t.i.tle
How To Thank You For Saving Me
Author
Retrospective
Publisher
CP 长佩文学
Translator
ECirce
Chapter 4
Yan Zhuo was waiting for boarding call in the airport. He slightly adjusted his sungla.s.ses and checked his phone, but the three friend requests sent in a row to Shen Ji received no response. He smirked, feeling that he had had enough of Shen Ji"s attention and turned to call upon Ning Yao.
As Yan Zhuo got off the plane, Ning Yao could just see him striding in a hurry, wearing his sungla.s.ses, as blind and as hopelessly smug as ever without sparing a glimpse as he sweeps by them plebs. As one of the said plebs, Ning Yao waved with resignation. Yan Zhuo finally dragged his suitcase to the side and walked towards him.
He stopped in front of Ning Yao and took off the gla.s.ses. "When will Shen Ji arrive at A city?" He asked.
"I literally just sold the news to you. Do you think he is that much of an oblivious idiot like you, who fell face down into a trap so that someone else had to get him out of it?"
There was little reaction to Ning Yao"s cla.s.sic chattering. Yan Zhuo nodded habitually and agreed with him: "He is smart. Best candidate for scholarship in their department, and especially in Advanced Maths…"
"Is that the point?" Ning Yao had to interrupt his endless fanboying.
Yan Zhuo glanced at him with surprise. "Is it not, then?"
Ning Yao and Yan Zhuo had been childhood friends. The two families were neighbours when they were kids, and they grew up playing together. Yan Zhuo was three years below Ning Yao, and their friendship was put to some genuine tests because of that gap, but it was consolidated nonetheless over more than a decade.
Ning Yao drove into downtown. "Where"re we going?" He asked while waiting for the light.
"Back to the bar." Said Yan Zhuo.
Ning Yao stared at him in the rearview mirror. "You can"t simply take root in the bar. There were reasons for you going abroad, but your dad"s phone must"ve been crushed with calls since you"re home."
Yan Zhuo was reluctant to go home. He leaned into the back seat and looked sideway out of the window. "What home are you talking about? I don"t fancy being an outsider in someone else"s wedding house."
Ning Yao offered no comment to such complicated situations in Yan"s family but asked instead, "Didn"t your brother just come back?"
In what seemed like a once-in-a-century occasion, Yan Zhuo went home that day. It was quite a convenient coincidence that Yan Mu happened to be going through files, seated on the couch. He adjusted his gla.s.ses slightly and responded to the greetings of Ning Yao and Yan Zhuo with a disimpa.s.sioned nod. Ning Yao had always looked up to Yan Mu, even before he managed to get Yan Zhuo back home with zero effort.
"Brother," Yan Zhuo put on his slippers and said to Yan Mu, "I"d like to talk to you about something."
Yan Mu closed his notebook and settled his wrists on his lap, "Go ahead."
"Could you please give me some cash?"
Ning Yao drove into downtown. "Where"re we going?" He asked while waiting for the light.
"Back to the bar." Said Yan Zhuo.
Ning Yao stared at him in the rearview mirror. "You can"t simply take root in the bar. There were reasons for you going abroad, but your dad"s phone must"ve been crushed with calls since you"re home."
Yan Zhuo was reluctant to go home. He leaned into the back seat and looked sideway out of the window. "What home are you talking about? I don"t fancy being an outsider in someone else"s wedding house."
Ning Yao offered no comment to such complicated situations in Yan"s family but asked instead, "Didn"t your brother just come back?"
In what seemed like a once-in-a-century occasion, Yan Zhuo went home that day. It was quite a convenient coincidence that Yan Mu happened to be going through files, seated on the couch. He adjusted his gla.s.ses slightly and responded to the greetings of Ning Yao and Yan Zhuo with a disimpa.s.sioned nod. Ning Yao had always looked up to Yan Mu, even before he managed to get Yan Zhuo back home with zero effort.
"Brother," Yan Zhuo put on his slippers and said to Yan Mu, "I"d like to talk to you about something."
Yan Mu closed his notebook and settled his wrists on his lap, "Go ahead."
"Could you please give me some cash?"
Ning Yao immediately felt the pulses of veins on his forehead. Yan Mu let out an inquisitive noise from under his breath, finished in an uplifted tone. Yan Zhuo continued, "How about buying Zhao Xi Entertainment over?"
The industry had nothing to do with the Yan family, which specializes in estates, but to Yan Mu, Zhao Xi Entertainment was no strange name, familiar even, mainly thanks to the fact that it had one Mr. Ji(1) as executive. Feeling some traces of a headache, Yan Mu stared at his brother, who had got b.u.mped in the head by lovesickness. This chilling stare then went over to Ning Yao in accordance with the principle of collective guilt. Ning Yao was a friend of Shen Ji"s.
Yan Zhuo was about to make a second attempt when Yan Xin Liang came down from the stairs, demanding with his voice raised, "Say it again. What are you planning to do?"
The one coming down in his company was his newly-wedded wife, about the same age as Yan Zhuo. She patted his arm intimately in an attempt of appeas.e.m.e.nt. Yan Zhuo did not utter a word, but it was exactly this kind of silence that confirmed his defiance in the eyes of Yan Xin Liang.
Yan Zhuo’s mother pa.s.sed away when he was still a child, leaving him on the loose ever since. After graduation, he ran a bar, which was faring alright. No matter how Yan Xing Liang considered him hopeless, Yan Zhuo himself was happy with how things were. He unlocked his phone, opened camera, and pressed the record b.u.t.ton.
Yan Xin Liang"s anger was kindled right away as the flood of rebuke followed, "All that you"ve done after half a year abroad is to ask your brother for cash. How dare you come like this, good for nothing but swaggering in the bar all day? Do you know what people say of you? You can go all shameless, good for nothing, but it is me whom people point their fingers at! Couldn"t you at least have the decency to grow up a bit? Couldn"t you?"
Yan Mu glimpsed at Yan Xin Liang. The living room was soon permeated with embarra.s.sment, not to mention that there was a guest present. Yan Mu tugged at Yan Zhuo"s arm, but this gesture did not sooth the temper of Yan Xin Liang at all. He pointed at the doorway, finger still trembling, "Get out of here. Never come back again."
Yan Zhuo did not loiter around for the slightest bit but took up his suitcase from beside the door and walked out. He threw down his key on the table, at which point Yan Xin Liang scowled his "out" even louder.
What"s all the yelling about? He got it. Thus thinking, Yan Zhuo closed the door, shutting Yan Xin Zhuo and his rage out of embarra.s.sment behind him.
Ning Yao started the car and rubbed his nose. "To the bar?"
Yan Zhuo saw the alert that the email had been successfully sent. He locked the screen and said, "To Jin Xiu B-District, Flat No.1." The address of Shen Ji"s home.
Shen Ji put the gla.s.s of hot water beside his desk. He tapped the touchpad of the laptop and saw the reminder of a new email. He looked at the time and saw that it was received ten minutes ago. The sender was Yan Zhuo. Shen Ji leaned back and took a sip of water before he opened the email.
Yan Xin Liang"s anger was kindled right away as the flood of rebuke followed, "All that you"ve done after half a year abroad is to ask your brother for cash. How dare you come like this, good for nothing but swaggering in the bar all day? Do you know what people say of you? You can go all shameless, good for nothing, but it is me whom people point their fingers at! Couldn"t you at least have the decency to grow up a bit? Couldn"t you?"
Yan Mu glimpsed at Yan Xin Liang. The living room was soon permeated with embarra.s.sment, not to mention that there was a guest present. Yan Mu tugged at Yan Zhuo"s arm, but this gesture did not sooth the temper of Yan Xin Liang at all. He pointed at the doorway, finger still trembling, "Get out of here. Never come back again."
Yan Zhuo did not loiter around for the slightest bit but took up his suitcase from beside the door and walked out. He threw down his key on the table, at which point Yan Xin Liang scowled his "out" even louder.
What"s all the yelling about? He got it. Thus thinking, Yan Zhuo closed the door, shutting Yan Xin Zhuo and his rage out of embarra.s.sment behind him.
Ning Yao started the car and rubbed his nose. "To the bar?"
Yan Zhuo saw the alert that the email had been successfully sent. He locked the screen and said, "To Jin Xiu B-District, Flat No.1." The address of Shen Ji"s home.
Shen Ji put the gla.s.s of hot water beside his desk. He tapped the touchpad of the laptop and saw the reminder of a new email. He looked at the time and saw that it was received ten minutes ago. The sender was Yan Zhuo. Shen Ji leaned back and took a sip of water before he opened the email.
It was a video in that email. Shen Ji paused as the cursor hovered over the "play" b.u.t.ton. The WeChat message a few days ago was fresh in memory after all. He moved his finger and directed the cursor to the "delete" option. A crying emoji popped into his sight. He pressed his brow and closed eyes, the underwear printed with cartoon chicks started fluttering under his eyelids. After some hesitation, he opened the video.
It was short, only Yan Zhuo"s feet in slippers were inside the frame, while most visible was the upper body of another man. Shen Ji could tell it was Yan Xin Liang from what he was saying, until his face did show up at the end, pointing at Yan Zhuo and demanding him to get out right away.
Shen Ji frowned. The phone lighted up. It was a WeChat message from Ning Yao: He"s coming to yours, just got kicked out. Please do me a favour by taking him in. I owe you a meal."
Shen Ji sighed. For some unfathomable reason, he played the video again. Seeing from the time this was sent, Yan Zhuo must have been kicked out more than forty minutes ago. It took only a twenty-minute taxi ride from over there to his house. Shen Ji unlocked his screen, but there wasn"t any new WeChat friend request.
About another ten minute pa.s.sed before the video doorbell rang. Shen Ji watched, with folded arms, Yan Zhuo standing outside the door, rubbing his nose in a gesture that was begging sympathy. "I don"t know if you"re home, Shen Ji…" he said, "And if you"re not, I"ll be sleeping on the street. Shen Ji…"
Translator’s Notes:
(1) It should be ‘Mr.Shen’ in reference to Shen Ji, but there is the possibility that Yan’s brother simply gets his name wrong.
Plus: I am sure you have all noticed that this chapter is uploaded nearly three weeks after the first. Now that I have some more time, I shall try my best and aim to publish one chapter a day.