“Okay, you get in first,” Nie Ran said.
The girl happily climbed into the car, adjusting her dress and playing with her hair, waiting for him to join her.
Nie Ran closed the car door, then turned and slipped into another taxi. By the time she chased after him, there was only the fading shadow of the departing taxi.
“Which hotel did you say just now?” the driver asked.
“xx Express…”
Nie Ran looked out the window at the now quieter street, almost saying the wrong name. He quickly corrected himself, “Old Jin Inn.”
“Good thing I asked again, otherwise I might have gone the wrong way. Haha,” the driver chuckled, changing lanes and heading towards the small inn.
Nie Ran sighed in relief, leaning back in his seat.
As the buildings passed by outside, he couldn’t help but notice many budget hotels, similar to where Ning Xin stayed.
What was she doing now? Was she asleep?
Or was she still upset about what happened during the day?
They arrived at the inn soon, but inside, it was noisy, as if something serious had happened.
Nie Ran thought of Lang Xiao and hurried inside.
The owner came out, holding a large mop and grumbling to himself.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“From where did a mouse, as big as a cat, come in? Thankfully, we managed to chase it out.”
A mouse as big as a cat…
Nie Ran frowned, hastening his pace back to Room 206.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw a faint white light floating in the air.
The water bucket had been opened slightly by Lang Xiao, and that’s how he had squeezed out.
Nie Ran quickly locked the door, tightly stuffing each crack around the door and window with toilet paper from the bathroom.
Lang Xiao murmured softly in the bucket, seeming uncomfortable.
Nie Ran lifted the lid of the bucket and tossed him a packaged steak he had brought back.
Lang Xiao sniffed it, tore open the packaging with his baby teeth, and happily devoured it.
Nie Ran sat on the bed, propping up his knees, watching him. He really wanted to throw him out, but Lang Xiao was already like a patient in a mental asylum. If something went wrong, it would be hard to explain.
After a day of turmoil, he was tired too. He lay down on the bed, ready to sleep.
But he could hear Ning Xin’s nagging in his ear.
“Why haven’t you brushed your teeth? You should brush at least twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. Going to the dentist is expensive.”
He forgot when she had said that, but despite scoffing at it, his body moved on its own, walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
The toothbrush in the small inn was small and rough, and the toothpaste tasted bad.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Nie Ran felt a bit nostalgic for the life in the mental asylum.
After brushing his teeth and coming out, Lang Xiao had finished the steak and wagged his tail as he ran to Nie Ran’s feet, pawing at his pant leg.
Nie Ran kicked him lightly in the stomach with his toe. “You’re such a mama’s boy.”
Lang Xiao growled lowly in response, seemingly cursing at him.
Rolling his eyes, Nie Ran lay on the single bed. After a while, he felt it was too narrow, so he removed the bedside table and pushed the two beds together, making it more comfortable to lie down.
Lang Xiao climbed to the end of the bed, intending to sleep there. But Nie Ran kicked him off with a grumble.
Closing his eyes, Nie Ran couldn’t help but think about the consequences of getting lost in memories. He looked around and turned on the bulky colour TV on the cabinet, putting on an animal documentary for Lang Xiao to watch.
Lang Xiao was completely engrossed in watching Animal Planet, forgetting to blink for quite some time.
The night went smoother than he had imagined.
The next morning, Nie Ran woke up to a narrow beam of light shining in through the window.
In the simple room, besides him, there was only Lang Xiao lying on the floor naked.
“I’m hungry. You’re cooking today,” Nie Ran declared.
The room was quiet, with no response from anyone.
For some reason, Nie Ran felt unusually restless.
He aimlessly opened the bedside cabinet, finding a small bottle of what looked like a drink and a familiar-looking small box inside.
It seemed like Ning Xin had introduced it before; it was chewing gum.
Since he didn’t have anything else to eat, chewing some gum would suffice.
Nie Ran glanced at the price tag, opened the packet, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t put it in his mouth.
It was greasy, like a thin film, longer than his fingers when opened.
Looking at the bizarre shape it unfolded into, he suddenly thought of something. Disgusted, he threw it into the trash can as if touching dog faeces.
This discovery made him feel dirty all over, especially considering the questionable hygiene of the inn. Unable to bear it, he went back to the bathroom for another shower.
When he came out, Lang Xiao was awake, lying on the bed, watching TV with two large dark circles under his eyes.
Nie Ran said, “Go buy breakfast.”
“Huh?”
Seeing Lang Xiao’s foolish look, Nie Ran felt uncomfortable. He hadn’t even combed his hair. He grabbed some change and left.
The owner had already gone off duty, and sitting behind the counter was a fat middle-aged woman.
Nie Ran asked her for the location of a breakfast shop, and after some effort, he finally refused her offer to accompany him, walking out of the inn.
The streets outside were wide and bright, with most pedestrians looking tidy, healthy, and energetic.
Feeling much more comfortable and in better spirits, Nie Ran walked to the snack street the woman mentioned. At first sight, he chose a Chongqing noodle shop and ordered a bowl of noodles.
An LCD TV hung on the wall of the noodle shop, broadcasting the deeds of a certain person.
Dressed plainly with a kindly smile, yet exuding an aura of leadership, the person stood atop a tall building, addressing the thousands below.
As the owner brought the noodles over, Nie Ran pointed at the TV and asked, “Where can I see him?”
The owner was taken aback by his question, taking a few seconds before responding, “Well… you’d have to go to XX Gate.”
“Where is XX Gate?”
The owner chuckled. “You’re a tourist, right? It’s simple. Just step out and flag down a taxi. Tell the driver you want to go to XX Gate, and they’ll know.”
Pondering this, Nie Ran found the noodles less delicious than before. After finishing the bowl, he hailed a taxi and headed straight for XX Gate.
There were even more people here, with occasional formations of uniformed men marching by.
In front, there was a grand gate with a huge portrait hanging above, the same person he had seen on TV.
Some people were queuing to enter, and Nie Ran joined them, only to find that the staff requested identification.
Feeling his pockets, he had nothing but cash, so he gave up and decided to wander around the area.
After spending a day wandering around, Nie Ran didn’t see the person he wanted to see, but he indulged in plenty of snacks and encountered many strangers.
The people behaved in an orderly manner, and the traffic flowed smoothly.
The world is indeed as peaceful and prosperous as Ning Xin said at the beginning.
He bought some more food and took a taxi back to the hotel.
As soon as he opened the door to the room, Lang Xiao pounced on him like a starving ghost, sniffing around him, then grabbed the bag full of food and leaped back onto the bed to eat.
The cleaner poked her head out from the next room. “What was that noise just now… Did something happen?”
“Nothing,” Nie Ran replied calmly, walking in and locking the door behind him.
As the bag was torn open, Lang Xiao grabbed a roast duck, gnawing on it without lifting his head.
Nie Ran rolled his eyes, sitting on the other side of the bed, counting the cash he had.
He still didn’t have much concept of money in this world. The landlord asked for however much, and he gave it. He had spent most of it in the past two days.
Now he had eight red bills left, some yellow ones, some blue ones, and some loose change.
**Nomad: 100 Yuan bill is red, 50 is green, 20 is brown/yellow, 10 is blue, 5 is purple and 1 is dark green.**
How long would this money last? And what would he do once it was gone?
He still had a bank card, with the money he had split evenly with Ning Xin last time, but he wasn’t sure how to withdraw money from it.
Nie Ran lowered his head in contemplation as an advertisement played on the television.
A spirited man holding a megaphone shouted, “Want to earn money? Come to XXXX!”
He suddenly raised his head and said to Lang Xiao:
“Tomorrow, we’ll go make money.”
Lang Xiao looked at him, looking puzzled.
But Nie Ran had already made up his mind.
What did that woman care about the most? Money.
If he could prove that he had a better ability to make money than her, wouldn’t she have to acknowledge his superiority?
But what method should he use to make money?
Nie Ran fell into contemplation, tossing and turning, unable to sleep all night.
The next morning at seven o’clock, Lang Xiao was still fast asleep, with Nie Ran holding him down in the bucket.
Nie Ran finished washing up, feeling refreshed, and opened the bucket to wake him up.
Lang Xiao groggily opened his eyes and made a noise.
“Don’t sleep anymore, get up, I’ll take you out.”
With a flash of light, the naked young man sat up from the bed.
“Where are we going?”
Nie Ran couldn’t be bothered to explain. He picked up the money and was about to leave when he suddenly realized that he wasn’t wearing any clothes.
With so many people outside, running around naked would surely cause trouble. Not good.
But he couldn’t be bothered to go out and buy him a set of clothes either.
After some thought, Nie Ran grabbed a bedsheet and wrapped it around Lang Xiao’s waist.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Lang Xiao obediently followed behind him, almost tripping downstairs due to his drowsiness.
Nie Ran went to the front desk to check out, and the person on duty was the male boss again.
“I’ll buy this bedsheet from you.”
“Huh?”
“Just tell me how much.”
The boss contemplated how to rip him off and at the same time used the intercom to inform the cleaning staff to inspect the room.
After a few minutes, he heard the reply, and he looked at the two tall and sturdy men outside the counter, his pupils trembling.
“You two…”
Nie Ran grew impatient, “Is it done yet?”
“Done, done,” the boss replied.
The boss regained his composure and smoothly stated the price, “One bedsheet, one box of condoms, 280 yuan. We’ll refund you 100 yuan as a deposit, so you owe me 180 yuan.”
Nie Ran paid the money and left without looking back.
The boss watched their backs, increasingly incredulous. “Goodness…”
Based on his experiences of the past few days, Nie Ran had already mastered a skill – asking taxi drivers for directions.
Once inside the taxi, he asked, “Where is the wholesale market?”
The driver responded, “Are you going to buy groceries? Seafood or beef and mutton?”
“Wholesale clothing,” Nie Ran chose his former profession.
“Well, you’ve asked the right person. Here we go,” the driver said.
With a press on the gas pedal, the driver took them to the largest clothing wholesale market in the city.
Nie Ran felt that there were already many people on the streets, but here at the market, there were even more, bustling and crowded, with barely any space to move.
Lang Xiao followed closely behind him, the scent of humans making him tense up almost to the point of exploding, several times he wanted to run away.
Nie Ran said in a low voice, “Do you still want to see her?”
Without hesitation, Lang Xiao replied, “Yes.”
“Then follow me honestly,” Nie Ran said.
Nie Ran reached back and handed over a plastic bag he picked up from the roadside, putting it over Lang Xiao’s head to separate him slightly from the crowd.
Lang Xiao endured the discomfort and followed him.
When Nie Ran saw familiar clothing, he stopped and picked up a set, asking, “How much is this?”
“10 sets for 40, 50 sets for 30, 100 sets for 20,” the shopkeeper replied.
“I want a thousand sets,” Nie Ran stated.
The shopkeeper looked at him in surprise, “Ah, okay. Do you want to take them now or have them delivered?”
“Right now,” Nie Ran said.
Calculating the money in his card, Nie Ran selected some styles and filled five large woven bags. He rented a van and headed to the place where he sold goods last time.
In the hotel, Ning Xin enjoyed a peaceful sleep without any disturbances. Upon waking up, she played on her phone in bed and ordered takeout.
After brushing her teeth, the fried dough sticks and tofu pudding were delivered. Sitting at the table, she started to eat.
As the crispy fried dough stick entered her mouth, she couldn’t help but sigh, this is what life should be like.
Ning Xin habitually picked up her phone and found a news notification.
“People’s Square is empty of dancers, and the reason is unexpectedly…”
Clicking on it, she was shocked by the accompanying picture.
Nie Ran stood behind a mountain-like pile of bras, holding plastic bags filled with money. Lang Xiao stood next to him with a plastic bag over his head, a bedsheet tied around his waist, and wearing a large red women’s bra on his upper body.
**Nomad: ahhhhhhhhhhh (/Д＼ )**
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