The first time Lu Yan saw Yan Shiqing, he wondered how anyone could look like that. Yan Shiqing was like a little prince, so beautiful that Lu Yan’s heart trembled.
The only trouble was that the little prince’s dislike was painfully obvious when he looked at him.
Then again, Lu Yan glanced at the car Yan Shiqing had gotten into and at the hole in his own trousers. For the first time, he felt just how vast the distance between two people could be.
At first, Lu Yan had no intention of being with Yan Shiqing. He only wanted to see him a little more often. Apart from an impossibly handsome face, he had nothing.
He could endure hardship, but he could hardly ask the little prince to endure it with him.
He had secretly watched the little prince eat once. He was terribly picky!
Someone that difficult to feed was beyond Lu Yan’s means.
Although he knew they could not be together, Lu Yan worked harder anyway. Before the little prince graduated, he managed to save tens of thousands of yuan. He wanted to treat Yan Shiqing to a meal, then stop bothering him afterward.
In the end, he spent only a little over two hundred yuan of the money he brought. He also got a kiss that felt like a dream.
“Got” was not quite the right word. He had stolen it.
The little prince’s lips were so sweet. Lu Yan knew he was done for; he could not give him up now. His cheek stung from the slap, but his heart felt sweet enough to melt.
It had been Lu Yan’s first kiss, and plainly Yan Shiqing’s too. It was far from a tender, lingering kiss. Yan Shiqing had even trembled in his arms, while Lu Yan’s own heart pounded as though it might leap out of his chest.
That kiss bound Lu Yan to Yan Shiqing completely. In truth, saying he would give up had mostly been a way of lying to himself: he claimed he did not want what he believed he could never have.
Lu Yan was an optimist by nature. He decided one kiss was already more than enough. He would simply keep watching over his little prince.
But the kiss seemed to have affected more than Lu Yan. It appeared to have unsettled Yan Shiqing too, becoming a turning point between them.
The next day, Lu Yan went to wait for Yan Shiqing again, fully expecting to be hit. To his surprise, Yan Shiqing merely accepted the hot roasted sweet potato he had brought with a cold expression. He did not say a word, but that was enough to make Lu Yan giddy.
From then on, the distance between them gradually narrowed. Perhaps “narrowed” was too generous; Yan Shiqing simply deigned to share a humble dinner with Lu Yan now and then.
Later, a rumor spread through the school that Yan Shiqing was dating a street delinquent.
For Yan Shiqing, it was treated like a scandal, as though someone had placed a fairy-tale prince beside a beggar.
Lu Yan was fierce enough that the pampered rich kids did not dare confront him. Yan Shiqing was different. His personality was cool, yet he was widely admired. Those who envied him had finally found what they considered a flaw in the little prince. Of course they would not let it go.
Photographs of Yan Shiqing standing beside Lu Yan were posted all over the school. The people behind it did not dare provoke Yan Shiqing openly, so they resorted to this underhanded tactic to stain the little prince’s spotless reputation.
Lu Yan was furious. He was a street delinquent, and Yan Shiqing’s school stood on the very street he frequented. It did not take him long to learn who was jealous of his little prince.
Lu Yan did not have a gentle temper. He was only a little softer around Yan Shiqing. He had no reason to hold back with anyone else.
He would always remember the moment his raised fist was about to fall. Yan Shiqing’s cool voice rang out over the loudspeakers, carrying to every corner of the street.
“The photos turned out beautifully. Thank you to the anonymous friend who took the first set of couple photos of Lu Yan and me.”
“Lu Yan, could you stop grinning like an idiot? It’s embarrassing.”
At the amusement park in the Supreme Space’s recreation area, Yan Shiqing looked at Lu Yan grinning foolishly with cotton candy in his hands and wished the ground would swallow him.
They were surrounded by systems and mission takers. He must have lost his mind to come here and embarrass himself. He should never have given in to Lu Yan’s pestering!
Lu Yan shook himself out of his memories and ran over with two sticks of pink-and-white cotton candy. He offered one to Yan Shiqing, who took so long to reach for it that Lu Yan’s eyes drooped and his expression grew increasingly hurt. Unable to stand it, Yan Shiqing finally accepted it and took a small bite under Lu Yan’s expectant gaze.
“Is it good~?”
Lu Yan’s narrow eyes shone as he looked at him. Under that gaze, Yan Shiqing could not bring himself to say anything but yes.
“It’s good. Very sweet.”
It was not actually good. It was sweet…
So sweet it was almost bitter.
But seeing how happy Lu Yan looked, Yan Shiqing decided perhaps it tasted good after all.
The amusement park was crowded. Lu Yan walked beside Yan Shiqing with a swagger, delighted beyond words.
In the past, persuading Yan Shiqing to come somewhere like this would have been impossible, and the two of them would have argued. Now Lu Yan understood how to get what he wanted. He held out his free hand and looked at Yan Shiqing with a shy, soft expression. He said nothing, only watched him expectantly.
…
Yan Shiqing handed his cotton candy back to Lu Yan and gave him a strained smile. “Lu Yan, don’t push your luck.”
There were so many people here, and they were all their subordinates. Being openly affectionate in front of them was embarrassing enough. Holding hands as well would be too much.
Lu Yan took the cotton candy and withdrew his hand. His voice sank with disappointment. “Qingqing, it’s all right if you didn’t want to come with me. We can go back now—”
“Fine, fine, we’ll hold hands! I give up. Is that enough?”
Yan Shiqing took back his cotton candy and, as though resigning himself to it, took Lu Yan’s hand.
A bright smile instantly spread across Lu Yan’s face. He tightened his grip and walked forward with him.
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