Chapter 19 Stumbling Block

Chapter 19: The Stumbling Block

Lin Jianyuan thought he was still dreaming. He reached out, grabbed the squeeze toy, and saw it swaying its head unsteadily.

"Hey, thief," Lin Jianyuan said, squeezing it repeatedly. "What did you just say?"

The squeeze toy replied: "Ah Meng, ah, a grapevine tree in front, I ain't no snail, I'm a yellow oriole bird!"

Lin Jianyuan: "???"

Now he was fully awake. He sat up, suspiciously squeezing and squishing the toy over and over.

Each squeeze forced out another bizarre statement. The snail-shaped squeeze toy seemed dazed and delirious.

"Are you crazy?" Lin Jianyuan wondered for a second before it dawned on him. "Oh, I'm the crazy one."

Seemed like he forgot to take his medicine yesterday.

Lin Jianyuan rushed out of bed to take his pills. Tossed on the bed, the squeeze toy clumsily righted itself, shaking its head and starting to spout nonsense again.

"Little grape, little grape, don’t make a sound, or you’ll disturb Lin Jianyuan’s sleep~ Oh no, oh no, if Lin Jianyuan doesn’t get enough sleep, you’re gonna get it!"

Lin Jianyuan: "………………"

Missed one dose yesterday—can I take two today?

Whatever, just take it first!

After all that chaos, Lin Jianyuan ended up leaving late.

Though it was only five minutes late, those five minutes triggered a chain reaction.

Lin Jianyuan watched helplessly as the last shared bike was ridden away, and there wasn’t a single bike in sight.

It was rush hour after all—it was inevitable all the shared bikes were gone.

He had no choice but to speed-walk toward the subway station under the scorching sun.

Finally reaching the station, before even going down the stairs, he saw a huge crowd.

The security screening line stretched all the way from the checkpoint to the subway entrance!

Lin Jianyuan’s heart sank, but there was nothing he could do. He hurried down the stairs.

The endless line was utterly demoralizing.

Standing in the long queue before security, Lin Jianyuan fumbled in his pocket, wanting the squeeze toy's time-skip ability to work.

*Squeak.*

*Squeak, squeak, squeak.*

After several squeezes, the long line ahead still hadn’t shortened.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Damn it.

Overdid the medicine this morning—even the skip ability isn’t working!

Lin Jianyuan was flooded with frustration and regret—he should've known better than to take that second dose of medication!

Indeed, medication shouldn’t be skipped, and definitely not randomly increased!

Pissed off yet helpless, Lin Jianyuan could only wait patiently in the security check line.

Finally through security, Lin Jianyuan swiped quickly and entered the station.

During the morning rush hour, not only were the escalators packed, but even the stairs were crowded.

Lin Jianyuan couldn't get down the stairs quickly.

As he squeezed through the crowd heading down, Lin Jianyuan pulled out his phone to check the time.

Shit! If he missed this train, he would definitely be late!

"Excuse me, coming through, coming through..." Lin Jianyuan had to desperately squeeze through whatever openings he could find.

With a rumble—the train pulled into the station right then.

The crowded mass of people surged forward all at once.

Jostled around and completely disoriented, Lin Jianyuan felt his squeeze toy in his pocket making those squishing sounds repeatedly.

The train doors were right in front of him, but the warning lights flashed.

A transit employee shouted through a bullhorn: "Doors closing! Stop pushing! Stop pushing!"

Lin Jianyuan was about to step into the carriage and finally start to relax when—

*Stumble...*

Tripping underfoot, he went sprawling headfirst!

The crowd burst into screams!

"Ouch!"

"Ah!"

"Thud, thud, thud-thud-thud—"

The train doors closed with an alarm blaring.

At that moment, half of Lin Jianyuan’s body was inside the carriage, while the other half was still outside!

"Get in, get in!" the transit employee shrieked.

Scared shitless, Lin Jianyuan didn’t even have time to stand—he scrambled forward using his hands and knees!

Seeing this, the alarmed bystanders around him began pulling him in too.

Working together, they finally managed to pull Lin Jianyuan all the way in just before the doors shut completely!

"Holy crap…" Lin Jianyuan looked back at the tightly closed doors and couldn’t help but shudder with fear.

He pushed himself up, his legs still shaky.

"That was way too close!"

"What the hell is the train attendant even doing? The doors almost pinched someone, couldn't they have waited a bit longer to close them?!"

"Probably not, it's rush hour right now, there are so many trains. If this one gets delayed, the next one might end up rear-ending it!"

"But they can't just let the doors pinch someone like that!"

Everyone was agitatedly discussing the incident, all upset over the dangerous scene that had just unfolded.

However, Lin Jianyuan, the one involved, gradually began to look puzzled.

He lowered his head and looked at the ground. The crowded morning rush hour subway was filled with feet, but there was nothing else on the floor.

That "rolling" sound he heard earlier... could it have been another auditory hallucination?

Was he taking too much of his medication or not enough???

The inability to use the skip function was driving Lin Jianyuan crazy. Thankfully, aside from skipping, the squeeze toy could also be squeezed.

So, Lin Jianyuan spent the entire journey squeezing the ranting squeeze toy, making it go "squish-squish" repeatedly to ease his anxiety.

If nothing unexpected happened, he should still make it on time. Please don’t let me be late—they’ve been so strict with clocking in lately. Being late once costs 200 yuan. Last time Jiang Chen was late, he got docked directly from his pay...

Just thinking about losing money for being late made Lin Jianyuan’s heart ache.

He was already poor enough as it was—he really couldn’t afford to lose 200 yuan.

But sitting on the subway, there was nothing he could do. It wasn’t like he could cheer the train on to go faster.

Come to think of it, why should being late cost 200 yuan? A full day’s wage was only a little over 200 yuan!

Wasn’t this a violation of labor law?!

Amid his growing frustration and anxiety, the subway finally dropped off Lin Jianyuan at his office building.

The moment he stepped out of the elevator, he started sprinting.

Ignoring the scorching July-August sun overhead, Lin Jianyuan ran breathlessly into the company building and headed straight for the elevator.

"Wait for me!" Lin Jianyuan shouted urgently as he saw the elevator doors about to close.

"It’s overloaded! Wait for the next one!"

Someone inside the elevator delivered that curt response, and then the doors closed.

Lin Jianyuan stood panting in front of the closed elevator doors, filled with frustration but with no outlet for it—and no time to vent anyway.

He hurriedly pressed the buttons for the other elevators.

And then he realized all the elevator buttons were lit up.

All the elevators had just left the first floor and were heading up.

Damn! No wonder there was no one here—all the elevators had just left!

Lin Jianyuan’s heart sank.

He pulled out his phone to check the time, and his heart sank again.

Seven minutes left...

Seven minutes... His office was on the 13th floor. Could he make it up there in seven minutes?

Forget whether it was even possible—it was the 13th floor! Just thinking about it was exhausting!

But if he didn’t take the stairs, who knew how long he’d have to wait for the elevator?

In the end, Lin Jianyuan chose to pray rather than take the stairs or wait for the elevator.

He took out a cigarette, lit it, and placed it in the ashtray attached to the trash can, clasped his hands together, and began praying for the elevator to come down quickly.

Just as Lin Jianyuan closed his eyes and prayed devoutly to the elevator—

*Rolling—*

That strange sound came again.

This time, the surroundings were quiet, and Lin Jianyuan finally heard it clearly—it was a sound like a small stone rolling.

Suspicious, Lin Jianyuan opened his eyes and looked around, but the marble floor was clean and spotless, clearly just cleaned by the cleaning staff.

Where was there any small stone?

...As expected, you really shouldn’t mess around with psychiatric medication. I should find time to go see Dr. Cen for a follow-up...

Lin Jianyuan sighed, turned his head, and was about to continue praying to the elevator.

When he looked up, he was instantly furious again.

How?! The elevator! Was only on the 4th floor!

Did it stop on both the 2nd and 3rd floors?! Damn! Seriously?! What kind of inconsiderate jerk takes the elevator just to go to the 2nd floor?!

Lin Jianyuan’s anger flared up instantly.

And as he watched the elevator stop at the 4th, 5th, 6th floors... stopping at every single floor, he was absolutely livid!

Are you kidding me?! Stopping at every floor?!

Well, this elevator was designed to stop at every floor anyway.

The office building had six elevators in total—some stopped only on odd-numbered floors, some only on even-numbered floors.

Lin Jianyuan stepped away from that infuriating local elevator, even feeling somewhat relieved that he hadn’t made it onto that one earlier. If he’d been stuck inside watching it stop at every floor, he probably would’ve exploded with rage.

*Rolling—*

Amid that irritating sound of a small stone rolling, Lin Jianyuan despairingly realized that, at this hour, all the elevators were, goddammit, stopping at every floor!

Damn!!

Screw it, there’s no way—taking the elevator will definitely make me late!

Might as well take the stairs!

Fuming, Lin Jianyuan rushed to the stairwell and began huffing and puffing his way up the stairs.

First floor, second floor, third floor...

Extreme frustration and anxiety turned his chest into a furnace, fueling his anger and pushing him to climb the stairs at a frantic pace.

However, even so, after climbing ten floors in one go, Lin Jianyuan was still gasping and wheezing.

A metallic taste began to rise in his throat, and his chest and lungs felt like they were about to explode.

I can’t do this, I’m going to die… Even running a thousand meters in college wasn’t this exhausting…

Lin Jianyuan gripped the stair railing, panting heavily, thinking that if he was really going to be late, then screw it—he was genuinely exhausted. But when he pulled out his phone to check the time.

O-n-l-y o-n-e m-i-n-u-t-e l-e-f-t.

—Well, since I’m already here…

Keep running!!!

With a furious roar, Lin Jianyuan mustered his strength and charged up the stairs!

11th floor… 12th floor… 13th floor!!!

The stairwell marked "13" was right in front of him. Lin Jianyuan’s heart pounded wildly as he gasped and coughed, felt like he was hacking up a lung.

He hauled his half-dead body to the stairwell door and was about to shoulder-check it open when he suddenly realized—

It w-o-n-’t b-u-d-g-e!

What’s going on?!

Lin Jianyuan’s expression changed drastically as he pushed with all his might.

But it still wouldn’t move!

*Click-clack, click-clack…*

The sound of a small stone rolling echoed in his ears again.

Lin Jianyuan checked his phone in despair, watching helplessly as the time jumped from 00 to 01.

—He was late.

He had climbed 13 floors! And yet! He was! Still! Late!

*Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack…*

The small stone kept rolling, its click-clacking sound almost like mockery.

Lin Jianyuan stood at the stairwell door, clutching his phone, veins bulging on his forehead.

His fingers gripping the phone tightened gradually, white-knuckling it.

But he didn’t actually crush it. Because he remembered what Qin Shi had said.

“The phone is yours! Phones cost a fortune! Phones cost a fortune!”

Right, the phone is his, and phones cost a fortune.

Anyway, he was already late, so…

*Click-clack, click-clack…*

Lin Jianyuan took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and kicked the stairwell door open with all his strength!

*BAM!!!*

The click-clacking stopped. The small stone was sent flying by the door, smacked into the wall before falling back to the ground with a thud.

Lin Jianyuan: “…”

The small stone: “…”

The small stone froze in place, looking up at the human who seemed like a giant to it.

The giant, already pissed off, saw the stone on the ground and, after a second, realized what had happened.

Seeing red: “So it was you little shit blocking the door?!”

The little stone let out a sharp screech, turned to roll away, but was grabbed by the giant!

Lin Jianyuan, fuming, crouched on the ground, clutching the wildly squirming little stone in his hand while calling personnel.

“Hey, it’s Lin Jianyuan, the 'mentally unstable' one. I need to take leave. Yeah, leave to see a doctor. Took the wrong meds. No, nothing’s wrong—I just feel like punching the whole world.”

Just then, the stress toy thief suddenly started singing gleefully.

“You’re done for, you’re done for~ Lin Jianyuan is late, you’re done for~”

Lin Jianyuan: “…”

The small stone: “.”

The small stone looked at the singing and celebrating Time Thief, then at the furious, resentful giant.

Finally, it couldn’t hold back and let out another sharp screech.