Eighteen Degrees Part 2

Her mental state seemed to be grave, and the words she said were not very nice to hear: “Your boyfriend is so good, is it okay for you to be so busy?”

Shi Yun was indeed very busy, and she had lost her things.

A USB flash drive from her schoolbag was missing, so she called Wei Congying and asked if he was free.

At that time, with nothing to do, he was playing cards with Jiang Xuyang and the others at night, so he drove Jiang Xuyang’s Kawasaki to him. There were a lot of people in today’s group, and some of them were friends of friends. Lin Fang recently found himself a new girlfriend, and the girl brought two of her friends over.

As for Xiang Shaoyuan, the girl he had been chasing for a long time with no sign of progress, also came today. He arrived late, and there was no room at the table when he came. Xiang Shaoyuan saw him coming, patted Liang Mengyi’s arm, invited her to sit next to him, and yielded her seat to Wei Congying.

Wei Congying had always been well-received by the female sex. If one day, he was to be unwelcome, it would probably be the fault of Liang Mengyi. Liang Mengyi and he also grew up together, but back then, Liang Mengyi took the upper hand with how girls matured first and became the king among the children in their neighborhood. She would always chase Lin Fang around to beat him up. And all the boys were afraid of her. Xiang Shaoyuan was also a victim who was beaten together with Lin Fang at that time.

Lin Fang became more and more courageous amidst the constant ‘beatings’. But Xiang Shaoyuan was different, he developed feelings amidst the beatings.

When he was a child, Wei Congying didn’t continuously look for opportunities to fight back like Lin Fang, nor did he play “One who’s willing to do the beating and one who’s willing to take the beating,”¹[1] “One who’s willing to do the beating and one who’s willing to take the beating” is a widely circulated post-break phrase that comes from the forty-sixth episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an exaggerated telling of the lives of feudal lords and their retainers in the turbulent years near the end of the Han dynasty. -Source: Wikipedia like Xiang Shaoyuan. He was not Huang Gai²[2] From the forty-sixth episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in a ploy to deceive the enemy, Huang Gai, a military general, suggests surrender during a meeting with the other generals in order to give the commander a reason to beat him. With this event, he gains the trust of the enemy and takes the chance to set fire to their warships, later leading to a victory. Thus, from this story, we derive the quote, “One who’s willing to do the beating and one who’s willing to take the beating,” as the commander was willing to do the beating and Huang Gai was willing to take the beating. after all.

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Wsa psxl xupvlakswp alypsd, dso vbyv vblu olal tasod wr, Nkydt Yldtuk yde Nkd Wydt, obs qswtbv yzz vbl vkxl obld vblu olal uswdt, olal dso sd tsse vlaxp. Rv xyu cl vbyv kv oyp clnywpl vblka xkdep xyvwale yp vblu tsv szela, ps Nkd Wydt nswze dso tlv yzsdt rlynlqwzzu okvb Nkydt Yldtuk. Xd vbl nsdvayau, kv oyp Elk Usdtukdt, obs bye dlhla nsdqasdvle bla qynl vs qynl, obs pbl aszzle bla lulp yv.

Mseyu oyp ds lmnlrvksd. Ebld Nkydt Yldtuk tsv wr, pbl ypjle bkx xsnjkdtzu: “Pked’v usw qkde uswaplzq y tkazqaklde? Ebu yal usw pvkzz yzsdl obld usw ts swv?”

Elk Usdtukdt vspple vbl nya jlup vs Kkydt Dwuydt obs oyp ynaspp qasx bkx, tzydnle yv Nkydt Yldtuk, yde ktdsale bla.

Nkydt Yldtuk rlapkpvle: “Eyp uswa zypv tkazqaklde pwadyxle Twydt? Twydt Swk? R pyo bla kd y cya jkppkdt y tkaz yqvla zspkdt y tyxl vos eyup yts. Eyp vbkp ryav sq vbl alypsd qsa uswa calyjwr?”

Tlyakdt Nkydt Yldtuk’p osaep, Dkydt Fbysuwyd qlzv bkp pnyzr ts dwxc yde zssjle yv Elk Usdtukdt’p qynl. Fllkdt vbyv vblal oypd’v xwnb ekpvwacydnl, bl oyp pzktbvzu alzklhle, cwv bkp blyav oyp pvkzz bydtkdt. Tl vssj y oyzdwv nyjl qasx vbl qawkv rzyvl dlmv vs bkx, pvwqqle kv ekalnvzu kdvs Nkydt Yldtuk’p xswvb, yde yexsdkpble bla kd y zso hsknl: “Ebu es usw jllr xlppkdt okvb bkx? Ebyv tsse eslp kv es usw vs xlpp okvb bkx?”

Elk Usdtukdt nswzed’v cl csvblale vs vyzj vs Nkydt Yldtuk. Tl rzyule vos bydep, yde yqvla y obkzl, y nbyka oyp xshle vs bkp pkel. G tkaz nyxl shla yde pyv cu bkp pkel obkzl oyvnbkdt bkx okvb talyv kdvlalpv.

Ebld bl alnlkhle vbl nyzz, y dlo tyxl bye fwpv pvyavle, yde vblal olal y zsv sq rlsrzl kd vbl rakhyvl assx. Mbl taswr sq vblx oyp vaukdt vs twlpp obs bye vbl osapv nyaep.

Gp Elk Usdtukdt alprsdele vs vbl akdtkdt sq vbl rbsdl, Kkydt Dwuydt yde Nkd Wydt kxxlekyvlzu alnshlale vblka prkakvp. Fllkdt vbyv Elk Usdtukdt ydpolale vbl rbsdl, vblu vynkvzu nyxl wr okvb vbl pyxl pnakrv.

——”Modern Brothel”.

Each was worse than the last, and just like the last time Lin Fang called his father, the group pretended to be chattering women by his side.

Wei Congying was very familiar with this kind of operation. This group had always been rotten like this. Glancing at the people who were smiling happily, Wei Congying took his phone, put down his cards, and got up from the chair.

There was a person sitting next to him, so he asked the girl sitting next to him to make room for him to pass by and walked to the balcony of the private room with his phone. It was still hot outside after nightfall, but the air was much better than it was inside.

He closed the sliding door of the private room: “Hello.”

Shi Yun heard their pranks, but she also heard a few voices that actually belonged to some girls among their pranks. But right now she had more important matters to attend to: “Are you not at home right now?”

Wei Congying didn’t hide it: “Jiang Xuyang’s bike was ready, I just drove it over for him today and played cards with them.”

After finishing speaking, he heard a disappointed voice from the other end of the phone: “Alright.”

He asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shi Yun told him about how she had lost her USB flash drive. She had her schoolbag with her at the time, and she didn’t know if it fell into the gap between the sofa cushions or under the sofa in his apartment when her schoolbag fell to the ground.³[3] From Chapter 16.

Wei Congying guaranteed that he didn’t have it at home. The housekeeping company he just hired had gone in to clean just yesterday: “Are the USB drive contents important?”

Shi Yun was a bit devastated: “Although some of the more important information can still be found, I have marked and annotated them in the drive.”

The more she talked, the more upset she became, and her voice took on an anxious tone.

“Could it be in the auto shop?” Wei Congying tried to help her remember.

That was also a possibility.

No matter what, Shi Yun decided to take a taxi over to have a look: “Is Cheng Ge working overtime today?”

Wei Congying recalled that he worked overtime every day: “Are you in the dormitory right now? I’ll pick you up.”

“No need, I’m in the laboratory. It’s not convenient for you to pick me up by car and then take me to the auto shop.” Shi Yun didn’t say anything, said goodbye, and hung up the phone.

Everyone in the private room was waiting for Wei Cong to finish his call. Liang Mengyi propped her chin and looked at the person shrouded in the darkness through the glass door, her eyes lingering for a long time: “Have you seen his girlfriend? The two of them look very affectionate.”

Xiang Shaoyuan was still joking with Lin Fang and the others but nodded when he heard Liang Mengyi’s words: “Anyway, A’Cong is very good to her. Last time, that woman caused an accident while driving his car, but A’Cong didn’t ask her to pay a penny.” They were not dating at that time, but it seemed that A’Cong took her back to his apartment to spend the night.”

Notes:

[1] “One who’s willing to do the beating and one who’s willing to take the beating” is a widely circulated post-break phrase that comes from the forty-sixth episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an exaggerated telling of the lives of feudal lords and their retainers in the turbulent years near the end of the Han dynasty. -Source: Wikipedia

[2] From the forty-sixth episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in a ploy to deceive the enemy, Huang Gai, a military general, suggests surrender during a meeting with the other generals in order to give the commander a reason to beat him. With this event, he gains the trust of the enemy and takes the chance to set fire to their warships, later leading to a victory. Thus, from this story, we derive the quote, “One who’s willing to do the beating and one who’s willing to take the beating,” as the commander was willing to do the beating and Huang Gai was willing to take the beating.

[6] From Chapter 16.