A leisurely life starting in a bar after being reborn

"Holy crap."

The three of them laughed until they cried.

Chen Jian shook his head. "The three of us grew up together. I wouldn't say we're doing incredibly well now, but we're at least above average, right? But our personal lives are all so miserable. All our classmates are either married or have kids, while the three of us are all still single."

"Your restaurant gets customers every day, haven't you taken a fancy to any of them?" Liu Yuan asked.

"Most of the people who come here are families eating seafood, or they're all grown men. Who would you fancy?" Chen Jian rolled his eyes. "Besides, I'm in the kitchen all day, tossing the wok, and I'm always covered in cooking fumes. What girl would want to be with me?"

"You're just too boring," Fu Yan said.

"And you? You've been in America for seven years, you must have seen the world, right?" Chen Jian retorted.

Fu Yan thought for a moment and answered in the most honest way: "I've met her, but nothing's settled yet."

What does it mean to have met someone but not made a decision yet?

"It means exactly what it says."

Chen Jian and Liu Yuan exchanged a glance, both seeing a spark of gossip in each other's eyes.

"You little brat!" Chen Jian slammed his hand on the table. "Tell me honestly, how many have you dated in the US?"

"Let's drink, why ask so many questions?" Fu Yan picked up his glass and changed the subject.

Chen Jian persisted: "Fine, you don't have to tell us, but you have to tell us what your plans are for this trip back to China? What will you be doing in Yanjing?"

"I opened a bar just for fun."

"A bar?!" the two exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, it's in Houhai, called 'Gui Chu' (Homecoming), a quiet bar."

"You graduated from Stanford and now you own a bar?" Liu Yuan's glasses almost slipped off.

"What's wrong? Isn't running a bar better than working 996?" Fu Yan retorted.

Liu Yuan opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Yes, one works himself to the bone to earn 400,000 a year, while the other runs a bar and lives a leisurely life. Which one lives more like a human being?

"You little rascal..." Chen Jian shook his head and laughed, "You've always been the most resourceful one since you were little. Back in high school, you said you were going to make a lot of money, and we all thought you were bragging. But you actually went to America, made a lot of money, and then came back to open a bar. Nobody could have imagined that."

"Enough money is enough to get by. Why earn so much? You can't take it with you to the grave."

"You've changed," Liu Yuan suddenly said.

Fu Yan looked at him.

"You weren't like this before." Liu Yuan stared at him, his eyes serious. "You used to be a hard worker, always striving to be number one in everything you did—highest scores on exams, first place in competitions. Now you say you're content with just enough money... What have you been through?"

Fu Yan held his wine glass but did not answer immediately.

What did he go through?

He endured a lifetime of toil and sudden death, then started over, worked hard for seven years to earn more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime, and then suddenly felt—that was enough.

But he couldn't say these things.

"Maybe it's because I've grown up," he said finally.

Liu Yuan looked at him for a while, then didn't ask any more questions.

Chen Jian tried to smooth things over, saying, "Alright, alright, don't be so serious, let's drink! Come on, let's have a drink!"

The three clinked glasses, downed a bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), their stomachs warmed, and they started talking non-stop.

They talked about getting caught sneaking into an internet cafe during high school, about Chen Jian vomiting after running the 800 meters at the school sports meet, and about Liu Yuan being caught by his homeroom teacher secretly writing love letters to a girl in the next class during his senior year of high school.

"Damn, your face was redder than a braised eggplant!" Chen Jian laughed so hard he almost fell over.

"Shut up!" Liu Yuan's face turned red again.

Fu Yan laughed so hard that tears almost came out.

It's been so long since I laughed like this.

During his seven years in the United States, he made money, threw parties, and drank countless bottles of fine wine, but no night was like tonight—a few old friends, a table of home-cooked food, two bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), and he could laugh like an idiot.

This is what life should be like.

……

Around nine o'clock, the two bottles of Niulanshan liquor were empty, and all three of them had flushed faces.

Chen Jian was slumped over the table, muttering "open another bottle," but he couldn't lift his hand. Liu Yuan was alright, but his eyesight was failing, and he was pushing up his glasses more frequently.

Fu Yan drank three cups and was the most sober one—not because he had a high alcohol tolerance, but because he was drinking with his two brothers for the atmosphere, not the alcohol.

He called the waiter to pay the bill, and then each of them carried Chen Jian and Liu Yuan out of the restaurant.

Fisherman's Wharf was quiet on a winter night. The sound of waves crashing on the shore could be heard from afar, and the streetlights cast long shadows of the three people.

"Fu Yan..." Chen Jian leaned on his shoulder and mumbled, "It's good that you're back...it's good that you're back..."

"Yes, I'm back."

Liu Yuan walked steadily on the other side, but suddenly said, "Fu Yan, sometimes I think, maybe it's time to change my way of life."

Fu Yan turned her head to look at him.

Liu Yuan didn't look at him; his gaze was fixed on the dark sea in the distance, the light from the streetlights reflected in his glasses.

"Working 996 until I'm thirty and have neck problems, earning 400,000 yuan a year but not being able to buy a house in Beijing, and when I go back to my hometown and relatives ask how I'm doing, I'm too embarrassed to say anything... Sometimes I really don't know what I'm doing this for."

Fu Yan did not respond.

Some things you have to figure out for yourself. It just doesn't feel the same when someone else says it.

"If you want to change your lifestyle," Fu Yan said after a while, "we can go back to Yanjing after the New Year and talk about it in detail. At worst, I can invest in your startup."

Liu Yuan didn't speak, but Fu Yan felt the weight on his shoulders lighten a little.

It was as if they breathed a sigh of relief.

Three children from an old fishing village walked along the beach on a winter night, and none of them spoke again.

Only the sound of waves and the flickering lights of fishing boats in the distance could be heard.

……

The next morning, after having breakfast, Fu Yan took a taxi straight to Xinghai Auto Plaza.

Sales consultant Zhang Lei was already waiting at the door. Seeing him was like seeing his own father; he ran up to him, saying, "Mr. Fu! The car is ready! It's right behind the showroom!"

A white Volvo XC60, gleaming and polished, sat parked beside the display stand, its body shimmering softly in the winter sunlight. A temporary license plate was affixed to the windshield, and the car keys rested on the hood.

Fu Yan walked around the car once, then opened the door and got in.

The interior is light beige, and it comes with all the essential features, including heated seats, dual-zone climate control, and cruise control. The steering wheel is significantly thicker than the one in Fu Jianguo's Wuling car, and it feels very solid.

"Mr. Fu, are you satisfied?" Zhang Lei peeked out from outside the car.

"Okay, that's good."

Fu Yan started the car. The engine sound was deep and powerful, completely different from the "putt-putt-putt" sound of the Wuling Hongguang.

He drove the car out of the showroom and circled it around the square. The brakes were sensitive, the steering was precise, and the chassis was stable—yes, that was the feeling.

When he drove home, Fu Xiao was waiting at the gate of the courtyard.

She was wearing a pink down jacket, a red scarf, and carrying two large bags; she looked like she had just come back from a shopping spree at the supermarket.

The white XC60 slowly pulled up to the side of the road. Fu Xiao's eyes widened, and she almost dropped her bag.

"Brother?! This is the car you bought?!"

"Yes, come on up."