What Are They Doing 2022 Chapter 28

1

Baishe sat down. Remembering that his hands were covered in mucus, he quickly wiped them clean on the ground.

The old man didn’t seem to care about the stench at all and asked him, “Do you really love her?”

“Who?”

“The one that’s stuck to you,” the old man said.

Baishe thought about it for a moment before saying, “Um… I think… I don’t know. Who the hell are you anyway? Where is this place?”

“I bought you online,” the old man said. “You were very cheap. It almost wasn’t worth the transportation costs. This place is my warehouse.”

Baishe obviously didn’t understand what this meant and paused before asking, “Where’s the exit?”

The old man continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “But you aren’t the main thing that I wanted to buy. I took you mainly because I find the situation you’re facing quite interesting. You’re not the protagonist, but you can still play a role.”

After speaking, the old man turned something on—it was an old TV that was sitting on the ground. When the TV came on, Baishe saw a gambling table appear on the screen.

The TV was actually a surveillance camera that was monitoring the gambling table over on Wang Meng’s side.

“I want to make a bet with you,” the old man said. “This is your friend, and this is your friend’s father. Their lives have been completely ruined. Do you want to bet that they’ll have a good ending or do you want to bet that they’ll have a bad ending?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a bet,” the old man said. “If you win, you can leave here.”

2

“Can you forgive your loved ones for making mistakes?” Ah Tou stood by the river, which ran through the whole city and brought a bit of coolness with it. “They ruin your life with their unreasonable vices and completely rotten behavior.”

Liang Yanyan lit a cigarette. “Are you still thinking about that? It’s the kind of question that’s difficult to answer. Everyone has their own aspirations and personalities.”

The two women fell silent.

It seemed that when all humans came into this world, they were faced with a very urgent and fleeting existence so they had no time to choose and simply went wherever there was a path.

After they arrived, they would find that the door they had just passed through actually had different attributes, with their own life difficulties and instructions attached to it.

“There was a boy, when he was about eleven years old, who realized that his family was a disaster. He made the decision to cut off his emotional ties with them and then worked to complete his goal step by step. His father was a drunk who often beat him, so he began exercising in secret. One day, when he was fourteen, his father started to beat him so he pushed his father onto the coffee table and broke his nose. His father didn’t mess with him for half a year after that. Later, they even had a good relationship, and this matter was never mentioned again. He envied others’ relationships with their fathers—that kind of attachment—but he knew that he didn’t have it and never would, because the bridge between him and his father had been built on that punch. But before his death at the age of eighty, he realized that he could no longer feel the pain of lacking that thing. In truth, he found that he didn’t care anymore. What you wanted at the age of fourteen may not be what you wanted at the age of eighty. In fact, at eighty, he was more worried that his grandson wouldn’t be able to get into a good university, and that he would have to pay high property taxes,” Liang Yanyan said. “Do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“Throughout your whole life, you won’t have only one self. Although you live on continuously, you aren’t alone. You are the culmination of several different versions of yourself. You may be able to predict what your next self needs and likes, but you can’t predict who you’ll become in the end.”

“Hmm.”

“So, even if your current self forgives that scumbag in your family, that version of you who used to put up with them will never be able to forgive them. The only thing is, if you forgive that person now, you and the version of your self who suffered at that time are no longer alone.”

“Is this forgiveness a betrayal of my past self?”

“Well, you must complete your revenge before you transition to your next self; otherwise, you’ll miss a good opportunity. Hatred is not such a lasting thing. I especially don’t believe that my future self can take revenge for me. I only believe in my present self.”

As the two people faced the wind coming off of the river, someone took pictures of them, thinking that they were street style models.⁽¹⁾

3

Wang Meng watched his father walk towards the dice cup on shaky legs.

At this time, the cell phone suddenly rang. He glanced down at it and saw that it was a Bluetooth call.

He picked it up and heard Baishe’s voice come from the other end, “How much cash do you have on you?”

“I’m not lending you money,” Wang Meng said coldly.

“Bro, I’m looking at you right now. You have to place your bet. I’m betting that you have a happy ending.”

“What are you talking about?”

<What Are They Doing 2022 Chapter 27><Table of Contents><What Are They Doing 2022 Chapter 29>

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TN Notes:

(1) Street style is a specific fashion style originating from the British fashion culture. Magazines and newspapers commonly feature candid photographs of individuals out and about the city wearing urban, stylish clothing. It’s often based on individualism, rather than focusing solely on current fashion trends. More info here.

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I wonder if that old man is Seven Fingers from that one New Year’s special where Wu Xie threw out his back and chased that girl down the hall at like 1 mph while Xiao Hua just watched from that one secret room in the ceiling (don’t judge, the details are fuzzy haha)

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