Chapter Forty-Five: A Grand Display of Swagger (Please add to your favorites and vote for recommendations!)

After Li Erchun had laughed himself silly in a daze, the burly homeless man smacked him on the head, sending his glasses flying! Smack!

“Recording, are you?!” Smack!

“Planning to show it to the police station, huh?” Smack!

“Thought you could scare me?!” Smack!

After three slaps in a row, Li Erchun was completely bewildered. “Why are you hitting me?”

“You idiot, because I feel like it! What are you going to do about it?”

“If you hit me again, I’ll…” Smack!

“You’ll what? You fat slob! You think eating that much makes your ass look big?”

“My butt isn’t that big! How can you be so rude!”

“Hahaha! Not only am I rude, I’m rough! Want to try me?”

…

Two minutes later, Li Erchun, his face bruised and swollen, picked up his glasses—now crushed under the tramp’s foot—and returned to Li Shixin’s side amid a chorus of laughter.

“What are you laughing at?” he demanded, seeing Li Shixin smiling at him.

Li Shixin sighed inwardly. This boy must have written himself silly with novels. Not only did he have zero social experience, he was a complete pushover.

“I’m laughing at you, of course. Look how badly you let them bully you.”

Embarrassed by the ridicule, Li Erchun’s face flushed with anger. “Didn’t you see they were just picking on someone for fun?”

Li Shixin nodded. “Of course. But that has nothing to do with why you ended up like this.”

Li Erchun bristled at that. “Old man, quit with the sarcasm! Why don’t you go try it? They’d probably break every bone in your body!”

Is that so?

Li Shixin merely smiled, gave the chubby youth a long look, then strolled, hands clasped behind his back, over to the group of tramps still laughing and discussing Li Erchun’s earlier humiliation.

Seeing this elderly man amble over with a smile, the big guy stopped laughing. “Wow, what a rare night at the dump. Not only did we get a soft, pampered fatty, now we’ve got an old coffin-dodger too!”

“Heh.” When the big man shoved his face menacingly close, Li Shixin simply smiled. “Yes, I’m sixty-five! Halfway in the grave. I really envy all you youngsters.”

“Cut the crap!” The big man grabbed Li Shixin by the collar, nearly lifting him off the ground. “Old geezer, this is my turf! Who the hell let you two come here?!”

Even dangling in midair, Li Shixin’s calm smile never wavered, as if he were chatting with an old friend in a café. “Apologies for bothering you.”

“…If you know you’re bothering us, why aren’t you leaving?!”

“It’s too late, and we’ve nowhere else to go.”

“Not my problem!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll just stay here a few days. We’ll be gone after that.”

“Hey, you old man—”

“Young man, I promise we won’t cause trouble or make a mess. It’s late, why get so worked up? Come on, set me down.”

Li Shixin was soft as cotton—no matter how the big guy threatened or mocked him, he kept that serene smile, as if chatting with a new acquaintance over coffee.

It made the big man all the more frustrated. He’d only come over for a bit of fun to break up the boredom of a long night, but seeing none of the usual fear, pleading, or anger on Li Shixin’s face, just felt dull and pointless.

With a grunt, he shoved Li Shixin away and, gathering his cronies, returned to his derelict car.

Nearby, Li Erchun, who had been poised with his phone to record Li Shixin getting beaten, gaped in astonishment as the old man emerged unscathed—having even negotiated a “just staying a few days” agreement with the big guy.

…

Inside the bus.

Though battered and dilapidated, the bus’s mostly intact windows kept out the worst of the night wind. Li Shixin and Li Erchun had scavenged an old, battered mattress from the trash and hauled it inside. And so, a makeshift home had taken shape.

Watching Li Shixin, cross-legged on the mattress, meticulously cleaning an old flute, Li Erchun couldn’t help but sidle over.

“Old man, how did you do that?”

Li Shixin looked up, blinking blankly. “Do what?”

“Just now! Why didn’t that big oaf… hit you?”

“Because I’m an old man!”

“Huh!” Li Erchun lost interest and flopped back onto his spot.

Seeing the young man’s disgruntled face, Li Shixin shook his head, set the flute down, and smiled. “Do you know why you got hit?”

Li Erchun’s ears perked up. “Why?”

“Because from the very beginning, you put yourself in the position of the weak. From a sociological perspective, a bully first makes sure the victim poses no immediate threat. You mentioning the police right away was basically telling him you have no effective way to resist.”

Li Erchun digested this, eyes thoughtful. “You know sociology? What else?”

“After hitting you, the big guy insulted you just for fun. But your anger, cowardice, and all that defending yourself only made you more amusing as his plaything.”

“…” Mulling over Li Shixin’s words, Li Erchun fell silent. After a while, realization dawned. “So that’s why you acted so nonchalant when he provoked you, always steering the conversation toward an end. You wanted him to find it boring, right?”

Oh?

Li Shixin looked at the hapless chubby youth with interest. Not too bright, but at least not hopeless.

“Exactly, you’re teachable,” he said, smiling and nodding slightly.

As he gazed at Li Shixin’s face, shadowed yet profound, Li Erchun frowned. Just then, his phone buzzed.

Seeing the overheating warning, he realized he’d forgotten to turn off the camera. After recording for more than ten minutes, the phone was hot enough to be a hand warmer.

He stopped the recording with a sigh. The phone service had long been cut off for unpaid bills—otherwise, he could have called the police before and saved himself a beating.

“Huh?”

He instinctively checked for Wi-Fi, and to his amazement, found an unsecured network nearby. “What the hell! Internet in a godforsaken place like this?”

With only a single bar, he was both surprised and delighted, and connected immediately.

No sooner had the connection been made than a flood of messages appeared. In a QQ group called “Webnovel Legends Camp,” there was even an @ mentioning him. Li Erchun hurriedly opened the group and looked.

Inside, a few “big shots” were shamelessly showing off:

“Hat of Weighing Every Penny”: Sigh, life is so damn hard. Sold rights for several million, still can’t afford a place in Shanghai. Why am I such a loser?

“Eagle Eats Chicken King”: Sigh… I’m absolute garbage! Half the month gone and only three hundred thousand words written. Guess I won’t break two million in royalties this month. Bought two 300-square-meter luxury condos last week, won’t even have enough for renovations—back to eating dirt! Anyone pity me enough to send five bucks for a pack of smokes?

“Half a Paper Love Letter”: Can you two stop showing off? What’s the point? Makes someone like me, with barely two hundred thousand a month, feel awkward.

“Stolen Name”: Newbie trembling in fear, only made twenty thousand this month… better keep quiet.

“Lost Words”: @Stolen Name, didn’t you make three million playing stocks last month? Not treating us?

“Stolen Name”: Boohoo… with a net worth of over a hundred million and more than thirty apartments in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, Boss Lost Words only writes for fun, but still extorts us paupers!

“…”

Comparing these chat logs with his own surroundings, Li Erchun felt as if some invisible hand was jabbing his heart and lungs with a steel needle, blocking his windpipe for good measure.

So merciless it stifled the breath.

By now, the “big shots” had finished a round of humblebragging, but realizing they were all in much the same boat—lives equally bland and dull—they grew bored.

Only then did someone notice.

“Eagle Eats Chicken King”: Huh… these days, showing off just isn’t as fun. Feels like something’s missing!

“Hat of Weighing Every Penny”: Now that you mention it, Eagle, I feel like the group is missing something too.

“Half a Paper Love Letter”: Yeah, the only one here who’s truly wretched seems to have vanished.

“Stolen Name”: That’s right, @Erchun, that fool hasn’t shown up in days!

Seeing everyone @ him, their group’s unlucky mascot, Li Erchun managed a wry smile. After some thought, he typed:

“My royalties ran out, the landlord kicked me out, and now I’m spending the night in a garbage dump.”

The group exploded in disbelief. In their eyes, even the lowest-ranked hack should pull in at least ten thousand a month. Zero income, living in a dump? What a novelty!

Seeing their skepticism, Li Erchun sighed, then described his ordeal from being evicted that morning to meeting Li Shixin.

Still, no one believed him. So he simply opened his photo album and uploaded the video of himself getting beaten.

The weak signal made uploading slow, but when the video finally appeared and they saw his sorry state, the group went wild. After all, in this group, “down and out in a garbage dump” was a brand new experience.

But after watching the latter half—Li Shixin’s handling of the big guy, and the elder’s sociological analysis of bullying—some fell silent.

A little later, the “big shots” started chiming in again:

“Hat of Weighing Every Penny”: @Erchun, is that old man really just a scavenger?

“Eagle Eats Chicken King”: @Erchun, I’m sharing the video. There’s a lot to learn; that old man is no ordinary guy.

“Half a Paper Love Letter”: @Erchun, I’m uploading the video to Bilibili. If it gets lots of coins, I’ll send you a red envelope for food.

…