My Favorite Ship Became My Sister-in-Law - Chapter 26

Shi Yue, Ji Chenchuan, and the delivery worker managed to load the entire truck in just twenty minutes.

The client offered a flurry of grateful words, paid the balance, and drove off.

“Are you tired?” Ji Chenchuan asked Shi Yue.

“Not at all. It was no different from playing a game of basketball,” Shi Yue said with a smile, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

His once sparkling white school T-shirt was now dusty and gray, made even messier by the mixture of sweat and grime.

Ji Chenchuan could not quite reconcile himself with Shi Yue’s habit of using his sleeves to wipe sweat and his mouth, but he did not nitpick. After all, it did not bother anyone else; everyone has their little habits.

Seeing how dirty Shi Yue’s clothes had become, Ji Chenchuan decided to finish work half an hour early, leaving Zhang Ping to close the shop at the regular time.

Zhang Ping agreed to his face but grumbled inwardly.

As soon as Ji Chenchuan left, Zhang Ping immediately called Ji Chenchuan’s maternal aunt to complain. He spoke snidely, saying Ji Chenchuan was being far too good to that neighbor boy, arriving late for work and leaving early just to drive the boy to tutoring and take him out to eat because he found takeout unpalatable. Zhang Ping complained that he was practically watching the shop alone and urged the aunt to tell her sister, so she could tell her husband to give Zhang Ping a raise.

Shi Yue’s energy was remarkably high. On the way home, he talked incessantly.

Ji Chenchuan did not find it annoying. He listened to Shi Yue as he drove. When a viewpoint was needed, he would seriously offer his own. When no opinion was required, just Shi Yue venting minor frustrations, he acted as a listener, responding with an occasional “Mm” or catching a key point to guide Shi Yue’s thoughts in a more positive direction.

Being with Ji Chenchuan made Shi Yue feel exceptionally comfortable and at peace.

By leaving early, they avoided the rush hour and encountered no traffic, arriving home by five thirty. Shi Yue mentioned wanting to eat taro braised with pork ribs, but they did not have any at home. They needed to go to the supermarket. However, since they were both covered in dirt and sweat from loading the truck, they decided to go home separately to shower and change before heading out to buy groceries.

Shi Yue was like a firefighter responding to an emergency; he could not wait a second longer. He wanted to see Ji Chenchuan as soon as possible. Showering, changing, drying his hair, washing his school uniform, and hanging it to dry, he finished the entire process in ten minutes. Then, he threw on his shoes and sprinted to Ji Chenchuan’s house.

Shi Yue was about to ring the doorbell when he saw the door was slightly ajar. Ji Chenchuan had not closed it; as usual, he had left it open for him.

Shi Yue stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind him. The living room lights were on, but Ji Chenchuan was nowhere to be seen. He called out:

“Brother Chenchuan, are you ready?”

There was no answer.

Shi Yue checked Ji Chenchuan’s bedroom, but no one was there. He must still be showering, Shi Yue thought.

Sure enough, the whirring sound of a hairdryer came from the bathroom. Shi Yue ran straight there. The bathroom door was open, and Ji Chenchuan, having already showered and changed, was standing before the mirror drying his hair.

Shi Yue leaned against the doorframe, watching him. He said with a hint of pride, “I was fast, right? I even finished washing my clothes.”

Ji Chenchuan looked at Shi Yue through the mirror and smiled.

From his angle, Shi Yue could also see Ji Chenchuan’s expression in the reflection. He smiled back.

“I will be ready in a second,” Ji Chenchuan said. He ran his fingers through his hair, dried it for a bit longer, and then said, “Done.” As he put the hairdryer away in a drawer under the sink and turned around, Shi Yue let out a loud laugh.

“Wow!” Shi Yue made an exaggerated expression as if he had discovered something monumental. He could not stop laughing as he said, “Brother Chenchuan, I did not expect you to be careless too. You actually buttoned your shirt wrong.”

Ji Chenchuan was wearing a black shirt. He looked down and saw that the third button was fastened into the second buttonhole. He furrowed his brow slightly but said:

“It is not wrong!”

“How is it not wrong?” Laughing, Shi Yue took a step toward Ji Chenchuan. His slender fingers reached out to undo the button. While refastening it correctly, he said, “The third button is in the second hole, and you still say it is not wrong?”

Shi Yue was focused on carefully correcting the mistake he had found, so he did not see Ji Chenchuan looking down at the crown of his head, a subtle and handsome curve forming at the corners of his mouth.

“There, that is right.”

Shi Yue pressed his slender fingers together and placed them on the second button, lightly sliding them down all the way to the last button. His face bore the proud expression of someone who had completed a grand project.

Shi Yue did not know that as his fingertips glided down, their warmth, felt through the thin fabric of the shirt, was fitfully scorching Ji Chenchuan’s skin, causing a certain someone to feel quite restless.

“Do you have any idea how much danger you are in right now?”

Ji Chenchuan leaned close to Shi Yue’s ear, speaking in a low voice that almost brushed against his earlobe. However, before Shi Yue could react, Ji Chenchuan had already pulled away. He called out to Shi Yue, “Let us go, time to go to the supermarket.”

Shi Yue stood frozen in place. He was completely surrounded by the warmth of Ji Chenchuan’s breath on his ear, and his heart pounded so hard it felt swollen.

“What are you dazing off for? If we do not leave now, the groceries will be gone,” Ji Chenchuan urged with a teasing smile.

“Oh.”

Shi Yue finally snapped out of it and moved his feet, following Ji Chenchuan. While his mind was in a turmoil over his abnormal reaction, he did not forget to press Ji Chenchuan, asking why he had said he was in danger.

Ji Chenchuan smiled but did not answer. He simply focused on locking the door, calling the elevator, and urging Shi Yue to go downstairs for the groceries.

As they walked side by side on the apartment complex’s platform, Shi Yue was relentless, insisting on an answer.

Ji Chenchuan refused to speak. When he saw Shi Yue getting genuinely anxious, just as they reached the supermarket, Ji Chenchuan finally spoke: “Because, the supermarket is here.” He smiled and pointed toward the store.

Shi Yue laughed in frustration. “You are messing with me!”

Ji Chenchuan smiled, not denying it.

About one hundred and fifty meters outside the complex was a large underground supermarket where they went to buy their food.

It was the peak grocery shopping hour before dinner, and the supermarket was exceptionally crowded. The vegetable section was so packed they could not even squeeze in to buy taro, so they decided to buy the pork ribs first. That area was just as crowded and required queuing.

Ji Chenchuan pushed the shopping cart and waited in line while Shi Yue stayed by his side.

By the time it was their turn, the pork ribs were sold out.

“Should we use sliced meat to make a taro soup instead?” Ji Chenchuan asked for Shi Yue’s opinion. He did not mind either way; it was mainly about what Shi Yue wanted to eat.

Without ribs, that was the only option. Shi Yue agreed. What he really wanted was the taro; he remembered Feng Liuyu stewing it once, it was soft, starchy, and delicious.

They bought half a kilogram of meat. By then, the vegetable section was less crowded, and they managed to get the last taro that had been picked over by others, along with a bundle of green onions.

As they passed the fruit section, Ji Chenchuan asked Shi Yue what fruit he wanted to buy.

“I do not want fruit. I want potato chips, is that okay?” Shi Yue asked tentatively. Ji Chenchuan had said before that chips were high in calories and unhealthy, so Shi Yue had listened and refrained from eating them.

“It is okay.”

Shi Yue almost thought his ears were playing tricks on him. He looked at Ji Chenchuan in surprise, asking for confirmation.

“I am serious,” Ji Chenchuan said firmly. “Eating a little bit once in a while is fine.”

However, looking at the shopping cart filled with various brands and flavors of chips, Ji Chenchuan regretted his words. The promised “little bit” had turned into a whole cart. Shi Yue was putting them in the front, and Ji Chenchuan was putting them back on the shelf from behind. In the end, he let Shi Yue keep half of them. Seeing Shi Yue so happy was rare, so after some thought, Ji Chenchuan even retrieved some of the bags he had just put back.

At the checkout, Shi Yue gleefully placed the items one by one on the counter. He clearly remembered taking a lot, so why were there so few now? Shi Yue bit his lip and asked Ji Chenchuan with a frustrated laugh, “Be honest, was it you?”

Ji Chenchuan put on a look of total innocence.

“Stop pretending,” Shi Yue said, poking Ji Chenchuan’s waist with his index finger. “I never realized before how good you are at acting.”

The poking made Ji Chenchuan feel ticklish. He reached out and gently grasped Shi Yue’s fingertips, stopping him from moving and offering a smile instead of an answer.

With his fingertips held, Shi Yue felt his heart pounding again. He quickly pulled his hand back, not daring to move another inch.

A long queue had formed at the checkout, so while one person operated the register, another helped with bagging.

The staff member bagging the items was a young girl. Watching the sweet interaction between the two handsome men, her eyes sparkled with excitement. She took sugary glances at Shi Yue and Ji Chenchuan while packing their things into bags. Consequently, she accidentally packed three boxes of condoms purchased by the previous customer into their bag. None of the three parties noticed.

Even after Ji Chenchuan had returned nearly half the items, the checkout resulted in two large, full bags.

Shi Yue carried both bags himself. Ji Chenchuan asked for one, but Shi Yue refused. He was afraid Ji Chenchuan would give away his chips to passersby along the way.

Ji Chenchuan could not help but laugh; the way Shi Yue protected his food was far too cute.

When they emerged from the supermarket, it was dark. The streetlights were on, and the rush hour had passed, leaving fewer pedestrians on the road. The street between the supermarket and the apartment complex was lined with ginkgo trees. The yellow streetlights shone through the sparse gaps in the ginkgo branches, casting mottled shadows on the ground.

At this moment, a light evening breeze blew as they walked side by side under the trees.

Walking ahead of them was a couple holding hands. The girl suddenly stopped and acted spoiled toward the boy: “My feet ache so much, I do not want to walk anymore. Carry me on your back.”

“Okay,” the boy said, affectionately stroking her hair as he crouched down. “If you do not want to walk, I will carry you.”

Shi Yue watched as the boy lifted the girl up, spun around with a laugh, and then walked on. The girl laughed happily on his back and gave his ear a playful little nip, letting out a mischievous giggle.

Is this what dating is like? So sweet, Shi Yue thought to himself.

He suddenly felt a deep urge to find someone to date too.

Shi Yue did not know what he was thinking, but he actually mimicked the girl and stopped walking. He looked at Ji Chenchuan and said, “I do not have a reason, but I just do not want to walk anymore. Can you carry me, Brother Chenchuan?”

Shi Yue assumed Ji Chenchuan would refuse, and he immediately regretted saying it. However, at the height of his regret, he heard an unexpected “Okay” from Ji Chenchuan.

“Come up.”

Ji Chenchuan crouched down for him.

As if unable to believe it, Shi Yue carefully leaned onto Ji Chenchuan’s back, wrapping his arms around his neck. Ji Chenchuan lifted him with ease and began walking slowly over the shadows of the ginkgo trees.

Ji Chenchuan had broad shoulders and a sturdy back. Being carried by him gave Shi Yue a sense of security so profound he felt as though he would not be afraid even if the sky fell. This feeling was different from an embrace, but both were things he craved immensely.

“Am I heavy?”

Ji Chenchuan used one hand to steady Shi Yue and freed the other to take the two bags from him. He then used that hand to help support Shi Yue again, as the bags swinging in front of his eyes were blocking his view.

“Not heavy,” Ji Chenchuan said. “You could actually gain some weight; you are too thin.”

“No way. What if I get fat and you can no longer carry me?”

“Does that mean you want me to carry you again in the future?”

Yes.

Of course, I do.

Shi Yue thought he was likely going mad. He craved being this close to Ji Chenchuan, but he did not dare say it aloud. He was afraid his crazy thoughts would scare Ji Chenchuan away. So, he only dared to ask tentatively if Ji Chenchuan had ever carried anyone else.

Even though Shi Yue was being very careful, Ji Chenchuan could still hear the possessiveness in his voice. He deliberately replied: “I have.”

“Who?” Shi Yue’s tone suddenly became sharp and urgent. “Do I know them? Was it a girlfriend from your university?”