Hancheng: There is a door between me and the future

Chapter 202 Fixing the Plumbing for Jessica (Please Subscribe and Vote)

It was evening inside the 25-year-old villa.

After finishing their meal, Jessica Jung, Eunjung, and Yoona sat down on the sofa and continued chatting. Taeyeon just smiled and chatted happily with Sulli while cleaning up the table.

After all, it's been 25 years. Who would still wash the dishes themselves? A simple tidying up is enough; there's a dishwasher for that.

As for Lin Xiuyuan, he also prepared two fruit platters. After the two of them finished eating, he called them over to sit on the sofa and rest.

Then, Kim Tae-yeon, after taking a bite of her apple, looked at Jessica Jung and said, "Jessica, can you really ignore communications for that long? I'm worried that the company won't be able to reach you, and then they'll have something to say about it."

Jessica Jung, who was focused on talking about work, glanced at the time. It was already past 10 p.m., but she still shook her head and said, "It's okay. Anyway, we agreed that I didn't have any schedules. If they can't find me at the last minute, they will find someone else."

After speaking, she glanced at Eunjung and Yoona and asked, "What about you two? I hope I won't bother you."

“If you have time, how could I be busy? Apart from some necessary activities, filming and promotion of my work, I am basically on vacation.”

Yoona smiled slightly and said, "It's been so many years. If I still have to keep up with my schedule, then I've wasted these years."

Sweet Eunjung, standing next to her, smiled and gave the same answer, "I'm about the same as Yoona, but compared to Jiyeon and Qri unnie, I'm far behind. They're really semi-retired."

“Me too, me too.” Kim Tae-yeon raised her hand to join the conversation.

The group exchanged smiles, creating a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

Lin Xiuyuan pulled Shirley along, picked up the remote, changed the channel, selected a variety show featuring Kim Jaejoong, and sat down quietly to watch.

As the variety show aired, the conversation among the group returned to their trainee days. Then Lin Xiuyuan found himself in a predicament, and Shirley, who had originally been watching the show with him, also moved over and eagerly joined them.

He was left alone, staring blankly at the program, occasionally scrolling through videos on his phone.

Even Liu Zhimin in the chat box is too busy to pay attention to him now, as if she's rehearsing the dance for her new album.

A while later, just as Lin Xiuyuan was forking another piece of watermelon and putting it in his mouth, his phone suddenly rang.

Looking down, he was somewhat surprised, then answered, "Hello, Krystal."

As soon as he spoke, the previously noisy sofa fell silent, and everyone's eyes turned to him.

"Xiuyuan, are you free right now?" Krystal spoke quickly, as if she was in a hurry.

Lin Xiuyuan sat up straight and immediately asked with concern, "You're free? What's up?"

"I left a contract in my bedroom at the apartment and forgot to bring it with me. Could you go over there and take a picture or scan it for me?"

"An apartment? Sure."

Upon hearing that it was Lin Xiuyuan from the apartment, he quickly stood up, waved to the curious figures, and then walked easily toward the portal.

The people behind him watched as Lin Xiuyuan walked over, reached out and pulled him inside, and then the door closed behind him.

The entire sequence of actions would take several seconds to type out, but the person disappeared from Kim Tae-yeon's and the others' sight in an instant.

"Every time I see this scene, I feel amazed, and it reminds me of a saying."

Looking at the empty doorway, Lim Yoona suddenly muttered something.

Jessica Jung, who was standing next to her, turned her head and asked, "What are you saying?"

When asked, Lim Yoona smiled, glanced at her young unnie, and blurted out, "Global flights and airdrops are available, and the price is negotiable."

Upon hearing this, Eunjung and Taeyeon burst into laughter, while Jessica and Sulli remained completely bewildered.

After Kim Tae-yeon smiled and whispered the explanation in Sulli's ear, Sulli's face flushed red, and she looked at Im Yoon-ah and said sweetly, "Ah, unnie~"

Jessica Jung was left alone, blinking her eyes.

What the hell?

What does this mean?

……

……

Lin Xiuyuan didn't hear the jargon that Lin Yoona used at the villa, otherwise he probably would have been a little annoyed.

After all, it costs much more than Little Bluebird, oh no, I mean X's little firewood.

At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan was walking in Krystal's apartment, holding his phone in his hand, and asked, "Is she in the master bedroom?"

Krystal's voice came softly from the other end of the phone, "Yes, it's on the table in the master bedroom. You can see it when you get there."

"The past?" Lin Xiuyuan chuckled. "I've already arrived."

On the other end of the phone, Krystal was sitting in a modified minivan. Upon hearing the call, her eyes widened slightly, and after a long pause, she finally spoke, "You've arrived?"

Lin Xiuyuan had already entered the master bedroom, turned on the light, and saw the contract on the table. He replied calmly, "Yes, I saw it."

Then he continued, "I'll hang up now. I'll send it to you after I've scanned it."

"Oh, okay...wait, Xiuyuan, what's wrong with you..." Krystal's voice was somewhat puzzled, unable to understand what was going on.

"I'll explain when you get back. I'm hanging up now." Lin Xiuyuan interrupted her, his tone relaxed yet with a hint of a smile.

Krystal, whose speech had been interrupted, realized that it wasn't a good time to say much, so she nodded slightly and said, "Okay, then send it to me. I'll come to see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow." He replied and hung up the phone.

Lin Xiuyuan then used Apple's scanning function to scan the contract into a document and sent it to Krystal.

Then, he thought for a moment, took a few more photos and sent them over, thinking that she could have whichever format she wanted, and he didn't need to make any decisions.

Just as Lin Xiuyuan finished sending the photos and looked around the master bedroom before leaving, he suddenly heard someone open the door and come in.

This situation made him frown immediately, because Krystal had changed her apartment password after learning about the time portal, so no one should be able to get in like this, right?

Thief? Or what?
Just as Lin Xiuyuan thought of this, all the lights outside came on, which immediately eased his tension.

Such a bold move probably doesn't belong to a thief.

So he abandoned his original plan to sneak back to the villa, walked straight to the door, opened it, stepped out of the bedroom, and looked at the guests in the living room.

Then, upon seeing that familiar figure, Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but pause in surprise. "Jessica?"

The other person's eyes widened as they looked at him, a hint of surprise in their voice, "Lin Xiuyuan?"

A few minutes later, Jessica sat on the sofa in Krystal's apartment, her gaze inadvertently sweeping towards the bedroom, her mind replaying Lin Xiuyuan's answer.

"Oh, so it was Soojung who asked you to come and help shoot a contract. I thought it was a thief or some kind of criminal gang. It gave me quite a fright."

"You scared me too. I remember Krystal saying that only she knew the password here. How could someone else have gotten in?"

On the single sofa next to her, Lin Xiuyuan, who was casually responding, glanced at Jessica's face out of the corner of his eye and unconsciously turned to the small handbag next to her.

A set of pajamas fell out of the small bag, with a corner of the fabric peeking out and gently covering a small part of another piece of fabric.

Even though it was only a small part, Lin Xiuyuan immediately recognized its appearance. It looked very much like the Enchanting Butterfly he had recently seen on Li Juli.

It was a lace, low-waisted, openwork, breathable thong.

Yeah, the sexy kind.

Upon hearing the other party's reply, Jessica glared back angrily, "Hey, Lin Xiuyuan, what do you mean? Am I just anyone? I'm her sister."

However, when she noticed that Lin Xiuyuan's gaze was focused on the small rope bag next to her, she subconsciously looked down and saw that the clothes inside had fallen out because the bag had fallen over. She quickly gathered them up and hid them behind her back.

At the same time, instead of shouting like a young person, he asked softly, "Have you seen enough?"

Lin Xiuyuan smiled slightly and said casually, "Oh, it's alright, it looks pretty good."

After making a brief comment, he asked with some curiosity, "But why did you bring clothes down to Krystal's place?"

Jessica rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "Mind your own business. I'm her sister. It's not surprising that I'm here. You're the one who's acting strangely."

Lin Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow. "Oh, then why didn't she ask you to come down and help, but instead asked me?"

"..." This question left Jessica speechless.

She couldn't help but recall the scene when she picked him up at the airport that morning. How similar that scene was to the present! Now that it was evening, she was being provoked by Lin Xiuyuan like this again, which made her want to go crazy.

At the same time, she couldn't help but want to teach Krystal a lesson. Why didn't she look for her when she was right upstairs? Why did she have to go looking for this man instead… Humph!

Seeing that Jessica had nothing more to say, Lin Xiuyuan smiled and said, "Alright, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Do you want to go back, or what?"

“I’m not going back. You should leave now,” Jessica said impatiently, rolling her eyes at him.

Lin Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "So you're going down to take a shower?"

Thinking of the pajamas and underwear he had just seen, Lin Xiuyuan suddenly realized something. "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the pipes upstairs?"

Jessica wanted to say "None of your business," but the words caught in her throat. She turned away helplessly and said softly, "Yeah, I don't know what happened, there's no hot water."

Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan glanced at Jessica, then thought of what Jessica Jung had said that afternoon. He sighed softly, stood up, and said, "Let's go upstairs and take a look. I'll fix it for you. I heard that plumbers in Seoul really like to install security cameras in ordinary people's homes these days."

The situation Lin Xiuyuan described was one of the main reasons why Jessica had just explained it. Previously, when there were problems with her house, she had to ask a friend to come and call a plumber to fix it.

Otherwise, as a well-known artist and former popular idol, her address would have been sold by some unscrupulous people long ago.

So when Lin Xiuyuan offered to help, Jessica was a little grateful. She was really afraid that he was still putting on airs and would make her lower her head.

If that's the case, she'd rather wait until tomorrow or another day when her friend is free to fix it, hmph~
So Jessica stood up, glanced at Lin Xiuyuan in front of her, then looked away, pursed her lips, and whispered, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me so soon. I might not be able to fix it. Let's go up and take a look first," Lin Xiuyuan said with a smile.

Then he turned and walked towards the entrance hall, saying, "Let's go, you lead the way."

Without hesitation, Jessica walked past Lin Xiuyuan, opened the door, and headed towards the elevator.

Lin Xiuyuan, who was following behind, recalled the small piece of fabric he had just seen, and then his gaze unconsciously moved down to the pert buttocks in front of him.

In this situation, no one can resist the instinct of first glance.

Even women can hardly avoid that moment of infatuation.

But some people say that a man's first impression is based on instinct, and his second impression is based on his character.

However, Lin Xiuyuan wondered if he would keep looking away and continue to be considered the first person he saw.

As the elevator arrived, Jessica stepped inside and turned to look at Lin Xiuyuan, her gaze meeting his. She finally noticed the strange feeling she had been experiencing on her back.

But he wasn't too angry. Instead, he felt a sense of pleasure at having found someone's weakness. So, with a mocking smile, he said coldly, "If you don't want these eyes anymore, you can donate them to someone in need, or I can help you take them off."

Lin Xiuyuan smiled, not caring at all, "That won't do, we still need to fix the water pipes later."

Lin Xiuyuan calmly withdrew his gaze, and after watching Jessica press the floor button, he asked, "How come you two sisters bought apartments in the same complex and the same building? Did you plan it?"

"Otherwise what?" Jessica retorted irritably. "Even so, Krystal still asked you for help, isn't that what you're trying to say?"

"That's a bit unreasonable of you. I didn't think that way at all."

The elevator to the third floor arrived in no time. Since it was a one-apartment-per-floor system, the two of them arrived at Jessica's home without encountering any outsiders.

Upon entering, you change your shoes in the entryway.

"What about mine?" Lin Xiuyuan asked.

Jessica glanced at him and walked straight inside. "I don't have men's shoes, so just walk in. I'll have someone come and clean them tomorrow."

This answer made Lin Xiuyuan raise an eyebrow slightly, but he didn't ask any further questions and followed him into the living room.

Then his gaze quickly swept around and he immediately spotted the pizza on the coffee table, where less than two slices of the large pizza had been eaten.

Looking around, the living room was dimly lit, and an unspoken sense of loneliness permeated the air.

Seeing all this, Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but click his tongue, a complex thought involuntarily appearing in his eyes, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Without asking Jessica's permission, he walked directly to the light switch on the wall and pressed the switch for all the lights in the house.

As the lights came on instantly, the entire apartment seemed to come alive.

The originally dark corners and walls gradually disappeared under the bright light, and the air became clear, as if everything was renewed at this moment.

This sudden change startled Jessica for a moment, then she turned to look at Lin Xiuyuan, and their eyes met unintentionally.

In that instant, a certain emotion within me was stirred, as if drawn by an unknown force.

A complex emotion flashed in her eyes, then she subconsciously avoided his gaze, lowered her head, and said in a low voice, "Let's go, let's go into the bathroom and check the water pipes. I don't know why the hot water suddenly stopped coming out."

Lin Xiuyuan nodded and followed her into the bathroom.

Upon entering the bathroom, Lin Xiuyuan first surveyed the surroundings. There were no small toys sticking to the wall as he had imagined; the sink only contained normal skincare and toiletries.

Then, at Jessica's prompting, he turned on the hot water tap in the sink, but sure enough, there was no hot water.

Then I looked at the showerhead next to me, but there was none there either.

However, the cold water flowed out normally without any interruption, so Lin Xiuyuan turned to Jessica and asked, "Where's the water heater?"

Upon hearing this, Jessica led him to a corner of the kitchen and pointed to the gas water heater.

After glancing at the gas water heater, Lin Xiuyuan immediately went over to examine the casing before turning on the hot water switch in the kitchen.

Watching the electronic screen in the water heater flash but no hot water came out, he said, "Find me a screwdriver."

After a while, Lin Xiuyuan, who had gotten the screwdriver, opened the water heater's battery compartment, glanced at the batteries, and asked, "Do you have any new batteries?"

"I gonna go see."

Jessica didn't say much, went back to the counter in the living room and rummaged around, quickly finding the pair of batteries that were left over from before.

Even after replacing it, there was still no response.

Lin Xiuyuan frowned slightly and turned his gaze to the gas switch.

When Lin Xiuyuan discovered that the gas switch was also working, he took a closer look at the numbers on the instrument panel and sighed softly, "So that's how it is."

His voice carried a hint of ease, yet still carried a faint trace of helplessness. He then looked at Jessica and said, "You don't even have money for gas, so where are you going to get hot water? Are you going to make the water heater turn on out of thin air?"

"How should I know? It worked fine before."

Upon hearing Lin Xiuyuan's words, Jessica immediately frowned, unsure how to refute him.

Lin Xiuyuan glanced back at the kitchen counter, which was spotless except for a layer of dust, and continued to ask, "How long has it been since you cooked in this house?"

“I rarely drive it, I basically never drive it,” Jessica replied after recalling the situation.

"Top up your account, and you can use it after that."

As he spoke, Lin Xiuyuan put the battery box back in, then washed his hands and prepared to leave.

However, just as he was about to leave, the image of the pizza box on the coffee table suddenly flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but click his tongue again.

While Jessica was working on the inflation process on her phone, she went to the refrigerator next to her, opened it, and looked at what was inside.

Jessica thought he wanted water, so she said, "I went to the supermarket this afternoon and bought some drinks and snacks. Help yourself."

However, Lin Xiuyuan's gaze lingered on the eggs and tomatoes, then he opened the freezer compartment to look at the two packets of beef inside, and finally stood up and turned to Jessica, "You'll just have some pizza for dinner, huh?"

Jessica, who was recharging her gas according to the instructions, looked up at Lin Xiuyuan, then glanced at the coffee table. "Oh, I'm not very hungry, I'll just eat something light."

"Tsk, female celebrities are just different. Do you think anyone would notice if you starved to death in your apartment like this?" Lin Xiuyuan teased.

Jessica glared at him angrily, only to see Lin Xiuyuan taking out eggs, tomatoes, and two packets of beef from the refrigerator, and saying something at the same time.

"Once you're done, go take a shower. I'll get you something to eat since you're Krystal's older sister."

This simple sentence caused a jolt in Jessica's mind, as if she had been struck by some invisible force, and she lowered her head in bewilderment.

　There will be another chapter later, it will only be later, it won't be missing.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)