I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: “Little Young Master, Are You Doing This on Purpose?”

When Qi Xu raised his hand to knock for the fifth time, the door was suddenly pulled open from the inside.

“Five times today,” Xie Chengyan said, leaning against the doorframe. He quirked an eyebrow at the person standing there. “What is the little young master borrowing this time?”

He was wearing a white turtleneck sweater, his soft hair falling over his forehead, making him look much more languid than usual. However, there was a trace of scrutiny and calculation in his casual gaze.

Qi Xu pursed his lips, his eyes sweeping over a stain on the man’s pristine white cuff.

That was Qi Xu’s masterpiece from ten minutes ago.

The fourth time he had knocked on Xie Chengyan’s door, his excuse had been borrowing a small garden trowel:

“I want to repot some flowers at home. Can I borrow a small shovel?”

To make his intrusive interruption more convincing, he had specifically smeared mud all over his hands before coming over.

From the third time Qi Xu knocked, Xie Chengyan’s eyes had darkened, his gaze becoming intriguing. Yet, he said nothing, turning back to the tool room to find a trowel.

When taking the item, Qi Xu intended to seize the opportunity for physical contact. However, he miscalculated the distance and left two dark, muddy fingerprints on the man’s cuff.

The two of them stared at the stain, falling into a collective silence for about ten seconds.

“Sorry. Why don’t you take it off and let me wash it for you?” Qi Xu said, feeling genuinely embarrassed while simultaneously refusing to let any “simping” opportunity slip by.

Xie Chengyan looked at him for a long while before letting out an unreadable chuckle. “No need.”

Rejected, Qi Xu had slunk back home with his small garden trowel.

Once home, he lined up the trowel with the rest of the junk he had borrowed:

Scissors (0.3 points), Tape (0.2 points), Body Wash (1 point).

Soon, the score for the garden trowel came in: 0.3 points.

Plus 0.5 points for the “touch-and-go” physical contact.

Qi Xu felt a bit discouraged. After all that effort, he hadn’t even managed to scrape together 3 Simp Points. This wasn’t how he had imagined things would go.

Muttering to himself, Qi Xu moved the fiddle-leaf fig—which he had brought out just for show—back toward the balcony.

However, in a moment of inattention, the half-meter-tall flower pot collided with the faucet specifically left on the balcony for watering. The heavy impact snapped the protruding plastic joint, and water immediately began to spray from the break. The ceramic pot didn’t survive either, performing a dramatic disintegration right in front of him.

“…” Qi Xu, who proved more adept at causing trouble than achieving results, stood frozen amidst the mess.

Now he really had to change the flower pot.

But did he also need someone to fix the faucet?

Qi Xu wiped the water off his face, staring at the borrowed items on the coffee table. He blinked.

And that led to the current scene.

Qi Xu lowered his eyes, glancing again at the stain on Xie Chengyan’s cuff. Based on his observations over the past few encounters, this male lead had a bit of a germaphobia streak. Yet, ten minutes had passed since the clothes were soiled, and he still hadn’t changed.

Qi Xu reasonably suspected that the man had been waiting behind the door for his return ever since the trowel incident.

At that thought, Qi Xu felt inexplicably guilty.

Seeing him stay silent, Xie Chengyan stared at a water droplet clinging to Qi Xu’s hair and asked curiously, “What? Not here to borrow something this time?”

They say things happen once, twice, but not three times. Qi Xu, however, had gone for three, four, and five.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Qi Xu couldn’t help but fidget. He hesitated for a long moment before whispering, “Do you know how to fix a faucet?”

“I think my house is about to flood,” Qi Xu added, recalling the small pool of water already forming on his floor.

Xie Chengyan watched the fluffy top of the head in front of him and slowly narrowed his eyes.

It wasn’t until he saw the wreckage on the balcony and the faucet playing the role of a fountain that he realized the boy wasn’t joking.

“…”

His gaze swept over the items sitting on the living room coffee table before discreetly retracting.

Xie Chengyan stepped over the shattered pot fragments, crouched by the faucet, and pressed his hand over the spraying crack.

Cool water slid down his fingertips, splashing onto the floor.

“Is there a toolbox in the house? I can help you plug it temporarily, but you’ll need a professional for the rest.”

Qi Xu was leaning over with his hands on his knees, staring at Xie Chengyan’s hand. He blinked.

“Toolbox?” He thought he saw the housekeeper with one once. “There should be. I’ll go look.”

Relying on his memory, Qi Xu rummaged through a cabinet and pulled out a box. Not knowing which tool the man needed, he simply opened the box and placed it next to Xie Chengyan.

“See if there’s any plumber’s tape (PTFE tape).”

It was the first time Qi Xu had heard of such a thing. He searched through the multiple layers of the toolbox.

To his surprise, the little box was quite well-stocked. His fingers brushed over each tool.

Screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, scissors, a trowel, various types of tape…

Scissors, a trowel, tape…

Qi Xu froze suddenly. But by the time he belatedly tried to hide it, Xie Chengyan was already staring at the toolbox.

Qi Xu peeked up and saw the man quirk an eyebrow meaningfully at the tools Qi Xu had claimed he “didn’t have” just hours ago.

“Ah…” Qi Xu felt awkward, forcing himself to come up with a cover-up. “So they were all here. I thought we didn’t have any.”

Xie Chengyan looked up at him and said nothing, clearly skeptical of the excuse.

Qi Xu pursed his lips and wanted to explain further, but the man pointed at an item under his hand and jerked his chin: “That one. Hand it over.”

Seeing that the man wasn’t going to press the issue, Qi Xu quickly picked up the white roll of tape.

Xie Chengyan moved slightly to make room. “You hold it down.”

Qi Xu obediently sidled over, intentionally pressing against Xie Chengyan, and mimicked his posture to hold the leak.

The open balcony had no air conditioning. Within ten seconds, Qi Xu’s fingertips were turning red from the cold. Once his hands were free, Xie Chengyan pulled the tape and began wrapping it around the gap.

In the cramped space, their shoulders brushed, and their fingertips bumped into each other. Though his fingers stung from the cold, Qi Xu was delighted to have more physical contact.

To increase the contact area, Qi Xu twisted his wrist awkwardly, intentionally rubbing against the palm of Xie Chengyan’s hand. Xie Chengyan was focused on wrapping the tape and didn’t seem to notice the small movements.

This lack of reaction made a certain someone even more brazen, to the point of being a hindrance.

Xie Chengyan couldn’t ignore it even if he wanted to. He stopped his movements and looked down at the person beside him.

But Qi Xu’s attention was entirely on his own hand. He was staring unblinkingly at their fingertips, his lips pressed white, completely unaware of the gaze fixed on his face.

Xie Chengyan tentatively shifted his hand to the side; sure enough, the fair, slender hand quickly followed.

Like a small animal lured by food.

“…” Xie Chengyan tapped his fingers against his knee twice, retracted his dark gaze, and resumed his work.

The spraying water diminished under the layers of tape. He let go and turned to grab the scissors from the toolbox to cut the tape.

He completely didn’t expect that in the time it took to turn around and back, he would be attacked by a burst of icy water.

Xie Chengyan ducked by reflex, but he still couldn’t avoid getting a face full of water.

Qi Xu was also startled by the accident. He immediately reached out with his other hand to plug the pipe.

But this time, the opening was completely different from the previous crack. His attempt to cover it only resulted in more chaotic splashing.

Both were within range, receiving a 360-degree “shower.”

Qi Xu held one hand futilely over the spraying pipe while the other hand tightly gripped the faucet head he had accidentally snapped off.

“…” He looked at his collateral-damage neighbor, pouting and not daring to make a sound.

Xie Chengyan wiped the water from his face and looked up at the mute boy. Seeing the broken faucet in his hand, he suddenly couldn’t help but laugh out of pure exasperation.

“Little young master, are you doing this on purpose?”

Qi Xu blinked and shook his head. “If I said it was an accident, would you believe me?”

He had just wanted to rub against the man’s hand more; he hadn’t expected the cracked plastic joint to be so fragile.

Both of their clothes were soaked. Water dripped down their chins. Qi Xu licked his wet lips and asked sheepishly, “What should we do?”

Although he felt sorry for causing more trouble, he was more desperate for a solution right now. He was freezing. The water soaking through his clothes was stripping away what little body heat he had. Qi Xu instinctively leaned toward the heat source next to him.

Xie Chengyan also noticed his shivering body. He reached into the toolbox and found a plug. To avoid further accidents, he didn’t dare ask for Qi Xu’s help this time.

“Call someone for a repair,” he instructed while plugging the break.

Qi Xu, clutching his stiff fingers, took a moment to react before stepping off the balcony to find his phone.

Xie Chengyan spent some effort managing to plug the pipe. It was still leaking, but at least it wasn’t spraying everywhere.

As he closed the balcony door, the warmth of the room made him dazed for a second. Accustomed to keeping things cool, Xie Chengyan found the warm air a bit stifling.

Qi Xu emerged from his room. He had already taken off his wet clothes, wearing only a thin undershirt and knee-length shorts, holding a clean bath towel.

“This is new.” He stepped forward quickly and handed over the towel.

Xie Chengyan took it and dried his hair. His gaze inadvertently brushed over those white, straight calves. The living room’s thermostat showed 28°C (82°F), no wonder he was running around in shorts.

Qi Xu didn’t notice the gaze, thinking only of how a thank-you gesture could be most “sincere.”

“I’ll use the restroom,” Xie Chengyan said, frowning uncomfortably as he rubbed his sticky fingertips.

“The restroom is over there,” Qi Xu pointed.

Xie Chengyan placed the towel on the coffee table. His gaze swept over those familiar items again—the things Qi Xu had borrowed from him today.

He pursed his lips and walked past Qi Xu into the bathroom without a word.

Xie Chengyan carefully scrubbed his fingertips while staring at the toiletries on the shelf through the mirror. Just like the toolbox, the setup was complete.

Soap, body wash, shampoo, hand sanitizer—everything was there.

Xie Chengyan lowered his eyelashes and suddenly let out a cold, dark laugh.

So his initial instinct hadn’t been wrong. This little young master was coming for him.

At the banquet lounge that night, he had become alert the moment he recognized him. Unlike those who wanted to use his illness to climb into his bed for profit, Qi Xu’s status and background meant he didn’t need any of that. Therefore, Xie Chengyan naturally assumed this was a prank by a young master who had taken a liking to his face.

Qi Xu probably saw him as a beautiful toy, approaching him just for fun. This behavior only made Xie Chengyan more disgusted. Thus, that night, he had intentionally shown his “wicked” side, intending to scare off the naive and reckless boy.

However, to his surprise, the person who had fled in a hurry that night turned around and moved in across from him as a neighbor.

Xie Chengyan pulled a paper towel and slowly dried his hands. Suddenly, he couldn’t quite figure out what Qi Xu was calculating.

…

Sitting in the living room, Qi Xu hadn’t realized that the borrowed items he forgot to hide had completely exposed him.

“Ding-dong—”

The crisp sound of the doorbell rang. Qi Xu hopped off the sofa and ran barefoot toward the door.

“The repairman got here so fast,” he thought, since he’d only called ten minutes ago.

Qi Xu pushed open the door and instinctively sized up the man outside. He blinked, a bit surprised.

This repairman looked much younger than he had imagined.