The Stand-in Side Character Only Wants to Make Money – CH15

Chapter 15 – Comrade Xu

His good neighbor looked at him and finally managed to get out a single word: “Hmm.”

Then he added, “Next time, slow down a bit. It’s dangerous. I won’t move from here.”

Chen Bai smiled and agreed. Then, feeling the gaze of the person in front of him, he looked up, ruffled his hair, and asked, “Are you looking at this?”

He said, “Is this kind of work appealing?”

He had asked casually, not expecting an answer. After speaking, he began to dig in his pocket, trying to show his discount voucher. Just as his hand went into his pocket, he heard a voice above him say, “Looks good.”

It was a very simple sentence, perfectly in line with his neighbor’s usual speaking style.

Chen Bai looked up and gave the person in front of him a couple more glances, then smiled, “That’s good.”

There was still plenty of time before dinner. According to their original plan, the two were supposed to stroll around the nearby forest park.

However, just on the street, near a Samoyed café, the pink-haired one stopped in his tracks.

He glanced at the café, where fluffy Samoyeds were wildly waving their paws, then turned to look at the man standing behind him.

Xu Sinian looked down and met the pale gray eyes.

“…”

Chen Bai got his wish and entered the Samoyed café with his good neighbor.

“Money should be saved where it can, and spent where it should.”

Once inside the store, Chen Bai buried himself in a pile of fluffy, enthusiastic dogs, the scent of puppies filling the air. He closed his eyes peacefully, feeling as if he had entered paradise.

Even paradise had work to do.

While lost in a blissful dream among the dogs, he suddenly sat up with a start, remembering that before leaving the studio, his agent had told him to take more photos for future reference.

Although he didn’t quite understand the purpose of the photos, he followed through.

So, his good neighbor became a human mobile phone stand, the kind that comes with a built-in camera.

Among those taking photos was the store manager.

The manager offered a discount if Chen Bai agreed to hang his photos on the customer photo wall. 

Without any hesitation, he agreed.

After playing with all the Samoyeds in the café, Chen Bai finally left, receiving a complimentary keychain from the store—one for him and one for his neighbor.

When they stepped out, he solemnly pulled out his precious discount coupon, feeling that the process wasn’t grand enough, so he even added some background music in his head.

With the esteemed discount coupon, he successfully secured a spot in a private booth, and his good neighbor took off his hat and mask.

Taking the opportunity to admire his neighbor a bit more, Chen Bai gave a thumbs up, saying, “So handsome.”

They enjoyed their meal, and during a break, Chen Bai snapped a photo of the hot pot to share with friends.

As the steam rose from the hot pot, Xu Sinian glanced through the faint mist and noticed Chen Bai slouched in his seat with his eyes squinted.

Once they finished their meal, it was indeed late when they headed back. Chen Bai opened the live streaming app and posted a notification about the delayed broadcast.

After a forced wake-up in the morning and a long afternoon of fun, Chen Bai, after posting the notification, slumped in the passenger seat and fell asleep.

Xu Sinian drove smoothly without any bumps, and Chen Bai slept until they reached his home, finally waking up when someone called him.

“…”

Still dazed, but holding onto a shred of rationality, Chen Bai didn’t linger in his neighbor’s car and struggled to sit up.

Getting up, getting up… but he couldn’t quite get up.

It felt like an invisible force was binding him, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free.

Xu Sinian: “…”

Watching Chen Bai wriggle around in the car, Xu Sinian opened the passenger door, bent down, placed one hand on the seat, and leaned in to unbuckle the seatbelt.

The invisible force disappeared, allowing Chen Bai to successfully exit the car.

As they walked upstairs, Chen Bai, yawning repeatedly, held onto the railing.

Feeling that this state wasn’t sustainable, he thought about grabbing a cup of black coffee later.

Ascending the stairs and standing in front of the door, he turned to his good neighbor to say goodbye and fished for his keys.

“…”

A moment of clarity hit him. He reached into the pocket where he usually kept his keys, calmly lowered his hand, and reached into another pocket.

Putting aside the thought of black coffee for now, he realized he might need something more important.

Xu Sinian stood beside him, watching him rummage through all his pockets, then silently wipe his face.

Some people said nothing, but it felt like they had said everything.

He asked, “Didn’t bring your keys?”

The person beside him turned around and chuckled, “Haha.”

The laughter contained so many emotions.

After some careful reflection, Chen Bai finally confirmed that the keys he was looking for were likely resting quietly on the entryway table.

The door key was inside, the locksmith’s key was also inside, and the tools for the locksmith were at the locksmith shop. The landlord had kept in touch with him, so he knew that today, the landlord was playing with his daughter and grandson at their house and wouldn’t return to check on the shop until tomorrow morning.

If he called someone to unlock the door today, tomorrow there would be tales circulating the street about “the locksmith locked out, looking for someone to unlock his door.”

Click.

The door next door opened, and his good neighbor rested a hand on the doorknob, looking at him.

Standing at his own doorstep but unable to enter, Chen Bai stepped into his kind neighbor’s home.

Slipping on some slippers, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude for his neighbor’s kindness.

Though they often chatted at the door, he had never seen the inside of his neighbor’s house, so this was his first time.

The apartment, like the building itself, had been around for quite some time. The décor was in a style that had been popular long ago—retro yet not outdated, clean and tidy.

His neighbor took him to the guest room, saying, “The housekeeper cleaned it up before, and the bed linens are freshly changed.”

While Chen Bai checked out the guest room, his neighbor went to fetch him some clean clothes.

Having spent the entire afternoon buried among the dogs and then eating hot pot, he definitely needed a shower.

It was customary for those who frequently worked on sets to have a spare set of clean clothes, which happened to come in handy now.

Chen Bai thanked his good neighbor for the clothes, and when he stepped out of the bathroom after showering, he rolled up his sleeves and pant legs vigorously.

Once he finished rolling them up and looked up, he saw his neighbor, also freshly showered with a towel draped over his neck, standing at the doorway of the master bedroom, looking at him—he wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there.

After a busy day, Chen Bai had questions and asked directly.

Xu Sinian replied, “Just finished washing up.”

Meaning he had just been standing there.

Chen Bai felt differently because he thought he had seen a brief smile on that person’s face a moment ago.

But since there was no evidence to support his feelings, he chose to skip the topic for now, bending down to grab his phone from the living room and changing the delayed broadcast notification to a stop broadcast notification.

He couldn’t go live without equipment here, and coincidentally, Qingzhou had something to do today and couldn’t log in, so he didn’t have to wait in the internet café until dawn.

His locksmith work would finish by the evening, and he was now on break.

Suddenly, he found himself with free time.

With time still on his hands, at least far from bedtime, he ultimately chose to play a simple game of Ludo with his good neighbor, just as they had done before.

He chose to play this game because the controls were simple and repetitive, which easily induced drowsiness. A few rounds in, it would be just the right time to go to bed, ensuring he would fall asleep right on schedule.

—That was his explanation.

In reality, after a couple of rounds, the person in the oversized clothes shifted from being comfortably sunk into the couch to sitting upright with a pillow in his arms, eyes wide open like saucers.

Xu Sinian noticed that this person’s poor luck in games might not have been without reason. With six sides on a die, the probability of rolling a one is low, yet it seemed to turn into a high probability event when it came to this guy.

Clutching his pillow, Chen Bai moved his little green plane step by step, only to be swiftly caught up by other players and sent back home.

After losing another little green plane, he bumped into his good neighbor’s back, thinking that a single nudge wasn’t enough, so he bumped him twice more.

After bumping, he remarked, “Your back is so firm.”

Xu Sinian: “…”

Taking two steps forward, Xu Sinian stepped on another player’s plane, successfully getting revenge.

The person holding the pillow was quite moved, retracting a head that had been poised to continue bumping and earnestly said, “From now on, I’ll only play Ludo with Comrade Xu.”

Comrade Xu thanked him for his trust, and after playing two more rounds, they ended the mini-game.

If they kept playing like this, some people might not be able to sleep tonight.

Comrade Xu’s decision saved a sleepy Chen Bai from potentially staying up again.

Feeling it was about time, and remembering that his good neighbor had work tomorrow, Chen Bai suggested going to bed and headed back to his room.

It was indeed bedtime, but not for him. The hour was still early. He had a restaurant job tomorrow, so as he lay on the bed, he slowly flipped through the scores saved on his phone. Eventually, he put his phone down after midnight.

Due to his odd hours, when he woke up the next day, he found that his neighbor had already left for work. On the coffee table in the living room lay a spare key, along with a message he had received that morning, implying he could use it if he needed to.

What a thoughtful neighbor.

Not touching the key, Chen Bai confirmed that the landlord had opened the store and went downstairs to grab his locksmith tools, finally returning to his own home.

The first thing he did when he got home was to turn on his streaming equipment to make up for the lost time and money from last night’s broadcast.

The audience during the morning was different from the evening, and it wasn’t a typical streaming hour, so he prepared for a less crowded session.

However, after starting the stream, the number of viewers exceeded his expectations.

As the game loaded, Chen Bai munched on some buns he bought downstairs while watching the barrage of comments fly by.

[Yesterday, there was no Qingzhou, no Erbai. Do you know how I survived? Do you know?]

[What a beautiful time in the Yang realm, what a beautiful Er Bai.]

[? Did Er Bai finally decide to change clothes? How come he looks better, even though we still can’t see his face (eyes closed)?]

[So Er Bai actually has collarbones!]

[This outfit better be semi-permanent! [praying hands.jpg]]

“Any normal person has collarbones, friends.”

Chen Bai took a bite of his bun, and after glancing at the comments, he realized he was still wearing his neighbor’s clothes and said, “Semi-permanent? No way, this is my friend’s outfit.”

As he spoke, he pulled up the slightly drooping collar.

With a snap, the viewers’ momentary joy vanished.

—

Translator Note:

Hello, dear readers!

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