Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Xu Lian felt that her search for Xiang ChangKong wasn’t anything serious. It was only because he had refused to go to the hospital despite being injured that she worried over it throughout the day.

She had remembered the medicinal liquor given to her by her relatives in Hong Kong. Her father said it worked quite well on him, so she wanted to let Xiang ChangKong give it a try.

Afraid that Xu Lian would end up waiting for a long time, Xiang ChangKong arrived at her store at 2:20 p.m.

The door was closed, but it was unlocked. There was a wooden sign hanging on the door with the ‘Closed’ side facing him. Pushing the door open, Xiang ChangKong headed towards the second floor. With a knock, he said: “Hello.”

Xu Lian’s hands were busy handling beeswax. Leaning slightly towards him, she replied: “Wait a minute.”

She put down the wax and took out a paper towel on the table, wiping her hands. She picked up her cell phone and headed downstairs. “Let’s go to the lounge.”

Xiang ChangKong hesitantly nodded. “Well, alright.”

The lounge in Xu Lian’s store wasn’t very big. There was a three-person sofa pushed against one wall, with a long table in front of it. The lounge door was glass with curtains installed, but Xu Lian seldom lowered them down. As Xiang ChangKong sat down, Xu Lian went to a small cabinet and took out a bottle. She turned around and said: “This is a type of medicinal liquor brought back by my relatives from Hong Kong. Dad said it worked wonders for him, so I wanted you to try some too.”

This was totally unexpected to Xiang ChangKong. The entire day he had wondered what Xu Lian wanted from him; now that he realized it was for this reason, he felt a little relieved. Xiang ChangKong was about to say that she didn’t need to trouble herself, but stopped. She had already bought the medicine out. If he refused, Xu Lian might get upset. So in the end, he agreed: “Alright, thank you.”

He reached out a hand to accept the bottle, but instead of giving it to him, Xu Lian pointed to the sofa and said: “Sit down, I’ll wipe it on for you.”

Xiang ChangKong: “……..”

“Ah, this, I can wipe it myself.”

However, Xu Lian insisted: “After putting this medicine on, a massage will make it more effective. You can be rest assured, my mother taught me some special massage techniques, and they’re all tested on my father. It won’t hurt one bit.”

Xiang ChangKong: “……..”

He wasn’t afraid of pain, but something else…

“Where are you experiencing pain? In the abdomen?”

Subconsciously wrapping his arms around his stomach, Xiang ChangKong grasped at his clothes and stammered: “In the legs, legs….”

“Alright.” Xu Lian put the bottle on the table and rolled up his trouser legs. His knee was swollen and sported large bruises. Looking at the mottled skin littered with purple-red dots, Xu Lian was shocked.

When she saw his injuries, she stood up and picked up her cell phone and car keys. She then said: “You need to go to the hospital to check your injuries.”

“It’s fine. It only looks scary. When I was on the basketball team at university, I suffered way more.”

“But….”

“It’s really alright. I put some medicine last night; it doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

Xu Lian looked at the injury on his knee, as if deep in thought. After a while, she put down her keys and said: “Well, let’s try my medicine first. If it doesn’t get better in two days, we’ll go to the hospital.”

Xu Lian straightforwardly decided for the wounded Xiang ChangKong. Licking his lips, Xiang ChangKong said nothing.

Xu Lian picked up the bottle, opened it, and poured some liquor into her palm. The scent of liquor immediately permeated the room, but it wasn’t anything pungent. Xu Lian touched Xiang ChangKong’s knee, pressing on it gently. Soon, she heard him hum in a low tone.

“Hurts?”

Xiang ChangKong shook his head and replied: “No, it was just a little cold.”

“It’ll warm up soon.” Xu Lian said.

As she helped press the medicine into his knee, Xu Lian explained her massage techniques to him, her pressure remaining very light. After a while, the medicine began to warm.

“Did you get any complaints yesterday?” Xu Lian asked.

“No,” Xiang ChangKong replied.

“That’s good.” Xu Lian adjusted her posture and slightly increased the pressure. “You should make sure not to exert yourself too much. Don’t put much weight on it for more than 15 minutes at a time.”

“Nn….” As Xiang ChangKong listened to Xu Lian, his gaze subconsciously lowered to her. Because she was looking down, her hair was hanging down her face. A small movement caused her eyelashes to flutter. From Xiang ChangKong’s angle, the tiny tremble made her lashes look longer. She seemed to have gone for a darker shade of red today, as her lips seemed especially seductive…as if tempting people to gently bite…

Xiang ChangKong’s heart was beating faster than ever, and his breathing deepened a little. As if sensing his change, Xu Lian lifted her head and coincidentally met his eyes straight on.

Xu Lian had always felt that Xiang ChangKong’s deep eyes had many secrets buried in its depths. But to her surprise, his eyes this time was covered with a layer of water, and seemed bright. The medicinal alcohol on her palm felt like it was burning her skin, and Xu Lian shrank a little into herself. She felt her heart beating at an abnormal speed. She felt like she was drowning in this familiar feeling, as if she was moments away from disaster.

It felt like some invisible hands were stretching the silence, and this moment became extraordinarily long.

Pulling down his pant leg, Xiang ChangKong suddenly stood up: “That’s good, thank you.”

Xu Lian looked at his flustered expression, then he hastily left. She sat on the sofa and saw the bottle on top of the small table in front of her.

Ah, he forgot to take the alcohol.

She stared at the bottle for a while. Then she tightened the cap, picked up her belongings, closed the store, and went home.

When she arrived back at her place, Xu Lian worked especially hard. She still had a lot of orders to do, and she brought along the beeswax to continue. She wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing, and before she realized it, she had wrapped more than a hundred pieces of candles…

Seeing the mountain of candles, Xu Lian sighed softly.

On Thursday, MONSTER formally resumed its operations. Wei YiChen sent along a bunch of flowers to commemorate the occasion. Xu Lian placed the beeswax candles on the display cabinet. She also placed a big red one on a candlestick and lit it. As it burned, beautiful tears of beeswax started to drip down, and she took more than ten pictures in succession.

Xu Lian’s photography skills were self-taught. She had bought several books about photography and studied that way. Then, she gradually accumulated experience through actual combat. Now, all the promotional photos used in her store was done by her, with these beautiful scenes attracting many customers.

Zhang GuoEr looked around the store and took out her small notebook to carefully record: ‘Boss usually has something in her mind every time she does a crazy photo-spree.’

Xu Lian continued to take pictures non-stop for another half hour. Then, she chose the best ones and uploaded them on Weibo. Soon, Zhang GuoEr knocked on her door and said: “Boss, its time to order some takeout!”

Zhang GuoEr saw that the word ‘takeout’ caused a ripple in Xu Lian’s usually still eyes. Zhang GuoEr blinked, then approached Xu Lian and asked: “What’s wrong? You don’t want to eat takeaway today?”

“No, I’m just thinking of what to eat.”

Zhang GuoEr laughed. “That dish we ate last time was nice. I want to try two other dishes today.”

“Alright.” Xu Lian opened the takeaway app on her phone and found the restaurant they chose last time. “Do you want to try their potato stir-fry?”

“Ok, lets order another vegetarian dish too?”

“Nn.”

They soon chose another dish. Xu Lian thought about it for a while, then added a note as she placed their order– Please have Xiang ChangKong deliver the meal.

Zhang GuoEr was so shocked her spirit almost left her person. Xiang ChangKong, wasn’t that the pale-skinned takeaway brother?

With probing eyes, she asked: “Boss, why did you specify someone to deliver the meal?” You can ask someone by name in the takeaway industry nowadays?

“No reason.” Xu Lian replied. He was injured in her store last time. She only wanted to see if he’s better.

“Oh…” Zhang GuoEr knew what happened to the store that caused them to close for two days. Boss also told posted that thank you message in her Weibo.

But Brother Wei YiChen was also got injured by this incident, ah. When he came by this morning with some flowers, Zhang GuoEr saw that his face sported a few small injuries. Why didn’t the Boss care about him?

Zhang GuoEr felt that she missed some wonderfully interesting drama.

Xiang ChangKong saw Xu Lian’s note when he received the system dispatch notice. After yesterday’s emotional roller-coaster, he thought that he’d be able to face Xu Lian calmly the next time he saw her. But now, this simple sentence, caused hi emotions to fluctuate.

That scene in her lounge replayed again and again in his eyes, and the rapid beating of his heart made him feel like he was going to lose control any minute now.

The thoughts that surfaced from the depths of his mind when he thought of Xu Lian were really dirty.

“Little Xiang, you’re getting an order here too?” A slightly fat middle-aged man came over with a sunny smile. He was dressed in the same uniform as Xiang ChangKong.

Xiang ChangKong saw him and smiled as he called out: “Brother Wang.”

“One potato stir-fry, one steamed egg soup, two rice, all done!” The boss soon came out with a bag and put them on the table in front of Xiang ChangKong.

This was Xu Lian’s order. Xiang ChangKong grabbed the bag, but stood in place for two seconds. He looked at the brother next to him, then asked: “Brother Wang, can you help me deliver this meal?”

Brother Wang looked at the delivery address. Starlight Park, it was along the way to his own order.

“I can…” Brother Wang’s gaze shifted to the note at the bottom. “But the note said they wanted you to deliver it.”

What a strange thing. He’s been delivering takeout for more than a year already, but he’s never encountered a note that specified the takeaway boy by name.

“Do you know this person?” Brother Wang asked, curious.

“Ah, then sorry to trouble you.” Xiang ChangKong vaguely mentioned another order he had to deliver and quickly left on his scooter.

Xu Lian and Zhang GuoEr waited of their order. As the delivery time got closer and closer, Zhang GuoEr felt Xu Lian’s mood subtly change.

Zhang GuoEr thought that this change must have something to do with that takeaway brother. She looked at the time and said: “Strange, that takeaway brother is usually so punctual. How come he’s five minutes late today?”

Xu Lian replied: “He’s injured.”

“Oh, yeah.” Just as Zhang GuoEr was about to nod, she saw a familiar set of clothes approaching. “He’s here!”

She excitedly rushed to the door and looked at the takeaway….uncle in front of her.

“Hello, are you Ms Xu Lian?” The uncle asked her with a smile.

Xu Lian came forward and took the bag from him: “That’s me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I wish you a pleasant meal.”

“That…” Xu Lian stopped the takeaway uncle that was about to leave. She then asked him: “I made a note asking for Xiang ChangKong to deliver the meal. May I ask, is he alright?”

***

Maiden Xiang ChangKong getting felt up by Bad Boy Xu Lian. But not really, because the maiden is having pervy thoughts about the pure and naive bad boy (girl) (¬‿¬)