Flowers for Umbrella Bro

Every spring, when Qingming comes. After they burn paper money for their ancestors. After the somewhat tense family brunch, after breathing incense smoke the whole morning, his brother always books a ticket to Hangzhou.

Ye Xiu never really grew into formal clothes the same way his younger brother did. His head clouded up with smoke when they visited places with bad ventilation, and if Ye Qiu wasn't there to remind him of how important government contractors were, how it was fundamental the CEO of Golden Leaf Corp couldn't lose face over his fashion sense, if he didn't have half a mind to complain about that shameless brother of his⁠— Six years, and he still looked alien in a suit.

So it was always so shocking that for one day out of each year⁠— for five hours, to be exact, Ye Xiu would willingly put on some nice clothes. With those four championship rings on his two hands, he looked a bit like a crime boss, if his lack of muscle could be ignored.

Last year, it rained⁠— no, it stormed. The rain fell like the heavens wanted to wash out the earth, and the streets flowed with a good inch of water. Sometime in the afternoon, Ye Xiu slipped out with an umbrella and wasn't seen until midnight when he returned, dripping wet with a white bird-of-paradise in his lapel.

Out of all their relatives, Ye Qiu was closest to his brother, and even he didn't know more than a few details about the lost years when he was away from home. It wasn't his place to ask, but it was on days like those that he wanted to sit Ye Xiu down and drag a story out of his lungs through any means possible.

He'd talk about his past in a blase voice, like he's commenting on what he had for lunch. But the edges would be tinged with nostalgia, perhaps some grief, the slightest inflection that only a twin could catch.

When he retired from his Glory Professional Alliance, he left his best years behind in H City. Ye Qiu thought he accepted his future and his obligation to return home, but each time he disappears in April a part of him fears it's going to be like when they were 15 again, and this time, Ye Xiu would run away and never return.

He knows it's stupid, but he still feels unneccessarily relieved when Ye Xiu returns late at night, drenched in rain.

It's a very personal matter, the good Ye Qiu says. It's not proper to ask him about it.

You deserve to know, the selfish Ye Qiu huffs in reply. The time for Ye Xiu to avoid his family is over. There's nothing to hide anymore; he could tell them as stories and laugh, the same way their father reminisces when he invites old classmates over.

This year, he isn't going to let Ye Xiu run off again. So what if his brother slips away after they bow to their grandparents' graves? He's going too. He heard the West Lake was quite nice this time of year, and he remembers the internet cafe where he tracked Ye Xiu down when they were 25. His brother isn't the sightseeing sort, he's only heading south for the sentimentality.

Indeed, he catches him smoking outside Happy Internet Cafe. It looks larger, more prosperous now. Ye Qiu remembers his brother saying that in the early days of his team, they used to practice on the second floor.

His team is famous now, not that Ye Qiu would ever admit he follows esports news. They probably don't come to the cafe anymore.

He's a little surprised Ye Xiu hasn't been mobbed by fans so far… He's surprised he himself hasn't been mobbed by Ye Xiu's fans, for that matter. Unless… Five years was enough to forget his brother?

The thought makes his blood boil, and he shakes his head as if literally shaking it out of his memory.

"Woah, you're also here?" Ye Xiu doesn't seem very surprised, for one.

"I should be asking you that?! Don't think I didn't notice you running off to somewhere after every Qingming Festival!"

"I was wondering when you'd say something. Dramatic as usual, huh?"

Ye Qiu opens his mouth to protest that no, he isn't dramatic, but winning an argument against his twin is pretty much impossible. He glares at him instead.

Ye Xiu blows a little smoke out his nose. "So why aren't you keeping our ancestors company? What kind of unfilial son are you?"

"I'd be asking you the same question!"

"It's already proven I'm an unfilial son. You, though, lack an excuse."

"So what are you doing here, then? Running away?"

"No, smoking."

Well, he can see that quite clearly. Five years and Ye Xiu is still nowhere close to kicking that disgusting habit he picked up as a runaway. "I mean, why do you always go here? Do you know how many of your fans live in this city? Here⁠—" Ye Qiu pats his pockets… Nope, he didn't bring a mouth mask. "Nevermind. Where are you going?"

"Did you bring money?"

"... Yes."

"Let's buy some flowers." Ye Xiu stubs out his cigarette and heads out towards the crosswalk.

"The hell are we buying flowers for? You have a secret girlfriend?"

"A dead friend, yeah."

Ye Qiu almost chokes on his words. Way to be insensitive. "... I'll buy the flowers. Knowing you, you can't tell roses from peonies, and some passerby will think your friend's your wife."

"Well, this one time Mucheng bought bird-of-paradise."

"Bird-of-paradise?" Isn't that a little… Joyful? "But speaking of Su Mucheng, aren't you going to visit her?"

"She can't be bothered like that, she probably went to visit him this morning. It's not like I can stay for long, either. Buy flowers, say a few words, get on the next train back home."

The two of them might've turned some heads as they walked the few blocks towards the cemetery. Maybe people recognized Ye Xiu, or they're having a hard time processing that he has a look-alike. Maybe it's just because they're two men in fancy suits.

"... Why did she choose bird-of-paradise?"

The older twin shrugs. "It looks pretty, I guess."

"It doesn't grow here. Did she really pay the extra buck for that?" The common flower shop wouldn't supply it, either.

"Well, it is her brother. Maybe he couldn't survive here, like the flower."

Ye Qiu wasn't sure if he should cry. What was that supposed to mean, 'he couldn't survive here'? "Be a bit more serious, will you?"

"I am serious. His death was bad luck, so maybe fate just couldn't let him keep living."

Sweet mother, give him patience. Any more and he'll be coughing blood with stern words. "... Whatever. Are you getting the same flowers? Paper money? When did he die, would he have use for a car?"

"Something different this year. They should still have paper Glory account cards, right?"

"Did you even burn him a computer?"

"Oh, right. The one from last year might be outdated now."

Every day living with Ye Xiu is a struggle. Ye Qiu can testify; he has no idea if his brother's serious or not. "You know what? Go pick out whatever you want. It's not like I'll get out of paying for you."

"Thank you for your kindness, Ah-Qiu."

"If I didn't offer, you'd scam it out of me."

A faded red sign advertises the flower shop that sits near the entrance of the cemetery. Cardboard boxes of spirit money are stacked up next to the fresh-cut flowers in buckets of water. There is a box of paper Glory account cards, up on the counter. The store probably didn't invest in many of them, as Glory is associated with the young, and to be fair, most people didn't die at such tender an age.

Ye Qiu almost expected his brother to buy the whole box.

He takes two.

"Do they always sell these?" He plucks one out of Ye Xiu's fingers, looking at the simplified Glory logo on the shiny cardstock. "You only need one account card, don't you?"

Ye Xiu snatches the card back. "You can always have more. Actually, it's probably better to have ten or so, if you like experimenting with the equipment editor."

"Just two?"

His brother shrugs. "I burned him one last year."

"Must be pretty lonely, playing Glory in the spirit world."

"All the better to get rare materials." Ye Xiu shuffles over to the flowers.

Surrounded by noobs, wouldn't that get boring? There's got to be a limit to what you can do in such a game. Ye Qiu frowns in contemplation. Well, unless you're a certain twin brother of his. If he had one RMB each time he caught Ye Xiu playing Glory in his office, he'd singlehandedly wreck China's economy.

"Hey, what'd you say about these?" A bouquet of green carnations are waved in Ye Qiu's face. He steps back.

"You sure? Don't you want something more… Fancy?" Maybe not so strange as bird-of-paradise, but at least some roses!

"Well, they're on sale. You won't shut up if I buy something expensive."

"Are they even fit for the occasion?"

Ye Xiu shrugs. "Flowers are an extra. Muqiu would just want some account cards, maybe some money. Right, are they able to supply 10k in spirit money?"

"Ten thousand?!"

"Maybe the dead pay rent. But if it's like that… Maybe we should burn him 50k."

"I don't care anymore." Ye Qiu takes out his wallet, pulling out a credit card. "Just buy your things, don't blame me if someone looks at you weird for your green carnations."

The sky is cloudless and cornflower blue when they exit the little flower shop, Ye Qiu somehow scammed into carrying most of the spirit goods and Ye Xiu walking ahead with the two paper account cards. The cemetery is a large one, and they wind through the paths, past the large, fancy graves towards a small plot near the back, where the tombstones don't even have photos of the deceased.

It makes Ye Qiu wonder how long it's been since this person died, and how much of an impression he left on his brother for him to still come and visit after so many years.

"Did you bring your lighter?"

He might as well have been asking if the grocery store had vegetables. Of course Ye Xiu has his lighter.

"It's a lot to burn." Ye Xiu ended up buying half a million RMB in spirit money. "You can leave it here if you want, go wait outside. Unless you wanna listen to me talk about video games."

He kneels on the earth in front of the grave, without so much of a thought for the pricey clothes he's getting dirt on. Out of consideration, Ye Qiu gives his brother a little space, waiting a little further up the path, out of earshot.

He can smell the charred paper. At this rate, the dead friend would probably run out of room for all the computers Ye Xiu burns for him.

He remembers ashes dusting the ground in front of the grave, a bough of plum blossoms sitting on top of them. The girl probably visited earlier in the day. Her name was Mucheng—didn't his brother say she was related to this dead friend? How young was she when he died?

It's the most solemn he's seen his brother act in a while. He doesn't hold such a reverence even when bowing to their grandparents' headstones. This person— he must've been important. More than Ye Qiu would ever understand.

It almost shocked him that Ye Xiu would hide this fact, specifically how well he kept it a secret.

Why didn't he tell anyone, then? Ever since he ran away, they were never as close as they used to be. Even now, there's a distance between them that Ye Qiu has no way of bridging.

Flower petals dot the walkway under his feet. Qinging, April fourth, 4/4. Double death. Strange that it would be in spring, when life is restored to the trees.

"You want dinner?" Ye Xiu punches him gently on the shoulder, a budding carnation between the fingers of his other hand.

"You're done?"

"He's already heard my story. I'm just giving him updates about life these days, filling him in on the Alliance in general, maybe repeating everything Mucheng told him earlier."

"Do you want to go home, then?"

"We could."

Smoke rises up from all the burning spirit money in front of the grave, thick enough that Ye Qiu can see it from where he stands. Ye Xiu takes the lead, Ye Qiu following close behind.

"... Ah-Xiu."

"Hm?"

"Someday, if you want to… Would you tell me about him?"