Slowly Falling For Changkong

Chapter 01

Ms. Xu’s Chicken Leg Set

The red light at the Xinghe intersection felt particularly long today. As he waited for the 96th second, Xiang ChangKong lifted his head and saw an airplane fly past.

The weather today was quite nice. The plane streaked white smoke as it traveled as if painting the vast blue sky.

Xiang ChangKong continued to stare as it flew past his field of vision, right until the red light turned green. A whistle beside him brought him back to reality, and he turned the throttle to drive the battery-powered scooter forward.

He was rushing to an office building nearby to deliver a meal order. It was currently October, and City A had entered autumn. With the wind blowing right unto his face, he was met with a slight chill.

When he had arrived at the office building, he parked his scooter downstairs and took out the take-out boxes from the incubator. Calling the customer, he entered the building quickly. It was a high-end office building, and all the men and women coming in and out were dressed in young and fashionable styles. He waited for an elevator to empty out before Xiang ChangKong stepped inside.

Because it was lunchtime, there weren’t many people going upstairs, so the elevator smoothly traveled to the 23rd floor without any interruptions. With a ‘ding,’ the doors soon opened.

Leaving the elevator, Xiang ChangKong looked around until he found the door with the right company. He then opened the glass door and called out:

“Hello, which one is Ms. Zhou?”

“Here!” A short-haired girl poked her head out of her cubicle and waved towards Xiang ChangKong.

Looking at her direction, he took out the takeout as he walked over.

“What did you order?” A male colleague sitting behind Ms. Zhou stood up and curiously approached her desk, knocking on it twice. Because of his excitement, the folder he was holding slipped from his hands.

“A vegetable dish.” Ms. Zhou cheerfully responded minimally while quickly making room on her desk: “Thank you, just leave it here.”

Putting down the takeaway box, Xiang ChangKong responded with an ‘enjoy your meal’ before turning to leave. The male colleague’s folder coincidentally fell near his feet, so Xiang ChangKong bent down to help pick it up, but before he even managed to touch it the male colleague shouted in a fuss: “Don’t touch it! I’ll pick it up myself, don’t dirty my things.”

This made Xiang ChangKong pause. Without saying anything, he circled past the folder and headed towards the exit. When he was about to open the glass doors, he looked at his hand, then wiped it twice on his overalls before pushing the door open.

As he approached the elevators, the doors opened, and another takeaway boy came out in a hurry. Seeing Xiang ChangKong, he called out a greeting.

He wasn’t from the same takeout company as ChangKong, but because they both deliver in the same general area, they would meet each other from time to time.

Xiang ChangKong nodded back as he entered the elevator then quickly pressed the down button.

“…” The little brother standing outside looked back with a slack expression. He paused, stunned, before whistling towards the closed elevator doors: “Brother’s suddenly so cool today, ah!”

Quickly putting Xiang ChangKong to the back of his mind, he walked away to deliver his takeout.

In the elevator, Xiang ChangKong quietly watched the numbers drop, before taking out his phone to check for the next order.

He’ll be going to Starlight Park for the next order, a meal to a Ms. Xu Lian. He’s been receiving orders from Ms. Xu Lian quite often recently. She had been ordering the chicken sets from ‘Wolong Kitchen’ for the past three days.

Arriving at the lobby, Xiang ChangKong left the building, went to his scooter, then headed towards Starlight Park.

Ten years ago, what was now Starlight Park had been a deserted location. In the past few years, with active support from the government, Starlight Park had been built and then developed rapidly. Today, in addition to the largest flower garden in City A, many exhibition halls and unique shops dotted the park, attracting thousands of tourists and photographers.

Xiang ChangKong even heard that this year, Starlight Farms would be opening, where people could rent land and grow vegetables in.

The woman who loved their chicken set, Xu Lian, had rented in Starlight Park and opened a small shop.

When he first came to Starlight Park to do delivers, Xiang ChangKong had needed to rely on the map navigation. But after a few times, he now had the entire Starlight Park in his mind.

Parking his scooter outside Xu Lian’s store, he took out her order and walked over, taking a peek past the glass windows. It seems that the girl who usually sat on the first floor to watch the store wasn’t here. No wonder she only ordered one set today.

“Hello.” He knocked gently before pushing the door open, the wind chime attached to the top of the door jingling.

Xu Lian had been melting wax on the second floor. When she heard the bell, she turned towards the entrance. Her workshop was on the second floor, opposite the front door, and wasn’t blocked by any walls or railings. Instead, she had installed floor-to-ceiling windows, giving her and any customer entering a good view of the other.

Xu Lian saw the little brother in blue overalls standing downstairs with a takeout in his hand.

“Wait a minute.” Xu Lian shut down the wax furnace and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her hands before going downstairs.

The crisp sound of high-heeled shoes could be heard, making Xiang ChangKong hold his breath for some reason.

Two days ago, he first saw her wearing black leather pants, then wearing a handsome and sexy dress. This, coupled with her unique temperament, made him think that she was some big-shot boss’ woman. Today she was wearing a long black windbreaker with an exaggerated belt, a pair of black high-heeled shoes, with her hair tied in a high ponytail, her long black hair glossy and straight. All this no longer made him believe that she was some boss’ woman, but was the boss herself.

“Thank you.” Xu Lian didn’t know what he was thinking at that moment and simply took the bag from his hands.

Feeling her hand touch his, Xiang ChangKong automatically replied, ‘You’re welcome,’ before dazedly walking out of the store.

As he placed the key into his scooter, he looked back towards Xi Lian and saw her carrying the takeaway towards another room on the first floor.

Her face was gorgeous. An oval-shaped face with no bangs revealing a smooth and full forehead. Her eyebrows were drawn darker and thicker than the average woman, and her lipstick was a deep and powerful red.

It seems that she particularly likes to dress to this style, evident with the fact that she very clearly runs an artsy and bourgeois aromatherapy candle store, but chose to name said store ‘Monster’.

Blinking his gaze away, Xiang ChangKong headed for the next destination.

Xu Lian was very busy these days and only took ten minutes to eat her lunch. At the end of the month, a new building would be opening, and the developer ordered 200 sets of aromatherapy candle gift boxes for their VIP guests who would be attending their inauguration.

This developer was well-known locally and had substantial financial resources. They had signed a contract with her and given her a generous 100,000 for this order. Xu Lian had always made any order herself. She didn’t have the habit of asking other people for help because she never felt 100% reassured with the quality of other people’s handicrafts. So, in the end, she was now swamped.

Her store had been running for two years already. In these past two years, business wasn’t very good, so much so that the store was often deserted. After all, it wasn’t like there was a massive market for scented candles, and scented candles weren’t mainstream in the first place. But nowadays, her store was booming because of the recent partnership with the dessert shop ‘Sugar Honey Heart’ next door.

Last Christmas, the owner of ‘Sugar Honey Heart’ approached her and asked for help with some of the scented candles to pair with their Christmas garlands. Because they really liked the finished product, the boss took many photos and posted them online, along with her store’s official blog.

Sugar Honey Heart was an internet sensation, with its Weibo amassing more than a million followers. With their photos, Xu Lian’s shop rode along their popularity resulting in more and more customers visiting, and with Xu Lian gaining more opportunities to collaborate with other businesses.

Since this June, she had become so busy that she ended up hiring someone to help her watch the store and tend to the cash register.

After her short break, Xu Lian went back to the second from and began to catch up with the orders. As soon as she started working, time just flew past. By the time she returned to her senses, her alarm clock had already been ringing for a full minute.

She took a deep breath and closed the alarm that reminded her to order takeout.

The alarm clock was a new addition she set up. Because things had been hectic lately, whenever her small employee was absent, she would definitely forget to order takeaway. So she had no choice but to set the alarm to remind herself to eat.

There are plenty of variations shown in the takeaway app, but only a few would be delicious and worth the money. Since Xu Lian was often too lazy to choose what to eat during the evening, she ended up ordering the chicken set again.

At around the same time, Xiang ChangKong was getting ready to do a long-distance delivery. Before he left, he made a phone call home.

The phone rang for a long time before being picked up. The other party answered the phone, but no voice could be heard. This apparently wasn’t strange to Xiang ChangKong as he started to talk: “Mom, remember to eat dinner. I already made some food and put it in the fridge, just warm it up before you eat it.”

There was still no answer from the other end of the call, and only the slight breathing sounds indicated that there really was someone listening.

Xiang ChangKong continued: “I’ll wash the dishes when I get back, so just leave it. I’ll be home at around 10:00 p.m., so just go to bed early.”

This time he waited, but he heard nothing but silence. With a small sigh, Xiang ChangKong finally said goodbye, then ended the call.

After the call had ended, Weng ShuLi waited another 3 seconds before putting the phone down. She went to the fridge and took out the dishes Xiang ChangKong had left. She had just placed them in the microwave oven when she heard a knock on the door.

The apartment they lived in was rather old. It didn’t have a garden, and the kitchen was right next to the front door. Weng ShuLi walked out of the kitchen and looked at the front door. The person outside was still knocking. Weng ShuLi stood there for a moment before slowly opening the door.

She didn’t open the door all the way, and the chain was still attached. Xiang ChangKong had specially installed this.

When the person outside saw her, she smiled and said: “Hello Mother Xiang, its little Liu, I live at the apartment across the hall. Do you still remember me?”

Weng ShuLi didn’t speak, and her face showed no expression. Little Liu felt a scared. She had moved next to the Xiang family two years ago and often bumped into the brother and sister who lived there. The only one she hadn’t really met was Mother Xiang, who had some sort of illness.

“I just went down to pick up a package and saw a letter for your ChangKong. I picked it up for you since I was already there.” Little Liu explained as she handed over a letter, “Well, that’s it, I won’t disturb you anymore.”

After the letter was handed over to Weng ShuLi, she hastily turned and opened the door to her own apartment. Weng ShuLi closed the door and looked at the letter in her hand.

It was for ChangKong, from the First Aircraft Research Institute of City A.

Weng ShuLi stared at these words for a while. Then she tore the envelope in half and threw it into the trash can.