I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: “I’ll wash your clothes for you, I’m good at it…”

“No problems here,” the repairman said, tapping the fixed pipe with his wrench. He turned to the person beside him. “You a pro, kid?”

Jiang Yingshen wiped his hands, accepting the praise calmly. “I’ve done repairs before.”

“Alright, I’m heading out then.” The master packed up his tools.

Qi Xu settled the bill and saw the man out. Returning to the living room, it was once again just the two of them.

After this brief buffer, Qi Xu finally remembered something. He took a moment to check his phone and figure out the situation—Jiang Yingshen was the person his sister had found to look after him. He had simply forgotten that the person was supposed to arrive today, leading to the misunderstanding.

Jiang Yingshen was still by the flower rack on the balcony, seemingly preparing to put on his jacket. Qi Xu fidgeted with his fingers, standing at the balcony door, unsure if he should explain.

Noticing the smudge on Jiang Yingshen’s white hoodie out of the corner of his eye, he instinctively reached out and grabbed the padded coat the man was halfway through putting on.

Jiang Yingshen turned around at the resistance.

“The shoulder is dirty,” Qi Xu gripped the fabric in his palm, throwing his previous hesitation to the wind. His eyes held only a thirst for Simp Points. “Do you want to take your clothes off? I’ll help you wash them.”

Jiang Yingshen looked at him, his gaze very faint and his face devoid of emotion, but his words were quite blunt: “It seems you really are keen on letting people take their clothes off.”

“…” Qi Xu was speechless. So the conversation he had with Xie Chengyan earlier had been heard by this man after all.

Qi Xu pursed his lips, his flickering gaze landing on the washing machine on the balcony. He came up with a flimsy excuse: “The washing machine my family just bought is very good. It washes clothes very clean.”

Now, it was the other person who was left with nothing to say.

Jiang Yingshen: “…”

“Really,” Qi Xu blinked.

Jiang Yingshen looked at the drum washing machine beside him. His lips moved slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he offered no critique of Qi Xu’s recommendation. Likely, he simply couldn’t understand the logic of Qi Xu trying to wash the clothes of every passerby just to demonstrate how well his washing machine worked.

“If you wear it like this, you’ll get your jacket dirty too.” Qi Xu grabbed the other sleeve Jiang Yingshen hadn’t put on yet and took two steps forward.

It looked like he intended to personally help him undress.

Jiang Yingshen lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the patch of wet mud under Qi Xu’s feet. He instinctively raised his hand to stop him. “Don’t walk—”

But before he could finish, he saw a certain someone, looking completely dazed, lunging straight toward him.

Jiang Yingshen instinctively reached out to catch him, but the incident happened too suddenly. Without sufficient preparation, his body tilted backward under the impact. After a moment of weightlessness, his shoulder slammed heavily against the cold floor.

As the dull pain hit, Jiang Yingshen actually felt a sense of “as expected.” He stared at the balcony ceiling, helpless and speechless, acting as a human cushion. He found the events of the last half-hour both laughable and frustrating.

However, the person he protected had an even bigger reaction.

With one hand braced against Jiang Yingshen’s chest and the other covering his own cheekbone, Qi Xu whimpered and gasped. “Hng… it hurts…”

Colliding with Jiang Yingshen for the second time, he still couldn’t help but marvel. This man was really too hard. Pressing the painful area, Qi Xu had the illusion that his face had been chiseled through.

On the other hand, the man whose chin he had hit and who was now pinned beneath him was as calm as if nothing had happened.

It took Qi Xu a long while to slowly prop himself up. But just as the nasal-stinging dull pain in his cheek subsided, waves of stinging pain in his hand followed. Qi Xu instinctively lifted the hand he had braced on the ground, only to see a streak of red flowing from between his fingers.

He stared dazed at his fingers, a mixture of muddy water and blood. A sharper sting confirmed the blood was his own.

Jiang Yingshen was pinned to the floor and couldn’t see the state of Qi Xu’s palm. His hands were still loosely around Qi Xu’s waist. Staring at the person kneeling over him with no intention of getting up, he even suspected the fall was intentional.

But seeing Qi Xu’s expression—pained yet innocent—he swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue and sighed helplessly.

Hearing the sigh, Qi Xu shifted his gaze. Looking at the slight frown on Jiang Yingshen’s brow, he keenly sensed the other’s impatience and suspicion. Qi Xu blinked, feeling wronged; he hadn’t fallen on purpose.

He pursed his lips and turned his palm over, showing the four fingers sliced by the flowerpot fragments. As his slender fingers curled and uncurled, beads of blood meandered down, dripping onto Jiang Yingshen’s chest.

Qi Xu, with a hint of grievance, pouted. “…It hurts.”

Staring at the neat wound crossing four fingers, Jiang Yingshen couldn’t help but close his eyes. “…” He really knows how to find trouble.

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the ground. Although he had consciously avoided the broken pot pieces when falling, Qi Xu’s hand hadn’t been so lucky, pressing right onto a palm-sized shard.

As Jiang Yingshen sat up, the distance between them closed instantly, so close their breaths intermingled. Jiang Yingshen grabbed Qi Xu’s injured hand for a look, then pulled Qi Xu’s sleeve down to press it against the wound.

The pain-sensitive Qi Xu immediately hissed.

“Hold it there,” Jiang Yingshen instructed coldly.

Qi Xu did as he was told, his eyelashes trembling. Jiang Yingshen glanced at the shards on the floor, then simply grabbed Qi Xu’s waist and picked him up before he could react.

Effortlessly.

Suddenly airborne, the sense of weightlessness made Qi Xu instinctively grab the man’s collar. He stared at Jiang Yingshen’s profile and blinked.

“The floor is covered in porcelain shards,” Jiang Yingshen explained.

Qi Xu looked over the man’s shoulder at the messy balcony, then at his feet, where only one slipper remained. These were the disposable slippers he’d put on to find Xie Chengyan earlier; they weren’t exactly high-quality in terms of grip.

Jiang Yingshen placed him on the living room carpet. “Do you have a medical kit?”

“Yes, it should be in that cabinet.” Qi Xu pointed to the one near the foyer.

Jiang Yingshen followed his gaze and nodded. “Go wash your hands. Clean the area around the wound.”

Qi Xu realized the man was going to help treat him and obediently went to the bathroom to wash up. Although the blood looked scary earlier, the wounds weren’t deep.

Sitting on the sofa, Qi Xu watched the man prepare the disinfectant. This was the first time he had observed him from such a close distance. Jiang Yingshen had his head down, his eyes shrouded in shadow, with only the lower half of his face clearly visible. Unlike Xie Chengyan, who often wore a smile, Jiang Yingshen’s lips naturally rested in a straight, firm line.

“Hand.”

Qi Xu retracted his gaze, stared at the hydrogen peroxide in the man’s hand, and obediently offered his injured hand.

Jiang Yingshen pulled over a trash can. “This will sting. Bear with it.” He looked up at Qi Xu as if judging whether he could take it.

Qi Xu nodded.

The hydrogen peroxide bubbled white on the wound, the stinging sensation far worse than the water. Qi Xu, who had been confident moments ago, now bared his teeth and tried to pull his hand back.

The moment he moved, his wrist was caught by Jiang Yingshen. “It’ll be over soon.” Perhaps to comfort him, the man’s voice softened considerably.

Contrary to his cold aura, Jiang Yingshen’s movements were quite gentle. After enduring the initial sting, the ointment and bandaging weren’t so hard to accept. Jiang Yingshen tossed the used cotton swab into the trash and applied ointment.

During the process, Qi Xu stared at his face, looking again and again. His gaze was so burning and direct that even Jiang Yingshen, who was trying his best to ignore it, could no longer do so. He finished wrapping the bandage and looked up.

One sitting on the sofa, one half-kneeling; they stared at each other for ten seconds. The funny thing was, they seemed to have stare-downs often, and every time, Jiang Yingshen was the one to lose in this silent confrontation. This time was no exception.

Jiang Yingshen looked away first. “Say what’s on your mind.”

With his thoughts exposed, Qi Xu pursed his lips and spoke tentatively: “Senior, don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”

This time, it was Jiang Yingshen’s turn to be silent. He was indeed curious about Qi Xu’s reaction to seeing him today, and given their past encounters, he had a general guess. However, if the other person didn’t plan on saying it, he had no intention of prying.

Seeing Jiang Yingshen remain silent, Qi Xu had to explain on his own: “I’m a bit face-blind, so I didn’t recognize you just now.”

Jiang Yingshen finished bandaging one finger and nodded understandingly. “Mm.” This was similar to what he had guessed.

Qi Xu had expected him to ask more questions out of curiosity, but the reaction was so flat that his prepared explanation went to waste. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

While the man was bandaging him, Qi Xu pulled up the system window to check the Simp Points. Xie Chengyan’s had increased by 8 points, and Jiang Yingshen’s was even higher—in less than an hour, he had earned a full 18 points.

Qi Xu felt a small wave of pleasant surprise. He quickly realized that besides acts of service, physical contact was the most effective way to earn Simp Points. So, when Jiang Yingshen finished with the four injured fingers, he saw a certain someone sneakily offering his other hand.

Jiang Yingshen: “?”

Qi Xu licked his lips. “This hand too.”

“…” Jiang Yingshen looked at the clean, perfectly fine hand with some confusion.

Qi Xu realized his request was nonsensical, so he turned his hand over and over, finally finding a tiny scratch on the back of his finger. He didn’t know if it happened during the fall or while snapping the faucet.

Qi Xu said thick-skinned, “It hurts here too.”

Jiang Yingshen looked where he pointed. It was a very shallow mark, the skin wasn’t even broken, just slightly red. Jiang Yingshen laughed out of exasperation. But he knew Qi Xu’s pestering ability well, so he didn’t try to refuse and bandaged it as requested.

Qi Xu’s skin was very white and thin; his knuckles showed a hint of pink, and the faint blue veins on the back of his hand were clearly visible. Fair and tender, but also very fragile. Jiang Yingshen glanced up; the spot where Qi Xu had hit his cheek during the fall was already showing signs of turning blue. The bruise was quite prominent on his fair face, making Jiang Yingshen feel a strange sense of guilt.

However, the person in question didn’t notice his gaze, as he was secretly rejoicing over the rapidly rising Simp Points. Jiang Yingshen could sense the person in front of him was in a good mood, but the joy was strange and incomprehensible to him. From their contact during this period, it was clear Qi Xu had been very well taken care of. A “flower in a greenhouse” would be an apt description.

Yet this “flower’s” logic was truly unpredictable. It was as if he had had enough water and decided to carry himself out, pot and all, to drench himself in pesticide just to cause a stir. Stirring up trouble for himself and for others.

Whether it was a childish desire for revenge or to avoid being pestered again, Jiang Yingshen simply wrapped bandages around all five of Qi Xu’s perfectly healthy fingers. Although it exceeded his expectations, Qi Xu was more than happy to accept the extended physical contact. He stared at his mummy-wrapped fingers and his eyes curved into crescents.

Seeing him finally satisfied, Jiang Yingshen let out a secret sigh of relief. But just as he packed the medical kit and stood up, his sleeve was tugged.

Qi Xu blinked, his gaze falling on the man’s white hoodie. He spoke softly, “Do you want to take a shower at my place and change your clothes?”

Jiang Yingshen followed his gaze, looked down at his clothes, and his temple couldn’t help but throb. It was a sight to behold. Besides the mud stains, there was Qi Xu’s blood. It was now truly too dirty to continue wearing.

“I’ll help you wash your clothes. They’ll be very clean.”

Jiang Yingshen: “…”