Seventeen degrees below zero.

For Zhao Ziqiang, who had lived in this city all his life, it wasn’t too cold. However, the heating company lseemed to have a problem, as the temperature had been hovering on the edge of discomfort since early morning. By the time Zhao Ziqiang returned home, it felt as cold as an ice cellar. This particular heating issue hadn’t arisen yet this winter, but he didn’t consider it a significant problem.

At least for him, the atmosphere matched his currently chilled and terrible mood. He had been feeling wronged and helpless more than once in the past few days, but today was the worst. He was irritably tugging at his hair, flipping the glass in his hand upside down.

He wanted to smash something, to yell, and to drag that man outside back home and kill him. But in reality, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even calm down enough to think. The peace of the past few days had already been his limit. He didn’t know if he wanted to salvage anything, nor did he know how to handle it. He just blindly didn’t want those two people to have it easy.

Zhao Ziqiang was a person with simple emotions.

Since he was young, Zhao Ziqiang believed that everyone had their own counterpart—his dad had his mom, his sister would have her partner, which led some people to view him as selfish and indifferent.

In reality, he thought it was normal to be good to one’s own counterpart. For instance, since Qian Wang had been with him, he had never caught a cold, never gotten hurt, and had good meals and restful sleep, all thanks to Zhao Ziqiang’s care.

Zhao Ziqiang believed this was his entire expression of love for Qian Wang. So why wasn’t it enough?

After thinking it over, he finally realized around midnight that the problem was simple: Qian Wang didn’t love him. Why had it taken him seven years to come to this conclusion?

Just as Zhao Ziqiang was nodding to himself in understanding, Qian Wang walked in.

Qian Wang frowned in frustration. He had been in the middle of an intimate moment with Sun Kan when suddenly Sun Kan’s father called, insisting he come home right away. The abrupt interruption left Qian Wang in a terrible mood, and as soon as he saw Zhao Ziqiang sitting on the sofa, staring at him with a mysterious look, his frustration flared up.

“What are you sitting there for? What time is it?”

Zhao Ziqiang didn’t look away but slightly smiled.

“Yeah, what time is it? Time flies.”

He stood up slowly and stiffly walked in front of Qian Wang, who had just taken off his coat.

“Teacher…”

Qian Wang shuddered. For some reason, a feeling of panic fiercely pierced through him.

Zhao Ziqiang took Qian Wang’s hand, closed his eyes, and placed it against his own clothing. Qian Wang’s hand was cold, but his touch felt hot. Zhao Ziqiang shivered repeatedly, yet he seemed oblivious as he forcefully tugged at Qian Wang’s hand.

“How is it?”

Qian Wang furrowed his brows and forcefully pulled his hand away.

“Stop being so cryptic. What do you mean by ‘how is it?’”

Zhao Ziqiang, however, had an expression as if to say, “You actually don’t know?” He stared blankly at the unpleasant man in front of him.

“Is it the same?”

Qian Wang’s heart skipped a beat, and he became even more irritated, pushing away the man standing before him.

“What do you mean by ‘the same’? What’s wrong with you?”

“Sun Kan.”

Finally saying it out loud, both of them seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as if the tension that had felt like a tight grip around their necks had finally passed.

Qian Wang was extremely anxious and didn’t want to look at Zhao Ziqiang’s eyes, which seemed to hint at everything. He could only pretend to be very impatient as he pushed past him and walked toward the bathroom.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

“There’s no heating today; you’ll catch a cold.”

“Then I’ll just wash my face.”

Zhao Ziqiang watched the man disappear behind the bathroom door along with his voice, a wave of desolation washing over him. He started to question what he had been foolishly maintaining all these years, what he was binding himself to. A lover who had once liked him but now despised him to the point of not wanting to look at him at all?

He opened the cigarette box and lit another cigarette, trying to bring his legs together and straighten his back to see if he could masquerade as a delicate flower to win someone’s favor. When he realized what he was doing, Zhao Ziqiang shook his head in disbelief. Perhaps he could try injecting estrogen to make himself look as effeminate as Sun Kan?

Zhao Ziqiang’s mind was filled with chaotic thoughts about being hurt and hurting others, but he clearly understood that this wasn’t Sun Kan’s fault.

The two of them lay on the bed as if nothing had happened, separated by a distance, the atmosphere tense like opponents searching for weaknesses. After a while, Zhao Ziqiang inched closer, rubbing his messy hair against Qian Wang’s shoulder.

Qian Wang turned his face, his gaze wandering as if lost in thought.

“Do you hate me?” After saying this, he wished he could bite his own tongue.

Zhao Ziqiang sighed and smiled, the two of them locking eyes.

“What I say every day isn’t a lie.”

For some reason, upon hearing those words, Qian Wang felt a small sense of triumph, as if he had won, though more often he was engulfed by a vague sense of frustration.

Zhao Ziqiang sat up, firmly straddling Qian Wang’s waist.

“Qian Wang,” he said, his gaze intense, “let’s break up… Good night.”

Qian Wang stared in disbelief at the man who rolled over and went to sleep right after saying good night, as if the declaration of those three words before the wish had been a mere hallucination.

Zhao Ziqiang had excellent hearing; he closed his eyes and sensed the rhythm of the breathing behind him.

—Sudden halt—Rising and falling—Intense—Even more intense—

The sensation of tears dampening his ears felt terrible, yet the pillow soaked in his tears unexpectedly emitted an alluring scent; decisive and resolute.