Chapter 9 Fine, I’ll Go Lure Him!

Chapter 9: Alright, I'll Go Hook Him!

Chi Luoxi finally got to eat the cheese-filled dough stick he had been eyeing.

The golden, crunchy crust gave way to a hot, stretchy cheese filling.

He Angxiao stood beside him, hands in his suit pants pockets, clearly unimpressed by this greasy, high-sugar street food.

He watched Chi Luoxi savoring it as if it were the ultimate delicacy, thinking to himself that this little fool is so easy to keep happy.

After finishing, Chi Luoxi casually pulled out ten yuan in change from his pocket and handed it to the phone screen protector vendor.

The vendor took the money, then returned their two phones, both with fresh screen protectors, wiped clean.

Not long after they left, a middle-aged woman carrying an insulated lunch box approached—the vendor's wife, bringing him dinner.

As he took the lunch box, the vendor gestured with his chin toward Chi Luoxi and He Angxiao’s retreating figures, sharing gossip in a gossiping tone.

“See that? Those two? That guy in the suit—clearly loaded. His phone had a screen protector already; I took a look—probably a few hundred yuan, imported. But guess what? He insisted on tearing it off to put on one of my 9.9-yuan protectors, right alongside that young guy. Isn't that nuts? Love really dumbs people down. Rich people’s love logic—I just don’t get it.”

His wife opened the lunch box, releasing a hot, fragrant aroma.

She shot him a look, a mix of playful reproach and nostalgia. “What do you know? You're only young once. Back when you were chasing me in your youth, didn’t you stand outside my apartment in the dead of winter, belting out 'The Moon Represents My Heart' in that awful voice of yours? Snot running down your face in the cold, and you were still grinning like an idiot. And you have the nerve to talk about others!”

The vendor blushed, caught off guard, and waved his hand. “Alright, alright, let it go. Water under the bridge. Let’s eat!”

Chi Luoxi and He Angxiao, of course, didn’t hear this exchange.

As Chi Luoxi bit into his dough stick, he cradled his newly protected phone in his other hand, couldn't stop admiring it.

He Angxiao walked beside him, glancing at the phone. The screen was lit, and the wallpaper was none other than a garishly colorful image of the seven Calabash Brothers stacked in a pyramid.

He Angxiao: “…”

In disbelief, he said, “You really love those seven brothers, huh?”

He had initially thought Chi Luoxi’s avatar of the combined Calabash Brothers was intentionally abstract.

Chi Luoxi: “Yeah, they’re awesome—fighting monsters and saving Grandpa.”

He Angxiao looked away, refusing to gaze at that brain-melting wallpaper any longer.

They strolled back slowly, and when they passed a night market stall selling trinkets, phone charms, and toys, Chi Luoxi suddenly stopped, his eyes glued to a small charm in the corner.

It was a chubby, adorable white radish charm, handmade from soft clay. The radish body was round and pure white, topped with a few vivid green leaves, and it had two tiny black dots for eyes and a curved line for a mouth, giving it a goofy grin.

He Angxiao followed his gaze and spotted the radish. He raised an eyebrow. “You like it?”

Chi Luoxi nodded.

He Angxiao asked the vendor, “How much?”

The vendor, an older woman snacking on sunflower seeds, glanced over. “Twenty.”

He Angxiao scanned the QR code to pay, then took the little radish charm from the vendor and handed it to Chi Luoxi.

Chi Luoxi accepted it with both hands. “Thank you, Mr. He.”

He Angxiao: “No problem. You like radishes?”

Chi Luoxi: “Don’t you think radishes are the best vegetable in the world?”

He Angxiao: “No. I don’t like eating radishes.”

Chi Luoxi: “That’s fine. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re the best vegetable in the world.”

Chi Luoxi finally managed to attach the radish charm to his phone. He shook the phone, and the plump white radish swayed gently with the motion, its green leaves trembling.

In the end, He Angxiao drove him back to the employee dormitory. As the car stopped, Chi Luoxi unbuckled his seatbelt and cheerfully said goodbye to He Angxiao. “Mr. He, I’m here! Thanks for treating me to dinner and for the ride! Good night!”

He Angxiao sat in the driver’s seat, giving a quiet “Mm” in response.

Humming a tune, Chi Luoxi went upstairs. He unlocked the door to find a two-room apartment, which he shared with Bai Man.

To his surprise, Bai Man was home today.

Usually, Bai Man came back extremely late, often around two or three in the morning, by which time Chi Luoxi was already asleep.

Now, Bai Man was lounging on the small living room sofa, dressed in a loose white silk robe. She was thin, and the robe hung loosely on her, making her face look even paler in the dim light. With her hair still damp from a recent shower, she looked like a drifting ghost.

Hearing the door open, Bai Man looked up. She held a slim cigarette between her fingers, smoke curling upward, blurring her delicate features. She spoke: “Young Master He sent you back?”

Chi Luoxi, startled by her, nodded. “Mm.”

Bai Man came home late and woke up late, so Chi Luoxi usually cleaned the common areas. On Bai Man’s rare days off, she mostly slept in.

Bai Man took a drag and exhaled slowly. Then she picked up the cigarette pack and offered it to Chi Luoxi. “Want one?”

Chi Luoxi shook his head. “No, thanks. I don’t smoke. I don’t like the smell.”

He didn’t like the smell of smoke. Back in the mountains, when his grandfather was still alive, he used to smoke a kind of homegrown water pipe. The smoke had a sharper, more bitter, woodsy scent than the processed cigarettes of the city.

When Chi Luoxi was little, he always said he hated that smell. His grandfather would just laugh heartily. Whenever he wanted to smoke, he’d go out to the yard, far away from Chi Luoxi, sit on the doorstep under the moonlight, and puff away with a gurgling sound.

Chi Luoxi once asked him why he smoked. It was so harsh and bad for his health.

His grandfather had stroked his head and said, “When you’re unhappy, take a puff, and it seems like you’re not so unhappy anymore.”

His grandfather’s son and daughter-in-law—Chi Luoxi’s nominal parents—had gone to work in the big city many years ago and both died in a construction accident, leaving only the old man.

His grandfather had found Chi Luoxi in the back mountain.

He had gone to gather firewood that day when he heard a child’s cries. Following the sound, he discovered a small child, only three or four years old, among a patch of wild radishes. The child stared at him with big, innocent eyes.

It wasn’t a normal human baby—it was a spirit taking form.

Fog Mountain was rich in spiritual energy, and spirits occasionally emerged from the wilds. It wasn’t unheard of. The grandfather wasn’t afraid; instead, he fell to his knees, facing the heavens, tears streaming down his face, kowtowing repeatedly and murmuring, “Thank you, heavens, thank you for giving me a family. My old Chi family has an heir…”

From then on, Chi Luoxi became his grandson.

The grandfather never told anyone where the child came from, only saying he was his son’s only remaining bloodline. He taught Chi Luoxi to speak, to walk, and sent him to the mountain primary school. Though life was hard, the two of them depended on each other and lived peacefully.

Chi Luoxi looked at Bai Man and couldn’t help asking, “Are you unhappy?”

Bai Man curled her lips. She flicked her ash, then refocused on Chi Luoxi’s face. There was a hint of envy in her eyes.

"It's fine." Bai Man's voice was very light. "It's not like there's much to be happy or unhappy about."

Bai Man seemed to remember something: "How are things going with Mr. He? What did you two do today when he took you out?"

Chi Luoxi answered honestly: "Mr. He treated me to a lot of food today, so many things I've never eaten before, it was delicious—steak, lobster, and crab..."

Bai Man listened quietly: "I kind of envy you, Chi Luoxi."

Chi Luoxi looked at her with confusion.

Bai Man: "I envy that you can say no to what you don't want, that you can genuinely refuse to do something just because you don't like it or it makes you uncomfortable."

Chi Luoxi didn't quite understand.

Back in the mountains, it was simple: if he liked something, he liked it; if he didn't, he didn't.

But since coming to the city, it seems like everything got complicated. He refused to be with those guests who made him uncomfortable because it really felt terrible, like bugs crawling on his skin.

He couldn't learn how to flatter people because his mind couldn't figure out what to say or how to act.

It wasn't that he could say no; it was that he genuinely couldn't do otherwise.

Since coming to the city, there's just too much he doesn't understand.

Back in the mountains, all Chi Luoxi needed to know was how to start a fire and cook, how to get to school, and his biggest worry was studying.

That night, after washing up and lying in bed, Chi Luoxi took out his phone. The little carrot charm dangled quietly from his phone, swaying softly with his movements.

He opened WeChat, found He Angxiao's avatar (a deep blue lake), thought for a second, and sent a message: "Good night, Mr. He!"

A few seconds later, his phone buzzed.

He Angxiao wrote back: "Send me a voice message."

Chi Luoxi dutifully pressed the voice button, held the phone close to his mouth, and whispered: "Mr. He, good night, and thanks for treating me to dinner."

Across the city, on the top floor of a luxury apartment building.

Only a reading lamp was on in the study, casting soft light. He Angxiao, dressed in black silk pajamas and wearing a delicate pair of gold-rimmed glasses, was working on his computer. His phone lay beside him, the screen lit up, showing the voice message Chi Luoxi had just sent.

He stopped typing, picked up the phone, opened the voice message, and held it to his ear.

A clear voice, soft and sleepy, came through the earpiece.

He Angxiao listened without saying a word.

He took off his glasses, tossed them casually onto the desk, and leaned back into the wide, plush leather chair. In the darkness, he tilted his head back, his Adam's apple moved slightly, and then he curled a corner of his lips into a smile.

That smile was wicked.

Like a beast that had spotted prey docilely walking into its trap and was delighted by it...

Two days later, Chi Luoxi was happily mopping the floor, making wide circles with the mop.

Just then, the door to Manager Yang's office opened.

Manager Yang, in high heels, stood at the doorway and waved at Chi Luoxi, her face, unusually free of its usual impatience, instead showed a forced genial smile: "Xiao Chi, come here for a moment."

Chi Luoxi thought Manager Yang was about to nag him again.

Was the floor not clean enough? Or had he missed some trash in a corner?

Like a dog about to be scolded, he hung his head, shuffling reluctantly over.

Entering the office, Manager Yang gestured for him to close the door and then pointed to the chair across the desk: "Sit."

Chi Luoxi grew even more uneasy, perching cautiously on the edge of the chair.

Instead of laying into him as usual, Manager Yang slowly took out a calculator from her drawer and opened a thick folder.

"Xiao Chi, you've been here for a while now. There are some accounts we haven't properly settled yet. Since we have time today, let me straighten them out for you."

Chi Luoxi looked at her blankly.

Manager Yang started pressing the calculator keys, reciting numbers: "Look, when you first arrived, we arranged your onboarding training—that cost, um, three thousand. The several sets of work uniforms we got for you—even though you're wearing the janitor's outfit now, those previous uniforms were custom-made, that's... five thousand. Plus, last time you injured Mr. Wang, the club covered the medical expenses and compensation, totaled fifty thousand. Also, your room and board for these two months is another expense. I'll cut you a deal at two thousand. Oh, and when you signed the contract, He You probably mentioned something about a security deposit..."

She rattled off numbers, her fingers flying over the calculator keys, making a clicking sound.

Chi Luoxi listened in a daze, only seeing the string of digits on the calculator screen jump from a few thousand to tens of thousands, then climb higher.

"...All together," Manager Yang finally stopped and turned the calculator screen toward Chi Luoxi, showing a number that made his head spin, "close to... two hundred thousand."

Two hundred thousand?!

Chi Luoxi had never heard of that much money in his life.

Back in the mountains, his grandfather had saved up over a lifetime—maybe just twenty or thirty thousand.

He tried to count the zeros on his fingers, and the more he counted, the more panicked he became, sweat beading on his forehead.

Manager Yang: "And this is just the money you owe the club. If you want to terminate the contract now and leave early..."

She flipped to a certain page of the contract and pointed to a line of small print: "According to the contract, if you don't complete ten years of work, you also need to pay a penalty of five hundred thousand."

Five hundred thousand?!

Chi Luoxi's vision went dark. How was the penalty even more than the debt? What exactly had he signed?

"I... I..." Chi Luoxi wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Manager Yang, Manager Yang, don't worry, I'll work hard, I'll do my best to pay it back!"

Manager Yang closed the folder and put away the calculator: "Ah, don't be nervous. I'm just giving you the numbers so you know where you stand. Alright, go back to work."

Chi Luoxi felt as if a pardon had been granted. He quickly stood up and walked out of the office on unsteady legs.

Two hundred thousand... Five hundred thousand...

Chi Luoxi thought that when he left Mist Mountain, he had brought only a thousand in cash, hidden under a flowerpot.

He had originally thought that going to Brother Chunsheng's place wouldn't cost much.

Just how big a mess had he made?

Today Manager Yang didn't scold him, but that hurt even more than being yelled at.

Chi Luoxi drifted dazedly toward the staff lounge.

In the lounge, several young men who weren't on shift were gathered chatting.

There was Bai Man, and that loud-voiced guy with the English name Jensen—Yang Jing. It took Chi Luoxi a long time to remember his name; he didn't get why everyone here had to have an English name.

They were discussing something, with an atmosphere that was a bit heavy yet tinged with morbid curiosity.

Yang Jing was using his signature loud voice to exclaim dramatically, "Damn, seriously? That's so messed up!"

Chi Luoxi was feeling low, but gossip is human nature—even for a radish—so he couldn't help but lean in and ask softly, "What happened? What happened? Who's messed up?"

Bai Man was leaning against the locker, fiddling with a metal lighter. She glanced at Chi Luoxi and said, "Nothing much. Just heard that someone in our club caught a dirty disease, rotting down there, incurable, probably going to die soon."

A few people nearby let out low gasps and murmured.

"That's so scary!"

"I heard that disease is highly contagious—like crazy."

"Man, this place..."

Bai Man pulled out her phone, swiped a few times, then turned the screen toward Chi Luoxi and the others, signaling them to look. On the screen was a photo, pixelated but still shockingly gruesome.

There was a gaunt, pallid person lying on a hospital bed, with exposed arms and legs covered in dense, pus-oozing, dark red sores. Some spots had even festered and turned black, looking utterly horrifying.

Chi Luoxi took one look, his face instantly turning deathly pale, his voice trembling: "...Why, why is it rotting?"

Bai Man put her phone away and said, "It's dirty here. Do you think those clients are any good? Some of them carry unclean diseases themselves and deliberately go out to harm others, just to watch others rot the same way. So people like us, who doesn't want to make enough money and get the hell out of here? Every extra day you stay, the risk of catching something increases. Who knows when it'll be your turn, rotting here with no one even to claim your body."

"Rotting" and "dirty"—those two words hit Chi Luoxi where it hurt most.

Radishes fear rotting the most. Once the roots start to decay, they lose moisture from the inside out, little by little, until they turn into a stinking puddle of mud, returning to the earth.

That night, Chi Luoxi had a nightmare.

He rarely had nightmares before; his dreams were usually of the clear skies over Misty Mountain, Grandpa's kind smile, and green radish leaves covering the slopes.

But this time, he dreamed he was lying in cold, damp soil. His originally plump, white as jade roots began turning grayish-brown from the tips, then black, oozing thick, foul-smelling pus. The sensation of rot crept up from his feet. He couldn't scream, couldn't move; he could only watch himself rot bit by bit...

Chi Luoxi woke up in a cold sweat, jolting upright in bed. His hands trembling, he felt his calves and ankles—smooth and firm, no abnormalities.

But he still couldn't settle down. Barefoot, he ran to the windowsill, turned into a radish, and buried himself in the soil.

He calmed his mind and examined his roots with his inner vision. Thank goodness, they were still plump, white as jade, with no sign of rot.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but the fear didn't fully dissipate.

The human world actually has such a terrifying contagious disease that makes people rot!

If humans got sick, they could go to the hospital, get injections, take medicine. But he—a Radish Spirit—what would he do if he got sick here? Was there any hospital that could treat a radish?

He couldn't die here, couldn't rot here.

He wanted to live, to return to Misty Mountain, to see Grandpa, to see the radishes all over the mountains.

The next morning, Chi Luoxi found Bai Man, who was about to head out, and said in panic, "Mena, I want to leave this place. I don't want to stay here anymore. I don't want to rot."

Bai Man had woken up unusually early that day.

Chi Luoxi grabbed her arm, hurting her. She looked at his pale, terrified face and red-rimmed eyes, then pried his hand off. "Didn't I tell you before? If you want to leave, it's simple. Find someone to settle this bad debt for you, pay the penalty, and you can go."

Chi Luoxi said sadly, "But that's a huge amount of money. Where am I going to find that much?"

Bai Man looked at him, leaning close.

"Right in front of you—right here. He Angxiao, CEO He. He seems interested in you, doesn't he? Reel him in. Get a sum of money from him. For you, it's just a matter of being cute and playing nice, right? Have him buy you out. That's it."

Reel Mr. He in? Have him buy me out?

"But..." Chi Luoxi's mind was in turmoil.

Mr. He didn't seem to have that intention.

"But what?" Bai Man interrupted. "Do you want to stay here and wait until you catch the disease and rot into a stinking puddle? Look at Yang Jing and the others—they're all thinking of latching onto a sugar daddy, grabbing enough cash, and running. Only you, you fool, cling to your so-called conscience. Does conscience fill your stomach? Can it save your life?"

The words "rot here" once again cut Chi Luoxi to the bone.

He couldn't die, he couldn't rot here. He had to leave alive!

"Mr. He, I'm sorry. I'll repay you later—double."

Chi Luoxi clenched his fists: "Alright! I'll reel him in!"

Author's Note:

----------------------

Actually, this is a reward for Peacock He.

Repeat after me: He Angxiao is a beast. A beast who's totally into his wife but makes her make the first move.

The day it backfires, he won't be laughing.

Little Radish: Take care of the radish