The urgency in Xiang Xi’s voice and the barely intelligible words made Cheng Boyan feel helpless. After trying to communicate for a while without understanding what Xiang Xi was trying to say, he had to interrupt the static-filled call: “What exactly happened to you? Is it urgent? Should I call the police for you?”

“No police! Don’t call the police!” Xiang Xi shouted.

“Alright, I hear you! Now hurry up! Tell me where you are and what’s going on?” Cheng Boyan finally heard something clearly and, oddly enough, felt a strange sense of relief.

“I… that street… actually…” Xiang Xi’s voice turned unclear again.

“Enough, stop talking, I can’t hear you,” Cheng Boyan sighed, thought for a moment, then suddenly shouted, “You’re making me dumber by the second! Stop calling, just text me! Send me a text!”

On the other end, Xiang Xi immediately hung up.

“Ugh…” Cheng Boyan frowned, pulled open the cabinet, put on his coat, and after thinking for a moment, took some cash from a drawer before heading out the door.

He wasn’t sure what exactly was happening with Xiang Xi, but he decided to go check it out. He didn’t know if he had lost his mind or if he was just too kind-hearted, wasting his rare day off on this matter.

Sitting in the car, he waited for quite a while, but Xiang Xi’s message still hadn’t arrived. Cheng Boyan suddenly found himself believing one thing: Xiang Xi being practically illiterate… was probably true.

After quite some time, his phone finally chimed with an incoming message from Xiang Xi.

"I am locked in a room and can’t get out. Can you help me find a locksmith to come and open the door?"

The message included an address. Cheng Boyan had to read the whole text multiple times, automatically correcting all the typos in his head before finally understanding it. However, from the content alone, he couldn’t determine if it was an emergency or not.

He opened the GPS in his car, checked the approximate route, and then replied: "I’m coming over now, should be there in about forty minutes."

The address was in the city, not too far from Cheng Boyan’s location, and quite close to Fengbo Zhuang.

On the drive there, his phone remained silent. Xiang Xi didn’t call or send any more messages, which made it seem like nothing too serious was happening.

He started considering that if this was just a case of accidentally getting locked in, after helping unlock the door, should he give Xiang Xi a piece of his mind? Making him waste over an hour of his day off for something so trivial.

When he arrived at the neighbourhood, he had to circle around several times before finally finding a parking spot by the road. Looking around, he didn’t see any locksmith shops nearby, so he decided to go upstairs first and check out the situation.

Xiang Xi lived on the seventh floor, the top floor, with no elevator. As Cheng Boyan climbed the stairs, he started wondering whether Xiang Xi’s leg could even handle going up and down seven floors…

When he reached the sixth floor, he suddenly heard someone upstairs cursing loudly.

Cheng Boyan stopped in his tracks. It wasn’t Xiang Xi’s voice; it was an unfamiliar man.

“Pretty smart, huh? Still had the balls to steal my phone!” The man’s voice was loud and aggressive. “No wonder you grew up in the backwaters—you can steal without a trace! I didn’t even feel it!”

Cheng Boyan frowned. If this man was talking about Xiang Xi, then he had really walked into trouble.

“No problem! Who did you call, huh? Calling for backup? Let’s see what kind of loser you can get to help you. Without Uncle Ping, you’re nothing but trash!”

Cheng Boyan reached the seventh floor. The hallway was cluttered with piles of cabbages and green onions. All four apartment doors were closed, and he couldn’t see anyone. The person who had been yelling had also gone quiet.

He stood in the corridor for a few seconds but didn’t hear anything. The address Xiang Xi provided only said "seventh floor," with no specific apartment number. So he raised his voice and called out:

“Xiang Xi? Xiang Xi!”

“Hey—” A voice suddenly came from one of the rooms on the right. “Here! Over here—”

“Where?” Cheng Boyan walked toward the right, startled by how unexpectedly clear and sharp Xiang Xi’s voice was.

Xiang Xi didn’t answer. Instead, the door of the inner-most apartment opened, and a young man in his twenties stepped out.

It was pretty cold outside, yet this guy was only wearing a tank top.

Cheng Boyan stopped and made eye contact with him. The guy stared at him in silence, so Cheng Boyan had to call out again: “Xiang Xi? Is it this one?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Xiang Xi’s voice rang out clearly from inside. Then, sounding a bit concerned, he quickly added, “Brother, did you come alone?”

“What, you expected me to bring the cops?” Cheng Boyan replied.

The tank top guy still didn’t say anything, just stood there blocking his way, making it hard for him to move forward or back.

“There’s a tank top… guy here. Is he your friend?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“What do you want?” the tank top guy finally spoke, cutting off Xiang Xi’s response and staring at Cheng Boyan with a rather rude tone.

“I’m here for Xiang Xi,” Cheng Boyan answered simply. Regardless of this guy’s relationship with Xiang Xi, he didn’t look like a decent person. Cheng Boyan naturally had a dislike for people with this kind of look. If Xiang Xi weren’t so pitiful, calling him "brother" all the time, he wouldn’t have bothered coming at all.

“Who the hell are you?” The tank top guy looked him up and down with obvious disdain.

Cheng Boyan didn’t bother answering and had no patience to stand around. He pushed past the guy and walked straight into the apartment.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Xiang Xi standing behind an iron security door, gripping the bars with both hands.

For a split second, Cheng Boyan felt like he was visiting someone in prison.

“Brother,” Xiang Xi waved at him through the bars, then quickly lowered his voice and said, “Didn’t I tell you to bring a locksmith? Why did you come alone? What if something happens?”

“If something were going to happen, it would’ve happened already,” Cheng Boyan glanced back at the tank top guy, then stepped closer to inspect the iron door. He turned around and held out his hand toward the guy.

“Key.”

“Tan Xiaokang! Hurry up and open the damn door!” Xiang Xi also shouted.

“Oh wow, look at you! Acting all tough just because you have backup now,” Tan Xiaokang stood still, looking extremely displeased. “Calling him 'brother' and everything.”

“What do you even want? Are you done yet?” Xiang Xi asked impatiently.

"Key." Cheng Boyan frowned. This kind of standoff with a thug made him very uncomfortable—it felt a bit embarrassing.

"No way," Tan Xiaokang answered crisply. "Call the cops if you’ve got the guts!"

Cheng Boyan ignored him and turned to Xiang Xi. "Why did he lock you in?"

"He's a pervert!" Xiang Xi was still fuming from last night’s incident.

"I'm a pervert just because I wanted to fuck?!" Tan Xiaokang jumped to the iron gate. "Who do you think you are? Untouchable?!"

"That’s right! I am untouchable!" Xiang Xi kicked the door. "Fuck off, you perverted freak!"

"Enough." Cheng Boyan had already gotten the gist of the conversation. He frowned at Xiang Xi but didn’t say much else. Instead, he stepped forward and grabbed Tan Xiaokang’s arm. "Key. Don’t make me use force."

Tan Xiaokang originally had no intention of fighting, but the moment Cheng Boyan grabbed him, he exploded like a firecracker. He swung his arm at Cheng Boyan’s face. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

"The biggest fucking deal!" Cheng Boyan dodged the swing, losing the last bit of his patience. He grabbed Tan Xiaokang and flung him onto the sofa, then picked up a belt lying there—who knew whose it was—and lashed it across Tan Xiaokang’s arm. "Where’s the key?!"

"Murder! Holy shit, you're hardcore—" Tan Xiaokang shouted while lifting his leg to kick Cheng Boyan’s stomach.

"Brother, watch out!" Xiang Xi panicked, gripping the iron bars and shaking the door.

Cheng Boyan sidestepped, but Tan Xiaokang’s foot still landed hard on his thigh. It hurt—a lot. He clicked his tongue in irritation, grabbed Tan Xiaokang’s arm, and twisted it sharply, driving his knee into the guy’s lower back.

"Aahhh—!" Tan Xiaokang howled as he was flipped face-down onto the sofa, his arm twisted behind his back, immobilized. Only his legs were still kicking uselessly against the floor.

"Dislocate him! Dislocate him!" Xiang Xi got excited, jumping onto the iron bars and yelling. "Take his arm off!"

"Shut up!" Cheng Boyan turned and glared at him.

"The key’s in his back pocket," Xiang Xi immediately stopped shouting and pointed.

When Cheng Boyan reached for the key, his grip loosened slightly, and Tan Xiaokang struggled to flip over and fight back.

"Try this," Cheng Boyan swiftly pressed his knee into Tan Xiaokang’s back, yanked his wrist higher, and poked his shoulder joint twice with his fingers. "Right here. If I put a little more force, this’ll pop right out."

Tan Xiaokang let out a sharp cry, turning his head to glare at him.

"I only know this one move, but practice makes it perfect. If you want to see it in action, I can give you a demonstration," Cheng Boyan said, pulling the key from his pocket. "If not, just don’t move."

Tan Xiaokang wasn’t some big ruthless character. After hearing that, he fell silent. When Cheng Boyan finally let go and went to unlock the door, he just lay there on the sofa, fuming, eyes burning with anger.

Xiang Xi had already packed up his things. The moment Cheng Boyan opened the iron door, Xiang Xi rushed out of the bedroom with his backpack and headed straight for Tan Xiaokang.

"What are you doing?" Cheng Boyan grabbed him.

With the momentum, Xiang Xi spun halfway around before coming to a stop. He didn’t say anything.

"Let’s go." Cheng Boyan tossed the key back onto the table and pulled Xiang Xi toward the door.

"Wait." Xiang Xi stopped and rummaged through his bag.

Cheng Boyan watched his hands closely, in case he was about to pull out a weapon. But after searching for a while, Xiang Xi retrieved a small roll of cash from a hidden side pocket.

He took out a few bills and placed them on the small tea table by the door. Then, glancing at Tan Xiaokang, he said, "This should cover rent and utilities for the past few days."

Cheng Boyan watched as he carefully rolled up the remaining money and stuffed it back into his bag before turning and walking out of the apartment.

Inside the car, neither of them spoke for a long time.

"Brother, thank you," Xiang Xi finally said, hugging his backpack and looking out the window.

"What the hell happened?" Cheng Boyan asked.

"Tan Xiaokang used to be my neighbour back in… Zhao Jiayao," Xiang Xi bit his lip. "When I got discharged from the hospital, I had nowhere to go, and I ran into him. So I stayed at his place for the time being. He’s the one who got me the job at Fengbo Zhuang."

"You had nowhere to go?" Cheng Boyan looked at him in surprise. "Didn’t I drop you off at Zhao Jiayao after you were discharged?"

"You insisted on dropping me off, so I had to give you an address," Xiang Xi smiled. "I… forget it, there’s no point explaining. You wouldn’t believe me anyway. Long story short, I ended up staying at his place. Then that pervert—last night, he tried to sexually assault me, said he liked me. Fucking grossed me out. So he locked me in."

Cheng Boyan frowned and let out a small cough.

"What?" Xiang Xi turned to him. "He is a pervert!"

"Yeah," Cheng Boyan nodded, a bit helpless. "A pervert."

"You're telling me not to swear, right?" Xiang Xi suddenly realized and said somewhat sheepishly, "I've been swearing for over ten years, it's a habit. Trust me, I've been holding back in front of you. If I really let loose, out of twenty words, eighteen might be curses... Alright, I’ll stop."

"Do as you like," Cheng Boyan sighed, rubbing his temples. "What you mean is, you have nowhere to go now, right?"

Yes, nowhere to go.

That's why he called you.

Xiang Xi lowered his head. He didn’t call Cheng Boyan just to get someone to get him out of Tan Xiaokang’s place.

Cheng Boyan was the only "normal person" he knew in this world whom he could talk to. If he wanted to break away from his past life and take the right step forward, he needed someone like him.

Honestly, if he had any other way, he wouldn't be clinging to Cheng Boyan like this. It was unfair and embarrassing. But right now, he had no other choice. If he didn’t hold on to Cheng Boyan, he’d slip back into the mud.

"It’s fine," Xiang Xi sniffled and forced a grin. "Worst case, I’ll just go back to the ATM lobby."

"The ATM lobby?" Cheng Boyan was stunned. "You’re planning to rob a bank? Smarten up a little, will you..."

"Dr. Cheng, can you think better of me for once?" Xiang Xi drawled with a sigh. "Do I have to rob it? Can't I just stay there?"

"You're telling me sleeping in an ATM lobby is 'thinking better of you'?" Cheng Boyan glanced at him.

"It's not bad," Xiang Xi scratched his head. "If Tan Xiaokang hadn’t come in to pee that night, I'd still be sleeping there. He nearly pissed all over me..."

"Jesus..." Cheng Boyan was speechless. He reached into the glove compartment, pulled out a bottle of sanitizer, squeezed some onto his hands, rubbed them thoroughly, then started the car. "Enough. Let’s get you something to eat first."

"My treat," Xiang Xi immediately offered. "You came all this way for my mess today."

"No need, save your money." Cheng Boyan thought of how carefully Xiang Xi had tucked that small roll of cash back into his bag. It looked like only a few thousand at most—probably all he had.

"It's not like I’m taking you anywhere fancy. Just soy milk, fried dough sticks, potstickers—twenty bucks will fill us both up." Xiang Xi grinned. "Come on, brother, let me treat you once."

Cheng Boyan glanced at him. "Then I want tofu pudding."

"No problem!" Xiang Xi snapped his fingers. "I’ll give you directions—there’s a place near Fengbo Zhuang that makes it really well. I just found it the other day."

Cheng Boyan had rarely eaten breakfast outside since childhood. His mother always made it for him. Even during university, he hadn’t eaten out much because the medical school was in the same city, and his mother would always find ways to get him to come home so she could cook for him.

The last time he had tofu pudding in a small roadside shop was last year.

Sitting at a slightly greasy table, he watched Xiang Xi bustle back and forth, bringing over a pile of steamed dumplings, fried dough sticks, and fried pancakes, along with two large bowls of tofu pudding. Then, after another trip, Xiang Xi came back with two bowls of soy milk.

"...We can’t finish all this." Cheng Boyan eyed the food.

"Just tell me how much you can eat." Xiang Xi looked at him.

"One bowl of tofu pudding, two fried dough sticks," Cheng Boyan said.

"Huh?" Xiang Xi paused, then clicked his tongue. "No wonder you're always exhausted at work... Alright, you eat what you can. I'll handle the rest."

Cheng Boyan ate his tofu pudding and fried dough sticks. The steamed dumplings smelled good, so he had two of those as well. Xiang Xi polished off everything else.

As they stepped out of the shop, Xiang Xi rubbed his stomach and let out a loud burp, then looked at Cheng Boyan. "That was loud, huh?"

"I heard it." Cheng Boyan frowned.

"Do you need to wash your hands?" Xiang Xi grinned.

"With a mouth like that, no wonder people lock you up," Cheng Boyan remarked.

"I got locked up because I'm too handsome..." Xiang Xi sighed, clearly bitter about it.

To be fair, though life with Tan Xiaokang hadn’t been great, at least he had started working. If Tan Xiaokang hadn’t suddenly lost his temper, maybe after working hard for a while, he could have landed a proper job as a waiter—standing at the entrance, calling out to customers like "Brave heroes, fair maidens, please come inside!"

But right now, that wasn’t the most important thing. The real issue was that Cheng Boyan still hadn’t said whether he was going to send him back to the ATM lobby.

Cheng Boyan had already gotten into the car. Xiang Xi glanced at his expression but couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

He was sure that Cheng Boyan was soft-hearted. But he also knew, even better than Cheng Boyan himself, that they were from completely different worlds.

Would Cheng Boyan really be soft-hearted enough to keep helping a troublesome street punk like him? He wasn’t sure.

Cheng Boyan watched him get in the car but didn’t start driving immediately. Instead, he stared at him for a moment, making Xiang Xi feel a little guilty—he almost wanted to say, "Brother, maybe I should just get out of the car."

"Xiang Xi," Cheng Boyan finally started the engine, his tone serious. "I know what you're thinking."

"Huh?" Xiang Xi was caught off guard.

"I’m not some especially kind or charitable person," Cheng Boyan said, driving forward. "I have my own reasons for helping you."

Xiang Xi responded with a quiet "Mm," not daring to say much.

"You can stay at my place for a few days," Cheng Boyan continued. "During that time, start looking for an apartment and a job."

"Alright!" Xiang Xi nodded quickly. "Thanks, brother!"

"One more thing," Cheng Boyan glanced at him. "There are ground rules if you're staying at my place."

 

Translator : DarNan