Seizing Dreams

“In case I didn’t die, I needed to leave myself a way out ma. And see, didn’t it come in handy now?” Ou Qihang laughed.

When he heard this, Yu Hao just thought that Ou Qihang’s IQ probably far exceeded what he had guessed.

There was a knock on the door. Huang Ting came in, and the two of them got up to leave.

“I’ve already told you all that you wanted to know.” Ou Qihang said, “Good luck.”

“Good luck.” Zhou Sheng said lightly, “You’re still too inexperienced, wise up after your setbacks and learn your lesson ba.”

Ou Qihang’s face suddenly changed, becoming as pale as dying embers. Yu Hao noticed the anomaly and asked, “What is it?”

Zhou Sheng smiled mischievously and draped his arm around Yu Hao as they left.

Huang Ting was waiting outside, frowning silently.

“It’s over?” Zhou Sheng said.

Huang Ting nodded.

“How’re you gonna thank me?” Zhou Sheng said.

“I’ll treat you and Yujun to a meal the day after tomorrow?” Huang Ting said, “Pick a place, I’m about to die a sudden death. We’ll talk after I sleep, and if I oversleep, then you guys just eat by yourselves ba. Just place the whole black and white photo on the dining table, I’d like to thank you two honourable ones for your great kindness.”

Yu Hao, “......”

“What did you mean by your parting words yesterday?” Yu Hao kept feeling that something was strange when Zhou Sheng left.

The next day, he, Fu Liqun, and Zhou Sheng went to sign up for the three-person basketball match. Zhou Sheng measured his height — 187cm.

Fu Liqun stood up and measured his height. 193cm, he grew 1cm.

Yu Hao went to measure, still 178. He was practically on the verge of crying without tears.

Zhou Sheng, “Why? It’s just 2cm. Don’t you like it if I’m a bit taller? This just means that your private property is rising in value ah.”

Fu Liqun whose HP -25 said, “It’s not good to have too big of a difference. Your sis-in-law says that every time we kiss, she feels like she’s performing a sword swallowing act on the street.”

Yu Hao, “Don’t grow anymore. If you grow to 1.9m like Gege, it’ll be troublesome.”

“What do you have against 1.9m?!” Fu Liqun instantly blew up, “Did 1.9m eat your house’s rice?!”

“Yeah.” Yu Hao said.

Fu Liqun, “......”

“Ok then, whatever you say goes. I’ll stop growing.” Zhou Sheng stepped off, satisfied.

Preliminaries were at the end of the semester, and finals during winter vacation, so there was still a long time before then. The competition was mainly sponsored by one brand, and the champion team would get 30,000 yuan as prize money as well as three pairs of limited edition basketball shoes. Zhou Sheng said to Yu Hao, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to go buy shoes.”

“I’ve resolved to never go to that shop again.” Yu Hao said, “It’s not like we’re participating in a fashion show, why buy such good ones?”

“It won’t cost more than 2,000, alright?” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll take you to another shop, we won’t go to the one with 9,600.”

Yu Hao had refused to buy basketball shoes. Zhou Sheng has already spent too much money on him this semester — skateboard, clothes, shoes, laptop, couple watches......Fu Liqun and Zhou Sheng were also reluctant to wear their most expensive shoes during trainings, and would only wear them for important occasions. Yu Hao wasn’t particular about the aesthetics of basketball shoes. Zhou Sheng even wanted to buy a camera for Yu Hao, basketball shoes, an engraved couple bracelet from Tiffany, and...... Yu Hao was on tenterhooks every day as he was really afraid that Zhou Sheng would suddenly buy him something.

Zhou Sheng said, “Well, we can’t be the only ones wearing AJ while we let you wear something cheaper? We’re a team ah. Everyone should wear AJ together every step of the way. When we think back on this time in the future, how wonderful would the memories be?”

Yu Hao said, “So if I casually wear a normal pair onto the court, the memory won’t be wonderful anymore? What kind of logic is that?”

Zhou Sheng cried bitterly, “We’ll buy it first, then I’ll go work and earn it back next time, okay? Could you stop feeling so conflicted?”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng started to quarrel again as they walked. Fu Liqun could only follow behind them, bored stiff. Recently, Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng would occasionally argue. Every time Yu Hao would only be a little angry and ask Zhou Sheng not to spend money, so Zhou Sheng couldn’t interject and would patiently wait for a while before giving in.

After talking so much about money, Yu Hao would also feel annoyed and a bit depressed. Sometimes he felt like he was rambling on about it a little too much and even found himself irritating.

He knew that there has always been a significant disparity between his and Zhou Sheng’s values and perspectives on expenditures. Perhaps there was a monster in the arena they hadn’t encountered yet that represented Zhou Sheng’s values. But after the occasional reflection, Yu Hao understood in his heart that he was a little too thrifty sometimes. He was used to living in poverty and liked to exchange his time for money.

But Zhou Sheng was different. Even after his parents divorced, his mother never shortchanged him on his material needs. On the contrary, she was secretly competing with Zhou Laichun and would give Zhou Sheng more in the name of pocket money, to prove that ‘you’re not worse off with this old woman than that white-eyed wolf’. The only thing that would annoy Zhou Sheng a lot was that his mother would always ask all sorts of questions whenever he wanted to buy something and use it to compete with his father.

This effectively shaped Zhou Sheng’s value of ‘the happiness of me and my wife would be difficult to buy with even a thousand gold’. When they started dating, he would come up with all sorts of ways to buy food and other items for Yu Hao and spend some money to help him broaden his horizons. Sometimes, temperament really was built with money. There were a few times when Yu Hao told him not to be so wasteful that he felt extremely uneasy too; but he was used to living a thrifty life, and now that there were two of them, he couldn’t always get Zhou Sheng to follow him and also lower his quality of life ba?

Yu Hao knew that he needed to slightly alter his values. When he saw articles on how ‘poverty is carved into one’s bones’, posts and arguments that crusade against and criticise children who were raised by the poor, he would feel extremely indignant. But now, chicken soup authors were particularly vicious. The type they succinctly described in their conclusions was obviously talking about people like Yu Hao himself, and it was impossible for him to deny it.

It sometimes made him loathe himself when he’s with Zhou Sheng, and at those times he wouldn’t be able to insist on his own opinions. His vigour would weaken halfway through their fights, just like now. Zhou Sheng conceded and said with some irritation, “As long as you’re happy. We won’t buy them.”

Yu Hao began to feel depressed.

Fu Liqun looked at Yu Hao, then looked at Zhou Sheng, “You guys have such Buddha-like quarrels.”

Yu Hao almost went mad, this is considered Buddha-like?

Zhou Sheng said proudly, “Right? We’ve always talked it out properly, not like you guys.”

Yu Hao, “......”

“How do you guys argue?” Yu Hao was suddenly curious. His quarrels with Zhou Sheng were already like this, yet it could still be considered ‘talking it out properly’?

Fu Liqun said, “What I care about is just insignificant in your sis-in-law’s eyes, okay? It just feels like she doesn’t care at all, as if I was talking about something childish — that’s what makes me irritated, sulky, and compels me to run into a wall or hit myself.”

Yu Hao thought, okay ba we are indeed quite Buddha-like.

“But the two of you love each other.” Yu Hao said, “Mutual love can overcome many things.”

“Yes.” Fu Liqun said solemnly, “Just like you guys, the two of you love each other ah. Everything else can be overcome, so don’t worry about all that anymore.”

Yu Hao, “......”

Zhou Sheng, “......”

All three of them felt a little awkward. They calmed down and stopped talking.

“Then let’s compromise, buy a cheaper pair.” Zhou Sheng asked Yu Hao for his opinion, “Under a thousand, is that okay?”

“Okay.” Yu Hao agreed, so Zhou Sheng smiled and brought Yu Hao into the shop. He didn’t wait for the shop attendant and got Yu Hao to sit down on a soft sofa to try on shoes, while he sat on the floor and took out shoes for Yu Hao to try. Fui Liqun himself began trying on shoes as well.

“What happened to the jumping-off-buildings boy?” Fu Liqun asked.

Zhou Sheng casually said, “Detained for a few days, on bail pending trial? Depends on his luck ba. Didn’t Junjun Jie look for you?”

When Yu Hao remembered Ou Qihang, he still felt slightly uneasy, “No.”

“Oh?” Zhou Sheng said, “Nothing strange appeared on her laptop?”

Yu Hao, “???”

Zhou Sheng sat on the floor, looked up at Yu Hao and suddenly showed him an enigmatic smile. His hands and fingers seemed like they were holding something invisible, turning it around over and over while his eyebrows were raised.

Yu Hao looked at his boyfriend sitting on the ground with his long legs parted, waiting upon him as he helped him change shoes, and his love meter shot up. Pink bubbles were even emitting from the top of his head.

“Do you like this pair?” Zhou Sheng asked, “What are you thinking about? Where are you looking at? Are you a Staring Crotch Cat?”

Yu Hao started blushing, “I’ll buy you a pair too? Which pair do you like?”

Zhou Sheng lowered his head to untie Yu Hao’s shoelaces and swapped out another pair for him, then said to himself, “You’ll have to ask yourself that; how would I know which pair you like to see me in?”

Yu Hao wanted to laugh, but he held it in. Zhou Sheng once again said solemnly, “Wear it when eating popsicles?”

Yu Hao just knew that Zhou Sheng was going to say this next. Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone nearby. This guy often teases him with a serious expression, which was what Yu Hao couldn’t stand the most.

“AJ’s are the best still.” Yu Hao had to admit. After he saw so many, he still thought that the pair of AJs he bought suited Zhou Sheng the best.

“Of course.” Zhou Sheng laughed.

Yu Hao was about to say something else when Xiao Yujun called.

“Yu Hao, something else appeared on my laptop, do you want to come over to take a look?” Xiao Yujun said, “I haven’t told Huang Ting yet.”

Yu Hao suddenly remembered what Zhou Sheng just said, and was instantly dumbstruck.

“There really is something!” Yu Hao said, “How did you know?”

“What happened this time?” Fu Liqun couldn’t resist shopping, and his heart ached as he paid for his new shoes. He quickly said, “More silk banners? Quick! Bring me along my babies.”

Zhou Sheng, “......”