The only light in the living room came from a floor lamp beside the sofa—three curved light strips glowing dimly, just enough to illuminate the room.

On the carpet next to the lamp sat a person.

He leaned forward over the coffee table, eyes half-lowered. One hand propped up his chin by the back of his wrist, while the other held a pen, scribbling and doodling on paper.

Behind him on the sofa sat a man, watching him quietly.

Gu Qianxing had heard from Zhao Yi about Yu Ju’s low alcohol tolerance, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

The scent of plum wine lingered throughout the living room—not just from the empty bottle, but from the carpet, the coffee table, the sofa, and Yu Ju himself.

“Figured it out yet?”

At Gu Qianxing’s question, Yu Ju immediately frowned.

“No,” he mumbled. “Why is this so hard to solve…”

As for what he was trying to solve—according to him, it was a very difficult formula. But in reality, his pen was currently drawing little tigers on the paper.

It seemed he was trying to write a particularly good-looking character for “king” (王), and the paper was already filled with tiger heads he had ruthlessly scratched out.

Yu Ju’s expression was intensely focused. He stared at the pen tip, lips pursed tight, the dimples by his mouth deepening with his seriousness.

He was on the third stroke of the 王 character.

Half an hour ago, this same person doodling tigers had downed an entire bottle of plum wine while Gu Qianxing wasn’t looking.

He didn’t drink properly—spilled as much as he sipped, leaving the living room in a sticky, plum-scented mess.

Then he said that he hadn’t finished his homework and insisted that Gu Qianxing go and bring his bag up. No matter how Gu Qianxing tried to distract him or change the subject, it was all in vain.

In the end, Gu Qianxing had no choice but to ask Xiao Chen to bring the bag up.

And now, it had turned out like this.

The character “Wang” looked well-written, and it was already the final stroke. Yu Ju hadn’t yet angrily drawn the tiger’s image.

Every tiny molecule in the living room seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for the last line to be completed. As soon as the line was drawn, Yu Ju suddenly lifted his head with a jolt.

“Wow!”

Yu Ju tilted his head proudly and snapped his fingers. “Perfect!”

Gu Qianxing couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let me see,” Gu Qianxing said.

Yu Ju immediately pressed his hand down on the paper. “Not giving it to you,” he said, folding the paper in half. “You can’t look.”

Gu Qianxing then asked, “So who can look?”

Yu Ju replied, “Brother can look.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Who is ‘Brother’?”

Yu Ju said clearly, “Gu Qianxing.”

After finishing this sentence, Yu Ju suddenly laughed with a light “ha.”

“You’re crazy,” he muttered, then pressed his hand to his temple. “My head hurts so much. Help, why did I drink so much?”

Suddenly, he turned his head again, staring at Gu Qianxing. “Why did you make me drink?”

Gu Qianxing looked into Yu Ju’s eyes. “Do you know who I am?”

“You must be dumb not to know who you are,” Yu Ju said with an amused expression. “You’re Gu Qianxing.”

Gu Qianxing sighed helplessly.

Yu Ju let out an “ah” and pressed his hand to his forehead, as if speaking to himself. “Right, Zhang Qiming is back.”

A few seconds later, he repeated, “Zhang Qiming is back.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Do you want to see him?”

Yu Ju seemed to have heard something unbelievable. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at Gu Qianxing.

“What did you say?”

Gu Qianxing repeated, “Do you want to see Zhang Qiming?”

Yu Ju stared blankly at Gu Qianxing, trying to make sense of the question in his currently foggy mind.

But it seemed like he couldn’t figure it out.

He didn’t even know if he wanted to see Zhang Qiming.

“Do I hate Zhang Qiming?” Yu Ju muttered to himself, then suddenly extended a finger and made a “shh” sound.

“Can’t ask.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Then do you hate me?”

Yu Ju blinked and looked at Gu Qianxing in confusion. “Handsome guy, who are you?”

Gu Qianxing answered, “Gu Qianxing.”

Yu Ju responded, “Gu Qianxing… who is that? Sounds familiar.”

Gu Qianxing remained patient. “You call me brother.”

“Brother, huh,” Yu Ju tilted his head slightly. “Which brother?”

Gu Qianxing was silent for a few seconds. “Do you still call anyone else ‘brother’?”

Suddenly, Yu Ju leaned forward, looked into Gu Qianxing’s eyes, and smiled. “You… guess.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Who do you like?”

Upon hearing this, Yu Ju retreated to his previous spot and eyed Gu Qianxing warily.

It was a state of not wanting to answer.

Gu Qianxing asked again, “Do you like her a lot?”

Yu Ju tilted his head slightly and finally answered, “I guess so,” then lowered his gaze to the wine glass on the table. “I’ve only liked him once.”

He muttered, “I don’t even know how much I liked him.”

“That person…”

Gu Qianxing didn’t continue after that, lowering his head to rub his brow, his words trailing off.

Yu Ju, in his foggy state, didn’t press further.

“Ah,” after a while, Yu Ju straightened up. “I know now, you’re my brother.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Which brother?”

Yu Ju looked at Gu Qianxing with an amused expression. “Gu Qianxing, don’t you know who you are?”

Gu Qianxing sighed in resignation.

“I don’t hate my brother,” Yu Ju suddenly recalled. “Zhang Qiming? Zhang Qiming doesn’t hate him either.”

He furrowed his brow. “I hate my dad, he’s disgusting, he’s so disgusting.”

After saying this, Yu Ju closed his eyes, exhaled deeply, and extended a finger, pointing to the sky. “Can’t cry, a real man can’t cry.”

Gu Qianxing couldn’t help but laugh again, gently placing his hand on Yu Ju’s head and rubbing it lightly.

The alcohol had been enough to numb him, and it seemed that now, Yu Ju’s desire to talk had been awakened.

That chaotic summer, the frustration that had been bottled up, had been weighing on his heart ever since.

He knew the person in front of him was Gu Qianxing, but at the same time, he didn’t know who Gu Qianxing truly was.

In his mind at that moment, “brother” was brother, and Gu Qianxing was Gu Qianxing.

“Nightmare, it’s a nightmare,” Yu Ju picked up the pen again, drawing random straight lines on the paper. “That bastard actually cheated.”

“Of all people, with Zhang Qiming’s mother,” Yu Ju suddenly laughed. “Who could have seen it, but of course, brother had to see it.”

“Life’s a joke, how unlucky can I be? I’ve encountered every damn thing, hahaha.”

Although Yu Ju was laughing, tears streamed down his face, helplessly.

After saying all this, he sighed deeply, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

Then he slumped, resting his chin on his hand again, supported by his wrist.

“Ah, so tired.”

He added, “You’re going to rub my hair bald.”

He glanced at Gu Qianxing. “Stop touching it.”

“Okay, I won’t touch it.”

Gu Qianxing said as he pulled his hand back, but just as it hovered in the air, Yu Ju reached out and grabbed it.

He pulled Gu Qianxing’s hand back, placing it on his head. “You can still touch it.”

Gu Qianxing gently patted Yu Ju twice, and Yu Ju obediently lay back down, tears dripping down one by one. When they reached his mouth, he pursed his lips and licked them off, only to wrinkle his face in distaste when he realized they didn’t taste good.

“Hey.”

After a moment, Yu Ju suddenly smiled at Gu Qianxing. “It feels a bit better to say it out loud.”

Gu Qianxing couldn’t help but laugh. “Is it the insults that feel good?”

Yu Ju hummed. “I’m cursing that bastard.”

Gu Qianxing nodded. “Mm, keep cursing.”

This seemed to ignite Yu Ju, who sat up straight again. “That damn bastard, my mom was so good, and he didn’t appreciate her. He’s ugly, useless—how could he have the nerve to cheat? How could he! Zhang Qiming’s mom must be blind!”

“Whatever, if she’s blind, she’s blind, they’re both dogs,” Yu Ju ranted, his energy rising, sitting straighter as he went on. “Zhang Qiming’s mom really has no eyes.”

Having opened this floodgate, Yu Ju couldn’t stop.

For the next several minutes, Yu Ju ranted furiously, venting all his pent-up dissatisfaction with his father. He released his anger in a cathartic way, both comforted and aggrieved, cursing and crying at the same time.

“So they deserve to die, right? Even God can’t watch this,” Yu Ju said, finishing his tirade with a laugh. “What a joke.”

Gu Qianxing lifted Yu Ju’s chin, gently wiping away his tears with his thumb.

Suddenly, he remembered something Zhao Yi had said.

Zhao Yi mentioned that after knowing Yu Ju for so long, he had never seen him sad. It seemed like Yu Ju had gone through so much turmoil in his life that nothing really scared him anymore.

To Yu Ju, many of the so-called big problems were nothing more than trivial matters.

Back then, his guaranteed spot for graduate school was taken away, his scholarship was downgraded because of a betrayal from a roommate, and when he worked part-time, malicious rumors spread about him selling his body…

He would curse, sometimes even mockingly describe these events with humor, and then laugh it all off.

Gu Qianxing curved his fingers and gently pinched Yu Ju’s earlobe.

Perhaps feeling the different temperature, Yu Ju flinched slightly, but he didn’t pull away.

It felt somewhat pleasant.

“Are you tired?” Gu Qianxing asked.

Yu Ju slowly closed his eyes. “A little bit,” he said, suddenly opening his eyes again. “But I can’t sleep.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Why not?”

Yu Ju looked a bit wronged. “I don’t know where this place is, it’s not my home.”

He was surprisingly aware of safety.

Gu Qianxing patted the back of his head. “This is my home. You can sleep safely here.”

Yu Ju fixed his gaze on Gu Qianxing’s face. “You’re Gu Qianxing?”

“Mm.”

Yu Ju sighed deeply but still forced himself to keep his eyes open. “No, no.”

After saying this, Yu Ju used a homophone and said, “Not okay (hang), not okay (hang), hahaha, so funny.”

“Gu Qianxing,” Yu Ju looked at Gu Qianxing, “Why is your name Gu Qianhang and not Gu Qianxing?”

Gu Qianxing replied, “My grandfather gave it to me.”

Yu Ju’s face was expressionless. “So, did you answer my question?”

Gu Qianxing chuckled.

At this moment, he was more alert.

Gu Qianxing explained, “My grandfather said he hoped my life would be colorful, and that I would write a thousand stories.”

Yu Ju blinked, slowly letting out a “Wow.” He continued, “Your name is a bit like mine.”

Gu Qianxing, matching Yu Ju’s cute tone, repeated, “Yes, indeed.”

Yu Ju didn’t realize that Gu Qianxing was teasing him and tilted his head, looking at him. “No wonder you immediately understood the meaning of my name.”

Gu Qianxing’s tone returned to normal. “You remember.”

Yu Ju puffed up proudly. “Of course I remember, my memory’s really good.”

With that, Yu Ju began repeating Gu Qianxing’s name: “Gu Qianxing, Gu Qianxing.”

Since he had recognized it again.

Gu Qianxing asked, “Now that we’ve met again, how do you feel?”

Yu Ju pressed his lips together, thinking for a long time. “It’s a little complicated.”

Gu Qianxing spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone, “What happened? Why is it complicated?”

Yu Ju’s voice grew softer, almost a mumble: “It’s a little awkward. Why did it have to be you who found out about that thing?”

He continued, “Why are you, of all people, Zhang Qiye’s friend? I feel so embarrassed, it’s so humiliating.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “So, you don’t know how to face me?”

Yu Ju spoke softly, almost uncertain: “Yeah, maybe.”

“So,” Gu Qianxing paused for a moment, “You don’t want to see me?”

Yu Ju thought for a long time before responding, “My dad’s already gone, and that thing… it’s in the past for me.”

It felt like an answer, but not really.

Yu Ju stopped crying, and Gu Qianxing wiped away the last tear from his face with his thumb. He continued speaking in that gentle tone, “So, what do you need to accept me?”

Gu Qianxing’s voice was so tender that Yu Ju’s own voice lowered as well.

“I don’t know,” Yu Ju said honestly.

Gu Qianxing looked into his eyes. “Can we start as friends?”

Yu Ju responded sincerely, “I don’t know. I almost deleted your WeChat.”

The room fell quiet.

After a moment, Gu Qianxing said, “It’s that serious?”

Yu Ju sighed, “Mhm.”

Then he grinned smugly, adding, “But I still didn’t delete it.”

Gu Qianxing asked, “Why not?”

Yu Ju pondered, “Seemed unnecessary. Don’t you think?”

Gu Qianxing nodded, “Right,” and added, “You can’t delete it.”

Yu Ju sighed again, “But you’re really good at tricking me.”

Gu Qianxing chuckled, “How did I trick you?”

Yu Ju scoffed, “You’re so good at tricking me—tricked me into your car, tricked me into coming to your house, and tricked me into answering all these questions. How do you do it?”

“Gu Fox,” Yu Ju raised his voice, “Big liar.”

Gu Qianxing, with a tone tinged with helplessness, replied, “I can’t trick you like you trick me.”

He smirked, “Little liar.”

Yu Ju wasn’t having it, “What did I trick you about?”

Gu Qianxing countered, “What did you trick me about?”

Yu Ju furrowed his brows, suddenly becoming serious as he tried to think of what exactly he had tricked Gu Qianxing into.

But as he thought, a sudden gust of wind swept in, carrying with it the familiar fragrance of plums.

Yu Ju’s train of thought was abruptly interrupted.

Yu Ju’s thoughts were interrupted again as the familiar scent of plum wine hit him, and he instinctively leaned back against the table. “Ah, it’s a bit good,” he murmured, still caught up in the flavor.

Gu Qianxing chuckled at his response and, playing along, asked, “Is my plum wine better, or your grandmother’s plum wine better?”

Yu Ju pointed at Gu Qianxing’s nose, smirking, “You’re still a little off.”

Gu Qianxing, genuinely curious, asked, “Am I that bad?”

Yu Ju nodded confidently. “You’re pretty bad.”

Then, Yu Ju heard something from Gu Qianxing that didn’t quite make sense to him.

“If you weren’t bad, you wouldn’t just disappear like that,” Gu Qianxing said, “Right?”

Yu Ju didn’t quite grasp the meaning of his words, but that didn’t stop him from responding. “Mhm.”

But just as quickly, he forgot what they were talking about again. The alcohol was starting to get to him—his head was spinning, and he couldn’t remember how much he’d drunk. The taste was so intoxicating that he found himself taking sip after sip.

Then, it hit him. Someone had once said that alcohol only lasts as long as you can handle it. He was sure there should still be more, but the bottle seemed empty.

He wanted to ask the bad guy sitting next to him about it, but as he turned to look, his gaze locked with Gu Qianxing’s eyes.

The living room wasn’t very bright, which made Gu Qianxing’s eyes seem even deeper—like those of a fox that could lure a person’s soul.

It was hard for Yu Ju to look away.

“Wow.”

Such beautiful eyes.

At this moment, the distance between them was a little too close. Yu Ju realized that with just a small movement, he could lean against Gu Qianxing’s leg and be embraced by him.

Once he thought this, it was as if something was drawing him in.

The evening breeze gently swayed the curtains, brushing against Yu Ju’s flushed face with a slight coolness, while Gu Qianxing remained right in front of him.

Yu Ju tilted his head slightly, looking at him properly.

He also noticed that Gu Qianxing’s hand had been resting on the back of his neck, not moving at all.

With Yu Ju this close, Gu Qianxing’s hand slid down a little.

Yu Ju’s senses began to focus on Gu Qianxing’s hand.

That hand soon brushed against his ear and neck.

Gu Qianxing’s fingertips were a different temperature, and it seemed he gave a slight push, just enough to make Yu Ju feel strangely comfortable.

Yu Ju’s breathing became heavier, and he wanted more.

So, he tilted his body and his head as well.

As he leaned even closer to Gu Qianxing, Gu Qianxing’s hand slid down to Yu Ju’s jawline.

The two of them continued to gaze at each other in silence, Yu Ju’s eyelashes, still wet with tears, fluttering with every blink.

Gu Qianxing’s hand moved again, sliding from Yu Ju’s jawline to his chin.

Then, with a firm touch of his fingertip, Gu Qianxing gently lifted Yu Ju’s head.

Yu Ju’s breath hitched.

Now, he was truly trapped in Gu Qianxing’s embrace.

“Gege.”

He couldn’t help but call softly.

Gu Qianxing responded just as softly, “Mm.”

Yu Ju’s head felt dizzy, and Gu Qianxing’s gaze was mesmerizing him. He couldn’t resist reaching out.

His fingers hovered near Gu Qianxing’s brows and eyes, wavering just above them.

Further down, his fingers reached Gu Qianxing’s lips.

Yu Ju stared, a little lost in thought.

Those lips… they were beautiful too.

Staring at him, Yu Ju couldn’t help but place his index finger on Gu Qianxing’s lips.

Then, he felt Gu Qianxing’s hand on his chin tighten a little.

“Have you ever received a kiss?” Gu Qianxing suddenly asked.

“No,” Yu Ju replied.

When Gu Qianxing spoke, his lips moved.

Yu Ju’s finger followed the motion of his lips.

It was hypnotic.

Yu Ju asked Gu Qianxing in return, “What about you? Have you ever received a kiss?”

“No,” Gu Qianxing answered.

Yu Ju furrowed his brows. “Such a shame, with a mouth like that, you’ve never kissed anyone.”

The air grew quiet again. Yu Ju saw the corners of Gu Qianxing’s lips subtly curve upward.

Gu Qianxing spoke again.

“Is that so?”

His voice was light, yet heavy.

Yu Ju’s mind buzzed. He pulled his hand back, but he still couldn’t stop looking at Gu Qianxing’s lips. “Mm.”

Gu Qianxing’s lips moved again. “Then what should we do?”

“What should we do then?” Yu Ju repeated.

Gu Qianxing pressed his fingers, and Yu Ju’s head tilted back further.

Gu Qianxing gazed into Yu Ju’s eyes. “Do you want to give it a try?”

Yu Ju blinked lightly. “Try what?”

Gu Qianxing leaned in slightly, his voice low. “Kiss me.”