Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The girl froze for a second. “Who are you?”

I chuckled. “The grilled sausage vendor. Want one?”

“How much?” She looked tempted.

I rubbed my hands together and held up two fingers. “Normally two yuan each, but I’ll give you a discount today. Two yuan for two.”

Beside me, Jian Qin exploded. “Can you be fucking rational for once?!”

No, I was very sure now. There was no show to watch anymore. At most, they’d finish their arm-wrestling match, whoever stayed would stay, whoever left would leave, and Chen Wen would successfully play the hero saving the damsel, winning over a whole crowd of hearts from then on.

Why would his heroic rescue succeed?

Because I knew Chen Wen way too well. He was very good at showing off. The difference was, other people were all talk, while Chen Wen actually had the goods to back it up.

I still remembered one year in high school when Chen Wen came home late at night. It was cold, so he had on a thin hoodie with the hood pulled up.

Chen Wen’s face was small and delicate, the kind of little V-shaped face girls envied, so the hood covered more than half of it.

I bent down to look for his eyes. “Are you trying to scare people this late at night?”

He turned his head slightly and gave a soft cough. “Just you.”

I immediately sensed something was off. “Chen Wen, what guilty thing did you sneak off to do behind everyone’s back?”

Chen Wen hesitated for two seconds. “Don’t tell my mom.”

I was very firm, upright and selfless. “If you really did something bad, I’m definitely telling her.”

The moment I finished, Chen Wen raised a hand and pulled off his hood. Under the streetlight, the young man’s near-perfect face was revealed in full, his cold pale skin making him look especially aloof.

There was a small cut on his prominent brow bone.

“Fuck, you’re hurt too?” My eyes went wide.

Chen Wen curled his lips in a smile. “Just a slip-up. I drove them off.”

After that incident got around, Chen Wen became famous. He had fought several guys, but the best part was that not only did the school not punish him, they praised him as a righteous and brave young man.

Back then, Chen Wen leaned against a desk, answering whenever people asked him about it, grinning like a total delinquent as he said, “I’m invincible, thanks.”

That was when I started to admire the guy a little. Of course, I also really wanted to beat him up.

Snapping back to the present, I said to Jian Qin, “Business matters. School starts in a few days, and I still need to earn spending money.”

Jian Qin rolled her eyes.

This area wasn’t as bustling as some other streets, but it still wasn’t a place where you could just cause trouble however you liked. Chen Wen had always been pretty steady and wouldn’t easily stir things up. With that in mind, I calmly continued selling grilled sausages.

The aroma gradually spread, drawing over half the spectators who had been watching the drama. I instantly became swamped. Jian Qin ran over to help me, then sighed and said, “You really are something. Chen Wen already saw you, but they’re talking business over there, so he didn’t come over. Sigh. I thought we’d get to see some big dramatic scene.”

There was unmistakable regret in her tone at the end.

I spared a moment to glance over, then smiled brightly at the person in front of me. “Four, right? Sure. Four yuan.”

…

Chen Wen walked up to my stall carrying his jacket and lifted a brow slightly.

I was packing up, feeling my bulging wallet and growing happier by the second. Even the look I gave him was extremely peaceful. “You done?”

Chen Wen smiled. “Tang Sha, can you possibly be any more shameless?”

I blinked. “Help me close up the stall?”

“…”

Chen Wen stared at me for a long moment, then curved his lips expressionlessly. “Dream on.”

I paused, then looked up at him. “Now you won’t even help me pack up a stall?”

After saying that, I choked up at just the right moment. “We’ve known each other for over ten years, no matter how you look at it. Do you really think you-”

My voice abruptly cut off.

Chen Wen tossed his jacket over my head, wrapping me up tight. He even grabbed me and shook me a few times. While I was still stunned, his voice rang out. “The entertainment industry will forever regret not having you in it.”

??? Why did that line sound so familiar?

I pulled the jacket off and met Chen Dog’s eyes for a few seconds. A moment later, I adopted the air of a big boss. “How about this, then? I pay, you work.”

Chen Wen: “?”