Chapter 42.1

After the big fellow said this sentence, the atmosphere inside the bus directly stagnated.

Lin Shiheng didn’t show any anger on his face, just raised his eyes slightly, hooked his lips smiling, and said, “I didn’t drop it. You can send it to the driver’s lost and found, the owner will pick it up.”

His attitude was very gentle, adding on his handsome face, he looked like an easy-to-bully student. But he had half the bus standing behind him, so the big fellow only felt the cold sweat slowly sliding down his back.

He reluctantly tugged the corners of his mouth, forcing a stiff smile on his face. “Yes, yes. What you said is right.”

Under the unfriendly gaze of half the bus, the big man weakly took a few steps forward, and painfully placed the dime in the lost and found.

His dime…

This was a whole dime…

Why couldn’t I have thought it through? But I just had to pick this guy to try to force him to give up his seat…

The big fellow was still struggling with regret when the bus stopped. An old man sitting beside Lin Shiheng got off with his cane.

Lin Shiheng kindly beckoned to the big fellow. “There is a seat here, you can come and sit down.”

Big fellow: “……”

His face twitched a bit then cautiously looked at the half-the-bus worth of people that were still standing behind him.

“No need, no need! It’s better to continue standing.”

“What do you mean!?”

A young man sitting near Lin Shiheng frowned and said, “You’re looking down on our Shi-ge, aren’t you?”

It was fine when he hadn’t said that, but when he did, the rest of the group all had a bit of anger on their faces.

This time, following Lin Shiheng out, this group of young people was still excited at first. However, after they transferred from bus to bus and as they entered a city that was uncountably many times more prosperous than their county, seeing all those well-dressed people holding things that they had never dared to dream of having, the feeling of inferiority weighed heavily in their hearts.

At this time, any words or actions by a random person that sounded like disdain would make them react violently.

The atmosphere inside the bus gradually intensified. Now, the big fellow wasn’t only sweating on his back, but his forehead was also beading with sweat.

He gulped some saliva and slowly raised his stiff legs. Like a zombie who had just dug out of his grave, his shoes clicked as he walked to sit down on the seat next to Lin Shiheng.

Lin Shiheng slightly moved his hands and the big fellow’s whole body shrunk, his hands hugging his head, a very standard position for someone prepared to suffer a beating.

However, the young man, who looked like a gentle student from the city, only pulled out a coat from his bag and put it on. When he was dressed, he looked at him offhandedly, “You’re cold?”

The big fellow, who was still hugging his head, “It’s… It’s fine.”

This man was definitely from a gang.

Definitely!

***

The bus drove for a long time, then they finally arrived in Shanghai.

During this time, the big fellow had been secretly looking forward to this group of people getting off the bus halfway. However, to his disappointment, even until he arrived at his destination, this half-a-bus-worth of people still hadn’t gotten off.

When the door was opened and the driver announced that they had arrived in Shanghai, he, who had maintained high vigilance from the beginning to the end, finally breathed a deep sigh of relief. Because he sat for a long time without moving, when he stood up, his stiff legs weren’t even able to move, yet he still hurried to get off.

I can finally get away from them!

It’s great! Too great! How great!

“Say, brother.”

A hand suddenly patted down on his strong shoulder, he stiffly and slowly turned his head to see Lin Shiheng’s face, which was incomparably gentle compared to his own.

He smiled and asked, “It is considered fate that we all rode on the same bus, why don’t we go to get a meal together?”

“I… I…”

The big fellow quietly looked at the bus door that had opened, calculating the odds of being able to escape this group of people if he just shrugged off the hand on his shoulder right now and ran for his life.

He often came to the Shanghai Bus Station and was considered familiar with the roads around here. It seemed that the chance of him escaping was still quite large.

He just needed to shake him off right now!

The big fellow’s expression stiffened.

He actually couldn’t shake off the hand on his shoulder that didn’t even look like it was using any strength!

Impossible?! He was obviously so strong!

Shake… Shake again…

“Shi-ge, what is he doing?”

One after another, the ruffians bearing their bags on their backs, who were getting ready to get off the bus, were curious as they stood around the aisle, looking at the big fellow who kept shaking his shoulders as if he was having a seizure.

“Don’t know.”

Lin Shiheng relaxed the hand that was restricting his shoulder. Before the man had time to be happy, the other hand landed on his arm, gently pulled, and directly tugged the man off the bus.

“This brother and I were like old friends from the start. Let’s go! Let’s go get a meal together.”

“Food! Great! I’ve almost starved to death!”

“Riding a bus like that really isn’t something people should do! It feels like my butt is going numb.”

A group of people spoke and laughed as they got off the bus. Because of Lin Shiheng’s warnings previously, when they got out of the car, they didn’t show any surprise on their faces towards anything they found novel. Instead, just kept looking straight ahead, following behind the two, causing passersby to look over at what appeared to be a grand scene.

“What are they looking at us for? Is there a tear on my clothes?”

One of the young men felt a chill on his back from all the staring but managed to maintain a serious expression while gazing ahead, yet he still turned to the side to one of the brothers to ask.

“I was just about to ask you. Did they figured out that we’re from the countryside?”

The more the people watched, the more nervous this group of brothers became. Fortunately, they still remembered Lin Shiheng’s previous instructions, one by one they all put on straight faces, even though some of them appeared rather emaciated. The good thing was that they were such a large group. With so many people wearing straight faces, keeping pace with one another while looking only forward as they walked, the scene was very imposing.

In the eyes of the passersby, the two men who walked in front seemed even more powerful.

The big fellow, who received so many people’s secretive curious stares, felt extremely hard-pressed.

He had to restrain himself with all his efforts in order to prevent his legs from shaking.

The real boss next to him was still speaking naturally as if the two of them were really some kind of ‘brothers’ and asked, “Brother, what’s your name?”

“Zhang Fengjie.”

“Zhang-ge. Ah… My last name is Lin. Lin Shiheng, you can call me Xiao Lin.”

(TN: Xiao Lin = Little Lin; it’s an intimate way of calling someone close like a younger brother.)

Zhang Fengjie was so scared that his brain went blank. Before he could even think about it, subconsciously, he followed Lin Shiheng’s words and called, “Xiao Lin…”

As soon as the words came out, the few people who had just walked silently behind them like docile sheep immediately glared at him.

“Ah! No! Shi-ge! Shi-ge, you can just call me Xiao Zhang.”

“Look at you, what are you so polite for?”

Zhang Fengjie looked up and over with fear and trepidation. Behind Lin Shiheng’s smile full of gentleness and intimacy were several faces staring at him with less-than-kind intent, as if they would kill him if he made any strange movements.

He managed to force a slightly-less-bitter, but still wry, smile out on his face.

“Something that needs to be done. Needs to done.”

Not being polite… Just won’t do!

If it weren’t for the current conditions not permitting, he would have slapped himself upside the head a few times.

What was with his eyesight!? Wasn’t it just a short ride, why couldn’t he have just stood!? But he just had to plot against this fiend!

Isn’t it great now?! Now, you’re entangled!.

When Zhang Fengjie heard that they wanted him to help find a suitable restaurant for a meal because he was familiar with this place, he automatically translated this sentence in his mind.

‘You have to treat us to a meal to make amends.’

‘Or I’ll kill you.’

Then the question was… With this many people… How much money would that be?

***

Very soon, Zhang Fengjie didn’t have time to think about how much money he would need to spend. Everyone had sat down together and after drinking a few more glasses of wine, the fear and trepidation dissipated as quickly as the wine that went down.

Drinking until both the face was flushed and eyes were red, he slapped the table and drunkenly began to sell his misery.

“Brother ah, we had hit it off. So I’ll say a few more words today. Every time I go home, I would say that I’m in construction. Just so that people can look up to me. In fact, at the construction site, I just help move the bricks.”

“You may see that my clothes look pretty good. In fact, I only have one pair of such nice clothes, that I only wear every time I go home, so as not to let the villagers look down on me. Now look at my arms, the bulging muscles look frightening each time I take the bus, so people are afraid to provoke me, and will give me a seat. In fact, this is actually from moving bricks.”

Lin Shiheng drank as much as he did, but his face was still white. He took a sip of the wine, his expression containing a bit of sympathy. “I had thought, Brother, you were doing well. But I didn’t expect it to be so miserable. However, I also know some people who move bricks in big cities. I heard that the salary is quite good, where it’s calculated according to the amount you turn in. You’re so strong, you must be really making the money.”

“Make what money?”

Zhang Fengjie waved his hand with his face still flushed, “It used to still be okay. They said that Shanghai was going to be developed, that Shanghai was a big city, causing all those bosses to rush to Shanghai one by one to build houses. But in the end, there are more and more houses, but no one buying them.”

“I have quite a few brothers, who aren’t under my boss. Although my boss is issuing less and less money, and there are also more and more delays, at least he was still issuing money. However, they are truly miserable, their boss just directly ran away, leaving behind those unfinished buildings. What use can they have?”

The group of brothers, who were eating as they listened, patted Zhang Fengjie’s shoulder very sympathetically. “Yeah! What good can a few buildings do? Houses are so cheap nowadays. If you had the money, what wouldn’t be better to use it on?”

Zhang Fengjie looked even more bitter. He lifted his head to chug down another half bottle of wine.

“My boss could still be considered generous. He can’t pay us the salary, so he said he’ll give us each a unit in a building under his name in place of the salary.”

“But what’s the use of the house? It can’t be eaten or drunk. Now the housing price in Shanghai has fallen to the lowest and it’s said it will be even lower in the future. The people who want to buy a house are still watching. And even if it sells now, the price is certainly not high enough. I am still fine, I still have the savings from my years of hard work in my hands. But those who don’t have savings are clamoring to quit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to spare the time to go back home and take a look.”

The group of brothers became even more sympathetic, “How can there be such a thing, using a house to offset wages? Even if I’m from the countryside, I also know that houses in Shanghai are now selling cheaper than paper pulp. Wouldn’t it be as if you worked a year for nothing?”

Zhang Fengjie shook his head with a bitter melancholic face and directly drank the remaining half bottle.

Lin Shiheng ate his food without speaking on the side.