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Chapter 459: Chapter 459: Buying a House, Setting up Home
After a while, the man buckled his pants, bent down to pick up the bag from the ground, and walked away as if it was his own.
Jian Jun, with his keen eyes, had noticed and quickly grabbed the man’s arm, saying, "Sir, that bag is ours."
It was the bag that Tong Yao had just bought them new clothes in, which still contained two sets of clothes and two pairs of shoes.
At this time, Liu Sanwa also noticed that the man was carrying their bag and promptly chimed in, "That’s right, it’s ours."
"Yours?" The man curled his lips into a smirk, sizing both of them up and down and scornfully retorting, "With your appearance, do you expect me to believe that you could buy all of these things? You must have stolen them!"
The man was big and burly, nearly 6 foot 2, and heavier than Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa combined. Those two have spent over a year on the streets which has made them more perceptive. They saw that the man didn’t seem like a good person and clearly wanted to claim their belongings for himself.
Even though they were intimidated by the man’s presence, these were things that Tong Yao had bought for them, and they refused to let go.
"These are not stolen; they are work clothes that our boss bought for us." Jian Jun grew indignant, his face flushing and veins bulging in his neck. He knew these items were not stolen.
"What work clothes?" the man mocked. "If you’re going to lie, at least try to be believable. What kind of a fool of a boss would spend so much money buying clothes for you? If you two are smart, you’ll let go right now. I’ll pretend not to know anything, but if you resist, don’t blame me for calling the police to arrest you two thieves."
Having made up his mind that Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa could not afford these items and must have stolen them, the man decided to profit from the situation himself.
Both Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa quickly figured out his intentions. Not willing to back down, they started to fight back. A melee soon broke out, starting in the restroom and spilling outside.
Even though Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa were two against one, they were skinny as rails. Even with Jian Jun’s leg injury they were no match for the man. Beaten a few times, they still did not concede defeat, and staunchly held onto their bag.
"What are you doing?" a woman’s voice suddenly rang out, stopping the three in their tracks.
Seeing a young woman approaching, the man quickly shouted, "Miss, you’ve come just in time. Can you please call the police? I’ve caught two thieves here."
Initially planning to cheat them out of their possessions, the man became annoyed when they refused to let go. He decided to have them arrested instead.
Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa, spotting Tong Yao, were overcome with relief. "Sister Yaoyao!" It was like children seeing their parents arrive amid a playground squabble.
"Sister Yaoyao, he tried to steal our clothes, claiming that we stole them first!" they exclaimed.
Hearing this, Tong Yao immediately understood the situation: the man was bullying Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa, taking advantage of their worn appearance and poverty, in order to steal their belongings.
Her face hardened, and she said, "Stop the fight. I bought these clothes, they weren’t stolen. If you want to call the police, then wait right here. I’m going to call them to see who they take away."
As soon as the man heard Jian Jun calling her ’Sister’ he was taken aback. After hearing Tong Yao’s words and confirming that they did know each other, his expression changed. He promptly pushed Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa away from him.
Leaving his fiercesome demeanor behind, he forced a laugh and pleaded, "Miss, no need to call the police. It’s all a misunderstanding. I saw these two behaving suspiciously in the restroom and thought they were thieves. Who in their right mind goes to a restroom to change their clothes?"
"Since it’s all a misunderstanding, you may leave since it’s all cleared up!" Seeing that Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa weren’t injured, Tong Yao did not press further.
The man did not want to make a huge fuss either. Heeding Tong Yao’s words, he quickly turned and disappeared.
"Sister Yaoyao, he clearly tried to rob us deliberately. Why didn’t you call the police and just let him go?"
Jian Jun was still infuriated at the earlier attempt to take their belongings. They had only just managed to get two new sets of clothes and they had already drawn the attention of a thief.
Some people were just so odious. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Tong Yao explained, "Neither of you are innocent, and it wouldn’t end well for you if this matter escalated to the police station."
Upon hearing her words, Jian Jun immediately understood Tong Yao’s approach. He and Liu Sanwa picked up their clothes from the ground and dusted them off.
"You dirtied our new clothes."
Tong Yao consoled them, "That’s okay, we can wash them when we get to the farm. Time to go, the car’s here! Also, I bought more steamed buns and soymilk, they’re in the car if you get hungry on the way."
The buns they had bought in the morning had already been finished, and knowing about their appetites, Tong Yao bought ten more. They needed to gain some weight if they were going to do manual labor.
Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa’s eyes lit up, and they quickly declared that they weren’t injured. They had often been mistreated in Kyoto, so now that they had a new place to go, they felt as happy as if they were going home.
Following behind Tong Yao, seeing the excitement in their eyes, she asked with a smile, "What plans do you have once you’ve saved some money?"
"To buy a house and settle down."
Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa both responded almost in unison.
"Is that what both of you want?" Tong Yao asked curiously.
Jian Jun nodded, "Liu Sanwa and I have been treated like vermin on the street for too long. We’re tired of sleeping under bridges. All we want now is a home that can shield us from the wind and rain."
Liu Sanwa chimed in, "Once we’ve saved enough, we plan to go back home and build a house. My father always wanted to build a new tile house when he was alive. Unfortunately, he and my mom and brother all died before it could be completed and the old house collapsed. If I have the money, I’ll go back and build a tile house to fulfill their wish when they were alive, and also to have a place to regularly pay respects to them."
On the night of the earthquake, he and Jian Jun had plans to catch fish in the river and so they survived, purely by chance.
After the earthquake, when they returned home, their parents and brother were gone. They dug a pit and buried their family near their house and have been wandering ever since.
"If not for the worry that there would be no one to pay respects to our family if we were to die, we probably wouldn’t have made it this far," Jian Jun added on.
Tong Yao turned to look back at the two boys. Seeing the weariness upon their young faces, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy and she sighed, "If you two can stick with the work there, I can guarantee that within five years, you’ll have saved enough money to build a house back home."
Building a three-room tile house in their hometown could cost around 2,000 yuan. Even assuming an increase in prices, based on their wage of 80 yuan per month, they could have it in three years.
With free food and accommodation at the mountain farm, they wouldn’t be able to spend much money at all.
Jian Jun and Liu Sanwa pledged together, "Sister Yaoyao, rest assured, we’ll definitely work hard!"
Now they just want a sheltered place to live properly, they have a salary and a dream, why wouldn’t they work hard?
Even if Tong Yao didn’t provide a salary, they would still be willing to work.
In the time that they had been wandering, the pair had come close to dying multiple times. They didn’t want to continue wandering any longer.
