Just in Time Chapter 63
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 63 Friends
Yun Fang tilted his head and glanced outside the door, “Did you hear a child crying?”
“You must have heard wrong. Comrade Zhao Xiaoxiao hasn’t even come out of the incubator yet.” Huang Chu, holding his phone without looking up, said, “It’s been half an hour, why haven’t your two classmates arrived yet?”
Yi Chenliang was cleaning up the trash on the table, he looked up at the clock, “I remember there’s just one alley over there, could they have taken the wrong path?”
Yun Fang didn’t know why he felt a bit uneasy in his heart, he always felt that something was about to happen.
The ringtone of the mobile phone abruptly rang in the shop. Yun Fang glanced at the unfamiliar number on the phone and pressed the answer key.
“Hello?”
“Yun Fang, this is Su Qingbai.” The voice on the other end of the phone was a bit distorted, “Can you let Chang Ziqi answer the phone?”
Yun Fang frowned, “Chang Ziqi is not here with me.”
He didn’t know that Su Qingbai actually knew Chang Ziqi.
“He said he had something to do and went to your shop. I’ve been waiting for almost an hour, and his phone is off.” Su Qingbai succinctly summarized, “Where is your shop?”
Yun Fang gave him the address.
Su Qingbai, dressed in a somewhat formal casual outfit, seemed to have rushed over. His hair was a bit messy. When he walked into the shop, he looked straight at Yun Fang and Yi Chenliang.
The moment Yun Fang looked up, this scene overlapped with a scene deep in his memory.
He finally understood why he felt familiar the first time he saw Su Qingbai.
——It was also in the pitch-black night, in front of the collapsed cave, the police lights and searchlights illuminated the surroundings brightly. Chang Ziqi was being held back by someone, he was breaking down and shouting Qi Huo’s name.
In front of Yi Chenliang, the young policeman was crying and cursing, demanding them to bring their Qi team back.
Someone got out of the official car that had rushed over from the provincial office. That person must not have had time to change clothes, he was wearing a somewhat formal casual outfit. He seemed to have rushed over in a hurry, his hair was messy. In the noisy crowd, he raised his head and looked straight in Yi Chenliang’s direction.
At that time, Yi Chenliang had a moment of doubt because the gaze of that person was too intense, as if he knew who he was, even giving him the illusion that the person was looking for him.
Then that person rushed to the irrational Chang Ziqi and punched him.
The calmed down Chang Ziqi called him brother with a crying tone——
Su Qingbai in his youth didn’t seem as imposing as he was twenty years later, and even seemed a bit out of breath because he rushed over. He asked Yun Fang, “Didn’t Chang Ziqi come?”
“No.” Yun Fang glanced at him indifferently.
Su Qingbai’s face looked very bad, but his mind was surprisingly calm. He took out his phone and made one call after another. He notified Chang’s family and even called Zhou Ang.
Seeing his anxious look, Huang Chu didn’t understand, “It’s normal for high school students to forget the time when they are playing outside, you don’t need to worry.”
“My cousin has a very strong sense of time. He has only been late once since he was a child. His family always knows his whereabouts. Yet now, he was 35 minutes late.” Su Qingbai pursed his lips, “The last time he was late was because he was kidnapped.”
Huang Chu: “…”
It seems that we are not living in the same world.
Su Qingbai calmly finished his calls and said to Yun Fang, “If there is any news about Chang Ziqi, please let me know in time.”
Yun Fang nodded.
Su Qingbai left in a hurry.
Yi Chenliang tried to make a call and looked at Yun Fang, “Qi Huo also turned off his phone.”
“Damn, he wasn’t really kidnapped, was he?” Huang Chu was infected by this heavy atmosphere, and a series of wealthy family grudges flashed through his mind, “How rich is his family?”
Just casually mixing up to be the richest man in S province.
Yun Fang threw the rag in his hand, “Let’s close the shop.”
The rolling blind door was pulled down, and under the dim light, Yi Chenliang couldn’t see Yun Fang’s expression clearly.
“Qi Huo and Chang Ziqi——” Yi Chenliang only opened his mouth, and was interrupted by Yun Fang.
“Go home.” Yun Fang patted his head, “They will be fine.”
After all, they could still appear in front of him alive and kicking twenty years later, they wouldn’t die now. Besides, the Chang family and the Su family were not vegetarians, they would definitely be able to rescue the people.
It was not up to him and Yi Chenliang to intervene. He didn’t want to get involved, and he didn’t want Yi Chenliang to fall into danger. After all, Qi Huo and Chang Ziqi were just slightly familiar strangers to them.
“But I’m still a little worried.” Yi Chenliang frowned, “Should we help look for them?”
Yun Fang was taken aback when he heard Yi Chenliang say this, “Worried?”
“Yeah, aren’t we friends?” Yi Chenliang’s tone was very matter-of-fact, “We even have a group of four.”
Yun Fang wanted to say that this kind of childish thing can’t be taken seriously, where are so many friends to make…
But he couldn’t say it when he looked into Yi Chenliang’s eyes.
For some reason, he remembered the situation when he and Qi Huo were trapped in the icehouse.
——Qi Huo’s arm was injured, and blood was gushing out.Qi Huo haphazardly blocked the wound, and his face quickly turned pale due to excessive blood loss.
“Damn, I’m definitely going to die here today.” He was panting heavily, and white mist was gushing out of his mouth in large puffs. “But my wife is still waiting for me to come home.”
Yi Chenliang was sitting against the wall, loading bullets, ignoring him.
“Hey, Ice Face!” Qi Huo always liked to give him some strange nicknames, even if he didn’t get any response, he was still tireless, “Do you want to hear the love story between me and my wife?”
“I don’t want to.” Yi Chenliang loaded the gun, bit the blood-stained vest with his teeth, pulled hard with his hand, and tore off a strip of cloth.
“I want to tell it.” Qi Huo hummed, his arm tightened, and when he opened his eyes, he found that Yi Chenliang was stopping his bleeding. He chuckled, “I knew you were cold on the outside but warm on the inside, f*cking loyal.”
“Shut up, it’s noisy.” Yi Chenliang gave him a cold look.
“Hey, let me tell you, my wife is awesome.” Qi Huo didn’t care whether he wanted to listen or not, he just kept talking, “Tall, long-legged, handsome to the point of explosion, CEO of a listed company, works in IT, countless people are chasing him, but I got him. He loves me deeply and regrets nothing——”
Yi Chenliang interrupted him, finally unable to bear it, “Why do you say your wife is handsome?”
“Huh?” Qi Huo was puzzled, “Otherwise? He is handsome, even more handsome than me.”
“A woman——”
“Damn, my wife is a man!” Qi Huo shouted, “With a stick! A f*cking big stick!”
Yi Chenliang fell silent, this had already touched his knowledge blind spot.
Qi Huo didn’t care about these, he told the love story between him and his male wife in a thrilling and ups and downs way, how he was late for high school and climbed over the wall and was caught, and since then he fell in love at first sight with the senior who caught him, how they broke up and were suddenly kidnapped, how his lover protected him regardless of life and death, and how they were separated by accident, and how they miraculously reunited many years later…
Among them, he emphasized how the CEO named Chang was infatuated with him and couldn’t leave him, and how much he loved his wife, which annoyed Yi Chenliang so much that he wanted to sew up his chattering mouth.
He was so annoyed that he stuffed two more grenades when he blew up the icehouse.
When the two of them were running out, Qi Huo was obviously exhausted. He was being supported by Yi Chenliang, stumbling forward, he pulled a chain from his neck, with a ring hanging on it, and stuffed it to Yi Chenliang.
“Brother, we have been through life and death together, if… if I can’t make it this time, you…you help me give it to him, just as doing favor to a friend.”
The person who could still laugh in the rain of bullets turned red around the eyes when he talked about his lover, “Damn, I can’t bear to leave him!”
“I don’t have friends.” Yi Chenliang threw the ring back to him, coldly said, “You go back and tell him yourself.”
That time they did manage to escape from death, but unfortunately, fate would not always favor them. The next time, that ring was stuffed into his hand, without giving him a chance to stuff it back——
“What are you thinking about?” Yi Chenliang grabbed his hand, “Why are you so sad?”
Yun Fang came back to his senses and smiled, “Sad?”
Yi Chenliang frowned and pulled his face, “If you don’t want to smile, don’t smile.”
Yun Fang finally put away his fake smile, and looked at Yi Chenliang with dark eyes.
He usually didn’t have much expression, Qi Huo used to tease him for being poker-faced, but if the task required, he could make any vivid and real expressions, deceiving the real with the fake.
Just like how he could always play Yun Fang well, a gentle, smiling, and well-behaved high school student.
Having played it for a long time, he now always smiles out of habit, but it’s not the same.
Facing Yi Chenliang, he could always laugh naturally without any burden. Yi Chenliang probably saw his real smile too many times and could tell his fake one at a glance.
As if he was the only one in the world who could judge his truth.
“Let’s go check that alley.” Yun Fang withdrew his gaze, with a hint of panic that he himself didn’t notice.
Yi Chenliang held his hand and followed him, “You actually treated Qi Huo differently.”
“Hmm?” Yun Fang questioned, he didn’t feel any difference himself.
“When I was in the hospital, Qi Huo was the only one you were willing to let come see me with you.” Yi Chenliang felt a bit difficult to explain, but he was sure Yun Fang would understand him. “You trust him a lot.”
Letting Qi Huo go to the hospital with him, letting him stay alone with Yi Chenliang without worry, subconsciously bringing him a meal when getting food, exchanging food with him without any hesitation, not getting angry when he steps on his foot…
Yun Fang, who was so unwilling to meddle in other people’s affairs, would still help Qi Huo and Chang Ziqi connect, and even watch their excitement with great interest.
“You care a lot about Qi Huo, this friend.” Yi Chenliang turned his head and looked at him seriously, “I also care a lot, he is the only name on my phone contact list besides you.”
Yun Fang finally sighed, rubbed Yi Chenliang’s hair unhappily, “Why are you like a little mirror?”
Always able to reflect him clearly.
“Because my name is also Yi Chenliang.” Yi Chenliang rubbed back unwillingly, and protested again.
“Don’t always touch my head, it will stunt my growth.”