Chapter 33 Part 1

He Lezhi had barely eaten enough during his ten-day business trip and had lost a few pounds. The two of them had originally planned to go out for meat after work the next day, but Han Fangchi was suddenly called away for a joint consultation, and He Lezhi also received a call from his Little Aunt, asking him to go over for dinner.

Little Aunt's husband was given some seafood, but neither Little Aunt nor Xiao An ate it. He Qi found it too far and didn't come either, so only He Lezhi could eat with his uncle, though he couldn't drink with him.

"Brother, why do you look so weathered?" Xiao An asked, looking at He Lezhi.

"What kind of weathered?" He Lezhi asked.

"Tanner? Thinner?" Xiao An studied him seriously. "You seem more haggard than the last time I saw you?"

"I don't think so," He Lezhi said without paying much mind, peeling shrimp with gloves on. "Maybe it's from the wind on the mountain."

"You seem to have no energy," Xiao An said. "Didn't you sleep well?"

Across the table, Little Aunt nudged Xiao An with her knee, giving her a look to tell her to stop. As an unfortunate cousin who had gone through a breakup around the same time as He Lezhi, Xiao An ignored her mother's warning and whispered, "Aiya, that was ages ago."

"What?" He Lezhi looked up.

Xiao An said bluntly, "My mom was afraid your heart was still broken, so she told me not to ask."

"No," He Lezhi said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "It has nothing to do with that, Little Aunt."

Little Aunt looked a lot like He Qi, only she was a bigger version of everything, like a more bloomed He Qi, with larger eyes.

"Lezhi, why don't you stay at Little Aunt's place tonight?" Little Aunt doted on him; He Lezhi had often stayed at her house when he was a child.

"No, I have to work tomorrow morning," He Lezhi said with a smile.

"You can go from here, it's not far from your office," Little Aunt said.

"I still have things to do when I get back. I haven't even washed my clothes from the trip," He Lezhi said.

A WeChat notification was displayed at the top of his phone screen. He Lezhi hadn't replied earlier because he was wearing gloves.

Fangchi: Bought the fruit.

He Lezhi finished peeling all the shrimp, took off his gloves, unlocked his phone by tapping the screen with his knuckle, and replied: Okay.

Little Aunt said, "Alright then, I'll see you at your place this weekend."

He Lezhi smiled and nodded.

A faint sense of attachment lingered in his heart, threads of connection pulling him homeward. It was a feeling similar to when he was a child and He Qi would pick him up from school, telling him she had bought him a toy and left it at home, or the feeling of a good friend waiting for him at home to play.

It wasn't that he had anything urgent to do back home, but he wanted to go back and spend some time with his friend... with Han Fangchi.

When He Lezhi opened the door to his apartment, all the lights were on. Han Fangchi was sitting on the sofa, reading the book He Lezhi had bought at the airport that day. Seeing him return, he looked up. "You're back?"

He Lezhi said with some surprise, "You're here? I was planning to go over to your place in a bit."

"You needed me for something?" Han Fangchi asked.

"No," He Lezhi said with a smile as he came in and changed his shoes. "I just wanted to go over and hang out for a while."

Han Fangchi raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't noticed when he first came in. It was only after He Lezhi changed his clothes, came out, and went to wash his hands that he realized the washing machine was running.

He looked down at the machine and asked, "Did you wash my clothes for me?"

Last night, he had thrown all the clothes he needed to wash into the laundry basket, planning to do it today. Now, half of them were gone.

Han Fangchi said, "I washed the dark ones."

"You..." He Lezhi dried his hands and came out, standing in front of the coffee table. He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees, to look at Han Fangchi at eye level across the table, his eyes curving into crescents. "You're too good to me."

Han Fangchi glanced up, then coolly averted his gaze. "It was nothing."

"What did you have for dinner?" He Lezhi asked.

"I ate at work," Han Fangchi said.

"Want me to cut up some fruit for you?" He Lezhi kept smiling.

"No," Han Fangchi said.

He Lezhi, having changed into a comfortable short-sleeved shirt and long pants, came over and sat on the other side of the long sofa, also finding a book to read.

The sound of the washing machine continued to drone, sounding like it had reached the spin cycle.

The two occupied opposite ends of the sofa, not speaking, each reading their own book.

It was dark outside, and the lights were on in the room. The window glass reflected the clean living room and the two people silently reading.

When the washing machine beeped to signal it was done, He Lezhi stood up, first getting some hangers from the closet, then going to get the clothes.

He put the clothes on the hangers, and Han Fangchi took them to hang them up.

As He Lezhi bent down to pick up some clothes, Han Fangchi suddenly asked, "What happened to your neck?"

"What about it?" He Lezhi didn't register at first, standing up with a piece of clothing in his hand.

"How did you get that cut?" Han Fangchi said.

"What cut?" He Lezhi turned around in confusion. As he turned his neck, he remembered, raising a hand to touch it. "I just scraped it, it's nothing."

There was a cut on the back left side of his neck, half of which was visible above his collar. The wound hadn't scabbed over yet, and the area around it was a little red.

"Come here, let me see," Han Fangchi said.

"Go ahead." He Lezhi casually turned to the side, tilting his head slightly to expose his neck.

Ever since he was a child, He Lezhi had never been afraid of falling or pain; he was a tough kid. He ran every day in high school, and as an adult, he was also very active. He never made a big deal out of bumps and scrapes. Especially when he went trail running, he often had bruises and cuts on his body and paid them little mind.

So when Han Fangchi said he wanted to take a look, He Lezhi bared his neck for him to see, still hanging clothes with his hands.

But when Han Fangchi's fingers landed on his neck, sliding down the side to pull his collar aside, He Lezhi's hands paused almost imperceptibly.

"It's this big?" Han Fangchi said with a frown.

"I didn't know," He Lezhi said.

Han Fangchi held his collar and pulled it a bit further. "Did you take a shower?"

"Yeah," He Lezhi replied, his eyes downcast.

"You didn't..." Han Fangchi paused. He saw a faint rash of small bumps on the area from below He Lezhi's ear down to the hollow of his neck. Under the light, the fine hairs on the small patch of skin at the end of his jaw were already standing on end.

"Are you completely oblivious?" Han Fangchi said, letting go.

He Lezhi straightened his collar and chuckled. "I was sitting under the window and scraped it on the windowsill when I stood up. It didn't feel particularly painful when I showered. Is it a big cut?"

"Don't shower tonight. Don't let it get wet." Han Fangchi took the clothes from He Lezhi's hands and turned to leave.

He Lezhi stood there for a few seconds before picking up more clothes, responding, "Got it."

Han Fangchi had clinic hours on Saturday morning, so the two of them didn't go back to He Qi's house until the afternoon. By the time they arrived, He Qi, her sister, and Xiao An had already prepared most of the ingredients.

"Lezhi, is this that classmate of yours?" Little Aunt asked, looking at Han Fangchi. "The one you two always used to play with?"

Han Fangchi smiled and replied, "It's me, Little Aunt."

"It really is you!" Little Aunt looked at him in surprise. "You've really grown up. Are you married?"

"Not yet," Han Fangchi said.

"You..." Little Aunt was about to ask why he wasn't married, but she paused, looked at He Lezhi, then back at Han Fangchi, and asked tentatively, "You two..."

Han Fangchi didn't understand yet, but He Lezhi chimed in from the side, "No, no no no no."

Little Aunt said, "Ah."

"He's going to get married," He Lezhi added with a smile.

Little Aunt had a personality similar to He Qi's; she loved to laugh. She didn't feel awkward about the misunderstanding and just walked away, laughing heartily.

"Don't mind her," He Lezhi said.