Chapter 1 Get Up and Receive the Customer

At the end of August, the sun was scorching, and the heat congealed, making the air feel clammy and stuffy.

A few days before the start of school, heavy rain poured down, cooling the temperature slightly.

It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Lin Yujing stood at the mall entrance, watching the raindrops hit the concrete and creating tiny splashes. This soaked the shoes of the people standing nearby wet.

After waiting for 10 minutes, the downpour did not ease.

Lin Yujing took out her phone from her shopping bag with one hand and after confirming that there were no calls or messages, she walked to the corner in front of a glass door with a bag on her arm. Putting both index fingers and thumbs together, she formed a camera with her hands and shut one eye.

Lofty buildings stood in great numbers, shopping malls and multi-storeys facing one another. Each retail store had its own distinct style and the big Starbucks logo across them was getting soaked in the rain. The green beautiful mermaid seemed as if she was about to sink into the sea, the picture dripping wet under the expanse of dark clouds.

It was a familiar yet strange environment.

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Yldt Elktws oyp saktkdyzzu qllzkdt rzlyple obld bl blyae vbl qkapv byzq sq bla pldvldnl cwv lhldvwyzzu qwaasole bkp caso yv vbl lde sq bla osaep, “Ebyv es usw xlyd R nyd vyjl yoyu vbl nbkze?”

Nkd Hbk qlzv y ckv kxryvkldv, “R esd’v byhl vkxl vs nyal qsa bla.”

“Ebyv es usw xlyd usw esd’v byhl vkxl? Ps usw vbkdj R’e byhl vkxl?”

“You do,” Lin Zhi sneered, “After freeloading off of a woman for so many years, you think you can pretend to be an independent adult?”

Meng Weiguo’s face turned red then white and he glared at her in anger. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, “Lin Zhi, let’s separate today with good feelings. I don’t want to argue with you anymore. I hope we could at least maintain mutual respect.”

Lin Zhi raised a brow, “What? Now you want to talk about respect with me? Why didn’t I see you asking for this when you married into my family?”

At the end of his straw, Meng Weiguo slammed his hand on the table with a bang and stood up.

Lin Zhi also hurriedly stood up and the horns of war sounded. The two people began to argue from day to dark as the food on the table flew left and right.

Lin Yujing crossed her legs and poked at the rice in her bowl with the chopsticks. With her chin propped atop her hand, she watched the two people get into a new round of dispute over her custody, even shamelessly trying to shirk the responsibility of taking care of her within her full view.

It was as if she was a dog who didn’t understand human words and who nobody cared about. Her feelings didn’t matter.

–

Meng Weiguo married into the family.

Lin Zhi’s family had been in the business for three generations and was very affluent. Meng Weiguo had been university classmates with her and was someone who came from the countryside. He was studious, spoke well, was good with words and had a low profile. Moreover, he had considerably good looks.

An 18-19 year old youth wearing a washed-out cotton T-shirt and had a refined appearance and tall physique, appeared proud and handsome.

Which lady’s heart wouldn’t thump after being pursued by such a man? Lin Zhi was no exception.

However, a poor student and a rich young lady who got married for love wouldn’t necessarily have a good ending.

From Lin Yujing’s memories, her dad and mom weren’t like all the other families. It was apparent to her that Lin Zhi loathed Meng Weiguo, she loathed him so much to the point that it grinded away at the smidge of love she ever had to her own child.

Lin Yujing originally thought that she would feel a bit sad being treated as a burden her parents wanted to be rid of.

But when she finally laid eyes on this scene, she actually didn’t feel a single thing.

Just like downing a bucket of strong alcohol, her tongue and brain were so numb she couldn’t feel anything.

Meng Weiguo didn’t pursue a lawsuit with Lin Zhi.

Li Zhi’s family had all kinds of connections. He had painstakingly walked on this road of ruin and in the end, Lin Yujing’s custody went to him and Lin Zhi gave him a fixed amount of child support every month.

Meng Weiguo quickly walked out the shadows of his failed marriage, taking Lin Yujing to see his new girlfriend Guan Xiangmei in just a month. The two people made their first five year plan, getting married and moving houses, bringing her along, his dad extremely proficient at marrying into the family.

Lin Yujing only thought that looking handsome and being good with words must be nice. A lot of foolish rich women would be willing to get married to him.

On the second day of having sent her here, the two went to spend their honeymoon and right before they left, Guan Xiangmei smiled at her, “From now, just treat this as your home.”

Lin Yujing nodded.

“My son has gone out to play with his classmates for these two days and he should be back by tomorrow. I’ve already told him about you so during the time we’re not here, he’ll be taking care of you. From now on, he is your older brother. I’ll give your phone number to him later so you can get into contact by yourselves.” Guan Xiangmei continued.

“…..”

Ling Yuijng really didn’t want to get into contact with her son but not wanting to destroy this harmonious family atmosphere, she quietly nodded.

As expected, Guan Xiangmei was very pleased and continued, “If you have anything, feel free to let Aunt Zhang know. You don’t need to be shy or awkward. Everybody likes you a lot.”

“…..”

Lin Yujing looked at the aunt who put on a “now any peasant can pretend to be a rich daughter“,”a freeloading man has come along with his daughter to divide up the assets” and “Don’t you even think about getting a single penny” face and felt that Guan Xiangmei’s eye in people may be a bit lacking.

–

The air conditioning inside the mall was put on full blast but upon coming out, she still felt hot. Even the rain carried heat with it as though it couldn’t wait to evaporate mid-air.

Lin Yujing watched the downpour with a blank expression before turning to look at the time again.

It was 3 o’clock.

She lightly jumped a few times, trying to shake out the numbness in her legs from standing too long. Her phone rang. It was the number she had just stored last night, the brother she had to get into contact with.

Lin Yujing picked up the phone, “Brother.”

The man seemed to have been startled upon hearing this word and stayed silent for at least 10 seconds before asking, “Have you finished buying your things?”

“Yeah.”

”I’ve caught a cold, so I won’t be picking you up.” Her brother coldly told her.

“…..”

Lin Yujing felt that the position she had given herself was quite accurate. She had always been a very realistic person, disdaining the idea of putting up a fake show with anyone, moreover, this person’s acting skills were so poor.

Those who didn’t know anything may even think you’re surnamed Lin, the delicate flower Sister Lin.

She asked about his condition in concern, “Is it serious? How many degrees is it?”

Her tone sounded a little careful and soft, her voice pleasant to the ear. The other party turned silent again for 10 seconds before his voice sounded with hesitation, “Forty.”

“…..”

“I’ll help you call 119.” Lin Yujing sincerely said.

The hotline for calling the firefighters was 119.

The man hung up the phone.

Lin Yujing put down her phone and raised her head. Looking at the thunderous rain that seemed as if it could break through the concrete ground, she rolled her eyes.

Lin Yujing’s new home was in the villa area in the city center, separated by two areas was a swathe of snobby and old apartment buildings.

Generally speaking, there were only two types of people who lived in the city center of this big city, one who was so poor that they could only live in a room in an alley, or the ones who were so rich they could afford a grand residence of about 200-300 square meters.

The rain stopped halfway through the drive and the air was mixed with the moist scent of soil. Thinking that she would have to stay with a frail brother whom she had yet to meet and Aunt Zhang whose eyes grew on her head, Lin Yujing almost couldn’t breathe. She got out of the car in the old apartment building areas and planned to roam about in this unfamiliar environment for 2 hours before returning.

Every place had an area like this, with old houses, archaic walls, wooden windows, chipping deep red paint, poles hanging out the window carrying bed sheets and air that smelled of history.

Lin Yujing traveled through the narrow alley and as expected, the outermost buildings were mostly full of pretentious workshop stores. She simply cast two looks before continuing to walk further in.

She hummed the Spongebob Squarepants song as she walked and upon turning left at the end, she saw a black iron door.

A single door in pure black, was half-hidden in the shadows. On the surface was a string of english characters written in paint.

It looked a bit like the entrance to a haunted house.

Lin Yujing’s footsteps come to a stop before she continued walking over, and finally grasping the painted characters

——TATTOO.

A tattoo shop?

The iron door wasn’t tall. She went on her tippy toes and saw that there was a small courtyard that was about 3-4 square meters and a wooden door inside. On the wooden plate was a complicated-looking totem-like object.

Lin Yujing was deeply attracted to this place that screamed “I’m extremely cool but also extremely very low-profile”. She hesitated for a few seconds, raised her hand and stretched out a finger, gently pushing the black iron door. A creak sounded and drew on for a long time as the door swung open.

The courtyard was so small, it was probably the size of a palm and the plants inside grew in all directions, appearing as though nobody had ever taken care of them.

Lin Yujing walked to the door and pushed it, entering. The light in the room was a dim dark yellow, the walls were a deep gray color and there was a red tapestry and all sorts of clustered tattoo pictures hung up there, looking pretty and detailed.

She raised her head and measured the surroundings. With a turn of her head, she froze in place.

Because she realized that someone was present.

The corner behind the door was obstructed by a plank so the blind spot was just out of sight.

There was a long dark gray sofa, a thick carpet and several back pillows were strewn about. On the sofa, sat three people.

They all looked quite handsome, belonging to the type of handsome men who had a personality. They looked like triplets, sporting dreadlock mop heads and they had complicated looking sleeve tats.

Three gaudy-looking mops looked at her and remained still. For a moment, the air was strange.

Among them, one was stuck in the middle of putting a cigarette to his lips, the cigarette just 3 centimeters away from his lips, as if someone had just pressed the pause button on time.

After that, his eyes moved around from her face traveling downwards, shifting to her clothes.

Lin Yujing didn’t understand why these people would show an expression as if they were looking at a gorilla from the zoo. Those curious and mysterious eyes of theirs nearly made her assume she had waltzed in here. singing the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau song¹Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHX62AgJULM.

She raised her hand a bit awkwardly after being measured, “…..Hi?”

With a click, the air started to circulate again.

Mophead 1, the one leaning against the sofa, sitting on the carpet, was first to react and he followed it up with a greeting, “Welcome, please wait a moment.”

He put a cigarette in his mouth and used his arm covered in tattoos, to jab the person behind him, “Boss Juan.”

Lin Yujing then finally saw that there was a fourth person on the long sofa.

The fourth person who was in slumberland, was covered with a dark gray blanket all the way until his abdomen. He wore dark gray long pants and his person seemed to completely meld into the same-colored sofa. There were even two pillows on his stomach.

He slept motionlessly and was even mostly covered by his mophead friend. One quick sweeping glance and he was impossible to find.

The guy didn’t respond after a long time of being jabbed, laying on the sofa like a corpse, appearing like a noble sleeping beauty.

Mophead 1 called him out again, “Shen Juan.”

Sleepy beauty stirred and snorted through his nose. He straightened out his long legs and turned to the back-side of the sofa, continuing to sleep.

With the blanket still on her head, considering how thick it was, Lin Yujing feared that it would stifle him to death.

Mophead 1 clicked his tongue and turned around, slapping his rump with both hands, “Don’t f*cking sleep anymore. Get up and receive the customer.”

Sleeping beauty’s slumber was disturbed thrice and his butt was even slapped. As such, he let out a string of curses.

He raised a hand and picked up the bolster to throw it to the person at the side, his voice carrying a deep sense of drowsiness just like his name, hoarse and impatient, “Receive my arse, get lost.”

“…..”

What a very irascible delinquent.

TOC for advanced chapters – DAM

Translator Little Potato: A new novel after what felt like years finishing one! Hope you enjoy this one~ Feel free to let me know what you think so far!