Chapter 2: Anonymous Caller
Yue Tian stretched and yawned. It was 11:00pm. Almost everyone had left. There were only himself and two others in the room.
He brought his can of soda to his lips and took a sip, an empty sip. That was his 13th soda, and he had downed it all. He yawned once again.
He turned off his computer, concluding that he had worked enough for the day. He stood up, cleaned up his desk and made his way out of the room.
The other two also followed immediately after.
At the entrance of the building, after checking out, Yue Tian placed an order for an online service taxi. He stood and waited. It would take about 20 minutes for the taxi to get to his location.
He clicked on the Weibo icon and the screen shone with a white display. The trending topics were still about Li Xiaohei, although some topics seemed to be making an entrance.
He opened the chatroom and scrolled through his contact list. Almost everyone was online, although majority of his colleagues were no where to be seen. That was an evidence of the stress.
He sighed and caught onto his neighbor's message. It was the neighbor who had asked him to grab a packet of sugar last week. It was still quite funny and he couldn't help but laugh out loud at the irony.
He was probably too preoccupied with work, because he hadn't noticed until now. It dawned on him that that neighbor of his had been acting weird all week, but he brushed it off. 'Lol', he thought.
The taxi stopped in front of him and he got in. He said his address to the taxi driver and relaxed on the chair. The car started moving.
On a second thought, he might as well still grab a packet of sugar for his neighbor. The mere thought made him chuckle lowly as he redirected the taxi driver to the supermarket.
"Sorry for the inconvenience. Could you drive me to Baitong Supermarket?" He said.
The driver changed his routes and soon they were at the supermarket. He got off with a plea to the driver to wait for him to buy the sugar.
He hurried in and got the sugar. He was walking out, when he felt very strange, it was like someone was looking at him. The gaze was intense, and he instinctively looked around. He couldn't find anyone,despite there being not too many people in the supermarket.
He walked off, brushing it off. Part of not getting enough sleep, was becoming quite delusional. He was just having daydreams.
He got into the taxi quickly and the driver took him to his neighborhood. After paying the fare, he walked to his neighbor's house and knocked on the door.
Chen Xiaoping was making dinner. It was pretty late, but it wasn't her fault.
"Turn off the television!" She yelled. "I told you to turn the volume down, but you don't want to. So turn off that television." She screamed at her daughter.
"No, I won't!" Chen Wan'er, her eight year old daughter retorted from the living room.
Chen Xiaoping sighed from the kitchen. Because of her daughter's refusal to eat the noodles she had been given, she had rushed off to the supermarket to get something her Wan'er regarded as staple and more edible food. And still yet, Chen Wan'er disregarded her efforts and disrespected her too.
She was a low income earner, she could barely afford living space and even more worsely, she couldn't afford Chen Wan'er fees. The landlord had come to their house a little more than once and Chen Wan'er had been kicked out of school. Chen Wan'er blamed her for not being capable enough to take care of them both. And truly she blamed herself too but this was her fate, there was nothing she could do about it. She only hoped that her Wan'er would have a better life.
"You better turn that television off, before I come over there." Chen Xiaoping screamed.
"What television? This old piece of crap? I can't watch cartoons like other children my age. It's just the same old free channels everyday." Chen Wan'er yelled back.
"Chen Wan'er!" Chen Xiaoping screamed and left the kitchen in anger.
"What?!"
"Go into the room, right now." She barked.
"No!"
"I have had enough of your attitude in one day. Get into the room, now!" She yelled again but Chen Wan'er remained adamant.
She moved towards her and grabbed her arm. She pulled her towards the room as Chen Wan'er struggled.
"Hey! Leave me alone! I'm gonna call the police. Let go of me, you bitch!" Chen Wan'er yelled and cursed.
Chen Xiaoping remained unsurprised, it wasn't the first time Chen Wan'er had used such words on her. She simply dragged her.
"Bitch! I said let go of me!"
"Leave me alone!"
The doorbell rang amidst Chen Wan'er's screams.
"Help! Help!" Chen Wan'er screamed at the door as if seeing her lifeline. She struggled harder, but Chen Xiaoping being stronger, subdued her and locked her in the room.
Chen Xiaoping sighed heavily and pulled her legs to the door. She looked through her peephole and saw her neighbor outside. It was Yue Tian. Why was he here? The last thing she wanted to see now after the episode with Chen Wan'er was an annoying person. She pulled open the door and stared at him.
"Hello." She gave a simple greeting.
"Hi. Can I come in?" He said and waved a small box at her. She made way for him to enter.
The room didn't look entirely presentable, because of Chen Wan'er, but it didn't matter. The last thing she could care about at a time like this was her image. She closed the door.
"Give me a minute." She left to the kitchen to check on her food.
Soon after, she came back. He was still standing.
"Well, sit down." Chen Xiaoping said and smiled. "What brings you here? It seems you haven't had a lot of time lately."
"Very much." He said and sighed. "I came to give you the sugar you asked for last week. And also why is your daughter screaming from the room."
"The sugar...oh that. Well, there's no need anymore. Thanks for your concern." Chen Xiaoping said. She could lose her temper anytime soon. Yue Tian was a pig. There was clearly no need for that anymore, but he just had to stop by to spout nonsense.
She took a deep breath.
"Oh." He replied simply.
"I think you should get going then. You must have a lot of work to do." She suggested.
"Yes." He said and stood up.
She made her way to the door alongside him. She opened the door for him.
"Hey, I know I was probably mean, but do you mind stopping by this Saturday. I'll be free by then. Maybe, I could make it up to you." He said.
She shook her head in contemplation. She'd love too, she needed some time to chat with someone and get together, but she wasn't a youth anymore. She was 25 and had a daughter. Chen Wan'er couldn't be controlled. She'd make a fuss if she were to have dinner with a man. She just didn't have the energy for that. Besides, Yue Tian was a few years younger than her. She wasn't really into younger men.
"I'll see what I can do." She said after a while. There was no harm in trying.
"Will be seeing you. Goodnight." Yue Tian said and kissed her fingers.
He walked off. He wasn't a saint. He'd had his fair share of women in the past, although he was a virgin. He wouldn't ever miss out on an opportunity to get a woman he was interested in.
Chen Xiaoping was pretty and sexy. She had a womanly figure and a matured beauty. He liked her somewhat.
As soon as he entered his apartment and took a shower, all thoughts of Chen Xiaoping went with the air. He lay on his bed about to go to sleep, when his phone rang. He checked the time. It was a little after the AM. Anyone calling him now was calling him with a certain amount of urgency.
He lazily reached for his phone and stared at the screen. It was from an anonymous caller. He clicked his tongue and cut the call. He was annoyed. He had worked overtime and was stressed and that stupid anonymous caller, whoever it was, came to disturb his peace.
He turned off his phone and fell asleep in a flash.
On the other end of the call.
The caller smashed the phone heavily on the ground after seeing the call being deliberately cut off.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone