Chapter 24 Part 2

—My name is Zhou Mingwei.

He couldn't quite describe this feeling.

Lu Yan saved the recording and got up to turn off the TV. The only thing he could make clear was his decision to spare Brother Wei's life. "Forget it. Tonight, I'll make him treat us to dinner. If I don't eat him out of house and home, I'll write my name, Lu Yan, backward... Are you free tonight?"

Xiao Heng walked out in his slippers, holding the breakfast Lu Yan had brought him that morning. He didn't refuse. "We'll see. Are you going to the shop later?"

Lu Yan did indeed have to tidy up and go to work at the dessert shop in a bit.

He had just learned to whip cream yesterday. Not only did he have to whip cream, but he also had to memorize various ingredient lists and oven temperatures and times. Making a dessert was much more complicated than making nut cake, but their area had little foot traffic. Getting one big order a day was already considered good, so there was plenty of time for him to learn slowly.

The boss was nice too.

Lu Yan was quite satisfied with this new job.

"You really will do anything," Xiao Heng said, leaning against the door.

"The title 'King of Part-Time Jobs' isn't for nothing," Lu Yan said as he cleaned up. "You have to respect it."

Xiao Heng scoffed.

Mentioning the dessert shop, Lu Yan temporarily put down what he was holding and said, "Our shop recently launched a new product."

Xiao Heng didn't know what he was trying to say. "?"

Lu Yan: "Silky smooth, sweet but not cloying."

Xiao Heng: "Get to the point."

Fine. The point.

The point is.

"It's just not selling," Lu Yan said, looking at him. "If I don't meet my sales quota this month, they'll dock my pay. Want to buy one?"

Lu Yan didn't easily let go of any opportunity to boost his sales. "19.9 for two. I'll deliver them to your door."

Xiao Heng turned and walked away.

Having failed to sell the new product, Lu Yan went to open the shop with a feeling of regret.

The dessert shop wasn't far from the Black Internet Cafe, just on the next street over. The sky had just brightened, and the street looked a bit desolate. Lu Yan squatted down, used the key the boss had given him to unlock the lock, and pulled up the blue iron security door.

He casually flipped the "Closed" sign over. To the sound of the wind chime jingling as the door opened, the words on the sign changed to "Open".

After doing all this, he discovered the shop's pendant light was broken when he tried to turn on the lights.

When the boss's wife arrived, she saw from a distance that the lights in her dimly lit shop were off. Lu Yan was sitting on a ladder, one leg half-bent, stepping on the rung below.

"The light's broken. I'm changing the bulb," Lu Yan said, turning his head to look at the entrance.

The boss's wife watched from the side, full of worry. "Little Lu, you, you be careful."

Afraid he couldn't see clearly, the boss's wife turned on her phone's flashlight to illuminate the area for Lu Yan.

The phone screen was facing him. On the screen was the back of a boy who was in front of an easel, holding a palette, painting sunflowers.

Lu Yan glanced at it and casually asked, "Is that your son?"

"Ah," mentioning her son, the boss's wife's tone became even softer. She smiled and said, "My son. He just graduated from university this year. He's a bit older than you, I reckon."

"An art student?"

"Yes," the boss's wife's tone held a slight hint of complaint. "He insisted on studying it. He just loves to paint."

"Painting is fine, but we tried to persuade him to choose education. It's so much easier to be a teacher when you graduate, don't you think? But he insisted on becoming some concept artist. I read online that this line of work is very tiring. In the end, we couldn't change his mind. Since he likes it, we just let him do it." The pride in the boss's wife's voice was clearly greater than her complaints, otherwise she wouldn't have set a picture of her son painting as her screen saver. After Lu Yan finished changing the light bulb, she showed him her son's graduation project, as well as the paintings he usually posted on Weibo. "Look at this one, and this one..."

Lu Yan looked at the tenderness nearly overflowing from the boss's wife's eyes and couldn't help but think of the word 'parents'.

After fixing the light, he moved the ladder back and sat in the storage room, lighting a cigarette.

In truth, he had very few impressions of his parents.

He had grown up with his grandfather since he was a child. That kind old man would pat his head and sit by the door, telling him: "Your parents were very good people. They loved you very much... If only they were still here... Look at your name. It represents the continuation of their lives."

Even though later, no one ever said those things to him again.

But the word 'parents' still held a warmth in his heart.

That warmth might have come from the old man's rough hands, his rambling words, or perhaps the sun shining on him that day was just too hot.

Undeniably, these two people who didn't exist in his memory would, on some late night, through a kind of void, give him a little strength to keep moving forward.

He didn't know why the young master's face popped into his mind.

...What did parents mean to Xiao Heng?

Lu Yan suddenly wondered.

"Little Lu, we have customers—come and help them," the boss's wife called from outside.

Lu Yan put out his cigarette and didn't think any further. "Got it, I'll be right there."

The customers were a few female high school students from nearby.

They were at an age brimming with youth, with secretly pierced ears and hair dyed a chestnut color that they could argue was natural if caught by the school. One of the girls pointed to the display case and asked, "What flavor is this one?"

"Chocolate, with cheese inside."

The girl's ears had already turned red just from hearing his voice. After turning to see him, her whole face flushed.

That day, Lu Yan achieved his highest sales since he started working there.

"Can I... add you on WeChat?" the girl asked hesitantly before leaving, holding several desserts, nudged on by her friends.

"Sure."

Lu Yan said as he took out his phone.

After they left, Lu Yan finished the bookkeeping and lowered his head to send the girl the shop's latest promotional information: 'Desserts are 20% off on Saturdays and Sundays. For more deals, click [/link].'

He immediately followed up with another message: 'Your friends were there just now, so I didn't want to make it awkward. No idle chat, but you can find me if you want to buy cake.'

Only after sending it did Lu Yan exit the chat box. His gaze fell upon a pitch-black profile picture in his friends list.

The young master's profile picture was particularly eye-catching.

As Lu Yan thought this, he clicked into his Friend's Circle.

Before clicking, Lu Yan had assumed that this kind of rich second-generation's Friend's Circle would be full of posts showing off cars and how much money he had.

However, Xiao Heng's Friend's Circle had very few posts.

It was as empty as a zombie account.

Lu Yan backed out. With nothing better to do, he deliberately leaned on the counter and sent Xiao Heng a message: '19.9 for two. Are you sure you won't consider it?'

Xiao Heng's reply came back quickly.

[Xiao Heng]: Get lost.

Lu Yan was truly bored, so bored that he stared at that word 'Get lost' and laughed for a while.

The author has something to say:

Lu Yan: Where's my hundred thousand??