A Stable Life

Tang Manman slightly raised her lowered head and glanced at Lin Yu. Pressing her pink lips together, she pointed at his face with a somewhat odd expression and said,

"Lin Yu, your face..."

"My face?"

"What's wrong with my face?"

Lin Yu couldn't wait to ask.

But Tang Manman trailed off mid-sentence, lowering her head again without another word.

Lin Yu didn’t press her further. Instead, he rushed to the bathroom to see for himself what was wrong with his face.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Lin Yu stared at the reflection—a face both unfamiliar and familiar. At first, he instinctively chuckled at the ridiculous sight, but before his lips could fully curl into a smile, his amusement vanished.

He stood frozen for two or three seconds, staring at that absurd face in the mirror, then took a deep breath, desperately trying to suppress the trembling in his body from sheer embarrassment.

Now he finally understood why the delivery guy at noon had given him such a strange look.

And why Tang Manman had stifled a laugh and avoided looking at him earlier.

This face!

Just slap on a red nose, and he could join the circus as a two-faced clown!

Who wouldn’t laugh at this?!

Frustrated, he roughly tore off the bandage wrapped around his forehead and quickly combed down his yellow-dyed hair to cover the half of his face that had turned almost as pale as Tang Manman’s.

Only when the slightly darker half of his face was back to normal did he exhale shakily in relief.

Damn it!

What a massive humiliation!

Too embarrassed to even think about teasing Tang Manman anymore, Lin Yu pulled out all the cash he had—about 1,100 yuan—and shoved it into her hands as payment for the medicine before promptly ushering her out.

Sitting alone on his bed for a long while, he finally felt the burning shame on his face subside a little.

Looks like I can’t cut off this stupid yellow hair anytime soon.

How the hell am I supposed to go out in public with one half of my face dark and the other half pale?

Rubbing his temples in frustration, the mere thought of having to roam around with this ridiculous dyed hair made him feel like he was on the verge of a heart attack!

But for now, there was no other choice.

With a sigh, Lin Yu went back to scrolling on his phone, waiting for his food delivery...

---

Time flew by in the blink of an eye. Before he knew it, Lin Yu had spent an entire week holed up at home.

During that week, he hadn’t gone anywhere—just lazing around, eating takeout, binge-watching videos, pretending to be sick, and waiting to squeeze more money out of Li Yuan.

But to his surprise, this time, he didn’t even have to ask.

The money came to him on its own.

Following the address on his phone, Lin Yu arrived at a small bar called "First Encounter." Staring at the decently decorated interior, he turned to Black Tiger, the second-in-command of the Black Blood Gang, in disbelief.

"Tiger Bro, are you serious? Uncle really gave me 10% of this bar?"

"Hell yeah! You hit the jackpot, kid!"

The burly Black Tiger laughed heartily and raised his hand, about to give Lin Yu his usual affectionate smack on the back of the head. But then he remembered Lin Yu’s bloodied face from before and worried his injuries might not have fully healed. Sheepishly lowering his hand, he grinned and said,

"From now on, you’re a shareholder here."

Lin Yu’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He never expected Li Yuan to be this generous.

He didn’t know the exact profits of this bar, but for a place of this size, his monthly dividends would easily be at least 10,000 yuan!

Lin Yu’s eyes lit up.

This solves my university tuition and living expenses in one go!

Talk about effortless gains!

He couldn’t help but feel thrilled.

Good thing I went easy on Li Yuan back then and didn’t let the Fire Scorpion Gang beat him to death.

Otherwise, I’d have missed out on this golden opportunity!

Karma really does reward the good-hearted!

"Come on, let me introduce you. This is Deng Song—he keeps things in order here. Just call him Ah Deng."

Black Tiger patted the man beside him as he made the introduction.

Lin Yu nodded slightly at the tall, rough-looking guy oozing with street swagger.

Black Tiger continued, "Xiao Long, Deng Song here has heard all about your exploits. He’s practically idolizing you."

At this, Lin Yu glanced at Deng Song—who, as the older folks would say, had a real "hoodlum vibe"—and noticed the excitement in his eyes. The guy did seem genuinely impressed. Lin Yu understood immediately.

"Xiao Long, just focus on school for now. But drop by after classes or during breaks to learn the ropes."

"Who knows? Maybe one day, Boss Yuan will hand this whole bar over to you."

Lin Yu put on a grateful expression, but inwardly, he scoffed.

Once I graduate high school, I’m off to university. Why the hell would I stick around this dump for a measly 10 grand a month?

...

Wait.

Will I even make 10 grand a month after graduating?

Lin Yu suddenly felt a pang of doubt.

He wasn’t sure how valuable a college degree was in this world, but even if it carried weight, landing a job paying over 10,000 yuan a month with just an average bachelor’s degree wouldn’t be easy.

Crap.

Now I’m actually tempted to stay!

No way!

Lin Yu shook off the thought. In this underworld life, out of a hundred guys, maybe one ends up with a happy ending.

Sure, a regular job might suck, but at least it’s stable.

No need to worry about getting jumped by a random mob while eating skewers on the street.