HOW TO DEAL WITH A TSUNDERE GONG
Chapter 19 – Wiring

Once Xu Bai Chuan entered the club building, he headed over to the media room. A group of players’ staff wearing short-sleeved shirts, oversized pants and sandals were walking to and fro behind the equipment. Many of them were young ladies who came up with various reasons to remain at the site in an attempt to catch sight of the players talk sheer nonsense.

A team player who was being interviewed was requested to say a few honeyed words ¹. This player was bashful and kept smiling at the camera, which in turn caused Xu Bai Chuan to smile.
[T/N: ¹ Basically pick-up lines]

He was never short of options. It was just that his view was already obstructed by this leaf called Tang Jin and it was difficult for the towering Mount Tai in the background to enter his line of sight.

The starting times of shifts at the club were fairly flexible. Those who like waking up early can work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In contrast, those who will die without a lie-in, work from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Xu Bai Chuan liked to breathe in the slightly chilly morning air so he automatically chose the first option.

Waking up every day at 6 a.m. without fail, he will go downstairs and jog for half an hour. When he wanted to make breakfast, he will buy ingredients on the way. Otherwise, when he didn’t feel like it, he purchases ready-made foods. After eating, he will ride the subway to work where there are usually no seats left. Hence, most of the time, he will be pressed against the crowd and scrolling through readers’ comments as he leans left and right. Once he arrives at the company, he will work together with a young group with an average age not surpassing 25 years old, listening to them talk about popular stories and joke around. Moreover, they will come up with questions together to ask players that are tricky but not excessive, to embarrass them while still pleasing spectators.

Although he was ashamed to say it out loud, Xu Bai Chuan felt happiness.

This sort of tranquil happiness continued for three months until he received a call from an unfamiliar number one day after work.

The coldest temperatures of H city rarely go below 0°C, being incomparable to B city where it frequently drops lower than -10°C. Yet when considering the intensity of coldness, both cities were evenly matched. He didn’t know whether the locals had long been accustomed to this kind of coldness, but his colleagues from the company didn’t use cushions or wear long thermal pants. The truly formidable ones were the young ladies who wore an overcoat outside and bared their legs. Terrified, only Xu Bai Chuan wrapped himself in a down jacket. He would witness the bulging sleeves being squeezed by people on the subway and deflating, before puffing up again then deflating.

When he received the call, he was carrying a bag of tomatoes that were awaiting slaughter and had only walked half of the 100-meter journey from the subway station to the neighborhood entrance. He reached for the phone inside his pocket.

It was freezing so he quickly picked up without looking at the caller. “Hello, who is this?”

Before he even finished speaking, wild music blasted from the other end which shocked him to the point where he had to grip onto his phone tighter. Puzzledly taking a look at the caller ID, he found that it was an unknown number.

Having met too many people throughout these three months, he wasn’t sure whether it was a number of a colleague he had yet to save. Consequently, he put the volume to the lowest setting and shouted, “Hello?”

Amidst the sound of music, there were a series of clanking sounds, as if wine cups were colliding, and cries of surprise. Xu Bai Chuan called out a few times, but nobody responded so he hung up this strange phone call.

As soon as he arrived at the neighborhood entrance, his phone rang again. It was the number from just now. When Xu Bai Chuan picked up yet again, the sound of music from the other end was much softer this time meaning the person must have walked to a quieter area. He said, “Hello?”

The music became fainter and fainter, leading to the sound of unrhythmic footsteps becoming increasingly clear. The place where the caller was must be very open since the sound of footsteps echoed. Xu Bai Chuan began suspecting that someone had carelessly pressed buttons on their phone in a bar and dialed him.

He decided to ask one last time, “Hello. May I ask who this is?”

The sound of footsteps ceased and a low male voice reverberated from the phone. Unlike the usual deep and low voice, this huskiness rose from the depths of his chest, sounding more like a whisper.

Tang Jin: “Xu Bai Chuan.”

Xu Bai Chuan stopped dead in his tracks amidst the desolate cold winds.

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