Chapter 53 A Two-Sided Success
Unable to refuse the hospitality, Luo Hong drank quite a bit tonight, and could barely walk in a straight line.
Zhou Weifang dragged him along, saying, "It's a good thing I was here tonight, otherwise what would you have done?"
Luo Yan wasn't worried: "Brother Hongyang will carry it back for him."
They're childhood friends, so whoever comes along is who they'll be with.
It would be impossible for Zhou Weifang not to have any thoughts of taking credit, but hearing her suddenly become wary and say, "Even after the guests leave, he still has to go back and do the cleaning until midnight. If something like this happens again, just call me."
"This is such a hassle," Luo Yan glanced at her brother. "He doesn't always drink this much."
My brother loves making friends and is always out having fun, but he only gets drunk about twice a year. If we weren't at Zhang Hongyang's shop today, he wouldn't have dared to drink.
Zhou Weifang: "There was a time when you were in a difficult position."
He added, with a pointed remark, "I wouldn't drink that much."
"How dare you say that?" Luo Yan said. "You two learned to smoke and drink together."
At the age of twelve or thirteen, they thought that this would make them adults. Late at night, they would force themselves to write new poems and pretend to be sad. They would climb onto the roof and clink glasses with the moon. As a result, they both slipped and fell down together, with the last one hanging by his hand and the other by his foot.
Now, when he thinks back to this, he feels that all he remembers about Luo Yan are embarrassing moments. He said awkwardly, "I was young and didn't know any better back then."
But what Luo Yan was actually thinking about was something else. She glanced at him for no apparent reason, then hesitated to speak.
When Zhou Weifang saw this, he thought she wanted to say something: "Just say what you want to say."
Luo Yan declared beforehand: "Then you're not allowed to tell my brother that I asked you."
Zhou Weifang immediately agreed: "I will absolutely not tell him."
What childhood friend? Can you eat them now?
This had been weighing on Luo Yan's mind for many years. She said, "You two, with your arms and legs in slings, still went to fight? Was it because of me?"
Zhou Weifang had been in countless fights since childhood, and he couldn't remember the causes of most of them, but he did remember this one, which made him hesitate.
Luo Yan knew it at a glance and said, "Sure enough."
Being a girl, she spoke somewhat vaguely: "I felt something was wrong when Chen Er went to jail for being a hooligan."
Zhou Weifang: "I didn't mention radish because I was afraid it would scare you."
Those years were marked by a major school closure, with all the students in the alley taking extended holidays and running around from east to west every day. The two of them were the main force among them, and their most important task every day was to figure out how to get into trouble behind Luo Yan's back.
Therefore, they failed to discover early on that Chen Er was a scoundrel.
Luo Yan herself was even less likely to discover this.
She was only nine years old. At most, she knew that boys and girls looked different. She had no idea how malicious those gazes were.
But Zhou Weifang and Luo Hong could tell.
The two of them had been frequenting secluded places since they were little, and they had seen countless couples in the park. They could tell at a glance that something was wrong with Chen Er, and they would beat him up to vent their anger because of his physical limitations.
Fortunately, Chen Er was only two years older than them, so everyone just thought it was a teenager being aggressive and didn't think of anything else.
Even Luo Yan thought they were just having a falling out, but this turned out to be a lucky coincidence. When she was a child, she always sided with her relatives and disliked anyone who had a grudge against her brother. From then on, she would avoid Chen Ershili whenever she walked.
Thinking of this, she said, "I thought you two were following him because you wanted to beat him up again, but you were the ones who reported him to the police, right?"
Zhou Weifang said helplessly, "The first half of the sentence really does fit the image I have in your mind."
Luo Yan gave a "what else?" look, and after many years, solemnly said, "Thank you."
Zhou Weifang never considered this something that required her gratitude, and even now, he would not bring it up to claim credit.
He said, "It's others' fault, you should just do what you're supposed to do. I'm just afraid that if I tell you, you won't go out."
Although Luo Yan was quiet when she was little, she still liked to play outside like most children, otherwise she wouldn't have followed her older brother around every day.
But she blossomed into a beautiful young woman at a young age, and things were not peaceful at that time. Her parents were worried about her and often kept her at home.
She was considerate of the hardships of adults from a young age, but in the end, she restricted herself.
Luo Hong actually had objections to this.
But just because a young boy carries gold in a bustling city doesn't mean he can guarantee his sister's safety.
Therefore, after Luo Hong returned to the city, he would include his sister in all the activities he could.
Luo Yan could actually guess the reason, and laughed self-deprecatingly: "You know I'm a coward, I can't help being scared."
When Zhou Weifang was a child, he also thought she was timid. He thought the little girl was really annoying. She would make a fuss at the slightest thing, but he couldn't say anything because of his childhood friend.
But now he sees it all as adorable and says, "That's called being safety conscious."
Perhaps it was because of what they had just talked about that Luo Yan felt a bit closer to him, and even her tone became a little coquettish: "You didn't say that before."
Zhou Weifang knew he was in the wrong: "I was blind."
Luo Yan: "Never mind, I know I was annoying when I was a kid."
She said it so casually, as if stabbing Zhou Weifang in the heart: "I was wrong, I shouldn't have said you were annoying."
He's been saying "I'm sorry" all the time lately, so Luo Yan couldn't hold it against him and generously said, "It's okay, I often curse you in my heart too."
Even though her brother was partly responsible for abandoning her, she only hated others in her heart.
She usually seemed too well-behaved and rarely showed this cunning side. Zhou Weifang thought to himself that he was probably one of the few lucky people to have seen it, and said, "Okay, we're even."
Then, in a serious tone, he said, "I won't tell you to call me 'brother,' but at least treat me as a friend from now on."
Some things are one thing to do, but another to be exposed. Luo Yan didn't expect him to have discovered it, and embarrassed, she changed the subject: "Oh, we've arrived."
Zhou Weifang deliberately pretended to be unable to walk any further, and the few minutes he "stole" along the way were enough to satisfy him. He said, "Well, we're here."
Upon entering, Liu Yinfeng and her husband came out wearing coats, exchanging another round of polite pleasantries.
Luo Yan threw the blanket onto her brother and saw Zhou Weifang out of the courtyard.
She wanted to say something, but after trying for a long time, she couldn't bring herself to say it. Her mouth opened and closed, but in the end, she could only say, "Goodbye."
Zhou Weifang inexplicably wanted to touch her head, but refrained and said, "Let's go inside, it's dark outside."
Logically, the guests should have left first, but Luo Yan knew his concerns, so she waved her hand and locked the courtyard gate from the inside.
Zhou Weifang stared at that tiny crack for a while, then went back to the restaurant to ride his bicycle.
The shop was busy tonight. Zhang Hongyang was washing dishes and mopping the floor. He only told him, "Come pick up your things tomorrow," before going about his own business.
Zhou Weifang rode his bike back to the bike shop and saw a note posted on the door that read, "Come home for dinner the day after tomorrow."
Judging from the handwriting, he thought it must be his second sister. He figured he should go home for dinner on New Year's Eve, so he tore down the note, went into the shop, and finished fixing the car that the other person urgently needed for tomorrow. He ended up staying up all night.
As dawn broke, the two apprentices came to work, bringing breakfast for their master.
Zhou Weifang had a steamed bun in his left hand and a baked flatbread in his right. After finishing, he felt even sleepier and said, "I'm going upstairs to take a nap. Call me if you need anything."
Eldest apprentice: "Alright."
Young apprentice: "Okay."
The two of them were always putting on a show, and anyone who didn't know better would think there were two spies in the shop, but thankfully they were reliable at their work.
Zhou Weifang wasn't worried. He yawned, quickly washed up, and slowly climbed up to the attic.
The second floor was built separately by him. The ceiling was not high enough for a person to stand upright, so the bed was also very hastily made, a frame he built himself out of wooden planks.
This kind of thing is definitely not very good at keeping warm. He lays two layers on the bottom and one layer on top, and it's barely enough to make someone sleep.
However, despite the poor conditions, there is one real advantage: it is especially convenient when there are guests at night.
The car dealership has now made a name for itself, and most customers are willing to go a little further than have to deal with the unpleasant experience at the local service point.
When it comes to making money, you can't be picky about the size of your customers.
Even if someone knocks on the door at three in the morning asking him to fix a tire, Zhou Weifang is always happy.
That's what everyone's after, so the car repair business is booming.
Zhou Weifang has only been in business for almost a year, and after deducting the money tied up in inventory, he has saved nearly three thousand yuan.
This amount of money is a lot, but it's still far from being a "ten-thousand-yuan household."
Even at a minimum, many dual-income families would need to save for several years.
But Zhou Weifang wasn't entirely satisfied, especially after he found someone he liked. He looked around at the simple surroundings, feeling that even the blankets were cold. Overwhelmed by his own weariness, he fell asleep after a short while.
At this time, Luo Yan had already gotten up.
After washing up, she ate breakfast in the living room while her mother arranged the chores she needed to do that day.
Liu Yinfeng: "After you put up the window decorations and couplets, the sun is nice, let the quilts air out for a while..."
Tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, and things at home have suddenly become hectic, so she rarely asks her daughter for a few words.
Luo Yan has a good memory and is methodical in her work. She rearranged the items in a more convenient order and put on the sleeves.
There was a lot of banging and clanging around the house, which made it difficult for Luo Hong to sleep soundly.
He walked out of the room, twisting his neck, and complained, "Who threw this on my bed? They could have at least put a pillow on it. I've gotten a stiff neck from sleeping on it."
Luo Yan was wiping the window when she threw a rag at her brother: "If it weren't for Zhou Weifang, I would have made you sleep on the floor in the restaurant last night."
Luo Hong had a vague recollection, rubbing the back of his neck: "Yes, it seems like he dragged me back."
Then, looking down and smelling her own clothes, she couldn't stand it anymore and said, "I'm going to take a shower."
Luo Yan pulled him back: "No, you have to finish your work first."
Luo Hong: "Then at least let me have a meal first."
Luo Yan urged him to eat quickly, then shoved a broom into his hand: "Mom said you can't see even a speck of spider silk."
The roofs of the courtyard houses were all high, and Luo Hong had to stand on a stool to reach the roof beams.
He dragged the long bench around the house, but when he tried to speak, all he got was dust, so he simply kept quiet.
Luo Yan, still unaccustomed to his quietness, asked, "What are you planning to do this afternoon?"
Luo Hong has the next two days off, but he has to work the night shift on the first day of the Lunar New Year: "After you take a shower, we're going out to visit relatives and friends. Are you coming?"
Luo Yan still had something to do yesterday: "I'm going to find Huifang."
She's fine as long as she has somewhere to play. Luo Hong spat out two mouthfuls of ash, then heard someone calling outside. He said, "It sounds like they're calling you."
"Looking for me?" Luo Yan instinctively thought it was Wu Huifang, clapping her hands as she walked out, only to find it was the postman. She said, "Brother Zhang, did you call me?"
The postman had been delivering mail in this alley for almost twenty years and knew everyone well. He said, "Yes, your letter."
Looking at the postmark, he said, "Why send local mail? It's not worth it."
Luo Yan couldn't imagine who would write to her, and hearing the words "within the city" made her even more confused. After signing for the letter, she opened it and found that the first line read: "Luo Yan, hello, this is Zhou Xiuhe."
Zhou Xiuhe? Luo Yan first flipped to the end to see if there was a date, thinking that he must have written it after he went back from watching the movie. She smiled as she held the letter, then looked up again.
Actually, there wasn't much written inside; it was all just trivial rambling. At the end, it was filled with New Year's blessings, including wishes for academic success and family harmony.
Luo Yan thought it was a pity. She should have left Zhou Xiuhe's address. Even if he might not have received it, it would still have been a token of her appreciation.
She carefully put away the other person's thoughtful gift and placed it in her pocket. Turning her head, she saw her brother leaning against the door frame with a half-smile. She patted her chest and said, "You scared me to death! Why didn't you say anything?"
Luo Hong clicked his tongue twice: "Do you know what your expression is saying right now?"
He looked like he knew everything: "A love letter, isn't it?"
Luo Yan, as if caught daydreaming in class by the teacher, put her hands behind her back and said, "It's just a letter."
She couldn't bear to even go inside the house to read the letter; she insisted on reading it here in the wind.
Luo Hong scoffed: "I think this one has a chance."
Luo Yan's big eyes were bright and clear, but she was a little shy when talking about her feelings, and just smiled at her brother.
If you don't deny it, then you've admitted it.
Luo Hong was saying something about "a son growing up is no longer under his mother's control," when his mother overheard him.
When Liu Yinfeng returned from grocery shopping, she thought the caller was calling her and asked, "What did you say?"
Luo Hong: "He said a man wrote a letter to your daughter."
I'll just write whatever I want; they send me a letter every few days.
Liu Yinfeng didn't care, she was just happy: "Look at the chicken I bought today, it's so fat."
She showed it around, and two more chicken feathers appeared in the room.
Luo Hong said anxiously, "Mom, I'm cleaning."
Liu Yinfeng: "All I see is you chattering away. Get to work."
"Alright, let's get to work," Luo Hong said, sweeping the floor twice forcefully. "Let me show you what I'm made of."
Liu Yinfeng felt choked by the smog, so she went into the kitchen to boil water to prepare to kill the chicken, and in the meantime, she turned on the TV to listen to the sound.
Luo Yan thought her mother would be too busy to watch it today, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud: "It's worth the money to have this TV in our house."
The television broadcast drowned out her words, and Liu Yinfeng didn't hear it, continuing with her own tasks.
Luo Yan first shook off the jumbled thoughts in her mind, finished what she needed to do, and went back to her room to read the letter again.
After reading it, she thought Zhou Xiuhe's handwriting was also quite good, and she picked up her pen to write a reply—it didn't matter if she couldn't send it, she could give it to him when school started.
When Luo Hong entered his sister's room, he saw her writing furiously and, without any hesitation, came over to watch.
Being a girl, Luo Yan instinctively covered up her thoughts, her eyes darting around as she asked ingratiatingly, "What do you want me to do?"
Luo Hong tapped her hand irritably: "Dirty as hell, slovenly."
Luo Yan thought she should take a shower, so she used a book to cover the letter she was writing halfway through: "I'm going to get my clothes."
The brother and sister went to the bathhouse together, but Luo Hong washed up quickly, went home to put his things down, and then went out again.
Luo Yan felt like she was rubbing off three layers of skin; her face was flushed red from the heat, which subsided slightly when the wind blew.
She was fiddling with her hair as she walked home when she ran into Wu Huifang.
Wu Huifang gripped the brakes: "Yanyan, you came to see me yesterday, didn't you?"
Luo Yan: "Yes, but no one is home."
Wu Huifang: "I only found out you went to my maternal grandmother's house because Bai Ru told me."
No wonder, Luo Yan laughed: "We really have a tacit understanding. I was going to come find you again."
"That's right," Wu Huifang said, jumping down and pushing the cart. "We're like family."
The two girls returned to the Luo family home together and huddled together in the room talking.
Luo Yan also shared Zhou Xiuhe's story with her, and finally said shyly, "He even wrote me a letter."
Wu Huifang said with a teasing look, "A day apart feels like three autumns."
Luo Yan gently nudged her: "I didn't expect him to write so quickly either."
The girl was shy and timid, and her eyes and brows seemed to have gained a charm that she had never had before.
Wu Huifang: "It's only natural that he's infatuated with you."
Luo Yan touched her face: "I'm a bit superficial, but I've only just realized that I'm superficial too."
If Zhou Xiuhe hadn't been so good-looking, her heart probably wouldn't have been beating so fast the moment he helped her out of that predicament.
Wu Huifang laughed heartily: "That's something you can see and touch, but you still need to examine its inner workings carefully."
Yes, we need to investigate this carefully.
Luo Yan stroked her chin, thinking: How should I take the exam?
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Author's note: Happy Sunday! I got another free milk tea today! [starry-eyed emoji]
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