A bit of a cliffhanger warning
When Shen You arrived, Gu Lai was just sitting on a bench at the mall’s rest area. He had a stack of ads in his hands, given to him by wandering flyer distributors, and he was occasionally flipping them over. His expression was very serious, looking as if he was reading something very profound or intellectually demanding.
Stripping off the frivolous and flippant attitude he wore, this kind of sexy but gentle and focused man was extremely attractive. Just him sitting there silently was enough to be part of a beautiful scenic painting. This mall was also a gathering place for young adults so when people passed by, female or male, they couldn’t help themselves from taking a few glances at him.
A beautiful, long haired woman even came up with a flushed face to try and talk to him. Probably trying to get his contact info, but for whatever reason, she was rejected by Gu Lai and could only leave with disappointment.
When that woman left, Gu Lai turned his eyes back to the colorful advertisements in his hands. There were many, ranging from swimming courses to body training. Those workers had been standing by areas with heavy traffic in the mall to hand out their flyers and without even needing to go through half the mall, Gu Lai had already received more than a handful.
Gu Lai took a look and when he found that there was nothing of use, he organized them into a neat stack before throwing them into a garbage bin. When he turned around, he saw Shen You standing not too far away, just looking at him, and Gu Lai looked back at him with questioning eyes.
Being caught in the act was a bit embarrassing but unfortunately, Shen You had never felt these kinds of emotions. When he realized that he had been caught, he walked over and impatiently said to Gu Lai with a cold tone in his voice,
“Let’s go. Theatre 3.”
Gu Lai’s movements to grab his phone paused at this,
“You’ve already bought the tickets?”
Shen You had a headstrong personality which few people could stomach. He gave a ‘hmm’ in acknowledgement and then walked towards the movie theatre. Gu Lai followed behind, thinking to himself that he would need to find an opportunity to invite the other out again as he was not used to letting other people pay for him.
At the same time, the two of them suddenly thought about the movie they had not been able to watch last time, so both of their expressions became a bit funny. When they were sitting in the waiting area for their movie showing, the temptation to smoke came over Shen You. But since they didn’t allow smoking in here, he became a bit agitated and annoyed. It was a bit telling that no matter if it was a psychological issue or not, he still had many different issues to address.
“Are you feeling ok?”
Gu Lai looked over when he noticed Shen You’s state and scanned over the other’s body, quietly asking in concern,
“Does your stomach hurt?”
The sudden onset of pain last time had made quite an impression on him.
Shen You let out a breath and shook his head, not speaking a word. When Gu Lai saw him holding an exquisitely packaged but wrinkled cigarette box, he instantly understood and stuffed a grape flavored candy into Shen You’s hand. Then he pulled that cigarette box out from Shen You’s grasp and said,
“It can be a bit hard at the start when you quit smoking, but once you persevere through it, it will get better. I’ll hold onto this for you.”
And then put the box of cigarettes into his pocket.
Shen You’s breathing seemed to have stopped for a moment before blood rushed back through him. He gripped onto the candy with enough strength that the tips of his fingers were going pale. He wanted to say that he didn’t like candy, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he ended up tearing open the candy wrapper and eating it.
A tart grape flavor exploded on his tongue, sourness followed by a bit of sweetness.
Carefully tasting the rest brought about a faint taste of rose and paired with the jam in the middle, it was unexpectedly good. Shen You looked down without thinking and took a look at the wrapper but found no logo; the only identifying mark was a blue smiley face.
He tried to find a random conversation starter, “You plan to become a chef?”
Gu Lai nodded his head, the expression on his face quite gentle and warm, “Hmm.”
Shen You gave him a look and then moved his gaze away,
“I have a friend in the restaurant business. If you can’t find a job, I ……”
“No worries,” Gu Lai smiled as he said, “I’ve already found one. Once I finish the training classes, I can immediately go straight to work.”
Shen You scrunched up his lips and didn’t say anything else.
A chubby little boy wearing a doggie onesie was playing with a balloon nearby and Gu Lai couldn’t help himself from taking a few glances at such a cute and tiny human toddler. When Shen You heard the intercom announce that their showing was ready, he stood up and said,
“We should head inside now.”
It was Gu Lai’s first time watching a movie so he followed closely behind Shen You. It was only when they passed by the ticket checking booth and the worker was giving each person a pair of 3D glasses that he thought to ask,
“What movie are we watching?”
Shen You couldn’t remember the name, “I forgot.”
The light inside the theatre was dim and as the waves of people rushed in, Shen You himself forgot what seat he had booked. With tightly furrowed eyebrows, he tried to check the tickets for a seat number and also tried to find the specific seats at the same time. But he was standing right in the middle of the aisle and someone pushed him out of the way. Since he was standing right on top of a step, Shen You could see himself about to fall down when he felt a sudden pinch at his waist and he was dragged away to a more open area by someone.
“Be careful.”
A familiar voice washed over the top of his head and then his waist was released and the tickets in his hand taken away. The burning hot temperature from the chiselled chest so close to him was unhindered by the thin layer of summer clothing and froze Shen You in place. The wound on his back was starting to ache again, and he didn’t know nor could he tell if he was feeling a piercing or numbing pain.
“In the last row, right by the middle. Let’s go.”
Gu Lai walked in the darkness as if he was born in it. Afraid that Shen You might trip again, he stayed close behind but still left a comfortable space between them. Shen You’s waist was starting to feel numb and prickly, and he started taking longer and faster strides to get to their seats and quickly sat down. Gu Lai followed behind and sat next to him.
The screen was still showing ads as the movie theatre was slowly filling up. Shen You took a look around discreetly and when he found out that most of the people around them were couples, he suddenly felt like his seat was full of thorns and started to constantly adjust his posture.
Hearing the rustling beside him, Gu Lai’s ears twitched and he said,
“Are you still hurting from before?”
“Hmm?” Shen You’s senses came back to him and he casually hummed, an evident sign that his heart and mind were not fully working together yet, “Perhaps.”
The moment he said that, he suddenly felt a warmth by his ankle, as if someone grabbed it. It frightened Shen You enough that he almost jumped out of his seat. With widened eyes, he said angrily to Gu Lai while trying to maintain a quiet voice,
“What are you doing?”
Even if you wanted to molest me, you shouldn’t be doing it this way right!
Gu Lai retracted his hands at that and sat upright. He explained,
“Your bone doesn’t seem to be injured, so we can buy some spray to treat the pain after this.”
Shen You froze at that and, for whatever reason, started to slowly cover his face with his hands. He didn’t say anything and after a few minutes of ads on the movie screen, the movie began, accompanied by an old and strange children’s tune.
Starting at a ghost town, where all the buildings looked corroded with age, the movie began with the shot of a black and white funeral flower hung on top of one of the doorways. A dozen or so young adults wearing backpacks were starting to investigate the area and one of them accidentally knocked over one of the memorial plates on the prayer tables.1 Then soon after, one by one, people started dying……
Then the person who felt uncomfortable became Gu Lai. He could faintly feel that the atmosphere of the movie was getting a bit too weird, as it didn’t seem like the setting or mood of a comedy or a romantic movie. He subconsciously adjusted himself in the seat, and his hands started to clench together tightly as his palms began to break out in a cold sweat.
The movie now was at a part where a girl was lying sideways on the bed, sleeping. Her long, black hair was drooping over the side onto the floor, and then a rotten, fleshy hand appeared and started to slowly grasp on those strands of hair tighter and tighter —–
“Aah!”
A girl in front of them let out a short scream and then flew into the embrace of the boy beside her. She started to cry out,
“This is all because of you! Why do you need to watch horror movies about ghosts!”
Oh, so this was a horror movie…..
Gu Lai’s face started to pale, and as the movie played on, he couldn’t even hold on to that perfect sitting posture as he slowly and discreetly began to slide downwards a bit. He silently pursed his lips and looked left and right, almost as if he was going to cry.
Shen You was very much into the movie and had not even noticed a single thing about Gu Lai’s strange movements. A ghostly shadow would occasionally show up on the screen and when the screen revealed a corpse nailed under the bed, the movie had reached its climax.
With the 3D effects, screams and shrieks appeared all around the theatre. The girl beside them was so spooked that she started to cry and ended up having to be comforted and led out of the theatre by her boyfriend.
Shen You was still very calm however and even felt a bit annoyed, but then as he continued watching, a cold but strong hand suddenly grabbed a hold of him and his mind immediately blanked out.
Shen You’s neck was frozen, unable to turn as everything before his eyes and his ears started to turn into nothing, leaving only the feeling of that icy cold touch behind. He lifted his chin, not daring to look beside him and desperately trying to stay calm and confident as he quietly waited for whatever Gu Lai had to say.
And yet Gu Lai did not say anything. Instead, he only took off his 3D glasses and then hid his face tightly against Shen You’s shoulders, pressing both of his hands to his ears as his body started to shake uncontrollably.
Shen You’s upper body was held in this position, and all he could think of at this time was: taking advantage where he can huh!
“Gu Lai!”
He finally couldn’t help himself and quietly but angrily gritted out the other’s name. He pushed the person grabbing his body away, his actions so big that everyone around them looked over.
Shen You couldn’t explain where this anger was coming from; he only felt that Gu Lai was not respecting him, touching him all over in public. He was just about to say something when he was suddenly faced with Gu Lai’s teary eyes and whatever he was going to say then suddenly got caught in his throat, leaving only confusion and shock.
Gu Lai’s hands and feet felt boneless, and with Shen You’s push, he almost dropped right onto the floor. With disordered hair, his teary peach blossom eyes could be clearly seen under the flashes of the movie screen. Even the tip of his nose started to redden, and he subconsciously curled up into a ball, looking so pitiful and sad.
Shen You paused in shock.
It was at this time that a rotting female corpse appeared on the screen and Gu Lai’s face paled. He stood up and stumbled his way out of the movie theatre. His shadow had a rare sense of harriedness to it and when Shen You’s senses came back to him, he immediately chased after Gu Lai.
Gu Lai’s hands and feet were still feeling boneless, and so after getting on the escalator and walking a short distance, Shen You was able to catch up to him pretty quickly. Gu Lai’s mind was filled with that image of the terrifying female ghost, unable to dispel it from his mind. He couldn’t say a single word, and his palms were covered in a cold sweat while his face looked as white as a piece of paper.
When Shen You couldn’t get a response from Gu Lai even after calling out his name a few times, he only thought that it was because he had just rejected his advances.
With one hand in his pants pocket and furrowed eyebrows on a cocky face, he said,
“Don’t think that with just a few days of caring about me, you are allowed to come on to me.”
I am not that easy to get.
And then seeing that Gu Lai was still not responding to him, Shen You got a bit annoyed and he added with a bit of Freluctance,
“Don’t think that just because I used to chase after you that I would still need to do that. That was in the past. We can only be friends, and don’t you dare to even think about being more. Or otherwise, we can go on our own separate paths.”
Gu Lai’s mind was still in a daze, still feeling messed up, and he desperately needed to go home and rest. He didn’t hear a single thing that Shen You had said, only able to catch the last part of his last sentence. With his harried brain, he nodded at that, thinking that it made quite a lot of sense, and then turned around to leave.
Shen You, waiting to hear his plea: “……”
This idiot actually agreed to it for real?!
Gu Lai’s car was parked right by the road, and through the dim car windows, there was not much of an expression on his face. He looked quite cold and stern, an expression that would make anyone steer clear of him. Shen You’s fingers suddenly started to tremble and an inexplicable feeling of regret appeared within him. The fingers in his pocket started to curl up tight, and he slanted his eyes over, still unwilling to back down,
“You…… if you leave now, don’t try and find me again in the future!”
Gu Lai’s brain was like a jumble of 1s and 0s in a messed up program. With the window still shut tight, he didn’t hear a single word of what Shen You said. With trembling hands, he tightly held onto the steering wheel and left in a rush without even turning his head back.
Shen You stood in his original spot as his face drastically turned colder and colder and his eyes darkening in a frightening manner.
TL Tidbits:
I hope you all had a great Mid-Autumn Festival!
Notes:
*1 Recall from Volume 4 (note 1 and 2), the memorial plates on the prayer tables form a very sacred place for respecting your ancestors.
A bit of a cliffhanger warning
When Shen You arrived, Gu Lai was just sitting on a bench at the mall’s rest area. He had a stack of ads in his hands, given to him by wandering flyer distributors, and he was occasionally flipping them over. His expression was very serious, looking as if he was reading something very profound or intellectually demanding.
Stripping off the frivolous and flippant attitude he wore, this kind of sexy but gentle and focused man was extremely attractive. Just him sitting there silently was enough to be part of a beautiful scenic painting. This mall was also a gathering place for young adults so when people passed by, female or male, they couldn’t help themselves from taking a few glances at him.
A beautiful, long haired woman even came up with a flushed face to try and talk to him. Probably trying to get his contact info, but for whatever reason, she was rejected by Gu Lai and could only leave with disappointment.
When that woman left, Gu Lai turned his eyes back to the colorful advertisements in his hands. There were many, ranging from swimming courses to body training. Those workers had been standing by areas with heavy traffic in the mall to hand out their flyers and without even needing to go through half the mall, Gu Lai had already received more than a handful.
Gu Lai took a look and when he found that there was nothing of use, he organized them into a neat stack before throwing them into a garbage bin. When he turned around, he saw Shen You standing not too far away, just looking at him, and Gu Lai looked back at him with questioning eyes.
Being caught in the act was a bit embarrassing but unfortunately, Shen You had never felt these kinds of emotions. When he realized that he had been caught, he walked over and impatiently said to Gu Lai with a cold tone in his voice,
“Let’s go. Theatre 3.”
Gu Lai’s movements to grab his phone paused at this,
“You’ve already bought the tickets?”
Shen You had a headstrong personality which few people could stomach. He gave a ‘hmm’ in acknowledgement and then walked towards the movie theatre. Gu Lai followed behind, thinking to himself that he would need to find an opportunity to invite the other out again as he was not used to letting other people pay for him.
At the same time, the two of them suddenly thought about the movie they had not been able to watch last time, so both of their expressions became a bit funny. When they were sitting in the waiting area for their movie showing, the temptation to smoke came over Shen You. But since they didn’t allow smoking in here, he became a bit agitated and annoyed. It was a bit telling that no matter if it was a psychological issue or not, he still had many different issues to address.
“Are you feeling ok?”
Gu Lai looked over when he noticed Shen You’s state and scanned over the other’s body, quietly asking in concern,
“Does your stomach hurt?”
The sudden onset of pain last time had made quite an impression on him.
Shen You let out a breath and shook his head, not speaking a word. When Gu Lai saw him holding an exquisitely packaged but wrinkled cigarette box, he instantly understood and stuffed a grape flavored candy into Shen You’s hand. Then he pulled that cigarette box out from Shen You’s grasp and said,
“It can be a bit hard at the start when you quit smoking, but once you persevere through it, it will get better. I’ll hold onto this for you.”
And then put the box of cigarettes into his pocket.
Shen You’s breathing seemed to have stopped for a moment before blood rushed back through him. He gripped onto the candy with enough strength that the tips of his fingers were going pale. He wanted to say that he didn’t like candy, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he ended up tearing open the candy wrapper and eating it.
A tart grape flavor exploded on his tongue, sourness followed by a bit of sweetness.
Carefully tasting the rest brought about a faint taste of rose and paired with the jam in the middle, it was unexpectedly good. Shen You looked down without thinking and took a look at the wrapper but found no logo; the only identifying mark was a blue smiley face.
He tried to find a random conversation starter, “You plan to become a chef?”
Gu Lai nodded his head, the expression on his face quite gentle and warm, “Hmm.”
Shen You gave him a look and then moved his gaze away,
“I have a friend in the restaurant business. If you can’t find a job, I ……”
“No worries,” Gu Lai smiled as he said, “I’ve already found one. Once I finish the training classes, I can immediately go straight to work.”
Shen You scrunched up his lips and didn’t say anything else.
A chubby little boy wearing a doggie onesie was playing with a balloon nearby and Gu Lai couldn’t help himself from taking a few glances at such a cute and tiny human toddler. When Shen You heard the intercom announce that their showing was ready, he stood up and said,
“We should head inside now.”
It was Gu Lai’s first time watching a movie so he followed closely behind Shen You. It was only when they passed by the ticket checking booth and the worker was giving each person a pair of 3D glasses that he thought to ask,
“What movie are we watching?”
Shen You couldn’t remember the name, “I forgot.”
The light inside the theatre was dim and as the waves of people rushed in, Shen You himself forgot what seat he had booked. With tightly furrowed eyebrows, he tried to check the tickets for a seat number and also tried to find the specific seats at the same time. But he was standing right in the middle of the aisle and someone pushed him out of the way. Since he was standing right on top of a step, Shen You could see himself about to fall down when he felt a sudden pinch at his waist and he was dragged away to a more open area by someone.
“Be careful.”
A familiar voice washed over the top of his head and then his waist was released and the tickets in his hand taken away. The burning hot temperature from the chiselled chest so close to him was unhindered by the thin layer of summer clothing and froze Shen You in place. The wound on his back was starting to ache again, and he didn’t know nor could he tell if he was feeling a piercing or numbing pain.
“In the last row, right by the middle. Let’s go.”
Gu Lai walked in the darkness as if he was born in it. Afraid that Shen You might trip again, he stayed close behind but still left a comfortable space between them. Shen You’s waist was starting to feel numb and prickly, and he started taking longer and faster strides to get to their seats and quickly sat down. Gu Lai followed behind and sat next to him.
The screen was still showing ads as the movie theatre was slowly filling up. Shen You took a look around discreetly and when he found out that most of the people around them were couples, he suddenly felt like his seat was full of thorns and started to constantly adjust his posture.
Hearing the rustling beside him, Gu Lai’s ears twitched and he said,
“Are you still hurting from before?”
“Hmm?” Shen You’s senses came back to him and he casually hummed, an evident sign that his heart and mind were not fully working together yet, “Perhaps.”
The moment he said that, he suddenly felt a warmth by his ankle, as if someone grabbed it. It frightened Shen You enough that he almost jumped out of his seat. With widened eyes, he said angrily to Gu Lai while trying to maintain a quiet voice,
“What are you doing?”
Even if you wanted to molest me, you shouldn’t be doing it this way right!
Gu Lai retracted his hands at that and sat upright. He explained,
“Your bone doesn’t seem to be injured, so we can buy some spray to treat the pain after this.”
Shen You froze at that and, for whatever reason, started to slowly cover his face with his hands. He didn’t say anything and after a few minutes of ads on the movie screen, the movie began, accompanied by an old and strange children’s tune.
Starting at a ghost town, where all the buildings looked corroded with age, the movie began with the shot of a black and white funeral flower hung on top of one of the doorways. A dozen or so young adults wearing backpacks were starting to investigate the area and one of them accidentally knocked over one of the memorial plates on the prayer tables.1 Then soon after, one by one, people started dying……
Then the person who felt uncomfortable became Gu Lai. He could faintly feel that the atmosphere of the movie was getting a bit too weird, as it didn’t seem like the setting or mood of a comedy or a romantic movie. He subconsciously adjusted himself in the seat, and his hands started to clench together tightly as his palms began to break out in a cold sweat.
The movie now was at a part where a girl was lying sideways on the bed, sleeping. Her long, black hair was drooping over the side onto the floor, and then a rotten, fleshy hand appeared and started to slowly grasp on those strands of hair tighter and tighter —–
“Aah!”
A girl in front of them let out a short scream and then flew into the embrace of the boy beside her. She started to cry out,
“This is all because of you! Why do you need to watch horror movies about ghosts!”
Oh, so this was a horror movie…..
Gu Lai’s face started to pale, and as the movie played on, he couldn’t even hold on to that perfect sitting posture as he slowly and discreetly began to slide downwards a bit. He silently pursed his lips and looked left and right, almost as if he was going to cry.
Shen You was very much into the movie and had not even noticed a single thing about Gu Lai’s strange movements. A ghostly shadow would occasionally show up on the screen and when the screen revealed a corpse nailed under the bed, the movie had reached its climax.
With the 3D effects, screams and shrieks appeared all around the theatre. The girl beside them was so spooked that she started to cry and ended up having to be comforted and led out of the theatre by her boyfriend.
Shen You was still very calm however and even felt a bit annoyed, but then as he continued watching, a cold but strong hand suddenly grabbed a hold of him and his mind immediately blanked out.
Shen You’s neck was frozen, unable to turn as everything before his eyes and his ears started to turn into nothing, leaving only the feeling of that icy cold touch behind. He lifted his chin, not daring to look beside him and desperately trying to stay calm and confident as he quietly waited for whatever Gu Lai had to say.
And yet Gu Lai did not say anything. Instead, he only took off his 3D glasses and then hid his face tightly against Shen You’s shoulders, pressing both of his hands to his ears as his body started to shake uncontrollably.
Shen You’s upper body was held in this position, and all he could think of at this time was: taking advantage where he can huh!
“Gu Lai!”
He finally couldn’t help himself and quietly but angrily gritted out the other’s name. He pushed the person grabbing his body away, his actions so big that everyone around them looked over.
Shen You couldn’t explain where this anger was coming from; he only felt that Gu Lai was not respecting him, touching him all over in public. He was just about to say something when he was suddenly faced with Gu Lai’s teary eyes and whatever he was going to say then suddenly got caught in his throat, leaving only confusion and shock.
Gu Lai’s hands and feet felt boneless, and with Shen You’s push, he almost dropped right onto the floor. With disordered hair, his teary peach blossom eyes could be clearly seen under the flashes of the movie screen. Even the tip of his nose started to redden, and he subconsciously curled up into a ball, looking so pitiful and sad.
Shen You paused in shock.
It was at this time that a rotting female corpse appeared on the screen and Gu Lai’s face paled. He stood up and stumbled his way out of the movie theatre. His shadow had a rare sense of harriedness to it and when Shen You’s senses came back to him, he immediately chased after Gu Lai.
Gu Lai’s hands and feet were still feeling boneless, and so after getting on the escalator and walking a short distance, Shen You was able to catch up to him pretty quickly. Gu Lai’s mind was filled with that image of the terrifying female ghost, unable to dispel it from his mind. He couldn’t say a single word, and his palms were covered in a cold sweat while his face looked as white as a piece of paper.
When Shen You couldn’t get a response from Gu Lai even after calling out his name a few times, he only thought that it was because he had just rejected his advances.
With one hand in his pants pocket and furrowed eyebrows on a cocky face, he said,
“Don’t think that with just a few days of caring about me, you are allowed to come on to me.”
I am not that easy to get.
And then seeing that Gu Lai was still not responding to him, Shen You got a bit annoyed and he added with a bit of Freluctance,
“Don’t think that just because I used to chase after you that I would still need to do that. That was in the past. We can only be friends, and don’t you dare to even think about being more. Or otherwise, we can go on our own separate paths.”
Gu Lai’s mind was still in a daze, still feeling messed up, and he desperately needed to go home and rest. He didn’t hear a single thing that Shen You had said, only able to catch the last part of his last sentence. With his harried brain, he nodded at that, thinking that it made quite a lot of sense, and then turned around to leave.
Shen You, waiting to hear his plea: “……”
This idiot actually agreed to it for real?!
Gu Lai’s car was parked right by the road, and through the dim car windows, there was not much of an expression on his face. He looked quite cold and stern, an expression that would make anyone steer clear of him. Shen You’s fingers suddenly started to tremble and an inexplicable feeling of regret appeared within him. The fingers in his pocket started to curl up tight, and he slanted his eyes over, still unwilling to back down,
“You…… if you leave now, don’t try and find me again in the future!”
Gu Lai’s brain was like a jumble of 1s and 0s in a messed up program. With the window still shut tight, he didn’t hear a single word of what Shen You said. With trembling hands, he tightly held onto the steering wheel and left in a rush without even turning his head back.
Shen You stood in his original spot as his face drastically turned colder and colder and his eyes darkening in a frightening manner.
TL Tidbits:
I hope you all had a great Mid-Autumn Festival!
Notes:
*1 Recall from Volume 4 (note 1 and 2), the memorial plates on the prayer tables form a very sacred place for respecting your ancestors.
