“You…” Qiao Ling’s heart and mind both trembled, stuck in his pair of eyes unable to get out.
“The bike is repaired.” He lifted his own injured arm, showing her the scar, “But this still hurts.”
Chen Kuang looked at her, his gaze deep: “What to do?”
She was completely led by him, her sight stuck on the sexy veins on his arm, only foolishly followed and asked: “… Then what should be done.”
He seemed to have noticed her bold point of focus, a sound came from his throat, directly pointing it out.
“Want to touch?”
Qiao Ling’s heart boomed all of a sudden, “I… don’t…”
“Don’t?” Chen Kuang glanced at his own scar, leisurely said: “But it’s been hurting all this time, what to do.”
That glance of his was clearly teasing, “How about you blow on it for me?”
“You blow on it.”
Saying that, Chen Kuang lowered his head, bit by bit getting close to the tip of her nose.
“Then it won’t hurt anymore.”
Di di di——
The phone alarm rang.
Morning, 8:30.
Qiao Ling stared at the ceiling, her heart racing, face flushed red from being flirted with by Chen Kuang in the dream.
She really was about to go crazy.
…………
Qiao Jing referred her to a mountain bike club in the city center, they had bike repair services.
Before opening the shop at noon, Qiao Ling pushed Chen Kuang’s mountain bike to this place.
“Hello…” She pushed open the door, saw two men in very sporty outfits inside the store.
One of them was the boss, “What do you need?”
Qiao Ling pushed the bike in, simply explained the situation, asked if it could be repaired.
The boss walked over to check the bike’s condition, the other mountain bike enthusiast leaned in, let out a sound, “Trek Generation 4 TopFuel 9.9? Impressive.”
The boss fiddled with the parts, agreed: “Mn, looks like it’s still that XTR model.”
Qiao Ling was completely blank-faced, like an outsider listening to heavenly books: “What’s up?”
“Miss, this bike isn’t yours, right?” The mountain bike enthusiast gege immediately saw she was an outsider, smiling.
“Mn, my friend’s bike, I’m here to repair it for him.” Qiao Ling explained, then asked: “What’s with this bike?”
The gege waved his hand: “Nothing, just seeing a good thing gets us a bit excited.”
“Your friend’s got quite the setup, do you know how much this bike costs?”
Qiao Ling scratched her head looking at the bike, although it really did look professional and pretty, back in middle and high school there were also male classmates who played with mountain bikes.
She said: “This kind of bike, at most a few thousand, ten thousand yuan?”
The gege and the boss exchanged a look, laughed twice: “It’s fine, not knowing is normal, this bike is competition level, even the lowest configuration costs more than eighty thousand.”
Qiao Ling was stunned silly: “Renminbi??”
The gege nodded: “Renminbi, red bills.”
The boss pointed at a few parts: “He’s also swapped some components, at a glance it’s not the lowest configuration.”
Qiao Ling’s mind went blank.
It’s over. If this mountain bike that costs over eighty thousand yuan needs repairs…
Wouldn’t it end up costing the same as fixing a car??
It’s over, the already not-wealthy household now has misfortune piled on top of misfortune, ao——
The boss clapped his hands and stood up, “He should have Trek’s after-sales service, but in this area there really isn’t a Trek offline store, otherwise you wouldn’t have come to me.”
“Miss, this kind of thing, you really can’t make the decision.”
Qiao Ling didn’t understand, “Why?”
“This bike’s parts would need to be ordered from outside the city, the price isn’t low, and I don’t know according to his preferences which model parts he’d want to replace it with. Since you’re just a friend, it’d be best to let him come to the store once.” The club boss said.
She took out her phone wanting to send Chen Kuang a WeChat message, but then thought that at this time he was probably sleeping, so she silently put it down again.
“Alright then.”
The club boss wrote her a slip, “You can leave the bike here first, then let your friend come over. I’ll check everything thoroughly and communicate with him.”
Seeing the boss so serious and responsible, Qiao Ling didn’t know bikes, so she didn’t say much, just nodded and signed.
When signing, Qiao Ling looked at the “bike model” field filled in as “Trek Generation 4 TopFuel9.9XTR,” and doubt once again rose up from her heart.
So strange.
Chen Kuang worked so hard, even going to the bar to sleep yet unwilling to give up his rental, logically speaking he shouldn’t be that well-off.
How could he afford a mountain bike costing over eighty thousand yuan?
And looking at his attitude last night, it seemed like even if such an expensive bike was broken, in his eyes it wasn’t a big deal.
With that doubt emerging, Chen Kuang’s whole person gained another layer of mystery in her mind.
This man was like an onion, wrapped in so many, so many layers of mysterious outer skins.
Every time one layer was peeled back, inside was a fresh world she had never come into contact with before.
…………
Today’s business was still sparse and cold. In the evening, the family kept urging her, so she hung the shop manager’s signboard on the store entrance and rushed home to eat her dad’s “nutritious grand meal.”
Although in grandma’s mouth, her dad was the most useless among the sons, both she and her mom had always been very satisfied with her dad.
Because in her dad’s eyes, the two of them — mother and daughter — were his whole world.
He had trained himself in good cooking skills. Back then, after getting married and bringing her mom out from the small mountain village in Gui City, he had never let her need to cook again.
“Aiyo, you’re back, quick, quick, the crabs just finished steaming, still hot.” Qiao Zhiwen saw his daughter come through the door, still wearing an apron as he came to greet her, taking her backpack and hanging it aside.
Yang Manyun was sitting on the sofa knitting a sweater, glanced over, laughed and said: “Look at how diligent your dad is, seeing you is like seeing a precious treasure.”
“Watch that pot of yours, don’t let it boil over!”
Qiao Zhiwen laughed as he went back to the kitchen, “Of course she’s the precious treasure.”
“Ling’er, hurry and wash your hands, after eating go back to the store early.”
Qiao Ling nodded obediently, “Dad, don’t make too much, I won’t be able to finish.”
Ever since she opened the shop, she wished she could stay in that little room in the office building all day long. The chances for the three of them to sit together and eat had greatly decreased compared to before.
Even though they still lived in the same area, ever since Qiao Ling moved out, within just a couple of days Qiao Zhiwen would start missing his daughter, bringing up this matter again at the dining table.
Yang Manyun teased him, picked up an abalone for her daughter, “Look at your dad, this daughter-slave look of his. Later on, if you want to get married, he won’t know how many ways he’ll come up with to delay it.”
“Don’t even know what kind of son-in-law could get your dad’s approval.”
Qiao Zhiwen sighed, poured himself another half glass of beer, “It has to be the best man in the world, otherwise, I really wouldn’t agree.”
Qiao Ling, who for now only wanted to make money, listened to all this with no pressure at all, chewing on the abalone with an oily mouth, grinning while eating.
Yang Manyun reminded her husband: “Drink less, pay attention during those work dinners recently too. If it’s not your turn to speak up, don’t go fighting for attention and drinking heavily.”
Qiao Ling put down her bowl and chopsticks and started focusing seriously on peeling shrimp, listening to her parents’ nagging.
Her dad was just a small figure in a government office unit, with no ambition for official rank, so all these years he hadn’t been promoted, but the family was content with the current situation.
Her mom only hoped he would steadily wait for retirement, but lately her dad seemed to have a sudden old-age ambition, for some reason wanting to push forward a bit.
Sure enough, the three of them didn’t finish all the dishes on the table. Her dad and mom were into health maintenance, couldn’t eat too much seafood.
Qiao Ling stared at those dishes, suddenly thought of Chen Kuang who almost fainted.
Today he probably hadn’t gone back to sleep in his apartment either.
“Ma, can you help me pack up these dishes?” she wiped her mouth.
Yang Manyun was puzzled: “What, you want to bring them home for a midnight snack?”
Before the mother and daughter finished chatting, Qiao Zhiwen was already moving to find takeaway boxes.
“Uh, I’ll drop them off to Qiao Jing after I get off work later, isn’t he running a shop? I’ll just drop by.” She felt a little guilty.
Yang Manyun was even more puzzled: “Didn’t you always kind of dislike Xiao Jing? Since when did you two start getting along so well?”
The moment the bar was mentioned, her mind was full of Chen Kuang’s face. She brushed it off randomly: “Aiya, anyway, just been in touch more recently.”
“He’s been taking care of me, I don’t want to owe people favors.”
“Ma, did you know? That bar he opened is super popular on Douyin and Xiaohongshu lately. They say every day there’s a line, people can’t even get drinks.”
“Yo, really? Then your ge must’ve made big money?” She smiled, helping her husband pack the leftovers.
Qiao Ling gnawed on a pear, “That shop probably needed a big investment. In the early stage it probably hasn’t made much yet. Once they earn back the cost, then they’ll profit, I guess?”
“When I see your aunt later, she’ll definitely show off to me.” Yang Manyun said.
Although it was a nephew’s shop, after all, it was still a bar. Qiao Zhiwen packed up the leftovers and reminded his daughter: “It’s good to want to look after your ge, but bars are too messy. After you deliver it, come home quickly, understand?”
Qiao Ling carried the takeaway box and went to change shoes, “Alright, don’t worry, it’s fine.”
“Come home early tonight, okay? Once you get home send your mom a message.” Qiao Zhiwen followed behind his daughter still giving instructions.
Qiao Ling really couldn’t help it, turned back smiling and hugged her dad: “I know, I know. Thanks for cooking, Dad. I’m off now.”
Only after getting the hug did Qiao Zhiwen finally shut up, smiling with narrowed eyes as he sent his daughter into the elevator.
…………
The whole evening’s shift, Qiao Ling was absent-minded, holding the rubber mallet standing next to a customer, staring at that bag of takeaway by the door in a daze.
Clearly, she only planned to deliver some food.
Why did she feel as expectant as a middle schooler going on a field trip?
“Boss, help me check if I’m hitting this right.” A customer called her.
Qiao Ling came back to her senses, smiling as she walked over to serve: “Okay, I’ll help you check.”
“Mn, you’re doing very well, you can hammer it a bit deeper, like this…”
By the time it was nine-thirty, after sending off the last customer, Qiao Ling almost closed up the store at the fastest speed, changed out of her work clothes, and didn’t forget to go to the restroom to wash her bangs.
Staring at her bare face in the mirror, she rummaged through her bag and found a honey-colored lip balm, applied a layer.
Once ready, Qiao Ling carried the food box, sent Qiao Jing a WeChat message, and walked towards Epic Bar.
So strange.
Clearly, she had just seen him last night.
Yet she felt like she hadn’t seen Chen Kuang in a whole year.