CH 1

TL note: Hi everybody. Welcome to ch1 of TQG. Before starting, I would like to mention that the currency mentioned in this novel will be in Chinese Yuan. As of today, 1 USD = 6.72 CNY, in case any of you wish to do the conversion.

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“What’s your monthly salary right now?”

“Mm, pretty good.”

“Is it higher than ten thousand?”

“More or less.”

“Was your car bought with full payment or with a loan?”

“Full payment.”

“And your house?”

“What?”

“Was it bought with full payment or with a mortgage?”

“Mortgage.”

“Oh…”

“…”

“The house, is it under your parent’s name or yours?”

“I bought it by myself, so of course it is under my name.”

“Oh, then…”

“I’m pretty much done eating, let’s pay the bill.” Guo Zhi lifted her face from her plate of food and called out: “Waiter, the bill please!”

“Don’t be in a hurry, let’s talk a little more…” the man said.

Talk my ass!

“I have plans tomorrow in the morning, so I need to sleep early. Waiter, faster!” Guo Zhi firmly refused.

The waiter promptly printed the receipt. Guo Zhi glanced at it. A total of 220 yuan for two people’s food. Heh, idiot!

She pulled out her wallet and placed 110 yuan over the table.

“No need for you to treat, let’s AA. I’m tight on time, so I’ll be leaving first.” Guo Zhi picked up her bag, and with her chin slightly raised, showed a decent slight smile.

AA: splitting the bill with the people who ate.

Done talking, she turned around and left with a straight back and resounding steps, as handsome as a man.

Opening her car’s door and sitting inside, Guo Zhi let out a long breath that she had held back for a long time, dug out her phone, and dialed a number.

The other side quickly picked up: “Guo Zhi?”

“Qing Xia!” Guo Zhi yelled at the phone, “I need to vent! Damn it!”

“…you went on a blind date again?”

“No, I think I put myself in the human flesh market to be weighted! With people determining my price per pound!” Guo Zhi gritted her teeth. 

“Calm down.” the other side said.

“I need to cool down! Cool down!” Guo Zhi closed her eyes while mumbling.

“What happened this time?” the other side asked, “did they inquire about your salary again?”

“Hell! Let me tell you, the ones before, they only asked for the sake of it, for the sake of it! This one today, it was as if he was interrogating me!” she yelled, “What does he think he is huh! Donning a face of ‘meeting with me is an act of charity to you’!”

“Calm down, calm down. Who introduced the one this time?”

“A child of a relative of a friend from a co-worker of a classmate of my mom.”

“Pfft!” The other side of the phone laughed unkindly.

“Gu! Qing! Xia!” Guo Zhi gritted her teeth.

Gu Qing Xia said while smiling: “Okay, I won’t laugh, won’t laugh. Just ignore this type of person. If he calls you again, just refuse directly.”

“No, I won’t refuse.” Guo Zhi said, “I won’t even pick up the call!”

“Qing Xia… Why does auntie never urge you?” Guo Zhi placed her head on the steering wheel and said decadently. “You are obviously the same age as me! Why does my mom seem to literally be trying to push me to death? This is already the third time this month! I beg you, please, let’s change moms!”

auntie: in China, people call their friend’s parents as uncle and auntie

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. There is no problem with the photoshoot of San Qin’s project tomorrow, right?” Gu Qing Xia changed the subject and started talking about work.

Mentioning work, Guo Zhi swept away the gloomy atmosphere around her, immediately raised her head, and said energetically: “There’s no problem, I confirmed it today, all the personnel will be able to be in place.”

“Then it’s fine. Don’t worry because of this kind of nonsense, it’s better to look at the abs of the little fresh meat.” Gu Qing Xia said while laughing.

Work matters could bring Guo Zhi back to life.

“Yes! That’s right!” She said.

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Alex waited for a long time until the shower room was free and went into it to take a shower. He had to work the next day and had to be clean and fresh to pass.

Boys could shower very fast. After ten minutes, he was out, wrapped in a towel, with another one over his wet hair. His body was tall, with long legs, wide shoulders, narrow waist, and a fine upper body that was currently dripping with water that ran through delicate muscle lines.

Two girl employees that just returned home peeked at him with blushing faces. He passed by them and went directly to his own room.

He heard them saying behind his back: “Wow… he really seems like a model…”

Nonsense! Alex’s mouth twitched, what do you mean ‘seems like’? I am a model!

Back in his room, the person on the upper bunk said: “Your phone kept ringing just now.”

Alex picked up his phone and sat on the edge of the bed. While taking a shower, his dad had called him four times. He called him back.

“Hello, dad? You called?”

“Why didn’t you answer the phone for such a long time?” His dad’s voice was filled with impatience. 

“I was showering.” Alex said.

“Didn’t I tell you before? Buy a computer for your little brother, when are you going to buy it?”

Alex paused and said: “Wait a little bit more, I still haven’t gotten a pay.”

“Your little brother doesn’t care. In half a month, it will be summer vacation, and he is anxious to play. The one he had before can’t be used; it lags a lot. He gets very angry. Can you hurry up?”

Alex was silent for a while, then said: “I’ll think of a way…”

“Be fast. Just buy it online directly and send it to our house. Remember, we’ve already determined the one to buy, it’s this model…”

After hanging up the phone, Alex checked online and found out that it was a pretty good model that was known to be great for playing games. Of course, the price was also ‘good’, five figures.

He calculated the money he had in his card and the money in his wallet. After being silent for a long time, he stood up, grabbed the rail of the upper bunk, and asked: “Da Wei, could you… lend me some money?”

Da Wei squinted at him sideways: “They asked for money again?”

“My little brother is anxious to change his computer…” Alex helplessly said.

“Little brother my ass! You really consider him your brother? Are you stupid?” Da Wei spat at him. “I really don’t understand how you think!”

“When the payment from K company comes in, I’ll pay you back.” Alex said seriously.

Da Wei looked at him helplessly: “How much?”

“5000.”

Da Wei sighed, took out his phone, and transferred five thousand to him.

“Thanks.” Alex confirmed the transfer.

Da Wei suddenly remembered: “K company’s money hasn’t been settled yet? Which pay?”

“April’s one.”

“What happened?”

“I also don’t know.”

“Who’s the editor?”

“Liu Chan Yue.”

“…”

“What’s wrong?” Alex noticed something wrong.

“Uh, that woman…” Da Wei slowly said, “maybe she is deliberately blocking the payment.”

“I haven’t offended her though?” Alex was confused, “it shouldn’t be, right?”

Da Wei sneered and leaned out of the bed: “Idiot! You didn’t offend her. She probably wants to sleep with you?”

“What?”

“I’m telling you, that woman… she’s in her thirties, divorced, single and lusty.” He laughed, “Bin Zi, Xiao Hua, Zhang Su… you remember Zhang Su, right? Last, last week when we were at the bar, the one who had a lotus tattoo on his waist. Those three… have all slept with the one with last name Liu.”

“Damn…” Alex also laughed, “no way…”

“I’m telling you, that woman must be interested in you!” Da Wei said while looking at Alex. They were all models and had great bodies, but their faces differed greatly.  

Alex looked very handsome. Walking on the streets, a bunch of girls would turn their heads to look at him. This world was one that looked at the face!

“Hey, hey, hey!” Da Wei winked, “what do you plan on doing? Liu Chang Yue?”

“Just sleep.” Alex said without changing expression. “Men don’t lose anything from it.”

“Holy molly, your taste is a little… heavy.” Da Wei said with admiration.

It was one matter that Liu Chang Yue’s age was a little bit on the upper side, but the most important factor was that… she was fat! Even though not extremely fat, it was the type that when wearing clothes, a big chunk of fat could be seen around the waist.

After passing thirty years, if a woman was slim, then she would still look good. But if she was fat, then it would seem as if she looked five to six years older. Judging only by her face, Alex could already call her aunty.

Lying back on his bunk, Alex opened his phone, bought the computer that he was told about, and directly filled the address with his house’s address. After buying it, he sent a message to his dad, telling him that it was already bought, and to pay attention to receive it. His dad replied with an ‘ok’, without even saying a thanks.

Alex threw his cellphone beside his pillow and rubbed his face.

Da Wei could not understand him. He also didn’t want to explain.

They asked him for money. If he didn’t give it to them, the next time he went back home, they could possibly not open the door for him. Just like that time when he graduated from high school and left the dorms to go back home. That woman did not open the door for him.

He had certainly heard his dad’s voice inside, but that woman said that his dad wasn’t at home and told him to go to his mom’s house. She even ‘kindly’ slipped out 50 yuan from under the door and told him to ‘go away fast’. His dad hid inside without uttering a single sound.

Because that household already had his little brother, he, who was the child of the previous wife, did not have a reason for existence.

And in his mom’s house, a little sister was also born, along with the existence of a son from the man with his previous wife. How could there be place for him to stand in that house?

An 18-year-old big boy stood in front of the tightly closed door of his own house, with tears in his eyes. He wanted to have the courage to not take those 50 yuan, but he did not have a single cent on him.

In the end, he took those 50 yuan and took a bus to his classmate’s place. After staying overnight and waking up the second day, he started to worry about what to do in the future and thought about going out to explore and finding places that were hiring.

His classmate’s parents were good people, lamenting about his family’s matters after hearing about it and asking him if he had any plans. How could he have any plans? He only wanted to hurry and set out to the streets to find a job. Even being a waiter was okay, so long as he didn’t starve to death!

Who would’ve thought that after his classmate’s mom heard his reply, she closely examined him and suddenly elbowed her husband, saying: “Hey, look closely, this child is really good looking, what do you think about introducing him to my nephew?”

His classmate’s cousin was an actor, living in the capital. His classmate’s mom truly believed that instead of being a waiter, a child that was this good looking would live better working in a big city like her nephew. This child was also better looking than her own nephew, and may even become a big star in the future?

At a time when Alex was at a loss, the advice given by his classmate’s mom was a ray of light guiding him through the darkness.

He went to find his mom. After his mother heard his plight, she sighed for a long time and gave him 2000 yuan. He went to his father’s workplace to block him, and to avoid problems, his father gave him 1000 yuan. Before leaving, his classmate’s parents forcefully gave him 500 yuan.

An 18-year-old boy with 3500 yuan, set foot into a northbound train with the contact information of his classmate’s cousin, all the while with red, teary eyes.

The train traveled all the way to the north, with a clear direction.

Alex’s life though, was a mess.