Chapter 32: One Cup Down? Nah, One Sip And You’re Out!
Wu Er Bai’s efficiency was indeed high. The next day, Lin Yan had just gotten up when he was notified to go record his biometric information and take an ID photo. By the time they finished and returned, it was already afternoon. The two were starving but didn’t solve lunch outside because Wu Xie said he wanted to go home and personally cook a meal to celebrate.
He thought it would be some big feast, but unexpectedly, after Wu Xie got home, he mysteriously had Wang Meng run an errand for him, then leisurely went to take a shower, leaving Lin Yan with a head full of black lines.
Damn it, wasn’t he hungry?
So when Wu Xie came out, he saw the starving Lin Yan gnawing on an apple at the dining table, with at least two or three cores discarded nearby. Wu Xie was somewhat helpless: “Couldn’t you wait a bit? Isn’t it almost here?”
Lin Yan shook his head: “I can wait, but my stomach can’t. If I don’t pad it first, the food won’t arrive and I’ll starve to death first.”
As he spoke, the doorbell rang. Wu Xie opened the door and sure enough, Wang Meng had arrived with the big feast. What happened to personally made? Why did it look like it was made at a restaurant?
Lin Yan hadn’t ordered much takeout before, so he thought early 2000s takeout was the same as over a decade later—plastic bags with plastic or paper boxes inside. Unexpectedly, there was a large insulated box. He opened it and saw it was quite upscale: a compartmentalized wooden food box inside, with a plate per layer.
He asked Wu Xie: “Wu Xie, what shop is this? Takeout is this upscale?”
Wu Xie leaned over to look: “Isn’t this the place where we ate West Lake Vinegar Fish? Oh right, this food box was one I had Wang Meng take over. These plates need to be returned after we finish eating.”
Lin Yan looked apologetically at Wang Meng, thinking what a miserable shop assistant—not only helping watch the shop but also delivering food, and soon having to moonlight as a plate delivery guy, not knowing if travel expenses would be reimbursed.
Just as he was thinking that, Wang Meng handed Wu Xie another bag he was holding and asked: “Boss, are travel expenses reimbursable?”
Wu Xie waved dismissively: “Go back and log it, it’ll be paid with your salary at the end of the month.”
“Got it, boss! Call me later to come pick up the plates!”
Wu Xie closed the door and conveniently closed the opened food box: “Don’t touch it yet, wait till I finish preparing.”
“What else is there?” Lin Yan ignored this side upon hearing that and curiously watched the bag in Wu Xie’s hand as he walked to the table and took things out one by one.
The bag wasn’t small, but it didn’t hold much.
Some tofu, a few dishes of sauces, and two bottles of beer.
He suddenly realized: Wu Xie was going to personally make stinky tofu!
Wu Xie saw him hesitate to speak: “What’s wrong?”
Lin Yan was a bit embarrassed: “Are you making stinky tofu?”
“How did you know? No, how do you know again?”
Lin Yan nodded shyly and held up one finger: “Can I ask a question?”
Wu Xie was curious: “What question?”
“That… when you make stinky tofu, will the neighbors complain that you’re stewing shit?”
“.”
Wu Xie flew into a rage from embarrassment and pushed him away from the dining table: “Get lost, get lost! Keep this up and you won’t get any!”
“Don’t!” Lin Yan grinned and casually grabbed a bottle of beer, went to the living room, sat on the sofa, ready to happily be a freeloading slacker.
In the end, it was happy, but freeloading only half succeeded. When Wu Xie finished and came to call him, he discovered Lin Yan had already fallen asleep on the sofa, still tightly clutching a beer bottle with just a few sips taken.
???
Wu Xie was shocked; he’d never seen someone with such poor alcohol tolerance! He was even more astonished: didn’t Lin Yan have any idea of his own tolerance? He’d just been yelling about being hungry, and two sips of beer knocked him out cold—this move was impressive!
No choice, he had to toss him onto the bed first. But a problem arose: toss him on the bed or in the coffin? If it were a week ago, Wu Xie would’ve unhesitatingly tossed him on the bed, but after experiencing five days a week of Lin Yan sleeping in the coffin and leaving him to sadly solve dinner alone, Wu Xie decisively threw Lin Yan into the coffin, padded his head with a pillow, and casually closed the coffin lid.
Hmm, nothing wrong with that.
The next morning, Lin Yan woke from hunger and didn’t feel anything wrong either. He even found the half bottle of beer Wu Xie had casually left on the tea table yesterday.
“Hmm? Why didn’t I finish it?” He took a sip. When Wu Xie got up, facing the same scene as yesterday afternoon, he could only hold his head, complain about why Lin Yan had such poor tolerance yet insisted on drinking, and drag him back to the coffin.
Hmm, this time he casually took the beer back to his own room. He swore he’d never let Lin Yan drink again! This wasn’t even one glass down—this was one sip blackout! Forgive his limited knowledge; he’d truly never heard of such a thing!
After a day of tossing about, Lin Yan woke from hunger again. This time he finally ate the fresh stinky tofu Wu Xie had personally made. Good thing Wu Xie had planned to make extra for the next day, or it wouldn’t have been fresh by the time Lin Yan woke.
Lin Yan ate while facing Wu Xie’s resentful gaze: “Mmm, the taste is indeed good, authentic!”
Wu Xie jabbed a piece of tofu with chopsticks, shattering it into five pieces: “Where’s it authentic?”
Lin Yan looked over innocently: “It’s just very authentic! What’s wrong with you? I just slept a bit, is there any need to look at me like that?”
“Slept… a bit?” Wu Xie pressed hard with his hand and slapped an EMS envelope in front of him: “Take a look at this.”
Lin Yan tore it open: “Eh? Isn’t this my ID card? So fast? We went in the morning, and it’s here in the afternoon?”
Wu Xie pressed hard again, shattering another piece of tofu: “Want to check the date again?”
“Hmm? What’s with the date?” Lin Yan pulled out the envelope and looked closely, shocked: “This this this, tomorrow’s delivery?”
Wu Xie finally couldn’t hold back and smacked the back of his head: “Tomorrow my ass—it’s today! You had two sips of booze, one sip eight hours! This is already the next day!”
“Ah?” Lin Yan was dumbfounded: “No way, my tolerance isn’t that bad, is it?” But thinking about it, he seemed to have really slept a whole day. Wu Xie had no reason to lie, and he vaguely remembered waking once in between, only to apparently take a sip of beer and black out.
“Really?” He asked guiltily: “So how much did I actually drink?”
Wu Xie sneered and gestured a length: “Added up, not even a third! I declare: from now on, any occasion with alcohol, you don’t touch a drop—not even the beer bottle!”
“…Fine, fine.” Thinking of how Wu Xie had carried him back to the bedroom at least twice, Lin Yan felt weak. Unexpectedly, after transmigrating, his alcohol tolerance hadn’t come along. At least before, he could stay sober after a bottle of beer!
With the ID card sorted, the rest naturally didn’t need Lin Yan’s involvement. After seeing his ID number, Wu Xie had already sent Wang Meng to book their two tickets to Beijing. Hearing Fatty insisted on full-service eat, drink, whore—cough, eat, drink, and play after they arrived, their suitcases only held some clothes—of course, mostly Wu Xie’s—Lin Yan was even simpler; his outer clothes basically couldn’t be changed, so some underwear was enough.
The coffin was simpler: after checking it at the airport to the place, just have it sent straight to the hotel. As lavish as Third Master Xiao of the Wu Family, the hotel he stayed at was naturally star-rated, secure and guaranteed. Next, it depended on how Fatty arranged things.
Just as they were preparing to leave, Wang Meng called: “Boss, two people are looking for you, saying they’re from… International Marine Resource Development Company. Want to see them?”
Wu Xie was stunned: “Marine Resource Development Company? Why would they come find me? Did they say what it’s about?”
Wang Meng hesitated: “They didn’t say… They just said it’s something related to you, boss, and it could be treated as a business deal.”
Wu Xie pondered for a moment: “Is their matter urgent?”
Wang Meng was stunned: “I’ll ask.” Faint voices came from the other end of the phone, as if discussing something.
After a dozen seconds, Wang Meng’s voice came: “They say it’s not urgent. If you have urgent matters, boss, they can wait till you return—two or three days is fine.”
Wu Xie nodded: “Then we’ll talk after we return from Beijing.”
He hung up the phone, called Lin Yan to head out, while inwardly puzzled.
So-called marine resource development generally referred to salvaging shipwrecks and such, but in the trade, it usually meant raiding sea tombs! That was far more harmful than tomb robbers. A regular tomb robber could only hit one tomb at a time, but a ship was different—one ship could carry far more than that! Otherwise there wouldn’t be the saying “one ship ten tombs.” In the 80s and 90s of the last century, many artifacts flowed overseas that way—the group of foreign artifact thieves from the South China Sea plundered who knows how many Chinese underwater treasures!
Off topic, but how did this company find him? He had no connection to these people. In recent years, the only thing linked to tombs was Lu King’s Palace, and that was an underground palace!
Facing Lin Yan’s puzzled gaze, he shook his head: “Some Marine Resource Development Company, saying it’s something related to me, and it could be a business deal. Don’t know what they want. But it’s not urgent—they said they can wait two or three days, talk when I return.”
Marine Resource Development? Qiu Dekao! Lin Yan’s pupils shook slightly, instantly linking this company to A Ning. But he had no way to explain how he knew A Ning was connected to this company—or maybe it was A Ning coming to find him! But if it wasn’t urgent… maybe departure time hadn’t arrived yet, no rush to leave? Or they weren’t ready on their end?
So he thought and subtly prompted: “Maybe it really is related to you. Remember that pendant from the foreign dead guy’s body?”
Wu Xie stopped, looked at him, and seemed to recall the pendant—more precisely, a steel dog tag engraved with a name.
The dog tag said James, a very ordinary foreign name.
Now it seemed this person perhaps wasn’t ordinary?
PS: Basically everything to explain has been explained, main storyline incoming! Timeline slightly altered, I’ll try to smooth it back.
