On the way to work the next day, Xu Er reopened the video Song Ruichi had sent him last night.

The beginning of the video was the same as what he remembered from last night—the scene showing only Xu Er’s hands moving. If he zoomed in, he could see that it was the pieces of a typewriter he was assembling.

The video was very quiet, and Xu Er noticed the icon for the speaker in the top right corner was turned off. He wasn’t sure if Song Ruichi had forgotten to turn the sound on while recording the screen.

There should have been some conversation, but he couldn’t hear anything. After watching for a few seconds, Xu Er impatiently dragged the progress bar forward, only to find it was still the same. So, he dragged it a bit further.

This time, he dragged it quite a bit, and when he finished, he saw that he had changed positions.

Xu Er then rewound the video a little and saw that it was the moment when, while assembling, he had suddenly sat in Song Ruichi’s lap.

He found this behavior a bit confusing, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t accept.

He had been drunk, after all. Maybe he had felt uncomfortable and wanted to lean on him.

The next part of the video was just the same mechanical assembly of the Lego pieces.

Xu Er continued to drag the progress bar forward, still the same.

He dragged it again, and it was still the same.

He dragged it one more time, and this time, the video reached the end.

Well, well, well. Before, he had only imagined himself building Lego in this way, but now he had video evidence.

He would process this memory from a first-person perspective, forcibly embedding it into his mind. Later, when recalling it, he would be able to rationally reframe it, starting with something like, “I remember I once…” to narrate the event.

Aha, perfect.

Xu Er saved the video and sent a message to Song Ruichi: [Good morning, Song Song.]

He wasn’t sure when this guy, Song Ruichi, had gone to bed, but it wasn’t until after 11:00 PM that Xu Er received a reply.

Song Ruichi wrote: [Song Song?]

At that moment, Xu Er was looking at the design plans, frowning slightly because one section seemed off.

When he opened WeChat on his computer, his expression changed noticeably. His furrowed brows relaxed, and the corners of his eyes lifted into a smile.

Xu Er: [Yeah, Song Song.]

Song Ruichi: [Who’s Song Song?]

Xu Er: [You, of course, Song Song.]

Song Ruichi sent an exasperated emoji.

Song Ruichi: [Don’t call me Song Song.]

Xu Er: [Why can other older brothers be called that, but I can’t?]

Xu Er: [I want to call you that.]

After that, he sent a smug emoji.

Song Ruichi: [Xu Er’er.]

Xu Er: [Here.]

Song Ruichi: [You’re not like the other older brothers.]

Xu Er: [Older brother.]

Xu Er: [You’re my older brother.]

Xu Er: [Song Song older brother.]

Song Ruichi: [Fine.]

Song Ruichi: [Fine, fine, fine.]

Xu Er: [Hahaha.]

Xu Er was absolutely thrilled to have managed to tease Song Ruichi.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Dong, who had slid over at some point, looked at Xu Er’s computer and said, “I thought you’d finished editing the draft, seeing how happy you look.”

Xu Er: “What’s so happy about editing a draft?”

Xiao Dong nodded: “True.”

Xiao Dong then slid back to his own seat.

Xu Er: “But I’m almost done with it.”

Xiao Dong: “Wuhu, nice!”

Just then, a new message from Song Ruichi popped up.

Song Ruichi: [Did you finish watching the video?]

Xu Er: [Yeah, I finished.]

Song Ruichi: [Nothing you want to say about it?]

Xu Er, puzzled: [Huh? Is there something I’m supposed to say?]

He suddenly remembered their conversation from last night: “A 800-word review for you?”

On the other end, Song Ruichi had started typing.

Typing, typing…

Xu Er just waited there, doing nothing, until Song Ruichi sent a message: [Write it.]

Xu Er: [Got it.]

Xu Er then asked: [Have you had ice cream?]

Song Ruichi: [Yeah.]

Song Ruichi: [I’m writing the little essay now.]

Xu Er: [Hahaha.]

Xu Er: [Now that you’ve said it like that, if there’s no little essay, I’m going to make a scene.]

Song Ruichi: [How are you going to make a scene?]

Xu Er thought for a moment: [I’ll bring a big loudspeaker to your studio.]

Xu Er: [Song Song older brother, Song Song older brother.]

Song Ruichi: [Can’t wait.]

Song Ruichi: [When are you coming?]

Xu Er: [I’m ordering a loudspeaker right now.]

Song Ruichi: [The studio’s waiting for you.]

Xu Er smiled and closed the chat window, then returned to revising the draft, his brows furrowing once again.

Starting today, Xu Er was going to get very busy. With a new project kicking off, and due to someone’s resignation, his workload had increased significantly compared to before.

And it’s worth mentioning that the second night after receiving the medicine box from Song Ruichi, Xu Er managed to cut himself at home.

Of course, he went to Song Ruichi to complain, and even though it was just a minor wound, he stubbornly squeezed out the blood until a big, full drop formed, then sent the picture over, feeling satisfied.

He said: [The last time I used a band-aid was from the last time.]

Xu Er: [As soon as you send me stuff, I end up cutting myself.]

Song Ruichi: [Are you blaming me?]

Xu Er hadn’t considered blaming Song Ruichi.

But since he had said it…

Xu Er: [Well, of course.]

Unexpectedly, an hour after complaining, Xu Er received a local delivery from Song Ruichi.

It wasn’t anything else—it was vanilla ice cream.

Xu Er, of course, was delighted and deeply touched. He was overjoyed.

He said to Song Ruichi: [Gege!]

Xu Er: [The blood turned into tears.]

Xu Er: [Splashing down.]

Song Ruichi: [It flowed from the corner of your mouth.]

Xu Er: [Hahaha.]

Xu Er: [You’re ruining the mood.]

Then Xu Er said: [Thanks, it’s so delicious!]

The workday finally passed, and the Saturday Xu Chen had been eagerly waiting for arrived.

The guy showed up at Xu Er’s house early in the morning, saying he couldn’t sleep and asking Xu Er to help him with some game scores.

So the two of them spent the whole day playing games at Xu Er’s place.

As for Xu Chen today, though he wouldn’t say he was overly dressed up, at least he had tidied himself up a bit.

He had indeed gotten a haircut that suited him perfectly, and was wearing a nice, refreshing new outfit—everything just right, no more, no less.

“I still find it hard to believe,” Xu Chen said, holding the game controller in the late afternoon, “how did you even meet Song Ruichi?”

Xu Er: “If you had a little more courage, you’d be meeting him too.”

Xu Chen sat up straight. “I’m adding him on WeChat tonight,” he said, then added, “If I don’t add him, I’m a dog.”

“By the way,” Xu Er asked, “how did you even know about Song Ruichi?”

Xu Chen thought for a moment. “I forgot, probably saw him on Weibo. I thought this guy was pretty handsome,” he smiled. “I got pretty obsessed with him at the time, so I changed all my social media handles to Song Ruichi.”

Xu Er responded with a soft “Ah,” then said, “I remember now, I bet a lot of people were asking you who Song Ruichi was back then.”

Xu Chen: “Yeah, I got so tired of explaining. I even saved some of my responses, so whenever anyone asked, I just sent them that.”

Xu Er chuckled. “No wonder everyone got the same answer,” he thought for a moment. “That was about two years ago, right?”

Xu Chen nodded. “About that.”

They both continued playing, and after a short while, Xu Er said, “So, I could’ve known Song Ruichi two years ago.”

Xu Chen: “And you held that in for this long to say that?”

Xu Er added, “He’s really handsome.”

He went on, “He has a mole right where his chin meets his neck.”

Xu Chen burst out laughing at Xu Er’s comment.

Xu Er laughed a little too. “What’s wrong?”

Xu Chen: “Your train of thought is just different.”

Xu Er: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

This wasn’t the first time Xu Chen had said something like that to him, so he wasn’t surprised anymore.

Xu Chen then asked, “How did you even see the mole in that spot?”

Xu Er: “I… I don’t really remember.” He paused, thinking. “Anyway, it’s there.”

A game round ended, and Xu Er again said, “Song Ruichi is an interesting person.”

“Oh?” Xu Chen smiled again. “How is he interesting?”

Xu Er thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t really know how to describe it,” he laughed a little. “But, I’m just happy when I’m with him.”

Xu Chen let out a thoughtful “Oh.” “How does it make you happy?”

Xu Er: “I mean, it’s just happiness. What other way is there to be happy?”

Xu Chen seemed to be thinking about something. Before the next game round started, Xu Er clicked “confirm,” while Xu Chen clicked “cancel.”

Xu Er: “Huh? Why?”

Xu Chen made a long “en” sound, then asked, “Have you ever interacted with the LGBTQ+ community?”

Xu Er couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Xu Chen: “What’s so funny?”

Xu Er: “Why are there so many gay people lately?”

“Huh?” Xu Chen repeated in surprise. “So many gay people? Who? Who’s gay?”

“Not that many,” Xu Er said. “I have a colleague who’s gay, and last time I went to an exhibition, there were even exhibits about LGBTQ+ topics.”

Xu Chen let out a sigh of relief and asked, “So?”

Xu Er: “So what?”

Xu Chen: “So, Song Ruichi seems to be gay too.”

This time, it was Xu Er’s turn to be surprised. “Huh?”