CH 23

On Friday afternoon, Guo Zhi’s phone rang. She grabbed it to look, and she immediately felt that her teeth hurt.

The caller’s ID was ‘useless man’.

Useless man ah, useless man, why do you still call me!

Guo Zhi helplessly picked up: “Hello.”

Useless man’s cheerful sound came: “Guo Zhi, it’s me.”

Guo Zhi: “…” This attitude of ‘I’m very familiar with you’, where did it come from?

“It’ll be weekend soon, so how about tomorrow…”

When Guo Zhi heard the word ‘tomorrow’, she exploded. Tomorrow is Saturday, I want to go home! Go home! I want to eat my mom’s food! Eat my mom’s food!

“I have something tomorrow, how about today?” She hurriedly interrupted the unauthorized arrangement that he was talking about.

“Today?” The other party seemed to hesitate.

“How about this…” Guo Zhi said readily, “I’ll invite you to the movies in the evening, wait for a moment… let me see… yeah, yeah, oh! There’s a round at seven forty!”

She directly made the arrangement: “Then let’s see each other in the cinema at seven fifteen. Eat before going, is that okay?”

She directly helped the other party save on dinner money and said that she would invite him to dinner too. The useless man only took a second before agreeing cheerfully.

After hanging up, Guo Zhi let out a long breath. No problem, I’ll just consider it as using money to hire someone to accompany me to see the movie. This is the best way. He shouldn’t have the opportunity to talk while watching a movie, right? I’m tired of hearing him say that his income is higher than ten thousand.

By using a movie ticket’s worth of money to get rid of him, tomorrow in the morning she could be like a happy, little bird who rode a subway to rush back to her home. Mm, in the evening I must tell mom to stew duck soup for me at night! That way, when I return tomorrow in the afternoon, I’ll be right on time to drink it!

If she asks about the useless man, I can even confidently tell her that I just went on a date with him on Friday and that everything was going smoothly.

Very good, just like that.

Guo Zhi finished her dinner and arrived at the cinema at seven thirty. The useless man was already there expecting her.

Guo Zhi intentionally made him wait and falsely said: “Ay, I’m sorry, I came late.”

The useless man had an expression of pampering: “No problem, women are like that.” He smiled as if he was a very magnanimous person.

Omg, f***!

Guo Zhi strongly pressed down her feeling of discomfort and got the tickets at the ticket machine. They could already enter the room in this moment. Many pairs of couples walked into the direction of the room, and for most of them, the men held the drinks, and the women held the popcorn.

Guo Zhi indifferently looked at her dating partner. The useless man acted as if he did not see anything. Guo Zhi also did not expose him, smiled faintly, and checked in.

This movie was one that Guo Zhi originally had planned to make time to watch. Right now, it was just wasting money on an extra ticket. By using some money, she was able to give her ears a break and got a short interlude from being forced to go to blind dates. She felt that it was worth it.

The movie started at seven forty, so it was not far from the time when she had eaten her dinner. Before one third of the movie had passed, Guo Zhi started feeling thirsty.

She side-glanced at the useless man, and sure enough, also saw that he was licking his dry lips.

Seeing that he was thirsty, Guo Zhi relaxed.

She expressionlessly took out a bottle of mineral water from her bag and opened it. In the corner of her sight, she saw that the useless man glanced at her.

Considering that this person liked to act as if they were close and his self-confidence that made him believe that he was attractive, she evaded a possible scenario of him drinking from the same bottle by calmly putting it back into her bag.

Useless man: “…”

People huh, had to have the capability of finding happiness in bad times. If they kept complaining and wallowed in self-pity, they would become immersed in their negative emotions. On the contrary, if someone could adjust their mentality, they could even find joy in difficult situations.

For example, the blind dates that made her feel irritated. She changed perspectives and learned how to tease the useless man, finally finding the joy in the situation.

Guo Zhi felt that her mentality was well adjusted.

She gave herself a like!

After finishing the movie, it was already nine. The useless man was rarely generous and said that he wanted to send her back. Guo Zhi gave him a fake smile and politely refused.

Today, she had driven her car to the cinema. After she sent him off, she sung under her breath. Remembering that tomorrow she would be able to drink her mom’s duck soup, her steps became light, and her mood was pleasant as she got into her car.

Back at the apartment complex, as she turned a corner in the corridor, she was scared. In front of her apartment, there were two boxes and a backpack. A young boy was originally sitting there in a daze, but when he heard footsteps and saw that it was her, he rapidly stood up.

He called out: “Sister Guo…”

The situation was weird. Guo Zhi hesitated a bit, walked over, and asked: “What happened… Alex?”

Alex did not say anything and suddenly hugged her tightly…

Sometimes, if you feared something, that something would come to you.

Alex expectantly waited for his payment so that he could use it to pay the rent. On Thursday, he had even called Finance from that company and very politely requested them to please remember about it. The person in Finance had promised him that on Friday, he would receive a notice.

On Friday, he waited anxiously until it was ten thirty but still had not received a call. When he called again, no one answered. Alex got a bad feeling and rushed there.

It was a small company. It was not like K company or M company which were managed very well. The finance person that had received his call had taken a vacation. The remaining person flipped through the pages but did not find the payment bill. After asking him about the date, they said: “The ones from that time are not in my hands. Accountant Ma must have forgotten to give them to me yesterday when she made the handover. Wait for her to come back.”

Alex begged for half a day without results, so he could only ask when accountant Ma would be back.

“Next Tuesday… oh no, no, it’s next, next Tuesday.” The other party told him.

Alex left the company and raised his head to look at the sky. The weather of the capital was rarely that good, being able to see the blue sky and white clouds.

He was full of anxiousness.

Money could make things difficult for heroes. He had only seen that phrase before in novels, but now, he truly experienced it.

He wasted some hours outside, staying in a McDonald’s. He scrolled through his contacts on his cellphone and found some that could be considered friends. He put down his shame and opened his mouth to borrow some money.

He did not manage to borrow any.

When the sky started to become pink as sunset came, he returned to the underground basement. Without surprise, what welcomed him was an iron lock.

Alex looked at that iron lock, silently took out his phone, and called the landlord.

After some minutes, the landlord came down wearing slippers with his chest and round beer belly exposed, and a cigarette in hand. When he saw him, he asked: “Do you have the money?”

Alex was silent and then responded: “I don’t.”

The landlord nodded his head in understanding and asked: “You know the rules, right?”

Alex silently nodded his head.

The landlord straightforwardly opened the lock and watched as Alex took out two boxes from under the bed… he sent Alex off from the underground basement and even grumbled: “You’re so handsome; you could earn money doing whatever. Ay… I have even heard, there are those shops, male hot calls… you understand, right? It’s possible to earn many thousands in one night…”

Alex dragged his boxes while walking forward, and heard the landlord tell him from his back: “I’m telling you handsome guy, it must be your own problem!”

Alex steps paused, but they resumed going forward again. He walked until he was by the sidewalk of the Second Ring and placed his boxes there. He sat down on the floor.

He took his wallet out from his pocket to see. There was still four hundred. It was enough to eat. As for staying in a hotel… it would not be enough.

He worriedly closed his wallet and put it back into his pocket and got into a daze. He watched the sunset slowly recede until it was completely dark.

Alex smoked the last cigarette on his body. The whole floor was full of cigarette butts.

He crushed the last cigarette butt, took out his phone and opened his contact list again. He had already called another round, and no matter if it was to borrow money, or to ask to stay overnight, he was rejected with a variety of reasons.

He had the feeling of walking into a dead end. He even started to think in self-defeat that he could simply sleep under a bridge. It can even block the rain, but it is a bit noisy. Summer, how refreshing it is, to feed the mosquitoes. Heh…

Just as he was mocking himself, he scrolled to the G section of his contacts.

The name ‘Guo Zhi’ came into his vision.

Guo Zhi was not someone that would put on her pants and wash her hands from the matter. We… at least … once, if you meet any difficulties in the future, come look for me.

Sister Guo…

Alex stared at Guo Zhi’s name for a long time and pressed ‘call’. It rang for a long time, but no one picked up.

Of course, Alex did not know that Guo Zhi had set her phone in silence mode because she was watching a movie. Internally, he felt restless. When someone walked into a dead end and discovered a ray of light, they would unconsciously want to grab onto it tightly.

Alex returned his phone to his pocket, stood up to pat his butt, and extended his hand to stop a taxi.

His luck was good. Outside of Guo Zhi’s apartment complex, he encountered the aunties that were just dispersing from the square dance. He greeted them: “Auntie Cao, Auntie Sun, Auntie Liu… Auntie Sun… Auntie Sun, Auntie Sun! wait for me, I did not take the card with me…”

He followed fifth floor’s Auntie Sun in, and, in front of Guo Zhi’s apartment door, he gathered all his courage and knocked. No one opened the door, and since there was no sign of movement inside the apartment, it seemed like Guo Zhi still had not returned.

He decadently sat down. The little bit of courage that he had gathered left. He was in a daze and did not know what to tell Guo Zhi once she came back.

She said that if there was any problem, to find her, but he was not a kid who did not know anything. He knew that those words… most of them were out of politeness.

Guo Zhi is already not willing to sleep with me, so how will I convince her to let me live with her?

If she is not willing to let me stay, I really will be reduced to the point of sleeping under a bridge.

How did I end up like this? Alex felt very decadent.

He thought about the last thing that the landlord had said to him. He knew that the problem was in him. He even knew where the problem was.

He was just too weak.

But weakness, how could someone change it? How could they control it?

He did not have a way. He could not refuse his dad.

That was his biological dad.

But he knew. If he kept on like that, no matter how much money he earned in the capital, he would still be sucked dry by that pair of husband and wife.

I can’t be like this. I really can’t keep on going like this…

He leaned on the wall, fell into a daze, and felt confused.

After an unknown amount of time, he heard footsteps. He turned his head and saw Guo Zhi.

He hurriedly stood up and called ‘Guo Zhi’ apprehensively.

He saw that Guo Zhi hesitated, but still walked until she was in front of him and softly asked him: “What happened… Alex?”

He saw that there was some instinctive vigilance in her eyes, but in the bottom of her eyes, there was a sliver of care.

It was that sliver of care that allowed Alex, whose brain usually was not very smart, to suddenly have a revelation!