48

The morning before the Summer Camp, Lu Heyang drove alone to Lin Yumian's villa.

The assistant had just gathered a few signed contracts, nodded to Lu Heyang, and left with the documents. Lin Yumian set down his signing pen and picked up a paintbrush again, coloring the rose on his paper.

"Is this Summer Camp only a month?"

"Mm. Next term the Preparatory Academy starts twenty-five days earlier."

"The Summer Camp is in S City?"

"Yes."

Lin Yumian smiled. "It's in the same city as the Lianmeng Government, so we can hold your birthday banquet there."

Lu Heyang lowered his head to feed the fish and said nothing.

"What was the plan before?" Lin Yumian asked.

"Apply to League University in the first semester of my final year, and once admitted, go early to Union University to study." Lu Heyang recited in a flat tone the path that had been laid out for him long ago.

"Then during university, get engaged, intern at the Lianmeng Government, and after graduation go straight into the political system — marry, have children — and perhaps before thirty step into the core leadership of the League." Lin Yumian sighed. "What a perfect life."

Perfect like a machine program, precise and without error.

"When you were fifteen, on the day Qingmo got married, I told you — at any point in the future, once you've decided, you could live under a new name and a new identity. The condition was that you had to go far away, and give up everything you currently have." Lin Yumian slowly mixed his paints. "I said the same to Qingmo when she was a teenager, but she didn't choose that path in the end. I know she had her reasons."

"But I don't know what you're thinking. The older you get, the less you say, and it seems like there are fewer and fewer times you're happy." Lin Yumian stared at the rose. "Don't you think you're becoming more and more like him?"

"Not alike." Lu Heyang answered.

"The further you go, the harder it is to break free. But I respect all your decisions — perhaps this isn't unsuited to you after all."

Lu Heyang's gaze slowly followed the swimming fish. "During the Summer Camp I'll talk to Dad."

Lin Yumian looked at him. "Contact me anytime if something comes up."

"Mm." Lu Heyang nodded, paused, and asked, "Is Chengxi about to be expanded?"

"You still care about this?" Lin Yumian was a little puzzled, but answered anyway. "The government plans to repurpose the old Wharf there and build a new Airport for military use."

"Who will get the project?"

"The project is too big — it'll be either the Gu Family or the Wei Clan."

"Tang Feiyi and Wei Lingzhou seem to be on good terms." Lu Heyang recalled Xu Ze's personal file, which had mentioned that Tang Feiyi and Wei Lingzhou often went in and out together.

"Tang Feiyi? His power base is in Chengxi, and it's all the kind you can't see in daylight. You know what sort of person your brother-in-law is — it's only natural they'd end up together."

Lin Yumian set down his brush. "Tang Feiyi must want Wei Lingzhou to land the project — it's to his advantage. The Gu Family has a grudge against him; if the Gu Family wins, Tang Feiyi's days won't be easy."

"Actually this isn't hard to figure out. The powers above haven't touched that piece of Chengxi land in all these years; now they suddenly want to expand, which clearly means they intend to take it back under management. So the project will most likely go to the Gu Family — in any case, it won't be handed to the Wei Clan, who are tied up with Tang Feiyi."

"Tang Feiyi runs an Underground Club in Chengxi." Lu Heyang said.

"Just a front. Those people grow bolder by the day; the new mayor is about to take office, and Chengxi is due for a change of weather."

The fish, sated, drifted slowly to the bottom with a lazy flick of their tails and rose a trail of bubbles. Lu Heyang set the feed aside. "I'll go trim the lawn."

"Since when do you enjoy this kind of work?" Lin Yumian laughed. "The mower's in the tool shed."

Xu Ze had just come back from the Sanatorium after keeping Ye Yunhua company at lunch — even though Ye Yunhua refused every time to eat with him, because she thought he was a stranger. But after a few minutes of eating alone, she would forget her initial refusal and call Xu Ze 'that child sitting over there,' asking if he wanted to eat together.

After washing the lunchbox, Xu Ze walked back to his room. As he reached for the door, he heard a few knocks at the front gate; he stood still for a second, then went to open it.

Lu Heyang was carrying a large paper shopping bag — the sort from some brand or other. He smiled at Xu Ze and made to step inside, but Xu Ze hadn't yet processed it, so he didn't move.

"Not letting me in?" Lu Heyang asked him.

Xu Ze was about to answer 'no,' but Lu Heyang had already handed him the bag and said, "Then I'll just leave the things and go."

"No." Xu Ze was always easy to fool — he refused to take the bag, afraid that if he did, Lu Heyang would leave. He explained, "I thought you wouldn't come until after the Summer Camp…"

"I happened to have time today, so I came by." Lu Heyang smiled again. "Come to your place to nap — I'm a bit tired."

Xu Ze nodded and stepped aside; once Lu Heyang was inside, he reached to close the door, but Lu Heyang was already pulling it shut, so that when Xu Ze leaned toward it he seemed to be pressing himself against Lu Heyang. Lu Heyang caught Xu Ze by the waist and kept him from actually bumping into him. He said nothing, but Xu Ze immediately stepped back on his own.

Once inside the room, Lu Heyang set the bag at the foot of the bed. "The clothes were ordered wrong — they're a little small on me. They're all new, already washed."

"Wrong on that many?" Xu Ze asked. "Can't they be returned?"

"They got washed by the housekeeper before I even tried them — can't return them now." Lu Heyang's expression was perfectly composed, the unhurried ease of someone who knows the person in front of him is too easy to fool to even need to draft a lie. He said, "I used to wear this size too — maybe I've put on weight."

"You've grown taller." Xu Ze looked at him and said, seriously.

When Lu Heyang turned his head, Xu Ze lowered his eyes and walked away, going to the desk to switch on the fan. "Go to sleep," he said. He was still holding onto what Lu Heyang had said about being tired.

"Aren't you going to nap?"

Xu Ze shook his head. He didn't have the habit of napping, and besides, napping with Lu Heyang — he wouldn't be able to fall asleep himself, and might end up disturbing Lu Heyang.

"The curtains are too thin — it's so bright in here, you must find it hard to sleep." Lu Heyang asked again, "So you're planning to just stand there?"

"I'll… read."

"What book?" Lu Heyang didn't seem to have any intention of napping right away; instead, with some interest, he asked Xu Ze and walked toward him.

"Textbook." Xu Ze, whether from nerves or something else, answered very primly. "Doing homework."

When Lu Heyang came up to him, Xu Ze stepped back and bumped into the desk. Lu Heyang pressed close, lazily resting his chin on Xu Ze's shoulder, and reached one arm around Xu Ze's side to flip through the homework on the desk behind him.

Xu Ze was stiff all over, his hands gripping the edge of the desk hard. They seemed to be embracing, and yet perhaps not — skin pressed against skin through cloth, and Xu Ze could feel Lu Heyang's heartbeat, steady and even, unlike his own, which was racing toward losing control.

The Wristband was the lowest grade, and Lu Heyang could smell Xu Ze's Pheromone. He tilted his head and brushed the tip of his nose against Xu Ze's ear, watching it flush red at once. Xu Ze shrank his shoulders in, eyes wide and round, like someone walking along the road who has suddenly been hit on the head by a drop of water sliding off a leaf.

"Good student." Lu Heyang straightened up and stood facing Xu Ze. "It's only the second day of summer break and you've already done this many problems."

"I start my job tomorrow, so I'm doing a bit more these two days." Xu Ze said.

Lu Heyang raised a hand to cup Xu Ze's jaw, pressed his thumb against the corner of his mouth — the bruise there hadn't faded yet — and asked, "Does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't." Xu Ze turned his head slightly, his lips brushing Lu Heyang's finger pad, as if kissing it.

…

The fan blew toward the empty bed; Xu Ze was still gripping the desk edge. Lu Heyang kissed him while gently pressing down on the back of his hand, easing him to relax.

"Where's the Wristband?" Lu Heyang pressed his cheek against Xu Ze's burning one and asked.

"D-drawer."

…

The sunlight had turned red — dusk. Lu Heyang came out of the bathroom and stood by the bed, pulling on his T-shirt. Xu Ze sat up slowly, a thin sheet across his waist; the marks on his body were far more numerous than before, mingled with old injuries from boxing — suggestive and pitiful.

"Is anyone living downstairs?" Lu Heyang asked, too late. Xu Ze's bed had been creaking with their movements — he didn't know if the people below could hear.

"Yes," Xu Ze said. "But they're out working during the day — no one's home."

Lu Heyang bent down and rubbed Xu Ze's lower belly. "Does it still hurt?"

He had bumped the Alpha's atrophied reproductive cavity; Lu Heyang saw Xu Ze's eyes go red at once, his brow knit — it must have hurt a great deal.

His eyes were wet, but Xu Ze wasn't crying — he seemed, somehow, unable to cry.

"A little." Xu Ze answered. The reason he was so honest was that he couldn't bear to lose the hand Lu Heyang had pressed to his belly.

Lu Heyang, as expected, rubbed him again, then said, "Sorry about that — making a mess of your sheets."

In truth Xu Ze was a little dazed, sitting blankly on the edge of the bed and looking up at Lu Heyang. He had noticed that whenever Lu Heyang said 'sorry,' his face didn't look sorry at all.

"It's fine." Xu Ze's voice was hoarse.

"Then I'll go. Rest well."

Lu Heyang straightened up, and Xu Ze silently tilted his head back to keep watching him. Lu Heyang smiled, a touch helpless, touched Xu Ze's face, and bent down to kiss him on the mouth.

The wind blew the curtains open, bringing in the scent of Plum Blossom; the gold-red afterglow spilled across the bed, and the last trace of moisture in Xu Ze's eyes glimmered faintly.

"Goodbye," Xu Ze said. "Have fun at the Summer Camp."