Chapter 52

Chapter 52

***

Xiang ChangKong had to work late on Christmas day, so he wasn’t able to spend time with Xu Lian. Xu Lian didn’t have the habit of celebrating Christmas either, so she didn’t mind. For her, the only noteworthy thing happening on Christmas was that orders in her store skyrocketed, and her workload grew excessively.

Xu Lian helping Xiang ChangKong move, coupled with the sudden influx of Christmas orders, made Xu Lian quite tired. Since Xiang ChangKong was busy with work, she usually goes home early and sleeps early.

In contrast to this, QingNan lane, the most famous bar street in the city, was lively. It was a place for all-night revelries in regular days, let alone Christmas. Tonight, many people were coming and going. Wei YiChen spent some time helping out in his store, but eventually, he told Ah Mao to watch his bar and left.

After leaving his bar, Wei YiChen took a turn and went to Zhao Jie’s pub. Zhao Jie was a pivotal figure in QingNan lane, so Wei YiChen wanted to ask him about Qian Liang’s affairs.

Zhao Jie already expected this, so he specially sent his people to wait for Wei YiChen outside his pub. After they saw Wei YiChen approach, Zhao Jie’s men took him directly into a room like some sort of courier package. Zhao Jie’s men didn’t follow Wei YiChen in the room but instead stood outside the door as a guard. The only other person in the private room was Zhao Jie, who was sitting in the middle of a huge sofa.

When Wei YiChen first laid eyes on Zhao Jie, he felt that the man wasn’t an ordinary pub owner. This was because Zhao Jie dressed and looked like a typical librarian.

The man looked too cultured and graceful to own a pub.

However, after experiencing years of owning a bar himself, Wei YiChen understood that you can’t judge a book by its cover. In fact, wasn’t Xiang ChangKong the same? Who would’ve thought that he was a talented student who graduated from the University of Technology? As an aircraft designer no less.

“Brother Jie.” Wei YiChen took the initiative to say hello to the man sitting across from him. Zhao Jie nodded his head in reply, then said in a very gentle voice: “I heard from QianMan that you were hurt by Qian Liang’s people. How’s your injury?”

Wei YiChen smiled and said: “It’s alright, thanks to Sister QianMan’s help.”

Zhao Jie smiled back, but soon got straight to the point. “is your visit today related to Qian Liang’s affairs?”

Wei YiChen didn’t avoid the topic and replied: “QingNan street has rules and while this isn’t the first time Qian Liang has broken them, he’s becoming more and more rampant these days. It’s gotten to the point that even my customers are getting affected.”

Scam girls, nightclubs…these were somewhat sensitive topics. These were words the average person usually shied away from in daylight. However, recently, Qian Liang was trying to court disaster by employing these dirty tactics. Wei YiChen wanted to stop Qian Liang now, lest he implicates the entire QingNan lane.

(T/N: scam girl/woman who lures men to an exorbitantly priced bar)

Zhao Jie poured Wei YiChen a glass of wine, then took a sip from his own glass. “QianMan also mentioned this to me. Ordinarily, anyone doing business in QingNan lane tends to mind their own business, but like you said, we all comply with the rules. We certainly disagree with Qian Liang’s bad etiquette. It seems that Qian Liang is getting too carried away after experiencing so much sweetness recently. I’ll have to come forward and remind him.”

This was why Wei YiChen came to visit him today. Last time he confronted Qian Liang himself but suffered a loss. He could no longer act so hasty.

Truthfully, he wasn’t scared of Qian Liang. After all, he had been wandering through the underbelly of this city for many years now. The knife wound inflicted on him was nothing. He was more afraid that, like Zhu Bing, Qian Liang would go make trouble with Xu Lian.

“Since Brother Jie said this, then I can rest assured. If there’s something I can do, please don’t hesitate to tell me.” Wei YiChen picked up his wine glass, lightly tapped it against Zhao Jie’s glass, then drank it all in one breath.

After leaving Zhao Jie’s pub, Wei YiChen found that it was snowing. He remembered that Xu Lian liked the snow. Xu Lian was typically so cold-blooded and uninterested, but Wei YiChen remembered the first time he saw her smile. It was during a cold winter day during their senior year of high school.

At the time, he thought- her smile was so beautiful. It was such a shame that Xu Lian didn’t like to laugh.

“Wei YiChen.”

A woman standing in front of the pub suddenly called out to him. Wei YiChen turned away from the falling snow and looked towards the woman.

Oh, it was the woman Wei YiChen met in Zuo QianMan’s bar: Fang QiuYun.

“What’s the matter?” Wei YiChen put his hands in his coat pockets and walked towards her with a half-smile.

Fang QiuYun replied: “I didn’t expect you to be so interested in girls.”

“…” Wei YiChen didn’t react to this provocation and instead asked: “What are you talking about?”

Fang QiuYun smiled and said: “When you were looking at the snow, you looked especially feminine.”

(T/N: Like, he was looking at the snow the same way a girl would look at the snow.)

Wei YiChen: “….”

Wei YiChen threw her a cold stare and didn’t bother replying. As he started to walk away, Fang QiuYun laughed and called him again: “Wei YiChen.”

“What?” Wei YiChen looked back at her impatiently. “What is it? Is snow exclusively for women? Men can’t watch the snowfall?”

The corner of Fang QiuYun’s mouth quirked up. She looked at him and said: “Is your injury all better?”

“It’s fine.”

“Oh.” Fang QiuYun subconsciously glanced at his arm. “You better not provoke Qian Liang. He’s crazy. He has no morals and is capable of anything.”

“Thank you for your reminder.” Wei YiChen turned away. As he walked off, he raised his hand and waved at her.

Fang QiuYun watched him leave. Just before he turned the corner, a cold snowflake fell on his face.

Ah, the snow really is beautiful.

She smiled, then turned and went back inside the pub.

When Xu Lian got up the next day, the first thing she did after she found out that it snowed last night was to post a picture of the snow and share it to her circle of friends. Xu Lian was very annoyed that she missed this year’s first snowfall. She pressed on Xiang ChangKong’s icon to open their conversation and sent him a message.

Xu Lian: Did you know that it snowed last night?

Xiang ChangKong: Yes, I was outside last night.

Xiang ChangKong: [photo][photo] doesn’t it look nice?

The pictures he sent were, of course, photos of the snow he took last night.

Xiang ChangKong: The streets were pretty busy last night.

Xu Lian: “….”

Xu Lian [goodbye.jpg]

(T/N: Like a reaction photo.)

Xiang ChangKong: What’s the matter?

Xu Lian: ( ﾟ▽ﾟ) I didn’t see the snow because I went to sleep early yesterday.

Xiang ChangKong: You sleep too early. (‘ ▽ ` )

Xiang ChangKong: Do you like the snow?

Xu Lian: Un. It usually doesn’t snow in City A. It’s mostly just really light snowfall.

Xu Lian: Aren’t you usually outside? Next time it snows, please let me know as soon as possible!

When Xiang ChangKong read her message, he couldn’t help but smile.

Xu Lian actually had a somewhat childish side to her.

Xiang ChangKong: Alright.

As soon as Christmas passes, one would need to prepare for the new year. These days, Weng ShuLi had been practicing dancing at home. She was trying to get back to her previous level.

Dancing was the kind of skill that would become rusty if one didn’t practice for a long time. Fortunately, Weng ShuLi had a good foundation and managed to recover quite well. After contacting her sisters from her previous dance group and meeting up with them several times, Weng ShuLi figured that she was in pretty good health now. Weng ShuLi decided to go back to work and teach children to dance again.

Her plans were slowly taking shape, but her work changed from teaching children to teaching elderly uncles and aunts. Nevertheless, Weng ShuLi wanted to work, and reception was good as the uncles and aunts liked her very much. By January next year, Weng ShuLi will be able to formally teach.

Next year was going to be a new beginning.