The mountain crumbled

It never sounded good when one man asked another to return property he had once given him.

Ding Ding spoke guiltily, taking three detours in a single sentence, trying to preserve what little dignity and pride he had left.

The man on the other end did not seem to mind, speaking calmly.

"I heard about what happened to you. I have a trip to M City scheduled in the next couple of days. We can talk in person then."

Ding Ding saw no need to meet and immediately refused.

"What are you coming for? I'm fine, I really am. It's just that lately..."

"I have work."

The man on the other end cut him off. Machinery clattered in the pauses between his words. "Why did you think I was going? For you?"

Ding Ding fell silent.

"I'll call you when I get there."

From what Ding Ding knew of him, he would hang up after that, so Ding Ding called out a couple of times to stop him.

"Don't call this phone. I... borrowed it from someone."

The man on the other end seemed taken aback. The machinery stopped, making his quiet chuckle especially clear.

"You've fallen that far?"

"..."

A little annoyed now, Ding Ding rattled off an address.

"Go here first and pick up my things, then bring them to 23 Wuxu Alley, Hongfang Street, in the west of the city. I'm there every day."

With that, Ding Ding swallowed his irritation and hung up first, then returned the phone to the owner.

Hearing his own address, Bai Congming looked up, but obediently refrained from asking questions and lowered his head to keep eating his noodles.

Ding Ding squeezed his lungs as though venting his frustration, determined to expel every bit of air he had held inside.

After that feeble release, Ding Ding picked up the scissors and cut the cold noodles in Bai Congming's bowl, which were too long and tough for him to bite through. He lowered his head and reminded him.

"Eat slowly."

Bai Congming smiled, his eyes curving, and Ding Ding felt much more at ease again.

On the way home, Ding Ding stopped at a small supermarket to buy kitchenware. Seeing Bai Congming's gaze settle on a potted cactus, he picked it up without thinking.

"Want this?"

Bai Congming shook his head. "No."

Despite his words, his eyes plainly said he wanted it. Ding Ding watched him without speaking until Bai Congming mumbled.

"Don't spend money..."

Ding Ding raised one eyebrow. "Why didn't you mention spending money when we were eating?"

"Brother Ding is broken!" Bai Congming looked very serious, his arm supporting Ding Ding steadily. "Broken means you have to eat!"

"...It's called hurt."

So Bai Congming corrected himself. "Hurt means you have to eat!"

Ding Ding truly did not know what to say. He asked again, "Do you like it?"

"No!"

As though afraid Ding Ding would buy it, Bai Congming answered quickly. "Lots of them. Don't like it."

Ding Ding gave him that serious look again, until he felt uneasy and did not dare look back.

"A little... like it a little," Bai Congming added.

Ding Ding sighed inwardly, unable to understand where this supreme, invincible, unparalleled fool had come from.

Who refused to spend their own money, saving it for someone else to spend instead?

Ding Ding put the little pot of cactus in the basket. "Well, I like it."

Bai Congming never questioned him. He nodded and supported Ding Ding as they continued forward, only glancing at the cactus now and then, delight showing in his eyes and brows.

Leaving the supermarket, Bai Congming carried the heavy bag in one hand and supported Ding Ding with the other, slowing their pace even further.

Ding Ding's injured foot hurt a little, so he told Bai Congming to take the bag home first and come back for him afterward.

Bai Congming refused. Of course they should go home together.

As they stood at an impasse, Ding Ding finally remembered that Bai Congming was actually very stubborn.

Once he set his mind on something, whether a person or an object, he would not stop until he got what he wanted.

"At this rate, it'll be daylight by the time we get home!"

Bai Congming seemed a little angry, his brow tightly furrowed, his lips pressed together in silence.

When being firm failed, Ding Ding tried being gentle. "My foot hurts. Did you forget that huge wound?"

"Mm!"

Bai Congming made a strange sound and hurriedly crouched down, trying to lift Ding Ding's trouser leg to check the injury.

Ding Ding braced himself against the wall and backed away. "Stop looking. Just listen to me. Go home and put the things down, then come back for me. Unless it's too much trouble and you don't want to come back... That's fine too. I'll rest a while and hop home myself."

"I'll come back!" Once Bai Congming crouched down, he seemed to have no intention of getting up. He turned his back to Ding Ding. "I'll carry you. Go home together."

"Carry me?!" Ding Ding was startled. "I don't want you carrying me. Get up!"

Still crouching, Bai Congming shuffled backward a little and repeated, "Carry you."

They reached a new impasse. Ding Ding refused to climb onto his back, and Bai Congming refused to stand.

Passersby kept glancing at them, unable to work out what the two of them were doing.

Ding Ding sighed and reluctantly leaned onto Bai Congming's back.

Bai Congming was very thin, yet his slight back lifted Ding Ding steadily, his hands clasped beneath Ding Ding's knees still carrying the heavy bag.

It seemed he could gladly bear every burden piled upon him, without even letting his steps grow heavy.

But when Ding Ding turned his head, he clearly saw the sweat at Bai Congming's temple.

"Are you tired?"

Bai Congming panted heavily. "No!"

As if, Ding Ding silently added.

The road suddenly grew very long, as though they could never reach its end.

As if.

Ding Ding remembered clearly that they had needed to turn three corners before, but today it seemed they had turned only one. In any case, when their doorway appeared, Ding Ding did not quite register it.

Bai Congming gently put Ding Ding down, then crouched and blew softly on the wound on his foot.

Ding Ding dodged again, unused to this position. "What are you doing?"

"Blow... no pain..."

"That's just something people tell children," Ding Ding said with a smile, pulling him up. "Only you would believe it."

A palm pressed firmly onto the top of Ding Ding's head.

"Little boy, no pain!"

"..."

After all the running around that day, Bai Congming was actually very sleepy, but he still changed the dressing on Ding Ding's foot first, then listened outside the bathroom until Ding Ding finished showering before hurriedly washing up himself.

In fact, Bai Congming had wanted to wash him. A patient ought to receive attentive care, especially Brother Ding.

But Brother Ding would not let him, so he could only watch from the side.

Now he could not even watch. Brother Ding had hung a curtain across the doorway to block his view, leaving him only able to listen.

Listening is fine too, Bai Congming thought. As long as he doesn't fall, everything is fine.

"..."

Watching Bai Congming fall asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, Ding Ding suddenly felt that he was a mountain.

Other mountains held countless rare treasures, birds, and beasts, while his mountain held nothing at all. Even the most ordinary birds, fish, and insects gave it a wide berth.

The great mountain crumbled, rocks strewn everywhere, and overnight, all of it came down upon a man named Bai Congming.