Fei Bai thought about what Luo Yusen had said regarding the important recording on the voice recorder and realized that admitting he’d lost it would certainly deduct some points from Luo Yusen’s impression of him.
So, he said, “I temporarily forgot where I put it. Shixiong, could you give me a bit more time…”
Luo Yusen didn’t respond, and his gaze casually landed on a book at Fei Bai’s bedside. “Do you like Borges?”
Fei Bai noticed the copy of “The Deep Rose” he had placed next to his pillow. He felt a bit embarrassed to admit it was used for hypnosis before sleep.
Wait, he seemed to see something tucked inside the book’s pages.
Fei Bai leaned over, grabbed the poetry collection, and pulled out the voice recorder from within.
He had a touch of OCD and never folded book pages. He must have used the voice recorder as a makeshift bookmark yesterday.
So, Luo Yusen probably saw where the voice recorder was a long time ago but deliberately waited until now to tell him.
Thinking about how he had just tried to act calm and composed, Fei Bai felt a bit flushed.
“Thank you, Shixiong,” he said softly.
Luo Yusen extended his hand, palm up. “You’re welcome.”
His fingers were slender and elegant, with clean and smooth lines. This hand had held a coffee cup for him two days ago, and it had touched the back of his hand.
It took Fei Bai a moment to react and handed him the recorder.
Luo Yusen took it and stood up, heading towards the door. “I’ll prepare a new one for you next time.”
As he saw Luo Yusen off, Fei Bai glanced at the wall clock. It was not even ten o’clock, and he still had half of the morning to spend freely.
As Luo Yusen descended the stairs, he heard the sound of his footsteps echoing in the narrow corridor. He had never lived in such an old-fashioned residential building without an elevator before. Today, for the first time, he realized that some people hang their laundry in the hallway.
Actually, he could have had his driver come to pick up the voice recorder, but for some reason, he had developed some curiosity about where Fei Bai was living. He thought he might take a detour to have a look before heading to work.
The downstairs door was left wide open, and some residents had placed bricks against it for easy access. Luo Yusen instinctively furrowed his brow when he saw this, wondering if it was safe for children to live here.
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.
Speaking of which, when he was studying at S University, an elder had bought him an apartment in a nearby upscale community. After graduating, he didn’t often stay there, but he never sold or rented it out because he had always been possessive of his own things.
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“Brother, tell me I didn’t see wrong. You’re actually late today.”
Luo Yusen opened his phone and checked the time. It was almost half past ten, thanks to his delay at Fei Bai’s place.
“Well then, go report to the finance department and deduct my salary for this month,” he replied.
Luo Chengcheng chuckled nervously. “How could I dare, Brother Luo? I still rely on you to pay
me.”
He observed Luo Yusen for a moment and noticed that something was different today—his expression. Luo Yusen’s expression was unusually gentle as if he had just experienced something pleasant.
Luo Chengcheng couldn’t pass up the opportunity for some gossip and asked, “Brother, where did you go this morning?”Luo Yusen adjusted his shirt collar and replied, “I met Feifei’s new tutor.”
“Feifei’s new tutor?” Luo Chengcheng became interested, “Male or female? How old are they? And how do they look?”
It was a young man, less than twenty years old, still a child, as for his appearance…
Luo Yusen couldn’t help but recall Fei Bai’s seductive smile from that day at the coffee shop. He cleared his throat and didn’t bother answering Luo Chengcheng’s trivial questions, heading straight back to his office.
“Bo-ring,” Luo Chengcheng muttered, rolling his eyes.
He quickly chatted with Secretary Zheng for a bit, then received a call that left him a bit annoyed. After hanging up, he ran his hand through his hair with a troubled expression. “Zheng Jie, this business partner is really difficult this time. They insist on a 20% price reduction, and we’ve negotiated several times with no progress. Today, they invited me to have lunch together, probably planning for a long negotiation.”
He glanced at the time. “They’ve chosen a Japanese restaurant near S University. If I go later, I probably won’t find parking. I have to leave now. Please inform my brother.”
Zheng Jie playfully pointed her finger at him and teased, “You’re just looking for an excuse to skip work, aren’t you?”
Fei Bai hadn’t expected that he would wrap up the matters with Xu Geyang and Luo Yusen so quickly that morning. He opened the fridge, grabbed a can of cola, and drank it while contemplating how to spend the remaining time. As the carbonated bubbles popped and fizzed, he thought about his grandmother, whom he hadn’t visited in a while.
His grandmother also lived in the same city and was quite an interesting old lady. One of her notable traits was that she disliked giving face to anyone, including her late husband. For instance, when she was asked to accompany him to a sixtieth-anniversary class reunion from their elementary school days, she was wearing reading glasses and watching cartoons with Fei Bai at the time. She responded impatiently, “Tell them I’m dead, there aren’t many of us left anyway.”
Not only did his grandmother not give face to her late husband, but she also didn’t spare Fei Bai’s father. When Fei Bai was mischievous and his school reported his behavior, his father would come home and start lecturing him. He mentioned that he had never been called to the school when Fei Bai’s grandfather was alive. His grandmother interjected coldly, “Because I went instead. Have you forgotten the time when I chased you out of the third-floor classroom with a stick?”
Later, when Fei Bai was in high school and his parents found out about his relationship with Xu Geyang, they forced him to break up with him. They threatened to kick him out of the house and cut off his financial support if he didn’t comply. Fei Bai refused to give in and left in a huff. He spent a night outside, and it was his grandmother who eventually found him. She rented a house for him the next day with her retirement money, taking care of him until he finished his college entrance exams.
During this time, his father had even come to her house and threatened her, saying that if she continued to indulge Fei Bai’s waywardness, he would disown her as a mother.
His grandmother had snorted and replied, “You dare threaten your own mother? I disown you as my son!”
From that moment, in Fei Bai’s eyes, grandmother transformed from an interesting old lady into a superhero, a modern-day female bodhisattva.
All right, so this morning I will visit and worship the modern-day bodhisattva of my family.
Fei Bai tossed the empty cola can into the trash bin, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and rushed downstairs. After leaving his apartment, he first went to a nearby bank to withdraw some money. Then, he found a shared bicycle and pedaled towards his grandmother’s house.
The place where his grandmother lived wasn’t far from his current rented apartment. It would take about twenty minutes by bike, and he should arrive just in time to get back to school for his classes.
At this time, there weren’t many cars on the road, and the bike lane was spacious. Fei Bai accelerated, pedaling a few times harder, and the cool breeze brushed across his face, filling his T-shirt and creating an illusion that he was gliding.
When he arrived, his grandmother was about to leave, holding a rolling pin with flour on it. She looked surprised to see him and asked, “Xiao Fei, why are you here?”
Then, she glanced behind him and asked, “Where is Xiao Xu? Xiao Xu didn’t come with you this time?”
Fei Bai hadn’t decided how to tell her about breaking up with Xu Geyang. He chose to change the topic for now. “Why are you carrying a rolling pin when you go out?”
“Oh, someone downstairs is trying to take our spot for square dancing. I think I might need it in the next couple of days to settle things. It’s for self-defense,” his grandmother said calmly.
Fei Bai swallowed nervously, deciding not to mention Xu Geyang yet. He was afraid that if he did, his grandmother might rush straight to the school and roll his ex-boyfriend flat with the rolling pin.
“Xiao Fei, it’s been over a week since the semester started. I thought you were busy with your second year of college, so I didn’t want to bother you with phone calls,” his grandmother said, tapping Fei Bai’s shoulder with the rolling pin.
“I… I’m a little busy.” Fei Bai said.
“Oh, in that case, you should quit your part-time job at the convenience store. Focus on your studies. I’ve been telling you this repeatedly. I’ll provide for your living expenses. I have my retirement pension and some savings from before. Although your dad talks tough, he still gives me money. Why are you suffering?” His grandmother chatted incessantly and pulled him into the house.
“I’ve already quit the convenience store job,” Fei Bai slipped an envelope filled with money into a vase on the cabinet while his grandmother wasn’t looking. “A professor who invited me to work on a project introduced me to a tutoring job that pays really well. You don’t need to worry about me. Use the money to treat yourself to good food, buy nice clothes, or even go on a trip.”
Fei Bai had worked night shifts at the convenience store before but had stopped doing so after the breakup. He hadn’t been in the mood to go back, and he didn’t answer when they called him, so that job had fizzled out.
His grandmother responded with an “Oh.” “How are the parents of the kids you’re tutoring?”
The parents are pretty good, handsome, wealthy, and highly educated. They’ve even given me a green hat.
Fei Bai chuckled, but he only mentioned the first part.
His grandmother helped him take off his backpack. “It’s almost mealtime. What would you like to eat?”
Fei Bai had thought about saying something cute, like “I want to eat whatever you make,” but then he noticed that his grandmother was about to open a food delivery app on her phone.
So he paused for a moment and said, “Anything is fine. I’ll eat whatever you order.”
Then his grandmother ordered the well-known dish of snail noodles.
When the food delivery arrived, Fei Bai couldn’t help but feel that the scene wasn’t quite the cozy and harmonious gathering of grandparents and grandchildren he had imagined, especially when he smelled the food.
His grandmother didn’t seem to notice anything unusual as she helped him unwrap the disposable utensils and shared updates about her life. “Let me tell you, Xiao Fei, there’s an old man who’s been watching me when I dance in the square lately. He even praised me for looking like a little swan. I mean, I’m at such an age, and it feels strange to hear such compliments…”
sure he wasn’t talking about the Little Swan washing machine?”
That’s when he saw his grandmother reach for the rolling pin.
Fei Bai’s elbow was still aching when he rode his bike back to school. When he was about to reach the west school gate, he couldn’t help but free his hand to rub it.
However, at that moment, something was suddenly pressed under the bike’s wheels, causing it to swerve to the side and scrape against a parked luxury car. His elbow hit the car door hard, and the pain brought tears to his eyes uncontrollably.
The window of the luxury car slowly rolled down, revealing the face of a young man.
____
[tn: Someone gave us kofi :> thank you very much dear ♡ ]
This grandma is cool 😎
Thanks for the translation!
grandma of the year.
Oh, is that the Luo Chengcheng? Grandma is super cool 😎
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
Lmao this grandma is too funny!! Who doesn’t want a granny like this!
Cool grandma!
Thanks for the chapter!
Grandma is MVP, she is wonderful 😂
Thank You for the new chapter (´,,•ω•,,)♡
Grandma is the best and my goals for life honestly
Grandmothers are always the warmest and best. If they were good mothers, of course
Thank you very much for the translation 🤍🤍🤍🤍
This woman has grit
Ah ah, there is a error repeating phrase ‘Grandma said calmly’. On the 51 paragraph.
That’s why grandparents are best for grandchildren
His grandma is so cute
Vó maravilhosa, patroa
Oh who might be the owner of that car. 😅