Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 2
Chapter 2
He returned to the dressing room first to change from his clean clothes and put the dirty ones back on again. Then he headed to the kitchen.
After he entered, the spoons, dishes, and knives in the hands of the staff abruptly stopped moving. He encountered gloating and questing looks.
Li Chengxiu knew that he was not popular here.
Actually, even in the past, he had never been popular amongst his peers. He mostly isolated himself and tried not to speak or even communicate with anybody, if it wasn’t necessary.
People like him can easily offend others, so it was better to minimize his own existence to keep himself safe.
He was accustomed to being quiet around people, and the others naturally also responded with silence.
It’s just that this place was different from what he had experienced before. Here, he didn’t only feel the familiar contempt but also certain hostility.
He has spent ten years in Shenzhen[8]. He started as an apprentice of a handyman, and later entered this hotel to follow a mentor who treated him better.
Three months ago, the boss opened this new location. Because it is a hotel with a sea view, the environment here is good and the salary is high. The first batch of employees that were transferred will definitely have good chances for promotion in the future.
Deciding which personnel will come aboard was a complicated decision. Li Chengxiu had been working under their President Chen for five years, and his performance had been good, so he was transferred here to be a sous chef together with another colleague.
Where he worked previously, everyone was used to his introverted personality. But in this new environment, with many new colleagues, his restrained attitude was a problem during the initial time when everybody was getting to know each other.
What’s more, he didn’t have enough qualifications to be a sous chef, so it was inevitable that some people would be critical of him. If it wasn’t for the urgent shortage of manpower at the new location, he would never have gotten this position.
Everyone just now had witnessed that he was called by the manager while in the middle of cooking. Considering the circumstances, most likely he was in trouble.
A young chef, Xiao Qian, who took over from him, came up and asked, “Li Ge[9], what did Manager Zhang want from you?”
Li Chengxiu answered truthfully: “There is a guest who wants to hold a party, so they asked me to cook there.”
Xiao Qian’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Yet, after some time, he smiled: “Alright, Li Ge! Good for you!”
Xiao Zhao, who was preparing a cold dish, deliberately let out a heavy sigh: “Li Ge is so lucky. If he hadn’t been on duty today, such a good thing wouldn’t have happened to him.”
The implication was that if the head chef or another sous chef had been here today, Li Chengxiu wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity.
Others also said a few words, and he received some insincere congratulations.
Li Chengxiu nodded without saying anything, looked down at the electronic display with the dishes ordered by the guests, washed his hands, rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
Seeing that he wasn’t responding, the crowd just continued to entertain themselves. A little colleague of his walked right behind Li Chengxiu while exaggeratedly twisting his waist. Everybody laughed.
Li Chengxiu couldn’t hear so well with his right ear, and it was difficult for him to distinguish separate sounds in a noisy environment. However, the mocking laughter could still penetrate his eardrum and enter his brain.
He looked down at the crab roe and tofu he was cooking, and his heart gradually calmed down.
After dragging his tired body home at night, Li Chengxiu first threw himself on the faded carpet.
He had always been very neat and tidy, so he would never even touch his bed before washing his body thoroughly to get rid of the kitchen smells.
He rolled over and lay on his back on the carpet, resting his eyes and gasping for breath.
Shenzhen in July feels like a big hot steamer. When Li Chengxiu got off work at night, the bus was crowded with sweaty people, so his trip home felt like taking a bath in sticky sweat, which made him sick inside and out.
The company originally arranged accommodation for him, but his dormitory at the new hotel location wasn’t ready yet. So they gave him a 1,000 RMB[10] lodging subsidy every month to let him rent his own place.
Li Chengxiu was happy with the arrangement. He didn’t want to live in a dormitory in the future when it was ready. He would rather ride the bus back and forth for more than half an hour every day and receive the subsidy rather than room together with strangers.
He took his phone out of his pocket to check what time it was.
He kept the phone turned off during working hours, and after he switched it on, a few messages popped up directly on the screen. All of these were missed calls.
Some were from familiar numbers, others not.
Li Chengxiu looked at the familiar number, frowned slightly, pursed his lips, hesitated for a while, and finally called back.
“Hello……”
“Oh, why are you only calling back now?” A high-pitched female voice came from the other side.
“Fourth aunt, I was at work.”
“So long? You’re working too hard, Xiao Xiu! By the way, have you transferred the money for this month already?”
“Not yet, I will do it tomorrow.”
“Then hurry up. Other people have already paid their dues! This time, you should give me an extra 1,000 RMB. Because next month your brother is bringing back his girlfriend. And I want to buy an air conditioner.”
“……Okay.”
“Xiao Xiu, I understand that it’s not easy for you, and that you’re tired. But while you’re young, you should work harder. Otherwise, when will you be able to pay off the money you owe? You don’t want to be in debt your entire life, do you?”
“No.”
“That’s all I have to say. Long-distance calls are expensive after all… In the future, if you transfer the money in time, I will not call you anymore. Let’s have no more delays, okay? Otherwise, since you are so far away, one can never know if you decided to run… Do you understand? I know that you are not that kind of person, but considering that you owe more than me… It’s hard for everyone, so try to think about us too, okay?”
“Okay.”
Li Chengxiu hung up the phone, feeling exhausted.
He struggled to get up, took a quick shower and sat down on the cot. He took out an old savings book from under his pillow, and stared at the numbers on it.
Suddenly his cell phone rang again, startling him. He moved, and the bed creaked.
He quickly took the phone, saw an unfamiliar number on the screen, and gently pressed the “accept” button.
“Hello?”
He heard soft breathing on the other side, and then a voice asked him tentatively, “Li Chengxiu?”
Li Chengxiu trembled, and the phone almost fell out of his hand.
He remembered this voice well – he had just heard it today. It was Mr. Shao.
The other party was silent for a while and then asked again: “Is it Li Chengxiu?”
Li Chengxiu hesitated for a long time, and finally whispered, “Yes.”
There was a sigh of relief and a chuckle, “I thought I made a mistake.”
Li Chengxiu silently put the phone next to his right ear. He would usually use his left ear when he was talking on the phone, since it was undamaged. But in the case of this particular voice, he felt that his anxiety would be less, if he could hear a bit worse.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“…Mr. Shao.”
“Well, you still remember my voice. Not bad.”
Li Chengxiu didn’t know what to say, so he kept quiet.
“I asked your manager for your phone number. So, what time do you get off work tomorrow? I’ll pick you up and we’ll discuss the party.”
Li Chengxiu felt repulsed by his indisputable tone: “I’m not working tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s even better! Then you’ll have more time to serve me. Where is your house? I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”
Li Chengxiu said slowly: “Tomorrow, holiday.” He deliberately punctuated the word “holiday”. He only has one day off a week, and tomorrow he has to go transfer the money. Besides, he didn’t want to meet Mr. Shao.
For a while there was silence: “Chef Xiao Li is probably tired. In that case, please rest well tomorrow. I’ll pick you up the day after that. Goodbye then.”
The other party abruptly hung up the phone. Li Chengxiu could hear displeasure in his voice..
He lay down on the bed and wrapped himself in the quilt.
No matter how much he didn’t like it or how much he didn’t want anything to do with Mr.Shao, he couldn’t turn his back on the money.
He tightly hugged his pillow after stuffing his savings book under it again. After a long exhausting day, he quickly fell asleep.
After his holiday, he went to work again. On that day, another sous chef with last name Liu also showed up, and the look he gave him was not very friendly. He was fishing for information from Li Chengxiu – what exactly happened that day, what dishes did he cook, what did the boss say, how much he will get paid for cooking at the Victoria Harbor party, when this party was taking place and whether Mr.Shao was coming in again.
Li Chengxiu could only honestly tell him about the dishes he cooked – how would he know about any of this other stuff?
Chef Liu’s face became more and more unsightly, which made Li Chengxiu feel uncomfortable at work for the whole day.
Even though it was just a small hotel, the infighting was brutal. Considering this was a newly opened location, the pioneer troops sent to “reclaim the wasteland” will have the most opportunities for promotion in the future. Everyone was giving their best, hoping to climb up the ladder. Li Chengxiu, who was originally the least optimistic about his prospects, was now officially the first one to show his face in front of the boss and the boss’s friends. This, of course, caused a lot of jealousy.
After finally getting off work at ten o’clock in the evening, Li Chengxiu quickly packed up and hurried out.
He left through the main entrance, and was just walking out of the hotel door, when a champagne-colored sports car appeared in front of him under the bright yellow light.
The car looked very beautiful and very expensive – the body of the car was long and shiny.
Li Chengxiu looked at it indifferently and continued walking, carefully holding his bag of leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
As he passed by the car, the car horn blared abruptly. Startled him, he looked out the window in amazement.
The car window rolled down, and Li Chengxiu, being not far away from it, suddenly felt a rush of cold conditioned air coming out of the car.
The young Mr. Shao stuck his face out of the window, waved his hand to greet him, and said with a smile, “I’m here to pick you up.”
Li Chengxiu took a few deep breaths and looked at him blankly.
When the man saw that he was not moving, he frowned, opened the car door, got out, walked over to him, and stretched out his hand: “Chef Li?”
With embarassment, Li Chengxiu came back to his senses, looked at the hand stretched out in front of him, and subconsciously wanted to reach out too. However, when he raised his arm, he realized that there was a plastic bag in his right hand, so he hurriedly placed the bag in the other hand, and only then properly greeted Mr.Shao.
The man’s handshake was dry and firm. For some reason, Li Chengxiu felt that he deliberately used a bit too much strength.
“Mr. Shao.”
“Isn’t it too weird to call me Mr. Shao, Li Chengxiu? Do you really not remember me?”
Li Chengxiu’s heart skipped a beat. Although he had already guessed that this was indeed the Shao Qun he knew, he still felt unnerved when he heard the confirmation.
Li Chengxiu raised his head slightly, glanced at him and whispered, “I remember.”
Shao Qun’s eyes lit up and he smiled: “Really? We haven’t seen each other for more than ten years. Seeing your reaction that day, I thought you had no memory of me at all, and I was quite sad. We were classmates after all. You don’t have to act like this…or do you still hold the grudge for the stupid things I did when I was a kid?”
Li Chengxiu’s cheeks felt hot, and beads of sweat slowly oozed from his forehead.
Shao Qun deliberately emphasized the words “when I was a kid”, making it seem that if he still had any hard feelings about the harm he caused him when he was young and ignorant, it would make Li Chengxiu petty and small-minded.
Indeed, what can an eleven- or twelve-year-old child understand? Looking back now, it wasn’t a big deal, and Li Chengxiu had almost forgotten about all of it.
Back then, it seemed like a terrifying disaster on par with the sky collapsing over him, but now that he thinks about it, it only appeared so horrible because it was infinitely magnified by his youth at the time. In fact, it’s just a thing that happened. He was now still alive and well, after all. He lived in another city where no one even knew who he was. So why would he hold grudges?
He really didn’t have any animosity against Shao Qun, but his fear and inferiority complex when facing this person remained unchanged even after so many years. He just wanted to stay as far away as possible.
Colleagues who were leaving work at the time kept throwing glances at them when they passed by. Both of them looked very uncomfortable. Seeing that he didn’t answer, Shao Qun said, “Get in the car.”
Li Chengxiu looked at the car behind him with hesitation: “Why?”
“To talk about work.”
Li Chengxiu wanted to tell him that they had nothing to discuss at this late hour, and that he should come back another day. But then he thought it wouldn’t do him any good to offend Shao Qun by procrastinating their meeting. Since he came all this way, Li Chengxiu didn’t dare to turn around and leave.
So he nodded and got into the car.
When Shao Qun also got back into the car and closed the door, the smell of burnt oil filled the narrow space.
When standing in the parking lot, Li Chengxiu didn’t feel that he emitted such a strong odor, but once he was locked in a closed car, the smell was really noticeable. He felt really embarrassed.
Shao Qun wrinkled his nose and rolled down all the windows. This move made Li Chengxiu feel even more uneasy. He blushed.
He couldn’t help thinking that more than ten years ago, he also went to school smelling of burnt oil every day. Everybody avoided him because of that. At first, the disgusted expressions of his classmates really hurt, but then he gradually got used to them.
Since he started working and had a steady income, he washed himself very often. It’s just that he had only gotten off work and didn’t have time to take a shower. He didn’t expect to be sitting next to somebody at this time.
It seemed that nothing had changed – Shao Qun was still the noble gentleman who was always clean and arrogant, while Li Chengxiu was still the smelly sissy outcast. Even he hated himself at this moment.
Now that he has grown up, why does Shao Qun still make him feel so embarrassed? In front of the bright shiny Shao Qun, he was still so inferior.
The champagne-colored sports car started silently, and Shao Qun drove quickly along the coast. The sea breeze blew into Li Chengxiu’s eyes. He could only tightly hold onto the seat belt on his chest, trying to endure bouts of nausea.
After taking them into the city, Shao Qun slowed down, and rolled the car windows up again. He seemed to have been holding his breath all the way, and finally could breathe a sigh of relief. His face wasn’t sullen anymore and he smiled at Li Chengxiu with ease: “No problem, I can just drive a little faster.”
Li Chengxiu shook his head, his face pale.
“Have you eaten already?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll take you out for a late-night snack. I haven’t been to Shenzhen a lot before, but I may be developing some businesses here for a while in the future. I really didn’t expect to meet you here.”
“We… talk about work?”
Shao Qun chuckled: “They make a good Tong Sui[11] in that shop! I don’t know if you as a chef will appreciate it but let’s try it first!”
Li Chengxiu no longer asked about anything. Shao Qun was the same as before – no one could talk over him, and everything always had to go according to his wishes.
Shao Qun led him into the teahouse. The waiters obviously already knew him, and they immediately led them into a private room.
Shao Qun ordered ten kinds of Tong Sui at random, and noted to Li Chengxiu, “I got so hungry while waiting for you.”
Li Chengxiu didn’t know what to answer, so he could only nod stiffly.
Shao Qun looked at him silently, then suddenly moved his chair and leaned towards Li Chengxiu.
“Cheng Xiu – I can call you that, right? You’re always so nervous around me. Do you hate me?” he asked softly.
Li Chengxiu raised his head in surprise and met his beautiful bright eyes. His heart skipped a few beats, and he awkwardly shook his head.
Shao Qun said sincerely: “I’m actually very happy to meet a former classmate in a completely different place. I have never forgotten about you, even after so many years. I was young and ignorant at the time, which brought you a lot of trouble. I always thought I would find an opportunity to apologize to you someday, but I didn’t expect to see you again.Would you accept my apology now?”
