Extra Chapter 8: Left Eye Jumps for Wealth, Right Eye Jumps for Disaster
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After the New Year, the internet cafe opened its doors!
“Chen Yao! I found something amazing online!”
Lin Nan suddenly turned to Chen Yao who was sitting next to him.
Since it was just after the holidays, his parents were still at home, but being the internet junkie he was, he concocted a reason to sneak out and happily dragged Chen Yao along to the internet cafe.
“Amazing thing?”
“Yep! Remember how I wanted to watch some anime? I posted online and someone recommended me something!” Lin Nan exclaimed, brandishing his newly bought phone. After pondering for a moment, he added, “Do you watch slice-of-life anime? We can binge together!”
“As long as it’s good, I’m not picky,” Chen Yao yawned and booted up the browser on the computer.
“First up, World’s Best First Love.”
“Uh, sounds like a romance anime,” Chen Yao said, entirely disinterested, as he typed it into the search bar and hit enter.
Lin Nan leaned closer, peering over his shoulder, nudging him eagerly, “Click it! If it’s good, I’ll just download it to my phone!”
Lin Nan’s new phone screen was like a giant compared to his old Nokia brick, and he was all about exploiting that screen real estate for some sweet videos.
Chen Yao opened the anime, resting his chin on his hand, watching along with Lin Nan, but after ten minutes, something felt off.
He glanced sideways at Lin Nan only to see the boy thoroughly engrossed, showing no signs of dissent.
Well, of course, he wouldn’t object—this kid was practically a blank slate when it came to girls; he probably couldn’t even tell if he liked girls or boys!
Chen Yao could totally see Lin Nan mistaking the plot for two bro pals just hanging out.
“Chen Yao, let’s live together someday, just like them?”
“Uh, no way,” Chen Yao waved his hands in dramatic rejection, “I like girls.”
“?” Lin Nan’s head tilted, a tiny, cute question mark floating over his head.
“Time for a change! This anime isn’t suitable for you,” Chen Yao quickly shut it down, fearing Lin Nan’s fragile view on love would get warped.
“What’s the next one called?”
“Let me check… My Bico.”
“Wait, what kind of name is that?” Chen Yao mumbled as he searched.
“Why isn’t this on Bilibili?”
Looking at the cover art, he let out a sigh of relief—there was a girl!
Chen Yao’s instincts told him to protect Lin Nan from any weirdness, feeling responsible for the kid who he kept seeing as his little brother.
Comfortably slouching on the sofa and waiting for the ad break, he said to Lin Nan, “Just steer clear of those romance anime like World’s Best First Love from now on.”
“Why?”
“That’s for… ya know, fangirls.”
Huh? Fangirls?
Lin Nan looked confused, but just then the advertisement ended and both turned back to the screen.
The initial scenes unfolded normally enough, but after a while, Lin Nan’s face turned beet-red, and he awkwardly looked away. Chen Yao’s eyes went wide in disbelief, glancing back and forth between the screen and Lin Nan.
Wait, is Lin Nan some kind of hidden perv?!
And the anime was all about boys loving boys! That guy who looked like a girl was actually a dude!
He quickly closed the webpage, frantically trying not to let Lin Nan veer into any strange territory, calmly asking, “Next one.”
“Maybe not… These internet dunces probably didn’t recommend anything decent,” Lin Nan murmured, his cheeks still aflame.
He didn’t want to face Chen Yao anymore…
“If you’re gonna watch anime, find something on Bilibili,” Chen Yao suggested.
“That site doesn’t let you download…” Lin Nan pretended to be nonchalant while booting up a game, but the pink flush had spread to his ears.
Chen Yao stole a quick glance at his flustered face—blushing Lin Nan was actually pretty cute.
“Let’s play a game! I wanna try out the new support character!”
“Lulu?”
“Yep! Super OP!”
“I’ll go with Graves.”
After playing for a few months, they finally scraped together enough experience to reach level thirty, but there just weren’t enough champions to compete in ranked matches.
A few hours later, Lin Nan glanced outside at the darkening sky, stretched lazily, and said, “I should head home. My mom sent me to grab some fast food for dinner.”
Neither of his parents cooked—or rather, they were too lazy to even think about it. Driving trucks all day wore them out, so they preferred lounging on the couch, blissfully ignoring chores.
Lin Nan was even responsible for washing their underwear, but they were talking about getting a washing machine.
Chen Yao, having grasped a bit about Lin Nan’s family situation, shrugged, “Why do I get the feeling you’re your parents’ housekeeper?”
Lin Nan joked, “Well my monthly ‘salary’ isn’t even a thousand! How about you hire me as your housekeeper? A few thousand sounds good.”
“Yeah right~” Chen Yao got up and followed Lin Nan to the front desk to refund the remaining net fee.
With nothing better to do, Chen Yao tag-along to the nearby fast food place.
With his hands shoved into his pockets, he leaned slightly forward, trying to look nonchalant and unique.
Middle schoolers generally love that nonchalant vibe, thinking it makes them look cool.
Lin Nan wasn’t a big fan of that attitude, but many girls in their class seemed to dig that bad-boy look.
“Speaking of which, what do you want to do in the future?” Lin Nan suddenly asked him.
“Be… an artist?” Chen Yao stroked his chin, puffing his chest with pride, “I’m definitely an artistic genius.”
“That doesn’t pay well, does it?”
“Why are you always focused on money?”
Is it because we’re broke?
Lin Nan’s monthly allowance was a measly 800; it barely covered his meals, but buying skins was a stretch. Whereas Chen Yao managed to scrape by with just a 30 a day food budget and always found a way to wrangle more from his parents.
“How much do you get for Lunar New Year?”
“Fifty. That’s from my grandparents,” Lin Nan replied.
Chen Yao then cheekily pulled out five hundred bucks from his pocket, flaunting it in front of Lin Nan. “That’s ten times yours! Come on, call me ‘Daddy’ and I’ll buy you a New Year skin!”
Lin Nan shot him a weird glance, thinking Chen Yao must be losing it.
Without missing a beat, he yelled, “Dad! Buy me a skin!”
“…”
“You can’t back out now!” Lin Nan elbowed Chen Yao, “Big boys gotta keep their word, remember?”
“How did you…?” Chen Yao was totally blindsided by Lin Nan’s audacity.
So far, Lin Nan hadn’t shown himself to be excessively money-hungry, considering 800 is pretty decent for a middle schooler.
“No way, you’re not chickening out now?” Lin Nan exaggeratedly widened his eyes.
After a long silence, Chen Yao finally caved in under Lin Nan’s relentless teasing, pretending to be generous as he nodded, “Fine! Your ‘dad’ won’t miss a dime…”
That “dad” call must be worth something.
After grabbing their fast food, Lin Nan promptly forgot about his starving parents, dragging Chen Yao back to the internet cafe to top-up game credits, gleefully picking out his New Year skins.
Chen Yao remained silent, feeling the pinch as his eyelids twitched in agony.
Left eye jumps for wealth, right eye jumps for disaster! So, what’s my right eye doing…?
Superstitions! Pfft!
……
Half an hour later, Chen Yao returned home.
Thanks to the New Year festivities, the dining room was still closed, so his parents were home.
As soon as he walked in, his mom peeked at him from the sofa, “Where’s the Lunar New Year money your grandparents gave you? Hand it over, I’ll keep it safe for you.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna steal your money—just helping you manage it so you don’t waste it all.”
Chen Yao stepped back, hand on the door handle, trying to look serious, “Mom! I’m grown up now; I know how to manage my spending! One of my classmates gets eight or nine hundred a month for his allowance; his parents aren’t worried about him at all!”
His mother eyed him skeptically.
After raising Chen Yao for over a decade, she had a sixth sense for when he was up to no good.
With a cheerful smile, she got up and walked toward him, “Alright, I made your favorite! Go eat!”
Phew, that was a close call.
Chen Yao let out a breath of relief, stepped away from the door, and was about to head towards the kitchen when suddenly he froze, trembling with wide eyes, “Mom, what are you doing with that feather duster?”
His mother laughed, “So tell me, where did that red envelope money go? You spent five hundred already, and it hasn’t even been a day!”
“……”
