Chapter 62: Returning to Fog City
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“I’ll make my own way back. You can head directly to Modu City,” Zhou Chao remarked as he and Lin Wu touched down at Fog City’s Jiangbei Airport. Carrying his luggage, Zhou Chao addressed Lin Wu beside him.
After parting ways, Zhou Chao found a burger joint at the airport, purchased two burgers and a cola, and then boarded the airport shuttle to Fuzhou. By this time, it was already 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
After this journey, the skills and knowledge he acquired earlier had seamlessly integrated, especially with the optimized body. His reaction time and computational abilities had significantly improved compared to before.
“The bus has arrived at Fuzhou. Passengers, please exit from the rear door.” The announcement woke up Zhou Chao, who had been sleeping in the back row. He rubbed his forehead, shook off his drowsiness, and exited the bus through the rear door.
As Zhou Chao stepped off the bus, the brisk wind sent a shiver down his spine. Despite being in the southwest, November in Fuzhou had already embraced winter, and the chilly breeze carried a noticeable bite.
Glancing at the time, he realized it was almost 6 o’clock, a time when most people would be having dinner. Hailing a taxi from the roadside, Zhou Chao decided to head home first to unload his belongings.
With a thud, Zhou Chao placed his luggage on the couch and surveyed his home. Everything appeared neat and tidy, suggesting the cleaning lady had likely been by. He stretched out on the couch and dialed Lei Mingtang’s number.
“Hey, Leizhi, are you off work?”
“1 haven’t been working for a while. I’m at home now.”
“Why haven’t you been working? Is something wrong?”
“Sigh, it’s complicated,” a sigh came from the phone.
“I’m back. Do you know the grilled fish place near the entrance of my residential area? Let’s head over there.”
“Alright, i’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Lei Mingtang hurriedly hung up.
Zhou Chao got up from the couch and headed out.
“Boss, could we have two orders of boneless spicy grilled fish, please?” Zhou Chao sat at a table near the entrance and called out to the bustling owner.
“Got it. How many of you will be dining here?”
“Just two.” Soon, a waiter brought the dishes along with a pot of tea.
Soon, Lei Mingtang hurriedly entered through the entrance. Zhou Chao couldn’t see any signs of distress from unemployment on his friend’s face. Instead, there was a trace of confidence.
“Leizhi, over here.” Zhou Chao called out to Lei Mingtang, who was looking around at the entrance.
“Chao, when did you get back?” Lei Mingtang sat opposite Zhou Chao, poured himself a cup of tea, and downed it.
“Just now. 1 called you as soon as I got back. You said on the phone that you weren’t working. What’s going on?”
Lei Mingtang poured another cup of tea, drank most of it, and then began to speak. “My performance at work was always good, but somehow I offended my supervisor. He kept making things difficult for me, so I quit in frustration.” He finished the rest of his tea in one gulp.
“What are you doing now?”
“You won’t believe it, but i think i made the right choice. I teamed up with a cousin of mine, and we’re doing social media content creation, making humorous videos about daily life. We’re actually starting to see some progress,” Lei Mingtang said proudly.
“Which platform are you on now, and how many followers do you have?”
“We’re on the Mou Yin platform, and we already have tens of thousands of followers.” Zhou Chao could sense the pride in his childhood friend’s words. After all, accumulating tens of thousands of followers in just a few months indicated their capability.
“What’s the name? I’ll follow you too.”
Lei Mingtang scratched his head bashfully. “Invincible Mighty King.”
Zhou Chao glanced at Lei Mingtang, truly impressed. He then opened a Mou Yin app and watched several of their posted videos. They were indeed quite funny, with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of likes. Happy for his childhood friend’s success, Zhou Chao clicked the follow button.
“Excuse me, your two grilled fish orders are ready.”
“Let’s eat first. I’ve been hungry all day,” Zhou Chao said as he picked up a large piece of fish meat. Lei Mingtang also grabbed a portion of the grilled fish and began to devour it.
“You know, this grilled fish place has remained just as delicious after all these years.” Lei Mingtang wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked at the fish bones that had been eaten clean.
“It’s true, the classic flavor is still there,” Zhou Chao said as he took a sip of tea and finished it.
“Leizhi, do you have any plans for the future? Are you interested in joining me in Modu City?”
Lei Mingtang pondered for a while before looking up and saying, “1 want to test how far 1 can go on my own. 1 want to develop this account well. If things don’t work out in the future, I’ll come to you.”
“Absolutely, you can reach out whenever you need. No need for sentimental words between us.” Lei Mingtang silently nodded in agreement.
“Do you want to hang out at my place for a bit?”
“Maybe next time. I need to write scripts and content for my media platform. Now that it’s just starting to gain traction, I want to seize this opportunity and strive to be the pig standing at the forefront of the trend,” Lei Mingtang spoke earnestly. Zhou Chao agreed with him, and after a brief farewell, they each headed home.
The next day, Zhou Chao woke up naturally and didn’t get out of bed until 11 o’clock. He ordered takeout online while lying on the couch.
He took out his phone and watched the videos his friend had made. Lei Mingtang was often on camera, probably because his likable appearance made him more prominent. The comments were mostly from people wanting to be his girlfriend.
“Ding dong!” The doorbell rang, and he realized he had been watching videos for nearly an hour. He got up to answer the door, received the delivery, and started eating while continuing to watch the videos. Soon, he finished watching, and though he knew their content would only get better from here.
Zhou Chao decided to call his aunt just to confirm their plans for the evening.
“Hello, Auntie, are you home today?”
“Xiao Chao, have you returned?”
“Yeah, I got back last night.”
“I’m at the convenience store. You can head home straightaway, Xiaoyan is there. I’ll close the store and join you shortly.”
“Okay, Auntie.”
After hanging up, Zhou Chao took out the local specialties he had bought earlier—saffron, black goji berries, and more—and put most of them in another bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder and headed out.
“Knock knock knock.”
“Coming!” Zhou Chao heard footsteps approaching from a distance.
“Click.” Guo Yan opened the door and saw Zhou Chao holding two large bags.
“Brother, when did you come back? You didn’t even call me, hmph.”
“I just got back last night. 1 came to see you.” Zhou Chao walked in after changing into a pair of slippers. He handed the bags over to Guo Yan.
“What did you buy, Brother? It’s so heavy.” Guo Yan struggled to place the bags on the table.
“I bought groceries and a few things for your parents. Oh, and there’s a shawl for you that 1 brought back from Lhasa. It seems like you can use it now.”
“I knew you’d bring something great. Hehe.” Guo Yan took out a shawl from the bag, ran into her bedroom, and laughed.
Zhou Chao smiled and walked into the kitchen with the groceries in hand..