“Hello, hi, may I ask if you are looking for Chen Ju? I’m sorry, but he is not available to take the call right now. Can you call back later?”
The voice of a strange man came through the phone’s receiver. Jiang Zhou’s face turned cold as he said, “Let Chen Ju answer the phone.”
“He was tired and fell asleep. I’ll have him call you later.” Li Qing frowned and checked the name. Jiang Zhou, wasn’t this the man sitting in the car that night?
Asleep? Jiang Zhou’s face became more gloomy, and he asked, “He lives with you?”
The man’s cold tone made Li Qing upset. He gave a hum and said: “Yeah, he’s been living with me. If there is nothing else, i will hang up. I don’t want to disturb his sleep.”
After saying that, Li Qing hung up the phone. Is this person really Chen Ju’s friend? His tone sounded as if he wanted to devour someone. With such a soft temper, Chen Ju might be crushed to death under pressure.
When Chen Ju had some free time, he must have a good chat with him.
Jiang Zhou stared at the disconnected phone with a frosty face. He remembered that the man’s voice was the same as the one who took Chen Ju away from the bar that night.
“Boss, should we postpone tomorrow’s meeting?” Secretary Liu asked.
“No,” Jiang Zhou put down his phone, his expression indifferent, “proceed as scheduled.”
“But tomorrow is…”
Jiang Zhou raised his eyes. His cold gaze pierced like a sharp blade: “Since when do you need to manage my business?”
Secretary Liu paused, quickly lowered his head, and apologized: “I’m sorry, Boss. I know I was wrong.”
“Leave.” Jiang Zhou leaned back in his chair, loosened his tie and closed his eyes.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Chen Ju slept for a while, feeling much more comfortable. There was still an hour before work, which was enough time to send his luggage to the rented house.
“I’ll take you there. It’s a good opportunity to see where you live and recognize the way ~” Li Qing picked up Chen Ju’s luggage and smiled.
Chen Ju felt embarrassed, but he couldn’t carry all that luggage by himself, or he might be late.
“Thank you,” he said.
Li Qing laughed: “No problem. I have an electric scooter, so it’s very convenient to take you there!”
The room Chen Ju rented was very small. It was already packed with a bed, a table and a wardrobe.
Li Qing entered and looked around, praising: “It’s pretty good. But where do you take showers? It looks quite cold here.”
“There is a public bathhouse nearby.” This was what the landlord said. He hadn’t been there yet, but taking a bath was not a problem for him. When he used to live in the utility room, his aunt would not let him use the bathroom to take a shower. So, he would heat up water and put it in the basin to wash. Although it was a bit cold, he could endure it.
“How cold it is in winter! Next time, come to my place to take a shower. After all, we live close by!” Li Qing said, “That’s it. If you refuse, this brother will be upset.”
Chen Ju nodded and showed a well-behaved smile.
“Okay, thank you, Qing Ge.”
After finishing work at the bar, Chen Ju went back. Today, it was his turn to rest from his security job, so finally he could get a good night’s sleep.
He ate a steamed bun with plain boiled water and then crawled to the bed, covered himself with a blanket, and fell asleep.
Not knowing how long he had slept, Chen Ju was awakened by his phone ringing. He opened his hazy eyes and reached out to touch his phone.
Before he could see the name on the screen, he pressed to answer and closed his eyes again, drowsily asking: “Who is it?”
“May I speak with Mr. Chen? This is Secretary Liu.” The voice on the other end of the phone woke Chen Ju up, and he immediately sat up in bed.
“Ah, what’s wrong? Is there something, something going on?” Chen Ju stuttered.
“It’s like this, our boss has encountered a bit of trouble and wants to ask you to come over.” Secretary Liu said, sensing from the beginning that Jiang Zhou’s attitude towards Chen Ju was different.
Upon hearing that something had happened to Jiang Zhou, Chen Ju’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly replied, “Okay, I’ll come right away!”
Because he was worried about Jiang Zhou, Chen Ju decided to take a taxi for the first time. Jiang Zhou was the most important thing to him, even though he felt a pang in his heart for the money.
When Chen Ju arrived at the location, as soon as he got off the car, he saw Secretary Liu standing at the entrance. He hurried over to greet him.
“Secretary Liu, Jiang Zhou, what happened to him? Is he okay?” Chen Ju asked with concern.
“Come inside with me first,” Secretary Liu led Chen Ju into the hotel. “After the morning meeting, Boss locked himself in the room and had many bottles of alcohol delivered during that time, but he hasn’t eaten anything all day today. I’m worried something might have happened.”
Drinking so much alcohol without eating anything. These two pieces of information twisted Chen Ju’s heart into a knot. He quickly asked: “He, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Secretary Liu stopped at the door of the room, sighed, and lowered his voice: “Today is the anniversary of Boss’s mother’s passing. Every year on this day, Boss’s mood is very bad.”
The anniversary of his mother’s passing? Chen Ju was stunned. His heart ached. Jiang Zhou’s mother died? He had seen her a few times in high school. He remembered that Jiang Zhou’s mother was a very gentle and beautiful person. He never expected her to pass away at such a young age.
“These are some food items.” Secretary Liu handed the tray in the dining car to Chen Ju. “I’ll leave it to Mr. Chen.”
Chen Ju hurriedly took the tray and mumbled, “I, I don’t know if Jiang Zhou will let me go inside…” After all, he always hated him.
“He will.” Secretary Liu patted Chen Ju’s shoulder. “It’s you, the boss will let you in.”
After speaking, Secretary Liu left, and only Chen Ju was left in the empty corridor. He stared at the food on the tray and swallowed saliva unconsciously.
It had been a long time since he had eaten meat. These past few days, he had only having steamed buns with plain boiled water.
After a while, Chen Ju reached out and knocked on the door. There was no response from inside. However, Chen Ju was not discouraged and continued to knock.
After knocking for the third time, Jiang Zhou’s voice finally came from inside, with a hint of hoarseness in its deep tone.
“I told you, I didn’t need anything.”
Chen Ju licked his lips and said, “Jiang Zhou, it’s me, Chen Ju.”
There was a moment of silence behind the door, and suddenly the tightly closed door was forcefully opened. Jiang Zhou’s tall and imposing figure appeared before their eyes with a strong sense of presence.
“What are you doing here?” Jiang Zhou stared coldly at Chen Ju with bloodshot eyes. It seemed as if there was a hidden fire, as if it wanted to burn a hole in Chen Ju’s face. “Who told you to come?”
“It, it’s Secretary Liu.” Chen Ju managed to suppress the fear in his heart and extended passed the tray forward. “He said you haven’t eaten and drank a lot of wine. Please have some of these meals, they are delicious.”
“I don’t need it,” Jiang Zhou’s eyes were half-closed, and he reached out to close the door. “Get out.”
It was hard to open the door. Chen Ju knew that if the door was closed, Jiang Zhou would definitely not open it again. Without hesitation, Chen Ju quickly crouched down and slipped under Jiang Zhou’s arm, entering the room.
Just after taking a couple of steps, his foot accidentally kicked a bottle, causing a loud clattering sound. The floor in front of him was covered with bottles and cigarette butts.
“Who let you in?” Jiang Zhou walked over, grabbed the back of Chen Ju’s collar and said, “Get out!”
Chen Ju, it would have been better if you’d just stayed home and slept. You really didn’t have to go out of your way to be this guy’s punching bag.
Can’t wait to find out the dumb reason why he pulled Chen Ju into his mess 🙄
Losing my patience with Jiang Zhou 🫠
Grieving or not, don’t you dare let it out on poor chen ju after the poor boy went all the way to see you even though he’s exhausted from work 😤😤😤
In this scenario I actually empathise with the ML. You both aren’t that close right now and I know that you care about him but grieving is a private matter. So I don’t know how to feel. It’s not like he was the one who called him here today.
I agree, many people have different coping mechanisms, even if they’re not good and it doesn’t help that just yesterday, he found out that Chen Ju is staying with someone else
Waiting for the next chapter.
Well………..Jiang Zhou u are a douchbag…and i hate u
Translator sama are u going through any problem? ‘Cause u aren’t updating the 3 chapters on Thursday,Friday,Saturday?It has been happening since last week
After reading the comments, I can’t help but be swayed to the right and then to the left, and back and forth. I’m side stepping on both sides because I’m scared to be one-sided in this novel QAQ Jiang Zhou and Chen Ju, you better fix things ASAP, I’m dizzy switching sides every chapter (｡ŏ_ŏ)
I’m about to wii sports resort to violence:))))))
Why tf the secretary decided it was a good idea to call Chen Ju?
Firstly, Jiang Zhou dislikes Chen Ju (at least acts like this), they are not even close emotionally and they don’t know each other much, so I don’t see why would the secretary think Chen Ju could potentially comfort him?
Secondly, Jiang Zhou is in an unpredictable state, and bringing Chen Ju in and throwing him in there is dangerous!
Tsk tsk, I hope he’ll be safe///