The Emperor's New Clothes (Part 1)

  "Put it on."

  Early in the morning, Dawei rushed into Wang Jian's garage, threw down a zippered bag, and then threw the shoe box in his hand to the ground.

  Wang Jian was crouching on the ground, using a second-hand electromagnetic stove to cook sweet potato porridge. Next to him, on a broken table he had picked up, there was a small bowl of homemade pickled chili peppers and a small bottle of fermented bean paste. His poverty-stricken appearance would evoke sympathy from anyone who saw him.

  "Don't make it so miserable, okay?" Dawei sat down beside him: "You're going to eat this stuff?"

  "Go away." Wang Jian said annoyedly: "What business is it of yours what I eat?"

  Actually, Wang Jian absolutely belongs to the type that can't be happy without meat, but unfortunately, he really doesn't have much money on him. This period of time, the money from collecting scraps has been spent, and just now he paid the garage rent, so after counting his pockets, there's less than 100 yuan left. And this 100 yuan, Wang Jian must make it last for at least four days. Moreover, tonight Jin Hui Ming will definitely come over to eat dinner, so if he doesn't buy some meat dishes, it would be impossible to explain. Therefore, Wang Jian can only get by with a tight budget.

  "Go ahead, you can eat whatever you like. Just don't let the mascot see it, she's very sentimental and if she sees you eating this stuff that even dogs won't eat, she'll slip money under your door at midnight." Dawei clicked his teeth: "If you don't want your self-respect to be unconsciously trampled on, then just avoid her while eating."

  Wang Jian thought for a moment and nodded affirmatively: "Got it."

  After closing the door and eating a hot, steaming sweet potato porridge, Wang Jian finally opened the bag that Da Wei had thrown on the bed, only to find inside a brand new suit, along with a crisp, neatly pressed dress shirt.

  He touched the fabric and found it smooth, with a subtle warmth that was hard to describe. This texture was definitely not something that low-end polyester fabrics could achieve, so Wang Jian estimated that this garment was probably high-end silk-blend fabric.

  "What's this for?"

  "What's it to you? Put them on." Dawei skillfully retrieved his cigarettes from under Wang Jian's mattress, lit one up with a relaxed air: "I won't harm you."

  "Who would have known, you can know a person's face but not their heart. How was I supposed to know if you've been holding a grudge against me for a long time and framed me with some stolen goods, then directly sent me to the police station?"

  "This is a disease, a disease spread by your family's Roflin. Are you going to wear it or not? If you don't wear it, just wait for people to mock you to death tonight."

  "Tonight? What tonight?"

  "I told you that you forgot." Dawei patted his forehead: "That invitation letter from Xu Dajie, please go and attend a birthday party."

  "Is this one no good?" Wang Jian said, pointing at his own shirt which was clean but showed signs of age.

  "Stop messing around, if you wear this thing out, you'll probably end up slinking back with your tail between your legs. Don't you know what that Kaizi is thinking?"

  "I know, but what's the point? I am who I am, a scavenger. I don't have that kind of capital, so why pretend to be something I'm not?"

  "Hey... You're really something. Alright, you don't care and I don't care either, but what about our mascot? She's a girl, she needs to save face. Just put up with it for now, pretend you're doing it to help that sister regain some dignity. Otherwise, later on if people start talking, they'll say we're just a couple of country bumpkins who always follow around after pretty girls, licking their boots... Don't you think that's humiliating? Even if the girl herself doesn't think about it that way, this place is small enough that everyone will see each other sooner or later. How can she show her face in public?"

  "Also..."

  Dawei hadn't finished speaking when Wang Jian hastily interrupted him, raising his hands in surrender: "Alright! I'll wear it!"

  "That's right, you should know that when a man goes out, he needs to have a clean and tidy appearance. This is not about showing off, it's actually a kind of cultivation, let alone..."

  This time it was not Wang Jian who interrupted Dawei, but rather Tianran Er, who was holding a dog and wearing a floral pajama, furry rabbit slippers, and rubbing her eyes.

  She pushed open Wang Jian's door in a daze, with a confused expression: "I'm hungry..."

  After finishing speaking, she didn't care if Dawei was beside her or Wang Jian was changing clothes. She took a big stride and walked into Wang Jian's garage, then fell onto the bed and started snoring loudly.

  "This is probably sleepwalking..."

  Dawei hastily made way for Tianran Er, looking at Wang Jian and Tianran Er with a sly smile: "You two, must have done something behind my back."

  Wang Jian was also confused and spread his hands: "Whether you believe it or not, I'm even more confused than you."

  Instead, the little wolf cub in Tianran's arms struggled free and began sniffing around Wang Jian's bed, its ears perked up high, and its eyes fixed intently on Wang Jian and Dawei without moving an inch.

  "Where did this dog come from?"

  Dawei stretched out his hand to grab the wolf cub, but was bitten by the agile little guy on his hand. Although it was only two months old, the wolf was still a wolf, and its sharp teeth immediately scratched Dawai's finger, leaving a blood mark. The small wolf cub, stained with the smell of blood, became even more excited, its eyes occasionally sweeping across Dawai's neck, with a greenish glint that seemed to have a murderous aura.

  "Yoho." Dawei looked at the bloodstains on his hand and rolled up his sleeves: "The little scoundrel is quite fierce."

  "This son of a bitch is a wolf."

  Wang Jian picked up the wolf cub by the back of its neck and threw it off the bed, but it let out two loud yips and climbed back up, standing in front of Tian Ran Er, staring at Da Wei with a hungry wolf-like gaze.

  "Wolf?" Dawei looked at the small thing: "Is this still a wolf?"

  "Don't look down on it just because it's small, after half a year, this thing will grow to over 100 catties."

  Maybe it was the noise of the little wolf cubs, or maybe it was the conversation between Dawei and Wang Jian. Tian Er, who was lying in bed in a daze, suddenly woke up, his eyes even more confused, looking at Wang Jian, his lips curled up: "I'm hungry..."

  "What's wrong with him?" Wang Jian looked at Dawei: "Didn't notice anything usual."

  "I must have been half asleep."

  Dawei pulled out a tube of menthol oil from his pocket, applied some to his hand, and swiftly wiped it on Tianran 2's nose... Within three seconds, Tianran 2 suddenly became spirited. The strongly stimulating menthol oil made Tianran 2, who had very delicate skin, feel like her nose was burning intensely, forcing her to vigorously rub her nose with her sleeve:

  "What's wrong with you? Are you crazy?"

  Wang Jian nodded repeatedly: "That's right, there is something wrong with him."

  "I'm here to get a free meal." Tian Ran, who was lying on the bed, sat up with a look of helplessness: "I forgot to pay the electricity bill, there's no money left on the card... Can't cook..."

  "You should have said so earlier." Wang Jian ladled a bowl of still-steaming sweet potato porridge from his broken electric cooker for Tianran Er: "You're really not polite."

  "I wasn't being polite anyway." Tian Ran Er took the bowl with great satisfaction: "I brushed my teeth."

  But just as she was about to eat, she found that this bowl of things looked very strange, so she hesitated: "What is this?"

  "Wang Jian is preparing to make a face mask for you."

  "Sweet potato congee."

  "Why are you eating this?" Tian Ran Er's face was full of curiosity: "I only ate it when I was a kid and our family was extremely poor."

  "Can't you say something serious for once, I know you're not here just to freeload." Wang Jian leaned against the wall: "Your little tricks are all written on your face, don't pretend to be innocent."

  Her face suddenly turned bright red, and she didn't say a word. She turned her back, started slurping down the porridge with a loud "slurp", and muttered to herself in a bubbly voice like a goldfish blowing bubbles:

  "My house really lost power... and I just wanted to ask how you were doing later yesterday..."

  Dawei listened to it beside, that was a mysterious and obscure conversation, he didn't understand what kind of game these two were playing in front of him for half a day, and he couldn't figure out the reason after observing them for half a day.

  But Wang Jian let out a long "oh" sound: "I see, actually it's nothing."

  Then Wang Jian told the story of visiting Jin Huiming's home yesterday, from start to finish, including the part where that sloppy little sister bit his lip. Anyway, he was thorough and didn't hold anything back, since he had nothing to hide.

  Ke Tianran's expression changed after hearing that, and with an unhappy face, she said: "How could you let her kiss you? You're the teacher and she's the student, this is not right."

  "I still think you're jealous."

  Dawei pinched his chin and muttered a sentence, then raised his head: "Actually, if she is considered a normal human being, she may still be living in the shadow of her mother's suicide in front of her. People with such grievances are very big, and she is still young now. If she doesn't get guidance at this stage, she will definitely take revenge on society in the future."

  "That's exactly what I'm saying." Wang Jian sighed: "So I decided to let her come here for dinner every day."

  "What?!"

  Dawei and Tiannan shouted in unison, then Dawei rubbed his forehead: "You must be crazy."

  Tian Ran Er's face was also filled with incredulity: "How can this be!"

  Wang Jian shrugged: "Why can't I?"

  "How can you get so close to this kind of person? She said she likes you, right?" Dawei shook his head vigorously: "You're playing with fire."

  "Why?"

  Wang Jian was far inferior to Da Wei in terms of experience with women, so he couldn't understand why Da Wei was so frightened.

  "Why? You still ask why." Dawei pinched his temples and let out a cry of "ouch": "That girl is just like that, I'm asking you, would you marry her?"

  "Nonsense, of course not." Wang Jian snorted: "I just treated her as a poor child."

  "You're done for. This kind of person's possessiveness is unimaginably strong, she'll stop at nothing to keep you captive. The first unfortunate one will be our mascot."

  "No way, I've already made it clear to her."

  "Oh?" Dawei was taken aback: "What did you say?"

  "I'm saying I'm actually gay, and the one I like is you."

  Tianran was laughing so hard he fell onto the bed, while Dawei spat out a mouthful of old blood: "Wang Jian, I curse your ancestors!"

  "Just bear with it." Wang Jian sighed faintly: "Actually, I'm the one who's being taken advantage of."

  （）