BIAS Chapter 11: Fixing the Shutter (2)

Fang Jincheng smiled. “It looked like you needed some help here, so I came back to check.”

Yan Xu understood. “The roller shutter is faulty, Chi Ye came to fix it.”

Fang Jincheng nodded, then looked at Chi Ye. “Do you need help?”

Chi Ye nodded to him in greeting. He wasn’t sure what part of the shutter was broken, so he answered, “I might need some help.”

Fang Jincheng, “Okay, I’ll lend you a hand.”

Chi Ye nodded, then brought the chair to the door.

Fang Jincheng unwrapped the scarf that had just been warmed up and put it around Yan Xu’s neck.

Yan Xu had never expected Fang Jincheng to do this, so he reflexively took a half step back but failed to dodge.

Fang Jincheng took a step forward and slowly wrapped the warm scarf around Yan Xu’s neck, smiling while asking, “What’s wrong? Did I scare you?”

Yan Xu was at a loss for words. “N-no.” He stood there stiffly, feeling a burning sensation in his chest, which burned his heart and also made his face flushed.

It wasn’t like Fang Jincheng had never put a scarf on him or held his hand before, but he could keenly feel that the other party’s close behavior during the last two meeting was different from the care he showed to his “little brother” in the past, and it was accompanied by a vague sense of possessiveness.

“As long as I didn’t scare you.” Fang Jincheng put the scarf on Yan Xu, then unrolled his sleeves. “I’ll help Chi Ye out, you should go back inside so you don’t catch a cold.”

Yan Xu’s mind was blank. He let Fang Jincheng’s warm hands hold his wrists and pull his sleeves while his own hands and feet were stiff. After a while, he nodded gently.

Chi Ye had already taken off his shoes and stood on the chair as he checked the roller shutter, but he wasn’t able to concentrate; his mind kept going back to the two of them while in the shop. He stood not that far from them. Moreover, Yan Xu and Fang Jincheng didn’t deliberately lower their voices, so their words and intimate actions could all be seen and heard.

After looking for a while, he realized that his own actions were rude, so he quickly retracted his gaze.

At this moment, Fang Jincheng turned and came over to him, asking, “Where is it broken? What should I help with?”

Chi Ye lowered his gaze, his eyes scanning over Fang Jincheng’s waxed hair and expensive-looking coat before saying, “Hand me the bottle of oil. It’s rusted; it should be fixed after cleaning and adding some oil.”

Fang Jincheng followed his instruction and stretched out both hands to hand the bottle to Chi Ye, all the while looking up at him as he skillfully applied the oil and cleaned the rust stains inside the shutter.

The atmosphere was somewhat stagnant, so he took the initiative to strike a conversation, “I’m thirty this year. You seem to be a bit older than me.”

Chi Ye’s movements stopped. He looked down at Fang Jincheng and answered, “Mhm, I’m a little older, thirty-one.”

Fang Jincheng nodded, then asked again, “I heard Xiao Xu say that you work in the nearby construction site. What are you mainly in charge of? Maybe we are in the same line of work.”

The bottle in Chi Ye’s hand tilted, causing some oil to get on his hand and slid down his wrist. Luckily, he was still wearing the dirty clothes he wore to work today. Without much thought, he pulled his sleeves to wipe off the oil before answering, “I’m just a normal construction worker, so there’s no way we’re in the same line of work.”

“If you say it like that,” Fang Jincheng couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m also just another grunt worker breaking my back on construction sites everyday.”

Chi Ye obviously didn’t take his words seriously. An engineer and a construction worker are worlds apart. He knew Fang Jincheng was being modest and polite, so he courteously smiled.

After applying the oil and cleaning the rust inside, Chi Ye tried pulling down the shutter, and the previous rough motion was gone. He pushed the shutter back up, then got off the chair and put on his boots, and said to Fang Jincheng, “It’s done, there shouldn’t be any issues anymore.”

Fang Jincheng sincerely thanked him before asking, “Have you eaten yet? How about we all eat some midnight snacks?”

Seeing the table at the entrance missing a chair, he put the chair back. He took two tissues from the tissue box on the table, wiped the chair that wasn’t actually dirty, and answered, “I need to go back. If I go back too late, it’ll interfere with my coworkers’ rest.”

Fang Jincheng looked over at the kitchen; Yan Xu seemed to be busy doing something. He opened his mouth, hesitating to say something, but Chi Ye had already packed up his toolbox.

“Um,” Chi Ye handed the oil to Fang Jincheng, thought for a moment, rubbed the bottle on his clothes, and then placed it on the corner of the table. “It’s better to leave this at the shop. It might be of use in the future.”

“Thank you. How much is it?” Fang Jincheng took out the wallet in his coat, preparing to give him some money.

Chi Ye raised his toolbox. “No need, it wasn’t expensive.” He quickly glanced at the kitchen; seeing Yan Xu busy at the stove, he gave a curt nod. “I’ll be going now.”

“Okay.” Fang Jincheng said politely, “When you have time, let’s have a meal together.”

Chi Ye knew he was just being polite and just stiffly nodded in response, then left the shop.

Hearing the faint roar of the motorcycle engine revving outside, Yan Xu hastily wiped his hand and ran out of the kitchen, but Chi Ye had already ridden away on his motorcycle, kicking up dust.

He couldn’t help but knit his brows. “Why did he leave?”

Fang Jincheng scanned Yan Xu’s face. “Is there anything else?”

“It’s not that,” Yan Xu forced a smile. “I was thinking of keeping him here to eat some late-night food as thanks for fixing the shutter.”

Just now he was in the kitchen cooking the shrimp dumplings he had made earlier tonight, but before the dumplings had finished cooking, the man was already gone. He suddenly remembered that he also hadn’t returned the gloves and immediately felt vexed.

Fang Jincheng patted Yan Xu on the shoulder. “I already asked him, but he said that if he returned too late, it would affect his coworkers’ rest. I also told him that I’ll treat him to dinner next time.”

It was his fault for not telling Chi Ye beforehand, so Yan Xu just nodded. Then, he took the scarf hanging at the kitchen door and handed it to Fang Jincheng. “Cheng-ge, you should also go back, it’s pretty late now.”

“Alright,” Fang Jincheng answered, but then lowered his head and said, “Help me put it on?”

Yan Xu pressed his lips together in an internal struggle, but seeing Fang Jincheng bright gaze looking at him, he wasn’t able to bear it. He slowly placed the scarf around Fang Jincheng’s neck and helped him carefully tie it in place.

From beginning to end, Fang Jincheng was holding his smile. After the scarf was wrapped around him, he couldn’t help but reach out his hand and rub Yan Xu’s soft hair, gently saying, “I’m going back now, you should also rest early.”

“Mhm, okay.” Yan Xu absent-mindly answered, a scene from more than ten years ago suddenly emerged in his mind.

After his mom married Fang Jianguo, he and Yan Bai moved into the Fang household. Before that, he had only met Fang Jianguo and Fang Jincheng once. Due to his quiet and introverted nature, he couldn’t integrate into this family. Two months in, he’d exchanged fewer words with his stepfather and stepbrother than the number of times he’d sneezed. He kept feeling like an outsider, leaving him timid around the both of them.

One night, Yan Bai’s newly bought fountain pen went missing. He searched his room several times but still couldn’t find it. Yan Bai insisted that Yan Xu stole it on the grounds that he had to participate in the school’s calligraphy competition the next day.

At that time, he had yet learned how to handle the conflict with Yan Bai tactfully, and he couldn’t stand being falsely accused as a thief, so he made the first move, and the two immediately started getting into fight.

However, he was immediately pinned to the floor, and Yan Bai kicked him in the leg, telling him to get out of this house. Once a person gets angry, their brain becomes rusty like a shutter, unable to think. At the time, he was so angry that he didn’t have time to think about the consequences of his words, “If I leave now, no one will come looking for me.” So he rushed out without even a jacket in hand.

It wasn’t until the chilly wind late in the night blew on him that he returned to his senses, but it was too late to regret. He went into a nearby 24-hour self-service bank to avoid the cold wind, planning to go back early in the morning to get his backpack.

But not long after staying in the bank, he heard someone calling his name from the outside. The voice was both familiar and a little unfamiliar, and he even thought he had heard wrong at first. It wasn’t until the voice got louder, closer, and relentless, that he was sure that someone was really calling his name.

He opened the glass door and saw the handsome and tall Fang Jincheng in his youth with a piece of clothing hanging on his arm. He was anxiously looking around until his eyes landed on him. Fang Jincheng went up to him and draped the clothes over him, saying gently, “It’s cold outside, let’s go back home.”

He was still somewhat scared of Yan Bai’s punches, so he took half a step back unconsciously.

Fang Jincheng took a step forward, raised his warm hand and gently rubbed his head. He said, “I already found the pen. Don’t be afraid, Gege will take you home.”