Orange Storm chapter 48
Safe and Sound
Jiang Zhijin didn’t know how long Fang Xing had been hugging him, maybe two or three minutes… Anyway, it wasn’t a short time. People passing by had already sneaked glances, probably guessing something about the relationship between the two.
“That’s enough, Fang Xing.” Jiang Zhijin felt a bit helpless, “It’s freezing cold.”
The evening temperature was already close to freezing, and the wind was quite strong. Jiang Zhijin felt like he was about to be frozen stiff.
Fang Xing, as if waking from a dream, immediately let go and took a step back, looking at Jiang Zhijin.
“You—” Due to the shock, his voice was a bit hoarse when he spoke, “How did you come here?”
“Isn’t today your birthday? Turning 18 is quite important.” Jiang Zhijin said.
Oh right, today was his 18th birthday.
From such a far distance, Jiang Zhijin drove all the way just to celebrate his birthday.
Fang Xing’s eyes welled up with tears. He tilted his head slightly, exhaled softly, not wanting the other person to see.
Jiang Zhijin saw it but didn’t say anything, just smiled, “Hurry up, what do you want to eat? I’ve been driving for three hours; I’m exhausted.”
“Anything.” Fang Xing said, “Whatever you want is fine.”
“Is it your birthday or mine?” Jiang Zhijin sighed with a smile. The weather was too cold, standing at the intersection like fools, so he continued, “No hot pot. Didn’t you just have it for lunch? How about ordering dishes?”
“Okay.” Fang Xing called the teacher to report his whereabouts. Since he was usually reliable, the teacher didn’t say much, just reminded him to return by 10:30 and that there would be room checks.
After hanging up the phone, the two got into the car. Jiang Zhijin looked through some apps and finally chose a nearby private restaurant with good reviews.
At seven or eight in the evening, the restaurant still had quite a few customers. The waiter led them to a window seat. After ordering, when the waiter walked away, Fang Xing turned to look at Jiang Zhijin.
“How did you know which hotel I was in?”
“I asked Tang Yi.”
“When I called you in the afternoon, why didn’t you tell me?”
Jiang Zhijin raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at Fang Xing, “Do you know what a surprise is, Fang Xing?”
“When you called in the afternoon, I hadn’t left the city yet.” Jiang Zhijin said, “When I arrived, you didn’t answer the phone. I thought you were celebrating with your classmates.”
“No, I didn’t tell them today was my birthday.” Fang Xing said.
Jiang Zhijin looked at him steadily for a while, then sighed slightly.
“A kid your age should attach importance to birthdays, especially turning 18, the coming-of-age ceremony. At least, you should go out for a meal with friends.” Jiang Zhijin said.
Fang Xing smiled, “It feels weird to tell others it’s my birthday.”
So he didn’t tell anyone. He had exams in the morning, slept in the afternoon, and if Jiang Zhijin hadn’t come, he would have casually ordered takeout and called his mom, making it an ordinary day—assuming Jiang Zhijin didn’t come.
But Jiang Zhijin did come, adding a bit more meaning to his otherwise casual 18th birthday.
“This is the cool guy, huh?” Jiang Zhijin said.
This person never stayed serious for long. Fang Xing nodded without changing his expression, “Driving three hours to celebrate someone else’s birthday is pretty cool too.”
The counterattack was quick; Jiang Zhijin laughed for a long time.
The restaurant had an old Shanghai style, with wooden tables, candlesticks, and a small bouquet of daisies on the table. The soft light illuminated Jiang Zhijin’s smiling eyes. Fang Xing looked at the person sitting across from him and couldn’t help but smile too.
Because it was a bit late, the dishes they ordered were quite light, but the taste was indeed good. After finishing the meal, when the two walked out of the restaurant, Jiang Zhijin checked the time: quarter past nine.
“I’ll take you back first.” Jiang Zhijin said.
Now it wasn’t as congested as when they went for dinner. Following the navigation, Jiang Zhijin drove Fang Xing back to the hotel entrance. When the car stopped, Fang Xing turned to look at him.
“You—”
He originally wanted to ask where Jiang Zhijin was staying tonight, but he saw Jiang Zhijin turn off the engine, and the car’s interior lights came on.
“Wait a moment.” Jiang Zhijin said.
After speaking, he turned his head slightly, leaned around the seat back, and picked up a cake box from the back seat.
The box was red and white, quite small, about five or six inches. The top of the box was transparent, revealing a glimpse of the cake inside. It was a small cake covered with white cream and strawberries.
“I didn’t see it just now.” Fang Xing was stunned for a moment, “I didn’t see it.”
“Your observational skills.” Jiang Zhijin chuckled. “Originally, I was thinking of bringing it to the dinner place, but with so many people, I was afraid you’d feel awkward, so I brought it back for you to eat.”
Jiang Zhijin looked at Fang Xing with a smile, “Your mom asked me to buy it for you. Remember to call her later.”
Fang Xing paused for a moment, then reached out and took the cake.
“Alright.”
After he took the cake, Jiang Zhijin took out a small navy-blue box from his pocket and handed it to him.
“Birthday present.”
Fang Xing was stunned.
He didn’t expect Jiang Zhijin to prepare a gift for him, and he looked at the other person in surprise, momentarily forgetting to reach out. Jiang Zhijin clicked his tongue and opened the box himself.
In the dim yellow light of the car, Fang Xing saw a jade safety button inside, threaded with red string, lying quietly in the box.
“I got this safety button when I was eight years old. My grandmother took me to the temple to pray,” Jiang Zhijin said.
“At that time, my parents had just left for about three or four months, and I had a severe illness. It was quite serious. Some people said it was because of the recent incident in my family, and evil spirits couldn’t be suppressed, so I was going to be taken away by the King of Hell.”
Jiang Zhijin chuckled as he spoke.
“In fact, it was just an illness. At that time, the medical conditions in the countryside were not good, and it took a long time to recover. My grandmother, unable to do anything, believed in these things, so she took me to the temple and prayed for a safety button.”
He tapped the safety button in the box.
“It’s genuine jade, but the quality is not that good, and the water content is insufficient. I remember it was quite cheap.”
Fang Xing’s gaze fell on the safety button inside the box. The safety button was small, attached to a red string like a pendant, with a green jade color that wasn’t very translucent. However, perhaps due to the passage of time, it emitted a subtle warmth.
“I remember at that time, the monk in the temple recited the ‘Ksitigarbha Sutra’ a hundred times facing this jade pendant with me.”
Fang Xing looked up at Jiang Zhijin, his face showing some astonishment. Jiang Zhijin met his gaze and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Really, at first, he recited one sentence, and I recited one. Later, we got familiar, and he recited it three times a day for over a month. That scripture has over ten thousand characters—”
Jiang Zhijin sighed, “It made me want to cry during that time.”
Fang Xing couldn’t help but laugh, and Jiang Zhijin laughed along.
“Later, I recovered. Actually, I should have recovered; I took medicine every day for over a month. But my grandmother believed it was because of this thing, so I’ve kept it with me ever since.”
What Jiang Zhijin didn’t say was that after his grandmother passed away, he was left with only this item. Soldiers were not allowed to wear these things, so he put the safety button in a box and kept it.
“When I was a soldier, I was wounded and discharged. During a mission, we encountered illegal border crossing. They made homemade bullets, and I was shot in the abdomen. The doctor said I was lucky; if it had gone a few millimeters further, it would have pierced my spleen. Then, I suddenly remembered this safety button, opened it, and looked at it. I don’t know when the string broke, but they said it blocked the disaster for me—”
Jiang Zhijin laughed suddenly as he spoke, “Hey, am I promoting feudal superstition here?”
Fang Xing also laughed, “Not really, it’s just… quite a coincidence.”
“It is quite a coincidence,” Jiang Zhijin said.
Actually, he didn’t believe in supernatural forces; it’s just that, for Jiang Zhijin, this kind of inexplicable luck and coincidence seemed more like a hidden connection, allowing him to have some nostalgia for the past and his family.
“Got carried away.”
Jiang Zhijin neatly closed the box, and, along with the safety button and the box, handed it to Fang Xing in the front passenger seat.
“I just wanted to say, even though the jade isn’t that good, I’ve worn it for so long, and I recited the sutra for more than a month. Now, I’m giving it to you as an 18th birthday present.”
Jiang Zhijin paused.
“Consider it as me reciting the ‘Ksitigarbha Sutra’ a hundred times for you, hoping you’ll be safe and sound,” he said.