CHAPTER 3: CHAPTER 3: HUMAN CONNECTIONS

"Impossible! Brother Qi, you must be lying to me! How can Xinxin be a man!"

The young man with yellow hair was agitated, his voice trembling, and his already sharp pitch rose another octave.

Qi Yun looked at the devastated young man in front of him with sympathetic eyes and sighed, "My friend didn’t believe it at first either, but later he happened to meet her while delivering food, and that’s when he confirmed that she is indeed a man."

"My friend also said that the top supporter in her live stream is called ’King Brother AAA Building Materials Wholesale’, which I remember, your Douyin account has a similar name, right?"

Hearing this, the young man’s face changed dramatically, as if all strength had been drained from him.

With a "plop", he collapsed onto the bed, clenching his fists, with mist forming in his eyes.

Qi Yun sat at the edge of the bed, patted him on the shoulder, trying to offer some comfort.

"Brother, I know this is a big blow to you. If you really can’t accept it, my friend said that Xinxin is actually quite delicate-looking..."

Before he could finish, the young man couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears with a "wheeze."

He lowered his head, sobbing and choking up, "I spent so much money on her; I thought she was different from the others, that she really understood me..."

Qi Yun lit a cigarette and stopped persuading.

A man has to go through some things to truly grow.

After a long time, the young man was exhausted from crying. He slowly raised his head, his eyes red, and said through gritted teeth, "Brother Qi, give me his address, I need to go get that money back!"

"Alright, I’ll ask my friend later and send it to you on WeChat." Qi Yun paused and then continued, "But I think it’s best if you bring Wang along."

He was really worried that the young man might do something irrational in a fit of rage.

After all, ’love’ is what can most easily cloud one’s judgment.

The young man wiped away the tears on his face and nodded, "Don’t worry, Brother Qi, I’ll confess everything to my dad when I go back."

After sending the young man off, Qi Yun cooked some noodles for himself, finished eating, and then rode his electric scooter to continue taking delivery orders.

Passing by a store, he noticed the door was already closed.

There were more orders in the afternoon, and he worked until nine o’clock in the evening. He made a total of 45 orders today, earning 210 yuan.

When he got home, Qi Yun was so exhausted that he didn’t want to move.

After turning thirty, he clearly felt that his body wasn’t what it used to be.

But thinking about all the debt he carried, he had to muster the energy to get up from bed.

Just as he was preparing to head out with materials for fried rice, the young man came in.

His originally long slanted bangs were gone, now a neat buzz cut.

The young man forced a slightly awkward smile on his face and asked, "Brother Qi, heading out to set up the stall?"

Qi Yun nodded and welcomed him in, "Hmm, what’s up?"

The young man entered the room and took out two packs of Black Liqun cigarettes from a plastic bag he was carrying, then dug out a red envelope from his pocket to hand over.

"My dad had me bring you this."

Qi Yun took the red envelope, squeezed it to gauge the thickness, and estimated it contained around two thousand yuan.

With two packs of Black Liqun, Old Wang was indeed generous.

But they did have the means.

The storefronts of the grocery and fruit and vegetable shop were owned by them, with an area of four to five hundred square meters, and upstairs was a residential floor.

Although it was self-built, the location was excellent, right at the corner. Renting it out for a year could bring in hundreds of thousands in rent.

Adding the three-story building they lived in, they were undoubtedly counting money in their sleep.

"Did you get the money back?"

The young man, downhearted, said listlessly, "Only half came back, the rest was spent on buying skins."

Qi Yun smiled gently, "I’ll keep the cigarettes, but take the red envelope back."

Although he needed money, he wanted to let the young man know he wasn’t in it for the money.

Accepting the cigarettes shows gratitude; taking the money would make things weird.

The young man didn’t linger and left in low spirits.

Qi Yun opened a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep inhale, savoring the familiar taste.

...

At the same spot as yesterday, just as Qi Yun set up his stall, the middle-aged fruit seller walked over to complain, "Old Qi, you were in quite a hurry last night. I was unlucky and got fined a hundred yuan."

The middle-aged man’s name was Wei Yong, in his forties, and he had been setting up stalls here for years.

His truck was one of those little covered ones, and setting it up was troublesome. In situations like last night, he could only accept the bad luck.

Qi Yun passed a cigarette and joked, "A hundred yuan is nothing for you, more like pocket change."

He knew the profit margin of selling fruit. If he had the capital, he was ready to rent a warehouse and get a van to sell fruit, easily earning five to six hundred yuan a day.

"Oh, don’t make fun of me. I’ve been here for over an hour and haven’t even gotten a sale." Wei Yong took the cigarette and sighed.

Perhaps because the New Year was approaching, the street was quieter, and business wasn’t as good as usual. People in Jiang Province usually returned to their hometowns for the New Year.

"Wow, smoking Black Liqun, seems like business has been good for you lately."

Qi Yun laughed and shook his head, "Making what? You know how little I make a day." He glanced at Wei Yong’s fully-loaded truck of Fuji apples, "You’ve got quite a load to sell."

Wei Yong scratched his head in frustration, a bit helpless in his tone, "Yeah, and there’s still several tons in the warehouse. This year, the apple prices are low and they’re not moving."

While they were chatting, someone came to buy fried rice.

Qi Yun couldn’t continue the conversation and got busy with work.

Until nearly midnight, the street was deserted, and he started to pack up to go home.

Tonight, he sold a total of 16 servings of fried rice, making 160 yuan. After deducting 35 yuan in costs, he netted 125 yuan.

"See you, Brother Wei." Saying goodbye to Wei Yong, Qi Yun stepped onto his three-wheeler and headed home.

Unexpectedly, Wei Yong jogged a few steps to catch up and placed a plastic bag filled with apples on the three-wheeler.

"I can’t sell them anyway, so take some home to try."

Qi Yun smiled and didn’t refuse.

He thanked him and then disappeared into the night.

The temperature at night was already below minus ten degrees, everything was silent, and even the dogs were too lazy to bark.

Pushing the three-wheeler into the yard, he routinely cleaned the tools used for making fried rice before heading upstairs.

Before reaching the door, he saw a bag of fresh vegetables hanging on the doorknob.

When he came home late, Old Wang would have the young man deliver the vegetables.

Warmth filled Qi Yun’s heart as he carried the vegetables inside.

Using the leftover side dishes and rice to make fried rice, he took out the half bottle of Erguotou from last night and took a small sip, which slightly relieved his weariness.

Checking the time on his phone, it was already half-past midnight.

Qi Yun had a thought, and a blue screen slowly assembled in front of him.

[Today’s Intel (Red): Manager Sun of the Nanhua Textile Factory’s Procurement Department is having trouble selecting holiday gifts for factory employees.]

Just like yesterday, another red intel.

"But this intel doesn’t seem to be of any value to me?"

Qi Yun lit a cigarette, his mind wandering.

Until the corner of his eye inadvertently caught the bag of apples sent by Wei Yong, suddenly a light shone in his eyes.