I set you up on a blind date, and you've managed to overcome all the weirdness?

Chapter 164 Sticky Candy

Lin Yan figured it out, and with a push of his hands, he nimbly climbed off the tire.

He patted his factory uniform and looked up at the punk girl in front of him, who had a face full of anger and looked like a hedgehog.

Lin Yan concealed all his sharpness and arrogance, his smile perfectly balanced—neither obsequious nor insincere, yet enough to draw the other person closer.

"Sister An, right?"

He fawned over, picked up the speaker from the ground, and asked, "Don't kick it anymore, I'll go move it right now. Where do you think would be a good place to put it?"

Sister An, with an unlit Honghe cigarette dangling from her lips, looked him up and down a few times, her face full of suspicion.

Seemingly not expecting that this pretty boy who was just lying on the tire pretending to be dead would actually go and move the speaker, his change of expression was faster than turning the pages of a book.

"Place it against the wall, and don't connect the wires backwards. If you burn my pipes, I'll take your salary this month to pay off the debt."

Anjie snorted and turned to fiddle with her bass.

Lin Yan officially started working at the Jiangcheng Third Heavy Machinery Plant in 1988.

Position: Stagehand.

To put it bluntly, they are the full-time odd jobs for underground bands.

Who knows what this body was originally for? I probably won't live to see the day I get paid, so it doesn't matter.

These past few days, he has taken the word "shameless" to the extreme.

The temperature in the rehearsal room peaked at four o'clock in the afternoon.

The afternoon sun slanted in, making the room feel like an oven.

"New guy, connect that wire! Didn't you eat? You're so slow!"

Anjie kicked the speaker.

This is the fourth time she has lost her temper this afternoon.

The rehearsal went poorly; the bassist we found at the last minute kept getting the beat wrong.

It's really not easy to find someone who can play an instrument in this small town, so she had to become the drummer and give up her bass position.

The secondhand speakers also emitted crackling electrical noises from time to time, which annoyed her so much that she wanted to smash the entire workshop.

"Okay, Sister An, coming right away!"

Lin Yan responded loudly.

Instead of getting angry at this imperious leader, he acted like an outstanding employee who was full of energy.

He skillfully picked up the scissors, peeled off the rubber, wrapped it twice with insulating tape, and then snapped it into the connector.

I'd barely finished this call when my eyes were already on the next step.

Just as Sister An was about to reach for the kettle, Lin Yan had already taken the initiative and handed her a bottle of chilled soda that had just been chilled in well water.

They even thoughtfully wiped the water droplets off the bottle.

"Sister An, clear your throat. That high note you just hit was absolutely amazing, the sound lingered for days!"

Lin Yan gave a thumbs up, his smile as sincere as could be.

Sister An stared at the soda handed to her, then looked at Lin Yan.

He was originally quite handsome, but now he was so obsequious that you just wanted to punch him in the face.

The anger that had been building up in her throat was now impossible to vent or swallow.

"Are you some kind of scoundrel?"

Anjie grabbed a handful of her hair in frustration, pointed at Lin Yan's nose, and was already on the verge of losing her temper: "How many times have I cursed you these past few days? I told you to get out, but you wouldn't; I told you to do whatever I asked, but you did it anyway. What are you after?"

"what?"

"Don't you have any self-respect?!"

These days, any man with any sense of decency would have turned on a young woman and left, or at least lost his temper on the spot, if she were bossing him around like that.

But this kid in front of me is like a piece of sticky taffy; no matter how much I scold him, I can't get rid of him.

Not only that, but when you get tired of arguing, they'll pick up where you left off and offer you a cup of tea.

You simply can't find a single fault with him.

This made the nun, who was used to protecting herself by raising all her thorns and using a bad attitude to drive everyone away, very uncomfortable.

She felt an unprecedented sense of frustration.

Lin Yan showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

This is nothing, just child's play.

He withdrew his hand, bit open the soda bottle cap himself, took a sip, leaned against a wooden box, and smiled at Sister An: "Self-esteem? Can that stuff feed you?"

In this era, most people have a relatively high level of psychological and moral standards, and it is difficult for them to be as "open-minded" as Lin Yan.

"Employees have to accept whatever promises the boss makes, even if it means enduring tears."

"Since I've accepted Sister An as my boss, then when the boss scolds me, it's a form of encouragement."

"I was hoping that when Sister An becomes a big star, she'll take me to eat and drink the best food and drinks."

"What's a little grievance compared to future wealth and glory?"

Sister An was stunned.

"Drawing a pie in the sky? What nonsense!"

She didn't understand the word, but she could hear the nonchalant attitude in Lin Yan's tone.

And—his frankness, untainted by any strange looks.

Unlike the others in the factory, he didn't look at her as if she were crazy or a delinquent.

Unlike those thugs with ulterior motives, he didn't stare at her with lewd eyes.

His attitude was simple: "I'm just trying to make a living under your wing."

He just shamelessly stayed in her world.

Sister An stared at Lin Yan for a while, and finally clicked her tongue in frustration.

She snatched the bottle of soda from Lin Yan's hand, which he had already taken a sip from, and tilted her head back to gulp down half of it.

"If you want to live the high life with your mother, you'd better get your hands dirty!"

Anjie wiped the soda from the corner of her mouth, turned her back to Lin Yan, and went to get the electric guitar from the corner.

Lin Yan leaned against the box, looking at An Jie's slightly reddened ears.

You think you can't handle me?

Days passed by, and Lin Yan was getting used to life here.

Until that afternoon.

That broken speaker needs an amplifier, so Sister An took Lin Yan to the factory's scrap yard to find a usable transformer.

Just as the two men dug a transformer out from under the barbed wire fence, several flashlights shone brightly at them.

"What are you doing! Put your things down!!"

Three men in security uniforms emerged from behind the pile of scrap steel.

The leader of the officers had a beer belly, was carrying a black PVC baton, and had a hostile look in his eyes.

Sister An's face darkened, and she hid the transformer behind her.

"These are all scrap metal that's no longer needed. I'll take them back and modify them."

"Even scrapped items are public property! You think you can just take them like that?!"

The chubby clerk stepped forward, his flashlight beam sweeping across Anjie's ripped leather jacket, and immediately became sarcastic: "Who do we have here? It's that shameless, crazy girl from the old pastor's family."

"They're always causing a huge fuss in the workshop with a bunch of thugs, making a complete mess and disgracing the town!"

"Your father has already published a notice in the newspaper severing ties with you, how dare you still stay in this factory?"

"You stole public property! Believe me, I'll take you to the police station right now!"

"Say that again?!"

Before Lin Yan could even speak, Sister An was already ready to fire.

He stood to the side, sensing something was wrong.

Over the course of their time together, he subtly inquired about many things from the nun, but there was one thing she never mentioned about her father.

People tend to value what they avoid the most.

This is especially true for young, rebellious girls.