Chapter 62: Aunt Liu's Cured Meats

If I had been away in another city at that time, my mother—a simple village woman with little education who could barely read—how panicked she must have been facing such a sudden emergency; I couldn't even bear to imagine it.

"You know my situation. Xu Zhihai would certainly never accept my mother, and I don't want my mother to live under someone else's roof, walking on eggshells and suffering grievances. Sending her to a nursing home is the only way I can have peace of mind."

I pulled out my phone and showed Zhao Xinze the information about that nursing home. Zhao Xinze nodded, indicating that he had heard of it and that it indeed cost quite a bit of money.

"Alright, pinch your pennies all you want. Once you get Auntie settled, I'm going to fleece you for a fortune, you kid!"

After saying this, Zhao Xinze closed his eyes again. After a moment, I heard his breathing gradually steady and knew the guy was truly asleep.

The flight from Tianhai to Rongcheng takes over four hours. I put on my headphones and played a pre-downloaded novel to pass the time.

Even in business class, sitting for more than four hours leaves one with a sore back and aching joints. Zhao Xinze only opened his eyes as we were about to land.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Just look out the cabin window and you'll know."

I stood up and began taking luggage down from the overhead bin. Zhao Xinze finally snapped back to reality. "Holy crap, Jiang Jian, why didn't you wake me up?"

"I was just about to when you woke up. Stop sitting there like a dumber, let's get going."

We took a taxi straight from the airport to the booked hotel, checked in at the front desk, got our room cards, and took the elevator up.

Holding his room card, Zhao Xinze said, "Back in Danxi, you didn't want to share a twin room with me, and it's separate rooms again this time. What's wrong, does a guy like me disgust you?"

"I've been a light sleeper lately, and you manage to check off almost every box at night—snoring, grinding your teeth, farting, sleep-talking, and you're practically one step away from sleepwalking. If you're not afraid of me going crazy from lack of sleep in the middle of the night and smothering you to death with a pillow, then I'll share a room with you."

Hearing me describe him like that, Zhao Xinze instantly blushed. "Y-You're full of crap! When I sleep, it's nothing as terrifying as you make it sound?!"

"Heh, have you forgotten that back in college you got beaten up in groups several times just because your sleeping posture was terrible?"

Zhao Xinze's eyes darted around in embarrassment, and his speech became hesitant and incoherent. "I'm not listening... This is slander!"

I scoffed at him and unlocked my room with the card. "Look at how exhausted you were on the plane; who knows what you were busy with last night. Go to sleep quickly and catch up on your rest. When you wake up, we'll go get something to eat, my treat."

"Oh, really? In that case, I'll definitely hold you to treating me to a good meal."

After we each returned to our rooms, I sat on the bed, pulled the medicine bottle out of my pocket, poured two pills into my palm, picked up the bottled water from the table, unscrewed it, and swallowed the pills.

The discomfort in my stomach gradually subsided. This was precisely the reason why I didn't want to share a room with Zhao Xinze; if he saw me suffering from frequent stomachaches, he would surely grow suspicious, and by then I wouldn't be able to keep my advanced stomach cancer a secret.

Having gone to bed late last night and not having rested since around four in the morning, after taking the medicine I lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up, the sky outside the window was blazing with sunset clouds. I checked my phone—it was already close to six in the evening.

There was an unread message sent by Old Man Xu.

[Old Man Xu: Little Jiang should have arrived in Rongcheng by now. In Qingyang District, there's a cured meat shop called Aunt Liu's Cured Meats—I wonder if it's still open. If you happen to pass by, you could go check it out. I'm getting old and can't quite remember which specific street it's on.]

Beneath this message was a transfer of five thousand yuan. Though we had only met twice, the old man readily handed over five thousand yuan; he truly trusted me.

I wasn't in a hurry to accept the money, and simply replied, "The hotel I'm staying at happens to be in Qingyang District. I'll ask around the neighborhood."

I got up, washed my face, grabbed my room card, and went to knock on Zhao Xinze's door next door.

Zhao Xinze opened the door and bantered, "You sure can sleep too, kid. Let's go, what are we eating? I'm so hungry I can feel my chest touching my back."

"Let's go have barbecue. The barbecue and cured meats in Rongcheng are both fantastic. When we leave, you should buy some extra to take back for your dad."

Hearing the word "barbecue," a light flashed in Zhao Xinze's eyes. "Alright!"

"Xinze, sometimes I really wonder—are you actually a rich second generation? Why do you seem just as inexperienced with the world as me and Fanzi?"

Zhao Xinze let out a scoff. "What do you know? Ever since I was a kid, I was 'exiled' by my dad. He believes in that whole routine of raising sons in hardship and daughters in luxury. Later on, when I refused to follow his arrangements and insisted on starting my own business, I got even fewer perks."

The first time I learned of Zhao Xinze's true background was when Jian Xia was just starting to gain some traction.

Some malicious clients tried to screw us over. A few naive college students fresh out of school, we were set up and nearly lost everything we owned, coming within a hair's breadth of facing prison time.

Driven to the end of our rope, Zhao Xinze finally bowed his head to his father, and only when his father stepped in was the loss averted.

Pulling out my phone, I began searching for Aunt Liu's Cured Meats. I originally thought the shop might have closed down long ago, but to my surprise, more than a dozen popped up in the search results, with five located in Qingyang District alone.

Good grief, how was I supposed to tell which one was the shop Old Man Xu had mentioned? Did I really have to ask them one by one?

After searching for a long time, I finally found the original Aunt Liu's Cured Meats buried within the omnipotent review section. Fortunately, it wasn't far from us.

"What on earth are you looking at for so long? I'm starving to death. Don't tell me you're backing out and don't want to treat me anymore?"

"Ah, I forgot. Let's just go eat at this place; we've never tried it anyway."

We casually found a barbecue restaurant near Aunt Liu's Cured Meats. The decor was very new, looking as though it had just opened recently, and customers streamed in and out endlessly.

True to reputation, stepping into any random barbecue place in Rongcheng meant meat portions were astonishingly huge. Zhao Xinze and I walked in leaning against the walls and rolled out leaning against the walls, yet our wallets barely suffered at all.

"You really have to come to Rongcheng for barbecue. If we ate like this back in Tianhai, the two of us would probably end up washing dishes in the kitchen."

"That's hardly necessary... *burp!*"

Zhao Xinze pulled a cigarette out of his pack, not forgetting to turn sideways to prevent me from reaching out and snatching it.

I smiled and shook my head. "Brothers for so many years, and you still guard against me like this. So heartbreaking."

"Cut the crap. You filched half a pack of Fuchun Mountains from me just yesterday. This is a newly opened pack and I only brought one, so stop barking!"

I clicked my tongue twice, took the cigarettes I had looted the day before out of my pocket, and reached out my hand to him. "Lighter."

"You jerk, you bring cigarettes without a lighter? You really are planning to sponge everything off me."

"You're nagging too much."

After finishing our cigarettes, I said to Zhao Xinze, "If you're tired, go back to the hotel first. I'm going to find that cured meat shop."

"I've got nothing better to do. I'll go with you. Is it far?"

"Not far, less than a kilometer. I'm following the navigation app myself for the first time."

Following the navigation, making turns down various alleys, we finally found Aunt Liu's Cured Meats hidden in a small lane. It didn't even have a proper storefront sign, just a board standing outside with the four characters "Aunt Liu's Cured Meats" written in handwriting.

Even though it was past eight o'clock in the evening, people of all ages were still lined up outside the door.