Author: Dong Mi

Translator: chiangyus.h.i.+en, Renkun27

Proofreader: KainGuru

They were lucky. When they arrived at the cinema, there were only a few students at the ticket gate who chose to pa.s.s the time by watching movies. Haiqing stood in front of the big screen that introduced the currently showing movies. He pondered on which movie he should choose. From his appearance, Pinjun did not seem to like literature and art-related movies. This gave Haiqing a hard time choosing the movie to watch. Haiqing turned around and wanted to ask Pinjun’s opinion but he found out that this person, who was initially by his side, was gone without any trace. He was dumbfounded.

Was he not here just a moment ago?

Haiqing looked around only to find a flas.h.i.+ng figure that came out from a convenience store, not far away. As the figure moved closer to the place where there was less dazzling sunlight, the smile on Pinjun’s face became clearer and clearer.

“What did you buy?” Haiqing knitted his eyebrows as he asked Junjun.

“Pudding!”

Haiqing was amused by this word. He bent over and laughed. Did he really buy pudding? He thought it was only a joke!

When Pinjun saw him laughing so happily, he handed him the pudding with a wide smile. Why Haiqing laughed was not too important. Pinjun was also not senseless enough to closely question the reason behind it. He just simply thought that Haiqing was much better-looking when he laughed, rather than when he was depressed.

“Then we won’t have to buy some food for the movie!” Haiqing stuffed the pudding into his bag then he tugged on Pinjun’s sleeve and asked him what movie he wanted to see.

“Let me see…” Being suddenly tugged on the sleeve intimately, in less than a second, Pinjun’s cheeks blushed. He pretended to leisurely choose a movie from the row of movie posters, while on the other hand, he secretly paid attention to the spot where Haiqing has been holding. There was a strand of happiness and excitement that slowly expanded in his heart.

In the end, Pinjun picked an animation movie. It was already late in the evening when they came out after they finished watching the movie. The dim sky was mixed with a little bit of ruddiness.

“It was unexpectedly very interesting!” Haiqing always thought that cartoons were mainly for little children. He had no idea that the current cartoons had been silently cultivating groups of viewers. In the absence of much expectation, it has been greatly satisfying.

“I checked it just now. There seems to be a lot of metaphor in him. Look…” Pinjun held his mobile phone up to let him see some of the articles that the film critics published on the internet. When Haiqing looked at it, he asked when he looked into it. Pinjun was paying attention to the crowd in front of him so he asked if Haiqing wanted to go to the restroom.

“No way!” Haiqing discovered that many reviews contained elements and metaphors that they did not see. The more that he looked at it, the more that he was fascinated. He did not even notice that in order to take care of his own safety, Pinjun had quietly moved to the rear and put him between his arms and chest.

The time from the cinema to the bus stop was enough to make the sky turn from dim to full dark. On the bus, Haiqing looked out to the misty grey view and said that it was very difficult to see the stars in the city. Pinjun said that he had never looked at it carefully before. He was always busy moving and never had the mood to enjoy the streetscape.

If it was not because he was with Haiqing, maybe he would not even know the content of this movie. For Pinjun, this entertainment was too luxurious.

Just when Haiqing finally finished reading a few movie reviews and discussions, the bus also had arrived at the station. Both of them got off and walked under the dim light of the night. From the beginning to the end, they still talked about the movie. In the situation where there was an amount of knowledge taken in, more details could be talked about. It looked like the time had stood still. The moonlight that was swaying over his head was as peaceful as when it shone on Haiqing’s bed.

“We’re here. This is my house.”

When they were just about to turn to a small alley, the discussion was still about the psychological state of the protagonist and the family members from the movie. Suddenly, Haiqing stopped walking and pointed to an old building.

“Oh, very well then. Go on, get in!” The street light was really too dark. Pinjun actually could not see very clearly what Haiqing’s house looked like. “Thank you for inviting me to watch the movie.”

“Thank you for inviting me to eat ice cream.” Haiqing could not help but to laugh again for the way both of them invited to come and go with each other. He still kept the pudding’s case. When he went to the bathroom, he cleaned it with water and placed it in his bag.

“Will you still go to the studio next week?”

Pinjun had a peculiar reaction to this question.

When he got along with Haiqing today, there was some kind of warm feeling overflowing inside his chest, and it expanded from time to time. Whether it was when Haiqing grabbed his sleeve, or when he took the courage to dig a pudding from Haiqing’s ice bowl into his own bowl, or when he became a human airbag to allow Haiqing to concentrate on looking and reading the articles in his mobile phone properly — the feeling was especially strong.

But, it definitely could not be any stronger than now.

These kinds of emotions were like a bunch of fireworks. After they exploded in his chest, it still did not let Pinjun off. The residual temperature spread to his limbs and face in a more wanton manner. There was still some breeze in the summer night but Pinjun felt that his whole body was burning hot. His sweat continuously flowed and covered the surface of his skin.

“I didn’t have to but now I will.” He was willing to do more work more so that he could meet Haiqing.

“That would be great.” Haiqing naturally smiled, knowing that he would see Pinjun the next time. He felt that going to the studio would become more fun.

“Ah—" Pinjun responded with a smile while gently lifting Haiqing’s lips with his hand. Pinjun did not really use force, so Haiqing did not feel any discomfort. Under the gentle moonlight, he found that it was much easier to laugh than he could ever imagined.

“Right! That’s right!” After Pinjun loosened his hand, he placed his hand on his shoulder and patted it several times with all his might. Haiqing yelled “ouch” in pain, but he did not reject such intimacy.

“You need to laugh every day.” Pinjun slightly lowered his head to look into Haiqing’s eyes, “If you will smile first, then you will be happy all day."

“Okay!”

Pinjun was very delighted with this energetic response, then he waved to Haiqing to say good night. He was not like escorting his girlfriend home. He did not watch until Haiqing pa.s.sed through the door and leave. Such a move made Haiqing feel very relieved. Compared to purposely and deliberately interacting, he felt more comfortable like this.

Haiqing slowly entered the house and stopped on the corner between the first and second floors. The milky moonlight that sprinkled on the concrete floor had a kind of unusually enchanting beauty. Haiqing had tried to recreate this image on the canvas, but perhaps his ability was not enough, or maybe the degree for this work of art itself was difficult, none of his paintings were the least bit satisfactory.

The moonlight during that night was brighter than the past few nights. He looked out through the window. It was a full moon.

No wonder it shone so bright. In a trance, he suddenly took out his mobile phone and thought about the man who had lost his name. Then he realized that he had forgotten to exchange contact numbers with Pinjun.