Chapter 3

In an instant, Wei Yan’s voice rose several decibels: "Have you caused trouble outside again? Can’t you learn to behave? When will you stop worrying us? Xiaokang, you’re not a child anymore; can’t you learn to do something proper?"

Yang Kang could no longer bear Wei Yan’s nagging and hurriedly said, "I didn’t fight with anyone."

"Then why are you back at this hour?" Wei Yan shouted loudly.

"I quit my job, I’m done with it!" Yang Kang said, then started to walk inside.

Just as Wei Yan was about to ask more, her phone rang. She quickly fished it out and answered, then smiled and said, "Mrs. Qiu! I’m on my way, right away!"

After hanging up, she looked at Yang Kang walking inside and called out, "I have something to do now, I’ll ask you about this in the evening, hmpf! By the way, since you’ve quit and have nothing to do, go to the kitchen and wash the dishes. You’ve been eating and living here for free; you should do something to help." Without waiting for Yang Kang’s response, she rushed out the door.

Yang Kang watched her leave, then walked to the storage room. Initially, Wei Yan had said she was being kind by letting him stay at their place—essentially, she had him live in a half-underground, half-above-ground storage room with no windows and only a small door.

A bed made from an old wooden board, less than a meter wide, was laid out, and opposite it, various clutter was haphazardly piled, filling the space. When Yang Kang entered, he had to carefully squeeze in sideways, thankful he wasn’t fat, or he would have doubted whether he could fit.

He placed his few belongings under the bed and thought about what Wei Yan had said before leaving. Despite Jiang Yan taking advantage of the situation to buy their family’s antique shop at a very low price, as Wei Yan had said, they had still provided him with a place to stay and food for two years, allowing him to have a place to live in Jinling City.

So, Yang Kang got up and walked to the kitchen, where the sink was filled with a mess of plates and chopsticks.

After he finished washing and tidying up, his stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t had lunch due to the incident with the Xuande blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Just as he was about to find something to eat in the kitchen, he heard the sound of high heels from upstairs.

Then, he saw Jiang Yan’s daughter, Jiang Xiaoyue, who was only two months younger than him, come down the stairs.

"Hey, Yang Kang, what are you doing in the kitchen, trying to sneak a snack?" Jiang Xiaoyue walked into the kitchen and saw Yang Kang, unable to resist a sarcastic sneer. "I don’t understand why my dad is so kind to let you live here and be an eyesore."

Yang Kang glanced at Jiang Xiaoyue and turned to walk to the storage room.

"Stop right there!" Jiang Xiaoyue, seeing that Yang Kang was ignoring her, immediately shouted, "Tell me, what are you doing in the kitchen?"

Yang Kang was too lazy to deal with her and walked into the storage room, slamming the door shut.

"This is my house!" Jiang Xiaoyue, feeling extremely displeased, angrily said, "Do you think you’re something special? If you break it, you’ll have to pay for it!" As she spoke, she kicked the door open with force, then couldn’t help but cover her nose and step back, cursing, "It stinks! Yang Kang, come out, what did you do to make it so smelly?"

Yang Kang clenched his fists, suppressing his anger. In this weather, the storage room had no windows to ventilate, and with all the clutter inside, the dust and the moldy smell from unknown objects made it impossible not to stink. Heaven knows, he had a bit of a cleanliness obsession since childhood...

Jiang Xiaoyue cursed a few more times, but seeing that Yang Kang wasn’t responding, she turned away in a huff, muttering, "You’d better die in there." Then she went to the kitchen to get some ice cream and went upstairs.

Soon, Yang Kang heard deafening rock music from upstairs. He instinctively covered his ears; he hated the sound of percussion instruments. To him, this rock music was just noise, lacking any beauty.

He quickly closed the storage room door, found an old earplug, and put it in his ear to avoid the noise. Yang Kang began to write his resume seriously, knowing he needed to find a job to continue living. If he could earn a bit more, he could rent a place and move out, avoiding the humiliation from the Jiang family.

Around 4 PM, Yang Kang decided to go out for a walk. He needed to buy some instant noodles and pickled vegetables from the supermarket; he couldn’t starve to death.

After leaving the supermarket, he went to the second-hand market, hoping to find a small, cheap old electric fan. It was getting hotter every day in July, and his old fan had finally given out a few days ago. He urgently needed a new one, or the hot summer would kill him.

He spent 20 yuan on a very small electric fan, and the vendor put it in a plastic bag for him to carry. As he left, Yang Kang passed by a stall selling old books.

His eyes caught a few old storybooks and some pirated novels that were popular at the time. Yang Kang had always loved reading, so he stopped to pick through them, intending to select a few to take home.

He chose two storybooks and two pirated novels, then his gaze fell on a pile of old books. Under a red-covered book, there seemed to be a few comics.

Yang Kang immediately reached out, but as his hand touched the red book, a mist began to rise from it.

"Strange!" Yang Kang thought to himself. Could it be dust? It was hot, and it hadn’t rained for days, so the streets were full of dust.

He didn’t pay much attention and put the book aside, reaching for the comics underneath. However, out of curiosity, he glanced at the red book. When he saw it, Yang Kang felt a bitter smile. The cover of the book had some English words, which translated to "Certain Quotations."

This book was probably several decades old. As a history student, he naturally knew about modern Chinese history. Driven by curiosity, he reached out to touch the "Quotations" book again. But as his fingers touched it, the mist he had seen earlier reappeared, swirling around the book.

This was truly bizarre, and this time, Yang Kang could guarantee it wasn’t dust.

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