Break My Hand
Jiang Xu didn’t mean to.
After breakfast, Jiang Zhenghua headed out to school, saying he needed to work on lesson plans in the office. Ms. Xu, who was supposed to have the day off, was called in due to an unexpected issue at work. Before leaving, she gave Jiang Xu a list of chores: mopping, watering the plants, hanging the laundry, and so on. Jiang Xu was just on the second task, watering the ivy, when he noticed the leaves outside the balcony trembling slightly.
Jiang Xu paused, puzzled. There wasn’t any wind. Before he could figure it out, the leaves trembled again.
“…”
Confused, Jiang Xu walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned out to take a look.
On the second floor, a slender hand was wrapped around the dangling vines, giving them a gentle tug. The vines, with their tender branches and leaves, seemed to be in the grip of someone who might be up to no good. Unable to hold back, Jiang Xu shouted, only to realize belatedly that the person was sitting on the windowsill and nearly fell off from the shock of his yell.
Jiang Xu broke into a cold sweat. Before he could organize an apology, the other person spoke first.
Jiang Xu was taken aback, pointing at his own nose in disbelief. “What did you call me?”
What did he just call me?
Something about long hair, something about a princess?
In the living room, Chi Ruirui turned her head to look, while Chi Yue stared at the person upstairs. For the first time, he felt he needed to change his habit of snapping at people when emotions ran high.
It was mainly because he almost fell off the balcony, and the way the other person cherished the ivy coincidentally matched the fairy tale Chi Ruirui had just told, making it hard for him to control himself.
“No, you heard wrong.”
Jiang Xu frowned and repeated, “I heard wrong?”
Are you trying to fool a child?
Chi Ruirui watched for a while, not understanding what Chi Yue was doing, and lost interest. Her cup was empty, and she felt a bit thirsty, so she put down her pen and went to the kitchen with her cup.
She moved quietly, and Chi Yue didn’t notice, his gaze fixed upstairs as he replied coldly, “I was just scared silly and talking nonsense.”
Jiang Xu was immediately brought back to the earlier incident, forgetting all about the princess comment. “I didn’t mean to—are you okay?”
After all, he was the one who grabbed the plants first. Chi Yue replied, “I’m fine.”
Jiang Xu breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a bit annoyed. “Why are you sitting on the balcony? If you fall, you’ll at least break a bone.”
Chi Yue had wanted to say that without Jiang Xu’s shout, he would have been perfectly safe, but since the other was expressing concern, he held back and didn’t say it. He watched as Jiang Xu’s expression turned hesitant.
“Are you…” Jiang Xu began, “in a bad mood?”
“…No.”
Chi Yue guessed what the other was thinking and was speechless for a few seconds. “I’m just in too good a mood and had nothing to do.”
“…”
Chi Yue watched the person upstairs, whose expression shifted from worry to speechlessness, and slowly spoke, “You really have nothing to do, pulling on my—”
Before he could finish, there was a clatter from the kitchen, followed by the sound of a cup shattering and something hitting the floor, the noise particularly loud in the quiet house.
Chi Yue’s expression changed slightly. Forgetting about the person upstairs, he jumped back into the house from the balcony edge, shouting, “Chi Ruirui!”
Jiang Xu didn’t hear the noise from the kitchen, but Chi Yue’s urgent shout for his sister startled him. Instinctively panicking, he dropped the watering can and ran downstairs.
The kitchen was a mess of broken cups and a kettle, with Chi Ruirui standing in the middle, her clothes soaked, looking a bit helpless. When she saw Chi Yue come in, she pouted, on the verge of tears.
Chi Yue immediately crouched down to feel Chi Ruirui’s clothes. It was cold water, not hot.
Visibly relaxing, he picked Chi Ruirui up from the broken glass and set her down at the kitchen door, ruffling her hair.
Chi Ruirui, anxious, spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s, “I broke something.”
“It’s okay, your brother will clean it up,” Chi Yue said. “Do you know where your clothes are? Can you change by yourself?”
Chi Ruirui nodded, took a few steps toward the bedroom, then whispered to Chi Yue, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Chi Yue gave her a smile. “We’ll buy a new cup this afternoon, and you can pick it out yourself, okay?”
Chi Ruirui brightened up, bouncing back to the bedroom to change clothes.
Chi Yue was about to start cleaning up the mess when he heard a loud banging on the front door.
Chi Yue opened the door, and Jiang Xu almost didn’t have time to pull back his hand from knocking. They locked eyes at the doorway, and Jiang Xu glanced over Chi Yue’s shoulder into the house.
“What happened?” Jiang Xu asked.
Chi Yue countered, “What do you mean, what happened?”
“Your sister,” Jiang Xu said, glaring at him. “You shouted so loudly I could hear it upstairs.”
“Oh.” Chi Yue paused, his tone indifferent. “She broke a cup while getting water.”
…Jiang Xu frowned. “Just for that?”
Though Jiang Xu didn’t say it, Chi Yue could read the meaning in his eyes: You shouted so loud over a broken cup, are you crazy?
He was silent for a few seconds, offering no explanation. Chi Ruirui was still alone in the room, so Chi Yue asked, “Do you need anything else?”
To Jiang Xu, this sounded like, “Why are you meddling?”
“…”
What a case of a dog biting Lu Dongbin, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
What a busybody I am.
“Nothing.”
Jiang Xu stepped back, turning to head upstairs without hesitation, taking the steps two at a time. Halfway up, he looked back at Chi Yue, who was about to close the door.
“Next time you pull on my vines—”
Jiang Xu hesitated.
As a teacher, Jiang Zhenghua had always taught him to be polite to people and things. Ms. Xu had been even more insistent on instilling good manners. He’d never said anything harsh in his life, and now he didn’t know how to continue.
What, beat you up?
That seemed excessive.
Scold you?
…That was even worse.
Light streamed through the skylight, dust floating in the sunbeams. In the silence, Chi Yue finished the sentence for him: “Break my hand.”
Jiang Xu: “…Right.”
Chi Yue nodded. “Got it.”
Embarrassing.
Jiang Xu’s ears turned red, the heat spreading like wildfire, even his cheeks felt warm, standing out in the dim stairwell. He mumbled something about “being careful next time” and dashed upstairs, unlocking his door and rushing inside.
He didn’t feel like watering the plants anymore. Jiang Xu flopped onto his bed, burying his face in the blanket, waiting for the heat to subside.
Having someone else finish his harsh words for him, embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing.
His phone vibrated incessantly beside his pillow, but Jiang Xu ignored it. The breeze drifted in through the window, and only when his face cooled down did he roll over and pick up his phone.
It was a message from Qiao Heyi.
Qiao Heyi and Jiang Xu had been classmates in elementary, middle, and high school. His parents, both geologists, believed in the importance of both reading widely and traveling far, hoping their son would live up to his name, Qiao Heyi, meaning “unite knowledge and action.”
Jiang Xu had once asked, “Why not call you Qiao Zhixing?”
Qiao Heyi had been stumped, going home to ask his parents, who replied that “Zhixing” sounded too old-fashioned and dull.
With parents like that, it was hard for Qiao Heyi not to be a bit carefree and scatterbrained.
Qiao Heyi: Sister Zhou has already ended the competition, why are you still liking my posts, trying to sabotage your deskmate?
Sister Zhou was the homeroom teacher. Jiang Xu asked: Haven’t you finished your homework?
Qiao Heyi was shocked: ? Have you secretly finished your homework behind my back? You’re so evil.
Jiang Xu: Go complain to the Buddha.
Qiao Heyi replied: Too late, I’m already on the highway, I’ll be home this afternoon.
Then he asked: Want to play soccer the day after tomorrow?
Jiang Xu turned over in bed, still thinking about what had just happened, and replied weakly: I don’t want to, it’s too hot.
〖Indoor stadiums can’t be that hot.〗
After a while, seeing no reply from Jiang Xu, Qiao Heyi sent another message.
〖Jiang Xian asked me to invite you.〗
Attached was a cheeky panda face peeking emoji.
Seeing that name, Jiang Xu snapped out of his earlier thoughts. He ruffled his messy hair, his hand hovering over the chat box for a long time before slowly typing a reply: Oh.
Qiao Heyi, probably shocked by his indifference, sent a voice message: “Did you see? I said Jiang Xian.”
“I saw,” Jiang Xu replied in a voice message, his tone calm and steady. “So what? Should I be moved to tears and prepare to welcome him?”
Qiao Heyi immediately backtracked: Not really, I just wanted to let you know.
Jiang Xu: Isn’t he starting his senior year? How does he have time to play soccer?
Qiao Heyi was indignant: Don’t exaggerate, even in senior year there’s still Sundays, even prisoners get yard time.
Jiang Xu had lost track of the days during summer break. Meanwhile, Qiao Heyi was still asking, “Are you coming or not? It’s Jiang Xian’s birthday, he said he’d treat us to a meal.”
Oh right, it was Jiang Xian’s birthday.
Jiang Xu typed a few words, then deleted them, vaguely saying, “We’ll see.”
Qiao Heyi: Come on, he said he’s invited you a few times this break and you always said you were busy, he’s worried you won’t even come to his birthday. He asked me to try inviting you.
After that, the chat box showed Qiao Heyi was typing for a while, probably wanting to ask about Jiang Xu’s current situation, but wisely refrained, changing the subject instead.
〖What have you been doing this break, so busy, your social media is empty—you’re not secretly studying, are you?〗
Jiang Xu replied instantly: Yes, preparing to amaze everyone next semester.
Ms. Xu wasn’t the type of parent to fill her child’s break with tutoring classes, but since Jiang Xu had dropped from the top thirty to fiftieth in his grade—what she called a drop like a heart monitor—she had strictly assigned him study tasks for the break.
So this break, Jiang Xu had been at home doing summer homework, working through various test papers Ms. Xu had assigned. In his free time, he played games, went out for sports or swimming, or accompanied his dad fishing, and tended to the plants on the balcony—
The plants on the balcony.
Jiang Xu’s thoughts circled back to the balcony, the ivy, downstairs, and the troublesome boy.
He suddenly typed a question to Qiao Heyi: Do you know Rapunzel?
There was a pause before the reply: What princess?
A few minutes later, Qiao Heyi, probably having Googled it, replied again.
『Deskmate, I respect all your orientations and interests, but Disney is a bit out of my league. But don’t worry, I’ll catch up tonight.』
Jiang Xu sighed deeply, replying succinctly: Get lost.