Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Xie Ci didn't have many belongings. His clothes for all four seasons combined couldn't even fill a one-meter-wide closet. However, since he wore his school uniform every day, he didn't need to bring many personal clothes. Instead, he had a lot of books and study materials.

He spent some time categorizing the materials and only took the parts he would need in the near future.

A vibration came from the drawer. Just as Xie Ci picked up the phone, it automatically shut down due to low battery. Thinking that Fang Size might have something to tell him, he searched around for the charger and plugged it in.

Fifteen minutes later, the phone vibrated again, and the screen displayed only a single character: "Wang."

Xie Ci answered, "Who is this?"

"Kid, don't think I won't recognize you just because you're acting all mysterious!"

A robust man's voice came through the phone, sounding somewhat angry. "What's gotten into you lately? You just disappeared without a word, saying you wouldn't come and then not showing up?!"

Xie Ci found the tone familiar and vaguely remembered it was the boss of the barbecue stand where he had worked part-time.

"Sorry, I'm not—"

"I'm swamped here! Get over here!"

The other end of the line was very noisy, and the man hung up after saying his piece.

Xie Ci glanced at the study materials spread across his room, grabbed his jacket, and headed out.

The barbecue stand was located in the night market, about a ten-minute bike ride from his home.

The temperature was low at night, and biking made his hands cold, but Xie Ci found the temperature comfortable. The cold helped him stay alert and gave him a sense of reality.

He remembered the first time he mustered the courage to look for a part-time job at the age of fifteen. Back then, he was too young, and no one dared to take him in. Even restaurants wouldn't let him wash dishes.

That day, he had just fought with his drunk uncle and ran out alone at night. Old Wang, who ran the barbecue stand, took pity on him and agreed to let him stay, telling others he was a relative's child helping out.

During those days when he had no one to rely on, Old Wang was the first outsider willing to lend him a hand.

Although the pay wasn't much, it gave him hope.

The night market was bustling with people. By the time Xie Ci arrived, Old Wang was already drenched in sweat.

It was Saturday, the busiest day of the week.

Old Wang's mother was responsible for clearing the tables. Xie Ci's tasks were simple: taking orders, delivering drinks and skewers, and helping clean the floor when he had time. Even though he hadn't done it in years, it came back to him easily.

His life over the past thirty years had been filled with too many events, and memories from his youth felt distant, almost as if they belonged to someone else.

Now, experiencing it all again, he felt a sense of the human world that he hadn't felt in a long time.

From eight in the evening until midnight, the number of customers finally dwindled.

Old Wang handed over his tasks to another young man, brought a plate of skewers and a bottle of iced beer, and called Xie Ci to sit with him in a corner to eat together.

"What were you up to yesterday? You didn't come, and you didn't even give a heads-up."

Old Wang took a sip of beer, let out a long sigh, and stretched his sore arms. "I thought you got beaten up by your relatives again."

Xie Ci ate the skewers, his gaze sweeping over the nearby stalls selling clothes and toys, and casually replied, "It's my senior year. There's a lot going on at school."

"How could I forget? In the blink of an eye, you're already a senior!"

Lao Wang roughly ruffled Xie Ci's head and said with a smile, "Looking at you now, you really are a grown young man, standing taller than me."

Xie Ci: "I might not be able to come and help anymore. You should consider hiring someone else."

"Alright! Studies come first!"

Lao Wang clinked his beer bottle against Xie Ci's drink bottle on the table, "I'll settle your wages later. For skipping work yesterday, I was supposed to deduct fifty, but considering our long-standing relationship, I'll only deduct thirty."

Just as he finished speaking, he was slapped by Aunt Jin who was passing by.

Aunt Jin looked at her son with disdain, "Little Xie has it tough, working at such a young age, and you still deduct his money? Do you think you'll get rich by deducting this little amount?"

Lao Wang ducked his head to avoid her, "Mom, I was joking! Do you really think I would deduct? Am I that kind of person?"

Aunt Jin: "With your miserly nature, you would definitely do it!"

Xie Ci was amused by the mother and son.

After Aunt Jin left, Lao Wang turned back to Xie Ci, "If you want to start a business after graduation, just say the word, I'll guide you."

Xie Ci: "I'll focus on getting into university first. Without education, it's easy to get scammed in business."

Lao Wang scoffed, "Who could scam you? I'd kneel and call them grandpa!"

"Xie Ci?!"

Suddenly, Xiang Haibin's voice came from behind. Xie Ci turned around and saw the bald middle-aged man on a scooter looking over from across the street, his face grim.

Xiang Haibin parked his scooter by the roadside and hurried over to the barbecue stall. He looked at Xie Ci, then at Lao Wang, and said sternly, "Are you really doing part-time work? You're a high school student, shouldn't you be focusing on your studies instead of doing part-time jobs?"

Xie Ci, seeing his weathered face and red nose from the cold, was puzzled, "How did you find me?"

The night market was large, with various stalls in every alley. Finding this place without knowing the exact location would take a lot of time.

At the mention of this, Xiang Haibin got angry.

At noon, he suddenly received a call from the school's administration office, saying someone had reported Xie Ci was working part-time at the night market.

The school was very strict about this. If discovered, the punishment could range from a warning to expulsion.

Xiang Haibin was slightly stunned and quickly said, "Director Qian, I know about this. Xie Ci is helping out a relative and has already informed me."

Director Qian: "Lao Xiang, this is not allowed by the school. Even helping relatives is not acceptable. He is still a minor, who would be responsible if something happened?"

"You're right, I'll talk to him on Monday."

Xiang Haibin hesitated and then asked, "May I ask who reported him?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Xiang Haibin tentatively asked, "Is it related to the Chen Zhanpeng family?"

Director Qian was silent for a moment, "Lao Xiang—"

"Director Qian."

Xiang Haibin interrupted him, his tone not very good, "When the police came to the school that day, you were there too. In all my years of teaching, I've never seen parents like them, twisting the truth and pushing their child to the brink! You and I both know what Xie Ci's grades were like when he first enrolled. I don't believe he suddenly gave up for no reason!"

There was another silence on the phone.

Director Qian: "I won't report this matter for now. You should talk to the child. Whether it's helping out or doing a part-time job, it can't continue."

Xiang Haibin: "Alright, alright, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Xiang Haibin spent the entire afternoon at home thinking about it. He didn't even eat and went out on his electric scooter to look for Xie Ci, searching until midnight.

Seeing Xiang Haibin come in and immediately confront Xie Ci, Lao Wang was very displeased. He stood up to back Xie Ci: "Who are you? You're overstepping your boundaries."

Xiang Haibin: "I'm his homeroom teacher!"

"Oh, so you're his homeroom teacher," Lao Wang stood in front of Xie Ci, "Where were you when he was being abused at home?"

Xiang Haibin was stunned: "What abuse?"

Lao Wang: "I always say you teachers are hypocritical, only caring about appearances, not genuinely caring for students. Do you know how badly Xie Ci was beaten by his relatives? They didn't even feed him! He started working at fifteen to earn his own living expenses! What decent family would let a child suffer like this?"

Xiang Haibin looked at Xie Ci in disbelief: "Is this true?"

"Of course, it's true!" Lao Wang answered for Xie Ci, "I just run a barbecue stall. Why would I hire a minor? It's because I saw how pitiful he was!"

Xiang Haibin was both shocked and angry, scolding, "Why didn't you tell me about your difficulties? Doing part-time jobs is not allowed! If the school finds out, you could be expelled, do you know that?!"

Lao Wang: "You old man are too cruel! You want to expel such a sensible child, are you even human?!"

Xiang Haibin, being scolded like this, felt his anger rising: "Who are you calling an old man?!"

Lao Wang: "You!"

Xie Ci watched as they pointed at each other and shouted, getting closer and closer, almost about to kiss, and felt a headache coming on.

Just as he was thinking about how to calm them down, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Xie Ci casually answered the call, and a familiar voice started yelling on the other end.

"You didn't come yesterday, and you're not coming today either. Do you not want to work anymore?!"

Xie Ci: "..."

How many jobs had he taken on?

Xie Ci tried to persuade them for a bit, but seeing that it wasn't working, he had to say goodbye to Aunt Jin and ride off to his second job.

By the time Xiang Haibin and Lao Wang came to their senses, Xie Ci had already left.

"Look, it's all your fault, you scared the kid away," Lao Wang saw that Xiang Haibin was still angry and softened his tone a bit, "Alright, alright, sit down and let's talk slowly."

Xiang Haibin's face was dark: "What exactly is going on?!"

Lao Wang had one of the workers grill another plate of skewers and took a sip of beer: "Well, it's a long story."

Relying on his vague memory, Xie Ci rode through various small alleys and finally stopped at the back door of a bar called "Night" deep in the alley.

A man in his thirties, wearing a bar manager's uniform, was already waiting at the door. Seeing Xie Ci, he frowned and told him to hurry in and change into his work clothes.

-

Originally, the bar didn't hire minors, but Xie Ci was tall and handsome, very popular with female customers, so they made an exception and took him in.

Xie Ci went to the changing room, walked to the locker with his name on it, and changed into the bar's work uniform.

The shirt collar was a bit tight, so Xie Ci had to leave the top two buttons undone and put on the mask that was pressed at the very bottom.

Unlike the barbecue stall, being recognized at the bar could really lead to immediate expulsion.

The manager came over and said to Xie Ci, "The bartender has diarrhea, you go to the bar and cover for a while."

Xie Ci: "I'm going to mix drinks?"

"No, you just stand there and chat with the customers, be the mascot."

The manager pushed him out, "Remember, you must never let the female customers touch you, keep them hanging, they will keep coming back, you are the ace of our Nightfall."

Xie Ci: "...I'm just a waiter, right?"

Manager: "The ace waiter, is that not okay?"

Xie Ci: "..."

The music in the front hall was deafening, and in the dim space, beams of various colors jumped quickly. In the dance floor, a group of men and women were having fun with the rhythm of the music.

Xie Ci walked into the bar and casually tidied up the cups placed in the sink.

Soon, some customers came over to chat with him.

The work at the bar was not fundamentally different from the barbecue stall, if there was any difference, it was just too noisy.

In the corner of his eye, a tall figure approached, and Xie Ci instinctively looked in that direction.

The other person was wearing a loose sweatshirt, a large hood, and a baseball cap inside the hood, the brim of the hat was pressed very low, only the slightly upturned lips and smooth jawline could be seen.

Even though he was wrapped up tightly, Xie Ci still spotted him in the crowd at a glance.

Not to mention the exquisite face, the other person's posture and demeanor were distinctly different from those around him.

Gu Yufeng sat down at the bar, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the counter twice, and said to Xie Ci, "Make me a drink."

Xie Ci wiped the cup, leisurely saying, "Minors can't drink alcohol."

Gu Yufeng looked up.

Xie Ci's white shirt collar was slightly open, the hem tucked into the suit pants, outlining a narrow waist, the cuffs casually rolled up, revealing beautiful hand lines, the fingers were even and slender, even just wiping a cup, it was pleasing to the eye.

Gu Yufeng stared at the annoying mask on Xie Ci's face, and responded, "Then can minors work in bars?"

Xie Ci lowered his eyes to meet his gaze, "Can minors come to bars to drink?"

Gu Yufeng smiled leisurely, "So, are we accomplices now?"

Without waiting for Xie Ci to answer, Gu Yufeng waved to the bar manager, "Open the most expensive bottle of wine here, put it under his name."

The manager secretly sized up Gu Yufeng, smilingly replied, "The most expensive red wine is three thousand eight, there are also two thousand six and two thousand four, which one would you like?"

Gu Yufeng thought he misheard, "How much?"

The manager smiled and repeated, inwardly thinking that this kid looked young and indeed couldn't afford it.

Witnessing this, Xie Ci thought to himself that the young master wasn't complaining about the price being too high, but rather that it was too cheap and not worth his status.

"Manager, he's my friend, just joking."

After sending the manager away, Xie Ci turned back to Gu Yufeng: "I'm a part-time waiter, not a host. Even if you open all the bottles in the store, I won't get any commission."

Gu Yufeng rested his chin on his hand, somewhat displeased: "How disappointing."

To appease the capricious young master, Xie Ci still made him a drink.

Seeing that Xie Ci could mix drinks, several female customers nearby started clamoring for one as well.

"Sorry,"

Xie Ci politely declined, "This is exclusively for him."

The female customers, now thoroughly intrigued, insisted on having a limited edition drink too.

Xie Ci poured the clear liquid into a glass, garnished it with two sun roses, and pushed it towards Gu Yufeng.

"Your 'Yangchun Baixue'."

Just hearing the word "limited" was enough to lift Gu Yufeng's spirits.

As Xie Ci was about to withdraw, Gu Yufeng placed his hand on Xie Ci's arm, his index finger slipping into the sleeve and gently rubbing the inside of the elbow.

"Don't you think you're more suited to be a host than a waiter?"

Gu Yufeng's gaze lightly brushed over Xie Ci's brows and eyes, his slightly hoarse voice tinged with amusement, "Fancy making a quick fortune?"

Their faces were just a hand's breadth apart, and Xie Ci could see every subtle change in Gu Yufeng's expression.

This alluring expression, the deliberately lowered voice, the teasing little gestures—it was all characteristic of the adult Gu Yufeng who would actively seek him out. He was seeing it in the young Gu Yufeng.

How old is this kid, and he's already so good at reeling in men?

For some reason, Xie Ci felt a bit annoyed.

Xie Ci: "Do you often do this?"

Gu Yufeng: "What do you mean?"

But Xie Ci didn't continue, coldly straightening up and withdrawing his hand: "No touching hands in the store."

The prey had escaped, but Gu Yufeng didn't mind, happily taking a sip from his glass, only for the smile to freeze on his lips.

What the hell, this is just chilled Sprite?