BIAS Chapter 15: Familiar (1)

The next day, Yan Xu’s fever went down and he had mostly recovered from his cold.

He needed to pay rent for the shop, so if he doesn’t open for a day, then he’ll lose a day’s worth of money. He couldn’t rest with a peace of mind, but he still only crawled out of bed at eight. When he was brushing his teeth, he received a short text message from Chi Ye. He asked him if he still had a fever and if he felt a bit better. He raised the corners of his lips, biting on the toothbrush while replying to him, saying that he had recovered.

The weather was cold, so his steaming hot dumplings received a lot of interest, causing him to be especially busy today. During the evening, several construction workers entered the shop—they were Chi Ye’s coworkers, with one of them being Xiao Tang.

Yan Xu inadvertently looked behind them, but regrettably, it was empty. He didn’t see the familiar figure.

He asked Xiao Tang, “Chi Ye didn’t come?”

“Oh, Chi Ye-ge,” Xiao Tang rubbed his cold hands together, “he recently went to the nearby fast-food joint to eat. We all are saying that he likes the restaurant owner’s beautiful daughter.”

Yan Xu was pretty familiar with the nearby two shops. As soon as he thought about it, he remembered that there was such a fast-food joint on the neighboring street. The boss’ daughter was indeed young and beautiful.

“So it’s like that…” he mumbled. Not wanting to probe into someone else’s personal matters, he changed topics and asked, “What dumplings do you guys want to eat?”

“I want chive and egg dumplings.”

“Give me a large portion of the celery and meat dumplings.”

There were a lot of people so they spoke over each other. Yan Xu was worried that he would get the orders wrong, so he took out a notepad and pen to write them down each order. Just as he was about to leave after taking everyone’s order, Xiao Tang grabbed him by the sleeves to stop him.

Yan Xu smiled and asked, “What else would you like to order?”

“It’s not that; I just want to ask you something.” Xiao Tang chuckled innocently. “We were craving your dumplings a few days ago, but when we came these past two days, the shop was closed. Were you sick?”

Yan Xu nodded. “I caught a cold two days ago, so I didn’t open the shop. I’m afraid you came over for nothing.” He thought for a moment, then said politely, “I’ll give you an extra portion of dumplings in a bit.”

Xiao Tang waved his hands. “No need, you’re too polite. I’m just asking. Yesterday in the construction shed, I just mentioned that you seemed to be sick, but Chi-ge didn’t believe me and said that you must have gone out for something. I told him that this was impossible, because the last time you didn’t open the shop, you put a sign at the door to let us know.”

Yan Xu faintly smiled, nodded in affirmation before entering the kitchen with a thoughtful look.

Now that Xiao Tang mentioned it, he remembered when Chi Ye called him yesterday, the first thing he asked was if he was sick. He was so dizzy from the fever yesterday that he didn’t have time to think carefully. Now that he thought about it, he realized something was off.

After fixing the shutter last time, Chi Ye just left. Although he wanted to thank Chi Ye in person and even called and sent a message, Chi Ye told him that he had been very busy recently, so the matter was put on hold for the time being. In the following days, the two of them had no contact until the sudden call last night.

So, Chi Ye knew about him being sick from Xiao Tang, so he deliberately called to ask?

Yan Xu stood in the kitchen filled with steam, his body and mind warmed by the fumes, recalling Chi Ye’s meticulous care yesterday.

At this moment, someone outside urged him, “Boss, are my dumplings done yet?”

“It’s ready, I’ll bring it over right now!” Yan Xu responded quickly, putting his phone back in his pocket and focused on the task at hand.

The busyness lasted until eight at night.

He just got over his cold, so he got tired more easily. Yan Xu closed up the shop early and wearily collapsed into a chair, too lazy to even move a finger. He closed his eyes to rest for a bit, thinking that he must find someone to help out at the shop after the New Years, as it was really too much for one person to manage the shop.

After sitting in a daze for a while, he suddenly remembered that he still hadn’t called Chi Ye yet, so he suddenly sat back up and took out his phone.

Chi Ye’s phone number was still at the top of his call history. Yan Xu took a deep breath and pressed on the screen.

After two rings, Chi Ye’s deep voice came through, “Hello?”

“Chi Ye, what are you doing?” Yan Xu greeted him first.

“I just finished washing up,” Chi Ye answered. “What’s wrong, are you still feeling unwell?”

Yan Xu couldn’t help but laugh. He felt that Chi Ye saw him as a weak, sickly person. He remembered that after the roller shutter was fixed, he gave Chi Ye a call, to which he also asked if the shutter was broken again.

He raised his lips, smiling. “No. Thanks to your care, I have completely recovered from my cold.”

Chi Ye let out an “oh” sound and said, “That’s good.”

Yan Xu got straight to the point, “Didn’t we agree that I would treat you to a meal yesterday? When are you free?” After a moment, the other party did not answer, so he added, “I also didn’t properly thank you for fixing the roller shutter last time, and I bothered you again yesterday.”

There was still no answer coming from the other end, as if the signal had been cut off. Yan Xu took the phone away from his ears to look at the screen—the bars were full and the call was still going on.

Just when he was about to ask if his reception was bad, Chi Ye finally spoke, “Alright, when should we go?”

Yan Xu naturally said he could do so anytime. Chi Ye also said the same thing, so the two of them simply made plans for tomorrow night.

Yan Xu couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as the matter he had been thinking about was settled. Actually, he wanted to invite Chi Ye to his house for dinner and we cook personally. However, he thought that no matter how clean he cleaned his place, the smell of chives and chopped green onions would still remain. Chi Ye went to the neighboring street to eat fast food, probably partly because he was tired of eating dumplings, so he decided that they should eat out.

Furthermore, he also wanted to go out for a change of pace and eat some delicious food.

With experience eating together once before, Yan Xu knew that whatever he asked, Chi Ye would definitely say “That’s fine” or “Anything is okay,” so he simply didn’t ask and decided to have dinner at a famous sauerkraut fish restaurant.

The weather was nice the following day. Yan Xu took the chance when business was slow to buy some stuff, then hurriedly returned to the shop.

He closed the shop early in the afternoon, considering it as him taking a half-day off. He tidied up the shop and went upstairs. He slowly cleaned up his room, washing whatever needed to be washed and changing whatever needed to be changed.

He liked cleanliness, so he enjoyed chores like putting things away and cleaning up.

After tidying up his room, the lights outside were already on.

Seeing that it was almost time, he went to wash up. Just when he had finished blow-drying his hair and putting on his down jacket, Chi Ye called him saying that he was already downstairs. He grabbed his scarf and carried a handbag and hurried downstairs. He opened the door and took a quick breath before speaking. This cold had made him feel like he had lost a lot of energy.

“What’s wrong?” Chi Ye furrowed his brows and unconsciously reached out his hand to support him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m f-fine.” Yan Xu took a deep breath. “I just ran too fast.”

“You can slow down, no need to rush.” Chi Ye calmly blocked the wind outside, urging him, “Put on your scarf, don’t catch a cold again. Have you really got over your cold?”

Yan Xu narrowed his dark, gleaming eyes, his crisscrossed long lashes fluttered slightly. “I’m completely fine now.” He wrapped the scarf around his neck, then realized that Chi Ye didn’t come with his motorcycle, so he asked curiously, “Why didn’t you ride your motorcycle?”

“Oh, I lent it to a friend.” Chi Ye took out his phone. “I’ll call for a taxi.”

Yan Xu stopped him. “There are not many taxis here, shall we book a taxi via app?”

Chi Ye put his hands in the pockets of his down jacket, gripping the phone. He moved his lips a few times before finally saying, “Sorry, I don’t know how to use it.”

“I—” Yan Xu originally wanted to say that he could just do it, but after a moment’s hesitation, he changed his words, “I’ll teach you, then?”