Chapter 26

“If you had not returned so early, Teacher, my body…” Xia Qin Yumei stopped there. For one thing, there was no need to continue now that Yu Xingyue knew about such an embarrassing matter. For another, she had not had the courage to reveal the secret herself, and hearing Teacher say it for her had eased her heart considerably. More than anything, however, she felt sorrowful. At least someone was willing to listen to her troubles.

“Tell us everything that is weighing on your heart. We are here to listen,” Yu Xingyue said. He wanted to learn more about Xia Qin Yumei so that he could understand her better. If someone else had wanted to know about a woman’s past, it might have been because he was a scoundrel looking for a way to exploit her weaknesses and get her into bed. That was a typical scoundrel’s trick. Yu Xingyue, however, simply wanted to understand her. He was no such person.

“Xingyue, this is not the time for you to interrupt.” Liu Hailizi cut him off. “I know you come home very late from work, but I recently noticed the bruises on your arms. What happened? Were you beaten by someone?”

Liu Hailizi went straight to the point. Hearing this, Yu Xingyue also looked at Xia Qin Yumei’s arms and saw that they were covered with bruises.

“You don’t need to concern yourselves with my affairs.” Though Xia Qin Yumei’s words were simple, they carried many meanings. Yu Xingyue saw that immediately, but since Liu Hailizi had forbidden him to interrupt, he could only listen.

“Don’t think I don’t know how much you have suffered,” Liu Hailizi continued. “But why didn’t you ask me for help when you were in trouble? What do you take your teacher for?”

“How could you possibly solve something like this? If you could, I wouldn’t have come here to work for you.” Xia Qin Yumei’s mood darkened.

Yu Xingyue guessed that perhaps some street thugs had stopped her on her way home and demanded money. When she refused, they had beaten her. That was only his speculation, however.

Hearing a commotion downstairs, Yu Xingyue said, “Hailizi, I’ll go down and take a look. You two can continue talking.”

Liu Hailizi nodded, and Yu Xingyue immediately went downstairs.

The conversation that followed was between the two women. Liu Hailizi already knew about Xia Qin Yumei’s circumstances and had intended to leave the matter there, but the injuries on Xia Qin Yumei’s arms made it impossible not to ask.

“Is there nothing you want to say to me?” Xia Qin Yumei spoke first.

Liu Hailizi remained silent for a long time. Xia Qin Yumei knew that she had nothing to say. She herself had many things she wanted to tell Liu Hailizi, yet, just like Liu Hailizi, she could not bring herself to say them. The atmosphere soon became awkward.

Downstairs, Yu Xingyue discovered that two customers had gotten into a fight in the internet café, while the others were trying to separate them. He hurried over at once. What kind of internet café manager would he be if he could not even handle a minor disturbance like this?

“Hey, hey! What are you doing? How did you end up fighting? If you want to fight, go outside!”

With an imposing and overwhelming air, Yu Xingyue forced the two men to let go of each other. He then said, “Can someone tell me what happened? Why did you two start fighting? Explain yourselves.”

One of the people standing beside him told him, “They were both playing games and were completely absorbed in them. One of them accidentally kicked the computer tower, shutting down the other man’s computer while he was in the middle of a game. That made him furious, and he threw the first punch. Anyone would lose their temper if their computer shut down during a ranked match.”

Yu Xingyue nodded once he understood the situation. “Both of you, calm down first.”

He turned to the man whose computer had been shut down. “How did your computer turn off? Did he do it?”

Yu Xingyue pointed toward the other man to confirm the details. The customer in question was clearly hot-tempered.

The man whose computer had shut down nodded and said angrily, “He did it. I was playing perfectly well when he suddenly punched me and knocked out my computer. Of course I was angry. Why did you hit me? What did I ever do to you?”

From his account, it seemed that the other man had punched him first, after which his computer had been shut down.

“Tell me your names first. If we keep referring to each other as ‘you’ and ‘him,’ this conversation will only become more confusing.”

There was no harm in learning their names before making a judgment. At that moment, Liu Hailizi and Xia Qin Yumei also came downstairs and witnessed the scene. Liu Hailizi wanted to see how Yu Xingyue would handle it.

The man whose computer had been turned off said, “My name is Sakamoto Zhilong.”

After learning his name, Yu Xingyue looked at the other man.

“My name is Songshang Lian.”

Yu Xingyue nodded and began dealing with the matter. Liu Hailizi watched closely.

“Since Zhilong threw the first punch, you should apologize first,” Yu Xingyue said to Sakamoto Zhilong. “If he apologized to you and you still hit him, then you were the one in the wrong. Why keep holding a grudge after he apologized? Peace is always better than conflict. Don’t let a moment of anger cause you to hurt someone. Isn’t that right?”

He then turned to Songshang Lian. “If you had apologized to him right away, none of this would have been your fault. But when he hit you, you hit him back. I understand that you didn’t want to be beaten without retaliation. Still, since you admit your part in it, the two of you should apologize to each other and call it even.”

Yu Xingyue took hold of both men’s hands and made them face one another.

After staring at each other for a moment, Sakamoto Zhilong said, “What this brother says makes sense. I shouldn’t have lost my temper over a game. Losing is no big deal, and I don’t want to hurt anyone. If you’re willing to forgive me, then I…”

Zhilong was not very articulate and could manage only a few words. Though he looked fierce, he clearly had a gentler, almost endearing side.

Songshang Lian spoke next. “I’m at fault too. I got too worked up and hurt you. Everything began because of me.”

He glanced at Yu Xingyue and continued, addressing Zhilong, “If you don’t mind, then let’s become friends—with this brother as well.”

As he spoke, he took Yu Xingyue’s hand.

“That’s more like it,” Yu Xingyue said with a smile. “Put this little incident behind you. Look at you two—you’ve made friends already. They say that people who fight often become acquainted afterward. I’m sure you’ll become good brothers in the days ahead.”

Yu Xingyue found settling the dispute surprisingly easy. Perhaps these two were simply more understanding than the people he had known back home. Matters such as disputes between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law were far beyond his sphere of experience.

“May I ask this brother’s name?” Sakamoto Zhilong asked. “We’re friends from now on.”

Songshang Lian was looking at him as well. Both men wanted to know his name, so Yu Xingyue introduced himself.

“My name is Yu Xingyue. I’m from China. Please look after me.”

Yu Xingyue was delighted. These were the first two Japanese friends he had made since arriving in Japan.

Once the matter was resolved, the onlookers dispersed and returned to their computers. Yu Xingyue quickly grew close to the two men. He had intended to return to the front desk and resume work, but they kept holding him back, insisting that he stay and play with them.

Yu Xingyue instinctively looked toward Liu Hailizi. She merely nodded, granting her permission. His concerns vanished, and he happily joined the two men for a game.

Two new names appeared in Yu Xingyue’s phone contacts: Sakamoto Zhilong and Songshang Lian.

Sakamoto Zhilong looked fierce. He was a sturdy man with dyed blond hair, yet beneath that intimidating appearance he was surprisingly sweet. As for the refined-looking Songshang Lian, one should not be fooled by his slender and delicate appearance. Whenever trouble arose, he usually faced it calmly. His outburst earlier had been an exception.

“Xingyue handled that so well,” Liu Hailizi said, patting Xia Qin Yumei on the shoulder. “You should learn from him. It was his first time dealing with something like this, and he resolved it perfectly.”

Xia Qin Yumei merely pouted. “He was just lucky. He didn’t run into anyone truly hot-tempered. If someone like that stood in front of Yu Xingyue, even he would be helpless.”

“In other words, you’re jealous of him,” Liu Hailizi said. “Watch carefully and learn how he turns customers into friends. You may face a situation like this yourself someday, and Yu Xingyue won’t be there to handle it for you.”

After speaking, Liu Hailizi continued watching Yu Xingyue. She secretly captured his smiling face with her phone. His smile was pure, untouched by any improper thought. It was a genuine smile, with not the slightest trace of pretense.

And so Yu Xingyue continued playing with his two new friends until the end of his shift. Even when work was over, he did not forget to say goodbye to them.

He found the two men rather amusing. If they resembled members of the Tianyuan Team, then Sakamoto Zhilong would be the Japanese version of Xiao Jian, while Songshang Lian would be the Japanese version of Zhang Yi. Even their ways of speaking were nearly identical.