Once the car drove onto the main road, Li Guangtao was still excited in the back seat. “That was so thrilling just now.”
As the adrenaline faded, he remembered something, quickly leaning over the back of the front passenger seat to peek and ask An Chutang, “Little Tang, hehe, well, that annual salary you mentioned for me just now, you weren’t just saying it to save face for me and deliberately piss them off, right?”
An Chutang went to take the thermos cup handed over by Li Yan, making sure to lightly brush his fingertips against the other’s as he accepted it.
[Ding! Skin-to-skin contact, life value increases by thirty minutes.]
There was no helping it; he had become quite skilled at this, and he had also realized that this level of contact simply didn’t attract the other person’s attention. What he didn’t know was that his every little movement caused Li Yan extreme self-restraint, with the man secretly plotting to collect interest on every single one of them double fold someday. Meanwhile, the hand Li Yan pulled back to place back on the steering wheel was gripping it so hard his knuckles had turned white.
An Chutang took a sip of the warm sugar water and answered naturally, “Who has the time to piss them off? If I really wanted to wind them up, I would have said ten million.”
“Ten million is way too fake. If you had actually said ten million, we probably would have become a laughingstock.”
An Chutang had wanted to retort by asking why ten million would be a laughingstock, but after a second thought, he let it go. He gave a soft hum and clamped his mouth shut.
Still, Li Guangtao fawned eagerly, “Anyway, Little Tang, don’t you worry. From now on, through fire and water, I am willing to do whatever you want for your sake. I’ll make sure every single cent you spend is worth it!”
“Going through fire and water won’t be necessary. I plan to stay behind the scenes. From now on, you’ll all answer to Li Yan, he is your big boss.”
“Us? Who else is heading down south this time?”
With a stern expression, Li Yan said, “We’ll pick up Qiangzi, Jianshen, and Baoguo along the way. Things are a bit chaotic down there right now.”
Li Guangtao understood. With policies having just opened up, various regulations were still incomplete. Too many people wanted to get rich overnight, and among them, smuggled goods coming in via waterways were the most sought after. The timid starve to death while the bold gorge themselves; it looked like they were really about to play for high stakes this time.
In truth, An Chutang didn’t fully understand the current situation. On top of that, over the past few days, he had noticed many details that differed from the late 1970s of his own world.
He blinked and asked Li Yan, “So do we need to hire a few more bodyguards? Are just the other three going to be enough?”
Li Yan reached out to ruffle his fluffy, soft hair, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. “Don’t worry, the three of them are retired special forces soldiers. Protecting you shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I don’t want them to protect me.” An Chutang looked a bit displeased.
“What’s wrong?”
With a look of aggrieved resentment, he stared at Li Yan. “Don’t I have you right by my side? Can’t you protect me? Besides, you aren’t allowed to leave me for even a second. How about this, besides being the president, do you want to take on a part-time job as my personal bodyguard? I’ll give you another five percent of the shares.”
Li Yan’s gaze darkened, his voice dropping significantly lower. “A personal bodyguard?”
An Chutang took it as a matter of course. “Yeah, are you not willing?”
To be honest, he was still a bit nervous; for the sake of his little life, there was no way he was going to separate from Li Yan anyway.
With a playful smile, Li Yan replied, “I’宁 willing enough, but I don’t want money.”
“No money? Then what do you want?”
Aside from money, men wanted power, and then, beauties?!
An Chutang’s alarm bells rang wildly.
From the back seat, however, an interruption cut straight across them. “I say, when did the two of you start getting so clingy when chatting? Brother Yan, don’t tell me you’re planning to trick Little Tang into coming home with you…”
An Chutang’s heart pounded frantically. He turned his head in astonishment to look at Li Guangtao, silently yelling: If you know how to talk, say more!
Li Guangtao let out a mischievous laugh. “I get it! You’re planning to trick him into coming home to introduce him to Xiao Qing! Make him your brother-in-law!”
The heart that had jumped into An Chutang’s throat crashed safely back down to earth as his mind conveniently conjured up an ethical drama series: Matters Between Me and My Eldest Brother-in-Law.
“Don’t even mention it, the two of them actually look quite a good match. If you ask me…”
“Shut up,” Li Yan interrupted him in a deep voice.
An Chutang also drooped dejectedly. “Forget it, I already have someone I like.”
The hand Li Yan had resting on the steering wheel tightened abruptly, the tip of his tongue dragging fiercely across his canine tooth.
Someone he likes?
After that, no one brought up the topic again, and they quickly picked up the other three people. Fortunately, Li Yan’s jeep was fairly spacious, squeezing four people directly into the back row, and judging by their appearance, they were already quite used to it.
Haishi wasn’t too far, and when they arrived, it was one o’clock in the afternoon.
Li Yan parked the car in front of a fairly decent state-run restaurant. “Let’s grab lunch first and head straight to the warehouse afterward.”
Not many people dined out at restaurants these days, and the waitstaff weren’t as attentive or accommodating as modern ones. Upon seeing people enter, a male waiter around thirty years old simply walked over and said, “If you’re eating, go order at the window over there.”
Nobody found it strange. Li Yan pulled out a few meal tickets and handed them to Li Guangtao. “Go take a look and order a few dishes. See if they have any beef.”
An Chutang’s gaze flickered slightly, wondering if Li Yan liked beef just like him. Over the past few days, regardless of whether it was braised beef or beef in soy sauce, beef had shown up on the dining table every single meal.
Li Guangtao waved his hand, declining to take the tickets. Heading toward the window, he replied, “No need, I brought my own food coupons. My treat today.”
Ever since he had received a full month’s salary earlier, he had gained a lot of confidence.
Li Yan didn’t press the matter, merely lifting his chin toward the waiter. “Help us bring a pot of boiling water over.”
Whether because he looked somewhat formidable or not, whatever the waiter had been about to say got swallowed back down as he silently went off to fetch a thermos.
In this era, restaurants didn’t provide fancy tableware; what they had were just chopsticks and a drinking cup. With a somewhat picky expression, An Chutang sat down at a bench that looked reasonably clean, feeling completely devoid of appetite.
The next second, Li Yan pulled the cup in front of him over, skillfully poured the boiling water brought by the waiter into it, rinsed the chopsticks inside, and then took the water out to the doorway to dump it out.
An Chutang stared blankly as the man performed these actions so naturally. Just this one small gesture gave An Chutang’s heart a fierce tug.
This man had noticed and remembered his dining habits, which suddenly stirred an unusual, reckless impulse within him.
Mission aside, and lifespan extension aside, he wanted to keep this person by his side forever without any restraints, and he refused to let him go to any woman.
It seemed he had to change strategies. After all, as far as he knew, Li Yan had never dated anyone before.
So why couldn’t the man like men, and why couldn’t he like him?
While he was lost in his quiet, wild daydreaming, four dishes and a soup were served onto the table.
Among them, a dish of potatoes stewed with beef gave An Chutang an extra boost of confidence. He didn’t care, this must have been ordered by Li Yan specifically for him.
How did people around him usually flirt, no, how did they usually pursue someone?
Throwing money? The other party didn’t seem to lack money either. Manufacturing surprises? Actively seducing them? Losing control after drinking…?
“What are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and eat.”
Brought back to reality, An Chutang looked at Li Yan and blurted out, “I’m thinking about how to properly pursue someone.”
Li Yan froze. Beside him, Zhang Baoguo immediately grew interested. “Which girl has Little Tang caught his eye on? I’宁 got experience with this; I just got betrothed to the prettiest girl in our neighborhood.”
With a cold expression, Li Yan set his chopsticks down. “Hurry up and eat, we’ve got serious business to attend to later.”
(Life Countdown: 15 hours 30 minutes.)