What are you thinking about?

"I was thinking about the past." Hu Hanyu's voice was different from usual. "I didn't think much of anything when I went out to sea today, but when I was fishing... I suddenly thought of my master."

"Dad Takada?"

"Yeah." Hu Hanyu responded, "He's my second dad. Without him, I might have died long ago."

Takada's father originally ran a restaurant. In order to survive, he joined the □□ and has always been a chef.

After retiring, he specialized in rescuing misguided young men, and many of them ended up staying in the store as apprentices, just like Hu Hanyu.

"He's old and sick, so we apprentices have agreed that if Cheng's restaurant goes bankrupt one day, we'll go back home and open a branch. Mine would be considered an overseas branch."

"I didn't expect to be knocked down by an internet celebrity?"

"It's not just an internet celebrity." Hu Hanyu sighed, "My dad wouldn't agree. I really only know how to cook. Opening a restaurant is not that easy."

Hu Hanyu still has the financial statements from that time saved in his mobile phone, and he has been thinking over and over again about the reason for his fall.

"It was so difficult for my dad to manage so many of us and run a store. I didn't understand it until I opened my own store," he said. "I feel so sorry for him. He left so quickly that I didn't have time to go back and see him."

"Is he sick?" Zheng Cheng asked.

"His health wasn't very good. In the past two years, due to other things, his mental state was also..." Hu Hanyu's voice trailed off. "He committed suicide."

He should have taken advantage of the situation to ask Takada Makoto why he committed suicide, but Zheng Cheng really couldn't bear it.

There was no light source at the beach. Apart from the foamy waves and the homestay in the distance, nothing else could be seen, including Hu Hanyu's expression.

But his voice was not his usual one, it was dull and a little hoarse.

Unable to think of any other words to comfort him, Zheng Cheng could only follow Dr. Yin's example, fumbling to take Hu Hanyu's hand and patting it.

"There's still a chance," he heard himself say. "One day, you, no, we, will be able to reopen the relic."

A few seconds later, he felt a weight on his shoulders.

Hu Hanyu did what he always wanted to do.

"Zheng Cheng." Hanyu's voice was right beside his ear, "Let me lean on you for a moment."

Zheng Cheng's hand stayed in the air for a while, then hesitantly dropped it and rubbed Hu Hanyu's hair.

"Okay," he said.

Then he didn't know where to put his hands. Hu Hanyu probably didn't cry, because his breathing sounded steady, but the air on his neck was itchy.

It was terrible and really itchy.

Zheng Cheng endured it for a long time out of consideration for Hu Hanyu's emotions. His toes were about to dig out a cross-sea tunnel, and thorns were about to grow on his back. The only words in his heart were curse words. Finally, he opened his mouth:

"Um... is that ok? It's a little itchy."

"Hmm? Where are you itchy?" Hu Hanyu turned his head, and his hair rubbed against his neck.

"Stop, stop, stop, don't move!" Zheng Cheng was about to explode as soon as he moved. He kept pushing and shrinking backwards. Hu Hanyu tried to pull him but couldn't and he finally fell on the beach.

There's a lot of weight on him, guess who it is.

"Hu Hanyu..." It was too heavy, Zheng Cheng couldn't even scream out, and could only call out his full name in a weak voice, "Get up right there."

Hu Hanyu got up and shook off the sand on his body.

Good dog, it’s all over Zheng Cheng’s face.

"Are you okay?" Good Dog used his last bit of conscience to pull Zheng Cheng up.

"I have a lot of things to do." Zheng Cheng wanted to wipe the sand off his face but his hands were dirty. He felt itchy all over and the sand got into his collar. He could only shake himself and scream "Wow".

"Oh, it's you who's scary." Hu Hanyu took a step back and laughed out loud.

"How dare you say that? Do you know how irritated I am right now?" Zheng Cheng began. "I want to beat you up, but I'm covered in sand, my neck itches but my hands are dirty and I can't scratch it. I want to take a shower, but it's a long walk back home! I've been acting so poorly all day that I've exceeded my annual swear quota. It's all because of you, Hu Hanyu."

Hu Hanyu laughed: "Why didn't you tell me you were ticklish?"

"What do you mean by 'tell me this earlier'? You're almost crying and I'm telling you this? Do you think I'm that mean? What image do you have of me in your mind? Ouch, I feel like there's sand in my underwear, huh..."

Before he could finish his words, Zheng Cheng was pressed into someone's arms.

"Thank you." Hu Hanyu patted him on the back.

Zheng Cheng didn't understand until he let go of his hand.

Is this the normal way to express gratitude? So how should I respond? Should I say it's okay, or not? How can I hold her when she's so dirty?

"Hey, are you going home?" Hu Hanyu saw that he was motionless and patted him.

Only then did Zheng Cheng remember what to say.

"Go back, why not go back? Is this the way to go? It's too dark here. Is there no light or am I blind? I shouldn't be blind. Oh, the villa is in that direction. Then where are you, Hu Hanyu?"

He opened his hand and felt around, and someone grabbed his hand: "I'm here."

"Oh, here it is." Zheng Cheng said and tried to pull his hand back, but found that he couldn't.

"Stop moving and follow me." Hu Hanyu pulled him towards the B&B.

"Ah, hold my hand?" Zheng Cheng blurted out these words before the power of the direct output in his brain had even faded.

"Well, what's wrong with holding hands? We've hugged each other several times." Hu Hanyu said.

He doesn't like men, so straight men like to make jokes like this.

It was quite frustrating, but Zheng Cheng couldn't keep his feet steady and didn't have the confidence to walk on his own, so he could only follow in silence.

The two people held hands tightly and were sweating. There was sand in the gaps between their fingers, which were sticky and stuck together. Zheng Cheng moved his fingers.

"What? Are your hands ticklish too?" Hu Hanyu pinched him even tighter, as if he was afraid that he would run away.

"I'm not afraid, but just..." Zheng Cheng thought about it and paused.

"that is?"

"That's right, Hu Hanyu, you don't like men, but I like men."

"Oh, so."

"So, today, no, not just today." Zheng Cheng sorted out his thoughts, "You just have no sense of boundaries. Hugs, holding hands, everything."

"Do you hate it then?"

"I don't hate you, but if you do this I will..."

"meeting?"

He could feel Hu Hanyu looking at him, as if waiting for an answer.

Zheng Cheng bit his lip and said nothing.

If you say one more word, something bad will happen.

"If you don't tell me, then whatever I think is what I will think." Hu Hanyu laughed twice and squeezed his hand again.

His palms were a little hot.

It may also be caused by Zheng Cheng's temperature.

As they got closer to the villa, they could see it clearly. Hu Hanyu still insisted on holding his hand. Only when they reached the back door did he let go of Zheng Cheng and walked over to open the door.

Zheng Cheng rushed in quickly.

Escaped.

Hu Hanyu locked the door to the backyard and looked at the running figure.

Back at the disgraceful restaurant, Zheng Cheng continued to close his eyes. Unlike him, Hu Hanyu simply grabbed a garbage bag and walked over.

"Don't move. Let the manager handle it tomorrow." Zheng Cheng could only open his eyes a little to stop him.

"It's okay, I'll just put it away." Hu Hanyu didn't look up, "and calm down at the same time."

"Calm down, what..." The moment Zheng Cheng asked this question, he wanted to slap himself.

Hu Hanyu stopped what he was doing, looked up at the expression on his face, and smiled again.

"Go take a shower," he said, "coward."

This time, Zheng Cheng climbed the stairs. He had never run so fast barefoot before. He just realized he forgot to bring his slippers. He had to wait until dawn to look for them on the beach.

No, what a coward?!

Standing under the shower, with his head covered in bubbles, he folded his hands, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

My mind was so confused just now that what he said seems problematic now.

Whatever he thinks is what he thinks. What was he thinking when he leaned his head over here just now?

What were you thinking about when you held hands?

What are you thinking about when you say brother?

What are you thinking when you call me a coward?

Don’t you like men?

What on earth does that mean? Damn Hu Hanyu!

Zheng Cheng changed into pajamas, blew his hair, and went downstairs angrily again.

The downstairs was very clean, the garbage was thrown outside the door, and the dirty dishes were neatly piled in the sink. After walking around three times, Hu Hanyu was nowhere to be seen.

I hesitated for a long time whether to go to his room to find him, but then I felt like I was making a big deal out of nothing.

When I finished the fifth circle, a man came down the stairs with water dripping from his hair.

"Why don't you blow-dry your hair? Doesn't it hurt your head?" Zheng Cheng said to him.

"I think if you don't come down soon, you will have to polish other people's living room floors again." Hu Hanyu took the towel on his shoulder and snorted twice.

He wanted to say something stubborn, but didn't want to waste time anymore, so he asked directly, "Who are you calling a coward?"

Hu Hanyu paused, then walked towards him with a smile: "Speaking of you, if there were anything else on the spot, it might not be cowardly or not, but it must be..."

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, it's really weird to run into you in the middle of the night." Zheng Cheng stopped him from finishing, "Don't interrupt me, you said whatever you think is what you think, what do you mean? What on earth are you thinking about?"

Even in the quiet of the beachfront guesthouse late at night, the sound of the waves was still quite noticeable, as was the sound of Hu Hanyu's slippers kicking Li Tala.

"Speak." Zheng Cheng followed him, watching him add water, plug in the power, boil water, and take out the rice cooker pot. Finally, he couldn't help it.

"It's too late, let's talk about it later." Hu Hanyu stopped and looked at him after finishing his work.

"Later? What later?" Zheng Cheng shook his head. "I don't want to talk about later."

"You won't be able to sleep after this."

"Do you think I can fall asleep without explaining things clearly?" Zheng Cheng's voice suddenly became louder.

"Shh, they're all asleep, be quiet." Hu Hanyu stood beside him and held his arm, "Calm down."

"I can't calm down. The more you calm down, the more confused I become." Zheng Cheng rubbed his face with his hands and covered it with his hands. "Speak clearly, now, I'm going crazy."

"This, shouldn't be the case."

"Of course not," Zheng Cheng still didn't take his hand away, "There are no more reasons why I can't sleep. Lately, every time I close my eyes at night, all I think of is you. I can't continue like this."

“…Ah?” It was Hu Hanyu’s turn to be stunned.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I was all... Shit!" Zheng Cheng finally realized what he had just said and raised his head in confusion. "I, it's not, ah, it's not no, it's just... ah!"

It's over. He covered his face again.

"Zheng Cheng, take your hands off."

Why can’t I have a panic attack now? Can I start over again in this life?

He heard Hu Hanyu laugh briefly twice.

"Laugh all you want, I'm a lunatic anyway."

"I would do the same."

“……?”

While Zheng Cheng was stunned, Hu Hanyu took the hand that Zheng Cheng was covering his face with and held it in his palm.

"At night, all I can think about is you, Zheng Cheng."

Zheng Cheng saw his own reflection in Hu Hanyu's eyes again.

"you?"

"Yeah, me."

"But don't you... dislike men?" Zheng Cheng saw that his eyes were wide open and he looked dazed.

"I don't like men," said Hu Hanyu.

"and you……"

"I don't like women either." Hu Hanyu said again.

"Ah, ah?" Zheng Cheng was confused.

"You, Zheng Cheng." Hu Hanyu said, "I like you."