Chapter 11: No Slackers Allowed
After confirming that her university days would be spent in the same city as Wang Heng, Han Yixuan found it somewhat difficult to control her mood. For the entire following day, she was in a slightly excited state.
Han Yixuan, accustomed to being a good girl, surprisingly felt an impulse to shout loudly amid the stream of customers—though, of course, she rationally suppressed this impulse and managed to do her work relatively steadily.
Despite making N little mistakes.
With a “ping,” the ice cubes that should have gone into the milk tea fell to the ground. Han Yixuan’s hand shook, and the whole cup of milk tea was about to spill over, but fortunately, Wang Heng nearby reacted quickly and steadied the milk tea, snatched it from the young girl’s hand, handled it properly, and handed it to the customer.
Fortunately, the customer didn’t notice this small mishap.
After seeing off this customer, the shop was temporarily idle. Wang Heng bent down to pick up the ice cubes from the floor, tossed them into the sink, and then said to the girl, “Excited about going to university, huh?”
Han Yixuan covered her cheeks with both hands and let out an embarrassed laugh: “Ehehe, a bit distracted.”
“Focus during work hours. Next time, I might not be able to save the day.”
“No, you definitely can! You’re so fast and reliable…”
Wang Heng raised an eyebrow: “Your confidence in me is way too blind, isn’t it?”
The young girl shook her head vigorously: “Not blind at all! You remember last time, when I almost got hit by a car? You saved me then too. Sure enough, it was you again this time.”
“Once or twice is fine, but not three times. You’d better be more careful yourself from now on. Relying on others is never as good as relying on yourself.”
Han Yixuan pursed her lips and took out her mobile phone to stare at the small screen.
Seeing this, Wang Heng turned around as well, facing the shop doorway with his hands on the counter.
People came and went on the sidewalk outside the shop door, and customers could walk in at any moment. With the shop manager absent, only the young boy and girl were in the shop, and when they didn’t speak, the shop was very quiet.
Wang Heng had his back to Han Yixuan, but the shop door was glass, and now that the sun had set and night had fallen—the interior was brighter than the outside—it was easy to see reflections in the glass from inside.
Thus, he noticed that the young girl behind him was staring at him.
Wang Heng felt a chill on his back and instinctively shrank his neck.
From the day of his rebirth in the exam room until now, more than a month had passed. But the scene of his death just before rebirth was still vividly etched in his mind…
“It’s getting dark.” Han Yixuan suddenly said.
“Yeah.” Wang Heng looked down at the counter and opened the order system, seemingly seriously checking today’s business status.
“After we get off work later, how are you getting home?”
Wang Heng was about to speak when he suddenly felt his mobile phone vibrating in his pants pocket. He took it out and saw it was a call from his father. But upon answering, the voice he heard wasn’t his father’s.
“Hello… Uncle Liu?”
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Wang Jian felt like he was about to throw up.
Although tonight’s social engagement started with beer, once the atmosphere heated up, the leader decisively opened two bottles of aged baijiu—that taste hit straight to the brain with just a drop down the throat. And Wang Jian had to pour drinks for the opposing leader while blocking for his own leader, so naturally, he couldn’t stop drinking.
“Five champions, six six smooth, seven…”
“Drink! Hahaha, drink!”
Wang Jian, who hadn’t been tested by alcohol in a long time, faltered during the drinking game round—his hand went out but his mouth didn’t follow. No choice, another cup it was.
Another cup of fiery baijiu went down, and Wang Jian blinked, finding it hard to keep his eyes open.
Seeing this, his leader finally couldn’t stand it: “Little Wang, go rest and sober up?”
“Okay…”
Wang Jian mumbled an agreement, got up to head to the restroom. But supporting himself against the wall to the doorway, his hand missed, and he smashed his forehead into the floor tiles, falling hard.
“Little Wang, Little Wang, what’s wrong with you!”
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By the time the taxi pulled up to the residential area entrance, Wang Heng had already been waiting there.
The rear door opened, and two men stumbled out—more precisely, one was dead drunk and being supported by the other.
Wang Heng hurried over, supporting the man who couldn’t walk straight due to his stumbling feet, and said to the other, “Thanks for the trouble, Uncle Liu.”
“No problem, just convenient. Just keep an eye on him when you get back, don’t let him fall again.”
“Again?” Wang Heng caught that detail, “Did he fall in the restaurant? How many times?”
“Not many times… Hold him steady, I’m off!”
His father’s colleague brushed it off with a laugh, got back into the taxi, waved, and closed the door.
The taxi soon drove away.
Wang Heng sighed: “Don’t you know your own alcohol tolerance?”
Wang Jian had his eyes closed, lightly snoring.
“Stop pretending, you’re awake.”
Wang Heng’s tone was very certain, leaving no room for doubt.
“How did you know?” Wang Jian opened his eyes somewhat awkwardly. Due to the alcohol, his eyes were still slightly bloodshot.
“Last time you got drunk, I was the one supporting you. If you were really drunk, you’d be much harder to handle than this.”
Wang Heng knew his old man too well—his work required socializing at the table to achieve performance, but his alcohol tolerance was truly poor. He wouldn’t pass out after one cup, but once he drank baijiu, he’d inevitably get buzzed after a short while. His lack of promotion at the unit was absolutely closely related to his poor drinking survival skills.
Wang Jian touched the stubble on his chin and exhaled a breath of alcohol: “Lack of exercise…”
“No more exercising. Be careful not to get alcohol-related liver issues before you drink your way to a promotion and salary increase.”
“Can’t avoid exercising. You’ve even started a part-time job, kid. Besides, after tonight’s drinking, the commission is in the bag—your computer won’t be a problem!”
“I see…” Wang Heng glanced at his father, feeling quite helpless.
Of course, he couldn’t possibly say that he had the advantage of being a reincarnator, so his father could slack off and coast from now on without issue. For a normal middle-aged man who just had a slight gaming addiction, such words would be too damaging to his pride.
So Wang Heng just said: “Anyway, your medical insurance limit isn’t high, so you know that yourself. Moreover, since you got drunk this time, your leader won’t drag you along next time, right?”
However, Wang Jian raised an eyebrow: “Nah, you’re too naive. Our leader needs people who can get drunk on cue! You see, we’re usually Party B, entertaining Party A. How to make Party A happy? Get them to drink someone under the table—that gives them a sense of achievement!”
Wang Heng gritted his teeth: “I see…”
With the alcohol buzz not fully gone, Wang Jian chatted on: “The key for Party B in business is to please Party A, not show off your own ability. When necessary, putting on a little act is very important. I admit, when I passed out in the private room earlier, there was definitely some acting involved…”
“You’re really a good actor then.”
“Joking aside, without a few tricks up your sleeve, how can you play the social game? Your old man is a hermit—quiet usually, but when it counts, I can put on a great show…”
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