Qiao Ling returned to her parents’ home. The next morning, she went straight to the store to work, directly ignoring a certain “tenant” in her own apartment.
Because after waking up in the morning, she sat on the bed and replayed everything in her mind once, deciding to cancel the plan to visit him before going to work.
Although she had forcibly dragged and pulled, rolling around making a scene to keep him to stay, she still didn’t want to make herself appear too eager. Maybe it was also a kind of avoidance-type shame over many of her actions from last night.
Therefore, today she opened the shop early, received a few scattered customers, and focused on her own things.
Everything needed at home was there, and the placement of things had all been told to him via WeChat.
Chen Kuang was already such a big person, it shouldn’t be to the extent that he couldn’t take care of himself.
At noon, the delivery guy came to the door. Qiao Ling, holding the thing she had waited half a month to finally get her hands on, her mouth was almost grinning all the way to the back of her head.
The express package that came all the way from Shu City [Sichuan area] carried a dust-covered, weathered aura, traveling all the way from the southwest of the motherland to the northeastern Binyang.
Layer upon layer of protective wrapping was peeled off. She picked up the worn-out little booklet inside the package, and when she opened it, her fingers unconsciously stiffened. Seeing the detailed patterns inside, engraved with traces of time, she sat in front of the workbench silently for a very, very long time.
It wasn’t until the customer called out for the third time that she came back to her senses, put the thing down, and went to serve them first.
Because of the arrival of this “surprise package,” Qiao Ling spent today more fulfilling than usual every day, rarely exhausting herself over the small shop’s turnover.
The customers were ding-ding-dang-dang doing their own things, the boss curled up at the desk with a firm gaze, seriously tracing designs.
Everything in everyone’s hands carried their own heavy emotions, and the shop’s atmosphere was harmonious and comfortable.
Time flew by quickly in the busy pace. When Qiao Ling picked up her phone again, it had already been a full half day. Unknowingly, it was already 8:30 in the evening.
The screen lit up, all kinds of messages popping right in her face. Only then did she realize how absorbed she had been in copying the patterns.
She looked around at the busy atmosphere in the shop. By coincidence, there were especially many customers in the shop this evening.
“Hello, may I ask if it’s possible to make bracelets?” At the door, two girls came in together.
Qiao Ling stuffed her phone into her apron pocket, walked over and apologized, saying: “Sorry, miss jiejie, the seats in the shop are full right now, but one table will be finished soon.”
“Do you want to wait a little while? Or come back another day to play?”
The two girls discussed for a bit and decided to take a number and wait for a seat. Qiao Ling estimated that there would still be more customers coming in one after another, so she gave them a waiting number ticket.
Qiao Ling made a round guiding all the customers before she had a moment to spare to browse through the phone messages she hadn’t finished looking at.
During this time, Chen Kuang had sent three WeChat messages.
Qiao Ling’s heart gave a little jump, and she opened the chat window.
【Gum: The kitchen sink pipe seems to be a bit clogged, I’ll fix it, where’s the toolbox?】
【Gum: There isn’t really any food ingredients in your fridge that can be used to make something, I’ll go buy some groceries, what do you like to eat?】
【Gum: Busy today? What time do you get off work?】
The last message was sent forty minutes ago.
The three messages were spaced over five hours.
She had actually not seen any of them.
She scratched her head, and quickly replied to him.
Also don’t know if his fever has gone down or not.
【L.ing: There are a lot of people tonight, no need to mind me, just focus on yourself.】
“Hello! What to do if this letter engraving is crooked?” A customer called her.
Qiao Ling could only put Chen Kuang to the back of her mind first, hurried over, “Is it very crooked? Let me take a look.”
Customers with questions needing help raised their hands one after another. Qiao Ling helped this one, then helped that one, so busy she practically didn’t straighten her back the whole time.
…………
The two miss jiejie waiting for seats went downstairs to the milk tea shop to buy milk tea, and when they came back, they found that the waiting area at the shop entrance had one more person.
The man was tall and slim, wearing a gray windbreaker with silver reflective stripes on an early autumn evening. His shoulders were broad and straight, the collar pulled up high to his chin.
He bent forward with his head lowered, both arms lazily hanging in the gap between his legs, playing on his phone.
Because of his sitting posture, his naturally black curly hair partly blocked his eyebrows and eyes, so just glancing over, it wasn’t very clear.
But……
The two girls met each other’s gaze, reaching a kind of tacit silent exchange.
Handsome really is a kind of feeling ah!!
Absolutely top-tier man!
Didn’t expect even coming to do handcrafts would run into peach blossoms!
The rumor that this shop’s magnetic field is strong enough to matchmake several couples really isn’t false.
One of the miss jiejie already had a boyfriend, so she pushed her friend, blinked as a hint, letting her friend take the initiative to sit next to him.
The girl being urged on blushed, gathered her courage and walked over, sitting beside the curly-haired handsome guy.
However, the man being targeted didn’t raise his eyes just because someone sat beside him, still focused on playing Sudoku.
The single girl didn’t know how to strike up a conversation, anxiously turning her head to ask her friend for help.
Her friend typed a few lines on her phone to indicate:
Step by step.
- First ask him what his waiting number is.
- Then chat and ask what he came to the shop to make, who he’s making it for, naturally leading into asking if he has a girlfriend already!
- If not, then ask for WeChat!!
The single girl nodded hard, quickly tidied her bangs, turned around and smiled to ask him: “Hello handsome guy, um.”
Chen Kuang paused his game, glanced at her, silently asking what she wanted.
He raised his head, and his whole face was finally exposed in front of them.
The single girl’s breath caught, stunned by his features, and at the same time shocked by that look in his eyes?? Although faint, there was just a kind of indescribable aura.
A feeling of strangers, do not approach.
Really so handsome… just a bit fierce.
The friend behind her poked her, like giving her encouragement.
Don’t be scared! Guys like this who look cold are all secretly flirty inside! Go for it!
The single girl followed the steps to strike up conversation, holding up her own waiting number ticket:
“We’ve been waiting ever since we came, didn’t expect this shop to be so popular.”
“Uh, we’re number 15, what number are you? Do you still have people ahead of you?”
Only then did Chen Kuang finally open his mouth, his voice very light, already without the hoarse sick tone from last night.
“I don’t have a number.”
The single girl was surprised, “Ah, you didn’t take a number? Then should I help you tell the boss…”
Before she finished speaking, he added the second half of the sentence: “I’m waiting for someone.”
Chen Kuang’s answer was completely outside the two girls’ pickup script.
The single girl turned her head, eyes widening at her friend.
Now how to continue the conversation?
The other girl simply helped her friend by talking, trying to keep the topic going, smiling as she said: “Waiting for someone? Who?”
The people in Binyang over here are all warm and chatty, Chen Kuang had already been here two or three months and wasn’t surprised by them picking up conversation like this.
The single girl’s heart was thumping up to her throat.
“Is it… your girlfriend?”
Would it be a girlfriend… hope not… please don’t say yes.
Under the two people’s tight gazes?? Chen Kuang pointed toward a direction inside the store.
The shop was very small, customers sitting crowded together in rows, so even if he pointed over, it was hard to recognize exactly.
But deliberately, he added another sentence: “The one standing.”
Their lines of sight all at once lifted up from the seated figures, finally locking onto the only one standing— the boss miss jiejie.
The two miss jiejie simultaneously let out a rising-then-falling “Ah??”
What?
The store owner is eating this good?! [colloquial: how come she’s dating someone like that / scored that well]
At this time, hearing the commotion at the door, Qiao Ling finally straightened her back, turning her head to look— across a bit of distance, meeting eyes with the seated Chen Kuang.
Qiao Ling blinked, surprised.
When did he come?
She took out her phone from her pocket, only then seeing the WeChat message he sent ten minutes ago.
【Gum: Let’s go to the supermarket together, I’m already downstairs, coming up now.】
Chen Kuang stared at her, as expected guessing she really hadn’t seen the WeChat, only raising a brow, lowering his head and continuing to play on his phone.
Although he had simply come over to wait for her to get off work to go to the supermarket, Qiao Ling was surrounded by an indescribable surge.
Always felt like… as if already dating.
Aiyo.
She touched her face, pretending to be busy as she turned her head to chat with the customers.
Unaware, in the eyes of the two miss jiejie, their interaction had already become that of a couple in the passionate love period, unable to separate, sending tender glances at each other.
Annoying!
No wonder this shop’s magnetic field is strong—turns out it’s because the store owner knows how to eat well! So envious ah.
…………
Although there were relatively more customers during the evening slot, because almost all the traffic had surged in at the same time, the DIY finishing time was also roughly the same.
Around exactly nine o’clock, it was already cleared out.
Chen Kuang said he would wait for her, and really didn’t move much the whole time, watching customer after customer leave holding their things, only standing up and walking into the store to talk to her after seeing her start cleaning up.
Qiao Ling was wiping the counter, saw him pause in front of the shop’s message board, and asked: “Your fever subsided?”
“Mm, already fine by noon today.” Chen Kuang spoke with a bit of nasal sound, instead feeling less distant than usual.
“You be careful, normally these kinds of fevers come back again around midnight.” She wiped the table, speaking from experience: “Anyway, I’m like this every time I get sick.”
“At this time if we go to the supermarket, would there still be things left to sell?”
Chen Kuang turned his head and glanced, “There are, and a lot of things in the discount section.”
“Some vegetables and fruits they’ll put out on the shelves the night before, actually even fresher.”
Qiao Ling nodded, learned something: “Is that so, people who don’t cook really wouldn’t know.”
Chen Kuang casually turned around looking, finally stopping in front of her work table. He saw a few brown hard boards with designs drawn on them placed on the desk, looking somewhat thoughtful.
“Last time I came I already wanted to ask.”
She straightened up, threw the rag into the bucket: “What?”
Chen Kuang turned his gaze back, pointing to the glass display cabinet placed on his left side that had always been there in the shop.
“This thing you have displayed, is it Miao ethnic group’s silver accessory?”
Qiao Ling was dazed, her gaze slowly turning toward that silver crown protected under the glass cover.
“Ah… mm.”
Calling it a headpiece wasn’t exactly precise.
The pure silver headpieces of the Miao ethnic group include silver horns, silver fans, silver hats, silver scarves, silver floating head rows, and so on.
But the one placed here was an incomplete “half-finished product.”
Aside from the silver hat and the silver scarf with unfinished carved patterns, the other parts were all not yet made.
But even incomplete, just the degree of craftsmanship in these two existing parts was enough to make everyone who passed by unable to help stopping and taking a close look before feeling satisfied.
Chen Kuang looked at her expression of wanting to say something but holding back, “If you don’t want to explain it’s fine, I was just casually asking.”
Qiao Ling shook her head, carrying the bucket over, “It’s fine, since I put it here, that already means it’s not a secret.”
“You’re Miao ethnic group?” he asked.
She wiped her hands clean, “No, I followed my dad and registered under Han ethnicity household registration. My mom and my maternal grandmother are Miao.”
“This counts as my grandmother’s last work,” she took off the glass cover, showing him the silver scarf with only half the totem pattern carved on it: “She passed away when she was working on this part. Look, the hollowed sections aren’t finished.”
“After she passed away, I found out that this was made for me.” Qiao Ling smiled, putting the item steadily back in place. “I always thought she didn’t like me.”
“Why?” Chen Kuang’s gaze was calm.
“Maybe because my mom didn’t want to inherit her craft and ran away from the mountain village, and they had a falling-out? I don’t know.” She said it very uncertainly, shrugging her shoulders.
“According to the tradition over there, after a girl is born, the family will save up to make her a set of dowry like this, with headpieces, earrings, necklaces. The bigger and more exquisite the silver ornaments at the wedding, the more face the girl’s side has.”
“Actually, there were other parts too, but after my grandmother passed away, all the finished parts she made were stolen and sold off by my uncles.” Qiao Ling sighed, a little regretful: “By the time our family returned to the village, this set of headpiece only had these left.”
“For that, my mom had a big fight with them, but it was no use. Even if those things were taken back, they had already been melted down.”
Chen Kuang glanced again at the drawing papers placed on her desk, directly guessed and said: “You want to finish this set of accessories for your grandmother.”
Qiao Ling froze, then raised her eyes to look up at him with a kind of disbelieving gaze.
“You…” How did you guess.
He didn’t understand these things, but exquisite handmade products were naturally admirable. “I heard your brother say you grew up over there as a child, learned this?”
She nodded slightly, expression floating with a bit of discomfort: “I guess you can call it learning, grew up listening to the sound of hammering silver.”
“Though my grandmother always looked down on me.”
Chen Kuang frowned, his gaze staying fixed on her face: “Why.”
Qiao Ling let out a silly laugh, picked up a black cloth and locked the glass cover, covering it, only after finishing this series of movements did she turn back and vaguely answer a sentence.
“Because I have no talent.”
“She used to say, even if I studied it my whole life, it would just be a waste of time.”
…………
After closing the shop, Qiao Ling followed Chen Kuang to the supermarket to catch a late-night round, bought a pile of vegetables, fruits, and snacks to refill supplies.
Binyang’s autumn came faster than other cities, the temperature difference at night gradually widening. She was afraid Chen Kuang would catch cold outside, so she suggested just casually eating something and heading back quickly.
The topic from the handicraft shop ended with no conclusion. Maybe it was because Chen Kuang could tell she didn’t want to keep talking, so he simply stopped the topic and naturally started talking about going to the supermarket instead.
Qiao Ling let out a breath of relief, as if she had escaped a disaster.
Because of Chen Kuang, the second-hand small fridge at home was filled full to the brim.
It was too late, her parents were already resting, so she didn’t mention leaving.
Qiao Ling looked at the man who was consciously tidying up the kitchen, and suddenly got nervous.
Then tonight really counts as the true sense of “first night” living under one roof!
Chen Kuang put the meat into the fridge, originally wanting to ask whether the ice cream inside that had already passed its expiration date should be thrown away, “Qiao Ling, this…”
He raised his head and stopped mid-sentence.
She snapped back to her senses: “Hm?”
He revealed a few parts teasingly puzzled: “Why are you blushing?”
Qiao Ling froze, raised her hand and touched her face.
！！
“No.” She dodged away, “…Talking nonsense.”
Chen Kuang seemed amused, didn’t say anything, lowered his head and continued putting things away, taking out the expired ice cream and tapping it: “Throw this or not?”
“Throw.” She already forgot to ask why, flustered and panicked turned around and went to the bathroom: “I’ll, um, wash up first, you tidy up.”
Then escaped into the bathroom.
After showering, Qiao Ling went straight into the bedroom and closed the door, after that not saying a single extra word to the person living in the living room.
Even though she locked herself in the bedroom, she still couldn’t help but perk up her ears to listen for the sounds outside the door????
After the bathroom was used by a second person, all the lights in the living room were turned off, and the house returned to quietness.
The night was peaceful.
Qiao Ling lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, kept awake by her own thumping, wildly beating heartbeat.
Chen Kuang’s existence was even scarier than she imagined.
Even with the door closed, separated by a wall.
She still found it hard to ignore, couldn’t help but imagine the man lying on the sofa bed at this moment.
He definitely used her stuff to shower. Also don’t know if the rose-scented shampoo would smell even better on him.
…If she pretended to be thirsty in the middle of the night and went out to drink water, she could take the chance to see him.
Last time she already thought he looked very good when sleeping.
Pa.
Qiao Ling slapped her own face.
What are you thinking!
If she really did that, if she got caught by him, wouldn’t Chen Kuang nail it saying she’s the kind of person who drags someone home to conveniently act like a hooligan!?
Restraint, restraint.
Qiao Ling’s whole head was filled with the man outside the door, couldn’t take it anymore, hid under the blanket and opened her phone to start revenge-browsing yellow manga [pornographic manga].
At this point, only eating some mountain delicacies could divert attention away from Chen Kuang!
…………
Early the next morning.
Because of being sick and taking time off, Chen Kuang had returned to a normal person’s schedule. Slept early last night, so woke up early.
Qiao Ling had said one thing right: her home really could let him sleep well.
To be exact—feel at ease.
Chen Kuang had another small fever during the night, but after taking medicine and sleeping it off, by morning he felt much better. His mouth was dry, so he got up to drink water, then went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.
After washing up and opening the door, Chen Kuang happened to see Qiao Ling wobbling out from the bedroom.
Chen Kuang glanced at her messy hair, “Awake this early?”
She didn’t say anything, eyelids drooping, expression a little dazed.
Qiao Ling walked up to him before stopping, eyes still half-asleep.
“……”
The two stood at the bathroom doorway, one tall, one short, facing each other in silence.
Qiao Ling rubbed her eyes, opened her mouth with no good temper: “Really… why is it you again.”
Chen Kuang: ?
“Every time I look at that kind of stuff, you show up.” She sighed.
He thought about it for several seconds and still didn’t understand what she meant. Just as he was about to speak, the person in front suddenly leaned in—
Qiao Ling, still muddled as if not fully awake, pressed both hands on his chest, decisively pushed him against the wall.
The man’s chest muscles through the hoodie were warm and firm, exactly as good to the touch as she remembered.
She gave a silly laugh, staring at his chest, then suddenly grabbed it hard.
Chen Kuang let out a low grunt all of a sudden, hurriedly grabbed her hand that was messing around, his breathing all in disorder: “Qiao Ling.”
“Don’t just grab randomly, okay.”
Qiao Ling was held by the wrist and couldn’t move, complaining: “Tch, wasn’t this what you taught me?”
Chen Kuang: ?
What did he teach.
He pressed his lips into a straight line, suspecting whether he himself wasn’t fully awake yet.
“And also.” Qiao Ling pouted, then suddenly dropped an earth-shattering question.
“Last time, why didn’t you kiss me?”