The Landlady and The Amnesiac

27

Chapter 27 – Man-to-Man Talk

As a matter of fact, just as Jiang Sihan finished changing the light bulb, before he could get off the ladder, he heard someone talking to him.

“Uh, excuse me, are you free now? If you are, would you like to go for a drink together?”

Jiang Sihan didn’t know this person, but he knew this person was an acquaintance of Luo Bei. He had seen him eat ma la tang with Luo Bei.

There was a restaurant serving lu wei1 [javascript:void(0)]Lu wei is a cooking style where customers fill a basket of food from a huge selection of meats, vegetables, and other local ingredients. The food is then boiled in a savory broth, chopped and plated. It’s more commonly known as braised dishes, but that definition is not very accurate (but I’ll use it anyway). in the neighborhood, its business was booming. People from the city center would come and queue to buy from here. There weren’t customers left at this hour. Zhan Qi ordered a few braised dishes to complement the few cans of beer that he bought in passing at a convenience store just now. Jiang Sihan and Zhan Qi started drinking.

Since the two people had introduced themselves, they were considered acquaintances.

Zhan Qi wouldn’t talk in a roundabout way; they weren’t close anyway. After a few glasses, he asked straightforwardly, “I heard you’re currently after Beibei?”

Jiang Sihan froze, apparently a little dumbfounded at this question.

The Beibei he was talking about must be Luo Bei, but him pursuing Luo Bei?? What?

Zhan Qi misunderstood his momentary silence as tacit agreement.

“Beibei and I have known each other since we were small. I’ve liked her since high school. I was going to confess to her after the National College Entrance Examination but she was admitted into a good university while I couldn’t even make the minimum passing score for a third-tier university, far from it in fact. I won’t hide this from you, I had quite the inferiority complex back then – no, I still do now.” Zhan Qi chewed on a duck wing and sighed deeply, “She’s now a white-collar worker with a sit-down job while I work with others running a small business. People who give me face would call me CEO Zhan but what kind of CEO leads a suffocating life like mine?”

“Everyone here tells me to pursue her but I know that they only want me to so they can laugh at me. Even my own grandmother doesn’t think I’m worthy of Beibei.” He sighed. Zhan Qi’s eyes burned a little and he subconsciously rubbed them, but he didn’t expect that there was chili oil in his hands. His eyes became red because of the spice and tears pooled. “I don’t deserve her, I know that. I thought that if I work hard, I might have a chance. I didn’t think that you would beat me to it and even one-up me, brother.”

Jiang Sihan didn’t know what to say, “I…”

“My grandma said you would help throw out the trash every day, help Grandma Luo move bags of rice and change lightbulbs. Let’s not talk about the other things, you have my respect just by throwing out the trash.” Zhan Qi gave him a thumbs up, “You’re taller than me, are more handsome than I am and you’re more diligent than I am, too. Brother, I have no other purpose in wanting to talk to you today other than to tell you: Beibei and I may have no fate romantically but I grew up with her. I know her like the back of my hand. From today onwards, I would treat her as my little sister. You have to treat her better, don’t let her down, understood? There are many of us who grew up together in this neighborhood. I may like Beibei, but there are ten more others like me. Don’t look at me like that, I’m not bluffing.”

“To us, Beibei is different from other girls. No one can go against the attachment from growing up together. What I’m trying to say is, don’t disappoint her, don’t wrong her, otherwise…” Zhan Qi crushed the can in his hands as he said this.

Jiang Sihan was speechless.