Intern Incubus Chapter 31: “Are you afraid of the dark?”

Chapter 31: “Are you afraid of the dark?”

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

Qiao Xi took a quick look around and found that Sang Sang’s apartment was a small one-room apartment with a lot of knick-knacks in the living room, such as a wooden octave box, a classical clock, a small red mailbox, and all kinds of new and interesting dolls, big and small.

Although there were many things, they were all neatly arranged, and the whole house was not cluttered, but had a strange and lovely feeling.

Han Tian also looked around and said, “These ornaments are found by you? You can’t find them online.”

Speaking of these small things, Sang Sang, who had been restless, suddenly gained a few points of spirit, and her eyes also brightened some.

She touched a small doll in her hand and said, “Yes, they are all found at yard sales and flea markets one by one. Look at this little owl, tilting its head and looking at people, how funny it looks! When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m going to put it behind the bar in the future…'”

Suddenly, the light in her eyes went out.

She withdrew her hand from the owl doll, retracted it into her knitted shirt pocket, and hung her head. “I’ll… I’ll go make you some tea.”

Han Tian said in a deep voice, “No need. Where do you want to put this owl at the bar? At Angel’s Feather?”

Sang Sang shook a little, her voice low as a mosquito. “No… I think I want to put it in my own cafe… Not too big, just on the beach…”

Han Tian’s voice was faint. “Hmm? A seaside cafe? Standing on the cliff, outside the window is the gray-blue water, and every now and then you can see seagulls flying over?”

Sang Sang was stunned, her eyes staring blankly ahead.

Qiao Xi couldn’t help but say, “Then why did you suddenly quit your job? Is it because you have saved enough money and are ready to go back to open your own store?”

Sang Sang raised her head sharply, her eyes fell on the rows of carefully wiped ornaments, her eyes grew red and finally fell into tears. “I… I… I… I’m not going to open the store… He said it was enough for me to stay at home and for him to support me… He didn’t agree with me opening a store…”

Sang Sang grew sadder and sadder, finally covering her face and squatting on the ground, sobbing.

Qiao Xi, who had never seen an adult crying in front of him before, was in a hurry, scratching his ears and not knowing what to do, so he could only squat down and follow Han Tian’s example, gently patting Sang Sang’s shoulder and saying in a soft voice, “Okay, okay, don’t cry…”

Han Tian’s face was a little dark, but he couldn’t say anything, so he looked around, found the refrigerator and took out ice, wrapped it in a towel and made a simple ice bag, squatted beside Qiao Xi without moving, handed the ice bag over and said, “Put it on your face.”

Sang Sang took the ice bag and choked back a sob, saying that she had caused trouble, while standing up and moving to the small sofa in the living room.

Han Tian handed over another box of tissues and said, “The ‘he’ you mentioned, is he your boyfriend? Is he the one who made you quit your job?”

Sang Sang did not answer, only tears kept slipping down.

Qiao Xi frowned and asked, “Zheng Tong, why? Sang Sang, don’t you work here because you like the cafe? Why won’t he let you open the store or work?”

Sang Sang’s chest rose and fell violently for a few moments, and finally cried out, “He said, said, I’m here every day, wearing a dress and hooking up with you guys, and in the future, when I open the store, I’ll be hooking up with other men—I, I didn’t do that! Why would he say that about me!”

Sang Sang cried while covering her face and said, “I explained to him that Qiao Xi and I were just colleagues and nothing else, but he didn’t believe me at all…. He, he slapped me and said I talked back! I…! What did I do wrong… What did I do wrong…? He did this to me…”

Hearing this, Qiao Xi had become angry—he still remembered what Zheng Tong looked like. That gorilla-like masculine man, almost two heads taller than Sang Sang, just slapped her? How could he do that?

He was about to accuse the man of talking nonsense, but Han Tian took his hand and squeezed it, and turned his head and mouthed to him: “Calm down.”

When Sang Sang calmed down more or less, Han Tian stood beside her, as if to pluck away the hair on her face, his finger lightly tapped on her forehead.

This action made Qiao Xi’s heart ache, and his hand holding Han Tian’s couldn’t help but add a few points of strength.

Noticing the change in strength, Han Tian withdrew his other hand and gently stroked the back of Qiao Xi’s hand a few times.

Qiao Xi immediately felt more comfortable, but at the same time felt that he was simply inexplicable.

Han Tian didn’t look back at Qiao Xi, but turned to Sang Sang and stated in a steady tone, “You didn’t do anything wrong. His mistreatment of you is because he is a bully, it is not your fault. It is not your fault that he slandered you because he is evil at heart and cannot tolerate anything good. His suppression of you is because of his inferiority and cowardice, and what does that have to do with you?”

Sang Sang, whose forehead was touched by Han Tian, had the haze of fear and confusion in her eyes gradually dissipate, and the spirituality and brightness that had been obscured, returned little by little.

“It’s not…my…fault?” She half lifted her face, unconsciously repeating these words.

Han Tian slid open his cell phone screen and tapped on Sang Sang’s microblogs, displaying them one by one in front of her.

Six years ago, she had just entered Haicheng’s university, wearing denim shorts and big round glasses, giggling at the camera with a V, with the text: “F University, I’m coming! Take care of my tutelage!”

Then there was a nondescript cafe, the interior decoration was somewhat outdated, with the words: “Haicheng had so many such places, three or five friends together to listen to music and chat, I like this atmosphere! If only there were such cafes in my hometown!”

Next, she was standing in Angel’s Feather, wearing her uniform, smiling happily, and underneath it was written: “I can actually work in such a great cafe? I’m so awesome!”

And then, there was how she saved up a little bit of money and planned step by step what kind of cafe she wanted to open in her hometown, interspersed with many “Ah, I can pull flowers today!” “Mmm! So this is how you can bake an egg tart!” I can bake tarts like this!”.

All of this came to an abrupt end a month ago.

“Sang Sang, what is it that you really want to do? Do you want to fulfill your heart’s desire and hold on to your dream, or do you want to be confined by a wretch, living on his charity, living in the shadow of being abandoned and bullied by him all the time, spending every day of the rest of your life in fear?” Han Tian’s voice was not loud, but it was extraordinarily clear and crisp, and the words were as sobering as ice.

The last bit of confusion on Sang Sang’s face disappeared.

She looked at Qiao Xi and Han Tian as if she had just woken up from a dream, and suddenly cupped her cheeks and screamed out, “Oh, really, I haven’t done my makeup yet! Why did I let you guys in?”

After that, she jumped up from the sofa, rushed into the bedroom and closed the door with a bang.

Qiao Xi looked at Han Tian with a confused face. “Uh? Why did she start talking about makeup or not all of a sudden?”

Han Tian laughed. “She’s fine. She’s already thought it through.”

“Hmm?” Qiao Xi still didn’t understand. “But the question you just asked her, she didn’t answer it either, huh?”

“No need to answer.” Han Tian looked at Qiao Xi, whose head was full of question marks, with a smile under his eyes. “Sometimes, to see what a person really thinks, it’s not what they say, but how they do it.”

Qiao Xi seemed to understand, but also seemed to not understand.

“When Sang Sang started to choose to focus on herself and stop obsessing about what exactly she had to do to make her boyfriend—no, ex-boyfriend—happy, she had thought it through,” Han Tian continued to explain.

“Oh…” Qiao Xi then finally understood, eyes almost shining in admiration. “Great, I was thinking, Sang Sang was bullied by that scum so much, how do I teach him a lesson to make him leave Sang Sang!”

Han Tian lowered his eyes and asked, seemingly inadvertently, “A lesson? How do you want to teach him a lesson?”

Qiao Xi was dumbfounded and laughed twice, scratching his head and saying, “There is no lesson… I guess it’s just like you, to persuade each other politely and calmly, right?”

The door to the bedroom opened just as the words were spoken.

Sang Sang had changed into a treasure blue velvet sports suit, her short hair was pinned with a hair band of the same color, the red marks on her face were carefully hidden, and she looked much more refreshed.

She stuck her tongue out at Qiao Xi. “Sorry, boss, my resignation can be withdrawn, right?”

Qiao Xi nodded seriously. “Of course! I have never approved it!”

Looking at Qiao Xi’s serious “boss” look, the corner of Han Tian’s lips raised slightly, and a little imperceptible smile appeared under his eyes.

After a few more brief words, Han Tian gestured to Qiao Xi to leave and let Sang Sang have some quiet time by herself.

The two of them stood in the dim corridor and pressed the elevator, but after waiting for several minutes, the elevator did not come up.

“Let’s take the stairs?” Qiao Xi suggested, peeking his head into the stairwell.

Han Tian looked at the dark hallway and looked at Qiao Xi with a smirk. “It’s so dark…”

Qiao Xi blinked. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

Han Tian did not answer.

Qiao Xi suddenly came to life, grabbed Han Tian’s hand, straightened his chest, and declared, “I’m not afraid of the dark! I’ll lead you!”

The walk from the 26th floor to the 1st floor was a long enough walk.

Moreover, almost all the sound-controlled lights were broken along the way. The long and dark road seemed to have a hypnotic effect, making people unable to resist telling their secrets and revealing everything.

Qiao Xi, holding the flashlight of his cell phone in one hand for illumination and Han Tian in the other, stepped down the road, feeling that his heart was full of words that he wanted to pour out in one go.

However, he did not know where to start.

Han Tian was also silent, holding Qiao Xi’s hand, following behind, slowly walking down.

“Actually…”

“You…”

The two opened their mouths in unison, and then stopped at the same time.

“Actually what?” Han Tian asked first.

“No, no, it’s nothing…” Qiao Xi was a little flustered. “You said it first, huh? I have nothing important.”

Han Tian was silent for almost half a minute before he slowly said, “Have you thought about what you’re going to eat?”

That’s it? Qiao Xi was disappointed.

However, what was he expecting Han Tian to say?

He gave a dry smile, and replied, “Anything.”

Han Tian was behind him, looking at the bright light of the phone, and asked in a low voice, “What about you? What do you want to say?”

Qiao Xi swallowed all those words that came to his mouth, and finally only came out with the most irrelevant sentence: “Actually, that, I have already bought Angel’s Feather before, that’s why Sang Sang called me boss.”

Han Tian only said, “Oh.” No comment, nor any suspicion.

The hallway, which was thought to be endlessly long, was finally finished.

Pushing open the heavy fire door, Qiao Xi sneezed in the dust of the parking lot.

Han Tian let go of his hand and put his arm around his shoulder. “Cold?”

Qiao Xi’s body shivered and he shook his head. “No, no, it’s not cold…. Huh?”

In front of the two of them, under the dim light, there was a big dark blue Buick parked.

Although this kind of car was very common, Qiao Xi thought, this time, this place, this car appearing was too coincidental.

He took a few steps forward, pretending to help Han Tian find the car, and walked around the Buick—and sure enough, there was a fishy smell, mixed with a disgusting stench.

It’s that trashy scum looking for the door! What is he trying to do to Sang Sang again! Qiao Xi’s heart tightened, just about to open his mouth to tell Han Tian, but then he thought: Han Tian will only reason with people, and the garbage man is so violent, what if he fights Han Tian?

Han Tian’s long, nimble fingers are for holding scalpels—and cooking for me—not for fighting!

With that in mind, Qiao Xi turned his head and said with a serious look, “Ah, I just left something at Sang Sang’s house! I’ll go up and get it myself, you wait for me in the car! You must wait for me well!”

After saying that, Qiao Xi rushed back to the elevator and jumped into the elevator that happened to be stopped there.