THE MAGICAL MAGICIAN

Zhao Zhen had a good flow of customers on the sunny saturday morning, officer Bai who bought six coffee's and a donut he said was for officer Zhao included, and that made him happy. Not that he was ever unhappy, because how could anyone be sad when they woke up to see his beautiful face in the many mirrors that lined his home? Ever since he was a brat and uncle Meng changed his diapers, everyone said one thing about little Zhao, and that was how handsome he was, which was preferable to talking about his drug runner uncle who got put in bad prisoner’s prison for running crooked therapy sessions and charging a baggie of smuggled marijuana per hour. Despite having marijuana loving uncle Jue as his only surviving relative, he was happy running his coffee shop and magic show businesses, using Pa and Ma Zhao’s money to finance everything so he had no debt. As part of his magnificent business strategy, the same strategy that helped make money in this sleepy bit of Florida, there was only him and two part timers to serve the customers, to save money and advertise his magic business to whoever looked silly enough when he served them the overpriced drinks.

Yes, Zhao Zhen did know the menu was overpriced, but to be honest, he couldn’t find a fuck to give about that fact. How else did someone afford the expensive beauty serums from the model endorsed ads on tv, while living on a coffee shop business and regular magic gigs at any pub that took him! Da Qing, the second part timer he paid, who lived with the lazy community officer Zhao Yunlan and didn’t care about salary that much as long as he could buy fish chips and soda to supplement his diet of free leftovers, was wiping the tables down in the only quiet time they had experienced today so far. HIs other part timer, little emo Boya, had asked for the day off as with every saturday, because it was his constitutional right and he clearly got so drunk it would be useless coming to work. “Laoban, why can’t I have that second vacation I asked for last year if Boya can have a regular day off? I understand you don’t want to expose hungover emo man to the customers, but it’s only fair I get a vacation twice a year.”, he moaned.

Vacation was one of those words that Zhao Zhen didn’t like, because it meant finding and paying another person to take his shifts, or doubling Boya’s pay so he did the work of two people, you know, when he wasn’t raging about his neighbor. “How many times do we have to discuss this Da Qing, don’t call me laoban. I know we’re chinese, and most of our customers are, but we live in bloody Florida, and yes I will look into getting Boya to work extra for a week so you can have vacation time. It’s hard to persuade him, but if I ban Qiming for a week he might agree to do all the shifts by himself, he really hates that man and Qiming only ever drinks free tap water here.”, he replied impatiently. Drinking the coffee he made for himself from the ingredients ordered for the cafe, the magician considered the finances involved in wage increase, and sighed. If only uncle Jue hadn’t been caught with all that marijuana, and then started the crooked therapy scheme that gave him extra time, Family worked for free as far as he remembered from Ma’s tales of china.

Then a fresh stream of customers entered the coffee shop, and both him and Da Qing were busy serving drinks with their best customer service smiles, because someone told him that the ladies gave bigger tips to charming servers.

At the local police station, Bai Yutong was working solo because Zhao Yunlan had called in sick. The stupid twit had most likely eaten all of Shen Wei's lovingly home cooked dinner and got all mushy about how precious his neighbor was, except anyone with eyes could see that Yunlan thought of professor Shen as considerably more than a neighbor by the little love hearts in his eyes wherever he spoke about their daily interactions. Just knowing that they are dinner together every night, went grocery shopping together and so many other obvious couple activities, the pair acted like a married couple that had too much time to themselves. Brother was on another work avoiding mission, roaming around the whole Pd in the name of observing the valliant workers, but he spent more time giving his Didi extra paperwork to file than catching officer Kim watching porn at work, sergeant Cho messaging his latest fling or worst of all, the young female secretary miss Li sucking men off for side cash in the break room. "Chief, why don't you go buy a mocha? I'll watch the station with the deputy and let you know if anything happens, and you can have a chat with Zhao Zhen.", he whispered softly.

If anyone knew that the chief of Florida Pd was sneaking off for a glorified mother's meeting, he might get fired, yet his caring and bloody sly younger brother promised to tell any visitors who didn't have life threatening problems or pleas to come back later, because the chief was on an important zoom call. That's how Bai Jintang found himself dumping the outerwear of his uniform over his desk chair so it looked like he was there on a hypothetical zoom call, escaping through the back door and walking to the magical magician, a free man. With his brains, Yutong could have applied to the homicide division and manage to receive the top position straight away, however, he was seeking a quiet life now away from action, and the community officer was enough desk responsibility. "Zhao Zhen my good man, an iced mocha please? To drink here, and maybe a pastry share if you haven't got any pressing work.", he asked grandly. Having a work avoiding chat with a fellow self conceited asshole- or self appreciating as they insisted, was the next best thing apart from a tax return for the magician.

Seated in the corner of the coffee shop, mocha’s in hand because both Jintang and Zhao Zhen loved their coffee sweet and weak, the two bosses rejoiced in true lazy style. “I can’t believe your part timers ask for days off or vacations, Yutong has never asked to not work, and the day he does, I’ll be sending him to the hospital to make sure he isn’t dying of a brain eating parasite. That boy has been working constantly from when he left senior year with a 4.0 GPA and joined the air force, when Ma wanted him to become an investment banker and marry early, but Bai Yutong was as stubborn as a bull in a china shop even as a teenager. Even the air force had to encourage his retirement since none of the other recruits stood a chance compared to his excellence.”, Jintang boasted. It was true that his brother didn’t ask for time off, and worked hard, but this only made poor Da Qing despair from behind the counter. So what if he wasn’t a mad workaholic or lacked a social life like Boya?

Zhao Zhen muched his way through a fresh baked pastry, “Hmph! Da Qing, bring me more croissants, and you have to convince little emo Boya to work that week of vacation. I really wish I had officer Bai behind my counter, he might even bring more rich ladies in with those muscles of his.”

Da Qing wanted to disappear, but had to finish work first, and bring the other worker to cover him, so it honestly wasn’t worth the physical or mental exertion to do so. “Yes boss, then I’ll do inventory while there aren’t any customers to serve.”, he replied obediently. He could drop by Boya’s apartment on his way home with half of the leftovers from the shop, and discuss the seven day no Qiming or his pets ban.

At Zhao Yunlan’s sorry excuse of a home, one of the rare female residents was in a bit of a pickled carrot situation with sick Yunlan and no idea how to navigate his hell hole of an apartment to find suitable food or medications to cure his gastritis flare up. Beyond the piles of clothes in varying states of what smelled like bodily decay, the horrid lack of simple ingredients for congee or soup, and the wartorn bedroom she was supposed to get the man to, Zhu Hong was far from her comfort zone. Being the only daughter of the local and very successful veterinarian practice, she had been given the apartment she wanted across from Zhao Yunlan, designer furniture for said home and the support to be able to continue her delusions of seducing Zhao Yunlan. No one believed that the spoiled daughter and vet assistant could match the current wife Yunlan was chasing, the envy of all the housewives and cleaners in the area. Zhu Hong was a beginner chef at most, and usually required google to help her work through anything more complex than congee and steamed fish, whereas professor Shen was famed for making beautiful orange duck, curried chicken and fluffy rice without breaking a sweat.

He also didn’t display an unhealthy attachment to officer Zhao and stalk him creepily, every time they met up for dinner, it looked completely comfortable, unlike the once day the vet assistant dragged him to a fancy french meal paid for by daddy. Now, as a result of Zhu Hong’s sheltered upbringing, she had no idea how to make do and help a sick man feel better, which left her a humiliating choice, to knock on Shen Wei’s door, or Zhan Yao’s if he didn’t answer, asking for help.

Boya was still at Zhan Yao’s, along with Shen ge because Gongsun went home to finish some paperwork, watching the movie they were too pissed to watch properly, when someone knocked at the door. He very cautiously opened the door, and while he didn’t feel threatened, his brain was trying to identify their mystery caller, who babbled about Zhao Yunlan of all people like a lunatic. That meant this was something to do with Shen Wei, and he could handle this shit, “Shen ge, there's something at the door for you.”, he called.

“First of all, that is a human woman Boya, and secondly, she’s one of my neighbors, Zhu Hong. Hong Jie, is something wrong with Yunlan?”, he asked calmly.

That was something she envied too, the ability to deal with life and have a smile on his face, but for a Lan, she would bear the shame of admitting her inability to cope and prove another day that she was perfect wife material. “Yunlan’s gastritis is bad today, and I just can’t manage to carry him to his bed through the mess on the floor and find real food to cook. You cook for him everyday, and can probably tidy his apartment up a bit. Therefore, I temporarily admit defeat, and will resume my quest tomorrow.”, she announced. Zhan Yao just didn’t understand what race this was, who could put up with lazy sleazebag officer Zhao the best? Either way, Shen Wei was definitely in the lead of whatever was going on, whether he knew or not, and was getting ready to leave. He had a thesis to continue anyway, and Boya probably had something to do at his place, so it was a good time to break up the party.

It wasn’t hard for Shen Wei to tidy all the worn clothes into one pile in front of the washing machine, run a hoover over the carpet, change the messy sheets on Zhao Yunlan’s bed, and get Yunlan tucked into bed comfortably. He took his time doing a thorough clean throughout the apartment as the chicken congee cooked, and turned the messy bachelor pad into a showhome with his magic. The balcony doors let plenty of fresh air in, the now clean floor and sofas gave the impression that someone actually cleaned round there, and Shen Wei had stopped at his house to get supplies to make chicken soup and ginger congee. Nothing like that had ever happened since the lackluster policeman moved in and he never felt the need to clean anything up as long as he had enough half clean clothes, then a housekeeper was called in to essentially do the laundry and leave the place habitable once again.

Thanks to kind housewife Shen, the humble apartment radiated that new property feeling, and he even managed to find time to do grocery shopping and feed a sick Yunlan loving spoonfuls of congee. "You drank your stomach to sickness yesterday, didn't I tell you that I'm only a call away if you need me? Silly Lan Er, Shen ge is always there, like a good neighbor.", he quipped lovingly. Zhao Yunlan felt reassured, but oh so friend zoned, except he wasn't even being friend zoned, he was just a neighbor who was lucky enough to live next to the ethereal professor Shen.

"Thank you for tidying my apartment, tucking me in bed and making food to take with my medicine Wei Er, I should pay you like a housekeeper for this if you would accept it.", he replied happily, and possibly for the first time since he met the poor man, didn't flirt. It felt like the day had changed the nature of their relationship, but neither of them could define how yet, and Zhao Yunlan wanted to enjoy the uninterrupted company of his Shen Wei before work tomorrow. Relationship issues could wait, wait until he had slept his gastritis off, with the comforting weight of Wei Er's beautiful hands on his.

There was a reason everyone mistook them for a long married couple, but after the introvert incident, no one wanted anymore conflict for a bit. Bai Yutong now had an unborn fear of Zhan Yao, which was obviously humiliating for big bad air force captain Bai.