It was raining on Jiang Yu’s birthday. Southern weather was always fickle, and that made Chi Qing’s mood feel a little better for once before going out. At the shoe cabinet by the entrance, he carefully picked out an umbrella — even though the whole row looked basically the same: all transparent umbrellas with silver handles, cool-looking and clean.
Jiang Yu took this opportunity to pull his idol with the surname Xie and the others into a group chat. He usually didn’t dare message Xie Lin privately, but in a group it was much easier, and he didn’t have to worry about whether the messages would disturb him.
Jiang Yu: It’s raining outside~
- Be careful on your way here~~
Chi Qing had just picked out his umbrella and was about to leave when the newly created group chat kept pinging.
- Waiting for you all~
Ji Mingrui was the first to reply:
- …Jiang Yu, you usually speak pretty normally. Why are you like this online? Can you stop using so many dashes?
Xie Lin didn’t think it was a disturbance, but Chi Qing did.
He immediately set the group to Do Not Disturb and exited, glancing before leaving at Xie Lin’s name in the chat window.
Xie Lin: Got it. You be careful too.
Xie Lin: I’m leaving now. I’ll probably arrive just in time, so you can order first.
Chi Qing held the umbrella, its tip touching the ground, and in his other hand he was holding a pair of black gloves. In the end, he didn’t put them on. Instead, he folded them neatly and placed them back on the cabinet by the entrance.
A few minutes later, Xie Lin opened the door, and the first thing that caught his eye was a familiar transparent umbrella.
The umbrella stood against the wall, with a pale hand resting on the handle.
Xie Lin’s eyebrows lifted slightly. When he looked at him, there was a smile in his eyes. “Waiting for me?”
Chi Qing was clearly waiting for him on purpose, but he still said, “I’m waiting for the elevator.”
Xie Lin: “If you’re waiting for the elevator, why aren’t you pressing the button?”
The down indicator on the elevator was clearly not lit.
Chi Qing intended to keep pretending: “I just got here. Didn’t have time to press it.”
“…”
Xie Lin didn’t keep asking. He pressed the elevator button, and after it arrived, he hit the basement level. The elevator carried the two of them down to the underground garage.
“Since it’s such a coincidence, and we’re both going to the same place… you should be willing to take my car this time, right?”
Chi Qing showed a face full of reluctance, but one that could still be grudgingly accepted.
“You didn’t refuse me on the spot this time,” Xie Lin said with a smile. “That’s quite an improvement.”
That reminded Chi Qing of when they had just met: one of them had insisted on driving him home, while he had refused to get in no matter what.
Chi Qing asked, “Do you still do that ride-hailing side job?”
The elevator doors opened. Xie Lin walked out with his car keys; his car was parked right next to the elevator. As he opened the door, he said, “What ride-hailing side job? Besides Bin-ge and Wu Zhi, this car has only ever carried you. Do I really look that idle, taking anyone and everyone?”
In his whole ride-hailing-driver history, he had only ever taken this one person’s order.
“By the way, where are your gloves?” Xie Lin asked once they were in the car. This was a question he had noticed for a long time.
Chi Qing tucked both hands into his cuffs. “Forgot to bring them… Why are you looking at me like that?”
Xie Lin: “Because you look like the kind of person who would rather forget himself than forget his gloves.”
Chi Qing: “…”
Before, Chi Qing’s gloves could block touch and block sound, but now that he was in a loss-of-control state, wearing them or not made no difference. He wasn’t used to not wearing them, but if he did wear them, it would be hard for him to find an excuse to touch the person beside him.
Even though Chi Qing was reluctant to admit it, that was indeed the reason he had put the gloves back.
The car slowly drove out of the underground garage. The sounds Chi Qing was hearing along the way were still within the range he could tolerate. Apart from two times when they hit red lights and the traffic jam made the stop-and-go stretch longer, there were dozens of cars packed together during those pauses, making a mess of overlapping noise.
Chi Qing closed his eyes, planning to wait until the noise passed on its own. Xie Lin glanced at him when the light was red. “Uncomfortable?”
After asking, he realized Chi Qing didn’t seem to hear him.
Only after the red light passed and they had driven on for some distance did Xie Lin ask a second time. Chi Qing finally lifted his eyelids a little. “I wasn’t uncomfortable anywhere at first, but if you keep calling me, you’ll make me uncomfortable from the noise.”
Xie Lin: “Did you just fall asleep?”
The cluster of cars had already dispersed. Chi Qing finally said, “Sort of.”
Xie Lin didn’t drive into the shopping mall’s underground garage. Instead, he went around to the open parking lot opposite the mall and parked there. Light raindrops fell sparsely against the window. He explained, “There’s a fountain-pen shop nearby. The stuff there is decent and good for gifts, so I just parked here. Are you waiting here, or coming in with me?”
Chi Qing had no objection and got out with the umbrella.
There weren’t many people in the store because of the rain. The few staff members on duty were all drawn toward Xie Lin the moment he stepped inside, as if attracted by a magnet. Chi Qing’s ears were once again flooded with countless excited calls of “Mr. Xie.” He stepped back two paces, trying to keep away from him, while thinking about what excuse he should find to touch Xie Lin’s hand.
Because Xie Lin was surrounded by the female clerks… well, not all of them were women, but in any case, he was completely boxed in by the staff, and Chi Qing never found a good chance.
Only after they bought the item and came back out did Chi Qing finally have nowhere to retreat. He stopped at the road leading to the mall.
There were many people on the road.
Crowds entering and leaving the mall mixed together, so the whole street was full of umbrellas. The road was wet, and pedestrians hurried back and forth under their umbrellas.
Across the street, a man walking briskly forward thought: [The stuff on sale is actually all expired. What bad luck. I’m never coming to this mall again.]
A couple sharing one umbrella brushed past Chi Qing’s side: [I actually really liked that coat just now, but the burden is just too big. I don’t want him to scrimp and save just to buy me a piece of clothing…]
Someone else happily crossed the street under an umbrella: [I got my paycheck today. I’m going to treat myself to a good meal.]
[…]
Maybe because they were coming and going from the mall, everyone’s thoughts were unusually ordinary and trivial.
Xie Lin noticed that Chi Qing had stopped in place and was about to ask why he wasn’t moving when he saw the person beside him holding the umbrella, tilting it slightly to cover that face marked with the words “stay away from me.” Then the umbrella tilted a bit backward, revealing part of a slim chin, the lips pressed tightly together in a dark shade.
Then he heard Chi Qing say, “Don’t you think there are a lot of cars on this road?”
Xie Lin: “?”
There were a lot of cars on the road. The entrance to the mall’s underground garage and the bus stop were both on this road, but why was he suddenly saying this?
Chi Qing tried to keep his tone as natural as possible: “…Give me your hand. There are too many cars on the road. I’m afraid you’ll get run over.”
Xie Lin: “…”
Chi Qing had spent a long time finding an excuse, only to come up with such a terrible one that he immediately regretted it. Fortunately, Xie Lin’s gaze fell on his hand exposed to the damp air, and he took it merely as Chi Qing not wanting to go to a place with too many people, but being unable to lower his pride and admit weakness.
After a moment, Xie Lin turned his back to the noisy crowd and held out his hand to him.
Chi Qing’s fingers were icy. The distorted, ghostly voices in his ear vanished instantly. As the sound was cut off, he felt a little warmth from the man’s palm, and the coldness in his fingertips gradually took on that temperature.
The umbrella Xie Lin held was black, the same color as the long coat he wore, making him look striking and impossible to ignore in the crowd.
Chi Qing looked at him, and the sounds in his ear gradually returned to normal.
Chi Qing let Xie Lin lead him forward. As they walked, Xie Lin clearly moved carefully to avoid the crowd. Along the way, Chi Qing heard the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella, the sound of shoes stepping into puddles nearby… and also the short whistle of a traffic officer, plus the ringing of car horns.
The clearest thing he heard was still one line from Xie Lin.
“Are you a child?” Xie Lin said, holding his hand. “You can’t even cross the road without your gloves.”
It wouldn’t do to arrive later than the guests when treating someone to a meal, so the three members of the new team all arrived very early.
Inside a private room for Jiangsu-style cuisine on the third floor of the mall, Ji Mingrui was the last one from the new team to arrive. He took off his coat as he entered and said, “I thought I arrived early enough. I didn’t expect you two to be even earlier.”
Su Xiaolan was sitting and drinking tea. She blew gently on the tea in her cup and said, “I got here only two or three minutes before you.” She glanced at Jiang Yu beside her. “Do you know how long he came early?”
Ji Mingrui: “Half an hour?”
Su Xiaolan shook her head and held up a hand to make an “eight” gesture. “A full eighty minutes.”
“…”
Ji Mingrui looked over at Jiang Yu, who was sitting very properly, and sighed, “So… don’t chase stars if nothing else.”
Su Xiaolan put down her cup. “Speaking of chasing stars, there seems to be a movie premiere at the mall cinema today. I heard the lead actor and actress will come to promote it. It’s that very popular female celebrity recently, named Yin something…”
For a moment Su Xiaolan couldn’t remember the actress’s name. After all, they rarely had the chance to watch TV programs. They were all busy enough as it was.
Ji Mingrui knew even less about female celebrities. He slapped his forehead and remembered something else, saying to Jiang Yu, “Later my buddy might say some really unusual birthday wishes. If you hear them, don’t find it strange. Just take it calmly.”
Jiang Yu: “Are you talking about Assistant Chi?”
And on the next second after Jiang Yu asked that question, the private room door opened.
Xie Lin walked in and said, “Looks like we’re late.”
Su Xiaolan waved her hands repeatedly. “No, no, it’s us who came too early.”
Xie Lin smiled lightly. “Making a lady wait while seated means we’re late.”
Even a woman like Su Xiaolan, who was pretty tough on the inside, felt a little flustered from being looked at like that. But she quickly noticed Xie Lin hadn’t come in alone — he was holding someone’s hand.
“…?”
Ji Mingrui quickly spotted his brother’s signature gloomy face.
“…??”
Jiang Yu was even more confused.
“???”
Xie Lin handed over the gift. “Happy birthday. I didn’t know what you like, so I picked something practical. You should probably be able to use it when filling out paperwork.”
Jiang Yu looked at the hand clasped with the other person’s and said in a daze, “…Thank you. I like it a lot.”
The owner of that hand that was being held by Xie Lin also said coolly to him, “Congratulations.”
Jiang Yu: “Ah, thank you.”
Just as Jiang Yu was thinking that Ji Mingrui had warned him that Assistant Chi’s birthday wishes would be very strange, and that they didn’t sound all that abnormal, he heard Chi Qing continue, “If I give you a gift, then when my birthday comes around you’ll have to give one back. That would be troublesome for both sides. So, in order to reduce unnecessary social steps, I didn’t bring you a gift.”
Jiang Yu: “……..”
Now he understood why Ji Mingrui had specifically given him a warning.
That really was unexpected.
“Fair enough,” Jiang Yu said, trying hard to search for words. “…Giving gifts back and forth is indeed troublesome. Your approach is, uh, very efficient.”
