Ni Jiu (Intoxicated) - Chap 15

Creating a new ID card for Shen Tingwei was not as easy as he thought.
He waited in Lian Jue’s villa for nearly two weeks. Meanwhile, Lin Chen brought someone over to take a few pictures for him. He also prepared a written material and asked him to answer in strict accordance with the content of the document. The household registration investigator also came to visit.
Two weeks later, when Lin Chen handed over his ID card and a brand-new household registration book. Shen Tingwei felt a little guilty for taking it: “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect it to be so troublesome.”
“It’s alright.” Lin Chen had the usual formulaic smile on his face like a dummy without any personal feelings and asked him if he still needed to talk to Lian Jue on the phone.
Shen Tingwei thought about it for a while, said no, and only asked him to help convey his gratitude.
Before leaving, Lin Chen asked him where he wanted to go and whether he needed a driver to escort him. He shook his head hesitantly. He took one out of the pile of cash the other party had prepared for him. He wanted to say that he would pay it back in the future but he felt that Lian Jue wouldn’t care about the money. If he really paid back the money, he might even be charged for more. Lian Jue might twist it into other meanings. He didn’t want Lian Jue to misunderstand anything, so he just said “thank you” a lot of times.
Shen Tingwei came out of the villa empty-handed. He looked at the empty street, let out a long sigh and inexplicably relaxed his dull mood which pented up for so many days.
There was a laptop in the room where he lived. Shen Tingwei opened it and found that the network was already connected. It was probably prepared by Lian Jue or Lin Chen for him.
He checked the recruitment website in advance and screened out those who need education and work experience. There is not much recruitment information left and even fewer place with food and lodging. He carefully copied the recruiting address and phone number on the note, including one’s who brought plate in the hotel and planned to interview one by one.
After walking for a long time along the way back from the hospital, a few empty taxis slowed down as they passed by. He waved his hand and refused the other party’s ride.
With a hundred dollars in his pocket, he didn’t know how far it was from here to the city. Anyway, it was still early and he could save some taxi fares by walking a little longer.

He needs to save some money for tonight’s plans – if he doesn’t find a suitable job, he may need to find a youth hostel to stay temporarily at night. Save the money for food, so that it will last for another day.
A black business off-road vehicle sped passed on the road next to him and soon stopped not far away.
Shen Tingwei is walking unfocused while recalling in his mind the city map he had seen yesterday. He doesn’t have a mobile phone, so he can only remember important things in his mind as much as possible. Fortunately, he has a good memory and he can basically recall the things he had read carefully.
Until he passed by the black Land Rover parked on the side of the road, the person in the car stopped him: “Mr. Shen.”
Shen Tingwei abruptly stopped and before he completely recovered, he turned his head and looked at the person blankly.
“Get in the car.” Lin Chen said, “I will take you to the city. It just so happened that I have to go back. I will drop you by.”
Shen Tingwei didn’t hesitate for a moment he got into the car and said, “Thank you.”
Lin Chen slightly pulled the corner of his lower lip and looked down at the laptop on his lap.
He seemed to be dealing with some important business. The phone rang from time to time. Shen Tingwei kept quiet all the time while his eyes kept on avoiding the computer screen. He stared at the cold street scene outside the window instead.

“Yes, Mr. Lian, the document has been sent to your mailbox.” Lin Chen’s eyes swept over Shen Tingwei’s side face lightly and continued in his voice, “In addition, Mr. Shen has already left.”
Shen Tingwei was looking at an old woman who was pushing a cart to sell seasonal fruits on the side of the road. He didn’t turn his head when he heard someone mentioning him. He stared at the big, plump basket of mulberries on the cart. ‘Spring is here.’ He thought.

After entering April, the weather warms up quickly and sweater can be stopped from being worn.
Kang Tong came back from school, his face flushed with heat, his aunt helped him take off his turtleneck sweater, found a thin cardigan to put on for him and urged him to wash his face quickly.
“Wait for Miss Ning Xue to come and pick you up. What kind of children’s playground is she going to take you to?” Auntie asked while helping him prepare the honey water to bring when he went out.
The sound of the water in the bathroom soon stopped and Kang Tong ran out excitedly without wiping his face and told her: “Auntie, it’s a trampoline paradise!”
“Oh, trampoline paradise.” Auntie turned her head to see the water droplets hanging on his face. She smiled helplessly and brought a towel over to help him wipe his face, “I don’t understand these things that you children play with. Before, five yuan for a ticket to go to the park can be used for a day while now trampolines were already part of a playground.”
“It’s not just trampolines.” Kang Tong counted the items he had seen in the photos of his classmates he has seen, “There are also ocean balls, a very high slide that you have to slide down in a kayak and one who jumped off the building…”
“You are jumping off the building?” Auntie was stunned and a little worried, “Can children play there safely?”
“Yes, my classmates have all played with it. There is a sponge pad underneath and it doesn’t hurt at all when you fell off. I haven’t been there yet but they all said it doesn’t hurt.”
Auntie felt worried when she heard it and touched his hair lovingly: “Go have fun, pay attention to safety and drink all the water in the kettle. Auntie will check upon you once you come back.”
The “jumping off the building” project in Kang Tong’s mouth is called the Spider Tower, which is the most popular amusement project in the trampoline park – standing on a high platform of several meters and lying down, there are layers of elastic meshes in the middle as a buffer and finally the whole back falls on the thick sponge pad underneath. Compared with the slight pain when the buttocks is on the pad, the somatosensory stimulation that is on the verge of getting out of control when falling is much more attractive to Kang Tong.
Kang Tong played for a few times, clinging to the guardrail on the high platform and shouting to Chen Ningxue, who was resting in the ocean ball, “Auntie, come here too, this is fun!”
Chen Ningxue was actually a little afraid of the height of the Spider Tower but she couldn’t stand Kang Tong’s screaming again and again so she had to bite the bullet.
Kang Tong turned his back to the Spider Tower and explained to her while clinging to the guardrail: “Just like this, turn back and then lie with your eyes closed, it’s not scary at all.”
When Chen Ningxue came up, she felt that she could still resist that’s why she stood there however once she looked at the height below, she started to panic. She couldn’t help but back away: “This is really scary. Forget it. I really don’t dare to play.”
“Auntie, try it!” Kang Tong was so excited that he couldn’t wait to find someone to share with him. He moved away, walked over and pushed Chen Ningxue’s waist against the edge of the platform, “It’s fun, hurry up. Come.”
The female staff in charge of maintaining the Spider Tower watched them. One big and one small, stand in a stalemate for a long time, standing on the side and laughing for a while.
When they approached, the staff took off a plastic box from the shelf next to it and said to Chen Ningxue: “Hello lady, please check if there are any sharp objects on your body before playing the high-altitude project, take off the keys and jewelry. Be careful of injuries and dropped items.”
Chen Ningxue was so upset by Kang Tong that she had no choice but to raise her hand and take off her earrings: “Oh, okay, just once.”
Kang Tong nodded vigorously, his eyes are dark and his lips are bright with a smile: “I’ll wait for you below and reward my aunt with ice cream!”
Chen Ningxue was amused by him: “Hahahaha, then I want to eat vanilla flavor.”
Kang Tong ran down the stairs while Chen Ningxue took off the earrings and watch then put them in the box.
Someone below called for something and the female staff turned her head to talk to the person below. Chen Ningxue took a few deep breaths before plucking up the courage to walk to the edge of the platform.
Kang Tong raised his head below and told Chen Ningxue to come down quickly. Chen Ningxue was even more nervous because of his urging and her voice trembled a little: “D-don’t rush, I’m already coming d-down.”
After speaking, she sighed and tied her hair. She closed her eyes, her heart swayed and she leaned back after seeing the posture of Kang Tong just now.
When the body just sank, Chen Ningxue’s heart was hanging in her throat but as soon as her back came contact with the buffer net the psychological burden was relieved. The process of falling was much faster than expected. Chen Ningxue closed her eyes and suddenly noticed that something was pulling her neck hard. Before she could react her body fell into the cushion smoothly.
She crawled out from under the net, and the burning pain on her neck was hard to ignore. She raised her hand and touched it tentatively. The side of her neck was stinging from the rubbing caused by her fingertips.
Kang Tong took two vanilla ice creams that were taller than his face from the brother at the front desk and tiptoed towards the Spider Tower.
As he approached, Chen Ningxue lowered her head slightly to look for something when she saw that the young female staff member on the tower was kneeling on the cushion to find something.
“Auntie.” Kang Tong handed the ice cream to Chen Ningxue and asked curiously, “What are you looking for?”
“My necklace fell off.” Chen Ningxue said.
“Ah?” When Kang Tong heard it, he didn’t even bother to eat. He hurriedly bent over to help her find it.
Kang Tong and the others came late. It was very close to the end to get off work now. There were not many people in the venue. The boy who helped Kang Tong make ice cream just now came over and asked them what happened.
The female staff member failed to search for it. She knew that it was because she was distracted by her work and did not perform her duty of monitoring and reminding. She blamed herself, her eyes were already red and she whispered to the person, “The customer’s necklace has fallen off.”
Shen Tingwei looked at the female customer in front of her. Chen Ningxue’s clothes and accessories were obviously worth a lot of money. The necklace must not be cheap. No wonder the female staff was scared.
The girl who just started working has no spare money and the necklace may cost a few months of salary. Shen Tingwei’s current situation is even more difficult. He can’t say anything to comfort her so he has to apologize to the female customer on her behalf and then he quickly help to find the necklace.
“It’s a rose gold necklace. The pendant is in the shape of a four-leaf clover and there are diamonds around it.” Chen Ningxue described it to him.
Shen Tingwei knelt on the mat and searched carefully for a long time. He even carefully touched the seams yet there was still no trace of the necklace.
Chen Ningxue’s cell phone rang. She picked up the phone and looked at the gate of the venue unexpectedly: “Brother? Are you here already?”
She patted Kang Tong on the shoulder: “Go change your shoes. Your dad has come to pick us up for dinner.”
The necklace can’t be found. Chang Xing is like a pupil who has done something wrong with tears hanging in her eyes, about to fall.
Seeing that Chen Ningxue became soft-hearted. She comforted her with a soft voice: “It’s alright. It’s just a necklace. It’s not a valuable item. If you drop it then look for it. If it can’t be found then just accept it.”
She did say it was okay. Changxing’s tears fell down. Chen Ningxue smiled helplessly: “Why are you still crying? It really doesn’t matter. It’s also because of my own carelessness. You have to get off work too. You don’t need to look for it. Let’s leave, quickly.”
She couldn’t let Lian Jue stand at the door and wait. She simply comforted the girl and led Kang Tong to leave.
Chang Kai called out Shen Tingwei, who was still crawling under the net with a flat stomach.
It was probably because he had bowed his head for a long time that before Shen Ting got up, his eyes were dark, his body shook unnaturally and was quickly supported by Chang Kai.
Before she wiped away her tears, she looked at Shen Tingwei’s pale face worriedly: “What’s wrong with you? Are you dizzy again?”
Shen Ting was helped by her to stood firm. He closed his eyes and waited for the brief darkness in front of him to pass before shaking his head, patting her arm and urging: “Let’s get the customer’s contact information. I will look for it later. When you are hygienic, look for it carefully and if you find it, return it to customer.”
Chang Xingxing was reminded by him. She nodded and hurriedly chased after Chen Ningxue’s back.
Lian Jue took Kang Tong’s kettle and his eyes still stayed on the thin back not far away.
The man squatted down on the trampoline, looking for something with his head down, his loose black T-shirt stretched on his back along with his half-kneeling posture and outlining his narrow waist.
Chen Ningxue left her phone number to the girl next to her, raised her head and saw Lian Jue’s strange expression. She followed his line of sight and asked, “What are you looking at?”
Lian Jue quickly retracted his gaze and said lightly, “Nothing. What happened just now? What took you so long?”
“Auntie’s necklace fell off.” Kang Tong flattened his mouth slightly and lowered his eyes a little, blaming himself, “It’s all my fault that I asked my aunt to jump off the building with me and lost my aunt’s necklace.”
“What are you jumping off of?” Lian Jue asked.
Chen Ningxue pinched his face with a smile, “Well, I will punish you. Ask your father to pay me back.”
“Let him pay for it himself.” Lian Jue took Kang Tong’s shoulders and when he turned around his eyes involuntarily fell back to the man again. Before Chen Ningxue noticed it, he drew back, “Let’s go.”