After Qiao Ling closed the shop, she and Chen Kuang walked home together.
That teasing sentence from Chen Kuang, in the end, because a customer very timely called her over to help, made Qiao Ling escape another calamity again.
By the time they got home, it was already late. Chen Kuang saw that she was tired and didn’t ask anything more, the two of them washed up and each went to sleep.
Because too many things happened the day before, emotions rising and falling, Qiao Ling was so tired that she had a dreamless night, sleeping all the way until 9:30 the next day.
Qiao Ling rubbed her eyes and pushed open the bedroom door, hearing sound coming from the entrance area, turning her head and seeing Chen Kuang coming back from outside.
She even thought she saw wrong, “……Mm?”
Chen Kuang was wearing a white lightweight sports jacket, the tips of his hair slightly damp with sweat, when he straightened his back, the chest muscles swollen from exercise pushed the fabric into a beautiful arc, the black sports pants made his legs look long and straight.
In his hand he was carrying breakfast bought for her.
Qiao Ling was dazed from looking.
Ah……
May I ask—is this in heaven?
“What are you looking at?” Chen Kuang leaned against the shoe cabinet changing shoes, tilting his head, raising his eyebrow: “Dreaming again?”
She remembered last time bumping into Chen Kuang at home, thinking she was dreaming and doing those shameful things: “……”
Staying up late every day and memory can still be this good, I give it to you.
Qiao Ling coughed once, rubbed her eyes clear, “No, just woke up, a bit dazed.”
“Still sleeping? I bought baozi from Zhuan Street Hui People Restaurant.” Chen Kuang walked in.
From far away she could already smell the fragrance of beef baozi made by that old brand restaurant, her taste buds awakened in an instant, her gaze cleared: “Not sleeping anymore, I’ll wash up right now, you quickly tie up the bag, don’t let my baozi get cold.”
After saying that, swish, she rushed into the bathroom.
Qiao Ling sat on the toilet brushing her teeth, thinking about the topic from last night that was interrupted, only realizing after the fact—seems like she hadn’t properly said she liked Chen Kuang yet.
That day when Chen Kuang was drunk, what did she say?
【Right now, I just want, someone older than me, with even more flaws than me, you.】
She was silent for a few seconds, then hugged her head and screamed, stomping hard.
How can I say such embarrassing words!!!!??
Is this filming a TV drama!
Qiao Ling raised her head in a mess, so saying, what stage are she and Chen Kuang at now exactly? Can someone teach her?
She stood up and faced the mirror, while rinsing her mouth she kept pondering non-stop.
Still have to clearly and plainly say “like” once, should I say it? When should I say it?
Should I order a bouquet of roses for Chen Kuang? That would seem a bit more formal…
With her mind in such a mess, after finishing washing up, Qiao Ling decided to focus seriously on finishing breakfast first.
After all, that was baozi and lamb offal from Zhuan Street Hui People Restaurant.
[Note: Hui People Restaurant (回民馆) — a common type of restaurant in China serving halal food associated with the Hui ethnic minority.]
Qiao Ling hopped over to the dining table along her drool, seeing that he had already helped set up the bowls and chopsticks, and happily sat down.
“Why have you been getting up so early lately, not sleepy? Obviously you have to work until after midnight.”
“Recently was a bit lazy, didn’t exercise much, felt my body got too loose.” Chen Kuang picked up a baozi, said: “And also, proper exercise, come back and continue sleeping, the quality will be even better.”
He lifted his eyes, teasing: “Interested? Bring you along for morning exercise?”
Qiao Ling was terrified, patting her own sore little arm, “Every day I’m lifting a hammer in the shop hammering silver all day, that’s all anaerobic, I don’t want to ‘add extra training’ after work!”
Because she had the skill of making silver jewelry, since she was little her arm strength was greater than other girls.
Otherwise she couldn’t have, by herself, dragged the drunk Chen Kuang back home from outside.
But when it came to aerobic exercise, she was no good, couldn’t understand why these people were so enthusiastic about running.
She drank a mouthful of lamb offal soup without seasoning, let out a breath, “Absolute… Hui People Restaurant’s soup like this is definitely the reason I didn’t want to take university entrance exams out of town back then.”
Chen Kuang also imitated her, first drinking a mouthful of plain soup, then adding seasoning, mercilessly exposing: “Wasn’t it because your score wasn’t enough.”
Qiao Ling’s face dropped: “……”
Not everyone can casually get seven hundred plus points in the highly competitive college entrance exam provinces in the Jiang-Zhe-Hu area, alright? Genius Mister Chen!!
She cold-faced instructed him: “Do you know how to eat? Chives flower sauce must be added, and also, putting that much pepper won’t increase the saltiness, put some salt.”
Chen Kuang’s lip line trembled slightly, the corners of his eyes flicking upward nonstop, very obediently learning from her.
“Got it, don’t be fierce.”
Qiao Ling snorted once.
At this moment the doorbell rang, she was eating baozi and asked: “You ordered takeout?”
Chen Kuang shook his head, guessing: “Probably a delivery coming to the door, I’ll go take a look.”
He still held half a baozi in his hand, walked to the entrance and opened the door in one go, “Hello.”
But the person outside didn’t react right away either, laughing loudly like a loudspeaker: “Little sister ah! This morning’s fresh hairy crabs, brought you a basket—”
Qiao Jing saw that the one who opened the door was him, the smile froze on his face.
Chen Kuang’s chewing movements stopped, brows and eyes slowed down.
……
……
Qiao Ling heard Qiao Jing’s voice, secretly cried out Not Good, before she had time to go explain, she heard her cousin’s sharp explosive shout echo through the entire hallway.
“Fuck!!!!!! Your grandpa!!!!!!”
“Chen Kuang!!! I’ll fucking kill you!!!!!!”
Qiao Ling put down her chopsticks, closed her eyes: “……”
Don’t want to bother, really.
…………
Even though they were already about to fight over there, Qiao Ling still took another bite of baozi before slowly walking toward the entrance, putting on an act to pull them apart: “Ge… don’t make a fuss all of a sudden, okay.”
At the doorway, Qiao Jing was grabbing Chen Kuang’s collar, so angry his neck was thick: “You still dare talk! I’ll get your mom over here to beat your butt into flowers, believe it or not?!”
“Your wings have hardened, now you’re learning from others to live together with a man, is that it!!”
“How long has it been?! Since when?! Did he bully you or not?!”
“It’s not like what you think!” Qiao Ling was really speechless, stomped her foot and almost flung off her slipper, “Can you not talk so rudely!”
“You still know to care about face…” Qiao Jing let out an angry laugh, not arguing with her for now, turning around and glaring at Chen Kuang, “You—how do you want to die.”
Chen Kuang was grabbed by the collar but didn’t fall behind in the slightest, leisurely raised his hand and stuffed the last bite of baozi into his mouth, speaking vaguely: “If you want to kill or slice me up, let’s do it outside.”
Qiao Jing’s head heated up, smoking.
I fucking must kill you… letting you act cool!!!
……………
Just like that, Chen Kuang was dragged by Qiao Jing from upstairs to the community gate, along the way attracting quite a few side glances from passersby.
At this point, Chen Kuang’s attitude of letting himself be butchered only made Qiao Jing angrier.
If he would at least show some weakness or panic, that would be something! But this indifferent attitude, it felt like he didn’t care about his sister at all!
This stinky scumbag!!
At the community gate, Qiao Jing found a corner in an alley, let go of his hand and rolled up his sleeves: “Your grandpa’s, even if I have to go into the police station today I’ll still take off one of your arms.”
Chen Kuang put his hands in his pockets, leaned back against the wall, “Coming out with you was because I had something to ask you.”
“But before that.”
He switched to a serious expression, told the other: “I only borrowed her living room to sleep, didn’t do anything.”
“And, I am serious about her.”
“What kind of dog fart can come out of a man’s mouth, I don’t know?” Qiao Jing simply didn’t believe it, “You’re serious about her, then why did you move in with her right from the start?”
“And with your conditions, do you think you’re worthy of her!?”
“You’re serious about her, yet the two of you have lived together for so long without saying a word about it, not even telling me. Hiding and covering up like that—what’s the meaning? I’m a man, I don’t understand?”
Chen Kuang didn’t tell him that keeping it a secret was Qiao Ling’s idea, he took the responsibility on himself: “This matter is my fault, but I didn’t lie to you, and I haven’t lied to her.”
“You!” Qiao Jing clenched his back teeth until they almost shattered. Although he knew his cousin liked Chen Kuang, he didn’t know these two had already moved in together long ago.
No wonder, no wonder…
“You hit me.” Chen Kuang’s brows and eyes were calm, his posture relaxed, without the slightest bit of fear, “This beating is something I deserve.”
Just like Xie Rouyin said before, he had been so indecisive toward Qiao Ling for so long, he should suffer some retribution.
“When you’ve had enough hitting, have a chat with me.” His real purpose was after that.
Qiao Jing hardened his fists, impatiently asked: “What the hell do you still want to ask?”
“Has Qiao Ling ever had any not-so-good experiences before?” Chen Kuang had always been bothered by the things Qiao Ling mentioned. He absolutely didn’t believe her resistance toward Gao Ziyao’s intimacy was just because she didn’t like him enough.
Her fear of intimate contact between men and women was something engraved in her subconscious.
When Qiao Jing heard that, his expression changed a bit, “You…”
“You noticed something?”
“You still say you didn’t do anything!!” He got anxious.
Chen Kuang stepped forward, stood up straight, solemnly told the other: “Qiao Ling can live her whole life without falling in love, without getting married, staying far away from men.”
“But she can’t live her whole life carrying an unforgettable shadow on her back.”
“Qiao Jing, do you understand what I mean?”
He understood too well the feeling of storing a shadow inside the body.
Like carrying a time bomb that could explode at any moment. If it doesn’t go off, fine. Once it does, it’s bone-deep pain, a damp suffocating feeling, no medicine can save it, until it causes enough trouble and hides again.
Qiao Jing fell silent, turned his gaze away, clearly knowing something.
“Don’t ask about it anymore, she doesn’t want others to know.”
Chen Kuang turned his thoughts, some not-so-good guesses coming up, frowning: “Could it be… is it…”
“It’s not that!” Qiao Jing immediately cut him off, irritably scratching his head: “Girl stuff, how can I as a man talk about it to others!”
“I know, but I’m a bit anxious.” Chen Kuang comforted him, letting him put down his psychological burden: “Just think of yourself as only Qiao Ling’s family. Anyway, she doesn’t even see you as a man.”
Who knows when Qiao Ling would take the initiative to open up, he didn’t want to see her facing him with a heart full of burdens, always carrying a bit of guilt, anymore.
Qiao Jing stretched his muscles, “Wait a minute, don’t rush to change the subject, our matter isn’t settled yet!”
Chen Kuang pulled at the corner of his mouth, put his face in front of him, urged: “…Hit.”
Some things between men, if you don’t lay hands, reason will never get through.
With this punch, it counted as him, in some way, allowing the matter between Chen Kuang and Qiao Ling.
Qiao Jing didn’t hold back at all, swung his arm, and threw a punch at his face—
…………
After the fight, the two of them went to the nearest McDonald’s.
Qiao Jing looked at the big bruise on Chen Kuang’s face sitting opposite him, felt a little more comfortable in his heart, took a bite of hash brown: “Hmph, I’ve long wanted to land a punch on that cheap face of yours.”
With a wound on his face, every time he spoke it tugged and hurt. Chen Kuang’s voice was muffled as he reminded him: “You’ve hit me already, time to talk about the real matter.”
“How much do you actually know? Who bullied Qiao Ling?”
“Tch.” Qiao Jing put down his hamburger, expression rarely deep, “If I really have to say it, it doesn’t really count. Ai, how to put it.”
“It was stuff from when she was still living with her grandma as a kid. Before she was fourteen, she basically lived in the Yungui region.”
“My shen is her mom, from a remote little mountain village, that kind of remote place where people’s education level is lacking, overall quality is low, and there’s a lot of messy stuff.”
“I only know the general situation from what my mom told me.”
Yang Manyun was born into a silverwork craftsman family in a small mountain village, the family had two sons and one daughter. Her two brothers didn’t have the talent to inherit the Miao silver craftsmanship, but she, the only one with talent, didn’t like that craft. Forced to learn it from a young age, after becoming an adult, she resolutely ran out of the mountain village, unwilling to stay there her whole life, longing to make a career and earn big money.
Then outside, she met Qiao Zhiwen, who was also just starting a business. The two of them teamed up to do business, later gradually got together and became husband and wife.
After getting married, in the first year, Yang Manyun gave birth to Qiao Ling. But at that time, the couple’s business was just starting to get off the ground. At Qiao Ling’s grandmother’s house, there were not many elderly people left who could help take care of a child. Yang Manyun had no choice. Thinking that although her hometown was remote, at least the mountains and waters nurtured people, life there was carefree and without worries, and there was no need to follow her around and suffer hardship. So, she brought Qiao Ling back to the mountain village and handed her over to her mother, then turned around and left.
Qiao Ling counted as a half-left-behind child, only able to see her parents, who were doing business, during holidays and festivals when they came back to visit her.
Yang Manyun’s parents inherited the family’s traditional silverwork craftsmanship. Their craft belonged to Miao silver, but it was a very small and ancient side branch within Miao silver culture. Compared to the techniques and styles commonly known in books, there were subtle differences.
This branch’s craftsmanship was even more old-fashioned, one could even say clumsy and conservative. Generations of inheritance made this craft a mission that the Yang family members had to carry on their backs.
Qiao Ling’s maternal grandfather passed away from illness at the age of forty. Maternal grandmother Chu Shuqin shouldered the entire family’s burden alone, becoming the only living textbook in the village still holding onto the intangible cultural heritage craft.