Chapter 31 Scammer Decides to Be a Good Person 6 – As a Veteran Foodie Boyfr…

Could someone really change that much?

Du Heng thought of the funeral customs in the village. Many of the rites and procedures were meant to better send off the soul of the deceased. If that did not happen, then under certain circumstances, such as clashing birth charts¹, young children, pregnant women, specific hours, and the like, the soul might attach itself to the living, or remain with them as they went on with their lives.

Families like that generally saw their luck decline, with one trouble after another.

But Du Heng felt that after Shi Lan changed, he had only then truly sensed that he was not living alone in this world. No matter what he was doing, there was always another person thinking of him in every possible way, and he… was tied to her as well.

Come to think of it, he really had become luckier.

Shi Lan waved a hand in front of Du Heng’s eyes. “Hey, come back to earth. What are you thinking about so hard?”

Du Heng lifted his hand and covered the face before him.

Her cheeks were rosy, her skin fine, pale, and tender. Warmth and softness spread across his palm.

It made him reluctant to pull away.

“Is it you?” he asked, dazed.

Shi Lan blinked in confusion. “Is what?”

Looking into those bright, lively almond eyes full of bewilderment, he said, “My lucky star.”

“I am!” the girl answered without hesitation. “Of course I am! Your lucky star, your goddess of fortune. Believe it or not, I came to save you.”

She was radiant with confidence, and when she smiled, it was like she was glowing.

It made him want to reach out and catch that light, close it in his palm, and keep it for his eyes alone.

Du Heng could not help leaning closer, and closer still, until they could hear each other’s breathing.

That little mouth that was always chattering away finally fell silent. It was right beneath his eyes, right by his lips. Full and moist, like late-spring cherries, like flower petals in the morning.

A phrase flashed through his mind, to taste a beauty’s sweetness. In this moment, he finally understood something of its meaning, and the elegance of the words used.

He lowered his head. He wanted to taste those cherries, to admire that flower.

His lips brushed lightly against the corner of hers, like a test. She did not dodge…

Shi Lan had the chance to dodge. She had even thought she would, when she saw that his pupils were filled entirely with her reflection.

But she did not. When Du Heng drew close, she could feel with perfect clarity that her heart was beating faster than it ever had before.

Then instinct took over.

Only at this moment did Shi Lan realize that she liked this man. Not the obsessive infatuation of chasing after a two-dimensional paper boyfriend, but a woman liking a man.

So when the heart is full of love, kissing really can become addictive.

Who would have thought? Shi Lan had always believed this sort of thing was pretty unhygienic.

Sigh, so this was how beauty led people astray.

Shi Lan leaned in Du Heng’s arms, toying with his fingers, while the man’s kisses lingered at her brow…

After that day, the intimacy between the two of them clearly deepened.

There was not really any special outward sign of it, just a feeling. A sense of their hearts being pressed close together.

Even Li Xia could tell.

She had even given Shi Lan some earnest advice, the gist of it being that building a career was more important than dating.

Her thinking was right, but if the person in question was Du Heng… no, no, I am not listening. My boyfriend is the best.

Do you know how rare it is to go from chasing a paper man to getting the real one?

Making money was important, and Du Heng was important too.

Shi Lan refused to choose. She was holding on tight to both.

One day, Du Heng did not come to the stall for his boxed meal. That had never happened before.

Shi Lan asked his coworkers, but they all said they did not know either. They said they had not seen him all morning and assumed he had taken leave.

Shi Lan grew a little anxious. Judging from the situation, he had probably run into some kind of trouble as soon as he went out.

This was the downside of not having a mobile phone. There was nothing she could do.

Still, she was only somewhat anxious, not truly worried. After all, he was the male lead. Something bad could not just happen to him for no reason, not when the plot had not even started yet.

And other than waiting, there was nothing else she could do.

She waited until even the popcorn stand outside the movie theater had packed up, and he still had not returned.

By then, Shi Lan was already starting to waver in her theory about the male lead’s plot armor. But it was pitch-dark outside, and there was nowhere to even begin looking. She made up her mind that if Du Heng still had not come back by daylight, she would go to the police.

Around one in the morning, Shi Lan heard movement outside the house. In the stillness of the night, it sounded especially clear.

Grabbing a kitchen knife, she moved to the window and looked outside.

It was Du Heng!

Shi Lan hurried to open the door.

“Were you worried sick?” Du Heng strode quickly over. “Something unexpected came up right after I left this morning.”

“You could at least have asked someone to send word back,” Shi Lan complained.

“My fault. I really did not have time.”

Shi Lan did not press the issue and instead asked with concern, “Where did you go? And why did you change into a suit?”

At the mention of that, Du Heng could not hide his excitement. He pulled out an envelope and handed it to Shi Lan. “Take a look.”

She pinched it between her fingers. It felt like money. Sure enough, when she poured it out and counted it, there were actually two thousand.

Shi Lan said, “Where did this come from?”

“Brother Wu had to meet a client, but the client’s Chinese wasn’t very good, and he couldn’t find an interpreter at the last minute. When I ran into him this morning, I saw he was worrying over it, so I volunteered myself. The client was very satisfied, and later tonight I even accompanied him to a KTV², so I came back late. This is the bonus Brother Wu gave me.”

There was such a good thing?

Shi Lan did not hold back her praise, then suddenly paused. It seemed she had overlooked something.

“You just said you went to a KTV?” Shi Lan gave him a fake smile. “Did you have fun?”

As far as she knew, entertainment venues in this era were full of sensual pleasures and shady games.

Du Heng was completely unaware that danger was approaching, and even started complaining. “Wasn’t it still just work? That place was so noisy that people had to talk right by your ear for you to hear clearly. I had to relay messages between Brother Wu and the client, and it wore me out. Luckily, later on everyone got drunk, and they just skipped over me and babbled at each other like chickens and ducks³, so I got to rest for a bit. Listen, my voice is hoarse.”

“I heard KTVs have beautiful female attendants in every style, each one lovely in her own way, and their range of services is quite broad too,” Shi Lan said unhurriedly.

Only then did Du Heng realize what was going on.

“Brother Wu did call in some female attendants, but I was focused on working and making money. I did not even get a clear look at what those people looked like. Besides, I’m just a worker. They wouldn’t pay attention to me anyway, so I wouldn’t know anything about what services there were.”

“Oh? So you wanted to experience their service?” Shi Lan’s voice shot up.

“Why can’t I explain this properly?” Du Heng was flustered now. “Lanlan, you have to believe me. I definitely won’t go to places like that again.”

Shi Lan shot him a glare, stuffed the twenty bills back into the envelope, and tucked it into her own pocket. “Confiscated! From now on, every bit of wages you earn has to be handed over to me like this. If I leave it with you, who knows who’ll trick it out of your hands.”

Du Heng nodded repeatedly. “Okay, all of it goes to you. Then you can give me pocket money.”

Then he felt around in his pocket again, pulled out a few dark red and blackish things, and handed them over. “These are for you.”

It was one small mangosteen and two slightly withered lychees.

“Where did these come from?”

Du Heng said, “I took them from the KTV. A place like that really isn’t somewhere ordinary people can afford to go. A plate of fruit barely bigger than a dish at home actually costs 198. Brother Wu told me to eat some, so I took these and put them in my pocket. I brought them back for you to try. Before, I’d only read about lychees in books, in the line about the concubine smiling at a galloping rider in red dust⁴. Today I finally saw what real lychees look like. As for this big one, I don’t know what it is. I was too embarrassed to ask.”

He placed the fruit in Shi Lan’s hand, then took off his suit jacket. He seemed quite happy. “They bought it today at the mall. Brother Wu said it’s mine too.”

Shi Lan looked at the few pieces of fruit in her hand that he had carefully saved and brought back for her, her feelings complicated.

She had forgotten that, limited by transportation and preservation conditions, fruit and local specialties had strong regional restrictions.

Unlike thirty years later, when you could travel anywhere in the country and the goods you saw were basically all the same, and even when you went abroad, what you saw was still made in China.

These few pieces of fruit still carried Du Heng’s body warmth. He hadn’t even eaten any himself, yet he’d eagerly brought them back for her.

“This is mangosteen,” Shi Lan said.

“Huh… you know it?”

Shi Lan pulled Du Heng down to sit and explained how to peel and eat mangosteen and lychee.

“This mangosteen’s calyx has already turned yellow, so it’s not exactly fresh. If you ever buy it yourself somewhere, remember to pick ones with green calyxes. It looks pretty tough, but it’s actually very easy to peel. Find the little button on the bottom and give it a gentle squeeze, and it’ll split open.”

Du Heng found it fascinating and listened intently. “It really opened. It looks like garlic.”

Shi Lan laughed. “It also looks like a cat’s paw⁵…”

“???”

“I’ll explain that joke to you next time you see a cat. Here, give it a try.”

Although the mangosteen wasn’t fresh, it hadn’t gone bad yet.

Du Heng tasted a small segment. “So this is what it tastes like, sweet and tangy… Let me see what the peel tastes like.”

Shi Lan didn’t stop him in time before she heard him spit twice. “It tastes worse than wood.” Then he said with relief, “Good thing I didn’t eat it back there. If my brain hadn’t caught up in time and I’d just taken a bite, that would’ve been really embarrassing.”

As if he’d pictured the scene in his head, Du Heng amused himself and laughed for quite a while.

Shi Lan did not find it funny.

She kept peeling lychees and handed one to Du Heng.

“You have to find the natural seam. If you do, peeling it is effortless. Otherwise it’ll come off all ragged, and your hands will get covered in juice. If the juice gets on your clothes, it’s especially hard to wash out.”

Du Heng successfully copied her, then praised her, “You’re even better at peeling these than Brother Wu.”

Shi Lan raised a brow. “What about your client?”

Du Heng lowered his head. “A waitress peeled them and fed him.”

Shi Lan: “…”

Well then, that question had been completely unnecessary.

“You’ve learned?”

“I’ve learned! But…”

Shi Lan said, “What do you want to say?”

Du Heng rubbed his stomach and smiled guiltily. “I’m not full. I’m hungry.”

That earned him another glare.

Shi Lan said, “Then why didn’t you say so earlier? And here I was rambling with you for half the night. Wait there, I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles.”

As she methodically prepared the seasonings for the noodle soup, Shi Lan was thinking about something else.

She had overlooked it before. This was the way things were here. No matter the industry, eating and drinking were unavoidable, and the entertainment world was even more so. Once Du Heng entered show business, he would inevitably run into foods at banquets that he didn’t recognize and didn’t know how to eat.

Would he accidentally make a fool of himself over things like this and get laughed at?

The original story had never touched on any of that.

But as a bona fide foodie, if her boyfriend got mocked over something like this, that would mean she was failing in her duties.

Next phase goal: show her boyfriend the many delicious foods and wonderful things produced across the great rivers and mountains of their motherland!

As the boyfriend of a veteran foodie, he ought to have the proper standards!

Shi Lan had thought Du Heng would ask why she knew lychees and mangosteens, and why she was so familiar with how to eat them. She had even prepared an excuse in advance.

But he didn’t ask.

He still hadn’t asked by the time he’d finished his bowl of noodles and was getting ready to head back next door to sleep.

If he wasn’t going to ask, she still had her own curiosity.

Shi Lan said, “Your spoken English is really good?”

Just how good did it have to be to work as an interpreter? Come to think of it, he’d only finished high school.

Du Heng smiled at her, placed his right hand over the left side of his chest, and bent slightly at the waist. “Miss Shi, can I have a good night kiss before I open the door and go out?”

Translator’s Notes