A Bad Hand

Ding Ding thought being a fool was pretty nice, too.

At least at times like these, Bai Congming's mood wouldn't be affected by other people's vicious words.

Everyone said being gay was a hard road to walk, but when all the reasons were counted up, they ultimately came down to one thing: social convention.

Ding Ding didn't care, and Bai Congming didn't understand, so nothing could affect them.

But... there were still scores to settle.

"Come sit down!"

With a stern face, Ding Ding patted the stool beside him, holding a twig he had picked up in the yard.

"Hold out your hand."

Bai Congming hunched his shoulders and desperately hid both hands behind his back, leaning his upper body backward while not daring to move his legs. The whole pose looked ridiculous.

Ding Ding nearly laughed. He cleared his throat and patted the stool again.

"I said come sit down!"

"Brother Ding..." Bai Congming looked at him pleadingly. "No hitting."

Ding Ding struggled to keep his face stern, when in fact he had nearly pinched his own upper thigh raw.

But Ding Ding didn't want to let a matter of principle like this slide.

"Do you know why I'm angry?"

Bai Congming bit his lower lip. He felt he ought to know, but it was all very hazy, and he didn't know how to put it into words, so he gave a tiny shake of his head.

Ding Ding took a deep breath. "Hold out your hand!"

"Brother Ding, don't hit!"

Frightened but obedient, Bai Congming gripped his right wrist with his left hand and began a battle with himself. One hand pushed forward while the other pulled back, and he nearly fell under the stool.

Ding Ding sighed, but he didn't relent. He raised the twig high and brought it down lightly.

Ding Ding hadn't used any force, but perhaps fear of being hit had won out: almost the instant the switch landed on his palm, Bai Congming sucked in a sharp breath.

That gave Ding Ding a fright instead. He turned away and struck himself with roughly the same force.

Only after confirming that it really wasn't much did he turn back around.

He offered no words of comfort, his face still stern.

"Do you know why I hit you?"

"I know now..." Bai Congming said, covering his palm. "Little Bai's bad. Deserves it!"

"..."

If there was anyone bad in this room, it was the ferocious-looking Ding Ding.

A slap had to be followed by a sweet. Ding Ding sighed, tossed the twig aside, and opened his arms as he looked at the person still rubbing his hand in front of him.

"Come have a hug."

Bai Congming, who had barely been hit at all, felt terribly wronged. Pouting, he flung himself into Ding Ding's arms.

"Hug! Brother Ding, don't be angry!"

Anger wasn't quite the word. It was jealousy.

His boy had come before him with an arm around a blind date to provoke him. Surely no one could just laugh something like that off.

All right, it hadn't exactly been an arm around her...

As far as Ding Ding knew himself, the word "stingy" had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Whether in business or social circles, whenever people mentioned Ding Ding, they always said he didn't sweat the small stuff or fight over petty gains.

But only when he saw Bai Congming walk in arm in arm with Xie Xiao Hua just now did Ding Ding suddenly realize that it wasn't a matter of not competing or grabbing. He simply hadn't cared enough.

Once he treasured something, no one else should lay so much as a finger on it.

"Baby," Ding Ding said, holding the treasure in his arms tightly. "I'm hurting."

"It's Little Bai!" Bai Congming's voice was muffled by the tight embrace. "...Not Baby!"

"..."

I hate that you're such a clueless fool!

Ding Ding took a deep breath and decided to teach him little by little. "You should ask me why I'm hurting."

With that tight hug, Bai Congming's hand no longer hurt either. He chuckled happily and asked Ding Ding why he was hurting.

"If one day you saw me hugging someone else, would you be upset?"

"No!" Bai Congming stopped smiling. "You can't!"

Ding Ding slid his hand down Bai Congming's arm and took hold of his wrist.

"If I held someone else's hand like this, would you be upset?"

Bai Congming grew very anxious and struggled to pull out of Ding Ding's embrace. "Brother Ding!"

"All right, all right..."

Ding Ding released him, took his chin, and kissed the corner of his mouth, still refusing to drop the subject.

"If I kissed someone else like this and stopped kissing Little Bai..."

Before he could finish, Bai Congming stood up. Breathing hard, he rammed his head into Ding Ding's stomach, then buried his head against it and refused to look up.

"..."

If Ding Ding's little swipe with the switch earlier had been playing around, this blow was going for the kill.

Ding Ding twitched with pain. It felt as though his internal organs had shifted, and for a moment he couldn't even breathe.

After bending over and taking a moment to recover, Ding Ding pried the head away from his stomach, revealing a tear-streaked face.

...Oh no. I went too far.

"What are you crying for?"

Ding Ding reached out to wipe his tears, but the more he wiped, the more there were. Only when both sides of his hands were soaked did he remember to get up and fetch some tissues.

"You held hands with someone else. Do you think that upset me?"

Only now did Bai Congming truly understand why Ding Ding had been angry and why he had hit him.

So Little Bai really had been bad!

"Brother Ding..."

Bai Congming sniffled and held his right hand out in front of Ding Ding.

"This is a bad hand. I don't want it anymore! Brother Ding, don't... don't be upset!"

At last, Ding Ding smiled.

A fool might not understand what the word "love" meant, yet he could show it so fully that the last trace of Ding Ding's hesitation vanished.

"This is a good hand." Ding Ding led him to the tap and rinsed it. "Once it's clean, it's a good hand."

But Bai Congming wasn't satisfied with just rinsing it. He rubbed soap over it several times, stopping only when that spot felt smoother than everywhere else.

Only after the great wrong Ding Ding had suffered was resolved did he have time to ask what exactly had happened.

"Aunt Xiao Hua... taught me to make little circles, to sell for money."

"Little circles?" Ding Ding didn't understand. "Sell what for money? Why didn't you tell me if you needed money?"

Bai Congming took a bag from his backpack and opened it for Ding Ding to see. Inside were a few handmade pieces that looked like earrings.

The workmanship wasn't particularly fine. Flowers the size of fingernails were encased in clear gel, with thin wire threaded around the outside-the little circles Bai Congming had mentioned.

"Aunt Xiao Hua's leg is bad. She'd been hungry for a long time. I felt sorry for her, so I invited her to eat."

"..."

Ding Ding no longer had the energy to investigate whether she really had been going hungry. Now that things had come to this, she probably wouldn't show up again.

What Ding Ding cared about was something else.

"Sell what for money? Do you need money? Wasn't there enough in the piggy bank? What do you want to buy?"

Embarrassed, Bai Congming took out the Little Piggy Bank and shook it in front of Ding Ding.

"The piggy bank... is empty..."

"Ah..."

Ding Ding wasn't in the habit of saving money. He usually stuffed loose cash haphazardly into a back pocket of one pair of trousers or a pocket of some jacket, and Bai Congming had tidied it up for him many times while cleaning.

Larger sums went into his wallet. He hadn't put anything into the piggy bank lately.

Ding Ding smacked his forehead. "My fault. I haven't put your wages for this month in yet."

"Wages!" Hearing that there was more money, Bai Congming's eyebrows lifted. "Brother Ding, give it to me!"

Ding Ding pulled five hundred out of his wallet. "What does Little Bai want to buy?"

"A movie!" Bai Congming waved the money in his hand. "Go on a date!"

"..."