Chapter 23: Treating You to Ice Cream

Leaving the Anime Club’s recruitment stall, Ji Xu walked with light steps toward the center of the sports field.

The sun had risen slightly higher than before, baking down hot on his arms and neck; he raised a hand to shade his forehead, squinting his eyes as he wove through the groups of people.

A crowd of people was squeezed in front of that patch of tents in the middle section of the field, where a small stage had been temporarily set up under a white sunshade.

Someone was currently standing above speaking, surrounded by a ring of freshmen and upperclassmen, with applause and laughter drifting over continuously.

Only when Ji Xu drew closer did he see clearly that it was the Debate Club holding an impromptu debate exhibition match, with debaters on both sides clashing in a war of words.

Yuan Hanfei was standing in a front position with his side turned toward Ji Xu’s direction, listening intently to the speeches from the debaters on stage.

His standing posture was very relaxed—one hand tucked in his pants pocket, the other arm resting across his chest, his head tilted slightly—his expression carrying that intense focus drawn in by an interesting topic.

Ji Xu stood on the outer edge of the crowd watching for a while; the people on stage spoke at lightning speed, tossing out sentences like a rapid fire of cannonballs.

After listening to a few lines, he roughly gathered that the debate topic was something about whether contemporary young people should choose to “lay flat,” but he genuinely couldn’t muster any interest in content requiring brainpower and eloquence, stepping back out after listening to two lines.

The sun hung glaringly high in the sky, its light crashing straight down without a single cloud to block it.

A thin layer of sweat had already seeped onto the back of Ji Xu’s neck; he walked to the volunteer service point at the entrance of the sports field and claimed a complimentary cup of ice lemon tea.

The paper cup wall was icy cold, making his fingertips contract comfortably as he held it in his palm.

He took a sip, the sourness of the lemon and sweetness of the honey blending together on the tip of his tongue, sliding down his throat crisp and cool.

He looked around his surroundings, spotting a giant banyan tree with a dense canopy; the tree shade cast a large patch of coolness, while the grass was baked lukewarm yet comfortably dry.

Ji Xu walked over, unfolded that pink poster he had just claimed from the Anime Club onto the ground, and sat down.

With his back resting against the rough tree trunk, he placed the lemon tea beside his feet and pulled out his phone to send Yuan Hanfei a message: “I’m waiting for you under that big banyan tree at the sports field entrance.”

After sending it, he placed his phone face down on his knees and rested against the tree trunk, slowly sipping his lemon tea.

It was indeed much cooler under the tree shade; occasionally a breeze blew past, rustling the leaves as sunlight shook into fine, broken spots of light on the ground through the gaps between the leaves.

Ji Xu squinted his eyes, watching the people coming and going across the sports field, watching those figures jumping around in mascot costumes, watching senior guys and girls calling out loudly to recruit freshmen, and watching the fresh, curious expressions on the faces of new classmates.

The tips of his toes tapped lightly to the rhythm drifting from the distant speakers, his fingers drawing circles around the water droplets on the paper cup, his entire person sitting lazy, quiet, and peaceful inside that small patch of shade.

Not long after, someone came over to strike up a conversation.

It was a guy wearing glasses, dressed in a Computer Science Department custom T-shirt, holding a stack of flyers in his hand.

He walked over to the edge of the shade, stopped, and offered Ji Xu a smile: “Classmate, are you a freshman? Any interest in learning about the Computer Association?”

Ji Xu shook his head, politely saying “Sorry, I’m not interested,” and the guy smiled and walked away.

A few minutes later, another person arrived—from the Photography Club—holding a camera, taking a photo of Ji Xu, and then walking over to ask, “Classmate, are you interested in photography?” Ji Xu shook his head once more.

Then came the Literature Club, the Roller Skating Club, the Music Club, and the Hanfu Club, wave after wave continuously.

Every person held flyers or sign-up forms, and every person’s opening line was to smile first before asking, “Hello classmate, are you interested in learning about [X] Club?”

Ji Xu was quite patient at first, answering them one by one with “Thank you, no need,” “I’m still considering,” “Let’s talk next time.”

However, as the crowd grew larger with one leaving just as another arrived, these people still hadn’t stopped even after he finished his lemon tea, making him gradually lose his patience.

Why isn’t Yuan Hanfei done yet?

He squeezed the empty paper cup flat, set it beside his hand, and swiped his fingers across his phone screen twice—Yuan Hanfei’s chat box still contained only that single message he had sent out, with no new reply.

Just as he decided not to wait any longer and stand up to leave, a familiar, slightly out-of-breath voice drifted over from the direction of the crowd.

“Ji Xu.”

Ji Xu raised his head.

Yuan Hanfei was running over from the other side of the sports field with large, crisp strides, his forelock tossed back by the wind carried from running, his face still bearing a trace of excitement and flush left over from the debate arena.

He wove through the crowd, ran beneath the banyan tree, stopped in front of Ji Xu, bent over slightly to gasp for breath twice, and looked down at Ji Xu sitting on the ground.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long,” Yuan Hanfei said, his voice carrying slight gasps after running, though his tone held genuine apology, “the debate match dragged on for a bit, so I came to find you right after watching it. How long have you been waiting?”

Ji Xu looked up at him as sunlight shone from behind Yuan Hanfei; his silhouette was lined with a rim of golden light by the illumination, while his shadow fell over Ji Xu, perfectly blocking out the glaring sunlight.

Ji Xu pulled out his phone to check the time—counting from when he sent the message to now, barely twenty-plus minutes had passed.

It wasn’t actually that long, but being approached seven or eight times in between made him feel as if a century had gone by.

He tossed the empty lemon tea cup into the trash can nearby, patted his bottom, stood up, folded the poster, and tucked it under his armpit.

“Not long,” he said, paused for a second, and added another line, “but a lot of people came to talk to me, and I couldn’t even handle them all.”

Yuan Hanfei’s brow raised, his gaze sweeping over the area behind Ji Xu before falling back onto Ji Xu’s face.

Ji Xu had a bit of sweat at his temple, his cheeks faintly flushed from the sun, and his lips still glistened with moisture from drinking the ice lemon tea—sitting quietly under the tree shade like that, it was indeed difficult not to be noticed.

Looking at Ji Xu’s expression of “a bit annoyed yet not really wanting to complain,” the corners of his lips tilted up: “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to ice cream to make it up to you.”

“Then thank you very much,” Ji Xu answered without a shred of politeness.

He had waited this long and been approached all along the way, so what was wrong with eating an ice cream?

He followed Yuan Hanfei toward the canteen with a clear conscience, his pace somewhat faster than before, as the heat of the sun baking his back was cut off and reconnected section by section by the tree shade.

There was a dessert station on the B1 floor of the Main Canteen, where various flavors of ice cream and popsicles were displayed inside the freezer, their milky white and pastel-colored packaging gleaming under the cold freezer light.

Yuan Hanfei let Ji Xu pick for himself; after hesitating for a moment, Ji Xu chose a chocolate crunch coat cream popsicle, while Yuan Hanfei grabbed a cup of strawberry-flavored ice cream for himself.

The two sat on high stools in the lounge area facing a floor-to-ceiling glass window, outside of which the underground exit leading to the canteen stairs and a small patch of greenery were visible.

Ji Xu tore open the popsicle wrapper and took a big bite; the chocolate crunch coat shattered between his teeth, and the icy, dense cream core inside surged up in an instant, dispersing most of the summer heat baked out by the sun.

He squinted his eyes comfortably, took another bite, and chewed slowly with his cheeks puffed up, as the subtle bitterness of the chocolate and sweetness of the cream blended together on the tip of his tongue, melting away inside his mouth.

“Yuan Hanfei, this ice cream is so delicious,” Ji Xu turned his head to look at the person beside him.

Yuan Hanfei’s eating manner was entirely mismatched with his sharp, striking physique—he scooped the cup ice cream spoon by spoon in a methodical, unhurried movement, wiping away any bit of pink cream touching his lips with his fingertip.

Sitting there quietly, he actually possessed a somewhat noble and elegant air.

Ji Xu looked at him twice, the first thought popping into his mind being a large cat.

With Yuan Hanfei’s stature and frame, calling him a small cat was indeed inaccurate, but certain demeanor—such as the way he lowered his eyes to focus on scooping ice cream, or the way he pursed his lips to savor the sweet flavor—did carry the feel of a lazy feline.

He should be a noble big cat, with bright fur, a composed posture, and someone who made people want to look twice simply sitting there casually.

Yuan Hanfei swallowed that bite of ice cream and turned his head to meet Ji Xu’s gaze.

He smiled: “Want another one?”

Ji Xu shook his head: “No, it’s almost time for lunch.”

He took a glance at his phone—11:50 AM—indeed close to lunchtime.

The two chatted casually over their ice cream, and after resting enough, they went upstairs to the Second Floor Canteen.

Ji Xu ate a sour cabbage fish set meal, while Yuan Hanfei ordered a bowl of beef noodles, finishing this lunch facing each other.

With no classes in the afternoon or all day Sunday, Ji Xu returned to the dorm.

Yuan Hanfei returned with him, but after changing his clothes, he prepared to head out.

Slinging a crossbody bag over his shoulder, he stood at the door and turned back to tell Ji Xu: “I’m not coming back to the dorm tonight, I’m heading out to hang out with a few friends.”

“Mhm,” Ji Xu sat in his chair and waved his hand at him, “have fun.”

“Lock the door properly yourself,” Yuan Hanfei finished speaking and stepped out, the door letting out a soft click as it closed.

The dorm room instantly quieted down, the sound of the air conditioner blowing steadily, while the club recruitment activities on the sports field outside the window continued, the vaguely drifting music becoming blurry and distant through the glass.

Sitting alone in the room, Ji Xu suddenly felt the space was quite a bit larger than usual—the opposite bed was empty, the chair was empty, and the desktop was empty.

He stretched his back, feeling that being alone seemed pretty nice too—free, doing whatever he wanted without needing to consider someone nearby.

He picked up his phone, preparing to call Chu Siran online to play a few matches.

Just as the chat box opened and before he could finish typing “Gege want to play games?”, a voice call request popped up on the screen.

The name displayed was Rong Du.

Ji Xu froze for a moment, his thumb pausing before tapping accept.

When Rong Du’s face appeared on the screen, the background was that familiar living room from his rented apartment—the blue-and-white checkered sofa cloth on the couch, the enamel cup on the coffee table, and those several purple wild flowers on the windowsill that had been replaced with fresh ones.

Rong Du wore loungewear with his hair slightly messy, looking as though he had just taken a shower or woken up from a afternoon nap.

Seeing Ji Xu’s face appear on the screen, he smiled first before asking: “In the dorm?”

“Mhm, alone in the dorm. My roommate went out to play.” Ji Xu set his phone onto the desk stand, leaned his entire self against the back of his chair, rested his chin on his crossed arms, and looked at Rong Du inside the screen.

The camera on Rong Du’s side shook slightly, adjusting its angle, and then he leaned against the back of the sofa as well, the two sitting across the screen as if chatting face-to-face.

They chatted for a long time—from one end of the earth to the other, from Ji Xu’s class schedule this week to the layout of Rong Du’s new office.

Rong Du shared that the window seat in his new office offered a view of the sea, and every day during lunch break he would stand by the window for a few minutes; from that spot, he could see a curved small embankment at the edge of the sea, where the setting sun sank down in the evening looking exceptionally beautiful.

Ji Xu expressed that he wanted to check it out when he had the chance, and Rong Du replied that he was welcome anytime.

There was a brief silence between the two, neither feeling awkward, quietly looking into each other’s eyes through the screen like that; then Ji Xu thought of something and continued talking, while Rong Du followed along to reply.

As they chatted away, Ji Xu’s voice gradually slowed down, his sentences grew shorter, his speaking speed slacked, and sometimes he would pause for several seconds after speaking before continuing the next line.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, while Rong Du’s outline within his vision began to turn blurry and soft, its edges melting into the light of the screen as if diffused by water.

The height of the phone stand positioned the screen directly facing his face; with his eyes half-closed, his mouth still moved slightly to utter hazy words, though they were no longer forming complete sentences at all.

On the other end of the screen, Rong Du slowly ceased his voice, looking quietly at the screen like that—watching Ji Xu’s eyelids close completely, his eyelashes resting quietly beneath his eyes, his lips slightly parted, and his breathing turning steady and long.

A few minutes later, the dorm lights automatically shut off.

At 11:00 PM sharp, the power circuit disconnected right on time, plunging the entire room into darkness with only the light from the phone screen still shining, illuminating Ji Xu’s quiet sleeping face.

His cheek was illuminated into a soft warm tone by the light of the screen, the shadow of his eyelashes projected onto his cheekbones, his lips slightly parted, his breathing smooth and steady.

On the other end of the screen, Rong Du extended his hand, his finger moving slowly and gently above the phone screen, the pad of his finger touching the position of Ji Xu’s face on the cold glass surface.

He didn’t make a sound, his lips moving slightly to utter a few words silently.

Then, he took the phone down from the stand, his thumb pausing at the edge of the screen without hanging up the call—keeping the call connected just like that—placing the phone beside his pillow while he slowly lay down himself.

The light from the screen reflected onto the ceiling, their breathing intertwining across the screen—one from the fourth floor of the Haicheng University dormitory, one from the fifth-floor rented apartment in that old residential compound—quietly overlapping together across over ten kilometers of night sky.

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