Chapter 39: Helin Flower and Bird Antique Market: Between Food and Sentiment, He Choose…
Le Can was dead set on making the rumors a reality—he was going to sleep with Xi Yun.
Proximity offers the advantage of being first to reach the moon.
No one in this world was closer to Xi Yun than he was (physically speaking).
In his anxious anger, he even ran through every possible method in his brain. Coercion and bribery, playing weak and obedient, calculating seduction—Le Can even considered forcing himself on him.
But in the days that followed, the target of these schemes left early and returned late every day, sometimes not coming back all night. Even though they lived under the same roof and slept in the same bed, it was hard for Le Can to even bump into him or exchange a word.
The plan was great, but there was absolutely no chance to execute it!
It was like having the itinerary set, leave requested, plane tickets and hotel booked, only for your travel buddy to cancel due to an emergency one hour before takeoff.
Going alone wasn’t impossible, but the change in mood made everything that followed lose its flavor.
Truly a bitter life.JPG
Of course, the reason the two kept missing each other wasn’t because Xi Yun heard Le Can’s “ambitious” inner thoughts about sleeping with him. It was purely because he had been busy handling the malicious auction withdrawal incident these past few days.
Xi Yun ran around cleaning up the mess, sleeping late and waking early. meanwhile, Le Can, whose little treasury had grown significantly and whose willpower had worn down a bit, slept early and woke late, leisurely gaining weight…
The mismatch in daily schedules made their already scarce interactions even scarcer.
The verb “to sleep (with)” required a partner; one person alone couldn’t make it happen.
Additionally, several of Le Can’s raw jadeite stones were entrusted to Weiyuanjing for auction. Reason told him that if the Spring Auction went smoothly, the final transaction price of his lots would naturally be prettier.
Xi Yun being busy was equivalent to Xi Yun working for him, helping him make money. He should calm down and, while there was still room to turn back, let the matter drop.
But some things are just like that—if you don’t get what you want when your desire is at its peak, it becomes a regret. Even after a long time passes, you will still brood over it.
Originally, Le Can was just angry. Now, with the delay…
The young man sneered and thought:
Even if the end result is a pile of sht, I’m going to taste whether it’s salty or bland.*
However, before the opportunity to taste Xi Yun arrived, Le Can first received a message from Xiong Anguo.
The doubled payment of two hundred thousand, aside from helping Xiong Anguo and his men live a happily comfortable life for a while, had also gained Le Can a new friend who—unilaterally—told him everything.
Jian Minglang’s past, latest news, and whereabouts flowed toward Le Can like a continuous stream in their back-and-forth online chats.
Before formally meeting, Le Can already had a preliminary understanding of this person.
Jian Minglang was a true young master from a wealthy family.
Loved by his parents and elders as a child, and even after they passed away for various reasons, he still had a brother connected by blood standing in front of him.
All the chaos of the outside world was settled before it even reached him. The world he knew was always calm waves and quiet years.
Perhaps because he was a child living in love, Jian Minglang’s personality was exactly as simple and sincere as Le Can imagined.
He was straightforward, outspoken, and possessed strong empathy. He didn’t need to learn how to love people; he just knew.
In summary, Le Can discovered that this was a person diametrically opposed to himself.
He was somewhat similar to the Jian Minglang of the previous life, but based on descriptions alone, Le Can couldn’t be sure if they were the same soul.
Children with someone to catch them when they fall are usually not too rule-abiding.
From a young age, Jian Minglang didn’t follow his big brother’s footsteps to learn about antiques and management. Instead, he threw himself into psychology, which he loved.
After graduating, he initially patiently managed two Yayun Ancient Workshop branches at Jian Yu’s assignment. But after just a month, he ran off to open a security company.
After opening the security company, Jian Minglang didn’t sit obediently in the office being the boss, either.
Dumping the company management on his brother, this guy occasionally mixed in with the employees to work as security, occasionally moonlit as a psychological counselor to make extra cash, and occasionally went to slough off work at whichever family antique shop was convenient…
His life was free and unrestrained, much more colorful than Le Can had imagined.
It was precisely because Jian Minglang rarely stayed in one place for long that Le Can hadn’t found the right time to approach him.
But just now, in his chat with Xiong Anguo, this sentence suddenly popped up:
“The Little Boss posted food on his Moments again recently. It looks delicious. When the current job is done, I’ll take you to have a big meal together!”
Xiong Anguo always felt that holding the two hundred thousand felt hot to the touch and weighed on his conscience. But whether it was a transfer or cash, Le Can refused it all. Thus, he could only put all his effort into treating Le Can well in other ways.
Le Can said he liked food, so Xiong Anguo went everywhere to learn where good food was nearby. For example, he got news of many treasure shops from his Little Boss, who also loved to eat.
Le Can said he didn’t know where was good for tourism. Although Xiong Anguo hadn’t been to many places, he had people in his Moments! The Little Boss was the one who played the most, having been everywhere domestically and abroad!
Recently, Le Can said his newlywed partner was a bit cold to him, and he occasionally had negative thoughts, wanting to find a reliable psychological counselor. Xiong Anguo was so anxious he wanted to hit someone, yet couldn’t help but feel heartache for this brother he considered his own flesh and blood!
Jian Minglang, whose phone had 999+ messages and was blowing up with calls: “…”
Xi Yun, who inexplicably shouldered the title of a cold-violence scumbag: “.”
Cough, Le Can felt he wasn’t exactly deceiving an honest man.
Having money and time, he wanted to try everything he hadn’t enjoyed before. Food, travel, certain rights and obligations of a real couple… He only told half-truths and didn’t tell Xiong Anguo any lies.
It wasn’t really cheating (guilty conscience).
The moment he saw the message, Le Can knew his opportunity had come.
Although psychological counseling could serve as a means to facilitate a meeting, he still wanted to take a look at Jian Minglang before formally meeting him.
Experience in communicating with people from his previous life allowed Le Can to quickly obtain the information he wanted.
After quickly ordering a nearby dinner for Xiong Anguo and his men, the young man nimbly threw on some clothes and walked out the door.
Declining Aunt Liang’s suggestion to have Uncle Zhao drive him, Le Can walked two kilometers out of the villa area, scanned a shared e-bike, and followed the navigation toward the area where Jian Minglang was active.
E-bikes were convenient and quick—Le Can’s most used mode of transport in his previous life besides the subway.
He followed the navigation voice familiarly, riding along unfamiliar roads, passing through streets full of the smoky scent of life, and finally arrived at a bustling area.
Through the carved beams and painted rafters in his line of sight, seeing the most prominent architectural feature—the Paifang (archway)—Le Can realized he had arrived at the area on the map: Helin Flower, Bird, and Antique Market.
In a place with so many people, the traffic congestion was predictable. It took quite a while for Le Can to find a place to park.
After quickly returning the bike and glancing down at his phone, still in navigation mode, the young man looked up to confirm his direction and strode into the ceaseless stream of people.
Helin Flower, Bird, and Antique Market was a comprehensive antique market that ranked highly not just in the city where Le Can currently resided, but in the entire country.
Here, there were the most vibrant and lively plants and flowers, birds, fish, and insects, as well as various antiques and old goods inscribing history and memory.
The new and old collided here, silently exuding immense charm, attracting people from all over the world to visit, tour, and hunt for treasures.
According to the map on the phone, one could clearly see that the entire Helin Market was divided into four major zones: East, West, North, and South.
The East Zone was the High-Quality Boutique Area. Both sides of the spacious street were lined with elegantly decorated antique-style shops selling the most expensive items in the market: jadeite and jade, antique calligraphy and paintings, intangible cultural heritage products, etc.
Most items here had been vetted by experts, guaranteeing a certain rate of authenticity within the market. However, there were still cases where shop owners misjudged or harbored ill intentions, so the probability of buying fakes still existed.
The West Zone was the Antique Miscellaneous Zone, featuring large areas of street stalls and sheds. Usually, sellers would spread a ragged cloth or blanket on the ground and arrange their wares in a staggered pattern.
The entire area was orderly within the chaos, with the strongest scent of daily life. The items sold were very miscellaneous—various jades, porcelains, old literary playthings, etc. It was also a mixed bag where fakes were most common, making it the area that tested a buyer’s eye the most.
The North Zone was indoors, more like a common flea market. There were old books, ancient texts, and calligraphy; old cameras, records, and tapes; second-hand luxury bags, watches, clothes…
This area was closer to the lives of ordinary people. They could surprisingly discover all sorts of unimaginable things here and always find something they liked.
As for the South Zone, it was the Flower, Bird, and Fish Market where Le Can was currently standing—the most modernized place in the market.
In the flower shops, diverse flowers vied for beauty, blooming competitively, filling the air of the entire street with a rich floral fragrance.
With every step Le Can took, he seemed to smell a different scent. Even in the bustling market, there was a feeling of walking close to nature.
The calls of lively animals from some pet shops intensified this feeling. Especially where birds gathered, the chirping was lively and noisy.
Walking through it, Le Can was overwhelmed by the exotic flowers, trees, birds, bugs, and fish.
He had the mind to stop and browse some shops in detail, but his purpose for coming to Helin today wasn’t shopping for leisure; it was to find someone.
The young man sighed lightly, looking down to confirm the location of the nearest Yayun Ancient Workshop again.
Unsurprisingly, the shop’s location was marked in the East Zone on the map.
The place Xiong Anguo pushed to Le Can wasn’t elsewhere; it was a small food-exclusive area at the intersection of the four zones of the antique market.
Le Can glanced up at the time—past one in the afternoon.
If Jian Minglang was working as a “temp” at Yayun Ancient Workshop, then going to the food area first and then detouring to the East Zone shop would absolutely catch him.
If Jian Minglang came here as a tourist, then going to any zone was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Going to the food area now might yield a higher probability of bumping into him.
Plus, the two mouthfuls of breakfast had been thoroughly digested, and feeling his stomach empty… Le Can happily decided to visit the food shop Xiong Anguo found for him first!
Between food and sentiment, he chose to directly let Jian Minglang down.
Past one in the afternoon, the food area of Helin Market still had many people queuing for food.
The place was too big and too fun to browse; people often missed meal times. The management here clearly understood this phenomenon well, so the operating hours of the food area were very long.
Le Can wasn’t late, and he spotted the recommended shop at a glance. For no other reason than it had the most people queuing in front of it. Smile.JPG
Weighing food against waiting, the conflicted young man finally chose—Eat!
As the saying goes, I’m already here. Having walked to the door, a few hours of waiting wouldn’t make a difference.
Moreover, given the huge traffic here, there were few shops with very few people in front of them. Just smile and let it be.JPG
Le Can nimbly wove through the crowd and occupied the tail position before the line got any longer. Soon, more figures appeared behind him.
Le Can breathed a light sigh of relief, glad for his decisiveness.
However, before he could look up, a familiar voice suddenly drifted to his ear: “Brother-in-law?”
Good. In this world, aside from one person, no second person calls me that.
Le Can could know who the person patting his shoulder was even with his eyes closed…
Author’s Note: Q: Why not take Uncle Zhao’s car?
A certain peach-blossom-eyed youth covers his face silently: Thanks for asking, but I can’t handle the gossipy eyes.
Also, regarding the meals nourishing kidney qi and blood for several consecutive days, he didn’t want to name Aunt Liang, who is indeed Uncle Zhao’s wife.
Is that food something he should be eating right now?!
Me: It’s something you should eat in the future [Evil Grin]
[Dog head holding rose] x3 Thank you baby for the nutrient solution, happy happy happy
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