BIAS Chapter 12: A Cold (1)

The next afternoon, Yan Xu received a call from Fang Jincheng, saying that he received a last-minute notice that he had to go on a business trip for two days, so he couldn’t give him the burn ointment today.

Although he felt a little regretful, Yan Xu still smiled and said, “It’s fine, work comes first.”

After hanging up, a delivery guy in a blue jacket came into the store and asked loudly, “Are you Yan Xu?”

Yan Xu nodded blankly. “What is it?

“You’re delivery.” The guy put a bag on the table and left in a hurry.

“Delivery? I didn’t order anything—” Yan Xu chased after, but the guy had already ridden away swiftly on his bike. When he returned to the shop, he skeptically picked up the white plastic bag on the table, saw the items listed on the receipt, and the corners of his tightly pursed lips unconsciously lifted.

There were two burn ointments inside the bag, as well as some common household antipyretics, cold medicines, vitamins, and a bottle of cough syrup.

Ding—Fang Jincheng sent a text to him.

[I hope you don’t ever have to use these.]

After replying to the text, he picked up the bottle of cough syrup in the bag and couldn’t help but smile shyly.

In the early spring of his third year of junior high school, he caught a cold. He coughed so often that the teacher couldn’t teach properly, so the homeroom teacher told him to go home and rest for a day or two, and to come back after recovering from his cold.

At noon, there was nobody at home.

He poured himself a cup of water when he returned home, drinking it with difficulty to moisten his sore throat. He then went to his room to lay down, falling asleep before he knew it.

He dreamt—dreamt that he was walking alone through an endless desert, the fierce sun almost dried up all the water in his body. Just when he was about to fall to the ground due to the severe lack of water, a person walked into his hazy vision.

“Xiao Xu,” that person said, “wake up.”

He tried his best to open his heavy eyelids. He saw Fang Jincheng leaning toward the bed, looking flustered and anxious. “Xiao Xu, you’re coughing really badly. Get up, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

He was blank for a moment, then realized that everything in front of him was not a dream.

Perhaps it was the cold that gave him the courage to act out, or perhaps it was Fang Jincheng’s gaze that was too gentle—he tilted his head and said hoarsely, “Ge, my throat hurts.” This was the first time he had called Fang Jincheng “Ge.”

Fang Jincheng touched his forehead, then said, “Be good, Ge will take you to the hospital, okay?”

Because he didn’t have a high fever, he wasn’t willing to go to the hospital. Fang Jincheng probably thought he didn’t want to take medicine and get a shot, so he just went out to buy cough syrup. Like coaxing a child, he passed a cup of syrup to his lips and said, “This isn’t bitter, it’s sweet.”

Isn’t bitter, it’s sweet…

A cold wind came pouring in—a customer’s entrance interrupted Yan Xu’s thoughts. He suppressed the smile on the corner of his lips, put away the medicines, and began to busy himself.

Yan Xu was still thinking about returning the gloves, but Chi Ye didn’t come today to eat dinner. He figured that Chi Ye probably forgot that the gloves were with him, so he called him, but no one answered until the call automatically hung up.

A few minutes later, Chi Ye sent a text, saying that he had showered and wasn’t able to answer the call. He then asked if the shutter wasn’t working properly.

Yan Xu replied that he forgot to return his gloves to him. He thought Chi Ye would say that he would come over tomorrow to get it, but contrary to his thoughts, the other party said that he would have a coworker come over tomorrow to get it for him.

Yan Xu asked instinctively: [Has it been busy at the construction site recently?]

It took a while before Chi Ye replied: [Mhm, a bit.]

Yan Xu didn’t think much about it, replying with an “Okay.”

The next day, one of Chi Ye’s coworkers came over to eat dumplings, getting the gloves while he was at it.

This person was pretty young. He had seen him come over to the shop with Chi Ye often, so he was familiar-looking. However, he doesn’t know his full name, only that Chi Ye called him Xiao Tang. He gave Xiao Tang the bag containing the gloves, and a fried egg on the house.

Xiao Tang ate the fried egg and giggled, saying, “Little Boss, Chi-ge fixed your door yesterday, right? He wouldn’t tell me when I asked.”

Yan Xu smiled. “Yes. Thanks to his help, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to close my shop last night.”

“Chi-ge may seem cold-hearted and cold-looking, but he’s just a man of few words and actually has a warm heart,” Xiao Tang spoke proudly. He continued, “He worked overtime the day before yesterday. He didn’t even have time to drink a sip of water when he got off work. He picked up his tool box and left in a hurry, saying that was going to go fix a door for a friend.”

Yan Xu slightly smiled and nodded, agreeing with Xiao Tang’s words. He was also feeling touched and somewhat guilty. “I’m actually extremely grateful toward him. Can I trouble you to give him my thanks?”

“Definitely!” Xiao Tang started to speak more freely; he scooted closer to Yan Xu on the chair, his expression suddenly turning serious. He lowered his voice and said secretively, “But Chi-ge seemed off after returning from fixing your door. His expression was dark. He usually doesn’t smoke, but he smoked half a pack that day. A few of us joked that he boasted to that person that he could fix the door, but ended up losing face because he wasn’t able to. He didn’t even utter a sound, nor have he said much these past two days.”

He said it casually but Yan Xu was interested. He knitted his brows and thought about whether he said anything wrong that day. However, he didn’t even have a chance to chat with Chi Ye that day. Moreover, Chi Ye even thoughtfully left the bottle of oil here, which doesn’t seem like he was in a bad mood.

“Could it be due to a family matter?” Yan Xu guessed.

“Definitely not.” Xiao Tang awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. “I thought the Boss knew, which is why I asked you.”

Yan Xu shook his head apologetically. “I’m also clueless. He fixed my shutter, and he was fine when he left.”

Xiao Tan nodded, then came to a sudden realization. “It must be Old Diao from next door giving him trouble. It’s definitely not because of family matters, he doesn’t have such things to bother him.”

Yan Xu nodded in understanding and didn’t say anymore.

For the following week, Chi Ye didn’t come to the shop again. Xiao Tang and the others came twice.

Yan Xu was puzzled; was it only Chi Ye who was busy?

But he had this doubt by chance. He didn’t delve into it, because Fang Jincheng also hadn’t come for a week, so his mind was entirely on him.

That night a week ago, after the two of them had some close physical contact, he’d thought there might be some progress between them. But the reality was that the next day, a delivery guy dropped off two tubes of burnt ointment, but Fang Jincheng never came back.

Didn’t he say he was going on a business trip for only two days?

Yan Xu rested his chin on his palm while lost in thought. He felt worried, but in the end, he couldn’t resist making a call.

The receiver beeped for a long time, and just when the call was about to automatically hang up, the call finally connected. A lot of noise first entered his ears, followed by Fang Jincheng’s slightly hoarse voice, “Xiao Xu, what’s wrong?”

Yan Xu paused for a moment before saying, “You’re outside?”

“Mhm. Wait a moment.” The noise gradually disappeared, and he heard Fang Jincheng’s voice again. “I’m having dinner with my work partners outside, it’s a bit noisy.”

“Then did I bother you?” Yan Xu felt a bit bad. “You go ahead and do your work.”

“It’s fine, we’re about to finish here.” Fang Jincheng softly chuckled. “What did you call me for?”

A low chuckle sounded close to his ear, making it numb. Yan Xu held the phone a little further away, answering, “It’s nothing.” He stared at the glass cup in front of him, hesitated and struggled for a bit before tactfully asking, “Have you been busy this week?”

There was noise coming from the other end; probably someone had passed by. It was only when the noise got farther away that Fang Jincheng answered, “A bit, there are more social events at the end of the year.”

After learning that Fang Jincheng had been busy this week and wasn’t deliberately avoiding him, Yan Xu’s mood improved. He gripped the phone in his hand, silently sighed in relief, and said, “Did you drink? Should I go over to drive you?”

“Ah, what a pity—” Fang Jincheng chuckled as he said, “If I knew this earlier, I wouldn’t have called a designated driver.”

Yan Xu hesitated, “Then—”

Fang Jincheng interrupted him, “Xiao Xu, can I just call you directly next time?”

Yan Xu rubbed his hot ear. He couldn’t tell if it was Fang Jincheng who drank or if it was him who drank, got drunk, and became muddle-headed. He was stunned for a moment before answering, “Of course you can.”

The two of them conversed for a bit before Fang Jincheng finally advised him, “Xiao Xu, the temperature will drop in the next few days, remember to stay warm and not to catch a cold.”

“Mm, you too.”

However, Yan Xu never expected that Fang Jincheng’s words would come true—he really caught a cold. The medicine Fang Jincheng bought for him was immediately of use.

On the first day, he stubbornly kept the shop open. But by the second day, his nose was stuffy, he was coughing, and he had a splitting headache—he had no strength to tough it out. He was also afraid that he would infect his customers, so he closed the shop for a day.

He drank the cough syrup and rested for a day, but unexpectedly, his symptoms didn’t improve, rather he felt even more dizzy. By the third night, Yan Xu felt that he began to have a fever and finally decided to go to the neighborhood clinic. However, his limbs were aching and weary, and he didn’t have the energy to move at all. So, he ate some fever-reducing medicine and continued to sleep, planning to go get an IV drip early the next morning.

While half-conscious, he felt something vibrate and make his shoulder numb.

Yan Xu opened his sore eyes and was stunned for a moment before realizing it was the phone under the pillow that was ringing. He reached out and took the phone. He raised it to his ear without checking who it was from. “Hello?”

It was quiet for a second on the other end, then a familiar voice was heard, “Did you get sick?”

Yan Xu was confused due to the fever. After a moment of confusion, he remembered that it was Chi Ye on the other end of the call. He pinched the bridge of his nose to snap himself out of it before answering, “It’s just—just a bit of a cold.” He had a hard time saying the words. His throat was dry and sore, as if being sanded.

“Your voice sounds hoarse,” Chi Ye said, “it seems pretty serious.”

Yan Xu hoarsely answered, “I have a little fever, but I already took medicine.”

The call was silent for two seconds before Chi Ye spoke up again, “You haven’t eaten yet, right? I’ll buy you something to eat, is that okay?”

Yan Xu wanted to laugh although it wasn’t appropriate. This was the first time he met someone as awkward yet honest as Chi Ye—someone who would ask, “Is that okay?” despite being the one who took initiative to show concern.

Chi Ye didn’t wait for Yan Xu to answer, asking again, “I can’t?”

Yan Xu’s throat was so hoarse that it was already too hard to make any sound. He held in the pain of his throat and said with difficulty, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”