Do You Remember My Name? Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Feng Fei pulled up the curtains and asked Hai Xiu, "Pajamas? Do you want to change with mine?"

Hai Xiu was very embarra.s.sed to sleep naked, but wearing the clothes he wore outside to go to bed was not good either. He hesitated first before whispering: "That…… Okay."

Feng Fei smiled. He opened his closet to find his own pajamas, his heart was moved a bit. He turned around to randomly say: "I seemed to have left my pajamas in my brother's house……I went to his house last week, to stay for several days."

He did not wait for Hai Xiu to speak and said: "I'll find something else for you."

Feng Fei closed the cupboard and opened another one, he took out his cotton linen shirt and cotton shorts, got up and handed it to Hai Xiu. "Wear these. It's the same as pajamas."

Hai Xiu did not feel anything strange, he turned around to change his clothes. Feng Fei's shirt was too big on him, he rolled up the cuff to his arm and said: "Thank…… Thank you. You’re also going to rest in this room?"

"You want to take an afternoon nap, can’t I rest as well?" Feng Fei took out a new pillow for Hai Xiu. "I want to rest. I'll also lie down for a while."

Hai Xiu had some hesitation, he actually did not have this kind of habit after lunch break. He was usually reading in the cla.s.sroom at noon and had been long accustomed to it. If he lied down, he might not be able to fall asleep, but the words had been said so he needed to do it. And so, Hai Xiu lied down then blinked, "You……"

Feng Fei was sitting on the other side of the bed and was leaning back on the headboard while holding a magazine. "You go to sleep. I won’t disturb you."

Hai Xiu obediently closed his eyes, Feng Fei put down the magazine and looked at him for a while then back to the magazine: "What do you feel?"

Hai Xiu opened his eyes and dazedly said: "What…feel?"

"Nothing." Feng Fei didn't look as he said: "I'm just afraid that you ate a food here that you’re not accustomed to. If you're not feeling well, just tell me."

Hai Xiu breathed out a sigh of relief. He felt embarra.s.sed to say to Feng Fei that sitting next to Feng Fei didn’t make him feel uncomfortable, but very comfortable.

He was really feeling at ease.

Hai Xiu closed his eyes again. He didn’t feel a least bit of sleepiness, but listening to the sound of a page turning, the sound of breathing, the smell of the quilt and the faint fragrance of soap on Feng Fei's clothes, made him unconsciously fell asleep.

Feng Fei lightly put down the magazine and slowly got off of the bed. He went around to the other side, slightly bent over and placed his hand on Hai Xiu's forehead…… the temperature was normal.

Then he put his hand on Hai Xiu's pulse…… the heartbeat was also normal.

Hai Xiu's breathing was steady and he was sleeping well.

Feng Fei was relieved. He looked down at Hai Xiu who was wearing his own shirt and was suddenly lost in thought.

Back then, he had seen his sister-in-law wearing his brother's shirt.

He was just a junior high school back then and living in the school's dormitory. His parents had been away from home and his brother would always secretly brought his girlfriend to the house. That time, he went back to the house to get something.

Feng Fei saw his eldest brother's girlfriend, now a sister-in-law, wearing his brother's shirt, sitting on the sofa and reading. While his brother helped her ironing her clothes.

At that time, Feng Fei thought that once he got a girlfriend, he would also spoil her. That he wouldn’t let her do the work and let her wear his own clothes. They would have fun and be happy everyday.

Feng Fei stared at Hai Xiu with a smile. He didn’t get a girlfriend but he would let Hai Xiu seize it first.

Feng Fei went back to the other side and sat down, absentmindedly reading the magazine.

Hai Xiu slept for two hours.

Seeing Hai Xiu's sleepy face, Feng Fei laughed in spite of trying not to: "You didn't sleep last night?"

Hai Xiu had no reaction at all, instead he looked around dazedly then gawked for several seconds before reacting. He forgot that he was in Feng Fei's house!

Feng Fei handed him his clothes and said: "Get dress first."

Hai Xiu looked at the time then hurriedly changed his clothes, Feng Fei smiled: "Is it so comfortable to sleep on my bed?"

He blushed at Feng Fei's teasing. "Come on… it's four o'clock. Say…we need to prepare the stuffs for barbecue."

"Not bad. Apart from sleeping is also eating." Feng Fei took his wool coat and gave it to Hai Xiu. "Your clothes are too thin. We have to go to the yard. Put this on."

After wearing the coat, Feng Feng brought Hai Xiu downstairs.

"There is an electric one at home, but I feel like this thing…have to be grilled in an open fire for it to taste good." Feng Fei rolled up the sleeves and started preparing the smokeless charcoal. Hai Xiu was about to help putting the charcoal when Feng Fei stopped him and said: "Don't touch it, it's dirty. Go inside the house and get the vegetables from the crisper."

Hai Xiu did what was said. Feng Fei neatly put the smokeless charcoal, then the grill net and the roasting pan while Hai Xiu helped on washing and bringing other things.

Two boys moved out all the things that was needed. Feng Fei laid down a thick blanket on the gra.s.s, the two sat down on it and threaded the marinated meat onto the skewers.

Hai Xiu looked at the complete set of tools while enjoying putting the vegetables. "Amazing ah… all of it."

Feng Fei chuckled, "We bought it several years ago, but this is the first time to use it. They were eager to buy it, but no one is willing to grill. It was really troublesome."

"So today is the first time……"

"Yeah." Feng Fei got up to get the seasoning. "Don't gloat ah. The corners of your mouth till your ears were almost cracked."

Hai Xiu lowered his head to smile. In order for Feng Fei to entertain him, the boy was willing to trouble himself and willing to grill.

An hour later, they were done.

The bunch of skewers were arranged nicely on the plates by Hai Xiu. The auntie already made sauces earlier and put it in a few jars for Feng Fei to use.

Feng Fei put fire on the grill. He didn’t wait for it to become hot, he quickly put the skewers and brushed the sauce on it. And soon enough, a fragrance was overflowing in the yard.

At noon, Hai Xiu didn't eat much so he was now a little hungry. Feng Fei was afraid that it was too hot so he didn’t let him touch it, he was just standing and waiting on the side.

Feng Fei flipped the skewers first before looking sideways at Hai Xiu and laughing: "Really hungry?"

Hai Xiu nodded, a little miserable. Feng Fei was really accounted for conveniently working, or else, he would get pinched. Feng Fei swept his glance over him and said: "Go to the other side. It's windy and the smoke will be blown to you."

Hai Xiu obediently did what Feng Fei said and went to the other side. Feng Fei chuckled softly.

A few skewers were finally roasted, Feng Fei handed one to Hai Xiu and said: "Go there to eat. There's a lot of smoke here."

But Hai Xiu didn’t listen and stayed still next to him while blowing air on the skewers to eat. Feng Fei put down many skewers of meat on the grill then pulled Hai Xiu to sit down on the blanket, drink beer and eat.

"Are you feeling sick?" Feng Fei drank a half can of the beer before asking. He looked at Hai Xiu, "Do you feel like vomiting? Are your hands shaking?"

Hai Xiu was focused on eating, but he looked up when he heard Feng Fei, "You……What did you just say? I don’t feel like vomiting ah."

"Ah, it's nothing…" Feng Fei checked Hai Xiu's fingertips, making sure that the little kid was really okay. His heart felt relieved to know that Hai Xiu was not feeling sick. Sure enough, the situation was really like what the doctor had said. Feng Fei flattened the beer can and tossed it aside. "I didn’t feel good after eating lunch, I was afraid you might have eaten something bad."

Hai Xiu asked anxiously: "You're not feeling well? Why didn’t you say something?"

"It was nothing." Feng Fei smiled, "If you’re fine, then it seems there's no problem in the vegetables. It should be because I ate too fast that made my stomach uncomfortable."

Hai Xiu frowned: "And you still drink a beer? You……"

"I was not feeling well awhile ago, but I’m good now." Feng Fei got up and smiled, "Go eat, I’ll turn the skewers."

Feng Fei turned over the skewers and brushed the sauce on the meat. Hai Xiu was not a.s.sured so he followed Feng Fei and went to his side. He hesitated for a minute before saying: "Do you want to eat medicine to help you digest? You……your stomach is not feeling well, you shouldn't eat barbecue…"

"I'm okay now." Feng Fei glanced at Hai Xiu from the corner of his eye, "I noticed that recently you’re talking to me without stuttering."

Hai Xiu froze for a moment, he himself didn’t even notice anything. He looked at Feng Fei and said: "I, I…"

"Tsk. I shouldn’t have said something about that, now you started stuttering again."

Hai Xiu couldn’t help laughing and recalled that he was really a lot better recently. He was still receiving and giving works from Ni Mei Lin, and Feng Fei would help him when he couldn’t find someone. And because of that, he could now communicate normally with some of his cla.s.smates.

Hai Xiu was really grateful: "All thanks to you…"

Feng Fei's mouth twitched, he didn’t want to take all the credits so he stammered: "There's… Teacher Ni as well……"

He turned around to continue what he was doing, and suddenly felt that he didn’t know what to say anymore.

After eating a few sticks of meat, Hai Xiu helped Feng Fei by putting the vegetables on the roasting pan. They saved a lot of time by working on both sides. Feng Fei grilled a few fish and crabs as well, it was a sumptuous dinner.

After grilling, Feng Fei twisted open a bottle of mineral water and poured it on the charcoals. Hai Xiu suddenly stopped him and said: "You… You can't use them again next time……"

"I don’t know what year is next time." Feng Fei poured down the rest of the water, "All poured out. Go eat, auntie will come here tomorrow to clean everything."

Two boys were sitting on the blanket, chatting while eating. Because Feng Fei started talking about his brother, he sighed: "My brother is eight years older than me. His punch was more ruthless than my father, not the kind of a guy you really want to grow up with. I still remember that time, he was still in junior high school."

After eating some more, they finally got up. Feng Fei was too lazy to tidy up so he pulled Hai Xiu back inside the house.

Back inside the house, they saw that Hai Xiu had also prepared fruits and they forgot about it. Feng Fei couldn’t bear to throw it but they already ate a lot. In the end, they forced to stuff some fruits in their stomach.

Feng Fei actually planned to bring Hai Xiu to stroll around the house once they finished eating dinner, but now that they were so full and he couldn’t do anything, they could only walk inside the house.

Two people was lying on the couch and resting. After some time, Feng Fei went upstairs to get Hai Xiu's homeworks. He sat on the floor and copied the homework while Hai Xiu was sitting on the sofa, reading the magazine Feng Fei was reading this afternoon. Two people had their own things to do, not bothering each other.

"Tsk…" Feng Fei sighed, "Really dirty."

"Ah?" Hai Xiu raised his head from the magazine, "What? What?"

"Look at this question. Tóngjū Chánggān lǐ1, the next verse is…… Look at how Li Bai wrote this…" Feng Fei held the papers and read it, "Cohabitation in a long dry years."

Feng Fei looked at Hai Xiu and raised his eyebrow, he ridiculed lightly: "He wrote this kind of thing?"

Hai Xiu's face turned red, he quickly said: "It's Changgan(gān)! What…What are you reading?"

"«Long Dry(gàn) Ballad» ah." Feng Fei thought that it was obscene, "So they were doing it since they were young…"

Hai Xiu almost collapsed: "Chang…… Changgan as in the geographic name! We lived together in Changgan, two youngsters without dislike or suspicion! The innocence of childhood was written there!"

Feng Fei's face was stiff as he let out an: "Oh." Then he lowered his head to continue what he was doing, while Hai Xiu continued reading the magazine with a red face.

After copying for half an hour, Feng Fei asked with a doubt: "What do you mean innocence of childhood if they were living together?"

Hai Xiu's face flushed again. He whispered: "They grew up together in Changgan, never having an enmity."

Feng Fei finished copying the homework. He put the cap on the pen, got up and stood before Hai Xiu. He bent over, two hands were on Hai Xiu's side. Then he looked down and smiled: "I'm 17 this year, you’re 16. Let's start living together now. Is it considered innocent?"

We lived together in Changgan – 同居長干里
同居 – Together live, cohabitation
長 – Chang(was an ancient city in north-central china), long
干 – Gan(group of Chinese varieties spoken as the native language by many people in the Jiangxi province of China), dry
里 – in
In this case, it’s most likely We lived together in Changgan since its from 'Ballad of Changgan', by the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai.
Fun fact: the pinyin for 同居長干里 (Tóngjū Chánggān lǐ) sounds almost identical to Cohabitation in a long dry years (Tóngjū chǎnggàn lǐ)
Seriously, Chinese language, why so complicated?! ↩