The summer sun filtered through a thin layer of curtains and fell into the room.

The young man was lying in the sunlight, hugging a pillow and asleep.

Seeing the blue-black shadows under Gu Sheng’s eyes, Zhou Shiyi eased his movements.

Lately, Gu Sheng had been sleeping barely three hours a day, surviving on coffee; now that the Gaokao was over, his circadian rhythm still had him up early, and he was exhausted.

Zhou Shiyi went over and drew the curtains, blocking the harsh light. Gu Sheng turned over on the bed and fell asleep with his back to Zhou Shiyi.

Zhou Shiyi opened his laptop and began looking up papers.

Gu Sheng slept until noon; it was still Zhou Shiyi who came in to call him to eat before he sat up from the bed.

After dozing off again, Gu Sheng felt lazy all over.

He wanted to check the time and saw that many people in the class group had @mentioned him and Zhou Shiyi.

He clicked it and saw that the interview Zhou Shiyi did yesterday had already hit the trending list, and in the last few seconds he’d barged into the frame, standing next to Zhou Shiyi.

It was the first time he’d seen the way he looked at Zhou Shiyi from another angle—so stubborn.

Gu Sheng opened the class chat; it was what had been posted last night. After checking the answers most classmates went home.

The price of overindulgence was that everyone overslept this morning. Some said they’d been planning to rest during the break but, unexpectedly, they’d woken up very early today.

After fermenting all night, the class group chat had also seen the video and started tagging him and Zhou Shiyi.

Qin Shu was the first to poke the fire: “Hahaha, Sheng-ge, people online are saying you two look like a couple. I told them one of you is an alpha and the other a beta, how could you possibly be a couple.”

Gu Sheng felt a bit choked up when he saw that—how could it not be possible?

He typed and deleted in the chat box a few times, and finally, considering Zhou Shiyi was also in the group, Gu Sheng sent a smiling face.

Others called out, “Sheng-ge!” and began talking about the video.

The group chat window kept flashing, and within minutes their messages had pushed the video up the feed.

Gu Sheng watched for a while — the class group was just there for the spectacle, and they were already discussing where to go for the three-month break.

Gu Sheng put his phone down and saw Nian Meilan had sent him several messages asking when he would be back.

Gu Yuan also sent him a message: “?”

Gu Sheng: “?”

Gu Yuan: “Are you still not coming back?”

Gu Sheng: “Coming back.”

Gu Yuan: “If you don’t come back soon, Mom’s going to send people to fetch you.”

Gu Sheng: “I’ll be back this afternoon.”

Gu Yuan: “Alone?”

Gu Sheng: “?”

Gu Yuan retracted a message.

Gu Sheng: “I saw it.”

He put down his phone. After agreeing with Zhou Shiyi on what time to buy the tickets, Gu Sheng left the house.

Arriving at the Gu residence, Gu Sheng unusually felt a bit of nervousness about returning home, especially since he wouldn’t be staying long before he had to leave again.

Just then, the door suddenly opened.

“Oh my, why are you standing there instead of coming in? You gave me a fright.” Nian Meilan lightly tapped her chest.

“I just got here.” Gu Sheng followed Nian Meilan inside.

Yesterday had been a bit rushed; Nian Meilan could see that Gu Sheng had indeed lost quite a bit of weight.

“You actually came back — I almost thought you’d grown up at your classmate’s house.”

Gu Sheng hadn’t come back to live these past few months. Seeing him home for the holiday but already planning to run off again, Nian Meilan scolded him playfully.

“Mom, I did come back, didn’t I?” Gu Sheng leaned against Nian Meilan and acted spoiled.

Nian Meilan pouted, “You’re such a grown man and still acting spoiled.”

“Oh, isn’t this our household’s busybody? Finally decided to come back?” Gu Yuan came down from upstairs, neatly dressed as if about to go out.

Nian Meilan: “If he doesn’t come back, where could he possibly have gone?”

Gu Yuan raised his eyebrows at Gu Sheng: “Not necessarily. Tell me, how long are you planning to stay this time?”

Nian Meilan fell silent too, turning her head to look at Gu Sheng with a suspicious expression.

……

“So Auntie kicked you out?” Zhou Shiyi sounded like he wanted to laugh.

Gu Sheng dragged his luggage resentfully, following behind him, and replied weakly, “Mm.”

“Alright then, I’ll reluctantly take you in for a bit.”

When Gu Yuan, like poking a fire, said that one sentence, Gu Sheng forced himself to say he’d be leaving in a couple of days, and Nian Meilan was a little angry.

Especially after she found out Gu Sheng wasn’t even planning to hold a birthday banquet for his birthday—she stewed in silence by herself.

Telling Gu Sheng to go stay at a classmate’s house was said in anger. But watching him really hurriedly pack his things made her even angrier.

Before he’d left, Nian Meilan already regretted it, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask Gu Sheng to come back.

Gu Shenghou was shameless, waiting until the day before he was about to leave.

Gu Sheng packed his things, walked up to Nian Meilan, and hugged her before leaving. “Mom, don’t worry about me. I’ll take good care of myself. It’s just that my heat is coming soon; staying at home might affect you all. Besides, my classmate is a beta—he can look after me.”

Nian Meilan stiffened a bit, reached out, and patted his back once. “If you’re going, go then. Remember to call me.”

Gu Sheng’s situation was unusual. Even being placed in the alpha isolation ward at the hospital only used physical means to get him through the heat. With proper preparation, it was possible to go through it at home.

Once the others left, Nian Meilan began to worry; she was afraid Gu Sheng would get hurt.

Gu Yuan watched from the side and shook his head, thinking that it was a good thing if Gu Sheng wasn’t going to torment his classmates.

On the taxi, Gu Sheng sent Gu Yuan a few stickers of someone being beaten up.

Gu Yuan: “?”

Gu Sheng: “?”

Gu Yuan: “I really didn’t expect it—you really weren’t planning to stay home for a few days.”

Gu Sheng: “Heh.”

Gu Yuan: “You believe me.”

In short, Gu Sheng wasn’t really able to face his family right now.

His changes were, one could say, plain for all to see; at the Gu household they could only add to everyone’s worries and do nothing else.

He knew where the pain in his heart lay, but he couldn’t tell them any of it.

While packing his things, he saw on the bedside table a family photo of five — back then his smile had not a trace of shadow.

Now look at him: every day he worried about the impending rut he couldn’t predict, to the point that he didn’t even dare engage in strenuous exercise.

I’m just afraid it will trigger hormonal changes in his body and make his receptive period come earlier.

He could never go back to how things were.

While he was undergoing therapy, the Gu family already knew he was a patient; their overly cautious protection only increased his stress.

They had originally planned to meet at the airport, but because Nian Meilan was still angry, Gu Sheng took his luggage and went to seek out Zhou Shiyi early.

Before they left, Zhou Shiyi, thinking of Gu Sheng’s condition, put a contraceptive patch on him; later Gu Sheng even found a mouthguard and put it on.

To be honest, it was the first time Zhou Shiyi had seen Gu Sheng wearing a mouth guard; in the internet slang of their world, his pheromones were off the charts—kind of hot.

They turned lots of heads all along the way.

Arriving at the airport early to wait for the flight, Gu Sheng sat on his suitcase, waiting to check his luggage.

Grandma Zhou was flying for the first time, so she was a bit curious, but as time went on, the aftereffects of not sleeping well last night began to show.

The plane had barely taken off when Grandma Zhou fell asleep.

Zhou Shiyi lowered the window shade and flipped through a magazine.

Zhou Shiyi’s hometown was a small town in the south.

They first flew into the city, then bought train tickets and made their way back to the town.

The blue sky and white clouds — the blue here looked as if it had been washed with water, seeming very close to the ground.

They got out of the car and, led by Grandma Zhou, successfully found the old family home in town.

The Zhou family has a two-story small house here with a courtyard; when they entered, they saw two flower beds in the yard overrun with weeds, clearly not tended to for a long time.

They first went inside to put down their luggage, then set about finding things to clean the rooms.

Before leaving, the Zhou family had covered the furniture with dust sheets, but since no one had returned for a long time, it still needed a thorough cleaning.

Grandma Zhou’s lungs were weak, so she stayed outside to fetch water for them.

The two young men worked all afternoon and only barely managed to clean up the first and second floors.

Grandma Zhou had already finished cooking, moved the little table outside, and was waiting for them to come eat in the glow of the setting sun.

Today they’d make do with just getting the house cleaned; for the next couple of days they’d go stay at an inn in town, and only move back in once the place had aired out and the water and electricity were confirmed okay.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

This time Grandma Zhou planned to come back to live for a while—after all, she’s getting on in years and can’t keep running around with Zhou Shiyi. Besides, the Zhou relatives are here, the neighbors know her, and everyone around recognizes Grandma Zhou.

Their first meal back home was made with vegetables the neighbor next door had just picked and brought over.

Zhou Shiyi went back to the appliance market, turned the whole house upside down, and installed air conditioning in the old couple’s room.

After two days of airing out, the little building was now barely livable, so they moved in.

Because there were few people, Grandma Zhou still stayed in the house she and her late husband had lived in, on the first floor, which made it easy for her to come and go.

Zhou Shiyi took over his parents’ original master bedroom, and Gu Sheng slept in Zhou Shiyi’s former room.

Now only the little attic upstairs remained.

That little attic was usually used for storing odds and ends, and it was very small, so it generally hadn’t been counted.

They’d been tidying up for days since moving in.

When they got to the attic, they came across a photo album.

There’s a layer of dust on top.

“Oh, so that’s where it was.” Grandma Zhou carefully took the photo album and wiped it gently with a towel.

She opened the photo album, her eyes full of delight and nostalgia.

“Grandma, was this taken at your wedding?” Gu Shengye leaned in too, watching Grandma Zhou flip through those old photos.

“Yes. At the time, Xiao Yi and I got our marriage certificate after knowing each other for less than half a year—it was taken at the civil affairs bureau.” The old man’s voice drifted slowly as he leafed through the old photos page by page.

Old photographs seemed to have a kind of magic: as time passed they yellowed, and with the crude photography of the day, looking at the pictures in chronological order gave a queer illusion of experiencing that era alongside the photo subjects.

This album spanned a very long time; Gu Sheng also came across pictures of Zhou Shiyi’s father, and photos of Zhou’s parents together.

Flipping toward the back, the photo dates grew more recent, and the last few pages had been disturbed—Grandma Zhou carefully placed each photo back in.

After looking for a while, Gu Sheng asked, “Why don’t I see any photos of Zhou Shiyi?”

He still wanted to see how little radish-head Zhou Shiyi had turned into the man he was now.

Hearing his name while he was outside cleaning the windows, Zhou Shiyi turned back, a little puzzled.

“His photos are in another album, taken to H City. If you want to see them next time, I’ll bring them for you. But he’s never liked having his picture taken, so there aren’t many.” Grandma Zhou flipped to the last photo, then suddenly stopped.

Her hand, marked by the traces time had carved, gently brushed across that old photograph.

This is a family portrait.

The photo was taken when Grandpa Zhou was gravely ill. Zhou Shiyi was still in Father Zhou’s arms then, looking only two or three years old.

Father Zhou and Mother Zhou were very young at the time, like a newlywed couple, but now in this photo only Grandma Zhou and Zhou Shiyi remain.

The family is reduced to an elder and a child; when Grandma Zhou looks at the picture of her son, she can’t help but feel a little wistful.

Gu Sheng and Zhou Shiyi exchanged a glance, both realizing they had touched on something that would sadden Grandma Zhou.

They had been keeping the matter of the at-fault driver from her all along, afraid of making Grandma Zhou cry again.

“Grandma, I saw that the flower beds outside have already been cleaned up. Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the flower-and-bird market to buy some flowers to plant? It’s just about ready now, so let’s go together. I haven’t seen the flower-and-bird market here yet.” Gu Sheng gently rested his hand on Grandma Zhou’s shoulder.

Zhou Shiyi also finished wiping the last pane of glass and climbed down.

“Yes, Grandma, let’s ventilate everything upstairs first.”

Grandma Zhou wiped her eyes and smiled, saying, “Ah, okay, we’ll go after we eat.”

……

After the meal, Grandma Zhou led the two of them to the flower and bird market to do the heavy work.

At the flower and bird market, Grandma Zhou’s mood had clearly improved; she haggled with the sellers and discussed tips for growing flowers.

In the end they bought quite a lot of seeds and seedlings.

Gu Sheng was stunned by the flower and bird market; he had never seen a southern market like this, and before long he got lost among the little stalls.

When Zhou Shiyi found him, he was being talked into buying a pile of fish food to feed to a turtle.

Gu Shengcai was rough and blunt, practically running the whole stall by himself.

The vendor watched as Gu Sheng failed to catch a single thing and felt a little sheepish with the money in his pocket, worried Gu Sheng might suddenly fly into a shame-fueled rage.

Gu Sheng, on the other hand, seemed rather excited; he tried several times, and in the end only a single turtle lazily took the bait.

Zhou Shiyi glanced over and immediately knew this kind of stall was meant to trick children into buying fish food.

Having caught a turtle, Gu Sheng was very happy; he eagerly bought quite a few things from the vendor and asked about how to care for the turtle.

Gu Sheng held a fish tank, staring at the single turtle inside, quietly withdrawn into its shell, motionless.

“Hey, does something wrong with this turtle? Why isn’t it moving?”

“Let me see.” Zhou Shiyi leaned in, their heads very close. “It’s fine, it’s just lazy.”

Gu Sheng reached out to tease the turtle, and maybe because he irritated it, the turtle darted its head out of the shell with lightning speed and almost bit his finger.

“It bites people!” Gu Sheng said in surprise. He watched the turtle tuck back in, but couldn’t help poking at it again.

He didn’t pull his hand back in time and got bitten on the index finger.

Zhou Shiyi, carrying the pile of things Gu Sheng had bought, heard the commotion and turned around. He saw Gu Sheng frowning, looking at the fish tank with a face full of exaggerated suffering.

“Let me take a look.”

Gu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then still held out his hand.

The turtle hadn’t bitten hard — maybe Gu Sheng had pulled his hand back a bit quickly — it only broke the skin, no bleeding.

“It’s fine, just a scrape. Don’t mess with it again if you’re okay.”

Gu Sheng frowned, hugging his fingers with his sleeve, glumly poking at the raised pattern on the turtle shell.

“How would I know turtles bite? Do you think I should get a rabies shot—can you even get a rabies vaccine from a turtle bite?”

Zhou Shiyi gave a light chuckle, then, worried Gu Sheng might fly into a shame-fueled rage, quickly turned his head away.

Gu Sheng looked at him suspiciously. “Were you laughing at me just now?”

“Ahem, no.” Zhou Shiyi said with a solemn face.

“You totally were, I saw it just now.”

“Come on, Grandma’s waiting for us up ahead. We’ll play again next time.”

Gu Sheng was still sulking over Zhou Shiyi’s grin, convinced Zhou must have been laughing at him for being silly.

He stared at the turtle in the fish tank and jabbed its shell a few times to vent his frustration, then carried the tank over to stand beside Zhou Shiyi.

“Zhou Shiyi, do you think it looks like you?”

Zhou Shiyi: “?”

“Look, you usually do this too—stay completely still, seem quiet and gentle, but actually you’re pretty fierce.”

“Me fierce?” Zhou Shiyi didn’t understand where Gu Sheng got the impression that he was fierce.

Ever since he was little people praised him as the model child—he’d never once, in the throes of adolescence, gone off to get into a fight.

Gu Sheng thought about the time Zhou Shiyi pinned him to the hospital bed and tied him up with restraints — wasn’t he really fierce then? How could a beta be so strong.

“Anyway, I think it’s very much like you.”

Zhou Shiyi was a bit speechless: “It’s your turtle — why don’t you say it’s like you?”

“My turtle. If I say it’s like me, then it’s like me.”

“”

Zhou Shiyi walked ahead, not wanting to pay him any attention.

Two adults standing in the flower-and-bird market, arguing over who resembled a turtle more, was a bit childish.

Whether this act had been labeled childish by Zhou Shiyi or not, Gu Sheng carried the turtle back to the small building.

Because Granny Zhou bought so much, the stall owner decided to have a vehicle deliver the goods later and to bring along the items bought at the other stalls for them as well.

Only Gu Sheng remained enthusiastically attached to that turtle, unwilling to let go.

Back at the small building, Gu Sheng put the turtle in place.

The stall owner who delivered the goods was quick too, and the two of them helped carry everything down.

Because some were still seedlings, they had to be handled very carefully while being moved.

Under Grandma Zhou’s direction, the two of them put everything in its place.

With a new purpose in life, Grandma Zhou’s spirits also improved quite a bit.

Grandma Zhou carefully took the seedlings out, trimmed the roots, and placed them into the pre-dug holes.

Mixed cultivating fertilizer had already been placed at the bottom of the holes; she put the seedlings in first, Zhou Shiyi followed behind covering them with soil, and Gu Sheng watered them.

The flowerbeds in the yard were now planted with seedlings, and every day Grandma Zhou would come to check on them and talk to the young plants with them.

Because Zhou Shiyi and Gu Sheng were always at home, they also earned Grandma Zhou’s disapproval.

Zhou Shiyi closed his laptop and promised his grandmother he’d exercise more this week.

He didn’t retort that he actually worked out every day, nor that he wasn’t glued to his computer all the time.

The warmth from the start of the holiday had already faded; even the halo of cross-generational affection couldn’t shield him from Grandma Zhou’s disapproval.

Gu Sheng quietly put his phone away, thought about the friends in his Moments who were out partying, and wondered if he had become too listless.

But when it came to going out by himself, he wasn’t willing.

In his past life he traveled a lot and had already been to some places. He followed Zhou Shiyi to the little town for Zhou Shiyi himself.

“Then let’s go hiking tomorrow.”

There was nothing much in the town except the scenery, and Gu Sheng often ran into people planning to hike, so after thinking about it, it seemed like the only option.

“Climbing is great — it’s good exercise,” Grandma Zhou praised from the side.

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment, helplessly, then agreed, “Then let’s go watch the sunrise tomorrow.”

Gu Sheng of course wouldn’t refuse.

The next morning at four, when Zhou Shiyi dragged him out of bed, his mind was still a little fuzzy.

“Didn’t you say we were going to watch the sunrise? Why get up so early?”

Zhou Shiyi had long since packed up; he was just waiting for Gu Sheng to get up.

“Exactly. If you go late, the sun’s already up—there’s no sunrise left to see.”

When Gu Shengyi thought it over, it made sense, so he could only climb out of bed.

He finished tidying up and followed behind Zhou Shiyi.

The original self had grown up here, and Zhou Shiyi could, from memory, find the spots around best suited for climbing.

Life in the big city was extremely stressful; the quiet, slow-paced life of the small town also attracted many people to visit.

The surrounding facilities were well-built, and one of the tourist attractions was the mountain that Zhou Shiyi chose.

Along the mountain road, there was a lamppost at regular intervals, illuminating the path underfoot for those who climbed.

After climbing for a while, the mountain wind brushed over him, and the last trace of drowsiness in Gu Sheng vanished.

He watched Zhou Shiyi walking ahead, then took a few steps and climbed up beside him.

“Zhou Shiyi, let’s have a contest — see who can reach the mountaintop first.”

Seeing Gu Sheng leap several steps ahead, Zhou Shiyi refused to be outdone; the two chased each other, racing at a very fast pace.

By the time they reached the summit, Gu Sheng’s legs felt like they were filled with lead; he couldn’t lift them.

He panted, bent over, hands on his knees. “I can’t go on. I can’t climb anymore.”

Zhou Shiyi was a little out of breath too. He handed Gu Sheng a bottle of water, and the two of them found a pavilion to sit in and rest.

He glanced at the time—it was much earlier than he’d expected, and there weren’t many people on the mountain yet.

When they reached the summit and waited for their bodies to cool, Gu Sheng belatedly realized he was a little cold.

Zhou Shiyi took two prepared blankets out of his backpack and wrapped them around him.

They stayed like that until the sky began to pale at the horizon, the orange-red sun shyly peeking a little over the rim.

As the sun appeared more and more, the sky brightened.

Zhou Shiyi heard Gu Sheng come closer. Wrapped in a blanket, Gu Sheng sat down beside him, and the two of them quietly watched the sunrise, inching up from the ground.

By the time the last sliver of sun had fully appeared, the sky over the small town was bright.

Facing the sunrise, Zhou Shiyi turned and asked, “Is it beautiful?”

Gu Sheng turned back, looking at Zhou Shiyi bathed in sunlight, and said, “Beautiful.”

Zhou Shiyi watched Gu Sheng’s earnest expression, and there was an unmistakable tenderness in his eyes that made Zhou’s heart skip a beat. He didn’t know whether Gu Sheng was talking about the sunrise, or something else.

Zhou Shiyi shook his head and pressed his lips together. He scolded himself for overthinking—Gu Sheng clearly already had his canonical partner, and Zhou had always regarded Gu Sheng as his first true friend in this world—how could he possibly have such thoughts.

They were rather quiet on the way down the mountain.

Zhou Shiyi also encountered people who had gotten up early to exercise; most were middle-aged or older, but their steps were brisk.

The small town was slowly waking up.

Zhou Shiyi didn’t know what to say; he was probably overthinking—after all, he had the odd impression that ta liked him.

Soon Zhou Shiyi noticed that Gu Sheng seemed to be quiet to an almost excessive degree.

Usually Gu Sheng is full of energy; even when they’re just walking together, he never gets bored. But Gu Sheng seemed to have been silent since a little while ago.

He turned his head and saw Gu Sheng trailing behind him, saying nothing.

Zhou Shiyi waited for a moment, but Gu Sheng seemed only to be watching the ground and didn’t notice that Zhou Shiyi had stopped.

“Careful.” Zhou Shiyi saw Gu Sheng almost misstep and hurriedly reached out to steady him.

Whenever he came into contact with Gu Sheng, Zhou Shiyi felt a bad premonition.

Gu Sheng’s whole body was alarmingly warm — the moment they touched, he felt almost hot to the hand.

Gu Sheng seemed barely able to stand; Zhou Shiyi helped him to the side.

“Gu Sheng, are you okay? Are you sick?” Zhou Shiyi thought of how quickly Gu Sheng had climbed earlier, sweating all over, and how a gust of mountain wind could easily make him ill.

Zhou Shiyi felt a bit guilty, worried that Gu Sheng had suddenly fallen ill from climbing the mountain.

“Mm,” Gu Sheng hummed softly.

He felt Zhou Shiyi’s cool hand on his forehead, bringing a touch of relief.

Zhou Shiyi touched Gu Sheng’s forehead; it was a bit hot.

“Get up, I’ll carry you down.” Zhou Shiyi crouched in front of Gu Sheng. Gu Sheng looked for a moment, then slumped onto Zhou Shiyi’s back.

Feeling his body lift, Zhou Shiyi walked steadily all the way, but not slowly.

Gu Sheng held onto Zhou Shiyi; Zhou Shiyi’s body temperature was lower than his, and being held by him at that moment felt very comfortable.

Hearing Zhou Shiyi’s breath grow a bit ragged, Gu Sheng tightened the grip around Zhou Shiyi’s neck.

“Gu Sheng, hold on a bit longer, it will come down soon.”

Gu Sheng watched Zhou Shiyi hurriedly run toward the clinic and said in his ear, “Zhou Shiyi, take me home. My heat period has started.”