It snowed in Shijiazhuang.

Just as the performance ended the next day, snow began to fall from the sky. By the time they woke up at noon, there was already a thick layer outside the window. Shao Mingyin didn’t feel like going out, but Liang Zhen insisted that if Shao Mingyin didn’t take him to the middle and high schools he used to attend as agreed, he would turn off the heater.

This clearly didn’t intimidate Shao Mingyin, so Liang Zhen stubbornly turned off the heater. After standing by the heater for twenty minutes, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He kept his fists clenched and shrank his hands into his sleeves like an old man. Shao Mingyin found his reaction amusing; he knew Liang Zhen was sensitive to the cold, so he suggested Liang Zhen wear more clothes, and they would go out together after he got up.

Liang Zhen finally had a small victory and quickly turned the heater back on. He still wanted to maintain his dignity, so he put on a thin pair of long johns. However, after they left the hotel door, he realized that the snow was still falling steadily, so he gave up and went back to the room to change into a thicker pair of long johns and grabbed two pairs of gloves.

He originally wanted to take a taxi, but Shao Mingyin suggested they take the bus. However, four years could change many things, so when Shao Mingyin looked at the bus station, he realized that while the bus was the same, the route had changed. Luckily, his high school wasn’t too far away; they took a bus transfer and arrived at their destination.

He initially wanted to take Liang Zhen directly inside, but after just a few steps, the guard stopped them and asked them to swipe their ID cards for registration as visitors. This was something Shao Mingyin didn’t have to do when he was a student here. After swiping their ID cards, the guard could see their information, and seeing that they were not locals, he asked them what they were here for.

Hebei Province was a major province for the college entrance examination, and although Shijiazhuang was not as famous as Hengshui, the pressure in high school was still significant. The guard was wary that they might be reporters here to do a story, so he was somewhat reluctant to let them in.

Shao Mingyin’s address on his ID card didn’t match, even though he said he had studied here before, it wasn’t convincing. It was Liang Zhen who could explain; he said he was doing business here and was planning to buy a house and settle down, so they came to check out the school district.

“You’ll know once you go in and see the honor roll downstairs. This school is good,” the guard said proudly, “but high school entrance is up to the kids themselves. You should go see the junior high.”

“We just came from No. 7 Middle School,” Shao Mingyin had mentioned it to Liang Zhen before, and now he said it with conviction, “No. 7 is good too, but having a good high school nearby is important so that kids can be influenced…”

Seeing that Liang Zhen didn’t seem to be lying, the guard waved them in. After thanking him, Liang Zhen and Shao Mingyin walked inside, and sure enough, they were greeted by a prominently displayed honor roll with a high admission rate. In addition to university and the names of students, there were also names of graduates from junior high school, including many from No. 7 Middle School.

“Why do you sound just like my mom?” Shao Mingyin also looked at the board, “She and dad decided to buy a house here because of this high school.”

“Then must have done well too.”

“Police Academy is not a prestigious school,” Shao Mingyin pointed to where his name was on the honor roll. “But my mom was still very happy and took a photo, posting it on social media saying her son made the list.”

Shao Mingyin laughed, but quickly stopped. He then went upstairs. Even though there were less than ten days left until Chinese New Year’s Eve, the school was still in session without a holiday break. They had been reminded by the security guard not to disturb the students before they entered. They walked around the second floor for a while, but didn’t see any of the teachers who had taught Shao Mingyin before, so they left the teaching building.

Next, Shao Mingyin took Liang Zhen to see some of the greenery. The environment of his high school was really good, with mostly evergreen trees planted, so even after a layer of snow had fallen, it didn’t look desolate. Liang Zhen could already see the podium on the playground from a distance. Thinking that there would probably be no sports activities during makeup classes, and the students were all in class, he eagerly wanted to go play in the snow on the playground.

He originally thought the playground would be deserted, but he saw two students at the 200-meter starting point. The snowman’s belly had already taken shape, and they were rolling the other snowball, which was meant to be the snowman’s head.

They stood at the 200-meter finish line and didn’t walk over, just watching the two boys rolling the other snowball from afar. Their hands were already red from the cold, but their faces were full of smiles.

Liang Zhen also smiled and took out the two pairs of gloves.

“How old are they to still be playing like this?” Shao Mingyin couldn’t quite understand, but he still took the gloves and put them on. He just stood there, watching Liang Zhen busily squatting down to make snowballs, until the snowball burst on his clothes, Shao Mingyin thought Liang Zhen just wanted to build a snowman.

“Liang Zhen, kid?” Shao Mingyin was a bit provoked, but he still grabbed a handful of snow and was about to throw it at Liang Zhen. Liang Zhen quickly stood up and ran backward. After Shao Mingyin threw the snowball at him, he threw it back.

The two of them started chasing each other like this. Liang Zhen accidentally fell because he kept running backward to see Shao Mingyin’s reaction as he chased him. Seizing the opportunity, Shao Mingyin grabbed some snow and pressed it against Liang Zhen’s neck. Liang Zhen yelled like a pig being slaughtered, but when Shao Mingyin let go, he immediately grabbed some snow and threw it into Shao Mingyin’s clothes.

Shao Mingyin was amused and exasperated by his antics, but he didn’t have the heart to treat Liang Zhen like this. Instead, he firmly pressed him into the snow, almost to the point of shoving it into his mouth. Liang Zhen, smiling, lay there without any resistance, acting stubbornly.

After lying down for a while, it started snowing again, and the coldness fell on Liang Zhen’s face. Shao Mingyin held his hand to help him up, afraid that he might catch a cold, but Liang Zhen refused, saying there was still a warm place for him.

At first, Shao Mingyin didn’t understand, but when Liang Zhen pouted and straightened his waist, Shao Mingyin knew he was being suggestive. Liang Zhen invited him to feel his pants pocket, saying there was a gift for him inside. Shao Mingyin thought Liang Zhen wanted him to touch the tent-like bulge, of course, he refused and rolled his eyes.

“Just feel it,” Liang Zhen looked at him, his eyes particularly innocent, “It’s really a gift.”

Shao Mingyin lost his temper, but also didn’t have any expectations. He reached into Liang Zhen’s pocket, which was warm against his thigh. He indeed felt something, he held it, not immediately pulling his hand back, nor showing any sign of disgust.

He looked at Liang Zhen, blinked, and slowly opened his mouth. After taking his hand out, he let the originally cold object lie in the palm of his hand.

As if anticipating his reaction, Liang Zhen smiled. When Shao Mingyin pinched the key with his fingers, Liang Zhen obediently said, “I didn’t lie to you, did I?”

“The snow is getting heavier,” Liang Zhen stopped messing around, helping Shao Mingyin stand up, holding the key while Liang Zhen held his hand.

“We should go home and avoid the snow,” Liang Zhen suggested.

The place where Shao Mingyin used to live was very close to the high school. If it weren’t for the snow, it would take only ten minutes from the school gate to the entrance of the residential area. Normally, Liang Zhen would walk a bit ahead of Shao Mingyin out of habit, and Shao Mingyin didn’t like anyone walking behind him. But today, Liang Zhen had always been by Shao Mingyin’s side. When they reached corners or stairs, Shao Mingyin would take the lead, and Liang Zhen would follow.

Shao Mingyin didn’t ask where Liang Zhen got the key from, but when he stood in front of that door and inserted the key into the lock, it turned. Shao Mingyin didn’t turn it, he let go of the handle, took a deep breath, then looked at Liang Zhen beside him. Liang Zhen encouraged him with his gaze but didn’t help him.

He didn’t know how long he stood there with his head down. When he held the key again, he slowly turned it twice. When the last click of the lock was heard, he pulled out the key, raised his wrist, and pushed open the door.

The door opened slowly. He originally thought that the restricted view would be filled with dusty furniture, but when he glanced over, the first thing he saw was the sliding door to the balcony with the curtains open. He could see the snow outside, and he could also see the light outside.

At that moment, Liang Zhen lowered his head and rubbed against his neck, asking if he could come in. Shao Mingyin entered first, and when he opened the shoe cabinet and saw the familiar slippers, he was stunned for a moment, then took out a pair and handed it to Liang Zhen. He only took off his shoes and walked to the dining room, feeling the coolness of the marble floor through his socks.

The coldness instantly made his vision blur. He remembered every time he didn’t like to wear slippers and was found out by his mother, she would chase him with a pair of slippers and make him wear them.

He heard something fall to the ground, he looked down, and saw a pair of slippers next to his feet. Liang Zhen had already straightened up and told him it was cold on the ground, so he should wear slippers.

Shao Mingyin put them on. Looking at the living room separated by a fixed screen, he felt it was the same as three years ago, but also different. He grabbed his own hair, feeling like he was in a dream, unsure if he should take that step forward.

So Liang Zhen walked over, stood in front of the screen with his back to him, looked up and down, and exclaimed, “Wow.”

“Wow,” Liang Zhen said to him, “Shao Mingyin, you used to look like this.”

Shao Mingyin felt a bit embarrassed and forced a smile. Of course, he knew what Liang Zhen saw. Their family moved here around the time he was in the second grade of elementary school, so the custom-made photo screen mostly contained photos of him as a baby and at the age of five or six, each one very studio-like, with specific clothes and poses. As he grew older, he felt embarrassed seeing himself in those photos and wanted his mother to replace the screen. But how could his mother think that the young Shao Mingyin was not cute? She not only didn’t change it, but also loved to stick any photos of him afterward on that screen.

He walked over with Liang Zhen. He saw photos of his childhood, as well as a one-inch photo stuck in the lower right corner. It was a photo taken when he first entered the police academy, wearing a uniform with only one stripe on his shoulder. He wasn’t smiling, but because his features were not too aggressive, even though he looked cool, he didn’t seem fierce.

“They look at you every day,” Liang Zhen said, “They miss you a lot.”

Shao Mingyin shook his head, not believing it. “You prepared this.”

“You came to Shijiazhuang before me, you got the key, you arranged all this.”

“No, I didn’t. When I came, the living room and the rooms inside were already like this. I just cleaned them once.” Liang Zhen wiped a groove in the hollow of the screen with his finger and spread his fingers to show Shao Mingyin, “I have a good memory. I cleaned these places too.”

“Do you want to go see the parents’ room?” Liang Zhen asked, stepping aside to let Shao Mingyin pass, “I swear, it’s just as it was originally inside. I didn’t touch anything.”

That was the first time Shao Mingyin heard Liang Zhen speak so seriously. He couldn’t refuse, so he took two steps forward and turned the doorknob. Liang Zhen indeed hadn’t lied. Upon opening the door, there was a faint smell of age, indicating it had been a long time since anyone had been there.

He walked in, sat down by the bedside, and picked up the photo frame he had seen as soon as he opened the door— the photo was the same as before, but the frame had changed. The original frame had been smashed by his father and thrown into the trash, including his high school graduation album.

He put the photo back, his fingers hooking the small latch on the bedside table. He shook as he slowly opened it, revealing his graduation album inside.

He picked it up, turned to Liang Zhen with a smile, and asked if he wanted to see it.

Liang Zhen walked over and sat beside him, watching him flip through page by page and recalling the scenes when the photos were taken.

“This one is when we were throwing books together on the playground, the same playground where we played in the snow just now. I’m not in it because I was sitting behind them on the ground, watching them throw books. I didn’t participate.”

Liang Zhen asked him, “Then why didn’t you join them?”

“I just didn’t want to do that, you know. The college entrance exam hadn’t been taken yet, how could I be so happy? I didn’t want to pretend.” Shao Mingyin shrugged, “In high school, I could also be quite edgy.”

“This one was taken with the other five boys in the class. We were all tall and sitting at the back, so our relationship was pretty good. One of them had a slight eye problem; his glasses would darken when exposed to light, like sunglasses. So we each got a pair of glasses, pasted black paper on the lenses, and took this photo together.”

“This one is so dumb,” Shao Mingyin said, pointing to a boy holding himself up with one hand while the others around him retreated as if hit by a shockwave. Liang Zhen pointed to one who was jumping high and asked if it was him. Shao Mingyin hurriedly flipped back, refusing to admit it was him.

“It really is you,” Liang Zhen said, “Look at the wear on this page of the album, they must have flipped through it often, it must be you.”

Shao Mingyin looked at the crease in the lower right corner, touched the marks with his fingers, and closed the album.

He was losing control a bit.

“They miss you a lot, they couldn’t bear to throw away anything related to you,” Liang Zhen said, “They’ve always loved you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Shao Mingyin…”

“I was there at the time…” Shao Mingyin’s shoulders began to shake, his eyes were very wet, “I was there, I watched that person escape onto the school bus from afar, I watched…”

“It’s not your fault.” Liang Zhen hugged him tightly.

“I was there, I was…” Shao Mingyin cried, his shoulders slumped in despair. If he weren’t sitting, he might have collapsed with a sob. He kept saying he was there, he kept saying he watched it all happen.

He cried in Liang Zhen’s arms like a child, so helpless. Whenever Liang Zhen loosened his grip, he would start to fall, but Liang Zhen kept holding him steadily, comforting him repeatedly, saying it wasn’t his fault, they still loved him.

“You’re their flesh and blood, they care about you, love you. They would feel heartbroken seeing you cry like this, they want you to live the rest of your life well, not be consumed by guilt and self-blame.”

“It’s not your fault,” Liang Zhen patted Shao Mingyin’s back, his eyes were red too, but he didn’t shed any tears, not because he was strong, but because he had already cried.

He got the key through Ling Junqian’s connections, and he had been here three days before Shao Mingyin arrived. During the cleaning process, he could touch the traces of Shao Mingyin’s past life, and he had seen most of the photo albums. When he saw the photo frame on the bedside, he cried as bitterly as Shao Mingyin did now.

It was a family photo, with little Shao Mingyin standing behind his parents, their background was Tiananmen Square, and there was a row of red characters at the top of the photo, saying Shao Mingyin, aged seven, in Beijing.

He looked at seven-year-old Shao Mingyin, looked at him thumbs up, chin resting on his hand, looking reluctantly at the camera. He thought of his own photo with Liang Chongwei. In that photo, his seven-year-old self also made the same gesture and expression, youthful and arrogant.

Looking at that photo, he finally understood why Ling Junqian emphasized showing him what Shao Mingyin used to be like. Shao Mingyin’s attitude of not wanting to apologize was like his own photo with Liang Chongwei. Because they were really alike, just like when they were seven in Beijing, in the overlap of time and space, they were so alike.

Then they grew into different appearances.

He heard Shao Mingyin’s crying gradually stop, and he didn’t repeat those two sentences like a lunatic anymore. He was still in Liang Zhen’s arms, his thick crying and nasal voice making his words particularly blurred, but Liang Zhen still heard clearly.

Shao Mingyin said he wasn’t the same as before.

Different from all the photos before, different from all time periods, he now was different.

“What does it matter?” Liang Zhen patted his back. “Being different is just being different, isn’t that what you said…”

He helped the person in his arms up, looked him in the eyes, and helped him wipe away the tears on his face. He cupped Shao Mingyin’s face and repeated again that it didn’t matter.

“You said you’d like me no matter what I was like. You can’t take that back.” He smiled, with self-awareness, knowing he could be quite foolish sometimes.

“But no matter what you look like, no matter when it is, yesterday, tomorrow, today, I will still love you.”

No matter what Shao Mingyin was like, Liang Zhen would still love him.