Wei Dong was silent for a while. He rubbed the back of the head of the person in his arms. “Okay. Just give me a bit of time. When I have some free time, I’ll go look for a new place.”

Qin Youyou stayed silent, unmoving as he hugged him. After a long while he finally said, “Once it’s been done, you can’t wipe it away, can you?”

Wei Dong looked down at him.

Qin Youyou rubbed his nose then lifted his face to look at Wei Dong. “I sold my body for money before. Will this stay with me for the rest of my life, Ge?”

“Don’t think that way,” Wei Dong sighed. “Life is for you, Youyou. If you can have no shame when looking into your heart, then that is good.”

“Can I…” Qin Youyou choked up again and was unable to continue.

“It’s in the past,” Wei Dong wiped away the tear streaks from his eyes. “Youyou, we look towards the future.”

Wei Dong didn’t ask what had happened again. If Qin Youyou didn’t want to bring it up, he wouldn’t ask. When this kid was sad, Wei Dong’s heart ached.

Qin Youyou’s life had been too difficult. He’s spent his entire life putting together the life that had been ripped to shreds. He’d been treated badly for so long, and he’d struggled for so long. Just as he found a thread of hope, he’d just breathed a sigh of relief… Wei Dong couldn’t bear to have him part with it.

Besides, he didn’t have much to ask about his past, the unbearable past Qin Youyou didn’t want to bring up. They met when Qin Youyou had nowhere else to turn, the time when he’d been shattered and smashed. Wei Dong had opened up his hands and held the younger person, whose body was tattered, carefully in his arms. Now, apart from this treasure in his hands, he didn’t care about anything else.

His only wish was for Qin Youyou to be well.

There’s much to be done at the end of the year, and finding a suitable house was not easy.

It was close to the winter break for the construction site. It was a push to the finish and every day Wei Dong came home exhausted.

Qin Youyou had been detached for a few days and felt like his outburst had been a bit childish.

“Ge,” he sat on a wooden stool washing the clothes in the plastic basin. “Forget what I said about moving houses. That day I wasn’t in a good mood and just said that.”

Wei Dong was sitting on the couch with his pants rolled up, soaking his feet. He was watched the TV and turned to look at him, humming. “Hmm? If you don’t like it here, we’ll move. I’ve asked someone I know to keep an ear out for me, so you don’t have to worry.”

“It’s not that I don’t like living here, I actually…” Qin Youyou started. He hesitated for a while but couldn’t get out the reason why. He lowered his head sullenly.

Wei Dong picked up a towel and lifted his feet with a splash and wiped them. “It’s getting colder and colder lately, and the site will probably stop work soon. When I have some free time, I can go have a look for apartments. I’ve asked about a few apartments in different complexes. If you’re free one day we can go have a look together, you can see if you like any of them.”

Qin Youyou heard this and became anxious. “Apartments in complexes are expensive, we can’t do that, Ge.”

“Isn’t the point of making money to spend it?” Wei Dong put on his slippers and walked into the bathroom to pour out the water and wash his hands. “Before, I lived here because it was close to work and convenient. For me, it didn’t matter where I lived when I lived alone. But now you’re living together with me. The point of making money is to spend it on living. Before, I didn’t have a lot of money, but now I have you, and I want you to live well.” He walked over and rubbed Qin Youyou’s head.

“Ge,” Qin Youyou’s eyes were red as he looked at him. “I only inconvenience you. I’m only a burden on you.”

“What are you saying,” Wei Dong smiled at him. “The money spend on you has been for good reason and nothing has been wasted—I kept track.”

Qin Youyou was always unable to resist Wei Dong’s tenderness. His nose twinged. He wondered what he’d done to deserve this.

Wei Dong noticed his mouth was puckering again. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he reached out to hold his chin. “Don’t cry.”

Qin Youyou blinked. He bit down on his lip making them wet and soft. Wei Dong’s fingertip gently rubbed the flesh of his lip. “For a young adult man to seemingly love to cry all the time, people will think you suffer daily because of me.”

“I’m not suffering even a little bit, Ge. I’ve never had such a good life before.” Qin Youyou’s nose was blocked. He lowered his head and his voice was muffled. “Being together with you, it feels really good…”

“Then that’s fine,” Wei Dong smiled. “In the future, we’ll be even better.”                              

Qin Youyou lifted his head. “In the future, I’m going to treat you well too, Ge. I’ll be ten, no, one hundred times better towards you. I’ll give you all the money I earn.”

“Aaah…” Wei Dong chuckled. “You silly kid.”

Regarding the future.

Before meeting Qin Youyou, Wei Dong didn’t often think about the future. He is used to taking it day by day, not looking forward and also not looking back. The way other people live their lives has nothing to do with him. He held envy in his heart for those people who have a home and companionship, but it didn’t affect his solitary and silent day-by-day walk.

Qin Youyou had told him many different things. Young people are very simple—very sincere, always filled with hope and looking towards planning their lives. He said he wanted to spend a lifetime with Wei Dong, even saying he’ll treat him even better in the future. He said, Ge, wait for me. Wait until I get my graduation certificate so I can find a good job. Wait for me to be a little older, a little more capable, and then everything will be so much better.

Wei Dong thought, Don’t wait. You’ve already given it to me. The days I wish to have, you already give to me, every single day.

That day when Wei Dong got home from work it was already a little dark. He walked through the dark alley. As he was about to set foot on the steps, he heard a faint heart wrenching howl from Qin Youyou coming from upstairs. Wei Dong’s temple pulsed and he rushed upstairs.

The corridor was full of people, many of whom were familiar neighbours. They were all looking at each other whispering, not knowing what was happening.

Wei Dong squeezed through them and pulled out his key. The lady landlord paused and asked, “Xiao-Wei? Is there someone else living with you? It seems there was a fight just now, you should hurry and go take a look at what happened…”

Wei Dong didn’t say anything, he just opened the door with a click.

The scene inside the apartment turned his eyes bloodshot.

The people outside the door craned their necks to look inside but he slammed the door closed. He stepped forward and grabbed the spectacle-wearing man that was pushing down on Qin Youyou’s body and threw him aside, and then threw his fist.

Spectacle Man held his nose and crawled across the floor like a dog in heat. He looked at Wei Dong and his gaze made his stomach churn.

“Who are you? Did you… Did you come to find him for a fuck too?” The man used his sleeves to wipe the blood from his nose. He reached out to pull up his pants—he’d already taken off his belt and his pants was halfway down. Qin Youyou had struggled too much and he didn’t manage to succeed. Now he was gasping for breath and held up his glasses that were half broken, pointing to Qin Youyou who was curled up at the foot of the bed and crying. “He, he won’t let me… I gave him money for a fuck before, but now he says he won’t allow it. Motherfu—”

Before he could finish speaking, Wei Dong had stormed over and kicked him. The man collapsed on the floor. Wei Dong didn’t make a sound from start to finished as he bunched up his fist and punched the man’s face repeatedly. Qin Youyou rushed forward and threw himself around his neck, crying out “Ge! Ge—”

Wei Dong held on to Qin Youyou and pulled him to the side. He pulled open his clothes to see if his body had any injuries.

The collar of Qin Youyou’s jersey was ripped, and his collarbone had marks from being pinched and scratched. The belt of his jeans was sturdy and hadn’t been undone, but Spectacle Man had tried to pull down his jeans which had left deep bloody scratches on his hips, and there were bruises on his back where he’d knocked in to things in his struggle to get away.

Wei Dong’s hands were shaking.

Qin Youyou noticed that Wei Dong’s anger was about to erupt and climbed in to his arms. His entire body was trembling. “Ge, you don’t need to fight. If the police come it will be a problem, and you’ll have to give him compensation for the beating…”

“I don’t want money…” Spectacle Man struggled to get up and then leaned with his back against the wall. “I don’t want money, really…”

Wei Dong stood on the opposite side, leaning against the wall, holding Qin Youyou in his arms.

“I just want to be in him.” The man was stammering, breathing heavily. “I… I just… I came looking for him several times, but he won’t let me in, and he won’t talk to me. I couldn’t take it… I fucking waited here all afternoon for him to get off work… I just couldn’t help it, you know? I couldn’t bear it anymore. I just thought that today I had to fuck him, I needed to! I took advantage when he opened the door. I just…”

The person in Wei Dong’s arms was shaking from head to foot, his breathing erratic.

Spectacle Man pointed at Qin Youyou. “But he won’t fucking let me! I thought he was just pretending, but it looks like there’s another person.” His expression showed defeat, with a hint of ridicule and confusion. “Are you together? Do you know the things he did before? Getting together with him? Are you stupid?”

Spectacle Man clenched his teeth and every word was viciously spat out. “What he sold! He sold his ass! I fucking spent several hundreds to fuck him at South Road for half a night. I haven’t fucked a man since I got married. I fucking haven’t been happy for so many years…”

The veins on Wei Dong’s arms suddenly swelled, his chest started heaving violently.

Qin Youyou didn’t turn his head to look at that person, nor did he stop the words from entering his ears. He only leaned on Wei Dong’s shoulder, tightly holding his neck.

Spectacle Man chuckled. He laughed until tears appeared. “So he’s been set free, huh?[1] You’d go as far as to take him in? You really don’t mind being dirty… But you’re stronger than me. You’re… awe-inspiring…”

He was nodding vigorously, continuously, but he didn’t know what to say. He just grinned maliciously, stretching out his thumb, gesturing towards the two of them.

Wei Dong stood up straight and moved Qin Youyou to the side. He walked over and grabbed the man’s neck, pulling out his wallet from his pocket. The man struggled but couldn’t speak. Wei Dong pulled out his identity card from the wallet.

“You’re married? And have a child?”

The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, staring at him.

Wei Dong stuffed the identity card into his own pocket and threw the wallet back at him. “You’re trash. Besides cheating on your wife and bullying people weaker than you, what else are you good for? If you dare come here again to bother us, I’ll go to your work, your home, your kid’s school. I don’t have a fucking thing to lose—I’m not scared. If you don’t believe me, just try it. I’ll let you find out what it’s like to fall from grace[2] and wish for death.”

The hysterical agitation in the man’s eyes finally started to fade away, leaving his face ashen.

Wei Dong turned to go back to Qin Youyou, picked him up and placed him on the bed. He turned his head around. “I’m giving you five minutes to decide. Either get out, or, if you don’t want to get out, I can call your family to pick you up.”[3]

But after a few seconds, the man pushed himself up. He smoothed his clothing, seemingly having collected himself.

“… I’m sorry.” He looked at Qin Youyou. It was unknown what he was thinking about.

Qin Youyou buried his face in Wei Dong’s embrace and didn’t lift his head again.

The man paused for a second, sighed, and then after a moment he straightened up and walked out of the door.

The exterior of the door still had a good number of spectators. As the door opened, they startled and quickly made a path through them.

When the door closed, Wei Dong held Qin Youyou. He looked into those eyes—eyes that were unable to hold back the shock and wonder in them, and his expression turned gloomy.

---

[1] He used the word 从良 congliang, which is when a prostitute marries and leaves the profession.

[2] 身败名裂 shenbai minglie, lose standing/have your reputation swept away

[3] It’s not stated, but the way the author wrote this make me feel like WD was implying he’d call them to pick up a body.