The tour group disbanded
The atmosphere was deathly silent.
No one spoke in the training room. The coach frowned, as if his throat was blocked. Zhou Yifan's expression was stiff, and his face was starting to look ugly.
Everyone else looked surprised; no one expected Chen Yuchuan to openly criticize others during a debriefing session without any mercy.
No one uttered a sound; the air was thick with tension. The noise of the computer case fan sounded particularly jarring in the still room.
Shen He stood up decisively, placing his hand on Chen Yuchuan's shoulder with a light touch, yet his gesture was undeniable.
"They're gone."
He only said this one sentence, his tone flat and his eyes indifferent. Then he led Chen Yuchuan out, as if casually picking up a ferocious beast, his back view clean and swift, ignoring the astonished gazes behind him.
The door closed softly, no one moved inside, and no one mentioned the debriefing again.
Stepping outside, the corridor was empty, and the light was colder than inside.
Shen He's hand was still on Chen Yuchuan's shoulder as the two walked side by side out. He let go of Chen Yuchuan's hand when they reached the corner.
Chen Yuchuan spoke first, his tone still not very good:
"How come your taste has gotten so bad lately? The teammates you've picked are all so stupid."
Shen He hummed in agreement, without refuting, and casually said with his hands in his coat pockets, "Pretty much, just playing around."
"Just playing around?" Chen Yuchuan stopped and turned to look at him. "Didn't you say before..." He paused, clearly realizing that things were different now.
Shenhe stopped, glanced at him, as if pondering the question, but ultimately just said casually, "It's just playing professionally, not about conquering the world, why take it so seriously?"
"..."
His tone was so calm it sounded like he was just being perfunctory, but as he spoke, his eyes revealed an inexplicable weariness, though it didn't seem like he was tired of the game.
Chen Yuchuan looked at him in silence for two seconds, his Adam's apple bobbing, but in the end he didn't say anything.
As they reached the corner, Shenhe asked him, "Why are you so agitated over such a small thing?"
“I don’t like them,” Chen Yuchuan replied quickly. “And I also don’t like you when you’re not talking.”
"Didn't you just say it for me?" Shen He glanced at him, her smile faint but genuine. "Anyway, you always rush things, so it saves me the trouble of wasting my energy."
Chen Yuchuan stared at his profile without saying a word.
Seeing that he suddenly became listless, Shenhe simply asked him, "Shall we eat?"
"It's too late." Chen Yuchuan said calmly, as if he had planned this all along. "We have to go back to the base. There's a training match tomorrow morning."
Shen He grunted in response, but didn't offer any further advice.
The two stood at the door for a while. Before opening the car door, Chen Yuchuan glanced at Shen He again, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just tugged at the corner of his mouth and smiled: "Don't overthink it, I'm just here for a vacation these past two days."
"Fine," Shen He replied decisively. "The tour group is disbanded."
Chen Yuchuan got into the car with a smile, and with a flash of the headlights, he quickly blended into the evening traffic of the city.
Shen He walked slowly towards the dormitory alone. As soon as he turned into the corridor, he frowned. He vaguely smelled a fragrance, but it wasn't the smell of aromatherapy; it was the smell of steaming hot food.
He opened the door. The lights were still on, the air conditioning was set to the perfect temperature, the table was impeccably tidy, and the floor was cleaner than when he left that morning. Several boxes of food were laid out on the dining table in elegant wooden containers, and even the soup was sealed in a thermos. It was all his favorite dishes.
He swept around the room. The floor was cleaner than when he left in the morning, and there was even a carpet. The curtains had also been changed. The thick, dark blue cotton and linen fabric blocked out all the light from the window. The bed was still in the same place, but the mattress had been changed and looked thicker. He didn't know where Chen Yuchuan had thrown the old bedding, but it had been replaced with a set of dark green that looked quite nice.
The original table and wardrobe provided by the base had also been replaced. The new set had clean lines and a darker color. He casually opened the wardrobe door, and there were more than a dozen sets of clean and tidy clothes hanging inside. The collars were turned up flat, obviously freshly washed and dried. Matching bedding and old clothes were also properly placed in the corner.
Shen He walked to the bedside, stared at the new bed for a few seconds, reached out and pressed it. It was soft to the touch, but the support was good. He smiled to himself.
He claimed he was visiting the work environment, but then turned "the club's dormitory" into "his room." He said he had to rush back to the base, but his hands were faster than his mouth, and he arranged everything perfectly.
He stood there for a while, and suddenly felt a moment of peace.
The room was so perfectly suited to his tastes that it felt like his envisioned "future life" had come to fruition ahead of time.
He actually had this thought: if he could continue living like this without thinking about anything else, maybe it would be nice.
Shen He dismissed the absurd thought, turned around and opened the lunchbox left by Chen Yuchuan. The steam hit him, but images from long ago floated into his mind.
The first time I saw Chen Yuchuan was on the rooftop of the teaching building. He was standing at the very edge, leaning against the railing, motionless, lost in thought.
Chen Yuchuan was young then, but his face already had an extremely aggressive look, with sharp eyebrows and eyes. His skin was almost bluish from the bright sun, and even the shadows cast by his eyelashes were thin and sharp. When Shen He first saw him, an animal popped into his mind—the Ice Blue Tree Viper.
More than just being "like a snake" in an adjective sense, in the days that followed, Shen He discovered that he was extremely arrogant and indifferent, yet the slightest disturbance could trigger his aggression. He had few friends, was too lazy to talk to people, and would solve any problem with his fists—a thoroughly cold-blooded animal.
But Shen He didn't find him scary; on the contrary, he was somewhat interested. So, after their paths crossed, they unexpectedly got along well. Chen Yuchuan didn't want to talk, and he also liked quiet. When they got together, they would only go to class together, skip class together, and play games together. Chen Yuchuan would sit on the shore and silently wait for him to finish swimming, and he would occasionally play a few games of ball with him.
Like wild animals and observers who have strayed into each other's territory, they gradually adapted to each other's presence.
After becoming friends, Chen Yuchuan gradually changed.
His gaze was no longer the emotionless coldness, nor the instinctive hostility and aggression. It began to linger, to dart away, to hesitate, to express joy, excitement, and anger. He gradually ceased to resemble a snake and became more like a human being.
Shen He was happy for his change. He separated Chen Yuchuan from the inhuman animal he had been at the beginning. He sincerely hoped that his best friend could develop positive emotions towards the world, even though those emotions were often projected onto himself.
The two of them went on a trip together, hiking, playing ball, and camping, many of which were things that Chenhe had never been interested in before.
Looking back, that period was so vivid in his memory that it seemed almost unreal.
At that time, Shen He's bedroom was on the first floor. One night, he was suddenly awakened by urgent knocking on the window and the ringing of a cell phone. He drew back the curtains and saw Chen Yuchuan standing outside the window, wearing a black hoodie. He was almost completely blended into the thick darkness of the night. Shen He could only see him mouthing the words "Let's go" into the glass.
Shen He wasn't fully awake yet, frowning as if he didn't know what he had said, but Chen Yuchuan didn't care. He simply pushed the window open from the outside, and the cold wind made Shen He shiver.
"What are you going to do?" His voice probably carried a hint of wanting to curse.
"Didn't you say you really wanted to see the center of the Milky Way?" Chen Yuchuan leaned closer to the windowsill and lowered his voice. "I checked, the best time to observe is tonight. If you miss it, you'll have to wait several months."
Shen He stared at him for a few seconds without saying a word.
He remembered that he had just casually said it during a meal, from a science video recommended on his phone, which Shen He had seen and then casually told Chen Yuchuan about. Who knew Chen Yuchuan would take it seriously and come to wake him up at two in the morning.
By the time he stepped outside, Chen Yuchuan had already started the car, its headlights shining on the ground. He stood to the side, one hand in his pocket, the other twirling the keys.
Do you have a driver's license?
"I have a theory," Chen Yuchuan laughed. "Don't worry, my skills are more reliable than those old fogies at the driving school." As a result, once on the highway, he stepped on the gas pedal so fast that he almost tore a crack in the night.
Shen He leaned against the passenger seat, watching the speedometer quickly climb to 140 km/h, and finally spoke up: "I don't want to see us on the breaking news tomorrow morning."
Chen Yuchuan chuckled but didn't reply, though his hands did slow down.
They drove out of the city and headed towards the foot of the mountains in the suburbs. There weren't many people in that area during the day, and it was a complete desert in the early morning.
The car was parked in an open area, away from the lights.
In the distance, the Milky Way stretched across the sky like a ribbon, its center rising with primal light and mystery. However, to the naked eye, it was not nearly as breathtaking as it appeared in the video.
Chen Yuchuan asked, "Aren't we being incredibly stupid?"
Shen He actually thought it was pretty stupid—who would come to observe celestial phenomena without bringing equipment? But he didn't say anything. He was genuinely happy at that moment; it was an emotion that came without cost and didn't need to be faked.
Later, Chen Yuchuan began to anticipate a response, and started to pay attention to every word Shen He said and every decision he made. Complex and vivid feelings welled up in his once calm eyes. He would do things he wouldn't normally do because of Shen He's casual remark of "I'm a little interested," and he would also secretly compete with Shen He and others over their casual remarks.
Shen He said that he would go abroad directly after finishing the college entrance examination. His mother wanted him to study medicine, while his father wanted him to study an engineering technology.
It was just a casual mention, but Chen Yuchuan returned to the "home" he loathed so much. He secluded himself for two months and finally achieved good results in the exam. He boasted and urged others to hurry up with the exam, to choose a country, and to choose a city, as if his future was waiting for Chen He to walk with him.
But Chenhe brushed him off.
There was no malice in his eyes; he simply realized that Chen Yuchuan had transformed from that aloof and gloomy boy into a person with genuine emotions and desires. And he himself no longer wanted to be bound by anyone or any desires.
So he decisively abandoned everything and left, including Chen Yuchuan, who had become very human.
Before the thought was even finished, his phone screen lit up with a message notification, interrupting his thoughts. Shen He opened his phone and saw that it was Zhou Yifan, who wanted to have a meal with him and talk in person. Shen He glanced at the food in front of him and simply replied, "I've already eaten. Let's talk next time."
Immediately after, Chen Yuchuan's voice message arrived, his voice tinged with smugness, "Have you eaten yet? How's the chef I specially hired for you? It tastes pretty good, right?"
Shen He smiled and replied, "Just drive your car carefully."
Chen Yuchuan replied quickly, "Okay, okay." Finally, things quieted down.
Shen He casually scrolled up the chat history. Chen Yuchuan kept trying to make conversation, and Shen He just gave him perfunctory replies.
He left decisively and without any mercy, without even a word of explanation. Given Chen Yuchuan's vindictive and dog-like temper, he should have been angry and hateful long ago, or at least given him the cold shoulder.
But on the day they met again, Chen Yuchuan still called him in that self-righteous tone, pretending they were still friends, as if nothing had happened over the years. Shen He thought he would ask why, but he didn't. A simple promise of "it's still the same as before" was enough to satisfy Chen Yuchuan.
However, Chen Yuchuan has always been like this. Once he decided that Chen Yuchuan was his best brother, he couldn't live without him and would always revolve around him. If Chen Yuchuan talked to other friends for a few minutes, Chen Yuchuan would get upset. If Chen Yuchuan went out with other people, Chen Yuchuan would insist on going along as well. Given Chen Yuchuan's extreme personality, Shen He could understand his somewhat morbid possessiveness towards the title of best brother.
After thinking about it, Shen He realized that he wasn't bothered by Chen Yuchuan's persistent pursuit.
Since Chen Yuchuan is still fixated on that past relationship, then let's just give him this position. Anyway, he doesn't need any other friends now. These days, Chen Yuchuan has been treating him to meals, playing with him, and even renovating his dormitory. He's also stood up for him and was angry about his silence. Shen He can't possibly ignore all of this.
Looking back, he has no regrets and doesn't want to turn back. Reflecting on the past would only bring him anger and resentment, emotions he detests most. He deliberately lets go of everything from the past—friends, family, and himself—but preserving and continuing the time he spent as brothers with Chen Yuchuan is not unacceptable.
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