Editor: Yumilnoue
Chapter 8.2
It was very hot in the afternoon, so Qi Chang’an got up and opened all the windows in the workroom, and the wind blew in from the courtyard adding a little coolness.
He was sitting on the work bench. The sleeves of his white shirt loosely pulled up at his elbows, his head bowed as he polished a wooden peace clasp in his hand, his face showing a light touch of gentleness.
Master Zhuang came inside to get his tools, and as he passed behind him, he glanced at it, “Still polishing this peace clasp?”
“Yes,” Qi Chang’an stood up politely, “I want to sharpen it a little smoother.”
Master Zhuang looked at the neatly arranged gadgets on the table, and it was unknown which memory was triggered but he suddenly asked, “Is it for your sweetheart?”
Qi Chang’an froze for a couple of seconds then denied, “No, it’s for a friend.” His tone naturally gentled, “He’s with the police station, there’s not much going on, but the work is relatively dangerous. I’m flying to California again tomorrow, so I wanted to get it done in time for today.”
“Xu Luoyang?”
“Hmm, that’s him.”
Master Zhuang nodded, “That’s good, a peace clasp keeps one safe.”
By the afternoon, the clouds were thickening. The sky was darkening, and it wasn’t long before a thunderstorm started to fall. Qi Chang’an looked at the time and went under the eaves to look out. In the courtyard, water had already accumulated on the green stone tiled ground, and the rain was very heavy.
Master Zhuang was holding a wooden pipe in his hand, watching the rain with him, “I have a spare umbrella in the utility room, no one uses it either. Take it to keep the rain off you when you leave, you can return it one day.” He wasn’t a friendly person so after saying that, he turned around and went back to his room.
Qi Chang’an thanked Master Zhuang as he left, but he didn’t move. Holding his cell phone in his hand, he clicked on the message dialog box with Xu Luoyang but only looked at it without typing anything.
After standing quietly for almost five minutes, a message finally popped up on the screen, “You don’t have an umbrella, do you? I borrowed one, wait for me, I’ll come and pick you up later!”
After reading this message several times, Qi Chang’an replied, “Hmm, I’ll wait for you, be safe on the way.”
Xu Luoyang walked to Master Zhuang’s house with a blue folding umbrella, the wind so strong that he felt his face was being blown out of shape.
Seeing Qi Chang’an standing at the gate waiting for him, he quickly walked over, “I only borrowed an umbrella, so we can only make do.” He glanced inside through the gate, the courtyard was empty, “Does Master Zhuang have any extra umbrellas at home?”
Qi Chang’an shook his head, “There is one, but the bone is broken and can’t be used.”
“Then there’s no other way,” Xu Luoyang said, then smiled with curved eyebrows, “Mr. Qi, I can only wrong you.”
Qi Chang’an took a step forward and stood under Xu Luoyang’s umbrella, “I don’t feel wronged, should we go for dinner?”
When it came to eating, Xu Luoyang always responded positively, “Let’s eat, let’s eat! I’ve been busy all afternoon and I’m hungry!”
The umbrella was big, but it wasn’t enough for two grown men. They were standing very close to each other, so they couldn’t help but rub their sleeves together, their shoulders bumping into each other every now and then. Knowing that Qi Chang’an didn’t like physical contact, Xu Luoyang tried his best to be careful, but the umbrella limited his range of movement, and no amount of effort could make him get much further apart, so he just let it happen.
The road was full of water and the walk was slower than usual, so Qi Chang’an was worried that the two of them might get cold, but he soon realised that Xu Luoyang could organise a stand-up comedy show all by himself. On the way, he spoke about how he saved an old lady living all alone in the afternoon, the story taking twists and turns as he acted multiple roles. After the story, he even brought Qi Chang’an, a person who couldn’t hold a conversation to life again.
When they arrived home, Xu Luoyang, who was half-drenched, rushed into the bathroom to take a shower and came out in a few minutes. He sat down on the sofa with his towel in his hand and went over to look at the script in Qi Chang’an’s hand.
“Speaking of which, this version is already 10.0, I guess it should be almost finalized, otherwise the scriptwriter will definitely explode in place.”
“Hmm, the changes in this version are already very small.” Qi Chang’an smelled the familiar scent of shower gel on the other party’s body. He hesitated for a moment, raised his hand, and opened his fingers to reveal what he was holding in his hand.
“This is the peace clasp I made in the past two days. If you don’t mind, can I give it to you?” Rare apprehension in his heart, he paid attention to the subtle expressions on Xu Luoyang’s face — if he saw the slightest hint of rejection, he would quickly take the item back and not try again.
What lay in Qi Chang’an’s palm was a wooden peace clasp, particularly delicate and fine, with wisps of gold thread showing through in the light, and polished to a smooth finish, which showed that a great deal of care had been taken.
It was the second time Xu Luoyang had received a gift, but it was obviously more elaborate than the last one which was a carved maple leaf, so he reached out and put it directly around his neck. He turned around and asked Qi Chang’an to help him shorten the rope a bit while talking, “To my discerning eye, this must be golden heather! I remember that this kind of wood doesn’t rot even after a thousand years, right?” He cupped his fingers around the clasp and rubbed it twice, then thought about it and said, “It’s easy for a live knot to loosen, so why don’t you just tie a dead knot for me? Anyway I won’t be taking it off often.”
Qi Chang’an’s hands tying the knot froze, “Won’t it be inconvenient to tie a dead knot?”
“No, this is your heartfelt gift, and the peace clasp is meant to be worn every day to ward off evil spirits and keep me safe.” He then asked Qi Chang’an, expectantly, “When you did it, did you add any chanting power or anything? For example, do you say in your heart, ‘I hope Xu Luoyang is safe and sound’ or something like that?”
“Yes.”
A peace clasp with the power of a great demon’s chanting! Xu Luoyang instantly smiled. His smile was contagious, causing the corners of Qi Chang’an’s mouth to curl up as well.
When he heard Qi Chang’an say “the knot is ready”, Xu Luoyang straightened the position of the clasp and took out his phone, “I just thought about it and realized that we have lived together for so long, but we haven’t even taken a picture together. It’s not easy to get the opportunity, let’s take one!”
Qi Chang’an consciously stood next to him, very cooperative.
So, five minutes later, Xu Luoyang’s Weibo account was updated – “Get to know Chang’an and Luoyang~”
Underneath the text was a picture of the two of them, shoulder to shoulder, leaning a little closer to each other in order to squeeze into the same shot. Qi Chang’an wasn’t very expressive as usual, but if you looked closely, you will see that he was obviously very relaxed with a smile in his eyes. Xu Luoyang was smiling brightly, looking as if he had just taken a shower and his hair had not even dried yet.
Qi Chang’an opened Weibo, typed two words, then clicked on the comment and reposted.
“Qi Chang’an: Sending sugar. // @XuLuoyang: Get to know Chang’an and Luoyang~”
Read without ads and unlock a total of up to 64 advanced chapters with coins.
Please kindly turn off the adblock, thank you.
The president of the cp has been here all along
the ancient city cp has taken flight!
God it was so sweet that I read the whole chapter with happiness