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ntranslator: baumkuchen editor: serefina, glitterypanda

nIn the afternoon, sure enough, Dong Ge came to He Changsheng’s room, bringing with him a stack of foolscap paper and a pen.

nHe Changsheng had always lived alone and was honestly not very used to the feeling of someone else being in his room. As he lay in bed, he kept thinking about how he should strike up a conversation with him to avoid having him, the host, appear too rude.

n……In the past, this job had always been Lou Sifan’s responsibility.

nHe tossed and turned as he thought for half a day, thinking until he was a little short of breath. After a lot of effort, he finally managed to squeeze out a complete sentence, “How have you been lately.”

nDong Ge, “Fine.”

nHe Changsheng, “…..How old are you this year?”

nDong Ge, “15.”

nHe Changsheng, “I’m three and a half years older than you.”

nDong Ge, “En, I know.”

n……He Changsheng ran out of words.

nAs he was racking his brains to come up with the next topic, Dong Ge’s head was lowered, the tip of his pen scratching lightly against the paper. “He-qianbei, don’t worry, I’m also not very used to talking to others.”

nHe Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief. “En.”

nDong Ge said, “You should sleep. I’ll draw the curtains in a bit, to block out the light.”

nHe Changsheng said, “You need to write.”

nDong Ge said, “Isn’t there a desk lamp here?”

nHe Changsheng, “The desk lamp is broken.”

nDong Ge’s eyebrows rose slightly. He picked up the desk lamp and looked it over. “It’s the tungsten wire that broke.”

nAfter saying this, he got up and drew the curtains, suddenly throwing the room into a dim, drowsy yellow glow.

nHe Changsheng struggled to sit up. “You……”

nDong Ge touched a hand to his pocket, checking to make sure that he still had some change in it. “He-qianbei, you should sleep first, I’ll go out and buy a new lightbulb.”

nHe Changsheng, “Don’t trouble……”

n“Insisting on niceties is even more troublesome.” Dong Ge walked over to the bed and pushed He Changsheng’s shoulders back down through the blankets, forcing that warm, soft body down onto the bed. “Try to sleep before I come back.”

nHe Changsheng pulled up his quilt and said, “When you return, I’ll pay you back for the lightbulb.”

nDong Ge said, “Pay me back after you sleep.”

nAfter reaching an agreement with him, Dong Ge closed the door behind him and left.

n061 said, “Your touch aversion has gotten better again.”

nChi Xiaochi had Dong Ge’s cold, cool expression on his face, but his tone was carefree, “It’s not like I’m tofu. As long as it’s not too intimate, it’s fine.”

n061, “You touched his shoulders.”

nChi Xiaochi, “Wow, even touching someone’s shoulders is considered intimate.”

n061, “Could you have casually touched someone’s shoulders in the past?”

nChi Xiaochi, “So strict, I’m going to call you Liu-zhuren instead.”

nLiu-zhuren, “……I’m just saying, are you really planning on using He Changsheng?”

nChi Xiaochi went down the stairs, turned into the supermarket, and strolled along the aisles. “Yes, I am planning on using him.”

n061 had the vague feeling that what he was saying was different from what he himself understood. “……You mean, Lou Sifan cares a lot about He Changsheng, so if you can pull He Changsheng to your side, you’ll be able to gain even more regret points from Lou Sifan…… That’s the wrong one, He Changsheng’s desk lamp uses a E27 screw.”

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nChi Xiaochi put the B22 lightbulb back in its original place. “……Other than that, this time, Dong Ge’s tragedy won’t happen. Can you say for sure that He Changsheng won’t be fooled into getting together with Lou Sifan?”

nChi Xiaochi remembered that right after Dong Ge had been crippled, he had confessed everything to He Changsheng. He Changsheng, unable to believe that his friend was this kind of person, had gone and directly asked Lou Sifan about his relationship with Dong Ge.

nAnd Lou Sifan’s resultant panicked stuttering proved everything Dong Ge had said to be true.

nForced to the point of helplessness, Lou Sifan could only confess his feelings to him, “I like you, Changsheng.”

nHe Changsheng said, “You like one, while sleeping with another. Lou Sifan, this ‘like’ of yours is truly impossible for anyone to bear.”

nLou Sifan begged, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, don’t blame me, don’t be angry, okay?”

nHe Changsheng said, “The one you should really be apologising to is lying in the hospital. If you’re still a person, either go and properly stay together with Dong Ge, or accompany him through this tough time before breaking up with him. Don’t hurt him anymore.”

nBut He Changsheng had never expected that Lou Sifan truly wasn’t a person.

nEver since then, his relationship with Lou Sifan faded, becoming distant.

nDuring Dong Ge’s recuperation period, due to his own awkward identity, He Changsheng didn’t go and disturb Dong Ge.

nAfterwards, Dong Ge’s entire person became useless. He Changsheng, who had already retired from skating, came to visit him many times in private. It was just that the Dong Ge at that time had already ceased to be very capable of recognising people.

nIf in this lifetime, Dong Ge went through the rest of his life without any troubles, without him to cause this relationship-ending conflict, would Lou Sifan end up together with He Changsheng?

nIf he were to get together with this kind of person, would He Changsheng truly end up happy?

n“When all is said and done, He Changsheng is none of my business, and I can’t decide Dong Ge’s feelings towards him for him,” As Chi Xiaochi paid, he spoke sincerely, “I mainly just want to see Lou Sifan’s misfortune.”

n061, “……En. Then you can lessen your contact with him.”

nChi Xiaochi, “I know, I know, Liu-zhuren.”

n061 said, “I’m just worried about your body.”

nChi Xiaochi, “Liu-zhuren, I know, I know.”

n061, “……Ai.” His student’s heart had become distracted, he wasn’t easy to guide anymore.

nBy the time he got back, He Changsheng had really curled up in his quilt and fallen asleep.

nChi Xiaochi praised him with a mentality unique to a compassionate father, “What a good boy.”

nBut when he walked closer, Chi Xiaochi found that He Changsheng’s sleep wasn’t very restful. His eyebrows were constantly furrowed, and his arms were wrapped around his chest, his sleeping posture as if he was defending against something.

nJust as Chi Xiaochi wanted to reach out his hand, 061 gave him the exact data. “Body temperature, 37.5 degrees, it’s already fallen to be within the normal range.”

nChi Xiaochi thought, then why was he still uncomfortable.

nHe accidentally looked up and found that He Changsheng’s galvanised iron closet was open.

nChi Xiaochi remembered that when he left, the closet door had still been closed.

nAnd looking at the angle of the opening, it seemed there was something big hidden inside which hadn’t been placed inside properly and was keeping the door propped open.

nSo he walked up to it and took a look.

nThe next second, he and 061 both couldn’t help but laugh.

nChi Xiaochi pulled out a Spongebob SquarePants from the closet.

nThe Spongebob SquarePants toy had probably been washed recently. Like He Changsheng, it had the light fragrance of black tea scented shower gel.

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nHe carried Spongebob SquarePants over to He Changsheng’s bed and sent it into his arms.

nHe Changsheng dazedly let out a little nasal “mm”. He reached out his hands and brought it into his embrace in a practiced movement. He hugged it to his chest, then turned over and went to sleep.

nChi Xiaochi drew the mosquito net around his bed, then walked back to the desk, soundlessly replaced the lightbulb, turned it on, and wrote out his post-competition reflection.

nWhen he was halfway through, 061 voiced out a warning, “Fang Xiaoyan’s here. She might be here for He Changsheng.”

nChi Xiaochi spent a second matching the person to the name.

nFang Xiaoyan, He Changsheng’s partner, the young lady who, according to the original timeline, should have been sent back to her original club a year ago.

nChi Xiaochi said, “These are the boy’s dorms. The dorm head downstairs……”

n061 said, “She got in by climbing a tree.”

nChi Xiaochi, “……”

nHe stood up and walked over to the door. Not waiting for Fang Xiaoyan who’d sneaked her way over to knock, he pulled open the door in one smooth motion.

nEven when she was given a shock, Fang Xiaoyan still didn’t forget to lower the volume of her voice, “Aiyo my god.”

nDong Ge brought his slender finger to his lips, pulling the door closed behind them while he was at it. “Shh.”

nRecognising the person before her, Fang Xiaoyan immediately became excited. “Isn’t this the little beauty? You’ve already moved in?”

nDong Ge pointed at the room next door.

nFang Xiaoyan caught on. She raised the thermos tub in her hands. “I skipped class and made him some egg custard. How is he?”

n“He just fell asleep.” Dong Ge looked down at the thermos tub in Fang Xiaoyan’s hands. “Isn’t there a rule against using high-power electrical appliances in the dorms?”

nFan Xiaoyan tch-ed. “There’s also a rule against staying in someone else’s dorm room, isn’t there?”

nDong Ge just looked at her.

nFang Xiaoyan also found that breaking into the boy’s dorms seemed to be more serious than staying in someone else’s dorm. She immediately changed the topic, “Can’t jiejie care about him? I’m a month older than him, you know?”

nDong Ge’s tone was cold and indifferent as usual, “He just fell asleep.”

nFang Xiaoyan was able to communicate with the refrigerator He Changsheng, so why would she be scared of this freezer? She casually waved him off, saying, “I know, I know, let him sleep. I put warm water in the thermos to keep it warm, and its heat insulation is good. When he wakes up, drinks the egg custard, and washes the tub, he can give it back to me tomorrow.”

nDong Ge nodded slightly.

nFang Xiaoyan shoved the tub into his arms. “Then I’m going back now.”

nDong Ge said, “Wait.”

nThen, he stepped forward and removed a leaf that had been stuck in Fang Xiaoyan’s hair.

nHe said, “It’s fine now.”

nFang Xiaoyan was a little stunned. She giggled, “Then I’ll go now. See you tomorrow.”

nAs she slid down the tree trunk to the ground, Fang Xiaoyan was still thinking about Dong Ge’s gaze.

n……A little fierce, but also a little gorgeous. Just a casual glance was enough to make one feel tingly.

nFang Xiaoyan sighed, sure enough, he was a little demon.

nShe then sighed again, such a pity, such a pity, if Changsheng were to have this attribute of Dong Ge-didi’s, maybe he would have long since been able to find a girlfriend.

nThe next day was a Saturday. Lou Sifan’s parents came to the provincial team for a visit, so he was taken out early in the morning.

nHe Changsheng, who, sure enough, had completely recovered after a day of rest, got out of bed, full of energy.

nHe knocked on the door next door.

nDong Ge was inside.

nEver since that time Chi Xiaochi had held Dong Feihong’s hand in the boulevard in Toronto, 061 had been feeling a little out of order. He planned on making “Dong Feihong” stay a little further away from Chi Xiaochi for the time being.

nAs such, this weekend, something happened at Dong Feihong’s magazine publishers, necessitating him to go for a meeting, so he would be picking him up on Saturday night.

nUpon seeing Dong Ge, He Changsheng thought of how, when he had woken up yesterday, he’d found himself with his Spongebob Squarepants toy in his arms. His face burned a little again in embarrassment.

nHe had never been the type to beat around the bush. He asked straightforwardly, “Do you want to train?”

nWhen training was brought up, Dong Ge was also very straight and to the point, “Let’s go.”

nOn Saturdays, there were a lot less people staying to train, and the two of them had also come early, so He Changsheng and Dong Ge had a completely empty training area.

nAfter warming up, Dong Ge asked, “Do you want to practice on the ice? Or on land?”

nHe Changsheng said, “On ice. Let’s practice throw jumps.”

nDong Ge’s expression changed slightly.

nWhen talking about his area of expertise, He Changsheng was always especially serious, and he would also have more to say, “I’ve watched a lot of videos of your competitions. You’re very good in all aspects, it’s just that your coordination still falls a little short. For us pair skaters, throw jumps are a compulsory lesson. Every time we practice, I’m responsible for throwing and Xiao Fang is responsible for jumping. The height of the throw cannot be lower than 1.5m, and when Xiao Fang lands, she needs to land on one foot and the distance of her jump should be at least 5m.”

nDong Ge remained silent.

nHe Changsheng’s eyes were bright as he urged, “I know you singles skaters don’t do as much of this kind of practice. Because we need to get used to working with our partners, we have to practice this over and over again, until until it becomes muscle memory, and we know exactly how to work together with our partner, how to throw them, and how to land, for it to turn out perfectly. However, if you can practice this until you’re good at it, your limb coordination will be greatly improved.”

n061 said, “No.”

nDong Ge looked up and said, “En. Le’s start.”

n061, “……” What about his dignity as a teacher of the people.

nBut he quickly reacted, scanning He Changsheng’s irises and rewinding through his memories.

nThe image stopped at yesterday afternoon, as Lou Sifan coaxed, urged and encouraged He Changsheng. He could be said to have taken a lot of trouble.

nAs Chi Xiaochi changed into his ice skates, he asked 061, “Liu-laoshi, still want to persuade me otherwise?”

n061 said, “Do what you want to do.”

nAs he said this, he added a spoonful of salt to Dong Ge’s water bottle and stirred it in, preparing it just in case.

nDong Ge smoothly completed the first five throw jumps.

nFrom the sixth throw jump onwards, he began to constantly make mistakes, and his expression became a little worse.

nHe Changsheng thought it was because he was embarrassed by failing in front of his seniors, so he applauded him, then reached out a hand to pull him up. “Get up, let’s do it again.”

nWhen he grasped his hand, He Changsheng felt a palm of cold sweat.

nHe found this a little strange, but didn’t think much of it, reaching his arms around Dong Ge’s waist once again and lifting him into the air. “Ready?”

nDong Ge said in a small voice, “He-qianbei, put me down.”

nHe Changsheng, “……” Yi.

nHe could hear that there was something a little off in Dong Ge’s tone and immediately put him down.

nThe moment Dong Ge’s feet touched the ground, he staggered to the emergency bathroom by the rink, collapsed by the sink and began vomiting uncontrollably.

nHe Changsheng, who had followed him to the entrance of the bathroom, panicked. He patted him on his back. “What’s wrong, what is this?”

nWas he just unaccustomed?

nNo, that wasn’t possible. For them, this kind of speed and the number of turns was nothing.

nDong Ge truly looked very unwell, clutching his stomach and shaking uncontrollably. Only until there was nothing left to vomit did he sit up, exhausted.

nHe Changsheng looked expressionless, but his face had already turned pale from shock. He pulled him up onto his back and half-carried, half-dragged him all the way to the rest area. He helped twist open Dong Ge’s water bottle. “Here.”

nDong Ge’s hair was damp. He took the water bottle and took two sips, then said quietly, “Thank you.”

nHe Changsheng didn’t speak, just looking down at the blades of his ice skates.

nDong Ge clutched his water bottle. “Is He-qianbei not going to ask why?”

nHe Changsheng said, “If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t ask.”

nDong Ge spoke the truth, “I have a bit of a psychological shadow when it comes to making intimate contact with other people.”

nHe Changsheng looked at his tear-dampened eyelashes. His brows furrowed tightly. “You’ve vomited until you’re like this. Is that just ‘a bit’?”

nDong Ge remained silent, just lowering his eyelashes.

nHe Changsheng immediately made the ordinary associations. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any untoward thoughts towards you.”

nAfter a long period of observation, 061 found that Chi Xiaochi’s reactions were targeted.

nFirst, was the attitude of the person touching him, and second, was the age of the person touching him.

nChi Xiaochi’s body was like a radar. If the person touching was a little too fond of him, he would immediately react with rejection.

nThe other factor was age.

nDong Ge’s coach was a middle-aged man. Even just a slight, light touch would make Chi Xiaochi react very strongly.

nCorrespondingly, he reacted much less to contact with people of a similar age to him.

nAs such, with He Changsheng, Chi Xiaochi’s reaction was actually unlikely to be that bad.

nFirstly, He Changsheng’s age was there, secondly, when he hugged Chi Xiaochi for the throw jump, it was purely a hug, not much different from carrying a sack of rice.

nBut the key was……

n“It’s hands,” Dong Ge answered, “One hand directly holding another. ……I’m not very accustomed to this kind of feeling.”

nHe Changsheng thought for a moment, then said, “I’ve never heard others say that you had this kind of problem.”

nDong Ge pursed his snow-white lips. “No one else knows. My coach also knows that my physical coordination has room for improvement. He’s brought this up with me many times, wanting me to find a partner to practice throw jumps with. But I didn’t want anyone to know…… Today, I thought that I would be able to hold it back if I tried. ……Sure enough, in the end, I couldn’t.”

nHe Changsheng looked at his reddened eyes, his heart as soft as anything.

nHe fell into deep thought for a moment, then asked Dong Ge, “What I wear gloves?”

nDong Ge, “Hmm?”

nHe Changsheng, “I won’t directly come into contact with your hand. We can both wear gloves. Would you be able to accept it if it were like that?”

nDong Ge considered it for a moment, “Probably……”

nHe Changsheng’s pale brown eyes gleamed like a cat’s. “If you want to practice throw jumps in the future, come to me, I’ll lead you.”

nDong Ge’s eyes widened in surprise.

nHe Changsheng said, “I know your secret, so I can do my best to take care of you.”

nDong Ge let out a rare, reserved side of himself, nodding slightly. “Thank you, He-qianbei. But……”

nHe Changsheng knew what he wanted to say. “This is our secret. I won’t tell other people.”

n“That Lou-ge……”

nHe Changsheng originally wanted to pat him on the shoulder, but the moment he raised his hand, he remembered Dong Ge’s problem and immediately retracted it. He grabbed the strap of Dong Ge’s carry-on bag and held it tightly, like he was making an oath.

nWhen people who couldn’t speak emotional words made promises, they would always be awkwardly earnest. “Other people means people other than the two of us.”

nThe author has something to say:

nThe underlying plot of Liu-laoshi eating vinegar is making waves qwq

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nsere: MY SHIP IS BUILDING ITSELF but also jelly 061 is cute af

nbaum: I’m so glad that He Changsheng is a good person <3 Usually, in stories with white moonlights, the white moonlight turns out to be a terrible person (bc the MC has to get together with the emotionally two-timing ML) so I’m just glad that He Changsheng gets to be a good person who sticks to his morals even against his best friend of many, many years.

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