The Picked-Up Omega is Both Delicate and Flirtatious - Chapter 4

Ye Wanqing was stunned for a moment, then tightly clenched his fists in embarrassment, his entire face turning beet red.

Upon seeing this, Wen Qi grew even more convinced that the breakup three years ago was his son’s fault, and he angrily scolded, “You brat, what kind of nonsense are you talking about?!”

Wen Ming sneered, looking mockingly at Wen Qi. “Me? Being together in the first place was already a mistake, just driven by your selfish desires. Otherwise, I would not have developed depression, and Wanqing would not have dropped out halfway.”

Ye Wanqing, who had remained silent for a long time, finally could not help it. He raised his red-rimmed eyes to look straight at him. “Ah Ming, stop talking.”

Seeing his eyebrows knitted tightly in agony, Wen Ming ultimately swallowed the harsh words that had risen to his lips. He let out a heavy sigh, turned around, and walked upstairs without looking back.

Downstairs, the sound of Wen Qi’s angry scolding and Ye Wanqing’s soft sobbing seemed to echo.

Irritated, Wen Ming collapsed onto the bed. Engaging in self-deception, he picked up a magazine, flipped back and forth through a few pages, but did not retain a single word.

“Ring, ring, ring.”

His phone rang out with untimely agitation. Wen Ming picked it up and saw it was the landline from the apartment in the city center. “Hello?”

“Ugh, Wen Ming, it is me, Liang Ling.” A slightly hoarse voice came from the other end.

“Liang Ling?” Wen Ming sat up from the bed, frowning. “What is wrong?”

Liang Ling seemed somewhat reluctant to speak, hesitating as he said, “Wen Ming, I found a business card in the room and used the landline in the room to call you.”

“Mm, and then?” Wen Ming asked with a hint of confusion.

The other end fell silent for a moment, and after a while, stammered out. “I figured contacting you might be inconvenient. Could you lend me some money so I can go buy a phone?”

So it was just such a trivial matter. Wen Ming smiled. “Go look in my desk drawer. There should be a bank card there with the PIN written on the back. Just go downstairs to the nearby phone shop and buy one.”

Liang Ling fell silent for a moment before whispering softly. “Then consider this a loan from me, okay?”

Wen Ming was slightly taken aback. He thought that wandering around lost and running a fever was already pitiful enough, and he did not care about this small sum of money. However, to preserve the other person’s pride, he smiled and said, “Alright.”

Hanging up the phone, Wen Ming lay back down on the bed, quickly casting the matter to the back of his mind.

On the other end, after browsing for a long time at the phone shop, Liang Ling finally bought a smartphone with the highest cost-performance ratio. He then went to a telecom business hall to set up a mobile plan, happily saved Wen Ming’s phone number, and texted his own number to Wen Ming.

After finishing all this, Liang Ling sighed. He knew he could no longer return home, and going to the police station would only bring added trouble. The most crucial thing now was to find a job in this world that could allow him to make a living.

This should not have been a difficult task. In the empire, Liang Ling had been an outstanding university graduate with a well-known reputation in the IT industry. Although this world had many differences from his own, fortunately, knowledge was universal, and Liang Ling felt that with his technical skills, finding a job as a coder would not be a problem.

Unfortunately, the hardships of job hunting delivered a harsh blow right off the bat, teaching him a cruel reality: in City A, without a degree, household registration, or connections, wanting to find a job was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

After being rejected in several interviews and facing mockery, Liang Ling finally gave up the hope of becoming a coder with drooping spirits, turning his attention to jobs that did not require a degree or background, such as a sanitation worker, a food delivery rider, or a dish-washing assistant.

The first was mostly occupied by elderly locals, the second required a vehicle for delivery which he did not have, leaving only the third with a glimmer of hope.

Fortunately, the heavens showed pity. After waiting hungrily at the job market for two days and a night, a burly man led him to a malatang restaurant near a middle school. The owner was a man in his fifties who, after chatting with the burly man for a bit, beckoned Liang Ling over and asked, “Can you accept a monthly salary of two thousand without social insurance and housing funds?”

Liang Ling did not understand what social insurance and housing funds were, but feeling that simply having a job was pretty good, he agreed.

The owner never expected this young man to have such low ambitions, and amidst his pleasant surprise, immediately notified him to start work.

The malatang restaurant owner was called Lu San, and he had a son named Lu Ming who was a high school sophomore at the nearby middle school.

Although the shop was run-down and small, business was genuinely good. Every time school let out in the morning and evening, the shop was completely packed with people. Especially upon hearing that there was a ridiculously handsome serving assistant, groups of female students would sneak into the shop just to steal glances at him.

“Xiao Liang, go take this spicy tomato broth order to table four.” Finished bustling in the kitchen, Lu San handed a bowl of aromatic malatang to Liang Ling.

“Alright, coming right up.” Liang Ling took it and skillfully served the dish.

As he passed a table of girls, immediate whispers of how handsome he was followed behind him, only for them to hurriedly lower their heads to eat as soon as he turned around.

Lu San worked efficiently and paired with Liang Ling in smooth coordination. Though he looked taciturn and reserved, he had a good heart. Although he had initially stated that food and lodging were not provided, upon seeing that Liang Ling had nowhere to go, he cleared out the storage room on the second floor for him to live in and treated him to three meals a day out of his own pocket.

Liang Ling was deeply grateful to him and always rushed to wash a whole sink of bowls before Lu San could.

Whenever the day’s work was done, Lu Ming would pester Liang Ling to play games with him. He was a sunny, smiling kid. Because of their small age gap and shared love for e-sports like Liang Ling, they always found plenty to talk about.

“Brother Liang, play a game with me.” Lu Ming trotted over with his phone, sitting beside Liang Ling and looking at him pleadingly. “Today I queued with that bunch of throwing teammates and dropped ranks again. Come carry me.”

Helplessly, Liang Ling pushed him away, poked him on the forehead with a finger, and chuckled. “Always thinking about gaming. You are about to take your college entrance exams now, you need to study properly.”

Lu Ming dodge-rolled away with a grin, spreading his hands. “I gave up on studying long ago. I am not cut out for books anyway, I want to hone my skills and go pro.”

He had said these words more than once, and Lu San had scolded him for it more than once. Although Liang Ling did not know whether going pro or taking the entrance exam was more important to Lu Ming, he felt that Lu San, as a father, always had his son’s best interests at heart.

“No. Go write your homework, I am watching you write.” Liang Ling delivered his final ultimatum with a deadpan expression.

Lu Ming began to wail again. “You are sounding more and more like my dad lately! Did you forget our glorious past of fighting late into the night and slaughtering the enemy team?”

“I do not remember. There are dishes in the pot, I will go heat them up for you. Go write your homework first.” Liang Ling gracefully pushed away this howling little rascal and got up to busy himself in the kitchen.

Lu Ming curled his lips, extremely reluctantly dumping the contents of his schoolbag all over the table, and dejectedly began writing his homework.