Mr. Melancholy Wants To Live A Peaceful Life

CHAPTER 43

It rained harder and harder, and there were fewer and fewer customers at the mall. Zhen Li changed outfits three times while performing, doing his best to attract the customers' notice, but in the end he still lost to the weather and the working day.

When a mall with a movie theater that's being renovated puts on a lottery drawing event on a working day, in an afternoon of pouring rain, and invites a minor internet celebrity to carry it out; when the biggest prizes are cell phones that run out between 10 AM and 11 AM, and the remaining hourly prizes are exercises bracelets or mall gift certificates, who's going to stick around waiting for the results of the lottery drawing?

At 7 PM, President Zhen concluded a full day's activity and returned to the studio on his own, carrying his luggage. He needed to put his makeup box back into its original place, write today's program and earnings on the records form, and eat a bowl of the instant noodles Director Yu had used company funds to purchases. He hadn't eaten anything today. He was ravenous.

These instant noodles had always been in Yuan Luori's sole possession. He lived in the studio and had no money. At night, he relied entirely on instant noodles for survival. Ordinarily, he didn't let anyone touch these nearly expired noodles (the supermarket gave a discount on goods about to expire). Zhen Li had always wanted to stealthily eat a bowl.

Today, Yuan Luori had been taken to the base. The location of the Protection Organization's base was a secret. It wasn't easy to get in and out. Each time they went to the base, Zhen Li and Yuan Luori were knocked unconscious or drugged to sleep on the way, and when they left, it had to be along with the Protectors, too. It wasn't like they could go report and then leave. Yuan Luori would probably be staying at the Protection Organization's base tonight.

Thinking about that bowl of instant noodles, Zhen Li got out of his taxi and quickly ran to the office building through the rain. His running steps were particularly quick. He hardly got dripped on. He took the elevator to the twenty-first floor. The lights were off in the studio. Zhen Li got out his keys to open the door but found that the door was unlocked. Could Yuan Luori have gotten back early? Then had his plan to secretly eat instant noodles fallen through?

It was already 8 PM when Zhen Li arrived at the studio. Because of the rain, the sky was entirely dark. It was pitch black inside. When he was just about to turn on the lights, a streak of lightning flashed by outside, lighting the room through the window.

Under the window was the little bench they rested on when they were tired from dance practice. It was about sixty centimeters high, a long bench arranged against the wall. Yu Hua had said that this way they could economize on space in the dance practice room. Lian Yufan had said that he was stingy. He had personally made the wooden bench from building materials left over from decorating. There wasn't even a proper lounge chair!

In the illumination from the lightning, Zhen Li saw someone sitting next to the window. This man's long legs were slightly apart, his elbows on his thighs, all ten fingers laced together in front of his nose, revealing a sinister pair of eyes.

"Ka-boom!" The huge clap of thunder and the man suddenly appearing in the quiet room scared Zhen Li. His knees went weak, and he slid down a wall and sat. Trembling, he said, "Who, who are you? A new leveler?"

"Zhen Li, are you as blind as Yuan Luori?" the man said somberly.

Another flash of lightning. This time, Zhen Li clearly saw that the man sitting under the window was Yu Hua, who never stayed at work past 6 PM! Yu Hua was soaked through with rain. His suit jacket had been carelessly tossed on the bench. 

His white shirt stuck tightly to his body, outlining the muscles of his chest and abdomen. His hair was plastered to his ears, water dripping off of it drip by drip. The dripping rainwater was soaking into the cheap material of the bench.