Can I still be saved? [Transmigration] - Chapter 40.1
Fu Hanzhou carefully pressed up against Su Yunjing the whole night as they slept.
This time, it wasn’t Su Yunjing being pressed by the little tsundere, instead he ended up pressing down on Hanzhou.
Unfortunately, his sleeping posture was terrible. He woke up the next morning with a stiff neck, sore and aching.
So, Su Yunjing and Fu Hanzhou formed a little ‘mutual aid team’: Su kneaded Hanzhou’s numb arm, while Hanzhou massaged Su’s aching neck.
“See? We’re naturally incapitable. We should just sleep separately—hiss…” Su Yunjing sucked in a breath when the pain hit. “Not so hard, it’s numb.”
Fu Hanzhou pressed his thin lips into a tight line, sulking for unknown reasons.
After that night, Su Yunjing swore to himself he’d never share a bed with Fu Hanzhou again. It was too much torture.
But plans never keep up with changes and something unexpected happens.
On Thursday night, while Su Yunjing was tutoring Fu Hanzhou in chemistry, he received a call from Jiang Chuyan.
It turned out Jiang’s parents’ clothing factory had run into problems. They’d decided to stop working with them, settle accounts, and sign with a new supplier.
Since private factories didn’t rest on weekends, Jiang’s parents planned to leave Saturday morning. They would drop him off at his grandmother’s place for two days.
But at his grandmother’s, there was a neighbor kid who’d bullied him since childhood, calling him a crippled little gimp without legs. Jiang didn’t want to go, so he called Su Yunjing, asking if he could stay over instead.
His parents would be gone at least two days.
Su Yunjing didn’t even think before agreeing: “Sure, I’ll come get you on Saturday. You can stay at my place that night.”
He didn’t think it was a big deal, but Fu Hanzhou, who was working on a chemistry problem nearby, suddenly looked up.
His phoenix eyes narrowed further, the sharp lines at their corners like knives.
When Su Yunjing hung up and saw his expression, he thought, Crap. I’ve stirred the hornet’s nest.
He quickly tried to explain: “Chuyan’s really shy. He hardly ever asks me for help. It took a lot for him to ask this time…”
Before he could finish, Fu Hanzhou interrupt him with a dark face: “Don’t let him come!”
With Jiang Chuyan’s personality, who knew how much courage it had taken him just to ask? Su Yunjing didn’t want to crush that.
So he tried to negotiate with the little tsundere: “I’ll let him sleep in my bed. We can take the top bunk, okay?”
“Don’t bring people home,” Fu Hanzhou said with surprising force. “Don’t bring anyone into our room.”
Last time, when he had wanted to change beds, Hanzhou had been unhappy but not angry as he was now.
Even sleeping together at night couldn’t appease him, which only meant that this behavior had crossed Fu Hanzhou’s line.
Su Yunjing thought it over. He himself was easygoing, open to most things. But Hanzhou was different—his sense of personal boundaries was strong, and he absolutely hated strangers invading his space.
Seeing Su Yunjing’s troubled look, Fu Hanzhou’s eyes grew darker and surged like waves crashing in a stormy sea. Something violent threatened to burst forth from them. He lowered his gaze and suddenly asked.
“Why do you even bother with me?”
Su Yunjing froze. “What?”
The harshness in Hanzhou’s eyes deepened. His voice dropped lower: “Are you good to me for the same reason you help Jiang Chuyan?
Because you’re afraid that if you stand by and watch me go mad, years later you’ll feel guilty—like you were that snowflake that triggered the avalanche?
Is that why you take care of me? So you won’t regret it in the future?”
Su Yunjing sensed something was wrong. Why was he suddenly so angry?
And how could the two things be the same?
Helping Jiang Chuyan was just lending a hand. But taking care of Fu Hanzhou—that was his responsibility.
A lifelong warranty kind of responsibility. If anything happened, he’d be there immediately.
He didn’t feel that way about Jiang Chuyan. Nor did he have that kind of bond with him.
Su Yunjing thought it over—most likely, the little tsundere was jealous. He thought he (Su Yunjing) was being too good to Jiang, so he got mad.
Well, coaxing a little tsundere was something he was an expert at.
“Of course it’s different,” he said smoothly, petting him along. “No matter the choices, if you’re one of the options, I’ll always choose you.”
Some of the hostility in Fu Hanzhou’s brows eased.
He leaned forward, resting his forehead on Su Yunjing’s shoulder, and said softly, “Don’t be better to anyone else than you are to me.”
“Can you check your conscience when you say that?” Su Yunjing protested. “When have I treated anyone better than you?”
He’d never put this much effort into anyone else in his life. His friends were always casual—if they got along, fine, if not, no loss. He’d never gone out of his way like this for anyone.
Fu Hanzhou’s lips curved faintly upward.
After rubbing his forehead against Su Yunjing’s shoulder, he slowly lifted his head again.
What he wanted to say was—don’t treat anyone well. Not even a little. Or he’d get jealous.
The only reason he tolerated Su Yunjing helping Jiang Chuyan was because he didn’t want to argue over small things and upset him. But even then, it had to be within the bounds of what he could bear.
Fu Hanzhou lowered his eyes to look at the tufts of hair on Su Yunjing’s ear. He reached out and brushed them back, revealing the full curve of his ear.
“Don’t let him stay in our room. Don’t bring anyone home.”
Su Yunjing sighed. “You really have way too many issues.”
The pale pink ear looked almost translucent under the light. Fu Hanzhou suddenly pinched it with his hand, his tone a little fierce, “Yeah, I’ve got plenty of issues.”
But just as quickly he let go, stroking Su’s soft ear with the pad of his finger, his tone became obedient again: “But in everything else, I’ll listen to you.”
He could be as obedient as you wanted him to be.
Feeling a little itchy, Su Yunjing raised his hand and slapped Fu Hanzhou’s cool claws away.
He didn’t think much of the promise. After all, the little tsundere had already improved a lot. He might throw tantrums sometimes, but as long as he wasn’t hurting anyone, Su Yunjing usually let him have his way.
The real problem now was how to tell Jiang Chuyan. He’d already agreed.
If it were anyone else, rejecting them wouldn’t matter. But Jiang was different.
Noticing Su’s dilemma, Fu Hanzhou frowned, then surprisingly compromised first.
“He can’t come here,” Hanzhou said, backing down slightly. “But I’ll agree to go with you to his place for one night.”
Su Yunjing thought about it. That worked too. He called Jiang Chuyan, and his parents, who liked him very much, agreed readily to let him stay and keep their son company.
…..
Saturday morning, Su Yunjing and Fu Hanzhou went to Jiang’s home.
His parents left in time to catch the 6:40 train, the train tickets were cheaper at this time.
They weren’t poor, though. Over the years, they’d saved nearly a million yuan. In a small county where housing prices hadn’t risen yet, that could buy several homes.
But both had lived through hard times, and with their son’s disability, they scrimped and saved for his future.
Fu Hanzhou was very upset about Jiang Chunian coming to their house. Their homes were only across the street from each other, and Su Yunjing wanted to go home for lunch and dinner.
Even asking Jiang Chunian to go over for dinner wasn’t something Fu Hanzhou was happy about.
Near noon, Fu Hanzhou and Su Yunjing went to the market to buy food. Lunch was cooked by Hanzhou himself, with Su helping out.
Fu Hanzhou had always been a good person at the Wen family, often helping Guo Xiuhui in the kitchen. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t hit someone who smiles at you’, Guo Xiuhui’s attitude had softened significantly in recent days.
Su Yunjing couldn’t help but sigh, when the little tsundere wanted to please someone, it was impossible to resist him.
But seeing the potato shreds he cut, thicker than fingers, he couldn’t hold back. “Your knife skills are terrible.”
At home, Auntie Guo usually did the chopping; Hanzhou only fried. The food tasted fine, but his chopping was… a disaster.
Fu Hanzhou popped a chicken meatball into Su’s mouth.
“Such a temper.” Su Yunjing teased, nudging Fu Hanzhou’s shoulder with his elbow. “You’ve gotten awfully cocky lately. Can’t even take criticism?”
Fu’s lips curved faintly as he fed him another meatball.
From his wheelchair, Jiang Chuyan watched the two with envy.
But once out of the kitchen, Fu Hanzhou’s smile faded, returning to his usual reserved and aloof demeanor, and he didn’t pay much attention to Jiang Chunian.
Thanks to Su Yunjing as the bridge, the atmosphere between the three of them remained harmonious.