435: Chapter 429: Seeing Brother Qiang Again 435: Chapter 429: Seeing Brother Qiang Again The delivery rider before him wore a yellow robe, his skin rough and unrefined from years of weathering, darkening under the sun and rain.
He was probably in his fifties, not much different in age from the masters and madams Chen Hai had met on the coach in Japan back in those days.
However, compared to them, the delivery rider before him seemed much older; at first glance, he appeared like a little old man.
“Young man, when you sign for the delivery, could you please leave a good review, if that’s okay?”
Seeing Chen Hai appear somewhat distracted, the delivery rider asked with a humble look, hurriedly adding the request inappropriately.
“Tong Daqiang?
Brother Qiang?” Instead of directly responding to the delivery rider, Chen Hai spoke up tentatively, asking.
He was naturally familiar with Tong Daqiang.
Only, the delivery rider before him differed somewhat from the Brother Qiang in his memory.
Was it really him?
Without full confidence, Chen Hai also found it difficult to confirm.
“Who are you?” Hearing his name called, the delivery rider looked at Chen Hai with bewilderment, sizing him up carefully from head to toe for a long while.
“Chen Hai, Brother Hai?
Impossible, Brother Hai can’t be this young…”
The memories of twenty or thirty years ago seemed already a bit blurry in Tong Daqiang’s mind.
After calling out Chen Hai’s name, he shook his head like a rattle drum; he immediately and completely denied his own conjecture.
This wasn’t surprising, after all.
In Tong Daqiang’s recollection, Chen Hai was only a few years younger than himself; logically, he should also be over fifty by now.
But the young man before him looked to be at most in his early twenties, someone you’d believe to be a student without question.
For a youngster like this, even if he closely resembled the Chen Hai in his memory, it was still hard for him to believe they were the same person.
“I am Chen Hai, what’s so impossible about that?”
“Come on in, have a seat!” Without further ado, Chen Hai pulled him into the room.
“I just took an order, I’ll be delayed, and if I can’t deliver on time and the customer complains, they’ll deduct money…”
Chen Hai’s enthusiasm left Tong Daqiang feeling quite awkward; he stammered as he tried to explain.
In his younger days, he was energetic and full of vigor.
But now, over fifty and with a family to support, life’s harshness had worn him to the bone.
From him, there was little sign of ambition left, only a clear sense of dusk, plainly written across his face.
Of course, his saying this was certainly due to still having doubts about Chen Hai’s identity.
After all, someone past fifty looking like a twenty-something young chap was just too incredible to believe.
“If they deduct money, they deduct money, what are you afraid of!”
“Didn’t your delivery service launch a tipping feature?
Whatever they deduct, I’ll make it up to you!”
With a roll of his eyes, the annoyed Chen Hai picked up his phone and, after a moment’s thought, tipped 8888 yuan.
Since returning to Liuyuan County, everything had seemed so unfamiliar.
Happening upon Tong Daqiang, a well-known acquaintance from the past, he naturally wanted to catch up and chat a bit more.
Regardless, the Tong Daqiang of the past had followed him around for meals.
Seeing him so down and out, it was nothing for Chen Hai to tip a little money through the delivery platform!
“You really are Brother Hai?” Receiving the tip notification, all doubt vanished from Tong Daqiang’s face, leaving only deep shock.
After all, money had genuinely exchanged hands.
Other than the man before him being the real Chen Hai, he couldn’t fathom any other reason for someone to tip him so much without a second word.
You should know, working as a delivery rider in a small county like Liuyuan, you’d make three to four thousand at most after a hard month’s labor.
If you’re lucky to make five to six thousand, you’d be thanking Buddha.
If this person were not Chen Hai, who could be so generous as to casually give away one or two months’ worth of salary?
“Brother Hai, your appearance…”
By age, although Tong Daqiang was a few years older than Chen Hai, ever since he started working for Chen Hai, he had always referred to him as Brother Hai.
Although he no longer doubted Chen Hai’s identity, he couldn’t help but give in to his curiosity and asked,
“I took a trip to Japan and ran into a little accident.”
“I was sealed in a cave and spent some time in seclusion, cultivating.
By the time I came out, it was already the present.”
“Do I look like there’s a problem with my face?
Forever young, ah, that’s a dream many people wish for but never achieve…”
With a chuckle, Chen Hai responded in a teasing manner.
“Brother Hai, you’re incredible!” Even though Tong Daqiang couldn’t tell whether his words were true or false, he still gave a thumbs up and echoed with a sentence.
“I remember once you did a divination for me and said I would later adorn a Yellow Robe and enjoy lavish meals daily.”
“At the time, I thought you were just joking with me.”
“But now, ever since I became a delivery rider, I’ve come to realize that you had foreseen all along that I would end up delivering food.”
“I have to say, Brother Hai, your divination skills are really divine…”
When Tong Daqiang mentioned this, his face showed resignation and he let out a wry smile.
Back then, he couldn’t stop bragging about how he was destined to wear the Yellow Robe in the future.
Compared with his current situation, a profound bitterness couldn’t help but rise in his heart.
Some things seemed to have truly been destined from the start.
If he had had the continuous support of someone as esteemed as Chen Hai, Tong Daqiang’s fate might indeed have taken a different turn.
After Chen Hai was gone, not only was he reduced to his original state, reverting to his original fate line, but he also kept encountering bad luck.
Riding the electric bike out, he accidentally injured an old lady.
Coming home at night, the manhole cover was stolen, and he plunged headfirst into it.
When he went to an internet cafe, during a crackdown on fugitives, he was mistakenly arrested and detained for two days…
Such misfortune didn’t just happen once or twice; for a while, he would face an incident every couple of weeks.
It wasn’t until he donned the Yellow Robe and became a proud delivery rider that his string of misfortunes started to slowly vanish until they were gone completely.
The hardships of life over the years had worn him down completely.
“Right, what exactly happened with the distillery?”
“Where’s my cousin now?
What’s the situation?”
Suddenly recalling this matter, Chen Hai began to inquire.
“Brother Hai, the fine distillery you entrusted to us to manage, it didn’t take many years before we drove it straight into bankruptcy.”
“We have truly betrayed your trust by bringing up this issue, and we deeply regret that!”
“The distillery’s bankruptcy was mainly due to overexpansion, coupled with a quality issue that was exposed as inferior products being passed off as superior, leading to the breakdown of the financial chain!”
“In terms of responsibility, it’s on me, your cousin, and President Qiu, all of us to some extent.”
“With the distillery’s bankruptcy and seizure, along with other related issues, President Qiu took responsibility, facing all the consequences, and ended up sentenced to seven years.”
“As for what happened to him after his release from prison, that I don’t know!”
“My cousin and I, we were both able to extract ourselves from the distillery’s debacle but ended up utterly useless.”
After a pause, Tong Daqiang sighed deeply and added, “Ever since the distillery issue, your cousin has been as unlucky as me.”
“He was working as a bricklayer on the construction site and had several accidents.”
“Just the other day, he heard that labor pays well in Myanmar North and it’s easy to earn money, so he and two co-workers went there.”
“Yesterday, he even called me, saying he can make a thousand or two a day over there…”
As he described Sun Jinzhong’s current situation, Tong Daqiang seemed a bit envious.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t get away himself.
Even going to another city to work was something his wife was very reluctant to allow, let alone him going to Myanmar North!