Chen Jian closed the curtain of the doghouse, entered the coffee shop through the side door, and sat down in a chair by the side, glancing toward the front desk.
Sun Nana was on duty tonight, and she was currently asleep on the lounge chair.
“Save what you can. One car isn’t enough during the busy season anyway, and we were planning to buy one,” Shan Yu’s voice was a bit hoarse. He had been in a car all day and then had a heart-to-heart with his mother, so he was probably a bit tired. But his overall state was good, and he seemed to be in a good mood. “This car isn’t new either, it’s been driven for many years. But it’s a bit better than the current Mazda at the B&B.”
“What kind of car is it?” Chen Jian asked in a low voice.
“A Mercedes S500. My mom is pretty low-key when it comes to buying cars…” Shan Yu said.
“That’s low-key?” Chen Jian was stunned. “And that’s ‘a little’ better than a second-hand Mazda?”
“They’re both second-hand anyway,” Shan Yu laughed.
“Did you… talk today?” Chen Jian couldn’t help but ask. “Or did you just ask your mom for a car?”
“We talked,” Shan Yu said. “We talked after I asked for the car.”
Boss Shan’s black-hearted capitalist nature really shows in every single aspect…
“How did it go?” Chen Jian immediately sat up straight.
“My mom… she’s wanted to talk to me for a long time,” Shan Yu said. “She just never had the chance. After all, I haven’t seen her in years.”
“Of course, she even called the B&B,” Chen Jian said. “So… after talking to her, how do you… feel?”
Chen Jian asked very carefully. After all, it was usually hard to read Shan Yu’s emotions, and he couldn’t tell if he was in a good mood because the chat went well, or if he was going crazy because it went badly.
“It was pretty good,” Shan Yu paused and let out a soft breath. “Actually, a lot of things can’t be changed. My relationship with my family… it’s not going to become perfectly intimate just because of one conversation. It’s just that after all these years, even if I could figure some things out on my own, hearing her say it to me herself… it feels different.”
“Yeah,” Chen Jian said in a low voice. “Do you feel a bit more relieved now?”
“Much more relieved,” Shan Yu said. “Especially after I read the message you sent me.”
“Don’t give me empty praise,” Chen Jian smiled. “I was just a little… worried. You don’t really need me to remind you of these things.”
“I do,” Shan Yu said. “Everyone sees things from a different perspective. Some things still need to be said out loud. My superpowers don’t work all the time.”
“Yeah,” Chen Jian replied.
“How was the shop today?” Shan Yu asked.
Chen Jian glanced at the sleeping Sun Nana at the front desk and continued in a low voice, “Everything was fine, no problems, except that Lao Wu was complained about for smoking in the garden.”
“When you have time, hold a small meeting with them and emphasize the discipline. Business was slow before, and they were all new, so we could let some mistakes slide,” Shan Yu said. “But that won’t be acceptable in the future. They need to get rid of their gangster habits.”
“Yeah,” Chen Jian thought for a moment and smiled. “You really sound like a boss right now.”
“He who is near CEO Liu becomes one, I guess,” Shan Yu said. “Watching my mom talk to her assistant in the hospital room today, I almost felt like standing up straight against the wall.”
“When I took her call last time, just three sentences from her made my back sore from tension,” Chen Jian said.
“My mom still remembers you,” Shan Yu laughed.
“…Remembers what about me?” Chen Jian suddenly became nervous, his mind frantically trying to recall. “Last time… I didn’t say much, did I? She shouldn’t remember.”
“Telling a bald-faced lie with such conviction,” Shan Yu said. “Anyone would be deeply impressed by that.”
“You told me to say it!” Chen Jian hissed, keeping his voice down.
“Yeah,” Shan Yu smiled. “That’s what the manager is for.”
Chen Jian sighed, then thought of something and asked with some concern, “Did your heart-to-heart just revolve around the B&B?”
“No,” Shan Yu said.
“Oh,” Chen Jian replied, not pressing further.
It was a very personal matter. If Shan Yu didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t ask.
“We talked about things from when I was a kid,” Shan Yu’s voice was a bit low. “My head is a mess. I’ll tell you slowly when I get back.”
Of course, if he was willing to talk, he would definitely listen.
“Yeah,” Chen Jian thought for a moment. “Your original plan was not to go home for the New Year. Now…”
“For now, I’m still not planning on spending the New Year at home,” Shan Yu said. “But I might stay a couple more days this time, to see how my mom is doing. She always says she’s fine, but she can endure a lot. I’m afraid she’s not telling the truth.”
“Yeah,” Chen Jian agreed. “Spend more time with her. Liu Wu acts like he’s going crazy if he doesn’t see you for a few months. She hasn’t seen her son in years… Anyway, nothing much will happen here before the New Year. I’ve already asked Lao Ding.”
“How did you handle the complaint about Lao Wu?” Shan Yu asked.
“Well… the customer didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, just mentioned it and asked for a reminder, and then took a picture…” Chen Jian was interrupted by Shan Yu before he could finish.
“A picture? As evidence?” Shan Yu asked.
“No, the customer just took a picture with me and left,” Chen Jian said. “Then I went to find Lao Wu…”
“The customer was a girl, right?” Shan Yu asked again.
“Huh?” Chen Jian realized. “…Ah, yes.”
Shan Yu made a “tsk” sound.
“It was mainly because she was very polite… and Lao Wu had just been smoking right in her face…” Chen Jian said.
Shan Yu “tsk”-ed again.
“It’s probably fine just taking a picture, right?” Chen Jian asked.
Shan Yu continued to “tsk.”
“It was just a normal photo,” Chen Jian laughed.
Shan Yu let out a series of “tsk, tsk, tsk.”
“Are you teasing a dog?!” Chen Jian also “tsk”-ed.
“I’m teasing you,” Shan Yu said. “Mushroom doesn’t take photos with people.”
“Mushroom gets held for photos every day,” Chen Jian said.
“Are you jealous?” Shan Yu said.
Chen Jian sighed. “I’ll definitely refuse next time.”
“There’s a next time? Do people often ask to take photos with you?” Shan Yu said. “The manager is quite charming.”
“…Can’t compare to the boss,” Chen Jian said. “If the boss didn’t hide in his office all day, photos of him would probably be flying everywhere.”
“Fighting back, are we?” Shan Yu started “tsk”-ing again.
“You should just start calling Xiao Dou’er ‘sis’,” Chen Jian said.
Shan Yu laughed.
“You should sleep,” Shan Yu said. “I think I can actually sleep today. My head feels kind of numb and tingly. I’m pretty tired.”
“That’s probably a bug in your brain,” Chen Jian said, then realized he must be really tired himself, as he was speaking without thinking.
“You’ve got Lao Wu on your brain,” Shan Yu said.
Chen Jian laughed. “I’m a little tired too. I’ve been thinking about your matters all day. Even though there’s a lot to do normally, it doesn’t really require much brainpower.”
“Go to sleep,” Shan Yu said softly.
“If you can’t sleep, send me a message,” Chen Jian said. “I’ll hear it.”
“Okay,” Shan Yu said.
“Good night,” Chen Jian said.
“Good night,” Shan Yu said, then added, “Send me a message when you wake up tomorrow.”
“Mm, good night,” Chen Jian said again.
“Good night,” Shan Yu said.
“Mm,” Chen Jian responded.
“Hang up already if you’re not tired go walk the dog this isn’t over yet you dare ‘mm’ one more time,” Shan Yu said in a rush.
Chen Jian laughed, said “mm” one last time before hanging up, and then quickly tapped the end call button.
A few seconds later, a message came from Shan Yu.
[Fa Dan Ke Chen]: You dare “mm” one more time.
[Chen Yu Luo Yan]: You said I couldn’t, okay? Oh, wait, that was for sending. Hmm.
Chen Jian noticed that in that short amount of time, Fa Dan Ke Chen’s profile picture had already been changed to the photo Yao Yi had taken of the two of them.
He clicked on the profile picture and stared at Shan Yu’s face.
Even though they had just finished talking, the feeling of missing him quickly surged up.
This whole day of chatting was for nothing…
He got up and did another round of patrol in the shop before returning to the dormitory.
If he wasn’t on duty, Chen Jian usually woke up at seven in the morning. Today was the same.
However, he didn’t wake up on his own, nor was he woken up by his alarm.
He was pulled up by an excited Sanbing. The moment he opened his eyes, he wanted to fling Sanbing out the window. But then he heard arguing from outside.
“I think they’re about to fight!” Sanbing said, excitedly pulling his arm. “Should we watch the show or go mediate? How about we watch the show first and then go mediate if it gets out of hand?”
“Who?” Chen Jian stood up and saw that Chen Erhu and Lao Si were both crowded by the window, looking down.
“Da Li and one of their waiters,” Sanbing said.
Chen Jian let out a huge sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t someone from Dayin, everything was manageable. Of course, the people at Dayin rarely argued. If they did, it would probably be with a customer.
Chen Jian got dressed and went downstairs. A group of people who had been woken up by the noise immediately followed him.
Although they all looked sleep-deprived, they couldn’t suppress their desire to watch the commotion.
“Oh my god,” Hu Pan said, running down with a head of messy, explosive hair that looked like a mushroom cloud. “I knew with Da Li’s attitude, he was bound to get into an argument with an employee sooner or later…”
“He’s just asking for a beating,” Chen Erhu said. “He’s just a petty manager, but he acts so high and mighty. A small man who’s found a little success…”
“Isn’t his position the same level as Chen Jian’s?” Lao Wu asked from the back of the crowd of onlookers.
“Do you have to be the straight man?” Chen Erhu said.
“The boss’s words must not be ignored,” Chen Jian said.
“I wasn’t calling you petty,” Chen Erhu glanced at him.
“Mm, I know,” Chen Jian nodded.
Chen Erhu probably felt that this wasn’t enough to smooth things over, so he brought up the absent boss.
“You’re different from Da Li. After all, at our Dayin… Shan Yu doesn’t manage things,” Chen Erhu said.
“You really know how to talk,” Hu Pan said.
Chen Jian laughed, feeling like he should record this and play it on a loop for Shan Yu later.
It was just dawn, and the whole B&B was very quiet. All they could hear were the shouts coming from Liangye next door.
When they ran to the back door, they saw Sun Nana wrapped in a large down jacket, huddled by the back gate, watching. She was holding a bag of raisins that some customer had probably given her, popping them into her mouth one by one.
“You’re here?” Seeing them approach, Sun Nana offered them the raisins in her hand. “Here.”
“What’s going on?” Hu Pan grabbed a handful and stuffed them all into his mouth, chewing as he looked over.
“Rude,” Sun Nana rolled her eyes at him.
“Elegant,” Hu Pan said, then picked up a single raisin and snatched it into his mouth with his teeth bared.
“It seems to be about overtime,” Sun Nana said in a low voice. “They started arguing on the second floor, and now they’re on the first. They’ll probably be out in the yard soon.”
Just as Sun Nana finished speaking, they saw a tall, thin man wearing a Liangye waiter’s uniform walk out, cursing.
Chen Jian’s train of thought, which had been focused on watching the show, suddenly derailed. The leaders have already visited. Should we also get uniforms in the future to look more professional…
“I fucking can’t take it anymore! I haven’t had a single day off in two months! I have to fucking watch your expression just to ask for a day off,” the tall, thin man spat on the ground. “Do you really think you fucking own this place! Is this restaurant’s last name Li?”
Chen Jian’s wandering thoughts were pulled back.
“Its last name is He,” Sanbing whispered.
“Stop acting crazy with your drunken courage!” Da Li pointed at him and also walked out of the shop. “You think I don’t know how much time you spend in the storage room playing on your phone every day? You want to ask for leave? All the leave you could have taken has been wasted by you playing on your phone!”
Chen Jian glanced at the members of the Pigsty Gang beside him.
“Don’t look at us,” Chen Erhu said. “We usually smoke at the pavilion, not in the storage room.”
“You guys are more resistant to the cold, huh?” Chen Jian said.
There was some truth to that. After all, when they used to gather in the old pigsty, that dilapidated hut couldn’t block much wind, and they had to build a fire to stay warm.
They were trained for it.
“Are we slacking off when we hide in the storage room! It’s because we have no fucking rest time! You son of a bitch!” the tall, thin man suddenly roared, flinging his hand down hard.
Then, something with a metallic glint slid out of his sleeve.
“Fuck,” Chen Jian was startled and rushed out the next second.
Chen Erhu didn’t say a word, rushing towards Liangye’s yard at almost the same time.
“Be careful!” Sun Nana also saw it clearly and shouted from behind them, jumping up and down. “Panpan, come back! What are you doing!”
“Don’t you come over!” Hu Pan shouted, also rushing over behind the guys.
The tall, thin man was holding a large, modified screwdriver. Including the rod and handle, it was about a foot long.
By the time they rushed into Liangye’s yard, he was already chasing Da Li back into the front lobby.
As soon as they entered, they could hear Da Li shouting, “Call the police! Stop him! Someone stop him—”
Unlike Dayin’s staff, Liangye’s employees were mostly girls, and none of them were the Hu Pan type. At this moment, no one dared to go up and stop him.
Chen Jian didn’t know how deep the conflict between the tall, thin man and Da Li was, but if he really stabbed him in a fit of rage, it could go straight through. That would be a huge incident.
Fortunately, the tall, thin man wasn’t a fast runner. Chen Jian caught up in a few steps. Just as the man was about to chase Da Li upstairs, he kicked him hard in the back.
As the tall, thin man fell to the ground, Chen Erhu pounced on him, grabbing the hand holding the screwdriver.
“Let go of me!” the tall, thin man struggled and roared. “I’ve had enough! I’m fucking going to kill him!”
“You can’t kill him!” Chen Jian went over and kicked the screwdriver aside, his voice low. “You’ll only destroy yourself!”
“You want to kill me? Take a look at what you are…” Da Li, seeing that the situation was under control, immediately turned around from the stairs and came up, pointing at the tall, thin man and cursing, “I’m telling you…”
“Shut up!” Chen Jian looked at him, his voice heavy. “Say one more word and I’ll have them let him go.”
Da Li paused and said no more.
“Are there any empty rooms?” Hu Pan asked a nearby waitress.
“Yes,” the waitress nodded.
“Open one,” Hu Pan said. “Let him go in and calm down!”
“Oh!” the waitress responded, but didn’t move. She first glanced at Da Li.
Da Li nodded with a grim face.
“No need,” the tall, thin man, pinned to the ground by Chen Erhu and the others, suddenly stopped struggling. His voice softened. “Manager Chen, can I stay at your place for a while? I don’t want to be here.”
Chen Jian hesitated for two seconds. “If you come to our place, you’ll still have to be locked up to calm down first.”
“Fine,” the tall, thin man said.
A group of them brought him back to Dayin’s meeting room and closed the door.
“You guys really know how to meddle in other people’s business,” Sun Nana said, glancing at the meeting room door.
“If someone gets killed at Liangye again, let alone killed, even just injured,” Chen Jian said, “someone would immediately bring up the fact that someone died here, and count it all together. Seeing blood right before the New Year, our business might be affected again.”
But Chen Jian had no idea how to handle this person.
He stayed in the meeting room for over half an hour. Seeing that the man had calmed down a bit, he had Chen Erhu and Sanbing stay to watch him. He took his phone, walked out of the meeting room, and prepared to call Shan Yu to ask for advice.
It was almost eight o’clock now. He didn’t know if Shan Yu was awake yet.
He opened WeChat, intending to send a message first.
As he was typing, a call came in. He accidentally tapped the answer button and only realized it was Lao Ding calling after the call connected.
Lao Ding’s calls were always about official business concerning Dayin. He suddenly became a little nervous.
“Hello?”
“Xiao Chen,” Lao Ding said. “It’s like this, I’m just notifying you about something. There’s a meeting in the city next Monday. Dayin needs to send someone to participate as the B&B representative for Red Leaf Town…”
“What?” Chen Jian was stunned. “Didn’t you say there wouldn’t be any major activities before the New Year?”
“The leaders aren’t coming,” Lao Ding said. “It’s just a small meeting.”
How small of a meeting?
Ten people? Or five…
Anything more than three people is a big meeting.
“Is it just Dayin going?” Chen Jian asked.
“No, there are three in total. Representatives from B&Bs, restaurants, and the management office. I’ll be there too,” Lao Ding said. “You might need to give a speech, but it’s not certain…”
Chen Jian felt his head buzzing.
Shan Yu! Help! Save your B&B, boss—
