Reverse Approach

No.3 High School field day was held on a Saturday at the end of September, and the next day was the October break.

As a sprinter, Liao Nanqing did his best to run second to last. His heart was beating fast because it was his first time to participate in the games. When he finished running, Liao Nanqing even had a slight smile on the corner of his eyes. Ge Yun squatted on the guardrail and held a bottle of unopened water in her hand. Xu Yanyan walked over and stretched out his hand: “Chubby Ge, I’m thirsty.”

“Go get it yourself if you want to drink.” Ge Yun wanted to give the water to Liao Nanqing.

Xu Yanyan snatched the bottle of water: “Drink what you have!” He blew a whistle and ran away.

Ge Yun scolded angrily: “Xu Jianjian!”

One person still responded cheerfully.

Ge Yun was really angry! With displeasure, she took a bottle of water again, pushed it into Liao Nanqing’s arms after she slowly walked back, and calmly said, “One bottle for each person in the class, here’s yours.”

Liao Nanqing was startled and asked suspiciously, “What’s wrong with you? Did Xu Yanyan piss you off again?” At that moment, a girl from the same class who had just finished the high jump competition came by and yelled that she was thirsty.

Liao Nanqing and this girl were doing duty together, so he was familiar with her. He handed her water.

In his eyes, it was just a bottle of water for the class. But in Ge Yun’s eyes, this was definitely not just a bottle of water that was distributed casually.

Ge Yun felt that she was going to be angry with Liao Nanqing and Xu Yanyan, twisted around and left, cursing as she walked: “Men are not good things!” The little good feeling that had just risen towards Liao Nanqing was instantly suppressed because of a bottle of water. Ge Yun shook his ponytail vigorously, turned around and glared at Liao Nanqing several times, the scene was full of fierce words.

“…”

Liao Nanqing, who didn’t know what he had done wrong, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and looked at the girl who was drinking water innocently.

The girl knew a little bit better than Liao Nanqing in her heart, and said awkwardly: “Then…I will give it back to you?”

She has drunk it, and Liao Nanqing definitely wouldn’t want that back again. He sat down in his seat and chatted with the classmates around him for a few minutes and then ran out of words. He was still not good at getting along with his classmates and when there were many people, he stammered a little and didn’t know what to say. Usually at such times, Liao Nanqing was used to being alone and quiet.

When others were not paying attention, he hid in the equipment room with his cell phone in his pocket.

Liao Nanqing didn’t care about the noise outside, he closed the door softly and sneaked out his phone to send a message to Su Beimo.

He asked if Su Beimo was busy, and Su Beimo replied quickly, saying no, he had just finished eating.

The call was made by Liao Nanqing. He sat in the equipment room, listening to the sound on his phone, and his heart was itchy and empty. His fingertips dug his shoes and waited silently. After a long while, it was Su Beimo who called back, and Liao Nanqing answered the phone in seconds.

Su Beimo had just returned to the office after eating at the company cafeteria and in order not to disturb his colleagues during lunch break, he hid in the pantry. Liao Nanqing, after all, was quiet when he didn’t talk, but when he started to talk, he was actually nagging, this phone call really couldn’t be hung up for a while.

When Liao Nanqing answered the phone, he told Su Beimo about the sports meeting and he also told him about going to Xu Yanyan’s house in two days with a particularly happy tone. After all, he hadn’t received any birthday invitations since he was ten years old.

He looked especially like a child who had been given candy and carried it in his palm like a treasure to show to his closest people.

The topic of their conversation always revolved around Xu Yanyan and Ge Yun, as well as those monotonous sentences that gave youthful color.

He said Xu Yanyan always gave him snacks, also said Xu Yanyan slept in class and was lectured by the class teacher. He also said that Ge Yun also had learned to be lazy. He talked to Su Beimo about everything, not wanting to leave anything behind.

Any trivial, small thing, was extremely new to Liao Nanqing, and he wanted to share it with Su Beimo.

Listening to his happy tone, Su Beimo somehow felt something. On the other end of the phone was Liao Nanqing, who was gradually connecting with the normal world and entering the youthful student age. With new friends, Liao Nanqing’s world was no longer lonely, and Su Beimo could hear the changes in Liao Nanqing.

He was getting better and better, as he expected.

The sense of loss inexplicably overflowed on the heart, indescribably sour. Not because Liao Nanqing had become better, but because he might soon leave his sight. Su Beimo was happy for him, but reluctant to part with him.

But Su Beimo didn’t express it. Instead, his tone was slow and gentle: “Have you thought about what gifts to bring? Is there enough money?”

“Ge Yun said that we both will buy a pair of sneakers for him. It is a good deal for the two of us. Xu Yanyan likes this gift. And the food in the cafeteria here is very affordable. I can save some money this month.” Liao Nanqing kicked the stilt bamboo pole lying on the ground with his toes and asked in a low voice, “Su Beimo, when is your birthday?”

“November 30, how about you?”

“I don’t love birthdays.” Liao Nanqing muttered, changing the topic with interest: “Su Beimo, why is your school so far away?”

“Actually, it’s not far.”

“But it’s far for me…” He had to take a train, he couldn’t get there by bus, and he couldn’t get there by foot.

“Then it’s far.” Su Beimo laughed in a low voice.

Liao Nanqing was coaxed by his laughter and his whole body went soft: “Tomorrow is a short holiday, I can see you again.”

“So you want to see me?” Su Beimo leaned against the window sill of the pantry, slowly inserting one hand into his trouser pocket.

“En, I really want to.”

Liao Nanqing’s straightforwardness caught Su Beimo off guard, and after a long time Su Beimo said to him: “How can you always say something sappy? It is strange and embarrassing. ”

He was startled: “Ah?”

“Ah what ah?” Su Beimo asked him back.

Liao Nanqing then became distressed, “Is there anything wrong with this?”

“En?”

“I miss you.” Liao Nanqing said. It took a while for Su Beimo to come back to his senses, “What is wrong with thinking of you?”

Three words that were straightforward and daring.

Even Liao Nanqing didn’t know that he was able to tease Su Beimo so much. Liao Nanqing was an ignorant seed, and after Su Beimo watered him, he began to recognize the person. He liked Su Beimo, but did not understand how to express it. He just instinctively did what he wanted to do, such as this sentence miss you.

Like a seed sprouting and seeing daylight for the first time.

He blurted out, from the bottom of his heart, without a word of falsehood.

Su Beimo’s face turned red uncontrollably, he didn’t even know that he was so easily moved.

The three words, almost simple and clear, hit Su Beimo’s heart and made him feel a little shy. What flashed through his mind was the scene of Liao Nanqing when he went to the station to see him off. The thin body of the young man was dazzling.

Liao Nanqing opened his mouth.

I miss you, I miss you.

…

The beating of Su Beimo’s heart was clear to the ears, gradually accelerating, stepping into a paranoid deadly cycle.

He was numbed by this strange feeling.

After hesitating, he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a colleague who suddenly came over. Liao Nanqing heard the colleague over there and Su Beimo mentioned the afternoon meeting, so he hurriedly said, “You’re busy, I’ll hang up first.”

The call was cut off instantly and the phone fell into a deep black screen, Liao Nanqing hung up faster than anyone else.

A colleague bumped Su Beimo’s arm and said with a wink, “Your target1 ah?”

Only then did Su Beimo come back to his senses.

“No.” Su Beimo poured a glass of water casually and drank it slowly, rarely trying to hide his nervousness. The light blue shirt fit snugly, and with the sleeves rolled up, he looked taller and more well-proportioned. He thought for a long time before coming up with a suitable description, “A younger brother.”

When the colleague heard that the person was not his target, the nature of the gossip was gone: “Our company finally managed to get you, a fresh meat. If they know that you have someone, those female colleagues must be sad to death.”

Su Beimo smiled and said, “Xu ge, you really know how to joke.”

“But you and your brother also contacted too diligently, calling and sending messages every day. If I didn’t know, I would have thought your brother was your target.” Xu Yuanming had always been joking and he didn’t speak seriously. “But, you can easily make your brother overly dependent on you. For boys, it’s always good to be independent, they will adapt quickly after going out of society”

The speaker had no intention, but the listener had an interest.

“He is a senior in high school, loves to ask me some questions.” Subconsciously, Su Beimo defended Liao Nanqing, the heart also noted the problem, “Indeed, boys should be a little independent.”

“Your younger brother?2 ”

“No.”

“I have a younger brother. After working, I couldn’t say a word for a week. I only contacted him if I had something to do.”

Xu Yuanming shrugged, leaned over and pressed his voice: “By the way, prepare well for the afternoon meeting. Manager Wang’s face has been stinking lately. We estimate that we will have to work overtime during the October holiday.”

“Work overtime?”

“Yes, I really want to transfer to Mr. Li’s department. Over there, they never squeeze the staff’s holiday. Hey…”

Su Beimo frowned.

Xu Yuanming looked at his loss of energy and muttered in his heart, said it was not a target but he still wanted to rush back to meet during the holiday. He comforted Su Beimo: “If you work overtime, it will pass in a blink of an eye.”

Thank to Xu Yuanming’s ‘good words’, in the afternoon meeting, Manager Wang really took gunpowder, criticized one by one, threw all their reports and work materials on the table, and announced the bad news of working overtime on a small holiday.

After the meeting, Su Beimo leaned on the office chair with a headache and let out a breath.

Xu Yuanming was still blowing the cool breeze there. He could not be bothered to listen, went to the company’s refrigerated cabinet to sweep the code and bought a bottle of iced coffee. Guessing that he wouldn’t be able to get off work until the early morning tonight, Su Beimo might as well accept it openly and arrange the work at hand earlier. He had always been optimistic about working overtime, unlike several other interns who cried out.

He hesitated for a while, and sent a message to Liao Nanqing: [I won’t come back for the holiday, I have to work overtime.] It was good to distance the overly intimate relationship between the two. He didn’t want Liao Nanqing’s new life to be turned into twists and turns because of him.

He anxiously recalled Xu Yuanming’s sentence: “For boys, it’s always good to be independent, they will adapt quickly after going out of society.”

Thinking about it again, he felt lost in his heart again.This was a strange feeling, like falling into a dark quadruple space, at a loss for words.

The phone vibrates.

Liao Nanqing replied in seconds: [Pay attention to your body. ]

This reply resembled a little old man. Su Beimo put the phone away. However, before putting it in his pocket, it vibrated again.

[Can I come to you? ]

Su Beimo almost flatly refused: [I have been working overtime, are you planning to come to our company to squat and do cleaning? ]

It took a while for him to reply.

Su Beimo had finished drinking a can of coffee, and his stomach was churning a bit.

He sent to Liao Nanqing: [Aim for progress in the October monthly exam, remember to review carefully over the holiday ]

The other side replied reluctantly: [Good. ]

对象 – object/target as in crush or someone you wanna pursue romantically, can also mean gf/bf/partner, but I’ll keep it as target

SBM answered 一个弟弟 (a younger brother) before, so maybe here XYM asking if he’s SBM younger brother, as in biological brother