Chapter 2

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, so “Big Brother” stepped in to smooth things over. “How about… we shake hands and make up?”

Sui Houyu flexed his wrist, keeping his body at a cold distance. “I don’t want to shake hands.”

“Then my two brothers will apologize to you.”

“No need.” Sui Houyu finally looked up at Big Brother and smiled. It was a smile laced with cunning. “I was just bored and looking for a way to kill time.”

The smile was perfectly wicked, causing Big Brother to raise an eyebrow.

Sui Houyu finished speaking, bypassed them, and walked out of the alley. As night fell, he stepped from the darkness of the narrow path toward the brightly lit street. The glow from the shop advertisements surrounded him, casting vivid, striking colors over his figure. Between his fluffy hair, slender neck, and lean build, his long legs were particularly eye-catching.

Even his back was a stunning sight.

Thinking back to that face—it didn’t even look contorted while he was hitting people. It was unexpectedly… beautiful.

Big Brother watched Sui Houyu leave. He didn’t pull his gaze back until the boy vanished at the mouth of the alley. He looked at his friends. “Can we please stop using such pathetic methods to pick up girls?”

The “hero” was indignant, rubbing his sore spots. “We’re surrounded by dudes 24/7. There isn’t a single girl in sight. How boring is that?”

Big Brother smirked. “What’s wrong with having a lot of brothers? If things get desperate, just stay self-sufficient. In the future, your dates can consist of going to get circumcised together and then grabbing skewers afterward. How romantic and unique would that be?”

The “hero” rolled his eyes. “Get circumcised and then go for skewers? Grill some chicken skin—would that count as ‘replenishing’ what we lost?”

Big Brother pursed his lips and didn’t answer; he suddenly found the topic quite disgusting. Looking at his two friends, though they seemed to have been beaten hard, the injuries weren’t too severe. Sui Houyu had evidently exercised restraint. They were simple flesh wounds, and he had avoided their faces.

Big Brother led them out, asking casually, “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

The three of them went to a nearby restaurant. As they walked in, the proprietress greeted them warmly. “Yo, Hou Mo is here?”

She looked at the two behind him and continued, “Little Deng and Little Shen are here too. Is it competition season? The ‘Old Three’ usuals?”

The three gave a casual affirmative, only to notice that the customer the proprietress was handing a menu to was Sui Houyu. Sui Houyu glanced at them, then lowered his head back to the menu.

It truly was a small world.

Sui Houyu flipped through the menu and rattled off several dish names. The proprietress noted them down and asked, “How many people are coming?”

“Just me.”

“One person can’t eat all this. Our portions are huge; three dishes would be more than enough.”

“It’s fine, just bring them out,” Sui Houyu said. He returned the menu and leaned back in his chair to play with his phone.

He opened WeChat and saw a voice message from Ran Shu. He played it, and a stuttering voice filled the air: “You, you, you’re really moving out? Do you need me to ar-ar-arrange things for you? If it r-r-really doesn’t work, I’ll just give you a house!”

Ran Shu was a stutterer, specifically the most frustrating kind: a “front-end” stutterer. If it were a “back-end” stutter, you could guess the meaning from the beginning and wouldn’t need him to finish. A front-end stutter really tested one’s patience, as you had to listen to a very long “intro” every time.

Sui Houyu replied with a voice note: “Can you just send me text next time?”

The reply came quickly: “You, you, you f*cking despise me, don’t you? T-t-typing is a pain.”

“Listening to you talk is also a pain.”

Immediately after, Sui Houyu received a 57-second voice message. Seeing the long bar, he didn’t even want to listen to it and placed his phone face-down on the table.

Even though Hou Mo and his friends had arrived later, their food arrived first since their order was simple. The proprietress was a woman in her fifties with a loud voice and a warm personality. She introduced the dishes as she set them down: “I went to the backyard specifically to pick these vegetables. No pesticides, totally organic. You boys can’t keep eating such a boring diet; you’re growing—you need to eat more!”

Their so-called “Old Three” usuals consisted of plain noodle soup, steamed buns, and eggs. Nothing else.

The three of them ate their meager meal while watching dish after dish being served at Sui Houyu’s table nearby. Sui Houyu had ordered six dishes and three bowls of rice, and he began to dig in.

The proprietress, though busy, eventually stopped and stood aside, watching Sui Houyu eat with great interest. The scene was like watching a professional mukbang. How could someone so lean, without a trace of body fat, eat so much? Where was he putting it?

Hou Mo looked at his own watery soup and then at the feast on Sui Houyu’s table. He felt a sudden pang of jealousy. However, the feeling vanished quickly; watching Sui Houyu eat with such gusto gave him a strange sense of vicarious satisfaction, as if he were getting full himself. Is this the joy of watching mukbangs?

Deng Yiheng (the “hero”) stared with wide eyes, muttering, “This kid is such a poser. Can he really eat all that?”

Shen Junjing (the “thug”) whispered back, “It’s not about posing. If I weren’t on a restricted diet for training, I’d eat even more than him.”

By the time Sui Houyu settled the bill and left, the proprietress walked over to Hou Mo’s table, marvelling, “That little girl is so handsome and tall, but boy, can she eat!”

The three of them looked at her simultaneously with complicated expressions. Finally, Hou Mo corrected her: “Auntie, that’s a boy.”

The proprietress gasped. “A boy can be that pretty? Even prettier than you.”

Hou Mo didn’t take kindly to that. “Did six dishes buy your loyalty that easily? Don’t you think my face represents standard masculine handsomeness?”

The proprietress laughed heartily. “Yes, our Hou Mo is the most handsome.”

Hou Mo felt confident saying that—partly because he was shamelessly vain, but also because he truly was good-looking. Since childhood, Hou Mo had been “different” in coloring compared to other kids. In a region where warm-toned, pale skin was common, Hou Mo had a rare, “cool-toned” white skin that was a shade brighter than most. It was as if he lacked melanin; his hair, eyebrows, and pupils weren’t black, but a flaxen brown.

With his tousled flaxen hair and light-colored eyes, he looked somewhat like a cat—cool and detached, as if he didn’t care about anything. He was always smiling, yet the smile rarely reached his eyes; he just happened to have naturally “smiling eyes.” With his sharp features, high nose bridge, and deep-set eyes, his face had a strong three-dimensional quality. People often asked if he was an ethnic minority or mixed race. In reality, he didn’t have a drop of foreign blood; three generations of his family were pure Northeasterners.

The three of them left the restaurant and sat on a nearby ledge to digest while watching the night sky. The cool night breeze brought the scent of greenery. Living in a place like this, which felt like a hidden paradise, was quite relaxing.

Suddenly, the peace was shattered. Hou Mo received a video call from his coach. He took a deep breath before answering. The coach’s roar came through the speaker: “I’m watching your step counts! If it was too hot to run during the day, do a night run! Even during summer break, training cannot stop!”

Hou Mo maintained an excellent attitude, giving an “OK” sign to the camera with exaggerated obedience. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“Don’t you dare try to fool me by having one person run in circles for everyone. I want to see different step patterns. Run separately! Once you’re home, get on the app and send me a video of your stretching!”

Hou Mo cleared his throat and replied with a smile, “Understood.”

After hanging up, the three let out a synchronized groan. Sports students taking “online classes” were truly the most awkward existence.

The three walked to the sports field, the largest exercise area in the vicinity. The central area was meant to be a soccer field, but it had been occupied year-round by groups of middle-aged women doing square dancing. Although the surrounding track was a bit mottled from poor maintenance, it was still a decent place to run.

While they were warming up, a familiar figure caught their eye—Sui Houyu ran past them. The three exchanged glances.

Deng Yiheng couldn’t help but ask, “What’s up with this guy? Didn’t he just finish eating? Isn’t he afraid of a stomach prolapse? This is the textbook definition of having ‘too much energy from overeating’.”

Shen Junjing shook his head and muttered, “I reckon it takes twenty minutes to walk here. If he doesn’t know the local roads and took a detour, it probably took him forty minutes. He likely just arrived.”

Deng Yiheng nodded. “Right, he arrived with a suitcase today. He must be new here.”

Shen Junjing asked, “Is he a sports student too?”

Recalling how fiercely the kid fought, Deng Yiheng agreed with the theory. “Maybe he trains in Sanda (Chinese kickboxing). You wouldn’t think so looking at how thin he is, but the kid can really fight.”

After finishing his warm-up, Hou Mo started running. He stayed behind Sui Houyu, keeping a steady, moderate distance. Neither overtook the other, and neither stopped. They kept it up for ten laps.

Back at the guesthouse, Sui Houyu was so bored his skin was crawling. He tried playing games for a bit but got frustrated, so he stood up to do a deep clean of the apartment.

Actually, while these guesthouses were expensive, they had perks: toiletries and toilet paper were provided by the owner. Since Sui Houyu was staying for a long time, the owner had even brought him a brand-new set. Utilities were covered too, and a cleaner came every day. He didn’t need to do a thing.

But he simply couldn’t stay still.

After finishing the cleaning, Sui Houyu stood with his hands on his hips, looking around. There was nothing left to do. He forced down his mounting irritability and sat on the sofa. He chewed two pieces of gum, his hands resting on his legs, but his fingers were restlessly clenching and unclenching.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He walked out the door and started running up and down the stairwell. An unfamiliar environment made him anxious. Anxiety made his agitation worse. He wanted an outlet but couldn’t think of a good one.

The soundproofing here was mediocre, and his running back and forth eventually disturbed a neighbor. One of the doors opened, and a person peeked out through the crack, meeting Sui Houyu’s eyes just as he was heading upstairs.

It was Hou Mo.

Hou Mo was startled to see him, but then he smiled and asked, “What are you doing?”

“My treadmill arrives tomorrow,” Sui Houyu said shortly before continuing upstairs.

Hou Mo leaned out of the doorway, catching only a glimpse of a pair of AJ sneakers disappearing up the stairs. He retreated back into his home. To his mother’s questioning look, he explained, “Just someone out for a run.”

Hou Mo’s mother, looking as gentle as ever, smiled and said, “Alright, I’m going to bed. You should sleep early too.”

After helping his mother back to her room, Hou Mo returned to his own. He sat at his computer, hesitated for a moment, and then typed a few words into the search bar: ADHD.

He had seen Sui Houyu fight and eat; he noticed that while the boy had good self-control, he always had these restless little habits. He was curious. After looking through the results, he felt Sui Houyu probably didn’t have ADHD. Then, in the related terms, he saw another keyword: Mania (Manic Disorder).

He clicked on it and read the Baidu Baike description:

Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; feeling that one’s mind is exceptionally sharp, the body is exceptionally healthy, or having an abundance of energy; decreased need for sleep without feeling tired; increased activity or psychomotor agitation; reckless behavior without regard for consequences; markedly increased libido.

Hou Mo looked at the screen, subconsciously rubbing his chin. He couldn’t help but marvel, “Great stamina and high desire… what a legendary combination.”