Chapter 460 - 233: Dream or Reality?

Chapter 460: Chapter 233: Dream or Reality?

Brother Bing’s full name was Wang Yibing, and he was Xie Yuan’s childhood best friend.

They were classmates from kindergarten all the way to middle school, went to the same high school, and only ended up at different universities. Their parents knew each other too.

A month before the college entrance exams, Wang Yibing’s parents were in a car accident and both were killed.

This devastated his performance, and as a result, Ah Bing’s exam scores were far from ideal.

He later struggled through half a semester of college, but he didn’t like the school. Plus, with a younger sister to support, he simply dropped out to find his own way.

He’d worked stalls at night markets, delivered food, done construction, and even started his own bubble tea shop, only to lose every last penny.

Later, he caught the wave of livestreaming and short-form videos. While he hadn’t made it huge, his career was now on the right track.

Wang Yibing’s life had been full of varied experiences, but the remarkable thing was that even though they had walked different paths, they had always remained the best of friends and never lost touch.

Though they were the same age, Xie Yuan had to admit that Brother Bing had far more real-world experience than a college student like himself. That was why he wanted to ask for his advice now, to see if he had any ideas that could help his family out of their current predicament.

Xie Yuan had just sent the message and hadn’t even put his phone down when the WeChat notification chimed.

Brother Bing: ?

Brother Bing: Holy shit

Brother Bing: ???????

Brother Bing: You awake? Holy shit, you can really fucking sleep!

Xie Yuan couldn’t help but smile. Before he could reply, a voice call came in.

He answered the call, and before he could say a word, a raspy voice yelled from the other end:

"Hello? Xie Yuan? Is that really you? This isn’t a phone scam, is it? Holy shit, if you’re a scammer pretending to be my buddy, I’m telling you, I’ll chase you all the way to Northern Myanmar and drag your ass out!"

"It’s me, Brother Bing. I’m out of the hospital."

Xie Yuan’s voice, tinged with a smile, traveled through the receiver.

"Holy shit! You really fucking woke up! You... I... I fucking knew it! Only the good die young!"

Brother Bing was ecstatic, stammering for a moment before arriving at that conclusion.

Xie Yuan couldn’t help but retort:

"Heh. Don’t worry, I won’t die before you do."

"Your breath must be foul after a month of not brushing your teeth. Where are you? I’ll come get you."

Xie Yuan laughed and shot back:

"It’s not like yours is any better, and you brush every day! Mmm, I’m at home..."

He suddenly paused, then gave his current address.

The other end went silent for a moment. Wang Yibing knew they had sold their house. But a moment later, the raspy voice was yelling again:

"You wait right there. I’m coming to get you now. You’re the man of the hour today; I can’t have you tiring yourself out!"

"Let me know when you’re here."

Xie Yuan hung up the call, a smile on his face.

This was that long-missed feeling of talking with a true friend.

He found his mom and saw that Wang Yafang was already up. He said in a low voice:

"Mom, I’m going out with Wang Yibing. Don’t worry about me for dinner."

"You’re going out? But..."

Wang Yafang hesitated, reluctant to agree at first. But Xie Yuan bent his arm and flexed his biceps.

"Mom, I’m in great shape right now. I’ve been cooped up for over a month, so I need to get out and move around. Don’t worry, Wang Yibing is driving."

Wang Yafang thought about how Xie Yuan had handled Boss Tian when he came to cause trouble earlier, and she inexplicably felt a bit more at ease.

’My son has really grown up all of a sudden... and his body has gotten sturdier, too.’

"Go on, then. Be careful on the road. Come back early."

"You got it... Oh, wait, I’ll go once he gets here."

Xie Yuan chuckled and sat back down on the sofa.

He saw his mother go over to the Buddha statue again to pray, piously offering a stick of incense, and he sighed inwardly.

’Mom never used to be much of a Buddhist... Now she’s even brought a statue home.’

About ten minutes later, his phone buzzed and chimed. Glancing at the message, Xie Yuan announced, "He’s here."

He replied with "Coming down now," said goodbye to Wang Yafang, and headed straight downstairs.

Down on the street, he immediately spotted Wang Yibing’s Chinese-made EV. He walked over, pulled open the passenger door, sat down, and said with a wistful smile:

"Ah Bing, long time no see!"

Wang Yibing had choppy hair and a square-jawed face with lively, darting eyes. He was tan and solidly built.

He looked at the surprisingly healthy-looking Xie Yuan, his face full of pleasant surprise. He wanted to give him a friendly punch but hesitated, asking instead:

"Xie Yuan! Shit, you can actually move around? Do you... have any lingering effects?"

"Nothing much. My memory might just be a little spotty. You’ll have to bear with me if I can’t remember things," Xie Yuan said calmly.

Hearing this, Wang Yibing leaned back dramatically and exclaimed:

"For real? Amnesia? Like Jason Bourne? You’re not gonna suddenly get triggered and start beating people up, are you?"

He said it half-jokingly.

But in truth, from the very first glance, his childhood friend could tell that something about Xie Yuan was different.

"Relax. I don’t eat my own young," Xie Yuan said flatly.

It took Wang Yibing a second to get it, then he cursed with a laugh:

"Dumbass! Amnesia my ass, you’re still the same old bastard. Come on, what do you want to eat? I’ll take you out for some air."

"Anything’s fine. Let’s get something light."

Wang Yibing hesitated again.

"Xie Yuan, are you really okay to be out? Don’t you need to rest and recover?"

"I’m fine. I’m perfectly healthy right now. My vitals are definitely better than yours."

"Really? I don’t believe you."

Wang Yibing’s eyes twinkled as he pulled out a grip strength tester.

"Give it a try. Grip strength is the best indicator of a person’s health. I wanna see if you’ve gone soft."

Xie Yuan had heard of this theory before—that people in poor health and the elderly almost never have strong grip strength.

He took the grip tester and slowly squeezed. Just as he saw Wang Yibing’s eyes about to pop out of their sockets from the corner of his eye, he let go.

"That should do it."

Wang Yibing reined in his astonishment and said with a strange look on his face:

"I thought you were doing that so easily you could squeeze it even more, but it turns out you were just putting on a show. Hmm, your grip strength... it’s alright."

Wang Yibing stared at a computer all day, so to stay healthy, he had a habit of working out. Otherwise, he wouldn’t keep a grip tester in his car to squeeze at red lights. Besides, having worked construction and delivered food before, he wasn’t in bad shape, as his sturdy build made clear.