GBROTAH CH6

At 3:30 AM, Xie Yuanxing rubbed his throbbing forehead and slowly walked towards the school. The streetlights stretched his shadow long, and he let out a weary sigh.

The dormitory doors had long been closed at this hour, but Xie Yuanxing lived in the sophomore dorm building, and there was a path senior students had discovered to climb over the wall and get in. He had heard about it before, and now was the perfect time to use it.

The sophomore dorm’s curfew wasn’t as strict. Even if he was caught climbing the wall late at night, a few kind words to the dorm auntie would usually make her turn a blind eye.

Xie Yuanxing repeatedly rehearsed his lines, preparing to pretend to be a sophomore if the auntie caught him.

He was a little nervous, not just because it was his first time breaking the rules, but also because he was afraid of being caught by the auntie.

After climbing over the wall and taking the elevator, his heart was still pounding even when he opened his dorm room door.

The dorm was quiet and dark. Xie Yuanxing used his phone as a flashlight, placed it on the table, then turned to grab clothes and went to the bathroom to shower.

He reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and simply couldn’t sleep with that smell.

After showering, he didn’t even bother to blow-dry his hair and just collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep instantly.

The first day, the second day, the third day, Xie Yuanxing counted the days he worked at the bar.

His body couldn’t quite handle the schedule of only four hours of sleep a day. He planned to work for five days and then quit.

Five days would earn him 750 yuan, which was enough for two months of living expenses.

Today was the fourth day.

Xie Yuanxing had no classes that evening and was asked to go in early to clean. Even before opening hours, the bar was dimly lit, and cleaning out the garbage from some of the crevices was difficult.

As he knelt on the ground, picking out sunflower seed shells from a crevice, a pair of sneakers suddenly appeared in front of him.

Xie Yuanxing looked up to see Shen Bianye frowning at him.

Shen Bianye: “Aren’t you supposed to start work at ten? Why are you here at eight?”

Xie Yuanxing was a little surprised that he knew his work hours but didn’t ask. Instead, he said, “It’s not business hours yet, why are you…”

Shen Bianye snorted coldly: “I didn’t come this early for you.”

“Can’t I come whenever I want?”

“I haven’t been back to the dorm for three days, and I didn’t see you care.”

He rattled off a string of sentences quickly, making Xie Yuanxing silently swallow the latter half of his sentence, “you came early.”

Xie Yuanxing wasn’t good at talking to people or arguing. Seeing Shen Bianye deliberately picking a fight, he lowered his eyes and whispered, “Oh.”

He had thought Shen Bianye hadn’t returned for three days to avoid paying him, but it seemed that wasn’t the case now.

However, he wasn’t in the mood to guess Shen Bianye’s thoughts; he was quite busy and very tired.

After speaking, Xie Yuanxing continued to bury himself in his work, not noticing Shen Bianye’s face instantly turning livid because of his one word.

Shen Bianye originally wanted to leave, but instinctively, his gaze followed Xie Yuanxing’s movements, watching him use his hands to pick out sunflower seed shells from the floor cracks, his fingertips getting dirty, and struggling several times before finally getting the embedded shells out.

Forget it, biting a Beta is biting a Beta.

It’s not that he wanted to bite him, but giving Xie Yuanxing money needed a reason, right?

As for why he absolutely had to give Xie Yuanxing money.

He just felt sorry for Xie Yuanxing; his overflowing sympathy needed a place to go.

So he kicked Xie Yuanxing’s hand with his foot and said condescendingly, “Stop this crappy job. Let’s discuss a collaboration.”

“Do me a favor, and I’ll give you five million. How about it?”

Xie Yuanxing’s movements paused. Shen Bianye originally thought the other person would be ecstatic, but unexpectedly, the next second he heard Xie Yuanxing say in a calm, slightly annoyed tone:

“You bit me and didn’t compensate me, I won’t even mention that. If the after-effects aren’t treated, go get them treated. I’m really busy, can you stop treating me as entertainment?”

“Move, you’re blocking my work.”

Shen Bianye: ???

Damn it.

Shen Bianye was so angry he laughed. He simply sat directly on the booth behind him. He wanted to see what Xie Yuanxing could accomplish by refusing a five-million-yuan job.

And, if he ever felt sorry for Xie Yuanxing again, he’d be a dog.

Inside the bar, the DJ’s music pounded with the rhythm of hearts, the atmosphere surged in waves of excitement, the crowd was revelling, and hot dances filled the dance floor.

In a slightly more secluded corner, Xie Yuanxing was looking down at the drink in front of him.

A fashionably dressed man maliciously stirred his hand in the drink, while staring at Xie Yuanxing and saying, “Don’t you like to show off?”

“Don’t you like to be a hero saving the beauty?”

“If you drink this cup, we’ll let today’s matter go.”

Xie Yuanxing weighed the pros and cons in his mind. A cup of alcohol was nothing, it was just disgusting that the other person had put his hand in and stirred it.

If he didn’t drink it and a commotion started, based on his past experience working in restaurants, customers causing trouble would most likely take it out on him.

His wages from the past few days hadn’t been settled yet. If he couldn’t get the money…

All those sleepless nights would be for nothing, and he’d have no money. It was also unrealistic to find other part-time jobs with so many classes during the day.

The national student loan he applied for wasn’t sure when it would be disbursed, and he needed some money for contingencies.

This job was meant for emergencies, so enduring this once was fine.

Or if he let the colleague who caused the trouble drink it…

Xie Yuanxing turned his head and glanced. The girl hiding behind him was teary-eyed. She was new today, also a part-timer, and had never seen such a scene before. She was already flustered and at a loss.

She clutched Xie Yuanxing’s clothes, her voice panicked and tearful, “What should we do? Should we find the manager?”

Xie Yuanxing shook his head. On his first day of the part-time job, Brother A, who hired him, had said that if a customer pulls you to drink, if you can drink, just drink it and don’t cause trouble.

Luo Chengjie hooked a finger into the glass, picking it up and tapping it loudly on the table. “If you don’t drink it, then let the girl behind you drink it. I won’t let her drink for free either.”

He chuckled suggestively, “I said, I’ll give a tip.”

After he spoke, the people around him burst into laughter, and some even egged him on, “Our Brother Luo is rich. If you make him happy, giving a few thousand or even tens of thousands isn’t impossible.”

The newly opened bar was most afraid of troublemakers. The manager, seeing the situation was not right, quickly squeezed over, smiling apologetically, “These two servers are both part-timers, clumsy, clumsy. Please forgive them if they did anything wrong.”

He had a full ten-tenths smile on his face, and his tone was impeccable. “How about this, tonight’s bill, we’ll give you twenty percent off?”

Luo Chengjie’s eyes held malice. “A discount? I don’t care about that.”

He pointed at Xie Yuanxing, “I just want him to drink this cup.”

Luo Chengjie was actually doing it on purpose.

Originally, that normal drink, if the girl didn’t drink it, then she didn’t drink it.

But who knew that the other server she frantically pulled over as a shield, he knew him.

To be precise, he had seen Xie Yuanxing at A University’s School of Engineering.

He wasn’t from A University’s School of Engineering, but the Omega he was pursuing was, so he sometimes ran to A University’s School of Engineering.

His dad kept nagging him about not getting into A University’s School of Engineering and embarrassing their family, and the Omega he was chasing had also been giving him the cold shoulder recently, so Luo Chengjie was already annoyed.

He had forgotten when he had seen this person at A University’s School of Engineering, but so what if he got into one of the top universities in the country?

Away from the school environment, in society, he was still just serving him like a slave.

It was just bad luck that he happened to run into him when he was in a bad mood.

Luo Chengjie somewhat enjoyed the feeling of stepping on a top student, a high achiever, as if the anger he suffered from his dad and that Omega dissipated with it.

So he pushed the drink, which he had repeatedly stirred with his hand, towards Xie Yuanxing. “Just one cup. If you don’t drink it, you’re disrespecting me.”

He smiled triumphantly, “Otherwise, if a scene breaks out, it won’t look good for anyone.”

The manager’s gaze also followed Xie Yuanxing. He lowered his voice and said, “It’s just a cup of wine, just drink it.”

“You don’t want to work for so many days for nothing, do you? Don’t worry, we’ll compensate you.”

Xie Yuanxing lowered his gaze and reached for the drink. The moment his fingers touched the glass, a hand from nowhere snatched the glass from the table.

The next second, the glass and its contents were overturned onto Luo Chengjie’s face.

Luo Chengjie was stunned and incredibly angry. He didn’t even bother wiping the drink from his face, squinting his eyes to look at the person who had arrived. “Who the hell are you?”

The person was very tall, and he had to crane his neck to see their face clearly.

Even in the dim bar lights, one could tell the person’s superior facial features and eyebrows, which annoyed Luo Chengjie even more.

Shen Bianye looked down at him, his voice a little cold: “Looking for trouble?”

Luo Chengjie pointed at Xie Yuanxing, “What the hell does my trouble with him have to do with you? Are you looking for a beating?”

Shen Bianye looked at the hand pointing at Xie Yuanxing, his face darkened, and he pulled Xie Yuanxing completely behind him, blocking him entirely.

He turned to Luo Chengjie, “I’ll only say this once: Get out.”

Xie Yuanxing looked at his back, his eyes flickering, and stood quietly behind him.

Luo Chengjie’s face changed. Normally, he would have punched him by now. They had more people here, so they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage, but Shen Bianye’s pull just now allowed him to clearly see the mechanical wristwatch on the other person’s hand.

He had wanted that watch for a long time, but even his dad couldn’t afford one that expensive, let alone him.

Eight million for one, a global limited edition watch. Even if someone liked to wear fake luxury goods to show off, they wouldn’t wear such an obvious and easily exposed limited edition.

Moreover, this was A City, where every inch of land was precious. It wasn’t impossible for someone he couldn’t afford to provoke to appear in this small bar.

Luo Chengjie’s face was gloomy. He stared at Xie Yuanxing and said, “Consider yourself lucky.”

With that, he and his group of cronies scurried away.

Seeing that the trouble was over, the manager thanked Shen Bianye, then pulled Xie Yuanxing and the other girl over. “Quick, quick, come thank this customer. What are you standing there dumbfounded for?”

The girl quickly thanked him, and Xie Yuanxing also quietly said, “Thank you.”

Shen Bianye raised an eyebrow slightly, “Just a thank you? Nothing else?”

The manager next to him smiled and said, “Of course, of course, besides thanks, there’s more. How about this, we’ll give you thirty percent off your bill tonight?”

“No need for a discount,” Shen Bianye didn’t even look at the manager. He slightly raised his chin and said to Xie Yuanxing, “Let him speak.”

The manager was stunned, his gaze darting between Shen Bianye and Xie Yuanxing. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he was there to help or not.

Xie Yuanxing pursed his lips, not knowing what else to say besides thank you.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke, his voice even softer, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have cursed at you for being sick.”

He hadn’t expected Shen Bianye to be the one to help him out. He felt quite awkward, standing there uncomfortably, unable to leave.

Shen Bianye scoffed, “It’s good that you know you were wrong.”

The manager realized the two knew each other and quickly slipped away on some pretext.

The girl who felt a bit redundant standing nearby tugged on Xie Yuanxing’s sleeve and thanked him.

“I’m sorry for grabbing you then. Thank you. I’ll go back to work now, you and,” she paused, looked at Shen Bianye, and when Shen Bianye looked back, she quickly averted her gaze, her face a little red, “you and your friend can chat.”

Xie Yuanxing hummed and pulled out two tissues from the table, handing them to her. “Okay, wipe your face.”

The girl nodded and quickly ran off with the tissues.

Shen Bianye stood there with his arms crossed, scoffing repeatedly, “I’ve known you for so long, and this is the first time I’ve realized you’re such a thoughtful person.”

“What, seeing her cry makes your heart ache? Do you like her?”

He actively offers tissues to others, but when it came to him, he wouldn’t even offer a blanket.

Hmph.

Xie Yuanxing slightly tilted his head to look at Shen Bianye, then turned his head and lowered his gaze. He actually felt that he wasn’t wrong to curse Shen Bianye.

It was just that the other person had just stepped out to help him out. Now, he felt a little guilty and short of breath wanting to curse “sick” again, so he could only endure it.