"Let's explore the mall floor by floor. I want to buy something," Lin Feiran said as he resourcefully pondered on how he could b.u.t.ter up Gu Kaifeng. He needed a way to make his request to stay over at his place for the weekend feel less abrupt.
The two people wandered around the mall, pa.s.sing one display window after another. As Lin Feiran walked and walked, he tried to think of what small gift he could buy Gu Kaifeng that would open the door for his request. He needed a gift that would be too embarra.s.sing for Gu Kaifeng to refuse. However, even after looking at this and that, he still didn't know what to buy. The school was very strict and checked their clothes thoroughly, from the uniform jacket to the shirt beneath and the student's trousers – all must belong to the school uniform. You could only pick out your own shoes, but Gu Kaifeng already had many. As for gifts like belts, lighters, cologne, or razors, these were not appropriate gifts for one student to give to another…
Deep in thought, Lin Feiran's gaze was suddenly drawn to a small store with an exquisite facade. It looked like a high-end stationery shop. Judging from the interior decor you could tell that the things sold inside would not be cheap.
Giving stationery is definitely not inappropriate, just need to pick one with the right price. A lightbulb went on in Lin Feiran's head and he pulled Gu Kaifeng into the store. They stopped before a row of dip pens imported from j.a.pan. This kind of dip pen was made of gla.s.s and had a very slender body with a spiral for a nib. Each pen had different vibrant or elegant colors worked into the gorgeous gla.s.s. The pens shone brilliantly under the light above the display cabinet. The prices of the pens varied from hundreds to thousands of yuan. They wrote similarly to fountain pens but were much better looking, making them a good present to give someone.
"Does this one look good?" Lin Feiran picked up a dip pen that had a white feathery pattern twining all throughout its gla.s.s body.
"Pretty good," Gu Kaifeng nodded. "Do you want to practice your handwriting?"
"No, no matter how much I practice my handwriting will always be bad." Lin Feiran was a little embarra.s.sed and he timidly averted his eyes. His voice got smaller and smaller as he continued, "I wanted to give this to you…"
Gu Kaifeng took the sample pen without batting an eyelid and said, "Then just get this one."
Lin Feiran sighed softly in relief, thinking that it was good Gu Kaifeng didn't bother to ask him why he suddenly wanted to give him a gift. With that, he quickly walked to the other side of the display cabinet and raised his hand to beckon Gu Kaifeng, "They also have colored ink over here, what color do you like?"
Gu Kaifeng took the sample dip pen with him as he followed Lin Feiran and countered, "Which one do you like?"
Lin Feiran's pointed up with his finger to a colorful name tag and said without thinking, "A street full of blooming cherry blossoms…"
Right after she finished serving another customer, the salesperson quickly came over and handed them a notebook with which to try the pen. She unscrewed the sample bottle of colored ink that Lin Feiran had pointed to and enthusiastically said, "Do you like this color? You can try it out here."
Gu Kaifeng put the notebook on the counter and dipped the pen in the pink ink. He raised his eyebrows as he said, "This color is very suitable for writing love letters."
Then, Gu Kaifeng wrote seven big and beautiful words on the top-left corner of the page —— "To The Little Sticky Cake Lin Feiran".
Lin Feiran's ears burned and he hurriedly said, "What are you doing writing about me…"
"Then I'll write about myself." Gu Kaifeng readily followed Lin Feiran's advice and wrote four big words on the bottom-right corner of the page, the usual place for the sender —— "Your deskmate Gu Kaifeng".
It really looked like he was writing a love letter to Lin Feiran…
Lin Feiran protested, "Hey!"
Gu Kaifeng tore out the page and gave it to Lin Feiran, "A love letter for you."
Lin Feiran blushed and cursed, "You're crazy ah!"
After cursing out Gu Kaifeng, Lin Feiran stared for a moment at the eleven beautiful words on the page. With a fuming face, he folded the paper several times and shoved it into the side pocket of his bag.
The characters were written so beautifully that he was loathe to ruin them by throwing the page away!
The salesperson looked at Lin Feiran, then looked at Gu Kaifeng, and though she pursed her lips she couldn't help but laugh.
"I want this color ink and this pen." Gu Kaifeng smiled back at the young salesperson and said, "Could I trouble you to bring me new ones, please?"
"Okay, please wait a moment." The salesperson turned around and left.
Lin Feiran looked around uneasily, his eyes sweeping from the ceiling to the floor as he said, "I picked that color at random, you can pick another. No matter how I think about it, a man using pink ink is very very gay…"
The corners of Gu Kaifeng's lips raised as he laughed, "I just want to be very very gay."
Lin Feiran was shocked and remained speechless for a while.
After wrapping the new pen and ink nicely, the salesperson led them to the checkout counter. Lin Feiran took his wallet out from his bag. While he was counting out bills to pay, Gu Kaifeng was already a step ahead of him and had paid the full amount.
"Didn't I say that I was buying that for you?" Lin Feiran said urgently.
Are you not going to let me make a good impression!?
"In my heart, you gave this to me." Gu Kaifeng took his change and shoved it into his pocket, picked up the fancy bag that held the dip pen and ink bottle, and said, "Let's go, when we get back I'll write you a letter."
After speaking, Gu Kaifeng strode out of the stationery store leaving Lin Feiran to run to keep up with him. Unwilling to let the matter go, Lin Feiran complained, "I clearly told you I'd be paying before you bought it…"
Gu Kaifeng turned around suddenly. Lin Feiran almost couldn't  stop himself from crashing straight into Gu Kaifeng's embrace. Gu Kaifeng stretched out his arm and scratched the tip of Lin Feiran's nose. He smiled and said, "Listen. I haven't given you anything, how could I let you buy me a gift first? Listen."
Lin Feiran was stupefied. He thought that something wasn't quite right about what Gu Kaifeng said. Between friends, it shouldn't matter who gave something to whom first. Gu Kaifeng's words seemed more appropriate in the context of a boyfriend and girlfriend's relationship. Lin Feiran thought again about the fake love letter inside his bag and his mind became a little disordered.
Lin Feiran was dazed for a while. Suddenly, Gu Kaifeng leaned over slightly, coming in close to Lin Feiran's ear, and asked in a soft voice, "Do you still remember that dream?"
Lin Feiran: "……" Gu Kaifeng continued with a smile that was yet not a smile: "The dream about ghosts disco-dancing on their own graves."
Lin Feiran stared at him resentfully.
Gu Kaifeng asked in a flirtatious voice, "Still scared?"
Yes ah! I'm scared to death! Why do you have to remind me! Though Lin Feiran was terrified inside, he snorted disdainfully and said, "How could I be?"
Gu Kaifeng was unperturbed as he stated, "If you're not scared, good."
The two people took several steps side-by-side before Lin Feiran pulled on Gu Kaifeng's sleeve and asked, "Are your parents home today?"
Gu Kaifeng shook his head. "I just sent a text message to my mom; they have to entertain clients at a hot springs resort. They can't come home today and tomorrow they're unlikely to as well."
Lin Feiran was so excited he almost jumped for joy. With an ulterior motive, he asked, "That villa of yours, how many bedrooms does it have?"
Gu Kaifeng replied, "Five."
Lin Feiran awkwardly said, "So many."
Gu Kaifeng almost laughed. He thought it was amusing that Lin Feiran clearly wanted to stay over but kept beating around the bush. He couldn't help but want to tease him more, so he quickly put on a neutral expression and said indifferently, "Yeah."
Lin Feiran felt embarra.s.sed and went silent for a moment. Then, he forced himself to press forward and ask, "The bed in your bedroom, is it a double bed?"
"No." Gu Kaifeng shook his head, paused, then said, "It's a three-person bed."
Lin Feiran faintly said, "…That's very big."
Isn't it already obvious by now, why can't this a.s.shole just invite me over!?
Gu Kaifeng stretched out his arm and wrapped it around Lin Feiran's waist before quickly releasing him, saying, "It's quite big. You're so slim, if you slept there, several of you could fit."
Lin Feiran's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"
Gu Kaifeng's black eyes carried a clearly amused expression as he looked over at Lin Feiran and said, "Do you want to come over to my house?"
Lin Feiran was overjoyed but he forced himself to suppress his smile as he calmly replied, "Sure ah, if I go back home I'll be alone anyway."
Although his tone was very calm, his eyes were shining brightly like pearls! He looked as if he was itching to eat Gu Kaifeng!
"Be good." Gu Kaifeng rubbed Lin Feiran's head and pointed to an arcade that was not too far away. "Let's play for a while before going back?"
"Okay!" Lin Feiran's heart felt as if it had been freed from a heavy burden. Feeling very relieved, he flew like a little bird to buy arcade tokens!
The two played shooting and car racing games for a while. After being completely annihilated, Lin Feiran, with ill intentions, dragged Gu Kaifeng to a music game machine. Selecting the highest difficulty, he relied on his level 10 piano-playing skills as he quickly moved his hands across the console to make a tyrannical comeback. Gu Kaifeng was beaten very badly but he was very happy all the same. Looking at Lin Feiran's small, proud figure with his chin held up high really made Gu Kaifeng want to use all his power to hug Lin Feiran and nibble at him a little.
At last, their remaining tokens were all used up. Gu Kaifeng called a taxi through an app on his phone and the two left the mall. After getting in the taxi, the car quickly drove in the direction of Nanshan Street.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Gu Kaifeng's house.
Gu Kaifeng opened the door. Sure enough, n.o.body was home. Accompanied by the sound of happy footsteps, a little dog rushed to Gu Kaifeng with a joyful shake of its head and tail wagging at full speed. The dog was small and cute and had a beautiful bow tied to its golden fur. It was a little Yorkshire terrier.
Yorkies are a very affectionate breed and since the two came home, it wouldn't stop pouncing on Gu Kaifeng's calf. Gu Kaifeng had to use one hand to hug the dog as he took out a pair of slippers for Lin Feiran with the other.
"How amusing, it has little braids." Lin Feiran really liked small animals. He reached out and lightly tweaked the Yorkie's pink bow, asking, "Is it female?"
Gu Kaifeng said, "Male."
The dog gave a charming bark.
Lin Feiran silently put his slippers on: "……"
I have to say, why is it that even the dog at your house seems very gay?
"His name is Xia Xia." Gu Kaifeng kissed the Yorkie's forehead then pointed at Lin Feiran, "This is your Saozi."
Lin Feiran was confused, "How did I become his Saozi?"
Gu Kaifeng grinned, "The dog and I have the same birthday, July 16th. He's younger than me by thirteen years. Mom said that because we have the same birthday, she will also call him her son. Every year, my birthday cake includes a portion for him.
Lin Feiran's interest was piqued, but he didn't dare to look at Gu Kaifeng. He picked up a dog toy from the floor and bent over to play with the dog while he mockingly called out, "Ai, Gu Kaifeng's brother."
Gu Kaifeng asked out of the blue, "Do you know my horoscope?"
Never having been interested in horoscopes, the little straight guy shook his head and guessed, "No, is it Virgo?"
Gu Kaifeng said, "No, it's Cancer."
Lin Feiran replied disinterestedly, "Oh."
Gu Kaifeng lowered his eyes to look at the nape of Lin Feiran's fair neck and said with a smile, "Cancer men look after their family and dote on their wives."
Gu Kaifeng's tender and deep voice entered Lin Feiran's ears, making his heart stir with an indescribable bashfulness. He uneasily tossed the dog toy around, throwing it back and forth between his hands. After playing for a while, he replied, "That's very good ah, in the future whoever marries you will be blessed."