Casually
Chapter 2/4 of the week. We're almost at 4.5 regular chapters on Patreon! LiberSpark is integrated with Patreon now, click on 'Next Chapter' and you will be able to read here on the site. Go over to my post 'Posting decision' to get instructions on how to link LS to your Patreon account. Keep in mind that there'll be a few hours of delay while they connect, which will only take place for once.
The next day, Yang Chen went to Yu Lei International for work as usual. After a relaxing morning, he had lunch together with Zhao Hongyan and Zhang Cai at the staff restaurant. Being promoted to a department head, Liu Mingyu had to follow other senior managers to dine in a special area. Although she didn’t want to, she was just following what the other staffs were doing.
After Zhao Hongyan became single again, her family matters were solved. She had been having a good mood lately. Although her wage got cut in half, she wasn’t significantly affected as she was rather thrifty. She joked all day with Zhang Cai, making their lunchtime rather long.
Yang Chen was focused on eating his food. Having devoured half his meal, he noticed that the two ladies only ate a little. Smiling bitterly, he said, “You guys can talk in the office later. If you continue eating at this pace, you’d delay my napping time when I go back.”
“Humph! You’re the only one who sleeps in the office. We’re here to work,” Zhang Cai said, displeased.
Using chopsticks, Zhao Hongyan pinched a chicken drumstick from her plate and passed it to Yang Chen. “Shut up and continue eating!” she said.
“I have enough food, eat it yourself,” Yang Chen replied.
“You don’t expect me to retrieve it back from your plate, do you? Just eat it when I ask you to,” Zhao Hongyan said before rolling her eyes and talking to Zhang Cai.
Yang Chen enjoyed this trace of warmth in his everyday life. Ignoring the two young women, he minded his own business and continued eating his food.
After returning to the office, Yang Chen noticed that Yuan Ye contacted him on MSN.
[TL note: Yuan in Yuan Ye is the surname. I changed it to two words from ‘Yuanye’ by the previous translator.]
This kid has been recovering rather quickly, Yang Chen thought before opening the chat box.
“You can finally go online?” Yang Chen asked.
Yuan Ye sent a laughing emoji, saying, “I’m still in the hospital, but the wireless network is rather fast. I’m feeling bored so I’m asking you to play Warcraft together.”
“There’s a gunshot wound on your chest. Did the doctor say you could play games already?” Yang Chen asked as he worried that his wound would split.
“Don’t worry, the doctor said that I’d be fine as long as I don’t do any intense activity. I don’t know why but my wound heals significantly faster than ordinary people after the bullet got removed. The doctor said that my speed of recovery was terrifying. I can fully recover in about a month’s time,” Yuan Ye said joyfully.
Yang Chen smiled as he thought, seems like the aura of Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture I left in his body is rather effective. Due to his extraordinary body type, he still couldn’t feel how much of an effect the scripture would bring to a normal person. Judging the situation now, the scripture could grant speedy recoveries for the injuries of an ordinary person.
Since Yuan Ye could play, Yang Chen decided to play a few rounds with him, not like he had anything better to do anyway.
After two hours, Yuan Ye said, “I’m still beginning to recover, so I’m quite tired already. Let’s stop playing here. I need to take care of something in the club.”
“Alright, take care. I’ll take my afternoon nap now.”
After getting offline, Yuan Ye suddenly sent him a text message. “Wait, my mom is beside me. She wants to speak to you.”
“Your mom?” Yang Chen stunned. Yuan Ye’s mother was naturally Yang Jieyu, the woman that he wouldn’t hope to think much about.
“My mom wants to treat you for coffee and ask you a few questions. Is it okay? It’s fine if you don’t want to do it. She just feels rather curious towards you. You also know that I don’t have many friends. She hasn’t thanked you yet for saving me earlier,” Yuan Ye said.
Yang Chen thought for a while, and felt that he had no reason to decline the offer. “Alright, where and when do we meet?” he asked.
“Meet at Blue Dream Cafe near the building of Yu Lei International an hour later. You should know where that is.”
Yang Chen certainly knew which cafe it was. Due to high expenses, there weren’t usually many customers there despite its strategic location.
After accepting Yang Jieyu’s invitation, Yang Chen felt rather concerned. He brought fear and expectation towards what she would say to him, making his mood rather complicated.
After staying in the office for half an hour, Yang Chen proceeded to Blue Dream Cafe.
As it was in an urban district, finding a parking slot would be a challenge. Yang Chen didn’t plan to drive there himself, but wanted to board a bus at the bus stop in front of Yu Lei International. He would reach the destination directly within ten minutes.
After waiting for five minutes, a red bus placed with countless advertisements stopped there. Since it was post lunchtime at noon, lots of white-collar workers were taking the bus to return to their companies after eating out. Inside the bus, there was no seat available. Everyone had to stand and squeeze with each other.
Yang Chen didn’t mind the inconvenience at all. After returning to the country for so long, he had learned what a white-collar worker had to go through on a daily basis.
Upon boarding the bus, he took a stack of cash out from his pocket. He then drew out two pieces of bank notes to slot into the cash machine before walking behind to stand with other passengers.
Since he had to exit the bus after two stations, Yang Chen walked to the back, near the back door where he would exit from a while later.
Yang Chen held onto a pole. He frowned as he felt suffocated before feeling a trace of regret. I should’ve walked there instead. It’s not too hot outside, I wouldn’t sweat doing so, he thought.
Just as Yang Chen was feeling uncomfortable, a crisp voice resounded from behind. “Elder Brother, are you feeling uncomfortable being squeezed around?”
Yang Chen turned around to take a look. It was a short and young girl who looked like she was around 15 years old. She had bright and white skin, a V-shaped face with elegant facial features, especially huge eyes and thick while delicate eyebrows. At this moment, she was looking at Yang Chen apologetically, making him feel pitiful for her.
The girl was wearing an old, brown coat with black tight jeans. There was a huge plastic barrel in front of her, containing liquid that seemed like vegetable oil.
Although her face exerted elegance, how she was dressed up made it evident that she was a foreign worker. She brought the smell of various foods. Most people would choose to stay away from her from first sight.
Yang Chen shook his head smilingly. He said, “Nope, I just feel rather suffocated. But it’s got nothing to do with you.”
Feeling embarrassed, the girl nodded lightly. “Oh, I’ll move the oil barrel away.”
The girl still felt that Yang Chen was suffering because of her oil barrel, so she moved it slightly to the side.
“Hey! My pants!” a white-collar lady with thick make-up exclaimed. She was standing right beside the girl whose oil barrel rubbed her light yellow pants. She freaked out although her pants weren’t stained. Her expression changed drastically. She shouted, “Stupid kid! Where did this wild kid come from? Is the bus for you to put your stuff as you like?! Once my pants get dirty, can you afford to repay me?! Stupid bitch… I’m so unlucky today!”
“Sorry, sorry…” the girl said repeatedly as she shivered in fear and bowed to the woman. Suddenly, the bus driver braked hard, causing the girl to lunge forward and hit a pole nearby.
“Ouch…” The girl’s eyes reddened. She looked like she would cry any time.
“Karma! It’s all because your dirty stuff touched my pants! They’re a few thousand bucks. Are they something a stupid kid like you can afford?!” the white-collar lady said. She was in a very bad mood.
“Sigh.” Yang Chen silently pulled the little girl’s arm, saying, “Come near me. Stand behind me.”
The girl hastily shook her hands. “No need, Elder Brother. You already feel suffocated. It’s fine for me to stand here.”
“If you touch her pants once again she’d stab you with a knife until you’re dead. Come over here,” Yang Chen said before pulling the girl to his side. He then leaned forward to pull the oil barrel over as well.
The girl looked at Yang Chen thankfully. “Thank you, thank you,” she said.
Yang Chen let out a warm smile. “Why do you have so much oil with you? Is it used for cooking?”
The girl flushed as she said softly, “It’s used for a small business. The oil store there is selling oil at a very cheap rate. So I used public transportation to get there.”
“Oh… It must be tough for you to handle a business this young,” Yang Chen said.
“Yeah…” she said lightly. She then kept quiet, looking gloomy.
Yang Chen turned around to look at her before letting out a helpless smile at the corner of his lips.
After five minutes, the bus reached a station. The girl bent over to lift the oil barrel up before waving at Yang Chen. “Elder Brother, thank you once again. I’ll go down now,” she said.
“Oh? I’ll go down as well,” Yang Chen said before leaving the bus with the girl.
The bus then slowly drove away. There was no one else at the bus stop except Yang Chen and the girl.
When the girl saw that Yang Chen came down with her, her expression turned slightly unnatural. She said, “Elder Brother, are you coming to this station as well? Where are you going?”
“Is it that after I tell you, you’ll walk the opposite direction?” Yang Chen asked smilingly.
The girl suddenly turned pale. Her naive and timid smile went away immediately. She then looked cold and helpless…
“Uncle, you’re really impressive, aren’t you?” the girl asked. She seemed like she changed to a completely different person.
Yang Chen lightly touched the pockets of his pants. There were holes in each side.
“Little Girl, return my money and phone to me. I’m rushing now. I won’t find your trouble today,” Yang Chen said as he smiled faintly.
The girl casually reached into her coat and took out Yang Chen’s stack of cash and handphone before passing them to Yang Chen.
“Oh, so outright?” Yang Chen asked in surprise.
“Humph!” The girl said, “You knew the truth from the start. Since you didn’t turn me in to the police, this is what I owe you. I’ll give your stuff back to you, and we’re even now.”
“Wow, wow. Little Girl, you’re rather cute, aren’t you?” Yang Chen thought that the young lady was rather interesting.
When they were still on the bus, the girl intentionally got a scolding from an outsider after testing Yang Chen’s kindness, to make him pull her over. She then managed to make holes in Yang Chen’s pockets to steal his cash and phone in a very short moment. It was apparent that she was highly skilled. It was all perfectly planned. However, it was unfortunate that Yang Chen’s senses were much more sensitive than those of normal people. He could easily that what the girl was thinking about.
“Stop calling me Little Girl. I’m 20 years old already, legal to get married following the law. Let me ask you, did you know that I was a pickpocket from the start?” the girl asked. It was obvious that she couldn’t understand why she failed.
Yang Chen shrugged and winked. “It’s a secret.”
“Tchh! Whatever. Uncle, we’ll meet again!” the girl said before turning around and leaving with her oil barrel. She was extraordinarily strong. Lifting the huge barrel was an easy task for her. Obviously, the show she put up on the bus was all fake.
Looking at the girl’s back, Yang Chen smiled. It’s exactly because of these different kinds of people that this world is interesting. The more you explore the world, the more interesting things you’ll come across, he thought.
He was ten minutes away from the meetup with Yang Jieyu. His plan wasn’t delayed by this spontaneous incident. Quickly, he started walking to Blue Dream Cafe.
When he had two minutes left, Yang Chen entered the cafe and asked a server. As expected, Yang Jieyu booked a place already.
Yang Chen walked to the south of the well-decorated restaurant, to a table beside the window. Dressed in a dark-red western suit, wearing a white sweater within, the stylish and young-looking Yang Jieyu was already seated, enjoying her strong coffee gracefully.