through the strait gates(过门/Guomen)//work by priest(CN)//BL

Chapter 1: Accidential Reunion (Prelude)

It was snowing lightly outside, the year at its end. The masses, in a rush to get home, were stuck halfway through their way home.

A rickety folk song was played on repeat, and none of the two in the car spoke a single word, awkward silence between them.

Xu Xilin had a hand on the steering wheel. He looked up through the windshield, watching rows and rows of cars extend all the way to the horizon. Brake lights flashed on and off around them—it was going to be a long time before he could drive through the traffic. Xu turned his gaze to the left, and saw Mr. Dou Xun prop up the side of his face by one hand, spacing out.

Though it had been many years since they last met, Dou Xun was aiming for ignoring Xu Xilin's presence for the whole ride.

Xu Xilin sighed to himself. Then he suddenly decided to swerve the car round in the tiny gap they were in, showing off his driving skills along the way, and successfully wove out of the traffic jam, snaking into a tiny alley.

Dou Xun finally paid attention to him, swiveling his gaze to glance at him.

Xu Xilin immediately reacted to it—he had been extra alert to Dou Xun's presence since the start of the ride.

"I think taking a smaller road will be faster—"Xu Xilin said.

"So that you can get rid of me sooner?" Dou Xun laughed scathingly.

"—and I can also get a few flowers along the way."They both opened their mouths to say something, and then went quiet simultaneously.

Xu Xilin frowned, looking like he was going to go on a rant, but then decided to put up with Dou Xun.

"What are you getting pissed off about? You know that he's been like this since forever." Xu Xilin thought, and turned his attention back to weaving through the tiny lanes.

The northwest winds weaved into a discordant harmony with the barking of dogs, and the folk singer's voice became wispier and wispier, close to breaking. Xu Xilin stopped the car in front of a store that called itself "*Lao Ye". He dug his phone out of his pocket and called a contact.

"Hey, it's me. I'm in front of your flower shop. Bring me a few orchids or kumkrats or something like that—I need them for New Year gifts."

"So you're bothering to buy flowers, *'Lin-zi? I watched the stars tonight, and did a telling for ya—they say you're gonna encounter some misfortune soon!"A swaggering voice shouted from the other side of the phone.

Xu Xilin: "......"

The flower shop's window on the side of the street flew open, and a non-mainstream-styled young man with a tiny moustache poked out of it. The apparent dumbass set down his phone, concentrated his energy in his belly, and yelled out with an even louder voice, "Did you hear that Dou Xun's back?"

Xu Xilin wished that his arm were two meters longer so that he could slap that dumbass right onto the window frame.

The window on the shotgun's side rolled down slowly, revealing Dou Xun's face. "Yeah, I've heard."

The store owner's expression twisted into a strangled wild chicken's.

Then the apparently muted store owner and a stony-faced Dou Xun helped Xu Xilin carry the plants into the back of the car together. Before the two left, the shop owner scratched his head for quite a while, and then finally decide to pull Xu Xilin back, asking, "So, uh, there's a class reunion next week, are you going to attend it?"