Chapter 53: Delivering Takeout

“I’ll lend it to you.”

Wang Qiang said firmly. He was definitely going to lend this money.

He Huanhuan said they were friends.

After junior high school, he had been wandering around working odd jobs. How long had it been since he had a friend?

So long he couldn’t even remember.

Every day after work, he went back to his rented room—cramped, narrow, and silent.

No one talked to him, and he had no one to talk to.

He could only lie quietly in his rented room, eating takeout. He hadn’t saved a single cent, but he had eaten himself into a fat mess...

Boo hoo...

He couldn’t think about it. If he kept thinking, he’d cry.

“Wait for me a moment.”

He jogged into the sales office, swapped with a coworker for two hundred in cash, then jogged back out and handed the money to He Huanhuan: “Friend, here’s your money.”

He Huanhuan took the money solemnly: “Thank you, friend. We’ll definitely pay you back!”

Wang Qiang nodded even more solemnly: “If you don’t pay me back, the day after tomorrow I won’t let the team leader settle your pay.”

......

“Deal!”

With the two hundred yuan in hand, their steps felt much lighter.

He Huanhuan asked with a smile, “Han Mo, what should we do?”

Han Mo rubbed his stomach: “Let’s eat first.”

They hadn’t eaten anything since last night. They were really hungry.

“Okay!”

The two walked back along the small path and returned to the village they’d been in earlier.

They strolled along the village road, wandering until they reached the village entrance. By the main road, there was a row of shop-front houses with a few small restaurants.

They picked a noodle shop, went in, and each ordered a bowl of beef noodles, spending thirty yuan total.

When they handed over cash, the boss seemed a bit taken aback.

The boss pointed at the QR code on the wall: “Just scan to pay.”

These days, hardly anyone used cash anymore.

He Huanhuan clutched the money and laughed: “Boss, I don’t have a phone. Just take the cash, okay?”

She said this with her multi-colored hair, and the boss immediately became wary.

He took the money, inspected it front and back, then held it up to the sun for a closer look.

He Huanhuan was speechless. Did he think she was trying to pass off fake money?

Luckily, the money her coworker had swapped was real.

After confirming it was genuine, the boss pocketed the cash.

He turned around to prepare their beef noodles.

He Huanhuan sat down with a huff and asked Han Mo, “Do I look that unreliable?”

She thought she looked perfectly approachable!

What was wrong with their judgment?

Han Mo glanced at her hair: “Do you think someone with hair like that looks approachable? Friendly?”

Her hair looked way too outrageous, and outrageous often meant unfriendly and unapproachable.

He Huanhuan pouted unhappily: “If I hadn’t dyed my hair, those people would look down on me and shove me into the bathroom to beat me up...”

“Who?”

Han Mo’s eyes darkened instantly: “Who bullied you? Why did they hit you?”

He Huanhuan waved her hand: “That’s all in the past. It’s long over.”

It was just something from junior high school, and she had fought back like crazy too.

Even though she hadn’t won...

But she wasn’t the type to just take it. She quickly found a chance to get to know Qi Meili, who ran with the gangs, and became her friend.

Later, when those people tried to bully her again, she immediately reported it to Qi Meili.

Qi Meili brought seven or eight guys with tattoos to the school and gave those bullies a serious warning.

It was absolutely awesome!

Even now, thinking about it, she felt Qi Meili was a total hero!

But Han Mo pressed on in a low voice: “Did you get beaten up often back then?”

He couldn’t bear to imagine what a little girl like her had suffered in the past.

Thinking about her love for street-side stalls... had she not even been able to afford that kind of food before?

This was a life he simply couldn’t fathom.

How could anyone not afford something as cheap as spicy hot pot?

He had thought that the poorest person could still at least afford a house and a car.

If He Huanhuan knew what he was thinking, she’d jump up and hit him.

What, were you some kind of expert?

“Young people wanting to increase their income should just buy more houses and rent them out...”

She was just a kid—where was she supposed to get money to buy spicy hot pot?

She shot Han Mo an annoyed look: “Didn’t I tell you not to ask?”

There was no way she was going to tell him that later she became a punk girl.

If anyone dared to mess with her, she’d jump up and curse out their ancestors for eighteen generations, right?

After finishing the beef noodles, the two didn’t know what to do next.

They wandered around until they ended up back at that neighborhood.

Wang Qiang was still standing at the entrance. When he saw them coming, he immediately clutched his phone tight: “I really have no money left!”

He wouldn’t get paid until next week, and he only had three hundred left—he needed that to eat.

He Huanhuan waved her hand: “We’re not borrowing money. We’re just bored and wandering around.”

They couldn’t go to that dumpy house during the day.

If someone saw them, they might easily mistake them for burglars.

They had to wait until dark to sneak over and sleep.

But Wang Qiang didn’t know that. He gave them a disdainful look: “You two are this broke and you’re not thinking about making money? Why are you just wandering around?”

You had to borrow two hundred yuan, so why weren’t you earning some?

He Huanhuan touched her phone—she had hundreds of thousands in there!

Han Mo had transferred it to her.

But she couldn’t use it!

She sighed helplessly: “How are we supposed to earn? Isn’t your company only hiring the day after tomorrow?”

They couldn’t go into the city. There were too many cameras there—they’d be spotted too easily.

They couldn’t take buses or the subway either, since they had no phones to scan the QR codes.

Wang Qiang frowned at her question: “Deliver food! You get paid per delivery!”

Sometimes when he was off work and too bored at home, he would deliver food and earn a little bit here and there.

Hearing this, He Huanhuan’s eyes lit up: “You have a delivery driver account?”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Wang Qiang, making him shrink back instinctively.

Why did it feel like trouble was coming?

Sure enough, He Huanhuan immediately said, “Lend us your account!”

“Can’t you register your own?”

Wang Qiang couldn’t understand why she’d want to borrow his.

Anyone could register for one.

Was she planning to do something bad with his account?

He grew suspicious. He’d heard stories about people renting delivery driver accounts for high prices, using them to traffic drugs.

By the time the police came knocking, you couldn’t even explain yourself.

He looked at He Huanhuan, then at Han Mo, then back at He Huanhuan.

Friend, you’re looking pretty suspicious.

His suspicion was totally baseless—she had to borrow two hundred yuan from him; there was no way she could afford to rent his account!

She was borrowing it for free.

She leaned in mysteriously close to Wang Qiang and asked, “What do you think Han Mo looks like?”

Wang Qiang thought for a moment: “He looks rich.”

Really, really rich.

He Huanhuan nodded: “You’re right. We’re actually rich, but we’ve run into some trouble. You know how it is with rich families—there’s always some drama...”

She winked at Wang Qiang, who instantly started imagining all sorts of soap opera plots.

He ventured a guess: “Are you guys from ‘The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog’ or ‘Destined to Love You’?”

He Huanhuan blinked: “Whatever you think fits. Long story short, we’re in a tight spot right now. Just lend us your delivery driver account!”

Wang Qiang agreed without a second thought. "Alright, you can take my electric scooter too, but you have to bring it back before I get off work tonight."

He still needed to ride it home to charge.

He even lent them his spare phone for food delivery, and as he watched the two of them ride away, he started daydreaming happily.

When they finally turn their lives around, will they take him along too?

When that day comes, would he be able to climb up the social ladder and become a phoenix?

Wow!

Then maybe he should start losing some weight?