One of them pushed the cart and the other tossed things into it. Xie Yu thought this feeling was rather serendipitous. From time to time He Zhao asked whether he would eat this, whether he wanted that, and for no reason at all Xie Yu thought of the words 'daily life.'
They were still wearing Erzhong uniforms so they had to be discreet when holding hands and could only do so when no one was around.
"Will you eat this?" He Zhao was standing close and from afar they just looked like two boys talking. "New flavor. Wanna try it?"
Xie Yu glanced at the packaging: green pepper flavor. "If you want to die, I won't stop you."
"It should be fine." He Zhao liked to buy food he had never eaten before. There was a novelty to it, even if it was the sort of food no one would touch were he to serve it. "I bought the mustard flavor last time. It was all right. But when Shen Jie took the rest and ate it he nearly threw up."
Snacks could not make a meal, so they picked only a few. The surroundings grew noisy and Xie Yu tried to let go of He Zhao's hand, but even after pulling for a while He Zhao still did not let go.
"People are around."
"Where? There's no one around."
He Zhao was very adamant, but the moment the words left his mouth someone tugged at his pants leg. He glanced down: a little girl had come out of nowhere. Her hair was tied into two braids and she was about four or five years old. She said meekly, "Gege."
He Zhao: "......"
Where had she come from? And so silently.
"Gege, I want that one."
"......"
The girl's plump fingers pointed to a shelf, her words slightly mispronounced. "Strawberry flavor."
Xie Yu followed with his eyes: it was a bag of popsicles, a cartoon figure printed on the packaging. The shelf was high and this little bean wouldn't be able to reach it even if she jumped.
"Get it for her, gege." Xie Yu took two steps forward and said, "Strawberry flavor."
The strawberry flavored ones were right inside. He Zhao pushed the other bags to the side for the time being, holding them in place with one hand for fear they would fall. Xie Yu calling him 'gege' made him almost drop them.
Xie Yu's voice was cool and his words were usually sharp, so when he was gentle it was especially inviting.
The little girl was still staring at the popsicles, the want almost flowing out of her eyes. He Zhao pulled the bag out, put the others back, then said to Xie Yu, "Just you wait."
The bag of popsicles wasn't big but the little girl still needed both hands to hold it. She said, "Thank you, gege."
After He Zhao had gotten her the popsicles, he squatted and started talking to her. "You're alone? Children shouldn't run about."
"Mom is over there." The little girl pointed to a woman weighing some sweets, who had long hair and seemed gentle. After pointing, the little girl called out to her mother, then waved to them. "...Bye, gege."
He Zhao patted her head, then fumbled in his pockets for a while, pulled out a sweet, and gave it to her. He smiled and said, "Bye."
It was a very ordinary scene but Xie Yu thought that a boy like this—audacious and daring—was so warm when he folded up all his edges and was gentle, it made Xie Yu's mind go blank.
By the time the little girl left, they were nearly done shopping. They just had to go over to the drinks section to get some water, and that would do for their trip supplies.
