The fan on the ceiling of the office was spinning listlessly. Ethan Cole looked up at it and heard a rhythmic voice in his ears, exuding the unique gentleness of a middle-aged man.
"You came across the city to repeat your studies, so you should make the most of it. You are new to H City, right? I guess you haven't walked around yet. How about your teacher take you for a stroll this weekend?"
Ethan Cole was so sleepy that his eyes almost closed, and his stomach was throbbing with hunger. After a while, he slowly moved his legs and sat up straight. "If there is nothing serious to do, I will leave first. Thank you, but I have nothing to do with this city------"
He paused for a moment, his eyes suddenly looked away, and his voice dropped slightly.
"Couldn't be more familiar."
It was raining outside, and the sound of the rain made the huge campus seem very quiet.
Ethan Cole stood under the eaves of the window at the corner of the building, watching the rain hitting the bluestone bricks while answering the phone.
Grandma was hula-hooping and panting as she advised, "My dear grandson, please stop making trouble and come home. I heard that the tuition fee for your re-enrollment in another city is very expensive. Can you afford it?"
"I have paid it. All my assets and the money I earned from working these two days just make up the difference." Ethan Cole sighed, "I really hate myself for being so young and naive and buying shoes every day. I have a lot of pocket money but I squander it..."
The old lady laughed out loud, "My dear grandson is really capable. But grandma thinks that you will not gain anything by being stubborn with your mother. It doesn't matter where you repeat your studies, but you insist on being independent. Your mother is the same. She is a grown woman in her forties and manages the company by herself, but she still competes with a little brat like you."
"Your daughter is not an ordinary girl. She is more stubborn than a donkey." Ethan Cole said with a sigh, "But I have told her that being independent is a talent. If you really want to mediate, then stop transferring money to me. I don't want it."
The old lady was so happy that she couldn't stop, "You're forcing your mother to compromise, right?"
Ethan Cole snorted and laughed, "Well, I just want to fight for a chance to survive for the dignity of a man after I turn 18. I am humble."
After hanging up the phone, the boy who was smiling lazily just now gradually restrained his expression, and his black eyes turned darker as he looked at the rain curtain.
When he was a child, he liked to walk around the streets with his father. The old alleys in Xicheng District of H City would smell of earth as soon as it rained. He followed behind his father, his hands in his H!p pockets, holding a lollipop in his mouth.
"The neighbor aunt said my mother is ten thousand times richer than you." He muttered with his tongue sticking out while sucking on his lollipop.
Zhong Yongjun, who was thin and handsome, raised his eyebrows and smiled, "No problem. Tell me, your mother is the daughter of an entrepreneur in City D, why would she look down on the son of a real estate tycoon?"
"Because I like my dad!" Ethan Cole, who was only four or five years old, had already learned to answer quickly, "Because my dad is handsome!"
"Smart! It's my son!" Zhong Yongjun happily lifted him onto his neck and rode on him. "Go home for dinner and see what your mother has done."
Back then, the handsome little boy Chenchen was very arrogant. He would go to the backyard of his father's unit to climb the rope ladder every day. At the age of nine, he could climb trees and roofs, and he could even tie up a living person with a rope.
But I don’t know since when, my dad started to go on business trips frequently, twice a year, each time for six months.
Every time his father came back, Ethan Cole would still happily follow him around the street, growing from one meter tall to one and a half meters and then to one and a half meters tall.
When he was 1.7 meters tall, my father was on a business trip for a long time. Later, someone from the bureau suddenly came and brought a pension along with a notice.
Comrade Zhong Yongjun pursued a drug trafficking gang into a mountain forest on the border during a drug enforcement mission. He was missing for more than seven days and was declared dead.
Logically speaking, considering Ethan Cole's current mental state as an 18-year-old adult, it is really unreasonable to judge a person dead just because he has not been seen for seven days.
But the people in the bureau believed it, my grandma believed it, and gradually my mom also believed it. Only he didn't believe it, and he just didn't believe it.
He always felt that his father was going on a mysterious mission, just like in TV dramas, where the mission was confidential and could not be disclosed to anyone at home or in the bureau, and only high-ranking leaders would know the details.
Half a year after being "declared dead", his mother took him back to D City to take over the family company. He lived the life of a rich young master, but he always wanted to move back to his old house in H City, always thinking that one day Comrade Zhong Yongjun would suddenly come back from a business trip.
The straw that forced Ethan Cole to make the final decision was a piece of social news after the college entrance examination.
At that time, he had just managed to keep his score below 200 and was preparing to apply for the seemingly most reasonable H City Electrical Engineering College, when he saw the news.
A small car and a large truck collided in H City. In the surveillance video at the street corner, a tall, thin man wearing a hat flashed by.
There wasn't even a profile, just a figure and a secret intuition that probably only exists between blood relatives.
A month later, Ethan Cole agreed to his mother's request to repeat the year and take the exam again, on the condition that he return to H City to repeat the year.
My mother disagrees in attitude and does not support it financially.
So a young master donated all his wealth to pay for his tuition, and scraped together money to get accommodation. His net worth is now zero, and his bank account is overdrawn to the limit. The last meal was a small piece of rice cake in the morning, the meal before that was a sugar cake last night, and the meal before that...it seemed to be the day before yesterday, when I had a bowl of instant noodles at the train station. Now I think it was too extravagant, if I bought a bag of noodles for six yuan, I could have two meals.
I was so hungry that I was almost going crazy. I tried meditation, handstand, and reading the names of dishes... but nothing worked. The people who came up with these methods must have deep holes in their brains.
The down-and-out young master Ethan Cole looked down at his shoes and felt a little reluctant to part with them.
If I can't find a job that can make money quickly, I'll have to sell shoes.
This pair is a limited edition. I queued for six hours to buy it. It was the handsome guy's precious six hours of youth. Ethan Cole thought with some heartache.
He took out his cell phone and dialed a number, "Sister He, how is my case going?"
"Let me confirm with you again." The woman said, "You can only work part-time every night, right?"
Ethan Cole hummed, and added, "I can do anything. I have no bottom line."
The woman paused in silence. "I'm a regular agent, not a pimp. Wait a minute. They're all looking for confinement nannies these days. You're not suitable."
Ethan Cole said seriously: "It must be done as soon as possible. I haven't eaten for many meals."
Sister He laughed dryly and said, "You're just exaggerating. How can you really be that poor?"
"I really didn't expect you to be so rich."
Gao Gao and Aiden King stood at the payment window while the hospital's printer was printing out bills.
Lucas Hayes glared for a while and then said, "How many thousands does Xiaoxie get for playing in a match?"
"A few thousand is good enough." Aiden King curled his lips, "I have been using the pocket money Li Jingyi gave me to pay for the medical treatment. It's almost gone. I will use my dad's passbook to withdraw money next week."
Gao Gao sighed, "You didn't even touch the money Li Jingyi gave you, did you?"
"I'm too lazy to move." Aiden King leaned on the suitcase with a cold expression on his face, "But I should spend it on my dad. He owes my dad more than just a little bit."
Gao Gao didn't say anything, and sighed after a while.
"The ICU can only be extended until Friday night at the latest." The nurse said as she led the two to the ward, "Ideally, the patient should wake up before Friday. As long as the person wakes up, he has passed the critical period, but if he does not wake up, he will most likely become a semi-vegetative state and will have to be transferred to a general ward. Medical resources are too tight."
Aiden King's face was covered with a layer of haze. After a while, he hummed and said, "Can't I visit you now?"
"It's better not to." The nurse said, "Did you bring something familiar to the patient? If the patient suddenly wakes up, he will feel comforted by seeing it."
"I've brought it." Gao Gao said quickly, "Zixing, open the box quickly."
Aiden King nodded and took a look inside through the visiting glass on the ICU door.
Oxygen mask, nasal tube, urinary catheter, it's hard to tell what a person looks like from a distance. He took a deep breath, squatted down, opened the suitcase and said, "This is a fighting robot. I've been tinkering with it for the past few years, and my dad is also very familiar with it."
As he spoke, he picked up Little Crab, raised his hands and pried out the main weapons that were tucked in on both sides. Little Crab majestically raised a pair of hydraulic pliers towards the nurse.
The nurse gradually lost her expression.
"Serious?" She pushed her glasses and looked at Aiden King.
Aiden King nodded, touched the crab's claws with some pity, and then touched the Peppa Pig sticker.
The nurse sighed, "Okay, I'll take this thing to sterilize first. Can it pass ultraviolet light?"
"Yes." Aiden King said, "It's very durable, don't worry."
Ten minutes later, Xiaoxie was sent to the ICU ward and placed on a small round table diagonally in front of the bed.
Aiden King let out a breath.
As long as Dad opened his eyes a little, he could see the hydraulic pliers. Although Dad had never been nice to his mother since she confessed his life story and kicked him out, he still believed that Dad would feel a little comforted when he woke up and saw Xiaoxie.
"Let's go." Lucas Hayes sniffed and pressed his hand heavily on his shoulder, "Zixing, uncle will definitely wake up!"
Aiden King hummed, raised his hand to touch the door glass, then turned around.
He took a deep breath, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth again. "Don't worry, when I wake up, I will plan the next step when I wake up, and when I don't wake up, I will plan the next step when I don't wake up. When I encounter problems, I will solve them. I am no longer at the age where I can't handle things."
"You're only seventeen, buddy." Lucas Hayes's eyes turned red at his words of comfort, and he put his muscular arms around his shoulders, "Don't think you can do anything just because you've studied for two years and are a genius. No one has the right to ask you to take on responsibilities!"
Aiden King just smiled and said, "Wait for me outside. I'll call the agent."
"Are you looking for someone to squat in the hospital?" Gao Gao asked, "Your biological father can only talk about it, but he can't really send someone to snatch the patient's place. Isn't that illegal?"
"Just in case." Aiden King said, "Find someone to talk to me, so I can study and sleep more peacefully."
Gao Gao waited outside. Aiden King took out his cell phone, found the number of "Youai Agency" in the address book, and dialed it.
"Hello, this is Youai Agency. Please dial zero for manual reservation service."
Aiden King dialed zero, and soon a woman picked up the phone, "Hello, my last name is He, how can I help you?"
"I want to hire a whistleblower." Aiden King tried to be concise. "The job is simple. Come to the entrance of the inpatient department of Xicheng District Hospital and watch. If you see the people in the photos I gave you, contact me immediately."
The other party paused, "It's an unusual request, but we can meet your needs. We have many part-time jobs that can work from 6 am to 10 pm, but do you need a night shift?"
"Yes." Aiden King said, "It has to be 24 hours, and you can pay extra."
The other party flipped through the paper and said, "Can you consider hiring two people to take turns? We have job seekers who only work night shifts. They describe themselves as sharp-eyed, skilled, and well-organized. Uh... I won't read the rest, but it's more in line with your requirements anyway."
Aiden King always felt that this sentence was somewhat familiar, but he was exhausted at the moment, so he just hummed, "Okay."
When he rushed back to school from the hospital, the first evening self-study class had already ended. Aiden King walked to the school gate and suddenly stopped.
Gao Gao looked at him and said, "Run faster so you can get in before the bell rings in the second quarter."
"You run first, I'll go buy some food." Aiden King said calmly.
"Still eating?" Lucas Hayes was stunned. "There was such a big pot of pork ribs in the cafeteria at night. I saw you ate it all?"
"Give it to Ethan Cole." Aiden King said, "I ate his breakfast this morning, so I don't owe him a favor."
"Oh." Lucas Hayes touched his nose, watched Aiden King go into a porridge shop, and sighed with a smile, "You still have that temper."
There were not many people in the porridge shop. The proprietress was humming a song while cleaning the table. She straightened up when she saw someone coming in and asked, "What do you want?"
Aiden King's eyes quickly scanned the menu and froze. Then he took out his phone, scanned the code, and entered two dollars and four cents.
"Give me two sugar biscuits," he said.
The author has something to say: The person typing on the keyboard is typing frantically.
I don't know when Shandan squatted next to the keyboard, and was fixing some small invention with a small screwdriver.
Stop typing, is there anything you need from me?
I'm making something for you, Shandan said calmly, it's a steel frame, it will help you lift the keyboard a little, so that you can type with less effort.
Wow. I feel like typing on the keyboard. What a good egg. If you raise it, you will earn money.
Shandan paused and said, "There is a condition: you have to bake me a sugar cake."
What do you want for sugar cookies? The keyboarder raised his eyebrows. Do you want to give eggs to the little ones in the same nest?
I shared his rice cake. Shandan continued to screw the screws expressionlessly. I don't like to owe eggs favors.
The person typing on the keyboard laughed and said, "Okay, then you twist it first and I'll go knead the dough."
Shandan hummed in a bossy manner.
The person typing on the keyboard walked to the door and heard it shouting again, "Add more flour and sugar!"
The person typing on the keyboard turned around and smiled: Huh?
Shandan lowered his head indifferently and continued to tighten the screws. What I make is very fine, you will definitely not lose out.
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