Chapter 18 – Opportunity

机会
（一）One hand forms a ‘J’ (hand forms a fist, index finger sticks out & bends into a curve)
（二）Hold both hands up and gradually put them together

Yifan kept his promise and took Yixing immediately with him as soon as the paperwork was settled and Dr. Lopez and Dr. Wang had checked up on him one last time before they let him go. Yifan also kept his promise and brought Yixing and Zhenzhen to a restaurant that was said to have the best Hongshaorou in the city which made the siblings especially happy (somehow, it was the favorite dish of the whole Zhang clan).

When a big bowl of belly pork arrived at the table their faces lit up in joy. Zhenzhen grabbed Yixing’s bowl with rice and tried to pick out the best pieces for him. Yifan just frowned and kept looking for the waiter to bring the other three dishes he had ordered.

“You really don’t like that, huh?” Zhenzhen asked and gave Yixing the bowl back.

“Nah, I’m leaving this to the two of you,” Yifan answered, pushing the bowl a little farther away from him to undermine his statement.

Zhenzhen shrugged her shoulders and put an especially big pork cube into .  Yifan stuck to the ordered chicken instead and kept side eyeing Yixing who did not talk very much but seemed happy he finally got out of that hospital room. Despite the high temperature he had decided to wear a black beanie pulled over his ears so no one would notice the bandage that he still had to wear until the stitches would be coming out in a few days. Yixing was still a little beaten down by the last two days so after lunch the three finally made it home and Yixing basically stayed on the couch for the rest of the day, taken care of by Yifan and Zhenzhen. In the evening, Zhenzhen had managed to convince her brother and his boyfriend to sleep in Yixing’s bed while she’d be sleeping on the couch.

“Let’s be honest, I’m the only one who can actually stretch out on that thing,” she said matter-of-factly when Yifan protested and said it would be rude to let the guest sleep on that super uncomfortable piece of furniture.

Even though Zhenzhen and Yixing where different in almost every way, both of them were still very stubborn, so the girl won the argument and she wished the two guys a good night before she closed the door to the bedroom. Yifan still stood awkwardly in the room because he had just discussed the sleeping situation with Zhenzhen a few moments ago, while Yixing sat on the edge of his mattress, ready to call it a day. When Yifan turned away from the door he reached out his arms and Yifan stepped closer to throw his arms around the other one’s shoulder, while the seated one put his arms around the other one’s hips. Yixing buried his face in Yifan’s shirt and the taller one ran his fingers through his hair, carefully caressing his scalp. They stayed like this for about five minutes before Yixing looked up to Yifan who was still a little worried about the pale color of Yixing’s face.

“Let’s change that bandage and go to bed,” he said and Yixing grunted, but gave in after a rather weak protest.

Yifan knew why he didn’t want him to do this; Yixing thought the scars were pretty nasty and was afraid Yifan might be disgusted by them. He hadn’t said that directly to him, but he had told Zhenzhen who wasn’t a person who could keep shut, so when Yixing was using the bathroom, she started to blabber about how cute she thought her big brother was. The sight of the incision with all those stitches didn’t look very nice, Yifan had to be honest – but that didn’t mean he liked Yixing any less. Yixing was the type of guy to stress about all his imperfections and flaws while they meant nothing to Yifan. But he never really knew how to let the other one know. So he refrained from any comment and when he was done he just said:

“And that’s it!”

He threw the used bandages and Q-tips away and when he came back Yixing said:

“I want you to get back to university classes tomorrow.”

Yifan was thunderstruck for a minute, sat down next to him and responded:

“No, I’ll stay here and take care of you.”

“I mean it, you shouldn’t miss so many classes because of this. I don’t want you to fail.”

“Stupid, don’t worry about this. Yin Hang has promised to get through the material with me. I’ll be fine.”

“And I’ll be fine, too. Zhenzhen is here. Please, don’t make me argue with you, I’m too tired for that.”

The expression on Yixing’s face told Yifan that he really didn’t have the strength to continue to try to convince him to go. Yifan sighed and gave in.

“Okay. If this is what you want I’ll get back to classes tomorrow.”

Yixing just nodded and mouthed a ‘Thank You’ before he literally crashed into the arms of his boyfriend. Yifan sunk back into the mattress, holding tight onto Yixing and managed to tap the lightswitch to kill the lights.

It was the day after Zhenzhen had left for Changsha and the stitches had been pulled out when Yifan stood in a convenience store on campus flipping through some new hipster art magazine that was featuring a big story about a Chengdu based artist that Yixing liked very much. He and Yin Hang had met up so she could get the things over with Yifan he had missed during the time he had skipped lectures due to Yixing’s operation. His brain felt like it had transformed into applesauce and his neck hurt very much so he had been more than happy when his friend had suggested to call it a day.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Yin Hang said after she had hovered over to him from the back of the store, carrying a bottle of coconut water with her.

“Why are you even drinking this stuff, it tastes disgusting,” Yifan commented and closed the magazine.

He had decided on buying it. Yixing had been a nervous wreck over the last few days and anything that could get his mind off his implants was welcome. Sometimes Yifan’s boyfriend spent half an hour touching the small buldge behind one of his ears where the device had been placed, staring into the void and then he’d panick about it because he had imagined what could happen to him if anything wasn’t right with these little things under his skin.

“It’s healthy, and I like it, so shut up!” Yin Hang shot back and left for the counter to pay.

When both had gotten their stuff and stepped outside Yifan sighed heavily. Summer had hit Beijing mercilessly. And with it, really dry air that got mixed with thick smog invaded the city way too often and he really wasn’t up for that. He remembered that during the first weeks in China’s capital, he had invested into an air humidifier because he just wasn’t used to this sort of climate compared to the much more humid summers in Guangzhou. Needless to say the thing broke sooner or later but by that time he had managed to bear Beijing’s rough climate.

“Where are you headed to now?” Yin Hang asked her friend and sipped on her coconut water while they fought their way through a pile of students who hurried to get to their next classes.

“Yixing’s place.”

“Oh,” Yin Hang made and looked like she wanted to say something – it took her a few moments before she continued, “I’ll tag along. I’m about to meet Sehun at the Lush for some studying.”

“Studying, riiiiiiiiight.”

The girl rammed her elbow in Yifan’s ribcage.

“I’m serious! I’m sort of his language partner!”

“Language partner, riiiiiight.”

Before she could hit him one more time, Yifan quickly took a few steps aside and Yin Hang just stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh come on girl! Don’t deny that you two like each other, what’s all this fuss even about? Seriously, we’re not in Middle School anymore.”

Her answer came out under grinded teeth:

“I’m not going to date anyone who’s going to leave the country sooner or later!”

“Huh who said that?” Yifan asked and stopped in surprise.

Yin Hang turned around when she realized Yifan wasn’t following her anymore.

“Remember that guy from Japan?”

“Oh, that really small one?”

Her eye roll was validation enough that Yifan was right and she continued:

“We started dating and twelve weeks later he was back in Tokyo and I never heard of him again. Nope, sorry, that’s not going to happen another time.”

She turned around and went for a small pathway that connected the older buildings to the cafeterias and shops. Yifan followed her and when he had caught up he said:

“But… you are aware of the fact that Sehun and the others are actually completing their Bachelor’s degrees here, right? They’re exchange students, yes, but they’re enrolled as regular BA students.”

Yin Hang needed a few beats to clearly understand the message. Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

“You’re ting me Yifan.”

“No, I’m not. They’re still going to be here for the next two years at the least. I think the only time Sehun will leave for Korea will be to get a new visa so he’ll surely come back.”

Her baffled expression slowly made way for an excited one. She grabbed Yifan’s elbow as they walked to the next entrance gate and seemed to be lost in thoughts, carrying a smile on her face.

“That changes the game, huh?” Yifan asked to bring her back to reality.

She snapped back and blinked a few times before she said:

“Hmmm, yeah, sort of… but don’t think that I’m really going to date him or anything!”

When they arrived at the gate they were lucky enough to catch a bus which brought them directly to Wudaokou. Yifan knew he better not dig deeper so he stayed silent and left his friend alone with her thoughts while she occasionally nibbled on her water bottle. When they got off at the busstation and Yin Hang was about to go to the Lush, Yifan ruffled her hair, which she didn’t find very funny.

“Yifan! My hair!” she cried out.

“Get ready for your attack, tiger!”

“Screw you, I’m not attacking anyone!”

“Yeah. Riiiight. Language partners. See you around!”

If Yin Hang had said anything, Yifan hadn’t heard it as he walked over to the gate. When he opened the door, Yixing was sitting on the couch and he looked disheartened.

“What’s wrong?” Yifan asked immediately while he took off his shoes.

Yixing had watched him, then he leaned back and placed his head on the back of the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

“I’m going crazy. I want to do stuff, but I can’t.”

Yifan came closer and leaned over Yixing to make him face him.

“What do you mean?”

“Everytime I want to do something I get dizzy after five minutes or I get a headache. I wanted to clean the kitchen and had to sit down immediately. I wanted to read, but had to put the book down because I couldn’t get over the first paragraph without feeling nauseaus. I wanted to paint – but the smell of the paint alone made me want to gag.”

He sat back up while Yifan got his bagpack and sat next to him.

“I don’t know, is that normal? Do I have to worry?”

Yifan surely had no answer to that one so he shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe you should ask Zhixiang, I mean he went through that.”

“I don’t want to bother him all the time.”

“He explicitly told you to send him a message if you’ve got any questions.”

Zhixiang had come over two days ago and had been able to calm Yixing down a little about all the headaches. He had experienced the exact same things, so all the side effects seemed to be nothing to worry about. When he had left, Zhixiang had told them to immediately call him if Yixing had any more problems with his implant. Zhixiang was a very playful character that cracked a lot of jokes but he had been very serious in that moment, so  Yifan believed that Zhixiang would be more than happy to help Yixing out another time.

Yixing sighed and promised to ask him later in the evening. Then he asked how Yifan’s study session with Yin Hang had gone.

“Pretty good. I brought you something,” Yifan answered while he looked for the magazine in his bag, “Maybe it’ll cheer you up a little.”

When he pulled it out and Yixing saw the cover his face really lit up in joy and he showed his adorable dimpled smile that Yifan had grown to love so much.

“Where did you get that?”

He took the magazine into his hands and looked at the cover with an artist who called herself Qing Qing, a woman in her thirties that had been around the artscene for quite some time now.

“Stumbled over it in a convenience store. I thought you might like it.”

“I love it!”

The magazine was of high quality, with glossy pages and a lot of pictures that somehow looked extremely artsy even though sometimes the photographer had just captured a pink orchid in front of a white wall. Yifan would never understand this kind of art. He would never understand art in general, to be honest. Yixing flipped through the pages and stopped at the ten pages cover story about one of his all time favorites. He looked at the first page, squinted his eyes and then sighed.

“Why are the characters so small?”

“Come on, I’ll read it for you.”

Yixing hesitated but then let Yifan read aloud what the author of the feature had to say about Qing Qing. He hung on his lips, sometimes he asked Yifan to read one sentence again, sometimes he had to translate into CSL when Yixing didn’t quite catch what he had just read. The first two pages were a report about her recent artwork and projects, and Yifan had to admit he had no idea what this woman was up to. Yixing didn’t seem to mind though, and as long as he smiled Yifan was ready to read another eight pages of utter nonsense about the futile fight against the ephemerality of being and how Qing Qing tried to put her point of view into her paintings and sculptures. The next pages were an interview about her plans to move from Chengdu to Beijing where she wanted to open up a studio and an art gallery. The news made Yixing squeal.

“Okay, so, let’s go to the next question,” Yifan said and after the first five questions where Yifan himself hadn’t understand one single word of the conversation, “You always emphasize on how important it is to support new emerging artists in the scene. Are there currently any newcomers in your opinion that we should have an eye on?”

Yifan was a very bad reader, so Yixing always had to wait until Yifan had read a paragraph before he could go on and read it aloud without messing up. And what Yifan read made him gasp in shock.

“What is it?” Yixing demanded to know when Yifan was still staring at the words as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

Yifan didn’t know how to explain so he said:

“Don’t freak out when I read it, okay?”

“What the ?”

He ignored his boyfriend’s swearing, sat up in a straighter seating position and started to read, slower than before so Yixing would get every single word:

“There is a huge fuss about a young artist from Shanghai, and I think he’s a very promising character, although his artwork isn’t very much to my liking. His works lack creativity and heart and I think he pushes too hard for success when success is something that does not come when you want it at all costs in my opinion. I am in constant search of new things and people and inspiration so I often end up on microblogs of artists that I think would have a chance in becoming well known but they often disappear in the void and it’s a pity. Just a few weeks back I discovered the paintings of a young man from Beijing who sold some of his works online on Taobao. I fell in love with all those pieces but I only purchased one and that’s hanging in my living room now and it’s just marvellous. The work itself is very fine and I believe I have never seen a more magnificent use of colors than in this painting. When I turn on the lights in the room in the evening, it’s like the painting comes to life. I’m not exaggerating. I’m dead serious. I spent the first few days just staring at it, discovering more and more details the longer I looked at it. And I’m kind of furious I only know his name and there’s no way to see more of this man’s amazing artwork. His name is Zhang Yixing. Keep an eye on him. Maybe if a lot of people demand more of his paintings on this little online store, we’ll have a chance to see more of him. I really don’t want this one to disappear in the void of unsuccessfull stories that has swallowed up too much gems already.”

Yifan put the magazine down and looked at Yixing whose expression had frozen in shock. All the color in his face had disappeared and Yifan was sure he did not even breathe for a few seconds.

“Don’t play me like this, Wu Yifan!”

“I’m not!! Read for yourself!”

Yixing grabbed the magazine and read the passage for himself. When he had finished, the magazine sunk down on his lap and he turned to Yifan. His jaw had dropped open in disbelief.

“That’s a joke, right?” he whispered, making it really hard for Yifan to understand him.

Instead of giving Yixing an answer, Yifan grabbed his phone.

“We need to tell Yin Hang, she needs to see this.”

Yixing went back to reading over that part in the interview again and just shook his head, eyes glued to the characters as if blinking meant they’d disappear.

“What do you want now?” Yin Hang greeted him and Yifan heard Sehun chuckle in the background.

“You need to come over, now!”

“The hell… I’m kind of in the middle of something here?”

“Don’t tell me you’re already making out with him.”

Yin Hang grunted and then explained:

“Noooo, but Sehun’s got to hold a speech in two days and he has… zero sentences. So that’s kind of important now.”

“That’s not true, I’ve got ‘Hello everyone!’” Sehun protested and Yin Hang shot something back that sounded like “For the last time, this does NOT count in to the 100 you have to do!” – Yifan tried to get her attention back:

“But Yin Hang something really BIG happened you need to see that.”

“What, is Yixing pregnant and do you need female advice?”

The Korean next to her snorted and Yifan rolled his eyes, knowing she wouldn’t see it.

“No. But I’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Okay, so if it’s not Yixing’s possible pregnancy, what is more important than Sehun’s speech?”

“Right, what’s more important than me, Yifan?” Sehun blurted into the phone.

“Can you turn that thing next to you off, Yin Hang?”

“No, you’re telling me what’s so important.”

Yifan shot Yixing a look who still seemed to be in the process of understanding what just happened because he had put the magazine on the table and supported his face with his arms which rested on his knees.

“Let’s say it’s got something to with your bet.”

“Huh?!”

Yin Hang demanded to get informed on everything, but Yifan knew he had her on his hook so he just told her to come over and she’ll know. It took her another minute to finally give in and she said she’d be there in five minutes. When her and Sehun entered the apartment, she asked:

“So? I’m here, what’s wrong?”

“Yeah I still kind of need to prepare this speech.”

Yifan took the magazine and gave it to Yin Hang.

“What’s that?”

“Read the sixth question.”

The girl rolled her eyes in annoyance but started to read. Sehun peeked over her shoulder but he was a very slow reader, so when Yin Hang’s eyes started to wide and a shrill shreek escaped , Sehun just frowned and asked:

“What?”

Yin Hang shoved the magazine into the hands of the Korean and she hurried over to Yixing who just shrugged his shoulders and indicated he was just as shocked and didn’t know what to do. When she had given him a big hug she announced:

“Zhang Yixing, this is it. This is your entrance ticket to make money off your art.”

Yixing wanted to protest but then she shot up.

“I need to check the store, where’s my tablet??”

She was in such a hurry she needed two attempts to type in her password into the device. When she finally had managed to log into Taobao her eyes widened in shock.

“Guys, there are so many people leaving comments on our store…” she skimmed over them, while Sehun was still processing everything.

“So wait, is this Qing Qing girl like some female Ai Weiwei or something?”

Yin Hang scoffed.

“Yeah, no. Ai Weiwei isn’t even THAT great why do foreigners hype him all the time?” she asked while her index finger flew over the display of the tablet in her hands, “Oh my god most of them say they came to check the store out because of Qing Qing’s interview!”

Sehun was still not really following.

“So, she’s pretty famous, huh?”

“Not for uncultured potatoes like you!” Yifan replied and Yin Hang shot back:

“Don’t act like you’re an expert in that field. You only know her because of Yixing!”

“Oh yeah as if you know her!”

“I do,” Yin Hang said, bating her eyelids, “I visited her latest exhibition in Chengdu when I went to see a friend of mine.”

“ing nerd.”

The girl just blew her best friend a kiss, then she turned her attention back to Yixing.

“My dear, we need to sell maybe another three or four paintings. People want your stuff!”

She handed him the iPad to let him see for himself. Yixing sunk back into the couch in defeat and just shook his head.

“I… don’t understand.”

“You’re not alone,” Sehun said and sat down on the floor, then he watched Yin Hang who wouldn’t let Yixing off the hook.

“Yixing,” she said and hovered over to all the paintings that rested against each other, some of them being long forgotten by the artist himself, “You need to share your art with the world! If an artist like Qing Qing thinks your works are amazing, a lot of others will share her opinion. Imagine what would happen if art collectors or curators bought your paintings! Plus, I’m thinking economically here, you’d make a load of money.”

“Language, Miss!” Yifan hissed, but Sehun didn’t seem to have added the Chinese term for ‘load’ to his vocabulary as he was only looking at them, waiting for whatever was about to come.

Yifan also thought that Sehun might be a little annoyed, since he was still short on a Chinese speech and he had clearly not imagined his study session with Yin Hang to go like this.

“But I don’t want to make a ‘load of money’ with my paintings,” Yixing admitted, “I’ve got enough money… I don’t want this to become such a responsibility…”

When Yifan and Yin Hang heard that, they looked at each other and immediately blurted out in unison:

“Charity!”

“Huh?”

“You don’t want to keep the money, so we’re giving it away to an organization or something,” Yin Hang explained and Yixing admitted that this thought wasn’t even that bad (after, of course, having thought about it for about five minutes).

“I’ll go check it out!” Yifan said and Yin Hang handed him her tablet, then she dragged Yixing over to his paintings and let him choose three more of them that she’d be putting up online.

It took Yifan some time to find something and in the end they decided to donate the money to an organization that worked to establish schools for deaf children in the rural parts of the country. The reason Yixing chose this over all the other suggestions was quite obvious and Yin Hang was very pumped to get this thing going. She immediately took pictures of the paintings and put them up online. Afterwards she updated the store’s layout according to Yixing’s wishes which took her almost an hour. It was Sehun who got her back to reality and the reality was that he still had to write a speech in Chinese and had no idea how to do that.

“Oh, right!”

When Sehun complained that they had wasted a lot of precious study time, she tried to pacify him and promised to write the speech herself so the only thing left for him was to get it into his head. The Korean wasn’t convinced when they finally left the apartment and Yin Hang acted all optimistical they’d be finishing the thing in the next two hours while they left for the elevator. When Yifan closed the door and turned around to Yixing he realized there was a smile creeping on the other’s face.

“Look at you!” Yifan cried out and cupped his boyfriend’s face with his hands, “You’re finally smiling again!”

Yixing snorted but did not protest.

“You need to tell your family what happened,” Yifan said and Yixing nodded.

“I guess you’re right.”

He grabbed his Macbook and checked if his mother or sister where currently online and he was really surprised when he got a hold of Zhenzhen. While Yixing was calling her, Yifan decided to clean the kitchen, so Yixing didn’t have to do it. He actually didn’t really like cleaning up, but he tried to leap over his own shadow on that one and just be a good boyfriend. The news about Yixing’s art making it into the apartment of a famous artist kind of blew the whole Zhang household: As soon as Zhenzhen had understood what her brother had just told her, she called for her mother who came hovered over from the other room. And when she heard the news, she immediately yelled:

“This does NOT mean you’re going to quit school, do you hear me?!”

Yifan stayed in the background the whole conversation but kept track of it with one ear while scrubbing the sink. Something had changed about Yixing in the last two hours. Maybe it was the validation through Qing Qing’s statement, but for the first time he seemed to be proud of the things he had been doing. When Zhenzhen asked which paintings Yin Hang had sold, he could tell her in detail which one he had given her and he even dropped that he had been pretty content with the outcome of the painting that had been purchased by Qing Qing. When the three hung up, Zhenzhen said:

“Brother, I’m so proud of you, do you understand?”

When Yixing closed his Macbook, he was still smiling and turned around to watch Yifan who was just about to start cleaning the stove.

“Just so we’re clear: I’m also very proud of you!” the taller one said while he tried to get rid of the greasy stains the cooking oil had left on the stove with rather negligible success and groaned.

Yixing got up and hugged him from behind. His grib was tight and he pressed his chest into Yifan’s back trying to overcome every little bit of distance between them. Yifan whose hands stuck in two yellow rubber gloves turned around, hends held up so he wouldn’t be touching Yixing with them. Yixing looked up to him and directly in the eyes, pinning him down right on the spot. Sometimes he’d do that. Sometimes Yixing, who tried to avoid people or direct contact with them would look him in the eyes, as if he was trying to get into Yifan’s mind. And this worked surprisingly well.

“Thank you,” he then said out of the blue and Yifan frowned.

“For getting that nasty stove clean?”

Yixing sighed and shook his head. Then he got up on his tiptoes and gave him a small kiss on the lips.

“For everything.”

“Wait I’m only getting a small kiss for ‘everything’?” the taller one asked jokingly.

The answer was Yixing pinching his sides.

“Get that kitchen clean and we can discuss your reward afterwards.”

Yifan got a last peck on the cheek before Yixing walked over to the fridge to get a bottle of water. When he turned around again Yifan asked:

“Soooo, how high will be my reward at the most?”

Yixing raised his eyebrows for a moment and then just said:

“The cleaner the stove and the kitchen, the higher the reward.”

Yifan was left speechless for a heartbeat and then he managed to say:

“You’re kind of cocky for someone who says he doesn’t feel well!”

Yixing just shrugged his shoulders before he left Yifan alone with a dirty stove and a lot of cleaning agent.