a perfect spot for confession”?
“Try a bite of this.”
Yu Pei had just turned his head back when Luo Changzhou stuffed something soft into his mouth. With a gentle bite, rich fruit fragrance overflowed, and the flesh was juicy and tender, with a sweet and sour taste that was quite delicious.
Luo Changzhou asked him, “How is it? Does it taste good?”
“It’s delicious.” Yu Pei said. He savored the taste of that thing for a moment and realized he had never eaten anything similar before. “What is it?”
“It’s a salmon berry, a type of wild berry.” Luo Changzhou smiled while spreading his palm open in front of him. In his palm lay several orange-red small berries, each hollow in the center, looking just like miniature steamed corn buns.
Yu Pei examined his palm closely and thought that these berries looked quite strange, with equally strange names. However, since these berries were easily damaged, and he hadn’t seen where Luo Changzhou had gotten them from, he asked curiously, “Changzhou, where did you pick these?”
“They’re all along both sides of this path.” Luo Changzhou pointed out to him. The small trail they were walking on was lined with many low shrubs, and hidden among the green leaves of those shrubs were these small and adorable berries. “These berries look very much like salmon roe, so they’re called salmon berries.”
Yu Pei leaned over in the direction Luo Changzhou pointed and indeed discovered quite a few of these berries. Under the sunlight, their bodies appeared crystal clear and very tempting. Some of the fully ripened berries had even rotted on the branches because no one had picked them and no birds had pecked at them.
Luo Changzhou told him, “The fruiting season is almost over. If you like eating them, I’ll accompany you to pick some after we finish lunch.”
“Won’t people say anything?” Yu Pei hadn’t forgotten about the elderly gentleman who had called out to them when they were going up the mountain earlier. “Would there be any problems if we run up to someone else’s mountain to pick berries like this?”
When Luo Changzhou heard Yu Pei’s words, he was stunned for a moment, then said with amusement, “It’s fine.”
“Really?” Yu Pei still didn’t quite believe it.
“This is my family’s mountain.” Luo Changzhou said matter-of-factly to Yu Pei. “My home is not far ahead. If you want to go, I can take you there. This is the back mountain. Originally, it was supposed to be developed together with the front mountain into a hot spring resort. Since I thought the scenery here was nice, I didn’t let them touch it. Don’t worry, no one will come to complain.”
“This is… your family’s mountain?” Yu Pei’s eyes widened as he looked at Luo Changzhou in disbelief.
“Mm.” Luo Changzhou was amused by his surprised expression and lowered his head to gently touch the tip of Yu Pei’s nose with his lips. “You saw all that wood where we were just now, right?”
Being kissed like this, the heat that had just subsided from Yu Pei’s face rose again, and he nodded with a red face.
“Those are lightweight construction materials that I asked my dad to have someone bring back from the US, for building a wooden house.”
“You are going to build a wooden house yourself?” Yu Pei was even more surprised. Each thing Luo Changzhou said was more shocking than the last.
“Yes.” Luo Changzhou smiled and said, “I plan to build a small wooden house here on the back mountain. In the future, we can come here to live during summer.”
“You should really like painting, right? It’s very quiet here, suitable for your artwork. You like sweet things, and there are many berries here. If there are other fruits you want to eat, I can help you plant them too. Next year when the pear blossoms at my house bloom, you’ll be able to see them from over there.”
After Luo Changzhou finished speaking, he looked at him again, his eyes full of gentle smiles as he added, “This place will be just for the two of us to live in. We won’t bring other people here, okay?”
Yu Pei looked at him, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, his lips parting but unable to speak. He could only nod vigorously. It turns out, Luo Changzhou really hadn’t been lying to him. It turns out, he had already thought of so many things, even considering many aspects of their future life together.
Suddenly, he wished time could pass faster. Even if it meant he would suddenly grow old, it wouldn’t matter. He wanted to see those beautiful and anticipation-worthy futures that Luo Changzhou had described.
Walking down from the mountain wasn’t tiring, but Luo Changzhou was afraid he might get tired, so despite Yu Pei’s protests, he carried both backpacks by himself.
The elderly gentleman who had been sitting under the bus stop sign at the foot of the mountain, helping them watch their bicycles and who had called out Luo Changzhou’s name earlier, saw them finally coming down from the mountain and walked toward them. However, when he saw Yu Pei’s slightly red-rimmed eyes, he said to Luo Changzhou, “Zhouzi, how did you bully the young man?”
“Mm, I did bully him.” Luo Changzhou didn’t refute but admitted it readily. “So I’m going to treat him to noodles as an apology.”
“Noodles? At my place?” The old gentleman spoke slowly but sounded kind and gentle.
“Yes.” Luo Changzhou carried both backpacks in his left hand, then used his right hand to hold Yu Pei’s hand.
“Eh, good, good, good. Come, let me take you over there.” The old gentleman smiled warmly when he heard this and beckoned to them, turning around to lead them toward the restaurant.
Yu Pei was startled by Luo Changzhou’s sudden hand-holding gesture because there was an elderly person present.
“It’s fine.” Luo Changzhou turned his head and whispered to him, “Grandpa Chen has poor eyesight, just like our Teacher Huang.”
Yu Pei laughed, “If you talk about Teacher Huang like that, he’ll definitely be heartbroken.”
Luo Changzhou tightened his fingers around his, gripping his hand more firmly, “Then let’s both score higher on our language exams to make him happy.”
While Yu Pei’s other science subject grades couldn’t be improved quickly, language was still very manageable. Although memorizing texts was somewhat difficult for him, for Luo Changzhou’s sake, Yu Pei wanted to become someone as excellent as him. Therefore, no matter how difficult it was, he would work hard to do it.
After they entered the shop and put down their backpacks, the old gentleman came over with a menu, “Zhouzi, what do you want to eat today?”
“Same as usual, a large bowl of beef noodles will be fine. Thank you, Grandpa Chen.” Luo Changzhou said.
Yu Pei glanced at the menu and couldn’t decide what to eat for a moment, so he said, “Then I’ll also have beef noodles. A small bowl will be fine. Thank you, Grandpa Chen.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” The old gentleman smiled cheerfully. “You two sit and wait for a while.”
When Yu Pei heard the old gentleman call Luo Changzhou “Zhouzi” again, he asked him, “Are you very familiar with Grandpa Chen?”
“Mm.” Luo Changzhou said. “When I first came to Nan Cheng, my parents were busy dealing with the ranch and hot spring resort here. They were away from home every day. Since I was too lazy to cook for myself at home, I often came here to eat noodles.”
Hearing this, Yu Pei became even more expectant, “Then the noodles here must be really delicious.”
A noodle shop that could make someone come frequently had to have its unique qualities.
Since they were eating rather late today, many customers in the noodle shop had already finished eating and left, so their noodles came out quickly. The old gentleman brought over two bowls of noodles on a tray. The large bowl had only one egg, while the small bowl had two eggs.
The old gentleman placed the small bowl in front of Yu Pei and smiled warmly, “Young student, what’s your name?”
“My name is Yu Pei.” Yu Pei accepted the noodle bowl carefully. “Thank you, Grandpa Chen.”
When the old gentleman heard Yu Pei’s polite thanks, his eyes crinkled even more with his smile, “Little Pei, Grandpa gave you an extra egg. Come play here often in the future.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Yu Pei naturally agreed. He still wanted to come here with Luo Changzhou to build their house.
Luo Changzhou watched the two of them talk, the corners of his mouth curved upward. After Grandpa Chen left, he transferred half of the beef from his bowl to Yu Pei’s, “Eat more. You’re too thin when I hold you.”
Yu Pei discovered that ever since he and Luo Changzhou had confessed their feelings to each other, Luo Changzhou had become enthusiastic about feeding him all sorts of sweet romantic words. His face turned red as he said softly, “I already have plenty in my bowl. You should eat more too.”
Luo Changzhou didn’t listen and continued to give him meat, asking, “You need to take a nap at noon, right? Are you sleepy now? How about after we finish eating, you go to my house to sleep for a while, and then this afternoon we’ll go to class together.”
Yu Pei almost choked on the beef in his mouth the moment he heard this. They had just gotten together, and now they were going to Luo Changzhou’s house to sleep. Wasn’t this progression too fast? Moreover, he was very afraid of meeting Luo Changzhou’s parents. If he did meet them, how would he explain? Would he say he was Luo Changzhou’s classmate and that he was taking a nap at his house?
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but start worrying again.
Homosexuality wasn’t accepted by everyone. Just like how he and Luo Changzhou had to hide their hand-holding from Grandpa Chen earlier, there were many people in this world who not only couldn’t accept what they considered “abnormal” love in their eyes, but would even respond with harsh words. What if… Luo Changzhou’s parents couldn’t accept their son being with a man?
When Luo Changzhou saw Yu Pei’s slightly furrowed brows, he knew he was overthinking again, so he reached out and flicked his forehead gently, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” Yu Pei covered his forehead and said to him, “Changzhou, let’s go back to school.”
Luo Changzhou didn’t force him either. He thought it would be fine to go home and mention to his parents first that he and Yu Pei were already together. Otherwise, if his dad got too excited, it might scare Yu Pei.
**
When they returned to school, they still rode Luo Changzhou’s bicycle. Yu Pei sat in the back, lifted his arms to hug Luo Changzhou from behind, pressed his face tightly against his back, but then let go quickly.
“Why aren’t you hugging anymore?” Luo Changzhou asked him from the front.
Yu Pei said softly, “There are so many people here.”
Luo Changzhou chuckled softly but didn’t say anything.
Yu Pei placed his hands on his waist, maintaining a posture that wouldn’t be overly intimate. He looked up at the endless clear sky, and the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously. It turns out happiness, for him, really was something within reach.