Uncle Zhang's barbecue restaurant was located on a pedestrian street about a kilometer straight-line distance from No. 7 High School. It was a medium-sized establishment with twelve tables inside.
The pedestrian street was already bustling with activity. Fang Qingze checked the time: 5:42 PM. The sky had not yet darkened, but the neon lights of the various shops along the street were already lit up, colorful and bright, while numerous vendors shouted out their wares amid billows of smoke.
Weaving through the crowd, Fang Qingze occasionally spotted pairs of sweethearts leaning against each other affectionately, calling each other pet names.
They fed each other street food bite by bite, looking utterly intimate.
His expression remained calm. Having worked here for nearly two years, he was long used to such scenes.
According to the Federation's laws, anyone who had reached the age of fourteen was considered of working age and could take on jobs without being classified as child labor, though engaging in high-intensity work was prohibited.
Ever since finishing his middle school entrance exams, Fang Qingze had moved out of the orphanage.
With the savings he had accumulated during those years in the orphanage, he rented a room near No. 7 High School, studying while working part-time at the barbecue restaurant to earn his tuition and living expenses.
"Zhang's Barbecue" was situated right by the intersection of the pedestrian street. With heavy foot traffic, business was exceptionally good.
As soon as he stepped inside, Fang Qingze saw that not a single table was empty; they were all fully occupied. He hurried into the back kitchen to change into his work uniform.
Uncle Zhang, whose given name was Zhang Futian, was a short and honest-looking middle-aged man.
Seeing Fang Qingze walk into the back kitchen, he didn't even have time to wipe the sweat from his forehead before immediately saying, "Xiao Fang is here! Quick, quick, change your clothes and go attend to the customers. Your Brother Nan has business at school and won't be back today, and there are way more customers than the past two days. With just the few of us, we can barely keep up."
The Brother Nan whom Zhang Futian mentioned was Zhang Nan, his son, who was four years older than Fang Qingze and a sophomore at Autumn Leaf University in City Number Seven. Whenever he had free time, Zhang Nan would come back from school to help out at the shop.
Fang Qingze acknowledged him with a sound. Noticing that Auntie Zhang was busy bookkeeping, he didn't greet her and instead went straight into the changing room to put on his work uniform.
His duties weren't complicated: helping customers order food, serving dishes, and clearing the tables after the customers left.
After emerging from the changing room, Fang Qingze quickly threw himself into work. Two piles of menus sat on the front desk.
He picked up the stack on the left, which had five sheets in total. These were various skewers ordered by customers, and five sheets meant five tables, which indicated that five tables had yet to be served.
Fang Qingze raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that it really was crazy busy.
"Waiter, the bill, please," someone's voice rang out at that moment.
Following the sound, Fang Qingze looked over. Table number five was occupied by a man and two women. The man was around thirty-five or thirty-six, wearing casual clothes, yet exuding a refined and steady demeanor.
Sitting opposite him was a very well-maintained woman with a plump figure and light makeup.
Next to the woman sat a little girl of about six or seven, wearing a pink floral dress and looking quite adorable.
"Coming, coming!" Fang Qingze searched through the pile of menus on the right side of the desk, pulled out the one marked with the number "5", and then picked up the card reader and a pen cap from the table, walking over to table number five.
Just as he was about to reach table number five, several gazes swept over him from table number four and table number six, which were adjacent to table number five. His breathing paused for a fraction of a second, but his steps didn't falter as he walked up to table number five.
People couldn't actually feel being looked at, but Fang Qingze found that ever since that ball of fire and that black saber inexplicably appeared inside his body, many things had changed.
First was a substantial enhancement in his physical fitness, and second was that his spiritual perception had become extremely acute. To put it simply, if someone was secretly staring at him, the corresponding area of his brain would experience a slight tingling sensation.
Tables four and six each had four occupants. Some wore short sleeves, others tank tops, and all of them were burly men covered in muscles.
The moment Fang Qingze entered the barbecue restaurant, he had already roughly scanned the room to understand the demographic composition of each table—this was a habit of his.
Fortunately, the men merely glanced at Fang Qingze once before continuing to eat their barbecue and drink their beverages without making any other moves.
Oddly enough, despite being two tables full of big men, not a single bottle of alcohol was in sight. In Fang Qingze's impression, whenever such tough guys came to a barbecue restaurant in a group, they would invariably wipe out several crates of beer. Yet these men didn't touch a drop of alcohol and only drank juice beverages, which somewhat clashed with his preconceptions.
"Sir, the total is three hundred and two. I'll drop the odd change for you, so you only need to pay three hundred. Would you like to pay with cash, scan a code, or swipe a card?"
Without dwelling on it further, Fang Qingze looked at the menu while rapidly tapping his slender fingers on the calculator attached to the card reader. After calculating the total, he bowed slightly and said to the man.
"Just swipe the card." Seeming to have matters to attend to, the man pulled out a black card from his jacket pocket with his right hand without raising his head, his gaze fixed entirely on the phone in his other hand.
Fang Qingze took the black card, glanced at both sides of it, and felt somewhat surprised. The edges of the card had gold stripes, and right in the middle was an embossed golden dragon head carving, yet there wasn't a single word on the card.
Having worked at the barbecue restaurant for two years, this was his first time seeing such a card. Cards from all banks in the Federation would bear the words "Federal ** Bank" along with the Federation bank's signature maple leaf pattern.
However, he didn't dwell on it either, simply assuming that this black bank card was a custom-made private item belonging to the man.
Most wealthy people were like this, wanting to stand out from ordinary folk, and thus pursuing so-called private customization in every aspect of life—ranging from houses and vehicles down to watches, mobile phones, and even the buttons on their clothes.
In pursuit of uniqueness, no matter how high the price, they would flock to it eagerly.
Perhaps poverty limited Fang Qingze's imagination; he couldn't understand why anyone would spend money on such meaningless things.
After all, his meager salary barely covered his monthly rent and three meals a day, and if he wanted to treat himself to a better meal during holidays, he would genuinely find himself strapped for cash.
"Beep—!" The card reader's prompt sounded, followed by the clacking sound of the receipt printing out. Fang Qingze handed the card and receipt to the man: "Sir, your card and receipt, please keep them safe!"
The man looked up and took them, feeling a bit startled. Why did he pull out *this* card?
He raised his eyes to look at Fang Qingze, only to see that the young man before him merely wore a smile and showed nothing out of the ordinary.
The man's heart settled slightly. He looked at Fang Qingze's attire again and thought he was overthinking things—how could someone like him possibly recognize this kind of card?
Seeing the other party take the items, Fang Qingze turned around, intending to put the card reader and other things back in their proper place.
A woman's gentle voice suddenly reached his ears.
"Linlin, are you full?"
Fang Qingze subconsciously turned his head. In his line of sight, the woman gently pressed one hand against the back of the little girl's head while pulling a tissue out of the box with her other hand, tenderly wiping the little girl's greasy little mouth.
"Mmm... I'm fo'l!" The little girl called Linlin replied, her speech somewhat unclear, seemingly because her mouth was full of food and being held down by the woman.
"I told you not to eat so fast." The woman smiled helplessly, picking up the cup of orange juice she had been drinking and handing it to the little girl.
Because of her height, the little girl's short legs couldn't reach the ground; they dangled in the air, swinging happily, causing her tiny body to sway back and forth as well.
"Mommy, are we *really* going to the amusement park later~" Holding a cup that was almost half the size of her face, little Linlin took a sip of the orange juice her mother had drunk. Her tone was full of yearning, and her face was plastered with anticipation.
"Of course. If Linlin doesn't believe it, why don't you ask Daddy?" The woman's smile remained, her tone gentle.
"Daddy~" The glass cup containing half a cup of orange juice was set back on the table. Little Linlin cupped the cup with both hands, hiding her head behind it and peeking at Daddy across the table with just one eye, looking precisely like the "observing secretly" internet meme.
Putting down his phone and seeing his daughter's adorable expression, He Shengting couldn't help but smile. He reached out and gently rubbed little Linlin's head: "Of course. Whatever Daddy promises you, Daddy will definitely do."
"Oh~ Yay!" Little Linlin let out a quiet cheer, hopped down onto the floor with a thud, and ran happily over to the other side, planting a loud "muah" kiss on He Shengting's face.
"Did you wipe your grease on my face?" He Shengting teased his youngest daughter with a smiling expression.
"Nuh-uh~" Little Linlin pouted in dissatisfaction. How could Daddy think such a thing? Your precious daughter isn't that bad!
"Alright, alright, stop teasing her," Xiaorou finished the remaining half-cup of orange juice on the table and reminded the father and daughter opposite her: "Shouldn't we get going? It's getting late. Let's head to the amusement park early."
"Yeah," He Shengting nodded. "Let me reply to one more message. Linlin, go over to Mommy's side first, Daddy will be done in a second."
"Okay~" Seeming very happy, little Linlin figured waiting a little longer didn't matter, so she happily hopped off the stool and went back to her mother's side.
He Shengting's fingers typed rapidly in the text input box, sending:
Let's leave it at that for now. It's hard to talk over the phone; we'll talk when you get back.
Reply: ?
Reply: What's going on, are you that busy today? Mealtime is already over.
He Shengting: No, I'm taking my wife and kids to the amusement park.
Reply: ......
"The other party is typing," blank, "The other party is typing."
Reply: Fine, fine. Here I am leading an expedition team in the middle of nowhere, working myself to death every day digging up data for you, unable to even sleep peacefully and having to watch out for stray Desolate Beasts. And you? Living it up in luxury, with your wife and kids by your side, even going to the amusement park.
Reply: Go to Tauren.
The corners of He Shengting's mouth couldn't stop curving upward—the other guy had even resorted to voice input.
His fingers tapped the keyboard: Watch your language. You're already thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, and you still have no respect for your elders.
Reply: Get lost to your lousy amusement park.
He Shengting let out a chuckle, put away his phone, and said to Linlin across the table: "Alright, let's go! Mom and Dad are taking you to the amusement park~"
"Yay!" Little Linlin cheered.
She refused her mother's embrace, insisting on walking by herself. In her mind, going to the amusement park was a very grand affair—she had to walk there step by step on her own!
Watching the family of three walk out hand in hand, looking at that tiny figure in the middle, Fang Qingze felt somewhat dazed. He didn't even manage to say, "Take care, and welcome back next time!"
An amusement park, huh...
...
The heavy smell of medicine in the hospital still seemed to linger in his nostrils.
"New Century Wonderland: Edifying through play, growing through fun."
The little boy lay beside his mother's bed, staring unblinkingly at the television opposite the bed. What was reflected in his eyes was not just the images on the screen, but also longing and yearning.
"When Mommy gets a little better, Mommy will definitely... definitely take you to the amusement park too!
I'll take my little A-ze to that exact one on TV!"
The woman was thin, her skin carrying an unhealthy pallor. Lying on the hospital bed, mustering all her remaining energy, she earnestly made such a promise to the little boy huddled beside the bed.
Every word seemed to exhaust her entire strength, requiring her to pause halfway through before finishing.
The little boy turned his head to look at his mother's bloodless face. In his memory, his mother had always been supremely beautiful, and even now, she was just as beautiful.
Get better and go to the amusement park?
Get better and go to the amusement park!
In the end... it was all a lie. Mommy... you didn't keep your word. Out of those two things, not a single one came true.
...