At eight in the morning, Zheng Quan called Zi Yan to get up and have breakfast.
After the fatigue of the journey, Zi Yan had the rare chance to sleep in.
Last night, shortly after arriving home, Zi Yan flopped onto his bed like a salted fish. Half-awake, his phone vibrated once. Zi Yan reached over and lit up the screen— it was a QQ message from Wei Lai—
【Glorious Moon】: Zi Yan, are you home yet?
With his chin resting on the soft pillow, Zi Yan picked up the phone with both hands and replied leisurely: “I’m home.”
【Glorious Moon】: The trip must have been tiring. By the way, have you finished your homework? If you have, can I borrow it for a bit? I’ll come to your place to pick it up around noon tomorrow.
Wei Lai’s response speed was surprisingly fast.
She was good at studying but quite lazy; she rarely did her own homework. Usually, she would copy from other classmates and then carefully review it during the break before class to avoid the embarrassment of being called out by the teacher.
Before, Wei Lai would borrow homework from various classmates to copy. But ever since she met Zi Yan, who always completed his homework with quality and on time, she had completely stuck to him.
Zi Yan smiled and replied, “I finished it. You can come get it tomorrow.”
Right after replying, Zi Yan felt a little melancholy.
Homework… the new school term was about to start.
There were still three days left until the end of the Golden Week holiday at Haizhou No. 3 Middle School.
Recently, life had been quite leisurely, and Zi Yan was starting to not want to exhaust himself.
The learning atmosphere at Haizhou No. 3 Middle School was relatively relaxed compared to other schools in Haizhou, but it was still somewhat tiring.
After all, these were all ninth graders.
Thinking about it, unable to fight off the drowsiness, Zi Yan half-closed his eyes and yawned deeply. Before long, he sank back into a deep sleep.
“Breakfast today is the stuffed pancakes I bought, they’re covered with a bowl on the table. Eat some later. There’s also porridge in the pot.”
After a rare trip, Zheng Quan was busy again. With the eight o’clock work hour approaching, he hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out the door to head to his office.
It seemed that Dad was also so tired from the trip that he had slept in.
Hearing the sound of the front door closing, Zi Yan slowly opened his eyes and looked outside at the bright sunlight.
Last night when Zi Yan came home, the lights had just been turned on. He was so exhausted that he didn’t even bother to draw the curtains properly before falling asleep.
“This kind of feeling, sunny weather is really nice.”
On rainy days, the sun is blocked, and that’s when Zi Yan felt most comfortable. But right now, Zi Yan’s room faced west. Except for a bit of sunlight reflected from the opposite window in the morning, there was little direct sunlight.
And the morning sun wasn’t so harsh or aggressive… hiding inside the room and looking out at this bright, clear world— autumn air crisp and refreshing, sky clear and blue stretching endlessly— it was quite uplifting.
Getting out of bed, Zi Yan used a wooden comb to smooth out the tangled hair flattened during sleep. He put on his pajamas, took his phone, and turned right out the door to sit down.
The house was small; the dining room and kitchen were connected, just to the right of Zi Yan’s room.
The chair on the far left at the dining table was only about two or three meters from Zi Yan’s bedroom door.
The stuffed pancakes Zheng Quan bought were still warm, about palm-sized and thin: two pork filling, one beef filling— just enough for Zi Yan.
The pot contained leftover rice Zheng Quan had refrigerated from the night before their trip. He added two bowls of water and reheated it into plain porridge.
Zi Yan went to the kitchen, lifted the lid, and scooped some with a big ladle.
Shaking his head, he muttered, “This isn’t porridge at all, it’s just watery rice.”
But eating only the stuffed pancakes felt a bit plain; his mouth would get dry. Smiling, he scooped some into a bowl and carried it back to the dining room.
Eating with his left hand, he silently unlocked his phone lying flat on the table with his right and began scrolling.
The screen lit up with several unread messages from Glorious Moon.
After last night’s discussion about the homework, Wei Lai wanted to invite Zi Yan to a milk tea shop to have some juice, then go get their hair done together.
【Glorious Moon】: Zi Yan, how about I come to your house tomorrow afternoon?
【Glorious Moon】: Okay?
【Glorious Moon】: I heard there’s a new milk tea shop at Wanda Plaza. Their Zhishi Mangmang is especially good. I’ll bring the homework tomorrow afternoon. How about we have a drink?
【Glorious Moon】: I want to get my hair fixed. After we drink the juice, shall we go together? You with long hair like yours need to take good care of it.
【Glorious Moon】: Zi Yan?
【Glorious Moon】: ???
“…Well, that’s true.”
Zi Yan sighed and smiled awkwardly. He had been so tired last night that even though his phone was next to his little head on the bed, the QQ notification sounds rang several times without waking him.
【Luna】: Sounds good.
Back in Antwerp, Zi Yan’s waist-length white hair had always been maintained by a private hairdresser provided by one of his mother Lina’s kind students.
After returning to China, however, because the sideburn hairs had grown too much, Zheng Quan took Zi Yan to a small barbershop outside the Haizhou Cadre Dormitory for a haircut.
The barber asked, “How would you like it cut?”
Zheng Quan said, “Shorter.”
And so, until Zi Yan’s temper finally exploded and he stood up from the chair, Zheng Quan kept telling the barber to cut it shorter and shorter.
Since then, because Zheng Quan was always obsessed with cutting Zi Yan’s hair short, that barbershop had naturally become Zi Yan’s personal hell, the kind of demon castle.
Even now, many days later, Zi Yan took care of his own hair— washing, conditioning, and applying some yuzu-scented essential oil— but hadn’t had it professionally done.
To be honest, if you have long hair and no expert to care for it, the health of your hair will eventually suffer, won’t it?
——
The milk tea shop Wei Lai mentioned at Wanda Plaza was actually located in the commercial street behind Wanda Plaza.
After getting off the bus, Zi Yan followed Wei Lai, turning left, then right, winding through the streets before finally finding the shop.
The milk tea shop was small and had an unassuming signboard, black with white characters carved with the words “Mincha.”
Mincha— searching for tea— had truly been quite a task to find.
“How is it? Didn’t I say it was really good~?” Wei Lai said.
The shop was tiny; calling it a small shop was actually flattering. There were only three small round tables on the first floor opposite the counter, and only three regular square tables upstairs. It was really quite cramped.
Still, the Zhishi Mangmang that Wei Lai recommended to Zi Yan was genuinely delicious.
Freshly cut and freshly squeezed mango juice topped with a thick layer of milk cap and cheese, sipping through a straw, the mouthful was filled with the creaminess of the milk cap, the richness of the cheese, and the sweet fragrance of the mango juice. It was simply too delicious.
Zi Yan sat in a small private room on the second floor, sipping once, then again, gulping down the drink with a very happy expression on his face~!
Author’s note:
When will the pandemic end?! I want to go out for Zhishi Mangmang, drink milk tea, eat barbecue, hot pot, fried chicken with cola QAQ.