Chapter 148: Ah Yin Bro
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Ah Yin bro had a strange name, one that many Wenzhou folk couldn’t p.r.o.nounce in mandarin. Leng Lian Yin.
Meng Fan and Leng Lian Yin’s relations.h.i.+p was also very interesting.
They had first met when Meng Fan was seven or eight years old. That summer, the family had gone back to their hometown for summer vacation. They had several relatives there, including cousins older and younger than Meng Fan. The h.o.a.rd of kids would play by the mountain stream.
Among the kids, there was a boy who was four or five years older than Meng Fan. he was very tan and a bit wild. He would take Meng Fan to hunt for bird eggs, and as they played, Meng Fan did not realize his friends around him were changing. They went crazy for an entire afternoon, and he followed the big tan boy home in the evening.
Once they returned, Meng Fan was stunned, and the tanned boy was stunned as well.
Meng Fan was stunned because he didn’t know anybody there. The big tanned boy was also stunned because none of his family knew the chubby boy either.
After asking, they realized that there had been several groups of people playing near the stream and Meng Fan had played with the wrong “group”. The big tan boy had brought home the wrong kid, thinking Meng Fan was a relative.
Then they went on a search as the big tanned boy’s family asked around the village of anyone missing a child like Meng Fan. They then headed to the surrounding villages and happened across a group of people searching for Meng Fan.
Meng Fan’s village was three or four villages away from the big tanned boy’s.
Thinking back on it, Meng Fan was curious as to how he could have walked so far back then.
Undoubtedly, this big tan guy was Ah Yin bro.
They had met because of a misunderstanding, but Meng Fan continued following Ah Yin bro, and they played together for several days. It was a pity they had to separate after getting acquainted.
Finally, when it was summer vacation again, Meng Fan returned to the countryside but did not see Ah Yin. After inquiring, he learned that his family had left the village for the fields.
Their next meeting was almost ten years later. Meng Fan had been in high school then, and on his way back from school, he ran into a big dog that was chasing after a small girl, chomping at her the whole way. When the onlookers were at a loss for what to do, a big tan man appeared, knocking the big dog to the ground with a punch.
The most ridiculous and irritating thing happened after the dog’s owner, who just happened to be the girl’s parents, caught up. After making sure their daughter was okay, the two dog owners covered in tattoos were angered by the guy who had killed their dog. They picked up the girl and ran off.
But this ending was not so tragic, at least to Ah Yin bro. After all, the two owners combined couldn’t even beat Ah Yin bro. Eventually, the three were all brought to the police station.
Meng Fan called his third uncle, and the dog owners ended up settling with Ah Yin bro. This so-called ‘settlement’ was a threat from Ah Yin, telling them he would bring 100 of his brethren to smash the two owners, who then compliantly bowed in apology.
When his third uncle left, Meng Fan asked Ah Yin curiously if he was angry upon seeing the girl’s parents run away. Ah Yin bro laughed loudly and said that he was angry. But since the girl was okay, it was worth it.
Later, Meng Fan asked where Ah Yin had been these past ten years. He only responded that they had gone to the countryside without adding anything else, but he was back in town this time to attend a friend’s funeral. At this time, Meng Fan could not understand why a 20-year-old Ah Yin would have a friend who pa.s.sed away.
After that, Meng Fan was able to see Ah Yin bro after two months. One night, Ah Yin suddenly called Meng Fan to come outside in the middle of the night.
“You have to stop me; don’t let me die.”
Ah Yin had mysteriously said to Meng Fan before chugging can after can of alcohol. Meng Fan didn’t know if he should have stopped him or not. Then, Ah Yin bro fell asleep after getting drunk. Muttering under his breath, Meng Fan realized that that day had been Ah Yin’s birthday.
Meng Fan didn’t know why he had said such strange things on his birthday, but after that event, Meng Fan always remembered to wish him a happy birthday at midnight. He didn’t know if it would help, but he felt like it should be done.
Since then, Meng Fan had maintained contact with Ah Yin bro. When they last met, it was during the lunar new year. Ah Yin had changed a lot this time. He said that he couldn’t mess around anymore and found a stable job. Perhaps Meng Fan had grown as well since they had talked about a lot of things.
After their talk, Meng Fan was able to have a vague understanding of some of the events that had happened to Ah Yin during the last few years.
Meng Fan had always known that Ah Yin was a very talented person in the humanities, so he asked why he didn’t connect these experiences into a book. Ah yin bro smiled and said he thought about it, and that he would write it when he had time in the future.
Before his reincarnation, Meng Fan met with Ah Yin during the October break. Before his reincarnation, Meng Fan returned to Wenzhou and met with Ah Yin before heading to Shanghai. They had a wild night drinking as well. As they drank, Meng Fan could tell Ah Yin did not particularly like his current job, but he had to face it and keep going on to survive.
Ah Yin had also said something that resonated deep within Meng Fan’s memory. He said he didn’t have to worry about anything before and did whatever he wanted, but suddenly he realized his parents were getting older, which was when he realized that making money was important. At least, the speed he made money had to match the speed of how fast his parents were growing old and the speed at which the housing prices were rising. It had to match the speed of how fast his kids were growing up and the speed at which his wife grew impatient.
Because of the changes happening after his reincarnation, Meng Fan had run to Shanghai from Wenzhou to watch the concert and did not stop by Wenzhou to have a drink with Ah Yin, so their drinking session did not happen and neither did the conversation.
The reminder for the birthday had flooded Meng Fan with memories from this time. Plus, he had seen a Weibo post from FlatHeadedBro a few days ago that said, “How can I let my friends see this (dog head) status?” While the content read: In 1965, Harper Lee’s good friend gifted her a year’s worth of income during christmas, so she could not work for a year and concentrate on writing. In this year, Lee published her famous novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”.
Hence, Meng Fan’s brain skipped a step and transferred Ah Yin bro a year’s worth of pay, 150,000.
Although Ah Yin did not go to college, he was still a capable and hardworking person. After entering the workforce for a year, his annual income went from 3 to 5000 a month to 120,000 a year. To Meng Fan, he would reach 150,000 for sure by the end of this year.
Meng Fan couldn’t guarantee that Ah Yin would become a well-known author, but he wanted to become such a friend first. Even if Ah Yin didn’t write, Meng Fan wanted to give him some a.s.sistance for this reason.
Ten minutes later, Ah Yin returned his message. “Thank you! I’ve already submitted my resignation request to the boss! Count this money as a loan from you!”
Although the loan couldn’t increase his wealth distribution experience, Meng Fan was still very happy he was able to help Ah Yin.