The hallway lights in the apartment complex were motion-activated, their dim yellow glow flickering intermittently. The corridor was silent, amplifying the clear echo of Xie An’yu’s footsteps. When he reached his aunt’s door, Xie An’yu bent down to retrieve the key from under the doormat when he suddenly heard muffled voices from inside.
The voices grew louder, as if the speakers had moved from the inner rooms to the living room.
“I don’t want to argue with you today. Stop bringing up all this nonsense.”
—It was his aunt’s voice.
“You think I want to argue with you? If you hadn’t brought this burden into our home, would our family be this restless?”
“Wu Guosheng, what are you saying? That’s my own nephew!”
Xie An’yu quietly placed the key back and slowly straightened up.
Wu Guosheng scoffed twice: “Right, your nephew. Don’t you know what our family’s situation is now? Wu Jie lost her job, Wu Meng is about to go to high school, and we’re drowning in debt. I drive a car outside every day. How much money do you think I can make? Wu Meng is a grown girl now and still has to squeeze into one bed with her sister every day. We can barely keep our heads above water, and you still have the mind to take care of your nephew!”
“I told you before—if you can’t handle it, don’t take it on. You let your nephew come to Beicheng. What for? To suck us dry? Do we even have anything left for him to take?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?! How is he sucking us dry? In the half-month he’s been here, he hasn’t even touched Wu Meng’s bed. Every time I go in, the blankets are still neatly spread out. Where do you think he’s sleeping?” Xie Li’s voice grew louder, her emotions flaring. “On the floor! Even if I knew, what could I say? Tell him not to sleep on the floor and hurt the child’s self-esteem? Wu Guosheng, search your conscience—how is he taking anything from us? I’m his aunt. Can’t I at least give him a meal and a place to stay?”
“If you hadn’t listened to outsiders and made those reckless investments back then, would our family be in this situation? Would we be buried in debt?!”
With a loud crash, Wu Guosheng raised his hand and swept a vase off the storage cabinet, sending it to the floor.
“Talk, talk, you only know how to talk about this! Wasn’t I just trying to give this family a better life? I know it’s not easy for you to manage the whole family alone after I was laid off. I just wanted to earn more money, was the failed investment what I wanted?!”
“But now that you’re driving for a ride-hailing service, it’s not so bad—” Xie Li’s tone softened, but before she could finish, Wu Guosheng angrily flung the door open and stormed out.
Xie An’yu came face-to-face with Wu Guosheng outside the door. Wu Guosheng paused, his anger still evident, though a flicker of embarrassment crossed his eyes. His expression darkened as he gave Xie An’yu a cold glance, then slammed the door shut without a word, pushing past him and heading downstairs.
Xie An’yu glanced back down the hallway. Wu Guosheng pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.
Xie An’yu lingered outside for a moment until his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out—it was a call from his aunt.
Xie An’yu walked down one flight of stairs, putting some distance between himself and the apartment before answering Xie Li’s call.
“An’yu.” Xie Li’s voice sounded hoarse.
“Auntie.”
“It’s so late—why aren’t you back yet?”
“I met up with an old high school classmate today. We lost track of time.”
“High school classmate? He’s in Beicheng?”
“Yes, he’s attending university in Beicheng.”
“No wonder you’re not home yet at this hour. When are you coming back?”
“I’ll be back soon. You should go to bed early.”
“Alright, be careful on your way back.”
Xie Li hung up the phone and sat on the sofa for a while, pressing her forehead. Wu Jie pushed open the door and came out of the room, frowning as she walked over to Xie Li.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He went out. Don’t worry about him, he’ll come back on his own later.” Xie Li sighed and got up to fetch the broom from the balcony.
“I’ll clean up,” Wu Jie said. “You should rest.”
“Did I wake you?”
“No.” Wu Jie went to the balcony to get the broom. “I wasn’t asleep yet.”
“What about Xiao Meng? Is she asleep?”
“She is. Xie An’yu isn’t back yet?”
Xie Li shook her head. “He went to meet a classmate. He’ll be back soon. Don’t mention today’s incident to him.”
“I know.”
***
Xie An’yu lingered in the stairwell for a long time. The house gradually fell silent, and his uncle still hadn’t returned. Xie An’yu went downstairs and searched around the neighborhood, spotting his uncle sitting on a bench in front of the community’s green belt, smoking. He figured his uncle probably didn’t want to see him right now, so he went back upstairs alone.
The living room was empty. After a quick wash in the bathroom, Xie An’yu returned to his room. He gently closed the door and stared at the neatly made bed in front of him.
He pulled his bag from under the bed and took out two jackets, spreading them on the floor. For days, he had been sleeping on these two jackets, which were now creased from being pressed under his weight.
Xie An’yu closed his eyes. A buzzing vibration sounded beside him, and the phone screen lit up, casting light on the ceiling. Xie An’yu turned his head stiffly, picked up the phone, and squinted at the message.
【System Notification: As of 2023-04-08 21:23, your order amount has reached 500 yuan. Congratulations on your promotion to Silver Staff! Keep up the good work!】
Besides this, Xie An’yu also received two WeChat payment notifications—416 yuan and 6.4 yuan had been deposited into his WeChat wallet one after the other.
He had never imagined he could earn so much money all at once like this. For someone who had endured hardship since childhood, receiving even a small act of kindness or sweetness would make them feel undeserving. That was exactly how Xie An’yu felt now—he couldn’t shake the guilt over accepting that 416 yuan.
He opened his chat with Xiao Zhou and transferred 400 yuan back.
***
Yu Feng and Zhou Yi were waiting for their designated driver at the villa entrance when Yu Feng picked up his phone and saw that Xiao Dao had transferred 400 yuan to him.
For some unknown reason, Yu Feng seemed to guess why Xiao Dao did this. He didn’t say anything; he simply refunded the 400 yuan and replied: 【Student Xiao Dao, you need to follow the platform rules】
With just one sentence, Yu Feng unexpectedly managed to hit Xie An’yu’s weak spot. Xie An’yu stared at the screen in a daze for a moment before sending a voice message.
Yu Feng got into the car and tapped to listen to Student Xiao Dao’s voice message.
“Understood.”
“Thank you, Xiao Zhou.”
Zhou Yi leaned back in his seat, hearing the familiar low, husky voice of the young man, and chuckled with his eyes closed. “You two just keep chatting away, huh?”
“But then again, you did spend a lot of money—might as well chat all you want. Oh, that reminds me, my account has been banned for ages.”
Yu Feng glanced at him. “What did you do to get banned?”
“Nothing. I just stayed offline too long, so the platform probably flagged me as a zombie account,” Zhou Yi said. “No idea how long the ban will last either.”
As they spoke, Xiao Dao sent Yu Feng another voice message.
“Goodnight, Xiao Zhou.”
His voice sounded tired, the tone dropping at the end, exuding a chill and loneliness like the moon outside the window.
Yu Feng replied: 【Did you forget that 520 only includes text chats?】
Xie An’yu was too drowsy and had indeed forgotten, sending two voice messages in a row.
Xiao Dao: 【It’s fine. You’re my member】
The implication being that occasionally sending a few voice messages was a privilege members could enjoy.
Yu Feng smiled and turned to look out the window.
***
The next afternoon, Xie An’yu took advantage of his break to go to the bank and open an account. He withdrew all the money from his WeChat wallet into the bank card, then took out four hundred yuan in cash from the ATM.
When he returned to the restaurant, the boss was doing accounts at the cash register. Xie An’yu hesitated at the door for a long moment before finally speaking up: “Brother Lu, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Lu Yang hummed without even looking up. “Go ahead.”
“It’s just… can I sleep in the shop at night?”
Lu Yang raised his head. “Sleep in the shop?”
Xie An’yu quickly added, “I’ll just sleep on a chair. I promise to clean up all the tables and chairs before opening in the morning, so I won’t cause you any trouble.”
“What’s going on with you?” Lu Yang lit a cigarette. “Before, you asked if you could stay overnight here, now you want to sleep on the chairs. Weren’t you staying at your relative’s place? What, they won’t let you stay anymore?”
Xie An’yu didn’t answer immediately. He didn’t want to discuss his aunt’s family matters with an outsider.
“Not fucking talking again, huh?” Lu Yang’s voice deepened. “You mute or something? You and Yue Lai from the same womb?”
He sat behind the cash register while Xie An’yu stood, looking down at him. Xie An’yu lowered his gaze to meet Lu Yang’s eyes. After a few seconds of silent confrontation, Lu Yang suddenly laughed. “What, don’t like how I talk?”
Xie An’yu remained silent.
“If you don’t like it, get out.” The smile vanished from Lu Yang’s face.
Just then, Yue Lai walked in from outside, pausing mid-step as he noticed the tension between them. Lu Yang waved him over. “Come here.”
Yue Lai approached, his worried eyes shifting between them as he sensed the hostility in the air.
“You’re late today,” Lu Yang said, his tone suddenly much warmer and more familiar, regardless of whether Yue Lai could hear him or not.
Truth be told, Xie An’yu was more to Lu Yang’s taste—both in looks and physique. He particularly liked tall, athletic young men, which was why he’d taken an immediate liking to Xie An’yu when he first came to apply for the job.
It’s just that this kid was really difficult to handle. He seemed docile and easygoing at first glance, but beneath that wooden exterior lay a will of steel. The longer you spent with him, the more you sensed his unyielding stubbornness.
People like him appeared compliant on the surface, but their independent streak ran bone-deep. Ordinary folks could never control them.
Over time, Lu Yang had accepted this. He had no desire to provoke someone so uncontrollable—it would only lead to trouble down the road.
Besides, Xie An’yu was a hard worker. Even if he couldn’t get anything out of it, having such quality labor by his side wasn’t a bad deal. In truth, every time Xie An’yu asked him for something, Lu Yang deliberately made things difficult, just to see where his bottom line were—to see how far he could push before Xie An’yu would lose his temper. Lu Yang soon discovered that Xie An’yu’s bottom line seemed to be Yue Lai.
It wasn’t surprising. Someone like him was all too prone to empathize with the vulnerable.
“I’m heading to the back kitchen,” Xie An’yu said.
Lu Yang smirked and asked. “Don’t want to sleep on the chair anymore?”
“If it’s too much trouble for you, forget it.”
Idk if WGS was too stressed or what, his own nephew had only been crashing on their place for a few days but he’s already can’t stand it. It’s not like they see each other everyday—XAY always left early and return late. He basically feed himself too! What was that nonsense about sucking people dry 😩😩 I think he just want to vent his emotion, and XAY is conveniently there for him to grumble about.
[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 11″]
怒氣沖沖 (nù qì chōng chōng): spitting anger (idiom); in a rage; be in a black/fume/great rage; be ablaze/swollen with anger; be filled with fury; be in a burning fury; furious; describes a person who is extremely angry.一聲不吭 (yī shēng bù kēng): to keep silent; not uttering a sound; to not say a word; remain silent; stay quiet; to remain silent and not say a single word.
受之有愧 (shòu zhī yǒu kuì): receive it with shame; I am not worthy of it; I don’t deserve it; it is shameful to accept; feel unworthy of the honor; accept with a sense of guilt; feel ashamed to accept; to feel ashamed of receiving a gift or reward. It is often used as a self-deprecating expression.
言外之意 (yán wài zhī yì): unsaid meaning of one’s words; unspoken implication; the actual meaning of what was said; unspoken meaning; hidden meaning; underlying message; between the lines; subtext; there is a certain meaning, but it is not explicitly stated in the words.
劍拔弩張 (jiàn bá nǔ zhāng): lit. swords are unsheathed, and crossbows are drawn; with swords drawn and bows bent (idiom); tense situation; ready to fight; a state of mutual hostility; at daggers drawn; with swords drawn and bows bent; tense confrontation; strained relations; on the brink of war; tension high; on the brink of war; describes the vigorous brushstrokes of calligraphy. It also means that the other party has deployed its troops, and the situation is tense and ready to explode.
說一不二 (shuō yī bù èr): to mean what one says; to stand by one’s word; to say one and mean just that (idiom); to keep one’s word; be as good as one’s word; be resolute; be decisive; be unwavering; to keep one’s word and not change it.
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