The courtyard they came to play in was similar to He Nuo’s single-storey house. It’s just that the student’s family who owns this place had already moved to another building, so this house was currently vacant. Thus, its window’s gaps weren’t sealed during winter1. There were only the two of them in this room, so it wasn’t as warm as in the main room where there were a lot of people. He Nuo immediately felt the gust of cold air that poured in through the window gaps and couldn’t help but shrink his neck back. Shi Yan saw this, so he pulled his overcoat up and wrapped it around He Nuo even more tightly, “Cold?”

“It’s still okay, I think wind is leaking in through the windows.”

“Sit over here.” Shi Yan exchanged positions with him so that he was the one who sat nearer to the windows, “If it’s cold why did you go out just now?” Shi Yan saw him hold the mutton skewers, so he knew that He Nuo had went to the courtyard.

“I wanted to see how they barbeque things. They kept stealing bites here and there, w.a.n.g Feng and the rest didn’t get any when they rushed out and now they don’t even bother trying to fight for it anymore.” He Nuo smiled as he told Shi Yan, “If you go now, you’ll be able to eat some.”

“I’m not eating that, how nice can their barbequed meat be?” Shi Yan said with disdain, but since He Nuo mentioned it, he actually felt hungry now, “Are you hungry too? I even asked you to eat more during dinner but you didn’t, and now you’re actually eating their food.”

“I ate so much, how could I be hungry now? Are you hungry? I’ll get an apple for you.” When He Nuo heard Shi Yan ask ‘are you hungry too’ he guessed that Shi Yan was the one who was hungry.

“Sit down, who asked you to move? I’ll go get it myself.” Shi Yan walked to the door, but returned to the bed again and threw a mask at He Nuo, “Wear it. Take it off when I come back in, or else our grand master will get sick again with the opening and closing of doors.”

Shi Yan came back with two other girls. The three of them all sat on the bed, so it suddenly seemed a bit cramped. He Nuo felt especially uneasy. Actually, Shi Yan had been even closer to him before this; like when they sat together on his bed during the summer holidays, or during the one and only time they played together in the snow — he had all kinds of physical contact with Shi Yan before but none of those times felt as awkward as it did now.

The three of them had brought a few apples along with them. Canned fruits and other popular food items had long since entered the stomach of the others, but luckily Shi Yan showed up so there were some people who contributed the apples they had. Shi Yan picked up some apples to select which one to eat, “Which one do you like to eat? Red delicious apples or golden delicious apples?”

“Any. I’m not hungry, let them eat it.” He Nuo couldn’t tell which one was nice, the concept was alien to him.

Shi Yan took one red and one golden apple, then pushed the rest towards the girls. He used his handkerchief to wipe the red delicious apple before he pa.s.sed it to He Nuo, yet he only used his hands to clean his own golden delicious apple before he took a huge bite. He Nuo saw how he ate the apple and realised that he’d finish his apple in just a few bites, so he pa.s.sed his own to Shi Yan, “I’ll give this to you too.”

“I asked you to eat it so just eat it, you think I like eating this? If I wasn’t hungry, I wouldn’t even have touched it. At most I’ll eat a few apples per year, so one is enough for me.”

The girl next to him leaned over and said, “If you want more, you can have mine.” Before she fed Shi Yan the apple in her hands. Shi Yan lowered his head and took a bite, then the girl continued to eat the same apple. He Nuo found it awkward so he didn’t look up at them, but he still felt a bit strange. He didn’t want to sit here anymore, so he got up, “I’ll go out to watch them play.”

“They’re all playing poker, what’s so nice to watch about that? If you want to play, we have two pairs here who can play too. Zhou Yue, go and get a set of poker cards, and open the door quickly.” Then he said to He Nuo, “Pull your clothes up.”

After Zhou Yue left, the other girl immediately leaned on Shi Yan and gave him her apple too. Shi Yan chuckled as he took a bite, and when he looked up he coincidentally met He Nuo’s eyes. He Nuo immediately avoided his gaze. His face felt like it was burning a little, and Shi Yan felt like He Nuo was unhappy for some reason so he didn’t think much before he grabbed He Nuo’s hand that was holding an apple. He brought it up to his mouth and took a huge bite. He Nuo was stunned, then looked at the apple in his hand that had a big hole now, “You,”

But Shi Yan was unbelievably pleased with himself. He looked like he felt really good for stealing a bite, “Yours tastes better than mine.”

He Nuo handed the apple in his hand over, “Here.”

But it’s not like Shi Yan wanted his apple, and He Nuo didn’t misunderstand his meaning either. It’s just that he didn’t feel like eating the apple anymore, so even if Shi Yan didn’t want it, he’d just continue holding onto it without taking another bite anyway.

Zhou Yue brought a set of poker cards in but they didn’t split into pairs to play. Long before He Nuo appeared, these two girls weren’t the only ones who were secretly plotting against each other in this room. But now that they had chased all the other girls away, they could openly fight over Shi Yan. And at this timing they won’t express any sort of reservation or modesty; both of them fought to be Shi Yan’s partner. However, not only did He Nuo not want to play, but he also didn’t want to play with these girls at all. So in the end, they somehow ended up using the poker cards to do some fortune telling instead. Zhou Yue was telling Shi Yan’s fortune for him.

He Nuo leaned at one side without much interest as he watched them shriek and laugh excitedly from time to time. They were just asking Shi Yan some questions or about what he was thinking before they opened up a card. When Zhou Yue asked him to think of a few people, she had specifically instructed him to only think of girls so Shi Yan randomly thought of a few girls’ names — and of course it included the names of the two who were in front of him. Whenever a name was linked to a card, Zhou Yue would explain the role that girl would play in his life. For the last two cards, Shi Yan first said the name of one of the girls who was next to him: Li Mengjiao, so the rest of them took it for granted that he would report the name ‘Zhou Yue’ for the last card. After Zhou Yue explained the meaning behind Li Mengjiao’s card, she didn’t even ask for a name before she shyly and happily explained that the last card represented the person Shi Yan likes.

Li Mengjiao didn’t accept that explanation of course. She kept asking who Shi Yan was thinking of during the overturning of the last card, and Shi Yan was indeed thinking about Zhou Yue but he wasn’t willing to say it out loud. So in the beginning he just laughed and said that he wouldn’t tell her. After Li Mengjiao pulled on his arm as she acted all coquettish and ‘threatened’ him, he simply overturned all the cards, “It’s not like you’ll know who she is if I told you, the two of you won’t even know who all these girls are. I’ve only been thinking about the actresses in ‘A Maid from Heaven’ from the moment we started, and the last card is none other than Zhu Bajie’s second aunt.”

He Nuo’s laugh escaped his mouth involuntarily. The two girls were completely stunned, but when they saw Shi Yan’s smiling face, they angrily pounced on him to start whacking him at the same time. Shi Yan moved quickly and hid behind He Nuo, “Okay okay, you guys didn’t make it clear just now. Now you can tell He Nuo’s fortune, He Nuo, you need to seriously consider it okay, don’t poke another hornet’s nest.”

He Nuo wasn’t going to let them tell his fortune, and he had no one to think about anyway. When he heard Shi Yan’s fortune explanations, they all just sounded senseless to him. Their focus was on Shi Yan, so it would be right up their alley if they didn’t need to tell He Nuo’s fortune for him, and it would be even better if he went out. Then the two of them could stick to Shi Yan to chat with him.

1. Author’s note: During the winter season in the north, all the gaps around the windows needed to be covered with either vinyl or paper, several layers of paper would usually be used to cover the gaps while vinyl was used to cover the windows themselves↩