I'm back in 1990

Chapter 165: Someone Asks for Help

September 22nd is both the Mid-Autumn Festival and a Sunday, a rare occurrence since the Mid-Autumn Festival is not yet a public holiday.

Huang Xiaochuan went to Huashan Road Market early in the morning. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival came earlier than usual, and the growth rate of the hairy crabs couldn't keep up. Huang Xiaochuan came up empty-handed. He asked several seafood vendors, and their replies were all similar.

That means the crabs aren't ready for harvesting and selling yet. Right now, the crabs don't have any roe inside, so even if they were available, no one would buy them. That's why fishermen from the nearby lakes haven't started fishing.

They came full of excitement but left disappointed. It seems they won't be able to eat hairy crabs for the time being. Huang Xiaochuan simply didn't buy any vegetables and decided not to cook. He would eat out at restaurants for lunch and dinner. It's not like he can't afford it. He would have a local Shanghainese meal at Lao Zhengxing for lunch and seafood at Huanghe Road for dinner. If there were no hairy crabs, how about we eat green crabs?

Last time Ding Yi treated Huang Xiaochuan to dinner, he saw that the Haibaofang restaurant was selling Sanmen blue crabs.

The weather was nice today. When Huang Xiaochuan arrived at the old apartment, he saw Yu Xiang and Ji Mei busy airing out their quilts and pillows.

Seeing Huang Xiaochuan arrive empty-handed, Yu Xiang asked him, "Didn't you go grocery shopping?"

Huang Xiaochuan plopped down on the sofa.

"We went, but couldn't buy any hairy crabs. They said the hairy crabs won't be available until mid-to-late October this year. I thought I might as well take a break today and go to a restaurant for lunch and dinner! Lao Zheng Xing for lunch, Hai Bao Fang for dinner, and we'll have green crabs for dinner."

"That's too expensive! Why don't you just buy some groceries? I'll cook, you can rest!" Yu Xiang complained that the restaurant was too expensive.

Huang Xiaochuan quickly stopped her: "Let's forget it. You've been studying for a week, and it's rare for you to have a day off on Sunday. You should rest too! It's not like we don't have money. How much does it cost to go to a restaurant? Listen to me and go to a restaurant. I'll call Yu Wei right now."

Seeing Huang Xiaochuan's resolute attitude, Yu Xiang let him go, thinking that going to a restaurant for two meals wouldn't bankrupt them.

The phone had already been installed, though it cost a little extra, but that was no big deal for Huang Xiaochuan.

I called Yu Wei directly through the paging service, and he called me back within minutes.

Like people in later generations, Huang Xiaochuan habitually asked where the person was first.

"What are you doing?"

"I had breakfast with Tsuyoshi Tangyuan, and we're getting ready to go house hunting."

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan mistakenly thought that Yu Wei was going to buy a house, and immediately became interested.

"You and Tang Yuan are going to buy a house?"

"Buy my ass! Who else has a rich uncle like you who can buy houses like they're cabbages? Tang Yuan and I are planning to rent." Yu Wei complained.

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaochuan automatically filtered out the preceding words and focused on the following sentence.

"You slept with Tang Yuan?"

Since Huang Xiaochuan is Yu Wei's childhood friend and future brother-in-law, Yu Wei readily admitted to this question. Isn't that normal? He, Yu Wei, isn't a eunuch. How could he possibly resist spending all his time with such a beautiful young woman?

They had been to the guesthouse several times, but it was really inconvenient, mainly because the soundproofing was terrible. That's why the two of them decided to rent a house near the school.

"Um!"

However, Yu Wei quickly realized something was amiss: "Is this something you should be concerned about?"

"Haha, I was just asking casually, I don't care! Your sister asked me to ask you when you and Tang Yuan are arriving?" Huang Xiaochuan used Yu Xiang as an excuse.

"Go see the house and then go. Just focus on making good food."

"Screw cooking! I'm not cooking today. I'm exhausted in the kitchen like a dog while you guys are eating so comfortably. Why should I? Let's just go to a restaurant and eat there. It'll save your sister and Tangyuan the trouble of washing the dishes."

"Why are you rushing me if we're going to eat at a restaurant? Why don't you just tell me which restaurant it is now, and Tangyuan and I can go there directly, saving us the trouble of going back and forth."

"Yeah, right! I didn't realize you were so clever. You know where Lao Zhengxing is at noon, right?"

"I know, it's twelve o'clock, right?"

After hanging up the phone, Huang Xiaochuan ran to his room, closed the door, and said mysteriously to Yu Xiang, who was tidying up the room.

"Do you know what Yu Wei and Tang Yuan are doing?"

Yu Xiang asked dismissively, "What are you doing?"

"They're looking at houses; they're planning to rent a place and move out."

Yu Xiang is already twenty-two years old, how could she not understand the implication in Huang Xiaochuan's words!

Her face flushed instantly, and she scolded playfully, "Why are you so excited about them renting a place?"

Huang Xiaochuan thought to himself with dissatisfaction, "I was just concerned about them! I was concerned about my own happiness! No normal man doesn't think about that kind of thing, but my wife lets me touch and kiss her, but she just won't let me get past that last hurdle."

However, seeing Huang Xiaochuan's mournful expression, Yu Xiang felt both amused and annoyed. She couldn't bear it, so she hugged Huang Xiaochuan's neck, kissed him, and made a promise.

"How about we wait until you're over twenty?"

Huang Xiaochuan immediately replied, "I'm already twenty years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning)."

Yu Xiang turned her face away and ignored him.

Huang Xiaochuan thought there was still hope. It was less than a year left. He had been single for two lifetimes, so he didn't care about such a short time.

Lunch was alright; the four of us ate for less than 100 yuan. However, after going to Haibaofang in the evening, apart from Huang Xiaochuan, the other three were all quite agitated.

Especially after seeing the prices on the dishes, a large lobster costs 128? And the mud crab is sold by the piece? 38 each? Wouldn't that be 156 for four people, one crab each?

This was the first time Yu Xiang, Yu Wei, and Tang Yuan had been to Huanghe Road. They had only heard of the place before, but it didn't suit their spending habits, so they had never been there.

Yu Xiang did a rough calculation and realized that, based on the dishes Huang Xiaochuan ordered, the meal for the four of them would cost nearly a thousand yuan tonight, which made Yu Xiang feel a little distressed.

She took Huang Xiaochuan's arm and whispered, "Xiaochuan, how about we go somewhere else? This is too expensive!"

Huang Xiaochuan patted Yu Xiang's hand and said, "Since you're already here, why leave? You're the one treating your sister-in-law to dinner tonight, how can you change the venue halfway through?"

Yu Xiang thought about it and realized it was indeed inappropriate, so she stopped talking about leaving.

With the money in place, the food was naturally quite satisfying, especially for Yu Wei, who said he would come to this place at least once a month from now on. As a result, he was glared at fiercely by Yu Xiang and had his waist pinched by Tang Yuan.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Jiang Bixing found Huang Xiaochuan.

Huang Xiaochuan greeted him with a smile: "Senior, it's been a while. What have you been up to?"

Jiang Bixing shook his head with a wry smile: "Busy my foot! I just got back from my internship, and now I'm already preparing to write my graduation thesis!"

Huang Xiaochuan thought about it and realized that Jiang Bixing was indeed a senior this year and needed to prepare his graduation thesis.

However, Huang Xiaochuan still asked, "What's this?"

Jiang Bixing didn't mince words and directly stated his purpose: "I need your help with a research topic. You know, I spend most of my time making money, so my professional skills are holding me back a bit."

"Huh?" Huang Xiaochuan was taken aback. "Can you please help me? Why don't you ask your teacher or professor for this? Why are you asking me?"

"How could I possibly do that? How are you going to ask your teacher for advice?" Huang Xiaochuan quickly declined.

"Hehe! I've already asked him for help with my retakes several times because I failed my courses, so I'm really embarrassed to ask him again. I thought I should at least write a decent graduation thesis so as not to embarrass him!" Jiang Bixing revealed his shortcomings.

Well, so this guy is a notorious failure at all? Huang Xiaochuan was speechless.

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan was hesitant to agree, Jiang Bixing said, "I know you're got a lot to offer. You can easily let me pass by just showing me a little bit. Aren't you afraid I won't graduate?"

Since things had come to this point, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't refuse. However, he didn't immediately agree to Jiang Bixing's request, saying he needed to consider it for a few days.

Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan didn't refuse, Jiang Bixing happily said, "Then I'll wait for your good news!"

After saying that, he clasped his hands together and bowed.