The Long Chase for the President"s Spouse – Chapter 34: The Trip to Acquire Knowledge (1)
Translator: PKitty
Editor: Rei
Quality Check: Tezuka
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter 34: The Trip to Acquire Knowledge (1)
Yesterday, it was very late when they returned to the hotel. The front desk staff on night s.h.i.+ft did not say anything. They only helped deliver a message from their lady boss, telling them not to work, and to rest early.
Gu Zhun obviously did not notice that the lady boss was an intelligent person, but Zhang Heng had noticed it. He hugged Gu Zhun even tighter and walked to their room.
The next morning, a hotel waiter delivered a j.a.panese-style breakfast— A bowl of miso soup and a few side dishes.
"Where are we going today?"
"I"m taking you somewhere to widen your horizons."
Zhang Heng kept him in suspense. Gu Zhun obviously knew that Zhang Heng was using internet slang. Widen your horizons=Increase your knowledge. But where was Zhang Heng bringing him, and to increase what kind of knowledge? He still had no idea.
Today, Gu Zhun wore a casual light blue s.h.i.+rt and casual beige pants. Although it was a very common get up, it brought out Gu Zhun"s slim and tall body. Naturally, Zhang Heng would not be inferior. But for some unknown reason, he chose a casual black suit, lined with a white dress s.h.i.+rt, and no tie.
"…Aren"t we going to increase our knowledge? Why did you wear a suit?"
Zhang Heng had a secretive look on his face and said: "No, I heard that it is a sacred place."
"A sacred place? Are we going to a temple?" Gu Zhun did not understand j.a.pan"s so-called sacred place. Obviously, he thought that it was a sacred place of wors.h.i.+p similar to a Tibetan temple.
However, the truth was far from it.
Zhang Heng pulled Gu Zhun"s hand and boarded the bullet train. Throughout the journey, they looked at the scenery and the maple leaves along the way. They were in a cheerful mood.
"You"ve reached Akihabara—" The bullet train broadcasted their arrival. Zhang Heng took hold of Gu Zhun"s hand and got off the train.
After walking out of the train station for about a dozen meters, they were greeted by the sight of multiple high rise buildings. There were many people who wore strange outfits. Among the strange outfits, the most familiar would probably be the maid attire.
That"s right, the place they had arrived at was the promised land that otaku from all over the world longed for!
Zhang Heng clearly did not come here to look at cat maid girls. When he said it was to increase knowledge, he really meant to increase knowledge. He pulled Gu Zhun and confidently headed to a departmental store building. He directly headed to the third floor, turned left, then turned right, and arrived at a small shop.
The door of the small shop was ajar. Zhang Heng pushed the door open before Gu Zhun could take a proper look at the situation inside.
"Yo." The owner gave a greeting. Initially, it was just one word. Gu Zhun wasn"t able to guess the owner"s nationality until the owner asked Zhang Heng: "Came here to purchase goods in bulk again?"
Goods? Purchase what kind of goods? Zhang Heng smuggled goods?
Zhang Heng replied snappily: "Don"t talk about it as though my desires aren"t being met. I am taken."
Who did the taking? Who was the one that got taken? Why won"t you say it clearly!
The owner touched his head and expressed that he was sorry. At the same time, he noticed Gu Zhun to the side. He had an indifferent look on his face, but he was in fact extremely curious about his surroundings.
Gu Zhun hid behind Zhang Heng, his small eyes darted about and looked around at the poster wallpapers that filled the walls of the shop.
Gosh—
"Came here to increase knowledge?" The owner"s eyebrows lifted as though he understood the situation.
Zhang Heng kept quiet and nodded his head. The store manager pa.s.sed a key to Zhang Heng and pointed at the staircase entrance that was concealed by cardboard boxes and a pile of books, indicating to Zhang Heng that he could just bring Gu Zhun up.
Zhang Heng pulled Gu Zhun around the pile of books that were stacked up to waist-level and headed upstairs. Gu Zhun looked at the covers of these books and thought about the posters that covered the walls of the shop.
All of it was about men being with each other, either hugging or kissing… There were even some of them that were…
"Zhang Heng, what are they selling here?" Gu Zhun asked cautiously. If he said something inappropriate or stupid, wouldn"t he lose all his dignity as an elite student?
Zhang Heng did not reply and just silently walked up the stairs. The stairs that led to the store"s second floor were short. They could reach it in just a few steps. Compared to the first floor, the second floor of the shop had a completely different style. Zhang Heng"s old friend was this shop"s store manager as well as Zhang Heng"s childhood friend.
During graduation after their third year of high school, Zhang Heng told him that he was going abroad. His old friend ran over to give him a tight hug, and said: "Me too, what a coincidence~! Do you want to fly together?"
Zhang Heng rolled his eyes at him: "We are going to different countries."
Our dear store manager was still young, so he was a bit silly. He relied on his family wealth and did not use his brains.
“In fact, Zhang Heng wanted to go to America. However, the store manager could only choose to study abroad in j.a.pan because his family’s situation was not as good as Zhang Heng’s.”That was what the store manager"s father had planned. At any rate, a j.a.panese enterprise was also a foreign enterprise, wasn"t it?
After that, the young store manager studied diligently in j.a.pan. At the same time, when he watched j.a.panese movies, he skillfully mastered the j.a.panese language! Unfortunately, what he watched were not decent movies.
However, these movies had a distinctive feature and that was— fluid… splattering… across… the… two male leads.
As such, the store manager desired to set up a store to sell BL books and movies.
Afterwards… there was the… historical reunion—
Zhang Heng"s family and his childhood friend"s family rarely contacted each other because Zhang Heng went abroad after the third year of high school. His family also moved to a villa in a more tranquil suburb.
One day, Zhang Heng went on the internet to look for a purchasing agent to buy "that" thing. Because the preference for "that" thing was somewhat unusual in America, it was hard for him to tolerate it. Furthermore, he was unable to put up with it. He could only access the net and find a Chinese agent to help him order the goods.
Zhang Heng opened the customer service communication channel, typed on the keyboard and asked: "Do you have any good recommendations from your store?"
The customer service employee politely typed and replied: "There is, dear! We have《Oh, spread open your legs》and younger seme and older uke, voyeur, and stalker genres! Or do you want the imprisonment series?"
The customer service agent was very pa.s.sionate. So pa.s.sionate that it made Zhang Heng feel a little embarra.s.sed, because Zhang Heng had registered the personal information of his account as a girl. What if he exposed himself because this was his first time buying such products and he did not know enough jargon? Wouldn"t other people suspect that he was a guy?
The customer service agent saw that Zhang Heng had not responded for a long time. Maybe the customer thought that he was unfamiliar with the store"s recommendation and spouted nonsense. The customer service agent sent another message: "I am the store manager, these are definitely good recommendations! Believe in the store"s credibility!"
Zhang Heng looked at this store"s evaluation— the credibility happened to be a bit low.
That was actually because the young store manager just started this area of business. Things like writing the delivery address wrong and packing the wrong goods… were to be expected.
What made the customers choke up with anger was that there was a time when the store manager wrapped the order with a transparent plastic bag. Inside, there was a sticky note with a kind reminder written on it, warning them to block the cover. Who would know that this product was a DVD. There were pictures on the back! This made the customers very embarra.s.sed!
Back to the story of Zhang Heng and his childhood friend"s reunion.
Zhang Heng asked: "Where do you s.h.i.+p from? j.a.pan?"
"Of course, I live in j.a.pan! Moreover, if I don"t s.h.i.+p from j.a.pan, how could I be called a purchasing agent? Don"t worry, these are definitely the real goods. If it wasn"t real, why would I sell it to you at such an expensive price? If you buy two, I will gift a free doujins.h.i.+! I went to Comiket 89 yesterday and just got it!"
When Zhang Heng heard that this store manager was also staying in j.a.pan, he immediately thought of that childhood friend of his. His childhood friend was the same as him, they both liked guys. As such, their families were very close at the time. They would would be very close during the free time on their weekends. Once, Zhang Heng suspected that the other had a crush on him.
In the end, this childhood friend of his actually bluntly said: "I only like to watch BL and I am not interested in men." In other words, he was a fudans.h.i.+, okay…
Zhang Heng"s curiosity was something that no one could stop. He put the things that he wanted to buy aside and began to happily chat with the customer service agent, who was also the store manager himself.
"Where were you from before you came to j.a.pan?"
"Ah? So am I! We are from the same hometown? Which district was your house at?"
"Eh! No way? It"s not the house opposite mine, right?"
"Excuse me…?
"…Could it be that you are…Little Zhang?"
"Could it be that you are that person…?
Fascinatingly, they both mutually reveal their pictures afterwards and saw the familiar face of the other party. That"s right! It"s you!
After that, the disc… that he wanted to purchase. As childhood friends, the store manager… bought it for him without charging him. After that, they often had business transactions. They were definitely not shady transactions!
The store owner would often recommend new stock that had just arrived in store. Zhang Heng would write an order form for those that he liked and remit the money. The store manager would s.h.i.+p the orders over, one after another.
Oddly enough, the store manager would often make mistakes when it came to the other customers. As for his childhood friend, he would never make any mistakes.
The store manager explained it to his shop staff this way: "j.a.panese names are a bit harder to remember. Chinese names are easier to remember."
After that, the shop staff gave him a dirty look. That was only because you did not seriously memorize it. Every time, he arrived to work directly by cab— Rich.
After they went upstairs, they finally felt a big difference between the first and second floors.
The second floor was renovated into a warm and cosy environment. There were sofas, a coffee table, and tatami mats. There was even a television and other things like a drinking fountain. On the other hand, the first floor was only filled with various BL related merchandises.
Gu Zhun sat on the sofa and took the water that Zhang Heng handed to him.
Zhang Heng also sat on the sofa opposite Gu Zhun.
"Well, let"s increase our knowledge now. I"ll get the textbook." Zhang Heng stood up, left the sofa, and took a few books from the bookshelf.
Although the covers of the books were all in j.a.panese, but the contents inside were actually converted into Chinese. It was also commonly referred to as localization. These were the store manager"s collection. He brought it here when he went back to China. They were valuable, so the store manager did not sell them. Even if he wanted to sell them, he would only sell it to Chinese people.
Unfortunately, not many Chinese people knew about this store"s existence. Zhang Heng was part of the minority.
"You should preview it first." Zhang Heng gave a sly smile and handed it over. He looked forward to seeing Gu Zhun"s reaction, especially his reaction the moment he turned over the page of the book.
What if it was too adorable?!
About The Author
(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*✧*✧Greetings friend, this is PKitty.I translate Waiting Upon You and The Long Chase for the President Spouse.Join me as I spread the goodness of Boys Love!