DBTHDCAR Chapter 39

Back at the parking lot, Ning Xiaobei stood with his hands on his hips, watching the black luxury car drive out of sight.

“Fan Xia, are you crazy? Why did you hit my boss for no reason?”

Ning Xiaobei didn’t turn back until he could no longer see the car. Then he shot Fan Xia a sharp look.

“I didn’t even know he was your boss… Hey, Xiaobei, have I seen this guy somewhere before? He looks kind of familiar.”

Fan Xia asked uncertainly.

For some reason, seeing that polite, refined face just made him feel like punching him.

“Ho—how is that possible…”

Ning Xiaobei nervously turned his head. “You’re not working today?”

“I just got off my night shift.”

Fan Xia looked at him with a hint of grievance. “I was just on my way home and happened to see you. I thought that guy was harassing you, so I, you know, couldn’t stand it and shouted out.”

“What? You… you still live here?”

Ning Xiaobei pointed at the second floor of the apartment building across the way.

……………… 

Since it was a weekday, they hadn’t run into anyone on their way over.

Things were different now compared to before. The old building was still the old building, but every door was tightly shut. Ning Xiaobei couldn’t tell which units still had the original residents and which had been rented out to new tenants.

“Most of the old neighbors from our building have moved out. The ones who stayed are like my uncle, people who’ve lived here for ages and don’t want to leave, or people who just have nowhere else to go. Most of the tenants now are young, and even though the apartments are run-down, the rent is six or seven thousand yuan a month.”

Fan Xia said this while turning the lock and pushing the door open.

“My uncle moved into a nursing home a couple of years ago, and that’s when I moved in, this place is close to my office, only five minutes by car. Come on in, no need to take off your shoes.”

Ning Xiaobei swallowed and calmed his excited heart before stepping inside.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time he had set foot in 216 in the real world, though in terms of psychological time, it felt like he had just sprinted out of here not long ago.

“It’s just that the furniture’s been replaced… nothing else has really changed.”

Ning Xiaobei looked around at the familiar layout and noticed that even the large vase and the shoe rack by the entrance were exactly the same as in the dream world.

Still, quite a bit of time had passed, and the room had gradually accumulated a number of new items.

The bulky hunchback TVs of the 1990s had been replaced by slim Xiaomi smart TVs, and the fridge and sofa in the living room were new as well. But the original layout, the wallpaper, floor tiles, and wooden flooring, remained unchanged.

The traces of past life were everywhere, which made Ning Xiaobei both happy and comforted. Everything here reminded him that the dream world had really existed, it wasn’t something he had imagined.

“What do you want to drink? Coffee or tea?”

Ning Xiaobei followed Fan Xia into the kitchen and saw that it hadn’t changed much. Even the rice cooker was still an old-fashioned Triangle brand, something you couldn’t buy on the market anymore.

“I just had coffee. Just plain water is fine.”

Saying this, Ning Xiaobei turned and opened the overhead cabinet, taking out two red-and-blue glass cups. Fan Xia took one naturally and poured two glasses of water from the jug.

The two of them, each holding a cup, squeezed into the cramped kitchen, just like when they used to come home from school and drink water together.

“Bos… Xiaobei, don’t you think us being like this… kind of feels like an old married couple?”

Fan Xia blurted out without thinking.

“Fan Xia, just because I don’t let you call me Boss doesn’t mean you can take liberties with me.”

Ning Xiaobei rolled his eyes at him and walked out of the kitchen with his glass of water.

“When did you move in? Are you sleeping in the master bedroom now?”

Ning Xiaobei opened the door to what had originally been Fan Xia’s secondary bedroom, only to find it had been turned into a storage room, full of a jumble of things.

“Yeah. Ever since my uncle moved into the nursing home two years ago, I moved in here. He didn’t want to rent out the room. Leaving it empty for too long might damage it, so he let me stay.”

Fan Xia confidently opened the master bedroom, pulling back the curtains to let sunlight pour in.

Ning Xiaobei peeked inside. The room was simple: a double bed, a wardrobe, just like when Zhao Jingwen had stayed here.

The only difference was a computer desk with a laptop for work.

“You live here by yourself?”

He gave a mischievous blink. “No girlfriend coming over?”

“I already told you, I don’t have a girlfriend. Work’s too busy, no time for that. I originally lived in the staff dorm anyway.”

Fan Xia shook his head, half laughing, half exasperated.

“Why? Fan Jian is so rich, and he didn’t even leave you a place to stay?”

Ning Xiaobei asked, puzzled.

“Don’t be ridiculous. The several houses my dad gave me aren’t even nearby. It’s just inconvenient for commuting. Don’t make assumptions, we’re on good terms now.”

“Several houses? How many?”

“Three.”

Fan Xia put down his cup and counted on his fingers. “One in Jing’an, one in Changning, and one in Baoshan. Not bad, right?”

“Shut up. You, a landlord who ended up as a police officer…”

Ning Xiaobei felt like punching him. At current Shanghai prices, those three houses would easily total over ten million yuan.

At the turn of the millennium, when the internet era arrived, Fan Xia’s dad had cleverly converted his rental store into an internet cafe chain and made a huge profit. Before Shanghai’s housing prices went insane and purchase restrictions came into effect, he’d already bought multiple properties across the city. Each child got three properties, fair and square.

“My dad retired long ago. He can’t stand the noise and pollution downtown, so he took my mom back to enjoy life on Chongming Island. He rarely comes into the city, and when he does, it’s only for a short time. I hardly ever see him.”

Fan Xia said this with a helpless shrug.

“And your sister? Which district’s luxury house does she live in?”

Ning Xiaobei asked, curious.

“After college, she became a civil servant and returned to the island as a village official. Leading the whole village toward a moderately prosperous life.”

Fan Xia’s face lit up with pride as he talked about his sister.

“She just got married last year, and she’s already pregnant. I’m just waiting to become an uncle!”

“And your mom?”

“Oh, she’s living in Europe… She had a French boyfriend, then before that an Italian one. I think she’s single now, but because of the pandemic she can’t come back. I video call her every three days or so. Last time we chatted, she looked pretty good.”

Fan Xia’s mom had spent her whole life chasing love and freedom, she was a woman that even time couldn’t tame.

Ning Xiaobei couldn’t help but stick out his tongue in admiration. To still live so vibrantly at her age, unlike himself, already trapped in a corporate grind at such a young age, with a life path clearly visible.

“You know, why did your dad sell the apartment? Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been apart for so long. Being upstairs and downstairs would’ve been so convenient.”

Fan Xia leaned closer to where Ning Xiaobei was sitting, stretched out a big hand to rest on his shoulder, and spoke as if thinking aloud.

“Then we could be like we were when we were kids. And now that you’ve learned to cook, I wouldn’t have to order takeout every day, like my uncle had to back then…”

“Wait, when did my dad sell the apartment?”

Ning Xiaobei cut him off.

After all, in his real world timeline, he had never even lived in this building.

After Jiande Lane was demolished, he had moved straight into a public apartment in Pudong. The one he lived in now? He had only scraped together the down payment after selling the public apartment. So he had no idea what had become of the apartment upstairs.

“Xiaobei, you didn’t know…?”

Fan Xia blinked, seeing Ning Xiaobei’s completely genuine look of confusion.

“Your dad sold it two years ago.”

He pointed upstairs. “It had been rented out all along, bringing in a few thousand a month, more than a retirement pension. When he decided to sell it, my uncle couldn’t understand at all.”

“Three million…”

Ning Xiaobei muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“The three million my dad lost to Ding Zheyang… it came from selling the apartment.”

No wonder I didn’t know, of course I didn’t!

Suddenly, everything clicked for Ning Xiaobei.

Comparing the timelines of the two worlds, even though his family hadn’t moved into this welfare apartment yet, the Ma family’s fraud involving the welfare housing had already been exposed, so it was now undoubtedly theirs.

Unknowingly, the events in the dream world had influenced the course of the real world, which explained how Ding Zheyang could have swindled that much money from Dad Ning without Ning Xiaobei even realizing it.

“What exactly happened two years ago… damn it!”

Ning Xiaobei’s expression suddenly darkened, and he slapped himself hard enough to make Fan Xia jump forward and grab his hand.

“Xiaobei, what are you doing?”

“I… I caused Dad trouble…”

Ning Xiaobei stared at him, guilt weighing heavily on every word.

Two years ago, their company had faced a financial crisis. A partner jumped ship to a rival firm, taking the entire team and their clients with him.

At the time, he and Zhuo Yuhang were on the verge of collapse. Payroll hadn’t gone out for two months straight, and most employees had left.

Luckily, at the last minute, Zhuo Yuhang managed to secure funding, keeping the company afloat. That was also when rumors about him having a wealthy father-in-law started spreading like wildfire.

In the original timeline, Ning Jianguo had no way to help his son, strapped for cash and watching him teeter on the edge of collapse.

But in this altered timeline, Old Man Ning, still holding onto a welfare apartment, had secretly sold it to help Ning Xiaobei get through the crisis.

Of course, before he even handed over the proceeds, the company had already weathered the storm successfully.

So Ning Jianguo had no choice but to deposit the money in the bank. Unfortunately, he received a call from his son’s old classmate, Ding Zheyang, who suggested he invest it elsewhere, promising returns far higher than any bank deposit…

“It’s all my fault… ah, all my fault…”

Ning Xiaobei groaned in frustration.

“Xiaobei, hey, hey, don’t do this. Whatever happened, it’s already in the past.”

Seeing him like this, Fan Xia, in a rush, simply pulled him into a hug, gripping his shoulders tightly.

The familiar scent of Fan Xia flooded Ning Xiaobei’s nose, the faint fragrance of Shanghai’s classic Fenghua sandalwood soap they’d been using in both their families for years. Even though supermarkets now stocked countless soaps and body washes, Ning Jianguo had never switched, and the Zhao family likely hadn’t either.

Beyond that scent, there was the unmistakable smell of a mature man, a mix of leather and tobacco…

“Fan Xia… you’ve been smoking?”

Ning Xiaobei felt his heart skip a beat, his breathing suddenly rougher. To hide his embarrassment, he shoved Fan Xia’s arm away and pretended to scold him.

“I never smoke! My uncle doesn’t let me,” Fan Xia said, then sniffed his uniform and realized a faint tobacco smell had indeed transferred.

“It must have been last night on shift. Those smokers went outside, and the secondhand smoke clung to my clothes.”

He quickly pulled off his uniform jacket, revealing the crisp white shirt underneath.

“Come on, smell it if you want. I promise, it’s completely clean, no smell at all.”

And with that, he leaned in to hug him again.

“Yeah, right! No way, you’re crazy.”

Looking at Fan Xia in just a clean white shirt, the effect was undeniable: slim with clothes on, muscles showing off with clothes off. Even through the thin fabric, his well-defined muscles were obvious, the exact type Ning Xiaobei, secretly gay, loved.

Feeling like his heart was on fire, he jumped up, grabbing the coat hanging over the sofa as if to escape.

“What’s wrong? Come on, let’s go have lunch. Wait for me, I’ll just change my jacket.”

Fan Xia dashed into the bedroom to change, shouting as he ran, “Don’t you dare leave, or I’ll chase you to your place and arrest you!”

“Crazy…”

Ning Xiaobei muttered under his breath at the doorway, face flushed.

Just stop being so damn charming already, you dark-skinned bastard!

……………… 

Author’s Note:

Did you notice any changes in Fan Xia? Besides his rank~~ let’s see which little cutie got it right.

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