544 Love Saw
“Notification for Player 0000! After becoming the Lapidarist, the effect of the title, Lothario will become more effective. The friendliness level from the ghosts who like you will increase double its usual speed, and you have the chance to turn hatred of the ghosts from the opposite sex into love; the rise of hatred from people who hate you will not change.”
“No!” Han Fei denied the choice clearly. This profession was very dangerous. It could help Han Fei increase the friendliness level but if he was not careful, he would be chased by endless ghosts. This was a risky profession. The system was right on one thing. The profession was like ice dancing on fire, the player had to be on constant alert for the risks.
“Fu Yi’s life is a cautionary tale. I didn’t follow Fu Sheng’s footsteps when I faced the black box, and I will not follow Fu Yi’s footsteps when it comes to romantic relationships.”
Han Fei turned around and was startled. His wife stood outside the café holding an umbrella. She held her dirty jacket. She had seen everything between Han Fei and Teacher Liu.
“Please… listen to my explanation.”
“It’s alright, I heard everything. You were helping her find the cause of her father’s death.” His wife seemed to know what Han Fei was thinking. She shook the dirty jacket. “There’s nothing inside.”
“How did you get your clothes so dirty?” Han Fei removed his jacket as he walked to his wife. He draped his clothes on her. “I’ve clarified everything with her. Shall we go home?” Han Fei didn’t ask why his wife was following him, he didn’t dare to ask. He held the umbrella and shielded his wife from the rain. His wife saw how wet his shoulder was and leaned towards Han Fei.
Han Fei had been watching the distance between them. But as time progressed, his wife was more willing to be closer to Han Fei.
It was already late midnight but the rain showed no sign of stopping. They walked down the road outside of the internet café and saw an old couple. They were pushing a cart selling oden. Perhaps it was the rain, most of their stuff was not yet sold.
“We haven’t been out like this, sharing some streetfood in a long time already, right?” Han Fei looked at his wife. “Since it’s already late, why not we stay out longer tonight? Normally I’m so busy with work that I never have time for you and the kids.” They put away the umbrella and sat beside the small cart. The rain slid down the tent. The old couple pointed at the small sign beside the cart and smiled warmly. Han Fei read the sign. The basic meaning was the granny was mute and the grandpa had hearing difficulty. He needed hearing aid. Hopefully, the customers wouldn’t mind.
“Even at their age, they can still rely on each other. That’s nice.” His wife had on Han Fei’s jacket and looked at the steaming oden. “I want to try this.”
“I don’t think there are many more customers, we should eat more.” Han Fei was a Midnight Butcher, he’d eat anything that had meat. On this rainy night, the light from the stall was very warm. There were not many customers. Only Han Fei and his wife sat beside the cart.
“If I’m not wrong, Fu Sheng should be able to return to school soon and his life will become more interesting.” Han Fei looked at the rising steam. He believed he was doing the right thing.
“Actually it’s my fault that he became like this.” This was the first time his wife told Han Fei things like this. “When we just got married, I wanted to have a better relationship with him. I also wanted him to be happier. But an accident happened on the day we visited the theme park. I got separated from him. I knew he was scared so I kept looking for him.”
“The theme park?” Han Fei’s expression didn’t change but he perked up his ears.
“Perhaps from that moment onwards, he thought I’m a horrible woman. He assumed I lost him on purpose. But it was an accident and I have been trying to make up for it.” The wife lowered her head in shame. “I know his biological mother has brought him to the theme park once before she died. I wanted to be his mother. Then, on the day of your big fight, I had so much regret. I had no idea how things turned out like that. Perhaps I was wrong from the start.”
“The day of the big fight?” Han Fei looked at the woman with confusion. “There was a fight between Fu Sheng and me? He started to hate me since then?”
His wife nodded. “After we had Fu Tian, we indeed gave him more attention and had ignored Fu Sheng. It is why he did what he did.”
“My mind is fuzzy. Can you tell me what Fu Sheng did on that day?”
“You forgot about it?” His wife looked at him with confusion. “That day we were both not home. Fu Sheng brought Fu Tian to the theme park. He wanted to ‘lose’ Fu Tian, just like how I had ‘lost’ him.”
“I remember it now.” Han Fei massaged his temples. He knew the plastic surgery hospital and Lost Theme Park featured heavily in Fu Sheng’s memory world but until now he had no reason why.
“Fu Sheng said he wanted to bring Fu Tian to the theme park because Fu Tian couldn’t stop crying. But neither of us believed him, you even slapped him and forced him to apologize. That day you two argued madly. I had never seen Fu Sheng so out of control.” The rain dwindled but the wife’s emotions became more agitated, “If I chose to believe Fu Sheng that day, the rest won’t happen.”
“The theme park represents separation in Fu Sheng’s mind. Is it possible that he brought Fu Sheng there because he wanted to leave Fu Tian behind and then he’d disappear completely from our lives?” Han Fei had no evidence, he made this judgment based on his understanding of Fu Sheng. “The boy is very kind. He tried his best to protect a picture of the dead by the roadside so that the dead wouldn’t be bullied.”
“I know so I’ve been trying to apologize to him. But ever since that day, he locked himself up. After the suspension, he trapped himself in his room and refused to see us again.” The wife felt guilty and saw many things as her fault.
“I will resolve this misunderstanding.” Han Fei finished the soup. “I have the confidence.”
“You’ve found the way to reach Fu Sheng?”
“Not yet.” Han Fei shook his head. “My confidence comes from you. I have the world’s kindest wife and greatest kids. I believe that will change the so-called destiny.”
“You’re talking nonsense again.”
“I can see into the future. You’ll become a great mother and help the two children reach their maximum potential. The brothers will become big characters who will change the world.” Han Fei didn’t lie, that was the truth.
His wife thought he was only running his mouth. She rubbed her eyes. “What about you? What will become of you in the future?”
“Me?” Han Fei hesitated. He took out his phone to look at the date. Fu Yi about had 30 days left in his life. “It’s getting late, we should go back.”
“You’re right. You need to get back home to sleep, you need to work tomorrow.” The wife opened the umbrella and Han Fei turned to the grandpa. “Grandpa, can you pack up the rest for me. I’ll take them away with me.” It was late and raining, Han Fei wanted the senior couple to be able to go home and rest too. Carrying the bag, Han Fei left the cart. His wife saw everything. “Notification for Player 0000! Your wife’s hatred towards you lowers by 1, accumulation of 4.”
Han Fei approached his wife and she shared the umbrella with him. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
“I bought some extra, we can have them for breakfast tomorrow.” Han Fei held the umbrella in one hand and the bag in another.
“Okay.”
The rain became lighter. Han Fei and his wife reached the neighborhood around 3 am. They just entered the neighborhood when Han Fei heard a sound. He turned and saw a young woman in a brown-yellow dress standing at the corner of the street. The woman’s wet hair stuck to her face. Her expression was scary. ‘That’s Fu Yi’s online friend. Why is she here?’ Han Fei handed the umbrella to his wife and rushed over.
If this was a common movie plot, the girl would have seen Han Fei with his wife. When she saw how happy Han Fei was, she would burn with anger before starting to plot revenge on Han Fei and his family. Han Fei with 30 stamina went on a full sprint. A normal ghost couldn’t shake him off, much less a weakened girl. With his Hide-and-seek talent, Han Fei soon found the girl hiding at the corner.
“What’s wrong with you?” Han Fei slowly approached. He noticed the girl’s body swayed and she held a sharp glass shard in her hand. “Let’s get you out of the rain first. Have you had anything to eat?” Han Fei slowly approached. The girl swung the glass at Han Fei but before she could reach him, she collapsed. Han Fei touched the girl’s forehead, she was burning up.
“You had to come out to kill me even when you have such a high fever? It’s not worth it. I, Fu Yi, am dying but you have a bright future ahead of you.” Han Fei called his wife and then he carried the girl out of the alley and towards the nearest hospital. Han Fei went to the emergency room. He paid the medical bills and then withdrew 1500 from the ATM and placed it inside the girl’s bag.
Han Fei sighed seeing the girl in bed. This mission had made him sigh so many times. “Take care of yourself. You need to be healthy to kill me.”
Han Fei stood up to leave but he noticed the girl was pulling on his clothes. “O well, I’ll stay to accompany you for a while.”
Han Fei felt the urgency. Due to the effect of Lothario, he’d gain affection and hatred at a quicker rate so he needed to lower everyone’s hatred as soon as possible. After the girl’s condition stabilized, Han Fei left the hospital and headed back home. His wife prepared a clean set of clothes for him. He changed and entered the bedroom quietly.
He realized with shock that the mattress which he placed on the floor had been moved to the bed. His wife slept on the left side and kept the right side of the bed open for him. Honestly, Han Fei was quite touched but he took down the mattress and rearranged them on the floor. He wouldn’t feel right sleeping in the bed.
Han Fei took a power nap and then woke up to prepare for the new day.
“I’m leaving. Remember to check the news. When the previous headmaster’s name is cleared, you have to share the good news with Fu Sheng.” Han Fei reminded his wife before he left.
“Don’t worry.”
Han Fei rushed to the company but he was still late. ‘Shit, Zhao Qian is going to have it in for me, I even rejected her invitation yesterday night. Today will be a hard day, I have to be careful.’
Han Fei clocked in but he realized with a shock that Zhao Qian didn’t find trouble with him and more confusingly, his four members were all gone. “Where are they?” At that moment, cheers came from the meeting room. Han Fei removed his jacket, grabbed half a cup of coffee and pretended he had been there for a long time already. He walked towards the meeting room and opened it. He realized everyone was there and many people were taking pictures.
Han Fei walked closer and spotted a woman about 1.8 meters tall. She was wearing the resistance’s outfit in Immortal. She held a saw and assumed different poses. Octopus had pushed the concept of the less you wear, the greater your armor to the maximum. The outfit he designed was pretty but it barely covered anything.
“Eh? Leader, when did you arrive?” Brother fake plant stood on tiptoe to take pictures and accidentally bumped into Han Fei.
“I have been here for a long time already. You were so obsessed with taking pictures that you didn’t see me.”
“Here, leader, I’ll give this spot to you.”
“It’s alright. I’ll get back to work.” Han Fei turned around. As he opened the door, the sound of saw roaring came from the other end of the room. Han Fei’s heart pounded, ‘No way, Lee Guo Er merely wrote a casual example. I’m overthinking this.’
Han Fei couldn’t resist the temptation to turn around to look. When he met the eyes of the woman holding the saw, the woman’s icy face broke with a cruel smile. Han Fei’s eyes twitched. Yup, this was another woman who wanted to kill him.
Han Fei pretended not to see this and hurried back to his office. He took out his phone and checked his secret account. These days, he stopped chatting with the girls. But yesterday day, one of the women sent him a lot of messages. The basic meaning was, if you don’t come to find me, I’ll have to go find you. Han Fei clicked on the woman’s profile but the woman was using a smurf too. Everything was fake.
“Leader, why are you sweating again?” Lee Guo Er handed him a paper napkin. “Everyone couldn’t wait to take more pictures of the model but you saw her and ran. Do you know her?”
“If everyone stays to watch the model, who is going to work? Even if you look at something 100 times, it won’t be yours. But if you work hard, money and future will be yours.”
“But the first thing the model said when she came to the company was, is Fu Yi around? When Sister Qian heard that, her face was stunned.” Lee Guo Er chuckled. “Leader, you better think hard. Have you met her somewhere before? Right, the model’s name is Love.”
