“This might be a bit difficult,” Jiang Qi said tactfully.
As a broke guy selected by a gaming system with less than five digits in his bank account balance, Jiang Qi expressed that the rent in upscale residential areas was too expensive for him to afford.
Old John didn’t have much of a reaction either, just nodding.
The bowl of noodles was empty.
“Do you have any other needs?” Jiang Qi asked.
“I need a job,” Old John glanced at Jiang Qi’s empty bowl. “Should the soup be finished along with this kind of noodles?”
“…That’s not necessary.”
Old John didn’t drink the soup and sat quietly in the chair.
Summoning a living, breathing person who needed food and drink through the Cards was something Jiang Qi hadn’t anticipated beforehand. Jiang Qi first calculated his savings, then secretly glanced at Old John’s card details, reaching a decision in his heart.
“Later I’ll take you to buy some change of clothes. For the next few days, you’ll stay at my place. As for a phone…”
“I have one,” Old John pulled out a phone from his pocket. Not only did he have a phone, but also a wallet containing a UK ID card, a transit card, and some British pounds.
It was just uncertain whether this ID card would work.
Jiang Qi took Old John’s phone and looked at it—it was a very old-style blue-screen brick phone, a model Jiang Qi hadn’t seen since middle school. It still worked. Jiang Qi tried calling himself with Old John’s brick phone and discovered it actually had a local phone card inside.
Unexpectedly, this card system was quite considerate, even adapting the phone and SIM card to local customs.
Not having to buy a phone saved some money. Jiang Qi returned the phone to Old John and continued, “I’m currently the acting manager of a Murder Mystery Game Store. You can temporarily work as a staff member, mainly responsible for store cleanliness. If you need anything, just tell me directly, though I might not necessarily be able to fulfill it.”
Like living in an affluent neighborhood.
What Jiang Qi was currently struggling with was where Old John would live in the future.
His home was a large four-bedroom, two-living-room unit. He, Jiang Bing, and their parents each had a room, with one guest room. Now that Jiang Bing had run off to escape reality and definitely wouldn’t return anytime soon, and Jiang Qi’s parents were overseas on business year-round usually only coming back for Chinese New Year, in theory Old John could stay for several months without any problem.
The current issue was that Jiang Qi’s aunt and uncle would frequently drop by to bring him food.
Jiang Qi had many relatives—three maternal uncles alone, plus two paternal uncles and one aunt on his father’s side. Because Jiang Qi’s paternal grandparents passed away early, his father Jiang Xiaoliang, second uncle Jiang Xiaoguang, and aunt Jiang Xiaohong were all raised single-handedly by his eldest uncle Jiang Xiaokang.
The eldest brother acted as father. Jiang Xiaokang played both father and mother roles in raising his younger siblings. When he was young, he had no money to get married because he was supporting his brother and sisters, only marrying in his thirties, resulting in his only daughter Jiang Wanwan being a year younger than Jiang Qi. Because of this, Jiang Qi’s uncles and aunt were exceptionally close. Whenever they were in the same city, they would definitely gather during holidays, and every Chinese New Year they would all go to Jiang Xiaokang’s home for the reunion dinner.
Jiang Qi’s biological father, Jiang Xiaoliang, was a rare educated man among his generation in the Jiang family. Compared to his eldest uncle Jiang Xiaokang who only attended one year of elementary school and learned a few characters, his second uncle Jiang Xiaoguang who graduated elementary school and drifted for two years before heading south for work, and his aunt Jiang Xiaohong who became an apprentice after junior high graduation, Jiang Xiaoliang—who graduated from technical secondary school and was assigned to a lumber factory—was undoubtedly the reincarnation of the Literary Star.
It’s just that this Literary Star’s path was rather bumpy.
Jiang Qi’s biological mother, Qiao Huifang, was an accountant at the lumber factory back then. Also a technical secondary school graduate, she met Jiang Xiaoliang through a matchmaking arrangement and married him, becoming what everyone considered a model couple.
Then the lumber factory went bankrupt, and the couple found themselves laid off. At that time, Qiao Huifang was still pregnant with Jiang Bing. During their poorest days, they had to borrow rice from the eldest brother’s family, bowls from the second brother’s family, and coal briquettes from her parents’ home just to survive.
It’s said that when Jiang Bing was born, the family was so poor they couldn’t even make a sound when broke. As a baby, Jiang Bing had no milk powder to drink and could only survive on rice paste. Seeing his wife and child living like this, Jiang Xiaoliang gritted his teeth and decided to take a gamble. Through connections with a former colleague, he went to Southeast Asia with him to start a timber business.
Initially, Jiang Xiaoliang worked for a boss, but after saving some money, he started his own business. He made decent money—though he never became wealthy, he achieved modest prosperity. When Jiang Qi was ten, Jiang Xiaoliang wanted to gamble big to turn his bicycle into a motorcycle, but he lost and nearly went bankrupt. If not for his siblings emptying their savings to help him, Jiang Xiaoliang would have ended up on the rooftop that year.
From then on, Jiang Xiaoliang had an epiphany and honestly focused on his small business, earning money through hard work. Seeing that both children were growing up, Qiao Huifang joined Jiang Xiaoliang in the business. Although Jiang Qi and Jiang Bing grew up with their parents often absent, they never lacked for care or suffered any deprivation.
Jiang Xiaokang transferred his years of affection for his younger brother to his nephew and niece. Jiang Xiaohong, who had always admired her studious older brother since childhood, showed the most concern for Jiang Qi and Jiang Bing. Jiang Xiaoguang, who worked along the coast year-round like Jiang Xiaoliang and only returned home during New Year, always showed extra care for the younger generation in the family, buying and sending back any novel items he found. Additionally, their upstairs neighbor Cao Yongjun was an old colleague of Jiang Xiaoliang and Qiao Huifang, and naturally looked after the siblings as well.
At their peak, the siblings ate five meals a day yet were constantly dragged back to relatives’ homes by elders who thought they weren’t getting enough to eat.
Jiang Xiaoliang had foresight, recognizing early that housing prices would rise. Not only did he buy a house early himself, but he also persuaded his siblings to borrow money and buy properties together. Because of this, the families lived particularly close to each other.
Even though Jiang Qi and Jiang Bing are now adults, their aunt and uncle still habitually deliver portions of good dishes they cook to them.
So now the question arises: if Old John lives at home, how should this be explained to the relatives?
If renting a separate room for Old John, Jiang Qi worries his pitiful wallet won’t be able to handle it.
Jiang Qi fell into contemplation.
Old John, perhaps sensing Jiang Qi’s dilemma, said, “I can stay anywhere.”
“Even sleeping on the street is fine.”
Jiang Qi: …
That really won’t be necessary…
Summoning someone from the Cards to work for free, then not even arranging accommodation—letting a man in his fifties or sixties sleep on the streets.
If he did that, what would he become? Wouldn’t he turn into a black-hearted capitalist like Jiang Bing, solely focused on exploiting employees?
“Stay at my place for now.”
If all else fails, I can rent a cheap single room in the neighborhood. Negotiating a monthly rent of three to four hundred would be manageable for a short period.
If the game’s subsequent tasks continue to provide money, supporting another person wouldn’t be unaffordable.
The neighborhood where Jiang Qi lived was quite old, with no bustling commercial areas nearby. The facilities were relatively outdated, and there was only one elementary school in the vicinity, so rents had always been cheap.
After making his plans, Jiang Qi stood up and took Old John to see the store where he would be working. The two-story shop covered nearly 400 square meters, and cleaning it thoroughly would be no small task.
Jiang Qi led Old John to the store, where Liu Lan was still the only one inside.
When Liu Lan saw Jiang Qi, she initially wanted to ask why he had rushed out earlier, but she froze at the sight of Old John behind him.
“Is this… a customer here to play a Murder Mystery Game?” Liu Lan asked uncertainly. “Hello?”
Jiang Qi played dumb. “He’s here to apply for the janitor position. His name is John, and his Chinese is very good.”
“This is Liu Lan, she’s also a staff member at our store,” Jiang Qi introduced Liu Lan to Old John.
Old John nodded at Liu Lan.
Liu Lan: ?
Is the store already wealthy enough to hire a dedicated janitor?
But why is he a foreigner?
While Liu Lan was still full of confusion, Old John had already found cleaning tools and started tidying the store, demonstrating his professionalism through action.
“He was a foreign teacher at my university and just resigned. He’s an artist and used to be the advisor for the drama club. Since I was in the drama club in college, we’re quite familiar. His Chinese is excellent, and he enjoys cleaning to find inspiration. He’s recently come to our city for inspiration and decided to apply for a janitor position,” Jiang Qi had already prepared this lie on the way back to the store.
“He’s very professional. He’s been finding inspiration this way for decades.”
Liu Lan, who also studied an arts-related major, was deeply shocked.
Before Liu Lan could fully process this, Jiang Qi quickly changed the subject. “I remember you mentioned that next Monday, a group of guests booked an evening session for ‘Mask Club,’ right?”
“Yes,” Liu Lan nodded.
“I’ve almost finished reading Little John’s script and glanced through the host manual. I’ll probably finish the entire script today. You said earlier that I’d be acting in the performance part. What exactly am I supposed to perform?”
“Oh, just act out the content on the Memory Cards,” Liu Lan said, shifting her focus to work and no longer dwelling on why a university teacher would have such an unusual hobby as cleaning.
“If we’re running the performance version, we don’t need to hand out all the Memory Cards to the players. For example, out of John’s six cards, except for the last one revealing Old John’s death, the others could be adapted into performances for better effect.”
“I see,” Jiang Qi fell into thought. Now that the real Old John had been summoned, it would be a waste not to let him perform his own role.
“Here’s the thing,” Jiang Qi continued, “Teacher John hasn’t been finding inspiration lately. Cleaning the streets for months hasn’t helped. Back in our drama club, he enjoyed acting in roles to help him find inspiration. He applied for the janitor position here because he heard that Murder Mystery Game stores involve acting. Since the role of Old John fits him perfectly—he’s a foreigner and the right age—why don’t I discuss with him and see if he’d be willing to try playing Old John? It might help him find inspiration.”
Liu Lan followed Jiang Qi’s gaze to Old John, her eyes growing brighter the longer she looked. She exclaimed excitedly, “It’s true!”
“Now that you mention it, Jiang Qi, I think it’s a perfect fit too.”
Staring at Old John with shining eyes, Liu Lan said, “If this could actually be performed, the player using John’s script would be crying themselves to death. Oh my god, just thinking about it is so satisfying.”
Jiang Qi: ?
What kind of sadistic pleasure is this?
(End of Chapter)