When Pu Li Ming receives a message from an Unknown Number, he’s hesitant to open it, barely even peeking at the notification. Almost counted the time as it passed by, just turning the decision in his head again and again.
He feels his stomach turning in paranoia, making him lose his appetite even more. He eventually gives up on finishing the baked char siu bao he was having as lunch, wraps it back up again, and puts it away in his bag. Then he continues right back.
Noticing him avoiding ‘eye contact’ with the phone, Shang Wenduo levels him with a ‘look’, “Come on. What’s up with your phone this time?”
Hearing his tone, Pu Li Ming frowns, “It’s not like that, Wenduo, I swear.”
“What’s going on, Li Ming?” Feng Phan asks, after elbowing Shang Wenduo.
“I got a message from an Unknown Number.” Pu Li Ming explains. His eyes flitting back to the phone before shifting away again.
Feng Phan pries a bit more, “Does it contain bad news? Is it from a stranger?”
“I… don’t exactly know. I didn’t open it yet.” Pu Li Ming tells him.
“Well, why not?” Feng Phan asks lightly.
“Just… scared. Paranoid? I think that’s the right word to use.” Pu Li Ming says.
“Want me to open it for you?” Shang Wenduo offers, already reaching for the other’s phone. “That way I can just tell you what it’s about. And if you don’t need to know about it, then I won’t tell.”
After a bit of hesitance, Pu Li Ming nods.
Shang Wenduo puts in Pu Li Ming’s passcode and opens the message.
“Ooh, looks like the God of Engineering has reached out to you again, Li Ming.” Shang Wenduo said in a sing-song voice, eyebrows wiggling suggestively.
Against his own control, Pu Li Ming’s cheeks redden at the tone, making him aggressively tug the phone back to him.
“What did he say?” Feng Phan peers slowly at Pu Li Ming’s phone, going slow enough for Pu Li Ming to shift away if he doesn’t want to show it. Which he doesn’t, so Feng Phan reads the message along with him.
“‘Good afternoon, it’s Zhou Fi Hai.’ That’s it? I thought he said something weird for you to react like that, Wenduo.” Feng Phan deadpans at said man.
“What~” said man drawls, “I was just teasing. Plus you know how odd it is that the Zhou Fi Hai is reaching out to someone!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Feng Phan gives him another deadpan.
Meanwhile, Pu Li Ming had already answered the text. Luckily his mother has him on postpaid.
hi, Zhou Fi Hai!
good afternoon to
you as well!
I got your number from
the customer form
I hope you don’t mind
i dont, its totally fine
I just wanted you to ask you
about your schedule
To see when we’ll be expecting
your help around the place
Pu Li Ming hurriedly opens his calendar app to take a screenshot of his usual weekly schedule then sent it to Zhou Fi Hai.
Oh, you’re free after 3 PM
Will you be coming by?
yes!! definitely
Alright, thank you for
responding quickly
youre welcome 🙂
I’ll see you later then
Have a nice lunch break
tnx! you too!
Finally noticing that his surroundings suddenly got a bit quieter, Pu Li Ming looked up. Only to be greeted with two knowing looks from his best friends.
“What?” He asks.
Feng Phan shakes his head with a smile before looking away, while Shang Wenduo hums to himself almost smugly.
–
After walking from the bust stop to the garage, Pu Li Ming takes in the view once more.
“Hello, Pu Li Ming.” Zhou Fi Hai approaches him with a greeting.
His hair is skewed about with sweat, which he wipes away with a greased hand. The hand comes down to wipe on his half-worn uniform jumpsuit, tied around his waist instead of zipped up to his chest.
Zhou Fi Hai continued, “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a ride. It got busy around here.”
“Ahh,” Pu Li Ming immediately brought both hands up to move them back and forth in a ‘it’s alright’ gesture, “It was no problem at all! And I got here just fine, see?” He says, spreading his arms.
Zhou Fi Hai tilts his head and raises an eyebrow with an amused smile, “I see.”
“So, it’s definitely fine and we can drop the subject.” Pu Li Ming nods to himself with his hands now on his hips.
Zhou Fi Hai grins so hard and bites his inner cheek trying not to outright burst into laughter.
He’s so adorable.
That’s when he notices three of his mechanics peeking from behind a car staring at the epic K-Drama C-Drama moment in front of them.
With a small cough and a pointed look at them, the three scamper and disappear behind the car again with small bouts of laughter escaping them.
“Anyways, come with me to the worker’s lounge. We should have a size of the uniform jumpsuits for you.” Zhou Fi Hai says, going beside Ou Li Ming and leading him with a hand on the small of his back.
“Why? What’s wrong with my own clothes?” Pu Li Ming asked while tugging on his shirt.
“We don’t want them to get dirty. Plus the jumpsuits are a specific kind of material that makes it easier to wash out stains like grease and oil.” Zhou Fi Hai explains to which Pu Li Ming responds to with a nod.
–
“Hey Boss, how’s the cutie doing?” A voice rang behind him.
Zhou Fi Hai turns around from his position, observing with arms crossed, to look at Grace.
“He’s doing fine.” He answers, turning right back around.
“Just ‘fine’?” Grace scoffs, “Please, I can’t tell if he’s in love with you or with the garage.” Grace teases him, to which Zhou Fi Hai almost laughs.
“The garage, definitely. I mean, look at him.” He says, amusement in his eyes that were trained unto the younger man with his hair tied up into a half-do.
The younger man was running around, assisting one of their head mechanics, grabbing this and that, wearing a spare uniform suit they found that was a little bit too big for his frame. (It was the smallest one they had at the moment. Zhou Fi Hai needs to remember to get more.)
One of the passing mechanics laughs when he almost runs into him (Pu Li Ming immediately bowing slightly with an apology), ruffling his hair with a “No biggie” and making the younger man grin before excusing himself to hand the tool to the head mechanic he was assisting.
“It’s like he’s completely at ease here.” Zhou Fi Hai says eventually, voice soft and small, quite unlike his usual demeanor.
Noticing the change, Grace immediately looks at him. Whatever she sees on his face makes her smile, almost a bit too smugly.
It fits all too well with the grins a few of the mechanics shot him.
