Doctor gong + ethnic-minority shou. A sweet little treat, a short story of around 100,000 words.
[Did you come to see me? Did you come to set me ablaze?]
[Love's madness rains down upon my head. Who could long so endlessly in the wilderness?]
--- Poems from the Twelve Muqam.
In his second year of working in Xinjiang, Chen Zhiyu met Kaysar.
After that, life was never boring again.
The distant mountains stretched across the horizon. Kaysar rode toward him, green peaks winding behind him.
Chen Zhiyu raised his camera and took a picture.
Kaysar came over to look, then asked, "Doctor Chen, are you gay?"
Chen Zhiyu's mind went blank for a few seconds. A moment later, he asked, "...Why do you say that?"
Kaysar blinked. "Because your camera is full of pictures of me!"
Chen Zhiyu paused, then said, "Maybe I am."
Kaysar was incredibly pleased with himself. "You've been looking at me since the second time we met. Is it because I'm handsome?"
Chen Zhiyu said, "Because I told your grandfather that drinking was bad for his health, and you turned around and translated that as, 'If you drink again, you'll drop dead on the spot.'"
Kaysar blinked. "So, am I handsome or not?"
Chen Zhiyu looked into his eyes and said slowly, "Very handsome."
Kaysar burst out laughing.
Later, Kaysar told Chen Zhiyu, "I live in your eyes."
Then he added, "And you live in mine."
Theme: Vast lands cannot give rise to narrow feelings.
