The Unlucky Mr. Liu
I carried the bowl into the kitchen. Looking at the man outside, with his fair, delicate hands, anyone could tell he had never done rough work, so washing dishes and the like still had to be done by me. You see, I came from a farming family. We had a few mu of land at home, and aside from my father doing a bit of business, everyone else spent their lives in the dirt. This house was what was left after my parents died and the insurance and funeral affairs were settled, quite a lot, actually, but it was only enough to buy a two-bedroom, one-living-room, one-bathroom, one-kitchen place in the outskirts of M City. Huh, I drifted off topic again, sorry.
After washing the dishes, I went out and that guy was already gone. I let out a breath of relief, otherwise I really wouldn’t have known how to kick him out.
I walked over to the shoe cabinet, took out two plastic bags, pulled out my own shoes and tossed them straight into the trash, then went to the bathroom and scrubbed them until they shone.
Back in the living room, I sat down on a stool in a daze, suddenly realizing that I had actually sold myself out. The other party hadn’t revealed a single thing, I didn’t even know his name. Ah, forget it, knowing would probably only make things more troublesome. The important thing was that he knew my name.
Never mind, I was going out to wander around.
As soon as I said it, I made for the door after checking the lock was secure. The weather outside was unbelievably good, just fitting that saying, after the rain comes the sunshine! As soon as I left the neighborhood, there was the highway. Since this was the suburbs, I paid attention to the cars on the road before crossing. It was a dirty, messy street, and many migrant workers from out of town temporarily stayed here, along with stalls selling all kinds of things. Dirty was dirty, but it was cheap.
It was only a little after 9, and the stalls had only just been set up. Some of the vendors probably still hadn’t gotten out of bed yet, so it was rather quiet. I saw a breakfast stall selling small wontons, 5 silver a bowl, which was pretty cheap. With the fragrance of scallions in the air drifting into my nose, I still couldn’t resist temptation and walked over to the greasy stall. After barely finding a seat, I ordered a bowl of small wontons.
The wontons had thin wrappers and generous filling, pretty conscientious of them. A splash of vinegar, a little chili, not too much, just a bit, because I couldn’t handle spicy food as a southerner. Right, and coriander, it was simply delicious! Come to think of it, coriander is one of those things people either love or hate. I used to dislike it, but now I love it to death, so taste really does change with age. People are the same.
After finishing one bowl, I felt a little too lazy to walk, so I sat shamelessly in my seat, watching the busy surroundings and the growing crowd. The noisy, chaotic sounds filled my ears, and an inexplicable loneliness rose in my heart. Was it because people felt more things when they got old?
After sitting there for a while, I left under the stall owner’s impatient gaze. After walking a few steps, I saw a stall selling underwear, and thought of the pair that had been worn off with me, one I quite liked, with cute emoji printed on the back, custom-made online. I looked at the underwear hanging on the rack. They were all gray and blue, with no patterns at all, and I lost the desire to choose, so I just took two plain pairs with no design.
Carrying the vendor’s thoughtful little black bag, I kept walking in, my eyes catching flashes of colorful shirts and pants, and I wondered whether I should buy myself some clothes to take home. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught a streak of red. I looked closer. Hey, candied hawthorn.
Soon enough, under the strange looks of the people around me, I picked up a skewer of candied hawthorn. I peeled off the thin film on the outside and licked the sugar coating around the hawthorn. The sweetness seeped slowly into my taste buds.
Then I started buying clothes and pants with no awareness of my surroundings at all. After successfully spending several days’ wages, I bought some groceries and went home.
At the time, I had no idea that my entire day’s itinerary had been laid out on someone’s desk. My stupid, delighted face while eating delicious food, and my look of disgust at the underwear, were all faithfully recorded in photographs. He Xin drummed a rhythm on the table with his right hand, looking with great interest at the file his subordinate had given him.
Very safe, this person.
Liu Tianqi, 26 years old, both parents deceased, grandparents enjoying their later years in the countryside, working at a steel company that was neither small nor large, earning a pretty good salary, no girlfriend, no close friends. How did someone like this survive in such a socially complicated world
The first step in developing feelings was interest, and clearly, He Xin had started to take an interest in me. His daily amusement was watching the records of my life. Pretty perverse. Also pretty boring, since my life was almost exactly the same every day except for the weekends.
Faced with something so unchanging, He Xin quickly lost interest in me. From observing me every day to only thinking of me occasionally, and then to not paying attention at all, the process was astonishingly fast, taking less than two months from start to finish.
I really had no idea there was such a pervert. If I had known, I would have rushed straight up to the person tailing me and slapped him twice across the face.
Green light. I stepped onto the crosswalk, and then I got hit by a car. Actually hit. Damn it, it hurt so much I was about to cry. Definitely a fracture. Hey, it was that guy, he ran a red light and somehow, of all people, hit me. Thankfully, this bastard wasn’t one of those heartless rich brats who’d make me eat exhaust and leave me in the back seat before taking me to the hospital. Fine, when I woke up he was already gone. Looking at my leg in a cast, I thought, if I skive off work for a few days, will the boss hit me?
The phone by the bed rang, and I painfully reached for my mobile.
“Is this Xiao Liu?”
“Mm.”
“You were in a car accident.”
“Mm, I was hit while crossing at the traffic light on my way to work.”
“Then you should rest well, come back to the company after a while. I’ll have Xiao Chen arrange someone to cover your shift for a month.”
“Okay. Then I’ll hang up.”
“Mm, rest well.”
“Okay.”
Does it sound like this boss treats his subordinates pretty well? That’s only because you don’t understand him at all. What he meant was, don’t bother coming to work, I’ve found someone to replace you, so go recuperate. In a month, the company would fully be able to forget me, and then pay me off to leave.
What the hell kind of bullshit was this! A car accident, and I lost my job along with it. So of course I’d provoked some evil god after all, what a super big trouble.
He Xin, who was in a meeting, really didn’t know that this one trip of his had crippled a person and cost him his job too.
More than a month later, after the cast came off, I still hobbled to the company and got a not insignificant salary. I had been fired. Before leaving, I was even mocked a few times by the person who had taken my place. Childish.
By the time He Xin reacted and handled my matter, everything had already been settled, and I had started living the life of a lazy bum at home. Every day I cooked myself pork hocks to nourish my body. Injuries like this needed a hundred days to heal, so I had to replenish myself properly, or else when I got old I’d have so many ailments that I’d hurt myself to death.
While I was squatting in front of the earthen pot, simmering chicken soup, the bell at the door rang. I ignored it, figuring it was some salesperson or whatever. But then it kept ringing and wouldn’t stop. I slowly shuffled over, and still didn’t look through the peephole to see who it was. Mainly because there wasn’t much worth stealing at home, and at worst, there was only me, right!
After opening the door, I instinctively wanted to shut it again. Of course, I failed. Those muscles of his weren’t just for show. Not bothering to tangle with him, I pointed at the shoe cabinet and turned back toward the chicken soup.
“Mr. Liu, hello.”
“Mm.”
“My name is He Xin.”
Oh, damn, a member of the He family. This time I really had stirred up big trouble.
“Hello, may I ask what you need?” When had I become so polite.
“I’m very sorry about you losing your job.” And my leg, you brat, acting as if you remembered nothing from before.
“Oh. It’s fine. So?”
“I’d like to invite you to come work at my company.”
Stop with that pity and arrogance in your eyes. Rich people were just unbearably annoying.
“I don’t think I need that.”
“This is my compensation.”
“I said it’s fine, I don’t need it.”
“Mr. Liu, I hope you’ll think about it again. I’ll be going now.”
“……” Hey, bullying me because I can’t walk!
The chicken soup smells so good! Forget it, I’ll drink the soup first. The mushrooms are fresh!
Back in the car, He Xin curved his lips. This person really was interesting.
Over the next few days, I received almost a text message and a phone call every day, and if the other party happened to be free, I might even see him in person. This was already harassment, okay? But even if I sued him, would the police in M City really arrest him
“Interested in having dinner with me?”
“Oh.” You even used a period, how am I supposed to refuse
After more than two months of dietary therapy, I could already run around just fine.
I sat in a car that looked expensive at a glance. The interior was filled with a lemony fragrance, pretty nice, unlike my boss’s car, which reeked of smoke so badly it made people want to puke.
“What do you want to eat”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll decide.”
I gave no answer. Young master, I’m begging you, please let me go, okay?
I hadn’t expected that He Xin would actually take me to eat barbecue skewers. No wonder he had worn casual clothes today. Wearing a suit to eat barbecue skewers would definitely get you beaten, right!
My alcohol tolerance wasn’t that good. One bottle of beer was fine, but two and I’d be drunk. And I had this bad habit of forgetting restraint once I got into the mood. After only a few skewers, I was already getting hazy.
He Xin sat right across from me. Those dark eyes of his were staring straight at me. I was a little annoyed, and waved my hand in front of my face, wanting to sweep away that strange feeling.
We had ordered a lot of skewers, and they were served in rounds. I barely managed to focus and found the enoki mushrooms I wanted to eat. Without you even telling me, I already knew I was smiling foolishly as I said, “see you tomorrow.”