Fan Jin

Biodata

Background / History

Fan Jin grew up in an abusive household. His father drank heavily, gambled, and beat his mother. Afterward, his mother sometimes beat Fan Jin, then held him while crying and blaming him for being unable to help her. She chose the name Jin, meaning the ashes left after burning, and told him there was no happiness in the world for him 27 28 31.

His mother died of pancreatic cancer when he was eighteen. She left him her savings, but his father discovered and took the bank card. Fan Jin violently fought with him, then cared for him at home because he could not afford hospital treatment. Eventually, he left the card behind and enlisted in the military that same year 23 28 31.

During his fifth year of service, his father also died of pancreatic cancer. Fan Jin returned home and used a military bereavement payment to arrange the funeral, but shed no tears for him. He then visited his mother’s grave and bowed three times. He credits military life with teaching him to cherish staying alive despite his circumstances 28.

Fan Jin served for ten years and left the military four years before the main events described. He bought an apartment, renovated it himself, and opened a café. Before meeting Shan Ye, he had never been in a romantic relationship and intended to live quietly while caring for his grandmother 28 49.

Appearance

• Build and posture: Tall and well-built, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a habitually straight-backed military bearing—even while eating 5 21 23 37.
• Face and hair: Sharply defined features, deep-set eyes, thin lips, and closely cropped hair 4 20 29.
• Hands: Long, slender fingers, pronounced knuckles, and visible blue veins; Shan Ye particularly admires them while watching him make coffee 4.
• Clothing: Often wears simple black or gray clothing. His frequently washed shirts and bare wrists reflect his understated presentation 4 7 15 22.
• Physical details: His skin consistently feels unusually warm to Shan Ye, and his ears redden when he is flustered 13 21 37.

Personality

Fan Jin is taciturn, outwardly cold, and intensely particular about cleanliness. He keeps his café and apartment spotless, cleans up after himself, and often answers conversation with only a few words. Xu Jing finds it remarkable that he allows someone he has only recently met to stay overnight 4 9 14.

His reluctance to accept Shan Ye is rooted in insecurity rather than indifference. He considers himself poor, uninteresting, and unworthy of a university lecturer from a happy, educated family. Having grown up without a healthy model of affection, he fears that he has inherited his father’s cruelty and will hurt anyone who loves him 27 28 31.

He habitually conceals pain and worries instead of discussing them. In the military, he continued a field exercise for days after a snakebite without telling anyone. In his relationship, this emotional reserve can become withdrawal or cold treatment; the scarf dispute exposes how strongly he fears abandonment 16 45 46.

Despite his aloof manner, Fan Jin is attentive and gentle with people he cares about. He smiles openly with Yaoyao, looks after his grandmother, and expresses affection for Shan Ye through cooking, practical care, and physical closeness. As their relationship develops, he smiles more frequently, talks more, and becomes less withdrawn 4 23 29 47 48.

Abilities & Skills

Military Training

• Reconnaissance awareness: His training makes Shan Ye’s persistent gaze difficult to miss, even when he tries to ignore it 15.
• Endurance: After a nonvenomous snakebite during a four-day, five-night exercise, he bandaged the wound and completed the remaining training despite severe swelling 16.
• Performance and discipline: His land-training scores remained among the best in his unit. Years of service also shaped his posture, cleanliness, and self-control 9 16 37.

Coffee Preparation

• Makes Americanos, lattes, and latte art, including a tree design served to Shan Ye 3 7 8.
• Handles grinding, extraction, cup cleaning, and workstation maintenance with practiced efficiency 4.
• Knows enough about coffee beans to converse comfortably with Shan Ye’s father, despite initially feeling nervous around him 32.
• Teaches Shan Ye dosing, tamping, extraction, and milk steaming. He says reaching his own level took two or three months of practice 47.

Cooking and Practical Care

• Prepares fish, noodles, congee, and shared meals; cooking becomes one of his regular ways of caring for Shan Ye 23 29 31 38.
• Helps care for feverish Yaoyao and later monitors Shan Ye’s temperature, gives him medicine, changes his clothes, and stays overnight 16 29 31.
• Renovated his apartment himself, including painting the walls and laying floor tiles 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• His mother’s gray scarf — A hand-knitted keepsake from the winter before her death, with crooked stitches and frayed ends. He treasures it as one of the few tangible expressions of affection she left him and initially resists having it altered or repaired 45 46.
• Black-and-white cashmere scarf — A replacement gift from Shan Ye, which Fan Jin says he likes; it does not replace the old scarf’s sentimental value 45.
• Cigarettes and lighter — He began smoking after leaving the military, though he is not a heavy smoker 4 9.

Relationships

• Shan Ye — His first romantic partner. Shan Ye’s persistence challenges his belief that he cannot be loved; they become boyfriends after their first kiss 28 31 37.
• Grandmother — His only surviving family, whom he cares for through illness and old age. Initially insistent that he marry a woman and have children, she eventually accepts Shan Ye because she wants Fan Jin to be happy and have companionship 8 17 33.
• Mother — Both a source of childhood abuse and the person whose limited affection he treasured. Her death, savings, and knitted scarf remain central to his memories 28 31 45 46.
• Father — An abusive alcoholic and gambler. Fan Jin resents his treatment of his mother and feels no grief at his funeral 28 31.
• Xu Jing — A friend and former military companion of ten years. Fan Jin helped him through a difficult period, and Xu Jing understands his reluctance to discuss painful subjects 14 16 33.
• Yaoyao — Xu Jing’s daughter, who calls him her second daddy at her father’s instruction. Fan Jin is affectionate toward her and helps care for her when she is ill 4 5 16.
• Zhang Nan — His café employee, who manages the shop during his absences and observes his changing relationship with Shan Ye 15 32 47.
• Yu Chuan — Shan Ye’s colleague and another admirer. Fan Jin becomes visibly jealous of their time together and confronts Yu Chuan when he proposes pursuing Shan Ye 21 33 36.
• Shan Ye’s parents — Welcoming toward him and supportive of Shan Ye’s choice. Fan Jin is initially uncomfortable around them, but finds common ground with Shan Ye’s father through coffee 31 32.
• Zhou Min — A former neighbor who helped during his apartment renovations. He gave her coffee in thanks but says he never recognized or reciprocated her romantic interest 49 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notable Quotes

“Grandma, I'll be thirty-three this year, and I've never met a woman I liked. I've never thought about getting married or having children. But you told me to find someone to keep me company...”

“...And the only person I can think of is Shan Ye.” 33

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that. Please don't leave, okay?” 46

Trivia

• His WeChat account is named “Lost” and initially has a completely blank profile picture 14.
• Zhang Nan uses Fan Jin and Shan Ye as inspiration for a serialized BL comic about a café owner and a university lecturer 47.