In July, Liang Zhen started his tour. The first stop was Jiaxing, then Hangzhou, and after Nanjing, he would return. The last performance, after Shanghai, would be in Wenzhou.

Liang Zhen hadn’t had any major conflicts with anyone in the industry, so he got along pretty well. Every city he went to, he had homies to host him, allowing him to not only earn money but also deeply explore these cities and meet like-minded brothers. During the half-month tour, he shot many short videos of eating, drinking, and having fun, and while traveling from Nanjing back to Shanghai, he selected some footage and edited a ten-minute vlog to post on Weibo, commemorating the rich and exciting days he had.

However, the next morning, when he woke up and checked the comments, he noticed several messages saying they wanted to buy tickets for that night’s show, but the ticket channels had closed early.

Liang Zhen was a bit puzzled. Although the previous three shows had a good turnout, tickets were still available. Why had the ticket channel for Shanghai closed? He asked the Shanghai venue manager about the situation. The manager explained that their live house had been operating for several years, but it was the first time they had sold over a thousand tickets for a single show. This number exceeded the venue’s capacity, and with the intense atmosphere of hip-hop performances, they were worried about the safety risks of a possible stampede.

Liang Zhen remained calm while talking to the manager, not showing much emotion. But as soon as he hung up, he immediately called Shao Mingyin. His excitement was barely contained. He hadn’t even put on clothes yet and was already jumping on the hotel bed, telling Shao Mingyin that his concert tickets were sold out.

“My big star, do you have no idea how famous you already are?” Shao Mingyin laughed on the other end, his voice sounding groggy as if he had just woken up. “Check on Xianyu, your Shanghai tickets are being scalped.”

“No way,” Liang Zhen really didn’t know about that, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Shao Mingyin knew.

“Shao Mingyin,” Liang Zhen boasted, “how come you even check Xianyu? Admit it! You scroll through my fan videos on Weibo every day too.”

“Yes, I do. I check every morning and before bed. Just finished today’s scroll,” Shao Mingyin was very straightforward. “It’s a new source of happiness every day. By the way, I rewatched your Jiaxing performance. You forgot the lyrics in the first song.”

Liang Zhen: “…”

“And in Nanjing,” Shao Mingyin giggled, “didn’t you pour mineral water over your head during the performance? Oh, you should check the latest video on real-time Weibo. Your wet dreadlocks looked so cute…”

“Stop it, stop it!” Liang Zhen interrupted angrily. “I just forgot one line and I filled it in with a freestyle. How did you even notice that? And besides, I’m handsome. I’m handsome with a buzz cut too. I can pour water over my head however I like.”

“Oh,” Shao Mingyin teased, “is the little one throwing a tantrum? So serious.”

Liang Zhen: “…”

Liang Zhen gave up on bickering with Shao Mingyin. He wanted to ask more, curious about what interesting things Shao Mingyin had seen on Weibo.

“Interesting things…” Shao Mingyin dragged out his words, “well, there is something—”

He didn’t continue right away, pausing instead. Liang Zhen, after getting dressed, sat by the window with his phone, watching the foggy morning in Shanghai while waiting for Shao Mingyin to speak.

But he didn’t get an answer, instead hearing Shao Mingyin’s increasingly heavy breathing, with a bit of an upward pitch.

Liang Zhen narrowed his eyes, stood up, and asked Shao Mingyin on the other end of the phone what he was doing.

Shao Mingyin didn’t answer, knowing he was caught, so he no longer suppressed the light hums escaping from his nose.

“Shao Mingyin,” Liang Zhen’s voice dropped, “where are your hands right now?”

Both being men, they understood each other’s morning reactions. Even if Shao Mingyin didn’t tell him, Liang Zhen could imagine where his hand was. He asked Shao Mingyin when he started, and Shao Mingyin said it was as soon as he heard his voice on the phone.

“Mm… Liang Zhen…”

“I’m here,” Liang Zhen switched hands holding the phone, really wanting to video call. He wanted to see Shao Mingyin’s aroused state, but Shao Mingyin refused, leaving him to only hear the breathing without seeing or touching. Liang Zhen was unwilling, his frustration quickly turning into verbal teasing. Shao Mingyin, hearing Liang Zhen talk dirty for the first time, was too shy to respond, and nearing his climax, he stammered about the interesting thing he saw, mentioning he saw Lily’s Weibo. Lily was now managing Liang Zhen’s super topic.

“Yeah,” Liang Zhen knew how to talk to make Shao Mingyin feel tingly, using that tone now. “She and her friends came to Nanjing to have fun and watched the show.”

“She said you were so boyfriend-material in the photo you took with her… Mm…”

“Yes, I was about to go backstage when a fan wanted a photo. She was so excited, she tugged on my clothes.”

“And then you…”

Shao Mingyin knew, he had seen it, but he wanted to hear Liang Zhen say it.

“And then I…” Liang Zhen licked his lower lip, imagining Shao Mingyin lying on the bed, taking the call, probably already dressed, in his uniform, but with his belt undone, hand inside touching himself.

“Are your nipples hard?”

“Liang Zhen!”

“Tell me if they are, and I’ll tell you what I said.”

“…”

“Are they? If they are, pinch them like I always do…”

“Liang Zhen…” Shao Mingyin’s voice softened, becoming syrupy.

“Are you touching yourself? Pinch and pull it like I do… Yesterday, I told them not to tug on my clothes because it sets a bad example.”

“Liang Zhen…”

“I told them,” Liang Zhen’s voice was particularly seductive, “I told them, my boyfriend is waiting for me to come back.”

He then heard Shao Mingyin stifle a groan, his breath shuddering. Liang Zhen couldn’t take it anymore either. He plugged in his earphones, switching to another app to book a train ticket from Shanghai to Wenzhou. He was about to book it when Shao Mingyin, having calmed down, told him not to.

“It’s hundreds for a round trip, don’t come back.”

“I…” Liang Zhen was at a loss for words, “I… Shao Mingyin, you!” He protested, “That’s not fair! You…!”

“You have a show tonight. If you come back, you won’t make it in time.”

“But you…!”

“Liang Zhen.” Shao Mingyin called his name, not particularly soothing but lazily and calmly.

“Mm.” Liang Zhen responded, reluctantly.

“Liang Zhen, I miss you.”

At the moment Liang Zhen heard those three words, even his breath seemed to calm down a bit. He returned to the window seat, watching the constant flow of vehicles in the morning rush hour outside. He then said, straightforward yet somewhat shyly, “I miss you too.”

“Then wait until the performance is over,” Shao Mingyin said. “Tomorrow is the weekend, I’ll wait for you to come back.”

That night’s performance was more successful than any before. The increased audience was one reason, but another was Liang Zhen’s exceptional effort. He was in a particularly good state that night, leading to the scheduled performance ending at midnight amidst the audience’s refusal to leave and cheers. After everything was over, Liang Zhen rested for only a few hours before taking the earliest train at 6:17 a.m. to Wenzhou.

Being young, Liang Zhen didn’t feel tired even after all the running around. He napped for an hour or two on the train and arrived feeling refreshed. When he got back home after taking a taxi from the train station, instead of taking out his keys, he knocked on the door. He didn’t need to ask in advance; he knew Shao Mingyin must have had time during the day, and he must be at home.

As the door opened, Liang Zhen rushed in like he was robbing the place. Once the door was closed, he dropped his luggage at the entrance and began undressing Shao Mingyin without giving him a chance to resist. Shao Mingyin half-pushed and half-cooperated, kissing and undressing at the same time, until they reached the bed, where they were more open to each other.

Liang Zhen had been on tour for half a month and had been hungry for half a month. His movements were naturally less gentle than usual, but despite his urgency, he didn’t skip any steps. When his fingers were about to switch to his organ inside Shao Mingyin, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

At first, the knocking was just once. Liang Zhen pretended not to hear and was about to continue, but the knocking sounded again, this time three times.

“Fuck…” Liang Zhen was already in position, and being interrupted like this made him curse. Although he only mouthed the word, the veins on his forehead were faintly visible due to the fluctuation of his emotions.

“Who would come here at this time?” Liang Zhen was holding his breath, asking Shao Mingyin and himself, unable to understand. Shao Mingyin comforted him by stroking his forehead and hair, then left Liang Zhen’s embrace and stood up to go to the door.

Unlike Liang Zhen, Shao Mingyin had already taken off most of his clothes at the entrance. He walked over, put on his underwear and pants, then fastened his belt as he walked towards the door. When he reached the door, he picked up his T-shirt.

He was too close to the door, without any specific purpose, just looking through the peephole to see who it was. He didn’t have any potential candidates in mind, so when he saw a middle-aged man in a formal suit standing outside, he couldn’t remember ever meeting this person.

But the more he looked, the more familiar the man seemed to him. The features of the man were so familiar, as if they had really spent a lot of time together.

While he was pondering, the owner of those features looked straight into the peephole. Even though he knew the person outside couldn’t see what was happening inside, Shao Mingyin felt a sudden emptiness in his heart when faced with that gaze.

Shao Mingyin started putting on his clothes, but his hands couldn’t seem to manage it properly. He could only step back to avoid seeing through the peephole.

But the room was only so big. As he stepped back, Liang Zhen, who was dressing up slowly, noticed Shao Mingyin’s agitation. Before he could say anything, Shao Mingyin stuttered, urging him to hurry up and get dressed.

As soon as Shao Mingyin finished speaking, the knocking came again. Liang Zhen could see Shao Mingyin’s pupils shrink, and he froze. He quickly helped Shao Mingyin put on his T-shirt, and by the time he reached the door, he had also put on his own clothes.

Liang Zhen didn’t have Shao Mingyin’s vigilance. He never checked the peephole before opening the door, but today he was more cautious. Although his hand was already on the door handle, his eyes were glued to the peephole first.

Then he also pulled his hand back.

He stepped back and looked at the peephole, one hand on his hip, the other hooking his finger under his nose, indicating that he, too, hadn’t expected the visitor to be this person. Liang Zhen was nervous too.

And how could he not be nervous?

——The person outside was Liang Chongwei.