Chapter Thirty-Two: Friends

"Open up! Open up! Time to get up!"

Before Fu Qian could respond, the person outside was already shouting—it was clearly the voice of Qin Mingze.

Fu Qian cast a lingering glance at his bowl of noodles before getting up to open the door.

Standing outside, alongside Young Master Qin who had visited yesterday, was a young man in his twenties who looked harmless. The two of them exchanged a silent look as Fu Qian opened the door.

"Are you that free lately, Young Master Qin? Did you lose your job?" Fu Qian asked, staring at Qin Mingze with an expressionless face.

"Lose my job, my foot! It's Saturday today! Little Yu and I came over to hang out." Qin Mingze nearly sprayed spit all over Fu Qian as he pushed the door open and squeezed inside.

The "Little Yu" he mentioned offered a helpless smile, greeted Fu Qian, and followed him into the apartment.

Little Yu’s full name was Wu Qingyu. He was also an acquaintance of Fu Qian and a mutual friend of his and Qin Mingze's. At twenty-four, Wu Qingyu was a student at a prestigious medical school. He was currently in his internship phase and was said to be worked to the bone, unable to tell day from night. Fu Qian hadn't seen him in a month or two.

"Ugh!"

Young Master Qin rushed into the living room and flopped onto the sofa, letting out a groan of comfort. "Nothing beats this fabric sofa. I thought my cervical spondylosis was going to flare up these past two days."

Wu Qingyu, standing nearby, was even more dramatic; he practically collapsed the moment he touched the sofa and didn't move a muscle.

"Alright, spit it out. You two didn't come all this way just to mooch off my sofa," Fu Qian said, glancing at the noodles on the table. "Hurry up, I haven't finished my meal yet."

"You're eating that?" Young Master Qin looked at the table with a face full of horror. "Forget it. Little Yu and I brought some stuff. Take some of that to tide yourself over."

Hearing this, the recumbent Wu Qingyu lethargically handed over a bag.

"There's really nothing going on," Qin Mingze explained, his face unperturbed. "Little Yu and I just both happened to be off today. He told me he hadn't seen you in a while, so we decided to come by. It’s been ages since the three of us had a weekend get-together."

Qin Mingze and Wu Qingyu were among the few guests Fu Qian ever entertained. Once upon a time, Fu Qian had been a bright, sunny youth and an exemplary student. Thanks to his superior intellect, for a long time he had been the "other person's child" in the mouths of parents and a nightmare to countless classmates.

However, after his parents passed away unexpectedly when he was ten, Fu Qian’s temperament changed drastically—or as he put it, he had experienced a sudden, profound enlightenment. After several months spent pondering the meaning of life, he successfully kicked words like "academics," "socializing," "future," "marriage," and "career" out of his dictionary, completely warping into the person he was today.

Naturally, his friends dwindled, and these days, Qin Mingze and Wu Qingyu basically constituted his entire social circle.

"Are you off today?" Fu Qian asked, looking at Wu Qingyu, who was sprawled out on the sofa like a lazy cat. The latter grunted in acknowledgment.

"I remember you saying you were busy as hell and had absolutely no time to rest," Fu Qian noted.

"I *am* busy!" Wu Qingyu covered his face with a cushion, his voice sounding like a dream-muttering. "Running errands, night shifts, filing reports... and on the rare occasion I have time off, I have to write my thesis. My head is full of nothing but that paper even when I sleep... so I came here to relax."

"Exactly! Bring out your console and let's play. I haven't touched a controller in ages; my hands are itching," Qin Mingze said, patting Fu Qian.

It’s worth noting that although Fu Qian often struggled to afford his next meal, he did own a full set of gaming equipment and kept it constantly updated. For instance, the reason he was currently "eating dirt" was that he had just bought the latest gaming console. As a member of the "lie-flat" generation, Fu Qian had plenty of free time, and gaming was an excellent way to get a dopamine hit. At the same time, writing copy for indie games was one of his sources of income. In Fu Qian’s words, "To create, one must understand the application environment; drawing proper inspiration is crucial."

"What are we playing today?" Young Master Qin rubbed his hands together, clearly the most excited of the three.

In this day and age, gaming was an essential topic for single young men. The three of them had played countless games together, and Wu Qingyu, whose nimble fingers were honed by his professional training, had always been a cut above the rest. However, Fu Qian was no longer the man he used to be; his physical control had reached an unfathomable level.

Watching Fu Qian expressionlessly slaughter them both, Young Master Qin eventually grew angry and humiliated, booting him off the console.

"Any progress on your new career plan?" Young Master Qin asked, feigning indifference while "bullying" the still-half-asleep Wu Qingyu.

"It’s only been a day, you know," Fu Qian thought to himself, *finally, here it comes.* He had long noticed the two of them watching him with caution, so he turned off the console. "Alright, tell me, what’s really going on with you two today?"

...

Qin and Wu exchanged a look. Finally, Wu Qingyu spoke up, stammering, "Yesterday, Qin-ge came to me in a rush, saying you seemed a bit off. He was worried your health was suffering and insisted on dragging me here to check on you."

"Xiao Qian," Qin Mingze added with a serious face, "I understand your urgency, but things like fitness need to be done gradually. Some of those 'quick-fix' methods can be very harmful to your body."

He turned to Wu Qingyu. "Is he really okay?"

"I’m confident enough to say so," Wu Qingyu said with a yawn. "I don't know how Xiao Qian has been training, but he’s clearly very healthy. In this state, he could probably take on ten of me without a problem."

"But he’s training way too fast! I can't wrap my head around it!" Young Master Qin looked at Wu Qingyu, looking completely skeptical of reality, while the latter just shrugged.

"How should I put this... I actually left some things out yesterday." Fu Qian felt quite touched that his two degenerate friends had come all this way to confirm his health, so he decided to come clean.

*So there really was a secret!* Qin and Wu both sat up straight, their eyes shining with keen interest.

"Actually, I took on a side job recently. The pay is quite good, and working out is just part of the process."

"Good pay? Is it manual labor?" Qin and Wu were both shocked.

"Basically, yes. Sometimes I need to use my brain, and the techniques involved are quite important."

The pair stared blankly.

"The physical exertion must be huge, right?"

"It’s not always huge, though sometimes I have to repeat the same things over and over, which is quite annoying."

"Take care of yourself," the two said, at a loss for words.

"Wait a second." After a moment of silence, Qin Mingze’s expression shifted, and he suddenly stood up and began to take off his clothes.

"Holy crap!" The action stunned Wu Qingyu, who instinctively rubbed his face. "I'm still asleep, I'm still asleep! I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming!" After rubbing for a moment, he suddenly let out a wail, "Why haven't I finished my thesis even in my dreams?!"

"Take your shirt off and wear mine," Qin Mingze said, tossing his shirt to Fu Qian.

"What for?"

"Just put it on."

Once Fu Qian had it on, Qin Mingze pulled out his phone, snapped several photos from various angles, and then snapped his fingers. "It’d be a waste not to make use of those muscles. We’re about the same height; I'll just Photoshop my head onto yours later. I'll be absolutely invincible when trying to pick up girls."

Fu Qian looked back at Wu Qingyu.

"See? If you had this kind of shameless drive, your thesis would have been finished long ago."

"……Let’s just forget it."