Chapter 8 Spicy Hot Pot with Bird Meat

  But I didn't dare to throw it away because this treasure is mine - my mobile phone, which I always hang on the wall at the head of my bed. At this moment, I touched my forehead and secretly congratulated myself for not having paid the phone bill for several months.

  Because of the arrears, it was shut down, so there's no need to charge, and there's no battery. If I had put in a battery, I'm sure someone would have been killed by now. This broken phone is really too big, too heavy, too ugly, and too old.

  …………

  "Has Yixiu Ge gotten up? Let's have lunch!"

  I was startled and looked at the alarm clock on the table, it was already noon. "Come in." I replied while walking over to open the door.

  Wow! --- "Oh no!"

  I sat on the ground, dazed and confused, with stars spinning before my eyes - good grief! I had bumped my forehead against the door frame again! It took me a while to come back to my senses, and when I did, I saw Irina standing at the doorway, looking at me in alarm as she held a pot of soup in her hands.

  "Ling, why didn't you knock on the door?" I said weakly, propping myself up with both hands behind me. I completely forgot that it was just a moment ago that I had asked her to come in.

  "Sorry, sorry..." Irene apologized repeatedly "I didn't have my hands free and I bumped into you with my shoulder" her voice was full of remorse "Does it hurt?"

  It really hurts. The sound of the collision is still echoing in my ears, but this time it's heavier. I gritted my teeth and said, "Nothing, nothing, I just bumped into myself..." With one hand on the ground, I struggled to get up. Irina unconsciously took a step forward, as if she wanted to help me up. So... I also unconsciously reached out to grab her hand, but...

  She held a pot of soup in her hands. As a result...

  The pot turned over and that damn soup poured down without a single drop left. The most perverted thing is that the whole pot of soup actually poured into my crotch!

  I let out a loud cry and couldn't believe my eyes! In an instant, a piece of information flashed through my mind: "It's all over! I'm done for!"

  Yilin was probably scared by my terrifying shout and hurriedly squatted down to wipe the soup from my body in a fluster. As she wiped, she seemed to feel something like an electric shock and quickly withdrew her hand, then jumped back like a startled deer.

  At this time, my consciousness finally returned to my brain - the soup was cold - but I was really scared and thought I had been processed into spicy chicken noodles.

  Yilin went out with a red face. Before long, she came in again with a roll of gauze in her hand.

  "You're bleeding," she said with a lowered head and a soft, embarrassed voice.

  ……

  "You've never been to Xi Si Yangrou Hutong, have you? That's really something! The dining hall can easily accommodate dozens of tables for a banquet..."

  I sat in the dining hall of the Wang's mansion, my eyes dull and my expression listless. The meal was over, so what followed was just a routine chat, but today I really didn't have the mood to talk. Listening to Old Man Yi boast about his ancestors' grandeur as usual, I just nodded randomly to show my agreement.

  "Dad, Hiro's injured, let him go rest." Irin always knew how to handle people.

  Yes, I got hurt. Although my lower body is fine and just need to change pants, my forehead was really smashed. When Irina helped me bandage it, I insisted on not using a band-aid, I always felt that having a circle around my head would make me look like a wounded Nationalist soldier. In the end, we just stuck a piece of gauze on my forehead. To be honest, her technique was a bit rough, the gauze was wrinkled and crooked, and it even covered part of my nose, making me look like a white-nosed clown.

  Irene looked a bit strange today. I thought my silly face would make her laugh so hard she couldn't lift her head, but at the dinner table just now, she didn't say a word and was quite serious, making the atmosphere of lunch pretty gloomy.

  "It's nothing, I just love listening to the old man talk about this." I said vaguely. Where can you find such a good thing as eating at someone else's expense and having them tell you stories for free? Don't like it? Go listen somewhere else if you have money!

  I have no money.

  Since graduation, I haven't even had a decent meal in the school cafeteria. Every day, instant noodles and boxed lunches are my staple food, with no meat in sight for three months. Irina noticed my situation and started inviting me to eat with her every mealtime. Luckily, it wasn't just one or two meals, so after a few days of hesitation, I began to take advantage of the situation and started eating at her place three meals a day, eating more than her whole family combined - but then again, there are only two people in Irina's household now that her mom passed away a few years ago.

  Of course, in fact, I am still a middle-aged man with a heart full of sadness and shame. It's really not easy for someone like me to have made it this far.

  "I've heard that the Wang family's mansion is quite impressive, it's not something ordinary people can imagine! Old Master, you're broadening my horizons!" I smiled at Yilin's dad, trying to be friendly, but the wound on my forehead throbbed with pain.

  "Exactly!" The old man slapped his thigh with force, roughly thinking that this person was a good student and had spoken to my heart. I winced in pain - he had slapped my leg.

  "If you're tired, go back to your room and rest. We'll continue talking tonight." The old man said with a lingering tone of reluctance.

  Yilin sent me into the room and watched me lie down before going out. However, she immediately turned back "You rest well, but you're not allowed to go online."

  "Slightly injured, won't leave the front line. The masses are eagerly awaiting the liberation army! I'm going up!" Just kidding.

  "How dare you! Behave yourself or I'll pull out your internet cable!" She didn't back down.

  My internet cable is actually connected to Irina's router, and since I moved here, I haven't paid for the internet. Sometimes when I've been online for too long, she'll remind me to take a break, and occasionally threaten to unplug the cable, but she's never actually done it.

  "Are you kidding me? You're not ruining my rice bowl, are you?" I said with a bit of guilt.

  ………

  Yilin of course doesn't know what I'm doing online, every time she knocks on the door I'll press the boss key to hide the game (of course I don't just play games when I'm online, apart from this I also often watch H books and videos) - more cautious than a thief or a journalist. Although I know that I'm not very impressive like this, every day is just muddling along waiting for death, but I don't want her to think of me like this either.

  I've always humbly told Irina that I'm actually a writer, working day and night, hunched over my computer (not desk, of course). My magnum opus is still unfinished, but if it were completed, it would be earth-shattering and awe-inspiring. I even showed her several payment receipts for my writing, ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, as proof. However, Irina didn't seem very interested in this promising career of mine. She glanced at the few pieces I proudly showed her (of course, not that trashy piece about the landlord - I want to live a few more years!) and offered some perfunctory praise. This really disappointed me.

  Yilin leaned against the door and looked at me "Yixiong..." as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

  "What's wrong, Linzi?" I asked.

  She hesitated for a moment before slowly saying: "Someone asked me out... um, it's a boy."