CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER 188: [BELONGING TO THE DUMBASS] (DOUBLE MONTHLY VOTES, EXTRA RELEASE FOR VOTES!)

Chapter 188: The Muddle-headed Type

The next day was the weekend.

Early in the morning, Chen Nuo took Xiao Yezi out and headed straight to Brother Lei’s shop on Tangzi Street.

He had no particular agenda; after cooking at the Sun family’s place for several days, he felt too lazy to cook at home and decided to go mooch a meal.

They arrived early. Shops opened later on weekend mornings.

It was only around eight o’clock when they got there. The shop’s rolling shutter was still down, with just a small side door open. A young man was squatting by the entrance, a toothbrush in one hand and a glass in the other, his mouth full of foam as he brushed his teeth.

Xiao Yezi was perched on Chen Nuo’s neck. The siblings had taken a bus and then had to walk the equivalent of half a bus stop. Chen Nuo never rode his motorcycle when he took his sister out.

It wasn’t safe.

The young man squatting and brushing his teeth looked unfamiliar. Chen Nuo took a second glance, confirming he’d never seen him before.

"What are you looking at? We’re not open yet!" the young man snapped, glaring at Chen Nuo before getting up with his toothbrush and cup and heading inside.

In a corner of the shop, a wire cot was set up. The young man went over to it, tidied the bedding, and folded the cot away.

When he turned around, he saw Chen Nuo leading Xiao Yezi into the shop.

"Hey!" The young man’s eyes widened. "What do you think you’re doing? Don’t just barge in! We’re not open!"

As he spoke, he tried to shoo them out.

Chen Nuo watched the flustered young man with an amused smile. Brother Lei had already heard the commotion and came running from the back.

He smacked the young man on the back of the head before greeting Chen Nuo, "Why are you here so early?"

"It’s the weekend, nothing much to do. Just taking Xiao Yezi out for a stroll."

Brother Lei smiled and pinched Xiao Yezi’s cheek, then turned to the young man. "Go to the corner and buy a few bowls of wonton soup. Have them deliver it—large bowls, with poached eggs! And get some fried dough sticks from Zhang’s stall; their oil is clean."

Saying this, he pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and tossed it to the young man.

The young man didn’t get angry despite the slap from Brother Lei. He just gave Chen Nuo a curious look before turning and running off.

"New recruit?" Chen Nuo leaned back in the recliner.

"My girlfriend’s younger brother." Brother Lei sighed. "A complete blockhead, that one. Dense as they come. He graduated from technical school with nowhere to go, so I let him tag along with me. Turns out he actually studied vehicle repair in tech school."

Brother Lei’s girlfriend was the one with an aesthetic sense comparable to the ’Funeral Love’ subculture—Brother Lei had once given Chen Nuo some of her clothes to trick the amnesiac Empress Lu.

Empress Lu wore them once and then threw them all away.

Incidentally, while the girl had a terrible sense of style and a reportedly fierce temper, she was a good person at heart.

She had been with Brother Lei for many years.

Even during the two years Brother Lei was in prison, she had remained faithful, waiting for his release.

Not long after, the young man returned, holding a bag of fried dough sticks. He entered and told Brother Lei, "The wontons will be here soon."

Now knowing the young man was a relative of Brother Lei’s girlfriend, Chen Nuo observed him more closely.

He was about Chen Nuo’s age, not very tall but sturdily built, looking quite strong. He had a buzz cut and regular features, though he had a somewhat simple and naive air about him.

"His name is Zhu Dazhi." Brother Lei chuckled, tore off a piece of fried dough stick, and handed it to Xiao Yezi. Then he called Zhu Dazhi over and, pointing at Chen Nuo, said, "Address him properly. Call him Master Nuo."

"What?" Zhu Dazhi bristled, glaring. "Call him ’Master’? Why should I?!"

Chen Nuo wasn’t offended. He chuckled and said, "I’m the one who pays your salary."

"Ah? Oh! Master Nuo!"

Zhu Dazhi instantly caved.

"This kid, he’s a real nitwit. Spent three years in tech school supposedly majoring in vehicle repair. But when he got here, damn, he hadn’t learned a thing! Can’t even figure out brake pads. Seems like all he did during those three years at school was get into fights."

Zhu Dazhi protested, "Brother-in-law, don’t keep saying that about me to everyone! Let me tell you, if you and my sister can’t have a son someday, you might have to rely on me to look after you in your old age."

Brother Lei was so angry his nose practically contorted. "Who says I can’t have a son?"

"Who knows," Zhu Dazhi grumbled. "I heard my sister scolding you. She said you act tough, but you’re actually weak as a dog!"

"Well, I’ll be..."

Brother Lei’s face twisted with anger, and he slapped Zhu Dazhi on the forehead.

Zhu Dazhi took the hit but remained defiant. "Why are you hitting me? I wasn’t the one who said it. My sister said it. If you’ve got guts, go hit her."

Seeing Brother Lei still glaring, Zhu Dazhi, who wasn’t entirely witless, quickly ducked his head and scurried away, muttering as he went, "My sister said it. You’re always out there sowing your wild oats, but when it’s time to bring in the harvest, you come up empty."

Brother Lei: "..."

·

When the wontons arrived, there were only two bowls. Brother Lei, exasperated, dragged Zhu Dazhi over again. "Why only two bowls?"

"Aren’t there just two guests?"

"Can’t you see there are four of us here?"

Zhu Dazhi blinked. "I already ate this morning. I finished off two leftover buns from last night."

"Then what am I supposed to eat?"

"How should I know? Eat whatever you want."

Brother Lei huffed and went out to buy potstickers. Left behind, Zhu Dazhi proved to be quite diligent. He fetched water, swept the floor, and thoroughly cleaned the shop, working very earnestly.

He then took out a rag and wiped the various price display signs over and over again.

By nine in the morning, all the shop assistants had arrived for work.

Brother Lei had recently hired some new staff, including several young women as sales assistants, all of them articulate and persuasive.

Chen Nuo counted them; there seemed to be a few too many. The current shop probably didn’t need that many. He guessed they were being pre-hired for the new shop on Daming Road. They could train at the old shop for now, and in a couple of months, when the new shop opened, they’d be ready to hit the ground running.

Zhu Dazhi was the boss’s younger brother-in-law, the youngest of the staff, and looked rather simple and naive.

The new young women in the shop enjoyed teasing him whenever they had a chance.

When facing Brother Lei, Zhu Dazhi wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.

But when the young women in the shop teased him, he would retreat to a corner and work by himself. If they spoke to him, he would often ignore them, his face impassive.

Chen Nuo watched this, finding it increasingly amusing.

He couldn’t help but ask Zhu Dazhi, "Why don’t you respond when the girls talk to you?"

"My sister says I’m naive and no match for those girls out there. She says I should wait until I’m twenty-five to get married."

"But you don’t have to ignore them."

"It’s too much trouble! I’ll just wait until I’m twenty-five to deal with them."

Being a weekend morning, business at the shop was quite good.

Tangzi Street was always a bustling place, with people constantly coming and going.

After spending half the day in the shop, Chen Nuo felt that business was indeed thriving. In 2001, as the economy continued to improve and people’s living standards rose, the market for electric vehicles was bound to heat up further. It would likely prosper for at least another eight to ten years without any major issues.

Xiao Yezi played in the shop for a while. Being sensitive to the heat, she soon ran off to Brother Lei’s office in the back to enjoy the air conditioning and watch TV.

Chen Nuo and Brother Lei sat behind the counter, chatting.

When the conversation turned to Zhu Dazhi, Brother Lei sighed. "The kid’s a good kid, just a bit stubborn and not very quick-witted."

Then he recounted an incident.

During the two years Brother Lei was incarcerated, his girlfriend had waited for him.

Though her fashion sense was questionable, she was somewhat attractive. One time, she was harassed by a few local thugs.

Zhu Dazhi, only sixteen at the time, fought five of them single-handedly to protect his sister. He ended up with a bruised and bloodied face, but he grabbed a coal poker and fiercely chased them off.

After recovering at home for three days, he went out again.

With a screwdriver tucked into his belt, he found where one of the thugs lived and started waiting outside his door day after day.

He did this for three consecutive days.

On the first day, the thug and his friends chased him away.

The next day, he returned!

He then issued a threat: "You’d better not be caught alone for the rest of your life. If I catch you alone, I’ll finish you."

Eventually, the thug backed down, apologized, and even compensated him with several hundred yuan for medical expenses.

Hearing this, Chen Nuo asked Zhu Dazhi, "Why didn’t you actually finish him?"

"Am I stupid?" Zhu Dazhi’s eyes widened, "If I’d killed him, I would have ended up in jail too. Brother Lei was already inside at that time. If both of us men were locked up, my sister would have been left all alone and helpless, wouldn’t she? They paid money and apologized, and they wouldn’t dare bother my sister again. Plus, she got a few hundred yuan to help with household expenses. That beating I took wasn’t for nothing!"

The kid wasn’t stupid at all; he just had his own set of principles. That was Chen Nuo’s judgment.

During lunch, Chen Nuo said to Brother Lei, "Let him stick with us from now on."

Brother Lei was overjoyed to hear this.

This was precisely why he had deliberately told Chen Nuo about Zhu Dazhi’s past earlier that day.

·

「In the afternoon, Zhang Linsheng arrived.」

Chen Nuo knew that Brother Haonan had been summoned by Old Jiang early that morning. Old Jiang hadn’t called for Chen Nuo—clearly, in Old Jiang’s heart, Brother Haonan, who trained diligently and displayed considerable talent, was the only disciple he truly recognized. As for Chen Nuo, he was really just there to make up the numbers.

Brother Haonan had been called over by Old Jiang in the morning, and Old Jiang had finally spoken to him about matters concerning their martial arts lineage.

This gesture wasn’t really about asking Lin Sheng to help Old Jiang in a fight or anything of the sort.

Rather, after encountering some trouble, Old Jiang had instinctively felt the need to pass on some of the lineage’s teachings to this sole disciple whom he truly acknowledged.

Brother Haonan’s arrival brought the news Chen Nuo had been waiting to hear.