Chapter 42
“Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock–”
The hurried knocking interrupted their afternoon meal.
Jian Wu put down his chopsticks and prepared to open the door. Song Shuci had already stood up and walked to the door.
Standing at the door were two workers in uniforms, pulling a trolley piled high with several large cardboard boxes.
The worker in front held a delivery slip and looked inside, asking Song Shuci: “Are you Mr. Jian?”
“That’s me,” Jian Wu hurriedly stood up, looking at the pile of boxes at the door in confusion, “What’s this?”
“We’re here to deliver your goods,” the delivery worker looked at him, then at Song Shuci, “Can we come in?”
Before Jian Wu could react, Song Shuci stepped back, making space for them to bring the boxes inside.
Jian Wu walked over to Song Shuci in his slippers and whispered: “Did you buy these?”
Song Shuci said with a straight face: “I thought you bought them.”
“I haven’t bought anything recently,” Jian Wu was puzzled. Seeing them bring in one large box after another, he couldn’t help but walk over to the delivery worker in front and ask, “What are these?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” the worker patted the boxes and introduced them one by one, “Dishwasher, range hood, and a massage chair.”
The worker behind him, wearing a different colored uniform, pointed at the first worker and added: “The dishwasher and range hood are from our company, the massage chair is from theirs. Your scheduled delivery time was 4 pm, so we happened to arrive at the same time.” He glanced at the unfinished food on Jian Wu’s table and suggested: “You continue eating, we’ll set them up for you?”
“Wait a minute.”
“Dishwasher” briefly jogged Jian Wu’s memory. He turned to ask Song Shuci, “Could it be from Cheng Xian? Didn’t he say he wanted to buy me a dishwasher last time?”
“Possibly,” Song Shuci said.
“I thought he was joking, would he be so generous?” Jian Wu clearly knew his childhood friend quite well. He asked the workers, “Are these paid for? They’re not cash on delivery, right?”
“No,” the worker explained with a smile, “We only deliver after receiving full payment. You have a friend named Cheng Xian, right? Mr. Cheng bought these and asked us to deliver them to you. We thought you two lived together, so you didn’t know.”
“I do have a friend named Cheng Xian…”
But Jian Wu felt that his friend “Cheng Xian” and this “Cheng Xian” probably weren’t the same person.
After helping them set up the three large items, Jian Wu still couldn’t figure it out.
After the workers left, Jian Wu sat on the brand-new massage chair, his mind filled with more and more guesses and suspicions. He asked Song Shuci: “Do you think Cheng Xian was scammed?”
“Probably not,” Song Shuci subtly insulted Cheng Xian, “He’s so shrewd, even if there was a scam, he would be the scammer.”
“That’s true.” Although they had different opinions of Cheng Xian, judging from his past behavior, Jian Wu had to admit Song Shuci had a point.
Seeing his words being acknowledged, Song Shuci’s eyes lit up with a subtle smile. He patted the massage chair and looked at Jian Wu, “Want to try it?”
“I’m a little afraid to try,” Jian Wu said, “I’m afraid Cheng Xian made a mistake… I should call him.”
He immediately called his childhood friend. It was noisy on Cheng Xian’s end, he must be busy, his tone perfunctory and hurried: “What’s up? I’m busy.”
Jian Wu went straight to the point: “Did you buy me a dishwasher, range hood, and massage chair?”
The busy chatter on the other end suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed.
“Yes… yes,” Cheng Xian, usually fluent, stammered, “I just thought… I still felt bad, so, so I wanted to apologize properly.”
Jian Wu was perceptive but also prone to jumping to conclusions. He quickly came up with a new guess: “Did your stocks go up? Or did you finally win the lottery?”
“Uh… uh, no, neither, I just wanted to buy you something… to commemorate our everlasting friendship!”
Jian Wu: “?”
“Oh! Mr. Liu, I’m on the phone right now, I’ll be right there, I’ll be right there,” Cheng Xian, seeing his act wasn’t working, adopted the strategy of “retreating is the best option” and pretended to be busy, “Jian Xiaowu, I won’t talk to you anymore, I’m talking to a client, I’ll call you back later.”
He hung up abruptly.
Jian Wu: “…”
He leaned back on the massage chair, lost in thought, not noticing Song Shuci turning it on beside him. The machine suddenly started working on his calves and forearms, trapping his left arm and leg, startling him.
His shoulders, neck, back, and hips were massaged by rollers, but his limbs were only subjected to alternating tightening and loosening rhythms.
He calmed down, felt the rollers massaging his back, and asked Song Shuci, his face full of suspicion: “Why did Cheng Xian, such a stingy person, suddenly become so generous? Is selling sex toys that profitable?”
Song Shuci held a glass of water, his hand resting on the leather massage chair, stood beside him, and looked down at him with a smile: “I don’t know either.”
Jian Wu put his phone in his pocket, and after the mechanism on his arm loosened, put his other hand in, and pondered for a while. Unable to figure it out, he simply leaned back: “Forget it, I’m not going to think about it anymore, whatever.”
The mechanisms on his arms and legs tightened and loosened intermittently, the rollers moving across his shoulders, neck, back, and hips, repeatedly massaging the muscles sore from sitting at work. Jian Wu closed his eyes and enjoyed it for a while, then couldn’t help but sigh: “Cheng Xian is a good guy. Now I don’t have to go to a massage parlor anymore. There are so few massage parlors near here, I always have to travel so far.”
Song Shuci asked him: “Is the massage chair more comfortable, or a human massage?”
“Definitely a human massage. There’s a masseuse surnamed Bai on Ping’an Road who’s amazing, his massage is the best… but this is also good, mainly because it’s convenient, and it’s already quite good for a machine,” he opened his eyes and recommended it to Song Shuci, “Do you want to try it?”
He was about to get up, but his arms and legs, just relaxed, were trapped again.
Seeing he couldn’t get up, Song Shuci asked: “What’s wrong?”
“My hands are stuck,” Jian Wu said.
“What happened?” Song Shuci frowned slightly, put one hand on the armrest, and leaned down to look.
From this angle, Song Shuci’s head was practically resting on his chest. Jian Wu was still trapped, the hard rollers pressing against his muscles, Song Shuci’s shadow falling on him, and he could smell his unique, faint scent.
In principle, human skin shouldn’t have a smell, and Song Shuci was sensitive to smells, so he never used perfume, even his shampoo and shower gel were unscented.
But Jian Wu always felt that Song Shuci had a special scent.
It wasn’t unpleasant, nor was it a fragrance, but he knew it was Song Shuci whenever he smelled it.
Especially when they were very close, naked, the scent would become more prominent with the increasing exposed skin.
Jian Wu leaned back slightly and took a deep breath, trying to create some distance between himself and Song Shuci by sinking further into the massage chair.
Song Shuci, noticing his movement, looked up: “Are you uncomfortable?”
Their faces were very close because of this movement, their noses almost touching. Jian Wu could feel Song Shuci’s gaze change the moment their eyes met.
Jian Wu looked into Song Shuci’s eyes and swallowed, “It’s fine, it’s just the massage chair’s settings, it’ll loosen up in a bit.”
Song Shuci said “oh” but didn’t move away.
Jian Wu felt uncomfortable. He saw the water cup in Song Shuci’s hand, licked his lips as if thirsty, and said, “I’m thirsty, can you pour me some water?”, trying to send him away.
Unexpectedly, Song Shuci directly handed him his own water cup: “Just drink from this, I just washed it, I haven’t used it yet.”
Jian Wu had no reason to refuse, so he just nodded.
His hands were still trapped. After a moment of silence, Song Shuci held the cup to his lips: “Open your mouth.”
Jian Wu pursed his lips and opened his mouth slightly. The cool liquid flowed down his throat.
He had a few sips and felt it was enough, wanting to tell Song Shuci to stop, but Song Shuci continued to feed him, as if not noticing his intention.
Unable to speak, he could only stare at Song Shuci, his Adam’s apple bobbing, forced to continue drinking until he finished the entire cup. Only then did Song Shuci let go.
But he only let go of the cup, not the armrest.
Song Shuci looked down at him, his thick eyelashes hiding the emotions in his eyes. He put the empty cup aside and placed both hands on the armrests, blocking Jian Wu’s exit from the massage chair.
Jian Wu’s heart suddenly tightened.
The atmosphere wasn’t right, Song Shuci’s expression wasn’t right.
The apartment was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, only the sound of the massage chair rolling against his body. Song Shuci had already finished feeding him water, there was no reason for him to be so close.
He definitely wasn’t being overly sensitive.
“What are you thinking about?” Song Shuci caught his distraction.
Jian Wu licked the remaining water droplets from his lips and tried to change the subject: “I was thinking… the weather is perfect for sleeping today.”
Song Shuci glanced out the window. It was raining, a milky white mist shrouding the entire city like a veil, obscuring many buildings.
“It’s raining,” he said.
“Mm,” Jian Wu also looked outside, “Such heavy fog.”
Such hazy weather was perfect for hinting at intimacy.
“Jian Wu,” Song Shuci called his name.
“Hm?”
Jian Wu looked back, only to find Song Shuci staring at his lips.
“Have you noticed,” his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, a hidden tide swirling in his eyes, “that when you say the word ‘wu,’ your lips curl up?”
“Really?”
Jian Wu instinctively repeated, “Wu…”
But before he could finish the word, his vision suddenly darkened.
Song Shuci, without warning, lifted his chin and, in this position, lowered his head and captured his lower lip.
“…Like an invitation for a kiss.”
