CH 3

An Wuji emerged from his bedroom around half-past eight o’clock and happened to run into his mother and father, who were both getting ready for work. He greeted them by saying, “Dad, mom.”

“Good morning, has your elder brother gotten out of bed?” Ding Wei fixed her gaze on the door of their sons’ shared room and her voice almost made it sound like it was not a question, but rather an affirmative sentence.

Their father, An Cheng, on the other hand, simply smiled: “Wuyang, that child is always like this during summer vacation. He’d sleep all day, pretending he wouldn’t wake up.” Clearly, they were all accustomed to it.

“When your brother finally wakes up from his sleep, get something for him to eat so that that boy won’t starve to death.” Ding Wei said as the married couple prepared themselves and drove for work. 

**

“…” Huo Yunchuan awoke on his hotel bed and instinctively reached for his phone to check the time.

‘It’s ten o’clock in the morning, and I’ve slept for three hours longer than usual.’

Thinking about the root cause of the disruption in his work and rest time, he immediately snapped his head to look at the other side of the bed, which was just a vacant space. 

He immediately sobered up and lifted the quilt to search, only to discover that he was all alone on the wide bed. 

Huo Yunchuan stood up and went to the bathroom to search for that person. However, as he opened the door, not a single soul could be seen. 

He frowned slightly and left the hotel as soon as he finished washing.

The boy he had spent the night with did not leave his name, contact information, and address with him. Obviously, it was nothing more than your average one-night stand. 

Huo Yunchuan exited the hotel and found his car in the parking area. 

As he entered the car, a sudden intrusion of a sound coming from a cell phone broke the silence inside the car. Yunchuan focused on driving the car out of the parking lot before answering the call.

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry about what happened yesterday,” the one who called him was his mother, Zhang Ruoqi. “I shouldn’t have invited so many people to discuss your affairs without prior notice. I felt it was a disrespect to you.”

“Indeed,” Huo Yunchuan said coldly. “First of all, I am an individual and secondly, your son.”

“Sigh… so there is no room for us to comment nor talk about your life at all?” Zhang Ruoqi asked.

“Yes,” Huo Yunchuan affirmed. “But it’s me who doesn’t listen. So, it’s neither you nor guma or yima’s wrongdoing.”

{T/N: 姑妈 gū mā (coll.) father’s married sister; paternal aunt || 姨妈 yí mā (coll.) mother’s sister; maternal aunt}

An extended period of silence followed afterwards. 

After briefly listening to the silence, Huo Yunchuan spoke up and decided to end the call. “Let’s discuss this later. It’s not appropriate now.”

As he swiftly suspended the call, he put his focus back on the road and drove back to his apartment. 

The apartment only became full of light from Mondays to Fridays. He practically lived there because it was close to the company, which was convenient for work. 

At the door across from his own lived Ji Mingjue, who had also chosen to live outside his parents’ house. Both met and became friends during high school. Knowing each other for such a long time solidified their relationship further and made them both familiar with each other.

Huo Yunchuan finally arrived at his destination and saw the man lying on his sofa as he walked in. He paused for a moment and thought that he had walked in at the wrong door. 

“No need to look, this is your home.” Ji Mingjue sat up and said, “Your mother called saying that you had burst your temper last night and asked me to come and check up on you.”

Huo Yunchuan dropped everything he had on his hands and directly trudged into his bedroom. 

“Hey…” Ji Mingjue remarked, following the man and consequently catching a smell of alcohol on him. “You really went drinking? Haha, were you really that mad?”

Leaning on the bedroom’s door frame, Ji Mingjue said, “Wasn’t it just an urge for you to get married? Who still lacks the experience of love? They love to run their mouths about matters that aren’t their own, so just let them talk and you won’t even lose even a single piece of meat.”

At this point, he noticed that Huo Yunchuan was clearly taking things very seriously.

“Okay, so I’ll contact some friends to drink with you tonight. Is that okay?” More so, they haven’t seen that group of people for so long, and it would be like the will of heaven to finally come out and reunite. 

They were no longer like how they were before, going out at night and meeting from time to time. 

After all, people who reached the prime age of thirty were all busy minding their own business matters, and their families. Indeed… 

An age under such great pressure. 

**

Meanwhile, An Wuyang dozed off until noon when he was finally awakened by his younger brother. 

An Wuji, who was standing beside the bed, looked at him with worry etched into his eyes, and said, “Are you feeling unwell?”

How could it be possible to directly and explicitly say anything without frightening my brother out of his wits? An Wuyang thought and simply waved his hand weakly: “It’s nothing important, I’ll get up in a while. Have you cooked?”

An Wuyang’s routine was undoubtedly different from usual today.

“En, so quickly get up and eat.”

Seeing An Wuyang propping himself up, An Wuji no longer waited for his brother, as he pivoted on his heels and went out. 

After sleeping in for the whole morning, An Wuyang definitely felt a lot better. Except for the areas that could not be mentioned explicitly where it was still throbbing sore. Nevertheless, it was a nice improvement for his overall state.

With a good appetite to start his day, An Wuyang ate at least two rice bowls next to his brother.

When he had finally eaten his fill and drank, he put down his chopsticks and asked: “Do you know when will jie have a holiday?”

{T/N: Jie means elder sister}

The other party, the youngest brother, had always been more intimate with their eldest sister. Thus, if someone wanted to find out how their sister is doing, just simply ask the youngest brother.

It’s not that An Wuyang felt dislike towards his younger brother. However…there was really no common language for them to relate with. 

{T/N: 共同 语言 gòng tóng yǔ yán}

An Wuji said: “She will not return home for the summer vacation. Instead, she will fly off to the United States to study.”

An Wuyang blankly stared at nothing in particular. His thoughts were racing, and he knew that travelling to the United States would cost a lot of money and would be an expensive endeavour for their parents. 

“Ah, is it organized by the school?” 

‘That would cost about less.’

An Wuji shook his head: “No, she’ll fly off together with her classmates.”

There was nothing An Wuyang could say, so he simply remained silent. Then he picked up his chopsticks and went to the kitchen to clean the dishes. 

“Will you still be sleeping in the afternoon?” His brother’s voice could be heard from the outside of the kitchen. 

Wiping his hands dry from water residue, An Wuyang walked out of the kitchen towards his younger brother’s side and said: “I’ll go out to look for a part-time job in the afternoon.”

He also did the exact same thing in the previous years. Partaking in a part-time job to earn money, then dividing some of it to his younger brother and buying stationery items for the other party as well.

An Wuji nodded and was seen to be already holding a book in his hand. 

After their lunch, An Wuyang walked into their room, lifted his arms to sniff the clothes he’s been wearing the whole time. A pungent smell of tobacco and alcohol quickly wafted into his nose. He immediately changed and washed his clothes from last night before heading out. 

From the mundane, regular part-time jobs advertised on leaflets and flyers, such as a server in a restaurant and many more, An Wuyang knew it well by heart.

Those types of jobs were easy to come by, but the salary they offered was inadequate. 

The only way to make lots of money from a part-time job was to do marketing sales.  

After passing through the course and being fed up by the affairs of last night at the bar, An Wuyang developed lingering fears for such entertainment venues. 

However, he didn’t dare to waste time searching for a part-time job at random in a more advanced and respectable place.

The only letdown was that this kind of workplace was awfully demanding, and the head of the servers would probably not accept students who were only looking for part-time jobs. 

The male staff supervisor of the K Club was called Brother Quan, who was in charge of guiding and hiring male salespeople. Moreover, he had to compete for the significantly higher sales that the female representative had gleaned for this monthly performance. 

Recently, he had taken a card significantly less than his counterpart. And he was unable to make up for the monthly quota, which made him suffer black and blue and was overwrought.

After some time had passed, Brother Quan approached personnel and inquired if there were any brilliant individuals coming by to apply for the advertised salesperson position. 

The personnel who were targeted by the question quickly answered yes, but it wasn’t that striking. 

It was very different from the expectations of having a trump card in Brother Quan’s hand.

An Wuyang happened to see this well-reputed clubhouse recruiting sales on the online recruitment page, so he decided to come over to try out his luck and asked: “Hello, are you still hiring?”

When evaluating the boy’s appearance standing at the front desk, one’s eyes would be filled with his young, innocent face and the apparent vitality of a student, and would also seriously contemplate whether he was a minor…

Xiao jiejie: “We don’t recruit minors here.”

Annoyed and dumbfounded, An Wuyang retrieved his ID card from his wallet and showed it to the sister: “Do I still resemble a minor?” Unmistakably, the man in front of her stood nearly 1.8 meters tall. 

“Um…” Xiao jiejie continued: “What positions are you interested in applying for?”

They would accept anyone who came by to apply as long as they were over the age of eighteen.

“Salesman.” An Wuyang answered back.

“Okay.” The xiaojie at the front desk ran over her eyes on his body, assessing him. To be honest, aside from the distinct underripe appearance, the body’s structure and temperament were perfect in every way: “Come along with me.”

The xiaojie escorted An Wuyang to meet the personnel and also went to Brother Quan, who looked at him with doubtful and evaluating eyes.

When he heard that the boy was a student looking for a temporary job, Brother Quan’s face expressed immediate pity: “We generally don’t accept applicants who only apply for part-time positions, as it is too easy to welcome unwanted trouble.”

The majority of the guests there at the bar were of decent quality and came from great families, but who could guarantee that there wouldn’t be dregs of society among the individuals.

In the case that the part-time student inevitably suffers a traumatic incident and feels aggrieved at the bar, it was wise to be clear and honest about the consequences before things went ugly.

“I really need this job.” An Wuyang requested once more: “Let me try it out, just once. If I am unable to meet your expectations, then you can immediately see me out.”

Brother Quan was in a complicated mood. If ordinary students were to apply for the job, he would immediately reject the applicant without saying anything further. However, the boy in front of him…was very exceptional. 

Judging from his stubborn gaze, he certainly wasn’t the type of young man who would catch fish for three days and dry the net for two days. 

Brother Quan went on to warn, “You must also be aware that some customers drink excessively and will not be so courteous to care to be polite. As a result, we can only try to avoid these things, but eliminating them is highly unlikely. If you truly want this job, you must be prepared to be exploited maliciously and with intent at all times.”

An Wuyang reasoned, his brows meeting in the middle, “I could accept them touching my waist and holding my hands, but my butt isn’t allowed to be touched or worked on.”

If a man grabbed his waist or hands on purpose, it’d not be a big deal, but if he went all the way down to his buttocks and caressed them, that’d be completely out of line, and disrespectful.

Brother Quan and the others in the room were taken aback and dumbfounded: “…” 

They’ve never seen a man so serious about the subject before. They couldn’t help but think it was a little ridiculous.

“The number of those customers are still relatively small, but as I previously stated, eliminating them is impossible.” After overcoming his shock, Quan Ge stated, “Whether it is being taken unfair advantage of or grabbed, it all depends on how you grasp the situation and handle it afterwards.

“Furthermore, if you can withstand losing some dignity in the process, you can be recruited for the job,” he added. “Even if you get the job, you won’t be able to make any money if you let your ego take over and mind everything.”

An Wuyang nodded: “So please give me a chance to try it out. If my performance turns out bad, I will voluntarily back out and retreat to avoid further implications.”

When he heard what the young man said, who had never been in contact with most of the people living in the society, Brother Quan, who had been in this part of society for years, considered these rookies to be the most annoying people who only lived inside the ivory towers.

Angered, Brother Quan snapped at him: “Do you treat me and this place as some kind of a food market?”

An Wuyang also muttered: “Whatever loss I may suffer has nothing to do with you.”

Brother Quan coughed twice. He wouldn’t have had the patience to warn him about the bad stuff if it hadn’t been for his exceptional features and determination: “Okay, I see you’re adamant about getting the job. Then arrive at work at 8 p.m. this evening.”

“Yes, thank you.” An Wuyang said, a toothy grin on his face as he looked at Brother Quan.

Looking at the youngster’s face, Brother Quan thought that he certainly wouldn’t suffer a loss if this kid really came by later. 

It was only half-past four o’clock when An Wuyang finished inquiring about the job. After confirming his application with the club, Wuyang hailed a public car and returned home. An Wuyang followed his parents after dinner and informed them that he had successfully found a part-time job and that he would be out tonight as his first day of work.

“Isn’t it too soon for you to be looking for part-time jobs?” Ding Wei was taken aback.

“Aren’t the results still to come out?” An Cheng said, nodding.

“The scores would all be the same anyway,” An Wuyang replied. It’d be neither good nor bad, so it’s not much to look forward to. “I’ll probably be home late.”

“What job requires you to work so late?” Ding Wei’s brows furrowed as she looked at him.

“Billiard room,” An Wuyang replied.

After hearing Wuyang’s response, it was An Cheng’s turn to frown: “That area is swarming with raucous young people. Why don’t you switch for another one?” He then suggested, “It’s not entirely that bad to hand out flyers or work as a waiter.”

“I’m sick and tired of those things.” An Wuyang expressed his complete resignation for it. 

The An couple’s faces turned complicated right away, but they didn’t dare to say anything about it.

It’s also a good idea for the second child to look for a part-time job. First, he could practice and improve his social skills, which would also broaden his knowledge. The second benefit would be that he could now resolve to earn his own pocket money.

To be honest, when ordinary families bore the expenses of three children on their own, the pressure wasn’t as light.

Their eldest child, who was only interested in studying and didn’t have the time to work part-time, had already cultivated a not-so-polite amount of expenses large enough to cover their parent’s heads.

The family’s finances were already depleted. And for the second child who desired to earn more money, the parents had no choice but to let him be.