Orange Storm chapter 9
Golden Necklace
“It seems like it, just randomly picked.”
After Jiang Zhijin finished speaking, there was a moment of silence from Fang Xing.Turning his head to look at Fang Xing for about ten seconds, Jiang Zhijin slowly started to smile.
“Are you afraid?”
So what if someone is afraid of horror movies? Some people fear insects, snakes, or heights. Is it so rare to be afraid of horror movies? Why discriminate against those who are afraid of horror movies?
“No,” Fang Xing replied.
Not that rare, but coming from a high school senior who was almost six feet tall, it seemed a bit embarrassing.
Jiang Zhijin looked at him for a while, and the smile on his face grew wider.
“It’s fine. If you’re scared, we can watch something else. I have the complete set of ‘Teletubbies.'”
This guy can still survive with such a mouth; this world is truly full of love.
“No need,” Fang Xing picked up his cola and took a sip. “Just stick with this one.”
Not only was it a horror movie, but it was also one of those low-quality domestic horror films that could probably be produced by the hundreds each year. However, it didn’t prevent it from setting the atmosphere reasonably well. The sudden screams and deaths in the movie made Fang Xing’s head ache unexpectedly. He took a sip of cola and glanced at Jiang Zhijin beside him.
Jiang Zhijin remained calm, focusing on the screen. The dimly lit horror scenes cast eerie shadows on his face, illuminating his profile, giving off an inexplicable sense of tranquility.
When another person was beheaded and hung on the eaves, given a close-up in the movie, Fang Xing suddenly stood up from the sofa.
Jiang Zhijin was startled, “What’s wrong?”
Fang Xing’s tone remained normal, “I need to use the bathroom.”
After saying that, he walked quickly to the bathroom and closed the door.
After using the bathroom, he washed his hands in front of the sink. The faint screams from the movie could still be heard, making his head ache. He sighed, feeling reluctant to go back out.
Who drags someone to watch a Chinese horror movie late at night?
Just as he finished washing his hands, his phone rang.
Drying his hands with a piece of tissue, he took out his phone. The screen displayed “Dad” blinking quietly.
Fang Xing glanced at it once and then raised his head. He stared at himself in the mirror, his face expressionless. It wasn’t until the phone was about to automatically disconnect that he answered.
“Hello?”
The person on the other end remained silent for a while before tentatively calling out, “Xiao Xing?”
Fang Xing didn’t speak.
“I wanted to visit your school yesterday, but you weren’t there… Later, I called your mom, and she said you transferred.”
From the first day Fang Xing arrived at Shaojiang until now, it had been nine days. Fang Chenglin only found out tonight that his son had transferred to another place.
He hadn’t even been home once in these few days.
Fang Xing felt a surge of disgust in his heart. He suppressed his emotions and asked, “Do you have something to say?”
“I’m worried about how well you can adapt to studying there. I… really don’t agree with your mid-term transfer. It’s your senior year, and you have to adapt to a new environment again. The pressure will be immense. I suggest you continue studying in Chaocheng.”
Fang Xing interrupted him, “so you do know I’m in my senior year? I thought you forgot.”
His throat felt a bit tight, and he asked back, “Do you want me to return to Chaocheng for studying?”
Fang Chenglin seemed a bit at a loss for words on the other end. After a few seconds of hesitation, he hurriedly replied, “Of course—”
“If I really go back to Chaocheng, would you let me go back to school first, or would you take me to the hospital first?”
Fang Chenglin seemed to be choked up and couldn’t say a word. There was only the sound of breathing on the phone. Fang Xing stared at himself in the mirror, his voice surprisingly calm when he spoke.
“They came to the school looking for me, do you know that? Did you tell them which school I was attending?”
“I mentioned it once, but I—”
“Even if siblings with the same parents have only a twenty-five percent chance of a successful match, he and I only share the same father. What do you think the probability of success is?”
There was complete silence on the other end, and Fang Xing, who had lost his patience, said, “Take some time to check the bone marrow database. Hopefully, the chances will be a bit higher.”
After hanging up the phone, he rested his hands on the sink for a while.
Great, he had avenged himself against his father in a straightforward manner, leaving the other party speechless and logically clear, not in the least flustered. Pretty impressive, he should have done well in the liberal arts section of the exam as well.
But he wasn’t happy.
He turned on the tap again, bent down to wash his face, and finally let out a deep sigh into his hands.
With water droplets all over his face, Fang Xing finally felt a bit more comfortable in his heart. He turned around and opened the bathroom door, preparing to go out.
As soon as he opened the door, a person was standing right in front of the bathroom door, face to face with him.
“I—”
When he saw the face of the person in front of him, Fang Xing forcefully swallowed the curse word that came to his mind.
“You—making me watch horror movies is not enough, you have to take action yourself, right!”
Inviting someone to watch a horror movie in the middle of the night and then blocking the bathroom door to scare them, who could do such a beastly thing!
“I didn’t mean to,” Jiang Zhijin helplessly smiled, “you spent a long time in the bathroom, and I thought you were scared, hiding in there and crying. I came to check.”
Fang Xing, who had just finished the call, was instantly startled.
Jiang Zhijin immediately retracted his joking attitude, “No way, did you really cry?”
He had just appeared in front of the bathroom door and didn’t hear that phone call, and he was a bit shocked now—are teenagers so fragile these days?
Fang Xing couldn’t be bothered to respond to him and was ready to go around him and leave. Suddenly, Jiang Zhijin took a step forward, put his left hand on Fang Xing’s shoulder to prevent him from moving, and pressed his right hand on the back of his head, using a bit of force to press Fang Xing onto his shoulder and casually rubbed his head.
“Alright, alright, little scaredy-cat, you’re safe now.”
…Did this guy damage his brain in the fight?
However, it must be acknowledged that Jiang Zhijin’s shoulder carried the warmth of his body. Combined with his intentionally slowed-down tone, it surprisingly felt somewhat gentle. Even the phrase “it’s okay” made Fang Xing truly feel a sense of “it’s okay.”
The anger, panic, avoidance, entanglement, guilt, and unwillingness from the phone call just now… all seemed to be okay now.
He leaned his head against Jiang Zhijin’s shoulder for a while, perhaps ten seconds, or maybe a minute or even longer. Eventually, he spoke, his voice muffled due to burying his head.
“Can you let go now?”
Jiang Zhijin, smiling, released his grip. “Alright, go to sleep.”
Fang Xing had no interest in watching horror movies anymore. After finishing his nightly routine and heading towards his room, Jiang Zhijin stopped him again before he could enter.
“Fang Xing.”
AsFang Xing entered the room, he turned to look at Jiang Zhijin. After staring at him for a few seconds, Jiang Zhijin suddenly smiled.
“If you’re scared, you can sleep with the lights on.”
“Bang!” Fang Xing forcefully closed the door.
The next day, Fang Xing woke up early as usual. The beer cans and barbecue skewers left from the previous night were still on the coffee table. He cleaned up, swept the floor, and took out the trash.
Jiang Zhijin was still asleep when he finished. He was used to it. After eating two slices of bread, he returned to his room to complete the remaining homework. He memorized a couple of pages of vocabulary and only heard Jiang Zhijin opening the door when he was done.
As Fang Xing got out of his room, Jiang Zhijin was busy making fried rice in the kitchen. His voice lazily echoed, “I’ll be going to remove the stitches later. You—”
He paused, seeming unsure of how to arrange Fang Xing. Fang Xing took the initiative, “I’ll go with you.”
It was almost 11 a.m., and they spent over two hours at the hospital due to the weekend crowd and their late arrival.
Jiang Zhijin’s phone had been repaired and returned to him. While waiting for their turn, he kept swiping and tapping on the muted screen, his brows furrowed in concentration.
Fang Xing wasn’t accustomed to peeking at other people’s screens, but after an hour of Jiang Zhijin maintaining the same action, he couldn’t resist glancing over.
Jiang Zhijin was playing Happy Elimination silently.
Jiang Zhijin noticed Fang Xing’s gaze and casually showed him the phone, “Not bad, I’ve reached level three thousand.”
…Alright.
A society elder brother, Jiang Zhijin, who fights, watches horror movies, owns the complete collection of Teletubbies, and takes pride in surpassing three thousand levels in Happy Elimination.
He managed to refresh Fang Xing’s impression every time.
After removing the stitches, the wound was slightly red but had no other major issues. On the way back, they encountered traffic. Fang Xing, with nothing else to do, glanced at Jiang Zhijin’s arm resting on the steering wheel and asked, “Why do you get into fights?”
Jiang Zhijin sounded nonchalant, “those idiots got drunk, caused trouble in my bar, and I kicked them out, that’s why they retaliated.”
Reasonable enough, Fang Xing nodded without further inquiry.
Returning home, they rested for a while, had dinner, and it was already past 6 p.m. Evening self-study started at 7 p.m, Fang Xing packed up his things, and it was time to go to class.
While he was putting away his books in the room, he heard Jiang Zhijin answering a call in the living room. It seemed to be from Gu Xun, probably related to the bar. When Fang Xing came out, the call had ended.
Seeing him coming out, Jiang Zhijin spoke, “I might need you to go to school by yourself. There’s something going on at the bar, and I need to check it out.”
Fang Xing nodded, and Jiang Zhijin continued, “I’ll come pick you up after school.”
“No need,” Fang Xing replied. “I’ll come back on my own.”
He had already changed into his shoes at the door. Jiang Zhijin watched him and suddenly remembered the few times he had patted Fang Xing’s head the night before.
Crew cut, the hair was quite short, so it felt a bit prickly, but it was still comfortable.
Seizing the opportunity while Fang Xing was bending down to change shoes, he patted his head a couple more times. Before Fang Xing could react, he stepped back, nodding seriously.
“See you later, study well, and don’t be late.”
…Show care for the empty-nest elderly, don’t bother with those who’ve fought their brains silly— Fang Xing repeated it in his mind, didn’t look at Jiang Zhijin again, turned and left the door.
It was 6:20, a bit early, Fang Xing stood at the entrance of the community and glanced across the street where the bus hadn’t arrived yet. He simply turned and entered the alley, planning to take the shortcut from yesterday.
This was the junction of Shaojiang’s old and new districts, with a complex network of alleys and hutongs. Fang Xing had a good memory, although he had only walked through once, he had already memorized the route.
It was dinner time, and there weren’t many people in the alley, a bit desolate. He walked on, suddenly hearing footsteps behind him.
Judging by the sound, there should be two people behind him, not too far, following him all the way.
After walking for about ten minutes, halfway through, Fang Xing squatted down to untie his already loose shoelaces and tied them again.
The footsteps behind him stopped as well.
Now Fang Xing was sure, the person behind him was following him.
He didn’t stop walking and continued forward. When turning into an alley, he glanced sideways.
Two men, one fat and one thin, unfamiliar faces.
Fang Xing withdrew his gaze and continued walking. This alley was quite secluded, with few people. He turned a corner, and there was a man in front of him, standing in the middle of the alley, blocking his way.
The two people behind also arrived, standing behind him at a distance of one or two meters.
Fang Xing stopped and looked at the person in front of him, asking as emotionlessly as possible, “Is there something you need?”
The person in front, around thirty, looked quite thin, with both arms covered in tattoos. He wore a small finger-thick gold necklace that sparkled as if it had just been painted; it would probably float in water.
The guy with the gold necklace took a puff of smoke, stared at Fang Xing and said, “hey kid, you know Jiang Zhijin, right.”