Chapter 45 "The Deliveryman" - A Soft-Hearted God.
An overly quiet atmosphere can make people drowsy or even creepy.
The exhaust fan at Brother Jiu's Noodle Shop was whirring loudly.
Jane Dieda shivered.
The old refrigerator was running, making a lot of noise. The greasy smell in the room and the Class C hygiene permit on the wall echoed each other. The dark-skinned boy wondered to himself:
"Corpse, are you there?"
Neither the system nor the corpse answered.
There was a strange sound of water coming from it.
"Drip, drip."
Jane almost thought the blood-soaked ceiling scene from a horror movie was about to happen, but after searching around, she realized it was just a drainpipe that had come loose, and water was flooding her feet.
While investigating the case, he also had to work for others. Jian Dieda found a large red bucket to catch the leak, and while climbing out of the sink, he took the opportunity to pull open the refrigerator.
As soon as his hand touched the freezer, the hard shell made Jian Dieda feel the stimulation of the low temperature.
He was always on edge, determined to uncover the truth. His thick nerves were already mentally prepared for the possibility of face-to-face contact with a large man. Just as Jian Dieda was about to open the cabinet door, a pair of shoes appeared from the corner of the table above his head, the toes of the shoes pointing strangely straight at Jian Dieda's eyes.
Didn't you eat enough for dinner?
The dark-skinned boy, who looked like a little mouse, raised his head.
But that one glance made Jane Dieda unable to bear it.
Wearing slippers, Zhong Yinghuai, with his high nose bridge and deep-set eyes, looked down at people.
He also saw a pair of briefs and two long legs that he had praised in his mind during the day.
Move up a bit, and you'll see a pair of fair-skinned, rather muscular abs, and a lower abdomen tucked into their underwear...
To describe it in one word, you can interpret the rest yourself as the word related to men.
In the middle of the night, the underdeveloped boy visibly panicked and stiffened as he crawled out.
Without making a sound, Zhong Yinghuai crossed his arms, while the shirtless man walked around a vegetable-cutting aisle before turning on the light for Jian Dieda under the table. Now that they could see each other's state, Jian Dieda still didn't speak.
Zhong Yinghuai arrived quietly.
The man must have taken a shower in his private room before he arrived, otherwise he wouldn't have smelled of shower gel, had a slightly flushed face, wet hair, and a body temperature so high it was almost unbearable to look at.
That's unbelievable.
Sun Dali said this afternoon that Zhong Yinghuai gets so engrossed in playing games that he doesn't even look for women. Could this be a lie?
Jane Dieda overheard that the computer game in the other room was still playing.
He shouldn't have unplugged the headphones from the computer case; where did Zhong Yinghuai go when his teammates in League of Legends were cursing him out?
[Come back and farm the map, you damn fool! Did you disconnect to coax your little darling?!]
[Don't go AFK! I hope you never have sex for the rest of your life!!]
[I curse you to be unable to have sex for the rest of your life! @SoftheartedGod]
At that time, the internet was beginning to introduce anime and manga culture, and many male otaku in internet cafes were fans of Sasuke and Naruto and knew the terminology.
Jane pretended not to understand the color jokes, and put on a blank but polite expression.
Unable to stand the noise, Zhong Yinghuai went back and kicked off the power supply to the computer, without explaining his online name.
Back in the kitchen, Zhong Yinghuai wanted to find out what had happened.
The boy said awkwardly, "Ninth Brother, Old Ji said the beef should be stored away. I thought this freezer was full, so I wanted to help get some pork chops out."
"..."
"I didn't do the leak."
Zhong Yinghuai silently pursed his lips, casually glancing at the freezer next to him that had almost been emptied by the 'insider'.
“I installed surveillance cameras, you know that? You stared at my freezer the moment you walked in, and I thought I didn’t know? I’ll give you three seconds to take back my first lie.”
A thunderbolt struck overhead.
Boss Zhong is knowledgeable about computers and has hired quite a few people; he's very much like a real-life business owner.
Jane has traveled through time three times.
Perhaps because this world felt particularly real and relatable, he still seemed a little guilty about sneaking through the freezer in front of and behind others.
It's obviously fake.
Zhong Yinghuai, unable to tolerate the petty swindler any longer, raised his hand and said, "Go away."
The news of his dismissal came too quickly. The boy's thin and emaciated body was wearing a bootleg red vest of Sakuragi Hanamichi, and when he looked up, his dark neck was exposed.
Jian Dieda shook his head, "Ninth Brother, don't send me away, my mother will beat me to death." Zhang Mei had long been fed up with her son, and if he caused any more trouble, she would definitely send him back to his ex-husband's house.
It's no secret that Jian had a tragic childhood. Nanping is a small town with simple and honest people, and most people would be soft-hearted.
Zhong Yinghuai did not.
The boy, his lips barely colored, twitched as he pleaded, "Ninth Brother..."
“Jian Xiaoshi, you’re a thief,” Zhong Yinghuai said. “Calling me uncle won’t help; nobody wants you.”
Go out and ask around, and everyone'll know who Jian Xiaoshi is. He smokes, fights, doesn't study hard, and even dogs look down on him. Even if Zhong Yinghuai were a Bodhisattva reincarnated, he wouldn't allow such things to keep happening right under his nose.
He said, "Didn't you say you're nineteen? Well, as an adult, you can communicate with your mother. This has nothing to do with me."
That look in his eyes was so sharp, clearly saying one thing: stop playing the victim, a petty thug like you is just spouting nonsense, nobody wants to be that Mr. Dongpo.
The man felt even more disgusted when he thought about the daytime.
He suspected that if he stayed even a little longer than Jian, he would be set up by this person.
Zhong Yinghuai sternly warned the teenage criminal: "If you just leave this store obediently, I'll let bygones be bygones what I found out tonight, and I won't pursue anything else. But if you don't listen, I'll go straight to your mother about the compensation issue."
"..." His slightly pale, youthful face remained silent.
"You're not going to say anything, huh? Fine, there's nothing I can do about character issues. You can go home now, don't force me to call the police."
Zhong Yinghuai's blunt statement that he had no obligation to supervise Jian Dieda was the first thing that stung Jian Dieda's heart.
The air seemed to be filled with shards of glass and the smell of Zhong Yinghuai's cigarettes, which smelled quite nice.
Suddenly losing the will to defend himself, Jian Dieda felt his nose sting even more; he really did seem like a teenager going through puberty.
In that instant, he wondered if the narrator was helping him understand Jian Xiaoshi's character. In reality, he wasn't poor or lacking in love. He was an only child, his family owned a house in a big city, his father came from a literary family, his mother was a doctor, and he had a top editor in the industry, Pang Ding, who pulled him into the publishing circle right after graduation, making him a famous author in China. If his parents hadn't passed away early, Jian Dieda would have been happy in every way until he was twenty-four without any worries in life.
That's just how strange it is.
Jane Dieda sensed the peculiarity of this body's desire to lean closer from the noodle shop owner's cigarette smoke and his cheap shirt-clad frame.
This person clearly smelled like he had eaten stir-fried lotus root and pork for dinner.
As Jian Dieda watched, tears welled up in his eyes, concealing a secret. He quickly lowered his head, and the tears turned into water stains on the front of his T-shirt, covered with sweat.
Boss Zhong didn't notice the boy's strange crying at all.
He thought that Jian, the hoodlum, was hiding something bad because he wasn't talking.
Zhong Yinghuai glared at the kitchen door, giving orders as he left.
"Turn off the electricity and water. Go sleep on the wire bed you brought. I'll pay you tomorrow. Oh, and don't leave this bed in the shop."
The wire bed that Zhong Yinghuai openly disliked was also the reason why Jian Xiaoshi disliked it so much.
Children who don't pay attention to hygiene are not welcome anywhere.
Ninth Brother's Noodle Shop has the hygiene standards of a restaurant. Jian Xiaoshi was bitten by bed bugs because she didn't like to take showers, and her whole body was covered in bites. There were also used sanitary napkins under the iron bed and mattress she brought. Who could stand that?
Jian Dieda was left alone, touching his arm and remembering how he had to sneak a shower at home even after being scolded during the day.
He didn't skip showering on purpose.
It was Zhang Mei and her stepfather who didn't buy him a bucket.
The sanitary napkins were also a little trick his sister played on him.
It's no use talking about it; his persona is that he has extremely bad character. His misfortunes weren't caused by Zhong Yinghuai in the first place, and he was polite enough to the thief.
The next day, several stray cats from Fu'an Community went to the restaurant entrance one by one to beg for food.
The cat sniffed the glass door and saw a man and a boy sitting inside the noodle shop.
As soon as Zhong Yinghuai got up, he sat in the store and checked the counter accounts.
Everyone understands what his actions mean.
Jane was peeling garlic with her head down.
He then added vinegar and replaced the soy sauce and chili sauce on each table.
Everyone understands what he meant by this action.
Zhong Yinghuai, who was playing with a ballpoint pen, asked him, "What do you want for breakfast? I'll make you a bowl of noodles."
Jian Dieda shook his head: "I'm not eating. The noodle shop is about to open for business. I'll leave after I finish my work. I wish you good fortune."
That makes sense. Mr. Zhong's dream is to make a fortune, buy real estate, and live off the rent in his old age.
The ideal sounds appealing, but in reality, most of his cash is in the stock market and lottery shops, while the rest is always in the accounts of regular customers, not in his own pocket.
It's hard to say whether business will pick up today. Will the high turnover rate be a problem?
After a night, Zhong Yinghuai's demeanor had recovered by 30%. Jian Dieda had finished wiping the table and was already waiting to be fired, so Zhong Yinghuai didn't continue to be polite.
The cat was still meowing, and another morning to kill time passed. Then, someone from the store came to deliver another batch of hot dishes.
"Ninth Brother, Xiangxiang and I are here. The second store has set up the electronic seal for you." Sun Dali sat on a blue Wuyang electric tricycle. Xiangxiang jumped off the front seat and walked into the store. Zhong Yinghuai nodded as he passed by the female employee. A moment later, he picked up his things and was about to come back when he suddenly noticed Xiangxiang and Jian Dieda talking secretly in the store.
The two were not speaking loudly. Xiangxiang asked the boy wearing an apron curiously.
"Xiao Shi, what happened to your eyes? Is the garlic so spicy?"
Jane Dieda explained what had happened.
His hands hung awkwardly at his sides, and a ribbon tied into a bow was still hanging from his slender waist, but he did not plead with Xiangxiang but instead indicated that he accepted the arrangement.
After being exposed for rummaging through the freezer, the two people left in the store went back to their respective rooms to sleep. If Zhong Yinghuai didn't give a word in the morning, then there was no hope.
Xiangxiang simply said, "Oh, so where are you planning to go?"
Jian Dieda's eyes were half-closed, and his voice was barely audible: "I don't know. Go to the construction site with my stepfather, or work in a factory making parts."
Xiangxiang is a good girl, but she's too carefree: "I think you'll be fired soon if you go to the factory. You can't even please a kind-hearted person like Brother Jiu. There are too many other difficult people in society. It's okay to be thick-skinned once. Why give up so quickly?"
Zhong Yinghuai was caught off guard by these words.
Taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, Boss Zhong quickly retreated.
Under the car next to us was a big black cat. This little guy looked like a gas cylinder, with a full moon face, a white nose, and well-developed limbs wearing white gloves. His eyes looked a lot like the way Jian looked at him when he was little.
"go."
Zhong Yinghuai, who had been lying on the side of the car without regard for his image, became annoyed. He rolled up his sleeves and kept looking back, afraid that people would see him lying on the street and losing face. In a bad mood, he picked up a tree branch to chase the cat away.
A man's long arms should easily scare away a cat.
Even a swinging branch cannot harm small animals.
"Mimi," 'Jian Er Shi's' call was unexpectedly cute. It raised its scarf and came out. Its big eyes, which had been sleeping under Boss Zhong's car, softened the man's heart.
Zhong Yinghuai subconsciously tossed aside the branch and touched the cat's head beside his knee. The cat continued to meow, while the man stared absently at the cat's wet tail tip. He thought of a little black cat who lived in a mess even more than a stray cat, and he thought of Jian's eyes when she was little, on the verge of tears.
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Author's Note: Okay, the soft-hearted Zhong Yinghuai doesn't like Jian Xiaoshi, who's not cute at all. [Sarcastic Pink Bear]
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