My Chaotic City - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The Tian Ji Bun Shop

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the early morning as the sky was starting to brighten up, Li Hanqiang had left the house to run and buy breakfast.

Guaranteed to eat his breakfast every morning, this was probably the only good habit that Li Hanqiang had.

In fact, this good habit was greatly connected to the ‘Tian Ji Bun Shop’.

This bun shop had been open for many years that no one knew for exactly how many.

Li Hanqiang had loved eating the buns from this shop ever since he was young. Before their death, his father and mother had also visited it every morning.

With the development of science and technology, the ‘Tian Ji Bun Shop’ was unique in its insistence of being purely ‘manually operated’. It had never used automatic machinery and was not equipped with any service robots. The bun shop was not even hooked up to the internet and did not provide takeaway.

Some could say that this bun shop was incompatible with the era that it was in. While the exterior of the shop was not grand, the business was still prosperous and there were many regular customers.

The owner, Old Mr. Tian, was now already in his 70s. He still looked young for his age and was nimble with his hands and feet. He oversaw the bun shop and occasionally made the buns himself. People who were unfamiliar with him would probably think he was just 40 years old just by watching the way he moved around.

His son and daughter-in-law were both in their fifties and were now fully responsible for the operation of the bun shop.

As soon as she saw Li Hanqiang running over, Aunt Tian started waving from a distance and shouted, “Little Qiang, Little Qiang, come here! Aunty wants to tell you something.”

“What’s the matter, Aunt Tian?” Li Hanqiang ran to the enthusiastic aunt. He had eaten the buns here ever since he was young and was very familiar with his Aunt Tian.

Aunt Tian opened her mouth to enumerated Li Hanqiang’s shortcomings.”Look at you, your hair is so messy. Have you washed your face? You’re still wearing slippers and baggy pants. It’s not that aunty wants to make comments but with your image, it will be difficult for you to find a wife.” She then continued with, “Little Qiang, I have a distant niece that has just turned 22 this year. She came to Li City for work awhile ago and has an impeccable face and figure. Aunty will contact her for you so you both can meet. What do you think?”

‘What? A blind date again!’ Li Hanqiang felt that Aunt Tian was always introducing partners to him every now and then despite the fact that this was an uncommon practice in this day and age.

“Refusing yet again?” Aunt Tian’s had a resentful expression on her face towards Li Hanqiang for failing her expectations1. “I have to say this to you, Little Qiang. Aunty’s advice is that you shouldn’t always stay at home and play games. Go out and walk around or however else will you find a wife? My distant niece… ”

Uncle Tian who was at the side shook his head bitterly, waving his hand as he said, “Okay, okay, let’s allow the young people to decide their own fate. Little Qiang is right. After all, what kind of era is this? No one sees cars without wheels anymore. The sky is full of flying machines and you can meet face-to-face on the Internet at any time. Do they still need blind dates in real life that are arranged by an outdated aunty like you?”

Between the conversation, he handed Li Hanqiang a greaseproof paper bag. “The buns are ready for you, your favorite food. Eat them while they’re hot and ignore your Aunt Tian.”

“Okay!” Li Hanqiang smiled and took the oily paper bag. He paid the bill at lightning speed before turning and running away.

Aunt Tian looked at Li Hanqiang running away and sighed. “What a good boy. I’ve watched him grow up since he was young. If it weren’t for the car accident that happened last year, Mr. Li and Professor Yang would still be alive and he wouldn’t be like this right now.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. It’s all about shuttle buses that can fly nowadays, so there are no more car accidents.” Uncle Tian comforted his companion. “Isn’t he a good child by today’s standards, especially since he doesn’t have to worry about food and clothing.”

“I think that child is extraordinary,” The young-looking Old Mr. Tian suddenly chimed in. “He has the same demeanor as me when I was young. The next time I go up to the mountains, I’ll ask my master to do a fortune-telling for him. If we are fated, I will take him on as my apprentice.”

“Old man, please don’t join the party,” Uncle Tian sighed helplessly. “Your methods are considered superstitious these days…”

Li Hanqiang hugged the oily paper bag as he started to nibble the bun halfway.

He was saving time as time was money and he could not wait to go online and continue to work hard.

Whoosh…

A hydrogen-powered shuttle car passed by overhead and stopped in front of Villa 23.

The owner of Villa 23 was Li Hanqiang, but he was now renting it to Lin Banyue while he lived in Villa 24.

Li Hanqiang was a little curious and decided to glance over. He saw the car door open and a beautiful girl stepped out. It looked as if she had jumped out of some two-dimensional space, resembling a rainbow with her colorful short skirt and a vest. She even had a wig and rabbit ears on her head.

As times were advancing, this kind of costume was actually considered to be the ordinary now. However, as someone who was accustomed to staying at home, Li Hanqiang’s eyes still brightened.

“Who is this little sister? Is she here to see Lin Banyue?”

As Li Hanqiang thought about it, the beautiful girl suddenly turned her head and smiled at him, beckoning him to come closer. “Uncle, could you help me to carry my luggage?”

“Sure!”

Li Hanqiang secretly thought this girl was really sweet. He immediately put his buns aside and stepped forward to help. Suddenly, he realized something wrong, and hurriedly said, “Little sister, don’t just yell random things. Brother is only 25 years old this year.’

The beautiful girl scratched her rabbit ears and said sweetly, “Sorry uncle, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have thought you were already 35.”

Fine, now that you know I am 25 years old, will you let go of the uncle title? Is it so hard to let go of addressing me as an uncle? Is it so hard to call me brother instead?

Li Hanqiang decided not to bicker with her about it. Picking up a suitcase from the trunk of the shuttle, he asked, “Where should I move this suitcase to?”

“Just here! Just here!”

She pointed at the door of Villa 23. At that moment, it opened and Lin Banyue appeared with a smile. “Le Xiaoyi, you’ve arrived pretty early.”

“Big sister has summoned me, so how could I not come as soon as possible?” The beautiful girl said to Li Hanqiang, “Uncle, just leave it at the front of the door.”

“Oh?” Li Hanqiang instantly understood. It turned out that the beautiful girl in front of him was going to become another one of his tenants. Was she going to be living and playing games together with Lin Banyue?

Li Hanqiang took a closer look at the attractive girl in front of him. It seemed that she was one of the female players who had appeared in Lin Banyue’s live video to help her defend against the first wave of monster attacks on the city.

“It turns out that it is!” Li Hanqiang realized and mused to himself, “It seems like Lin Banyue is going to build a studio in my villa, so there must be other girls coming.”

Li Hanqiang easily got the suitcase to where it needed to be and the beautiful girl thanked him sweetly.

Li Hanqiang waved his hand. “You’re welcome, you’re welcome! Are you also playing the Endless World? Do you need me to help carry you?”

Without waiting for her answer, Lin Banyue replied, “That won’t be needed!”

Her tone was exactly the same as yesterday, coupled with a professional smile on her face.

Li Hanqiang felt unhappy. “You still don’t believe in my strength.” He looked at Lin Banyue and said, “Did you see the Gold Coin Challenge Leaderboard? Do you know who is on the top?”

Lin Banyue smiled softly and said with a know-it-all expression, “I know. The one on the top is Li Hanqiang, but that is definitely not you!”

“Why can’t it be me?” Li Hanqiang was stunned. “I am who I am1. I’m Li Hanqiang, the owner of Chaotic City No. 68.”

Lin Banyue continued smiling as she said nothing. After a few seconds, she responded: “Mr. Li, let’s talk again when we have the time. The two of us are going to go online now.”

“Oh, so you’re looking down at me this much?” Li Hanqiang felt even more upset but he still smiled while glancing at the beautiful girl, Le Xiaoyi. He fished through his trouser pocket and found a crumpled business card. “Little sister, let me introduce myself. My name is Li Hanqiang. This is my business card and I am the landlord of this villa. If you have any questions about the house, feel free to contact me and we will do whatever we can to help. Even though I am not good at changing faucets or unclogging the water pipe, I can still call the hotline repair number.”

“Oh.” Le Xiaoyi took the business card. She looked down at it and smiled.

The business card read:

Name: Li Hanqiang

Race: Human

Occupation: Landlord

Telephone rental…

There was also a picture behind the business card. In the picture, Li Hanqiang was clad in bright golden armor and posed in a battle stance as he held a two-meter long machete on top of an ice-winged Pegasus.

Le Xiaoyi could not help but smile. “Isn’t this the poster for the Endless World? He even photoshopped his face onto it. This uncle is really interesting.”