Chapter 11 – What Kind of Luck
Novel Title: 我们已经分手了 (We Have Broken Up)
Author：御小凡 (Yu Xiaofan)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 刘帆 (Liu Fan -MC), 陈谦 (Chen Qian -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Liu Fan lived on the fourth floor of an old apartment building with an elevator. He had bought the place second-hand. Many people hadn’t renovated their balconies, giving the building a quaint charm with various plants. Several families even grew bougainvillaea, which would spill out of their windows in lush clusters, looking as if they were reaching for the sky when in full bloom.
The building had only two elevators. There was a notice stated that one of the elevator cables had an issue and required maintenance. Liu Fan watched as the indicator lights in the elevator slowly moved from the second floor upward. At this pace, he couldn’t tell how long it would take to get to the first floor. He didn’t want to wait any longer. It was just the fourth floor, so he decided to take the stairs.
“Hello? Yeah, I’m home.” He hadn’t even entered the stairwell when Sun Yiyi’s questioning call came through. The lights from the second to the fourth floor had been out for some time, and the property management hadn’t fixed them yet. Liu Fan, unable to use a flashlight while on the call, fumbled his way up the stairs in the dark as he mechanically responded, “The conversation was fine. But I don’t think we’re suitable. No. Mom, let me tell you…-?!”
Just as he turned the corner of the stairwell, his thigh hit something warm. The sudden encounter in the dark startled the unprepared Liu Fan. The small figure, whatever it was, suddenly stood up and bumped into Liu Fan. With one leg still on the lower step, the unexpected collision threw him off balance. Fortunately, he was holding onto the handrail and didn’t fall completely. But he slid down a few steps. His unsteady foot twisted sharply on the stair. A sharp pain shot through both his twisted ankle and the fingers gripping the handrail. Liu Fan gasped in pain. His phone slipped from his grasp, sliding down the stairs.
The shadowy figure hesitated for a moment before turning and running down the stairs. Liu Fan winced and held back the pain, unable to catch the culprit. With the faint light, he could see that it was likely a small child. There were many children in the nearby apartments who loved to play hide and seek in the evenings.
What kind of luck…
Liu Fan shook his hand. The burning pain made him wonder if it was sprained. His heel felt even worse. Sighing at his bad luck, he tried to stand up, confirming that he could still walk, albeit painfully. He hobbled down to retrieve his phone, which now had a crack on the screen. But the call was still connected.
“Hello? Ow—” Liu Fan leaned against the wall, grimacing as he spoke to the oblivious Sun Yiyi, “It’s nothing. I just accidentally dropped my phone. Mom, I have something to do. I’ll talk to you later. I really need to go.”
After placating Sun Yiyi, he made his way out of the stairwell. He realised that even though there were only two floors left, his foot was in no condition for more stairs.
At home, Liu Fan applied a simple cold compress to his injured hand and foot. The coldness gradually turned the sharp pain into a slightly numb ache. However, he only had basic cold and anti-inflammatory medicine at home, which wouldn’t help his current injuries.
At times like this, the difficulties of being alone really became apparent. Liu Fan lay back on the sofa, not in the mood to turn on the computer. He instead picked up his phone with his left hand to log into QQ Messenger.
Liu Mengjiao’s cat avatar was blinking: How did the blind date go?
It was exactly the question he expected. Liu Fan replied: The usual. You know.
Liu Mengjiao: Another failure? Why am I not surprised?
With both his hand and foot hurting, Liu Fan responded: Let’s not talk about it. It’s annoying.
Liu Mengjiao: Haaa… everything’s annoying. My Jiaojiao has been shedding like crazy recently. Do you think it’s the cat food?
Liu Fan: Just shave all the fur off and raise her like a sphynx cat.
Liu Mengjiao: …
The pain in his foot was increasingly distracting. Liu Fan heard a notification sound and turned to see a message from Tuan Tuan: Are you home?
Liu Fan was slightly surprised. Although it might be a work-related matter, the usual question was ‘Are you there?’. So why ask if he was home?
Liu Fan: Yes.
Tuan Tuan: I need to send you some materials. Can you transfer files at home?
Liu Fan: Sure.
He accessed the cloud storage on his phone and quickly transferred the document, which wasn’t very large.
Tuan Tuan reminded him: Remember to come to the office tomorrow to pick up the contract.
Having agreed to the task, Liu Fan wouldn’t forget. But his increasingly swollen and painful ankle told him it might be best to get professional treatment first.
Liu Fan: Can we schedule the meeting with Manager Chen for tomorrow afternoon? I might need to go to the hospital in the morning.
Tuan Tuan: What happened?
Liu Fan: I probably sprained my ankle just now. I’ll see how it is tonight. But if it’s still bad in the morning, I’ll have to drop by the hospital.
In a small company, the advantage was that taking leave was relatively easy. As long as it wasn’t malicious, you just needed to call Wu Shuang and later submit a leave slip.
Tuan Tuan: How did you sprain your ankle?
Unexpectedly, despite appearing difficult to deal with, Tuan Tuan was quite caring. Liu Fan swiped his thumb across his phone screen: I was taking the stairs home when a kid bumped into me. I almost fell down the stairs.
Tuan Tuan: You can’t even handle a kid? What have you been eating? Why didn’t you take the elevator? Why are you using the stairs at 9 PM?
Liu Fan: …
Messages from Tuan Tuan kept coming: Did you apply a cold compress? Did you use any medicine?
Her tone increasingly carried a strange sense of familiarity. Liu Fan’s feelings oscillated between bewilderment and being touched: I don’t have any medicine at home. I just rinsed it with cold water. I’ll see the doctor in the morning.
Tuan Tuan: Are you planning to let it swell up like a steamed bun for breakfast?
For some reason, Liu Fan couldn’t help but laugh at this message. Imagining the tone, he chuckled for a while.
Liu Fan: I understand. But it’s too troublesome this late. It’s hard to get a taxi in our neighbourhood at this hour. And the hospital is quite far. I’ll go in the morning.
Tuan Tuan: Are you stupid? Can’t you ask a friend to take you there?
Though Liu Fan generally had good relations with people around him, his downfall was his reclusive nature. He didn’t attend social gatherings often, which prevented him from forming close bonds. This made him hesitant to ask for help. His only close friend, Liu Mengjiao, didn’t have a car. Besides, it was almost 10 PM. He couldn’t ask a girl to come all the way from the north gate.
Liu Fan: It’s not that serious.
Tuan Tuan: Stop talking nonsense and find someone.
Her concern was bordering on domineering. So Liu Fan decided not to respond and switched back to chatting with Liu Mengjiao.
After a short while, he received another message from Tuan Tuan: Manager Chen is having dinner near your place. Call him.
It had been one or two hours. So he should be done by now, right? Besides, his relationship with Chen Qian was neither close nor distant, making it awkward to call.
Liu Fan: Let’s not bother Manager Chen. I’m going to sleep now. You should sleep too. Get some rest. Goodnight. Sleep tight. Mwah.
He sent a similar message to Liu Mengjiao, intending to compress his ankle with ice again before going to sleep. If possible, he really didn’t want to make a trip to the hospital, given how annoying the endless lines were.
Just as he hobbled into the bathroom, his phone rang. Liu Fan had to hobble back quickly and jump onto the bed to answer it. “Hello?”
“I heard you broke your leg?”
Liu Fan laughed immediately. “Did Tuan Tuan tell you? It’s not broken. Just a sprain.”
“Oh? Really?” Chen Qian said casually, “I’m afraid you won’t be able to get out the door tomorrow morning.”
Liu Fan, curled up on the bed, touched his ankle. After his attempts to treat it, it seemed to have swollen even more. “I can hop out on one foot.”
Chen Qian said, “Alright. Liu Xiaofan, I just finished dinner. What’s your apartment number?”
Liu Fan wriggled to the edge of the bed like a worm. “Aren’t you going to take Li Yu home?”
“He already took a taxi home.” The background noise on Chen Qian’s end suggested he was no longer at the restaurant. His tone was disdainful, “Do you think everyone is like you? A grown man who can’t even use the stairs without breaking his leg?”
“Please stop slandering me. I’ve said it multiple times: it’s just a sprain. A sprain, got it?”
Chen Qian, seemingly too disdainful to respond, hummed in acknowledgment. After Liu Fan gave his apartment number, he hung up the phone.
Liu Guomu was only a five-minute drive away. Liu Fan got off the bed and hopped around, gathering his wallet, keys, and phone in the living room to wait.
The doorbell rang sooner than expected. That is, before he even got comfortable on the sofa. He shouted, “Coming, coming!” and rushed to open the door.
Chen Qian stood at the door, giving Liu Fan a once-over. His eyes lingered on the swollen ankle with an expression that screamed; ‘How stupid can you be?’
“Thanks for coming.” Liu Fan clung to the door, “It’s really nothing serious.”
“I’m already here. And you’re still saying it’s nothing? What do you mean by that?” Chen Qian grabbed Liu Fan’s elbow without giving him a chance to protest. After a moment’s hesitation, he moved closer to support him. “Can you walk?”
Liu Fan felt a bit uncomfortable with the familiar physical contact but quickly relaxed, transferring part of his weight to Chen Qian. His injured left foot touched the ground, causing him to switch to his right foot and step forward with a grimace. “Yeah, thanks for being my crutch.”
Chen Qian frowned as he watched Liu Fan turn back to close the door. He clicked his tongue, turned around, and squatted slightly.
Liu Fan was puzzled. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think?” Chen Qian turned his head, getting annoyed. “Get on.”
Liu Fan hesitated. “Isn’t this a bit much?”
Chen Qian impatiently replied, “It’s not like I haven’t carried you before. What’s with the fuss?”
Indeed, as he said, it wasn’t the first time Chen Qian had carried him. He had started doing so from when they were kids.
Suppressing the urge to sigh, Liu Fan reminded himself that the past should remain in the past. But it wasn’t just the long time they had spent together—growing up from clueless kids to experiencing the first stirrings of feelings together—that made it hard to move on. Even though they had broken up, their shared history felt like invisible tags clinging to him. They reappeared with every encounter.
Trying to draw a clear boundary between himself and Chen Qian felt overly sentimental. But pretending they could be friends just like before their romantic relationship bloomed seemed equally difficult.
Honestly, he wasn’t even sure where the line was anymore.
There’s a cliché saying that if you can remain friends after a breakup, you never really loved each other. Liu Fan used to think it was an unfair statement. But now he was starting to understand it a bit.
He patted Chen Qian’s back. “If you have someone you’re seeing, you should be careful not to be misunderstood.”
“Do you have someone you’re seeing?” Chen Qian asked. “That person from today maybe?”
Liu Fan shrugged and kindly reminded him, “I don’t have anyone. I meant you. Don’t you have a partner?”
“Absolutely not,” Chen Qian looked a bit incredulous. He straightened up and looked at him. “What bullshit are you thinking about all the time? No wonder you ended up breaking your leg.”
“Hey, I didn’t break it out of nowhere. It was dark…- Never mind.” Liu Fan tilted his head, watching Chen Qian for a while. He almost provoked his temper again. Finally, he gestured for him to turn around. “Thanks for the help.”
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*Author’s Note: No partner, no partner, no partner.
Chen Qian: ヽ(??▽?)ノ Finally got the chance to ask this!
I think everyone has a question in their minds. When will these two get back together, right?
… Keep on guessing… 【I’m gonna get punched】
-Yu Xiaofan
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*Translator’s Note: Not me thinking that CQ was already downstairs at LF’s house when he used Tuan Tuan’s QQ account to message LF. He wanted to make sure LF was at home and not sleeping at someone else’s home (he thought ZZ was his bf hahaha). He even reminded him to come early to the company! Hahahaha! -K
*P/S: I have all my chapters scheduled. Just in case if I die or something like that.
Next update: 2024.09.16
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