Chapter 36 Small Deposit

Chapter 36: A Small Credit

Lu Nanzhou followed the attendant's directions toward the restroom.

The further he went, the quieter it became. As he passed a corner, muffled sounds of an argument reached his ears, but he ignored them and continued straight to the restroom.

Inside, only a middle-aged man was washing his hands.

"Jiang Jiang?" he called out.

The empty room offered no reply.

Lu Nanzhou's brow furrowed.

Where had he gone?

He left the restroom and, passing the corner again, heard the arguing voices once more.

As if something occurred to him, he stopped in his tracks, even though he'd already gone some way. He retreated to the corner and took a few steps inside.

A tall young man had another man pinned against the wall, the two standing extremely close as they argued heatedly.

Not far from them, behind a large potted plant, was a figure wearing an outfit he recognized instantly—the very person he was looking for.

Jiang Jiang had his back to him, secretly watching the two argue, the tuft of hair on his head swaying excitedly.

Something in the argument seemed to have struck his funny bone.

He was laughing so hard his whole body trembled.

Lu Nanzhou looked at the two arguing.

They were also familiar faces.

The one doing the pinning was his younger brother, Lu Xingye, and the one being pinned was someone he had seen during his last visit to the Meise Bar—the very person Jiang Jiang had confessed to on the spot, the so-called Brother Jiang.

Lu Nanzhou's gaze held a scrutinizing edge.

What exactly was the relationship between his brother and this Mr. Jiang?

And Jiang Jiang...

He shifted his gaze back to Jiang Jiang.

Was he just here to watch the show?

Lu Nanzhou observed for a while, his frown deepening as he gathered from their words that this Mr. Jiang and his brother seemed to be in a relationship.

And his brother was currently acting quite jealous.

So, perhaps Jiang Jiang's confession at the bar that day had other implications?

As for his brother being in a relationship with a man...

He would talk to Lu Xingye about it later.

After listening a bit longer, Lu Nanzhou could get no further information from the quarrel.

He was just about to step out and retrieve this little friend who was so caught up in the spectacle that he had completely forgotten to return to him.

The next second, Jiang Jiang suddenly darted out.

"Hey, what a coincidence, little bro!"

Lu Nanzhou's extended foot froze.

Immediately after, he heard a sentence that sounded extremely familiar.

"Little bro, stop arguing. Brother Jiang didn't mean it either."

He withdrew his foot.

Apart from the first two words, the sentence Jiang Jiang uttered was completely identical to the information the electronic voice in his mind had conveyed while he was driving today.

Recalling what he had heard earlier about being selected as an auxiliary who could hear system-issued tasks...

He integrated and analyzed all the information in his mind.

Lu Nanzhou concluded that the person who likely needed to perform these so-called system tasks was most probably Jiang Jiang.

He then thought of the slightly different prefix words.

He would need to wait for the next system task to be issued to verify his theory again.

However, based on what he had heard, both task prompts so far seemed related to this Mr. Jiang.

Lu Nanzhou quietly retreated, returning to the lounge area, pretending to know nothing as he waited for Jiang Jiang to come back.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere among the three over there was quite peculiar.

Lu Xingye was momentarily stunned by being called "little bro."

Coming back to his senses and realizing Jiang Jiang had witnessed his behavior, his face flushed with alternating shades of green and white. "Who's your little bro? Don't you dare..."

"Hey, little bro, don't be angry. Listen to your big bro's advice," Jiang Jiang interrupted him. "A man can't always be jealous, or he'll turn into a resentful husband, easily becoming a 'neglected spouse'!"

"Jiang Jiang!" Lu Xingye's temper flared, wanting to bundle this guy up and throw him far away.

Jiang Heyao seized his wrist, cutting off his impending outburst. He looked at Jiang Jiang. "What are you doing here?"

Jiang Heyao wasn't using much force, but Lu Xingye didn't dare pull away. He stood there obediently, grinding his teeth audibly.

He realized he seemed to have an extraordinary connection with Jiang Jiang—no, more like a cursed fate.

This person always inexplicably appeared before him, interrupting his time with his partner.

"I'm here for the exhibition too," Jiang Jiang said, walking up to them. "Brother Jiang, what a coincidence running into you here. We must have a special fate."

"Who has a special fate with you?!" Lu Xingye shouted. "Don't think I don't know, you must have some trick up your..."

*Thwack.*

A slap landed on Lu Xingye's shoulder.

He shut his mouth resentfully, looking at Jiang Heyao with a pitiful expression.

Why did he have to get hit every single time?

He was really, truly wronged.

"Sorry, you had to witness that." Jiang Heyao pushed Lu Xingye aside and turned to face Jiang Jiang.

"No, not at all." Jiang Jiang quickly waved his hands, then seemed to remember something and asked, "Brother Jiang, have you tried the sweets at the exhibition? I know which booth has the good ones. Wanna go try some together later?"

Lu Xingye bristled and couldn't help but blurt out, "Who wants to go with you?"

This was clearly supposed to be a date for him and his wife.

Jiang Jiang was like a ghostly Steve, or an 800-watt lightbulb; his presence was overwhelmingly strong.

Jiang Heyao nudged Lu Xingye's shoe with his heel, signaling him to shut up.

"We won't be joining you."

He knew if he didn't refuse, Lu Xingye, this powder keg, would explode again.

Jiang Jiang was a little bummed; he quite enjoyed spending time with Brother Jiang.

But the task was already completed, so if they didn't go together, oh well.

Under Lu Xingye's resentful gaze, he waved goodbye to Brother Jiang.

Back in the rest area, the teapot in front of Lu Nanzhou was already down by nearly half.

Only then did Jiang Jiang realize he had been gone for quite a while.

"You're back." Lu Nanzhou's tone was flat.

"I, uh, wasn't feeling too well, so it took a bit longer." Jiang Jiang said, his fingers unconsciously picking at his pant leg.

This was his little habit whenever he lied.

"Mhm, feeling better now?" Lu Nanzhou didn't call him out.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go back to exploring the exhibition." Jiang Jiang immediately perked up at the thought of the unknown treats.

"Alright." Lu Nanzhou stood up as he spoke.

Jiang Jiang ate his way through the exhibition, sampling the little desserts from every booth.

The two arrived at the final interactive booth.

The theme of this booth was golden-thread candied haws.

Guests could choose their own fruits and, under the staff's guidance, personally wrap the skewered fruits with sugar threads.

"Wow! Candied haws!" Jiang Jiang's eyes lit up, and he pulled Lu Nanzhou over, "This looks fun! Let's make our own?"

Lu Nanzhou looked at his eager expression and couldn't help but gently pat his head, "Okay."

Jiang Jiang enthusiastically selected a few plump strawberries and carefully skewered them onto a bamboo stick.

When it came to wrapping the sugar threads, however, he was all thumbs. Holding the skewered fruit, he tried several times, but the threads he wound were always uneven.

"Let me." Lu Nanzhou's low voice sounded in his ear.

Jiang Jiang looked up in surprise to see Lu Nanzhou had already rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing his well-defined forearms.

He took the fruit skewer from Jiang Jiang and, after brief instruction, his distinct knuckles held a small spoon steadily. He scooped up a spoonful of warm syrup, and with a light turn of his wrist, the sugar threads evenly wound around the strawberries.

The sugar threads were pulled perfectly even under his hands, glinting enticingly under the lights. Soon, a perfect string of golden-thread candied haws was completed.

"Wow! Brother, you're amazing!" Jiang Jiang exclaimed in admiration, eagerly leaning closer.

Lu Nanzhou felt a slight stir in his heart. He raised the candied haws directly to Jiang Jiang's lips, "Try it."

Jiang Jiang was taken aback for a moment, then happily ate from Lu Nanzhou's hand.

The strawberries provided were quite large; he opened his mouth as wide as he could but only managed to bite off half.

The juicy strawberry aroma blended with the scent of caramel.

"Delicious!" He squinted his eyes contentedly.

"Is it that good?" Lu Nanzhou's gaze unconsciously settled on his lips, reddened and moist from the juice.

"Mhm, mhm." Jiang Jiang nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Then, he saw Lu Nanzhou lower his head and bite off the half-eaten golden-thread strawberry.

"That's my..." half-eaten one.

"Mhm, it is very good, very sweet." Lu Nanzhou swallowed the strawberry, "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Jiang Jiang unexpectedly felt a bit embarrassed.

He hadn't expected Lu Nanzhou to be so... so unbothered.

......

As he lay in bed, Jiang Jiang thought again about the half strawberry Lu Nanzhou had eaten.

He rolled over, burying his head in the pillow.

Before, with the little cake, at least they'd used a fork, but that strawberry was one he had bitten into.

Lu Nanzhou didn't mind at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by 404.

Having completed three tasks in a row, 404 was in high spirits, "This task has also been judged successful. The reward has been deposited into your bank account."

Hearing 404 mention it, Jiang Jiang remembered the meager task rewards.

He casually clicked on the bank SMS notification that popped up.

"Card ending 0000 received 150,000 yuan on Sept 10, 17:47 from another bank via transfer, balance 844,626.37 yuan..."

Wait, shouldn't it be 300,000?

Why was only 150,000 transferred? Where's the other half?

He suddenly remembered he hadn't checked the last task reward either.

Jiang Jiang scrolled up through his messages.

He checked three times.

Last time, the task reward should have been 200,000, but only 100,000 was sent.

"404! Did you pocket my money!" Jiang Jiang shouted angrily in his mind.

404: "?"

404: "Who's stealing your money? Don't go accusing your System!"

Jiang Jiang pointed at the bank text on his phone, "Then why did I only get 150,000?"

Only then did 404 remember that after linking with a helper, half of the task rewards would be split with them.

Thinking of the helper whose name was a complete blur,

404 felt guilty for the hundredth time.

It muttered weakly, "The other half went into the helper's pocket."

After hearing 404's explanation, Jiang Jiang started shaking his head frantically.

Dammit, dammit!

This helper didn't lift a finger to help, yet they still took half his cash.

Dammit!!!!

404: "010011101101011"

At the same time, Lu Nanzhou also saw this mysterious bank text.

"Card ending 1111: Sept 10, 17:47, incoming transfer of 150,000 yuan. Balance: 158,575,266.36 yuan..."

Since when did he ever get such a tiny deposit?

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Author's note: I really wanna steal Lu Nanzhou's bank account.