Just in Time Chapter 24
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 24: Clear
It was late at night, and the cars on the road were sparse. The warm yellow street lights stretched the shadows of the two people very long.
Yi Chenliang, who was suddenly touched on the head by him, did not get angry unusually.
Being stared at by the little guy’s pitch-black eyes, even Yun Fang suddenly felt a chill on his back.
Yi Chenliang stared at him as if he wanted to eat him.
Yun Fang unconsciously rubbed the fingers that had just rubbed his head, sighed that it was hard to serve a child, and sadly realized that he seemed to be an old father who repeatedly broke his own bottom line, and would only compromise in the face of his son’s unreasonable troubles.
He raised his hand and laughed awkwardly, coaxing the person in front of him, “Okay, okay, I won’t touch it anymore.”
Teenagers in puberty were when their self-esteem was strongest. They definitely didn’t like being touched on the head from time to time, but every time he couldn’t just help himself.
While Yun Fang was still racking his brains to coax people, he was caught off guard and was caught by a hand.
The hand that caught him was cold, slender, and the joints were faintly white and small blue veins appeared because of the force.
The owner of the hand didn’t say a word, lowered his eyes, and pulled him forward forcefully.
Yun Fang was suddenly pulled by him like this, and he staggered a bit, and then immediately followed him with big strides, looking at him with some worry, “Are you okay?”
Yi Chenliang seemed to be suddenly pulled out of some state, dodged his gaze a bit awkwardly, and suddenly let go of his hand.
Yun Fang slowly frowned.
What’s wrong with this kid?
“Are you feeling unwell?” Yun Fang saw him walking forward without saying a word, and chased after him again, turning his shoulder around, his voice stern. “Speak!”
Yi Chenliang pursed his lips and looked up at him. “Is it okay for you not to go home so late?”
Yun Fang almost laughed out of anger, “Go home fart, what’s wrong with you?”
“I…” Yi Chenliang himself couldn’t understand what was going on. In a moment of heat, he reached out to grab someone’s hand, and after a while, he muttered, “I accidentally broke a bowl tonight.”
“…” Yun Fang was speechless for a while, “Oh, you broke a bowl.”
Yi Chenliang felt that he was stupid. He touched his nose uncomfortably and forced himself to speak, “Are your parents not worried about you coming out so late?”
“I’ve told them.” Yun Fang raised an eyebrow, “I’m staying at your house tonight.”
Yi Chenliang opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Yun Fang held his neck and led him forward, “There’s no way if not welcome, my parents have already left.”
“How long have you been waiting for me outside?” Yi Chenliang heard the increasingly strong heartbeat in his chest, and forcefully suppressed the secret joy that suddenly surged up.
“Just about twenty minutes.” Yun Fang looked down at his watch, “Don’t dawdle, hurry back, we have to go to class tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Yi Chenliang responded in a low voice, but his steps followed him closely.
Yun Fang was still wearing the casual jacket he had changed into for dinner. The sleeves were a bit long and covered half of his hand.
Yi Chenliang walked side by side with him. The two people’s arms would touch from time to time. The slight friction of the fabric was especially clear in the quiet night. The two hands passing by each other were close and far away, as if they could touch in the next second, but also as if they could never touch.
Yi Chenliang’s other hand on the side of his body curled up slightly, and his thumb forcefully pinched the knuckle of his index finger.
“Yun Fang.” He heard his own voice ringing in the quiet night, and even the end of the sentence trembled because of nervousness.
“Hmm?” Yun Fang was a bit sleepy and responded casually.
“I—” Yi Chenliang’s words suddenly got stuck in his throat.
A warm palm covered his forehead, and he even saw his own stunned face in Yun Fang’s eyes.
“Do you have a fever?” Yun Fang looked at him with some concern, “Your face is so red.”
Yi Chenliang breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He had impulsively spoken out just now, but even he didn’t know what he wanted to say. He removed Yun Fang’s hand and cleared his throat, “I’m fine, let’s go home.”
It had been more than half a month since Yun Fang last stayed here. The pile of iron pieces and steel pipes in the yard had decreased a lot. The waste in the main room should have been sold by Yi Chenliang. The room was cleaned up very neatly, and even a table was added. On it was a plate of leftovers that couldn’t be identified and chopsticks thrown at will. There was even a pancake that had been half-eaten on the side.
“The toothbrush, cup, and towel you used last time are in the cabinet.” As soon as Yi Chenliang entered the door, he started to clean up the somewhat messy table, “The one next to the head of the bed.”
Yun Fang walked into the bedroom and found that the bamboo mat on the wooden bed had finally been taken off. He didn’t know where Yi Chenliang found the mattress. It was covered with a milky yellow sheet. Although this color didn’t match either this room or Yi Chenliang himself, it was undeniable that the milky color looked very warm and made people want to lie down and sleep.
However, Yi Chenliang obviously didn’t have the good habit of folding the quilt. The messy quilt was stuck to the wall, looking wrinkled.
At this time, Yi Chenliang came in from outside the door, looked at the milky yellow sheet a bit awkwardly, “Bought it on sale, it was cheap.”
Yun Fang looked at him teasingly and laughed, “It looks pretty good, it suits you.”
Yi Chenliang forcibly suppressed the impulse to beat him up, bent over to get his toothbrush and towel from the cabinet, and said stiffly, “If you don’t like to sleep, you can just make a bed on the floor.”
Yun Fang lay down on the bed with his face up, took a long breath, and became extremely relaxed. He stared at the old light bulb above his head and slowly squinted his eyes. The corners of his mouth were still smiling faintly, “I didn’t say that, if you want to hit, hit.”
Yi Chenliang threw the towel on him, “Hurry up and wash up and go to bed.”
Yun Fang stretched comfortably, raised a hand to him weakly, “Trouble you.”
Yi Chenliang glared at him with a stuffy air, reached out to pull him up, and then pushed him outside, “There is water in the tank outside.”
In the small courtyard lit by a lamp, two teenagers were squatting under a jujube tree brushing their teeth. The dim yellow light at the door tried its best to barely illuminate the side of the jujube tree, so they wouldn’t be in the dark.
Yun Fang spat out the toothpaste foam and rinsed his mouth vigorously. The fresh mint flavor in his mouth dispelled most of his sleepiness, “Did you do your homework?”
Yi Chenliang, who was rinsing his mouth, almost choked. He spat out the foam in his mouth fiercely, “I’ll do it tomorrow morning.”
Yun Fang expressed doubt, “Will there be enough time?”
“There will be.” Yi Chenliang, who had been tired all day, didn’t want to burn the midnight oil anymore, and urged Yun Fang to wash his face and go to bed quickly.
Everything that Yi Chenliang was experiencing now was not what he remembered. He no longer had a way to make corresponding countermeasures based on experience, but this made Yun Fang find it novel.
A completely different Yi Chenliang, full of infinite possibilities.
He laughed silently in the night, and was pulled up by Yi Chenliang to wash his face.
By the time the two of them finished washing up, turned off the lights, got into bed, and crawled into the quilt, it was almost eleven o’clock.
The cold moonlight poured in through the window, illuminating all the patterns on the two quilts. The weather in early winter had started to get cold, and Yun Fang retracted his arm that was outside into the quilt.
“Are you cold?” Yi Chenliang asked him from the side.
“Not cold.” Yun Fang turned his head to look at him, “Haven’t you slept yet?”
Yi Chenliang was lying on his side facing him, and after a while, he said, “Why did you take me home today?”
Although he had been thinking about it all the way, he couldn’t figure out why Yun Fang wanted to take him home, and he didn’t treat himself as an outsider and stayed in boldly.
Of course, there were not many things about Yun Fang that he could understand.
Why?
Yun Fang wanted to know himself.
Was it because he saw him standing there alone and felt pitiful, was it because he looked at him eagerly and felt heartache, or was it simply because this person was called Yi Chenliang, himself who he had never cared for.
Yun Fang thought almost harshly, in a sense, he and Yi Chenliang were now completely independent individuals. Without his care, Yi Chenliang could live on his own. Even if he wanted to take care of Yi Chenliang, he didn’t have to go this far.
But he still did it, he couldn’t figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
“Ah.” Yun Fang closed his eyes sleepily, and unconsciously brought a bit of laughter in his voice, “Maybe it’s because the weather is good today.”