To Get Married - Chapter 30.1

Chapter 30.1

“I don’t need anyone here,” Mu Chensan said.

Not a Stranger truly was not short of employees. Not only was it not short, it had quite a few extra.

Apart from him and Yan Zhaomu, only Gou Hongjie the cook could maintain a complete human form well. The other spirits had low cultivation. Without the barrier in the bar protecting them, they couldn’t live a normal life in a human city.

He provided them with a place to stay, helped them learn to transform into human shape, and paid them a salary every month.

The reason he did all this was because humans had set so many rules for spirits now. It wasn’t easy for spirits to survive in a human city. In this vast human city, his kind were few and far between, so he helped one when he could.

The bar’s business hadn’t reached a booming stage. He had taken in too many spirits over the years. They often couldn’t find anything to do during the day. Even during business hours, some would snore, others would chat idly. Clearly, there was too little work, and they all became idle hands.

And these idle people, if he glared at them, would immediately start working in a fake, busy manner.

How? Wiping tables that were already very clean with a rag, carrying empty plates and strolling around with a professional smile, or simply standing by the door spacing out—don’t ask, they were just ready to greet guests at any moment.

A dragonfly spirit named Xiaozhi was even more excessive. When she was idle, she would even run to the back kitchen and cook little extras with Gou Hongjie. If she was caught, she would justify it by saying: “Er-gouzi is developing new dishes, and I am the taste tester!”

No one’s money came easily. As a law-abiding and honest spirit, Mu Chensan felt that his willingness to spend money to support so many idle people made him no different from a philanthropist.

He genuinely did not want to hire any new idle hands.

But Manzhu’s little darling saw his refusal and immediately tugged at his sleeve, swaying from side to side. With her little brows furrowed and her small lips bitten, she launched into a triple-threat of adorable pleading.

“Uncle Mu! I beg you!”

“We’re very diligent. We can learn anything and do anything!”

“Uncle Mu, you are the best. Uncle Mu… you don’t have to hire both of us, just help my deskmate, Uncle Mu!”

Zhang Ziyun watched, dumbfounded. She never thought her deskmate, who usually didn’t talk much, would know how to flirt and that it would be so difficult to resist.

Mu Chensan subconsciously took two steps back. Seeing the little girl instantly stick to him, he turned his gaze to Yan Zhaomu for help.

“Z-Z-Zhaomu, say something. You know the situation here. We really don’t need anyone. We have too many hands!”

“Too, too many…” Yan Zhaomu said.

“It’s true we have too many. Yudong, look, even your Little Master thinks so,” Mu Chensan quickly said.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Lu Yudong’s eyes. Mu Chensan saw the persistence in her eyes fade a bit and immediately sighed in relief.

Sure enough, Lu Yudong just thought he was easy to talk to. If someone else said the same thing, Lu Yudong would be too embarrassed to speak up.

Mu Chensan was just about to pat Lu Yudong’s shoulder and advise her to study hard and not waste time on unnecessary things, but before he could open his mouth, Yan Zhaomu continued his sentence.

“Too many, adding a-an-an-an extra one is not t-too much… C-can, can help wipe these…” Yan Zhaomu pointed his finger at the bar counter and said two words faintly, “I’m lazy.”

Meaning, he felt he could use someone next to him to help wipe the tables and clean the bar tools.

Mu Chensan disagreed: “Cleaning the bar counter and washing glasses and mixing tools when there are no customers is already your job. If someone else does it for you, is the salary paid from your pocket?”

Yan Zhaomu looked up and glared at Mu Chensan: “Yes.”

Mu Chensan was choked up for a moment, and after holding it in for a long time, he squeezed out, as if constipated: “Then I’ll pay it.” Otherwise, he would be held grudgingly accountable again.

Lu Yudong almost instantly released Mu Chensan’s sleeve, turned and ran back to sit next to Zhang Ziyun. She consciously took an extra straw and tasted her first sip of alcohol.

Zhang Ziyun kept saying thank you repeatedly, as if she had lost all other vocabulary besides those two words.

She desperately needed money. Even if it was only a few tens of dollars a day, she could save some after covering her three meals.

Even paying it back little by little was much better than pretending to forget and being completely afraid to bring it up.

At that moment, Zhang Ziyun looked at Lu Yudong with tears in her eyes, her gratitude in her heart too profound to express in a thousand words.

Mu Chensan’s final offer was $120 a day, including one dinner, available during winter and summer vacations, or any time, and, as Lu Yudong had requested, paid daily.

In the afternoon, when Lu Yudong said she could find her a stable part-time job to ease her debt burden, Zhang Ziyun hadn’t quite believed it. Now, it had really come true.

Although the working hours were very late, and she would definitely have to spend a lot of time explaining to her mother, considering her young age, her lack of skills, and the fact that she rarely even washed dishes at home, finding a part-time job that paid $120 a day, included dinner, had flexible work dates, a safe work environment, and relatively light duties was an excellent choice.

$120 a day would amount to over $4,000 for one winter break. Even if she only came once a week after school started, she could still earn some living expenses and reduce her family’s burden.

That night, Lu Yudong and Zhang Ziyun chose a corner with no customers, ordered a fruit salad, and chatted amidst Manzhu’s intermittent singing.

Initially, they talked about school matters, classmates, grades, teachers, and even the universities they wanted to attend in the future.

Lu Yudong said she didn’t want to apply to a school outside the province; she wanted to apply to one in the same city because she didn’t want to be too far from Manzhu.

The truth was, she couldn’t be too far from Manzhu. Manzhu had said that if they were too far apart, her soul-bond would suffer a tearing pain. She knew that no matter where she applied, Manzhu would follow her, but that would force Manzhu to find a new job in an unfamiliar place.

She didn’t want Manzhu to be so tired, so she wanted to apply to a local university and stay here. Even if she lived on campus, she could still go home to accompany Manzhu every week.

However, she couldn’t tell Zhang Ziyun these things. Zhang Ziyun would surely think she was making up stories.

Later, they talked about the TV dramas they had watched recently, then celebrities they had no connection with, and somehow drifted to talking about the people in the bar.

Lu Yudong said: “Zhang Ziyun, you know what? My Little Master is called Yan Zhaomu. Don’t let his aloof appearance fool you; he’s actually a very kind person, he just doesn’t like to express himself. My Uncle Mu is called Mu Chensan. He’s genuinely not a gangster. Although he speaks very bluntly and is quick to fuss over small things, he’s actually soft-hearted. If you just ask him, he’ll usually concede… just like today.”

“So, that time in junior high, he came to school to scare people for you?” Zhang Ziyun remembered the incident in junior high.

Lu Yudong nodded: “Looks the part, right?”

“He does. The scar really adds to the effect. He looks so much like a man who’s been through ‘big waves’ in society.” Zhang Ziyun smiled, then couldn’t help but ask: “How did your Uncle Mu get injured?”

“I don’t know,” Lu Yudong shook her head. “I asked. He said he hit it on a rock. I don’t believe it, though.”

“That kind of injury doesn’t look like a bump,” Zhang Ziyun whispered. “Even though it’s faded a lot now, it really looks like a layer of skin was scraped off by something…”

As she spoke, she was startled by her own words and quickly covered her mouth, shaking her head: “Never mind, never mind.”

Lu Yudong quickly cooperated by changing the topic. She said she remembered the name of everyone in the bar because everyone treated her especially well.

Uncle Yang, who was in charge of security, looked big and fierce but had a very gentle personality.

Sister Xiao Bai, who was always blushing, loved to share radish-flavored snacks with everyone.

And Sister Yan Que meticulously cared for all the plants in the bar every day.

Excluding Uncle Mu and the Little Master, the ones Lu Yudong was most familiar with were definitely Sister Huanxi and Sister Xiaozhi, and Uncle Gou Hongjie, who often cooked delicious food for her, always adding extra ingredients without charging extra.

Lu Yudong said that Not a Stranger’s business plan and holiday event schedules were all made by Sister Huanxi. Although Sister Huanxi didn’t look old, she was a very decisive person.

Sister Xiaozhi was also very talented; she was responsible for the entire bar’s decoration and design. Her calligraphy was also beautiful. Every Lunar New Year, she would handwrite spring couplets for their home, which were much nicer than printed ones.

Lu Yudong also said that Sister Xiaozhi’s surname was Wen, but because Gou Hongjie’s Mandarin was not standard and he kept calling her “Wen-zi, ah, Wen-zi” (sounding like “mosquito” in Chinese), everyone else learned to call her that, which made her feel like a mosquito, so she no longer allowed anyone to call her by her full name.

Zhang Ziyun always remembered that Lu Yudong was not a local. Her hometown was in Jiangzhong. Both her parents died in a car accident, and she was the only one who luckily survived and was adopted by Manzhu.

She could see that Lu Yudong loved it here. This place was like her second home.

She also wanted to belong here, to belong to everything Lu Yudong loved.

That day, Zhang Ziyun told Lu Yudong some truths, words she had kept bottled up for a long time.

She said: “Lu Yudong, do you know? I’ve always had many friends since I was little. I have many people celebrating my birthday, and I receive many well wishes and gifts… You were just a deskmate who happened to commute, who could help me bring breakfast and prevent me from constantly bothering Zhang Hao.”

“You were my human shield because you didn’t like to talk, so I could tell Zhang Hao… tell him that you didn’t like to socialize with others, and ask him not to follow me during meal times anymore. You don’t know, before you appeared, no matter who I ate with, he would always show up with his tray and talk to me. I had absolutely no way to deal with him… He was like a clingy bug. No matter how fierce I was to him, he would act as if nothing happened two days later and stick to me again.”

“Later, I found that hanging out with you was quite nice. You looked so ordinary and never stole my spotlight. You were also so quiet, always willing to listen to me vent. Before you, I had many friends whom I thought I was very close to, but I was never as comfortable with them as I am with you. Because you are genuinely good to me. Although you can’t afford me pretty birthday gifts or flatter me with flowery compliments… you are just exceptionally good to me, so good that even though I didn’t like you that much, I was still willing to keep hanging out with you.”

“Then I started liking you more and more.”

“So when I said I wanted to be best friends with you forever, I was sincere… but it wasn’t absolute. After all, in elementary school, I said the same thing to someone else. We got into the same junior high, were in the same class, and even the same dorm, but our relationship gradually faded, and we each found new good friends.”

“I remember asking you why you were so good to me, and you said it was because I was good to you. But honestly, being good to you before was out of self-interest. Besides you helping me, there was only a little bit of pity left. After all, before you, I truly hadn’t seen anyone so stingy… How could someone’s family conditions be so bad that they had to split a ten-yuan meal into two portions? I really wanted to help you and satisfy my miserable vanity, indulge in a sense of self-satisfaction, and then go back and tell my parents about it. Then I truly believed I was a kind and helpful good classmate.”

Lu Yudong couldn’t help but be silent.

She slumped on the table, resting her chin on the back of her hand, her eyes quietly watching Zhang Ziyun, her gaze seemingly without any displeasure.

Zhang Ziyun also slumped on the table like Lu Yudong, without much energy, and continued talking: “Although I don’t want to admit it, sometimes I really feel like there’s a huge gap between us. Your whole home is about the size of my living room… When I’m with you, I constantly have a very strong sense of superiority. I was afraid that superiority would hurt you, so I hid it very well.”