Chapter 11: Morning Chaos, Evening Patrol

Whether day or night, the lighting inside the house was never very good.

Turning on the lights at night cast a dim yellow glow making things seem a bit cozier, but during the day it felt rather gloomy.

Despite this Lu Xin was in a pretty good mood.

His elegant and gentle Mom had already set out breakfast: three bowls of white porridge and a dish with a single sliced salted egg. Mom only ate a little of the egg white giving the oily yolk to Lu Xin and his sister. Lu Xin in turn gave most of his share to his sister. Father didn’t eat with them; he rarely came out of the kitchen anyway and every time he did it ended in chaos.

“Are you planning to start that new job today?”

Mom asked gently, just like casual conversation, “Are you ready?”

Although Lu Xin and his sister hadn’t mentioned it since coming back Mom seemed to know everything. It had always been like this.

Lu Xin nodded, “I’m ready!”

“Little Lu has really grown up!”

Mom looked at Lu Xin with obvious relief placing a piece of egg white in his bowl. “Working two jobs is tough, eat more!”

“Damn it, useless, just useless! Knowing you’re being used and still rushing headfirst into it!”

Father’s dissatisfied curses echoed from the kitchen. Everyone at the table pretended not to hear.

“You’re the most useless one, don’t even realize you’ve been tricked…”

Father’s voice rose higher his anger flaring.

Everyone at the table still acted as if they hadn’t heard just silently eating their meal.

“If you ask me you should just chop them all up!”

With a clatter the kitchen door slid open and Father appeared in the living room.

He stared fixedly at Lu Xin cursing fiercely, “Do you have any idea they almost got you killed yesterday? They don’t give a damn about your life! They planned for you to die from the start, they were even ready to kill you themselves!”

“If it wasn’t for that damn girl you’d already be dead because of them!”

“They nearly killed you, why are you still doing things for them?”

…

As he spoke he advanced menacingly towards Lu Xin his eyes bloodshot and bulging veins throbbing.

“What they did at the coffee shop was definitely wrong…”

Lu Xin continued eating his porridge quietly only answering softly when he couldn’t avoid it anymore, “But they pay well…”

Father seemed stunned by this answer for a moment.

“Useless! How could I have such a useless son?”

Then even greater fury surged through him. Cursing loudly he suddenly reached out to grab Lu Xin.

*Splash…*

Just as Father’s hand was about to close on Lu Xin’s shoulder a bowl of white porridge suddenly splashed onto his face.

“How dare you…”

Father instantly turned his rage towards Mother wiping the porridge from his face viciously.

“The real useless one is you!”

Mom sat elegantly and composedly in her chair radiating a cool aura. She looked at Father with disdain, “If you weren’t so incompetent and ill-tempered how else would we all end up trapped here?”

…

“You bitch! You’re asking for death, asking for it!”

Father roared as if she’d struck a nerve suddenly reaching out to grab Mother.

But this time Mother seemed uninterested. She just looked at him coldly then slowly extended two fingers.

The enraged Father seemed instantly frightened by the gesture stopping abruptly.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Why are you making that sign?”

He actually seemed extremely wary lowering his voice but still shouting fiercely.

“You understand!”

Mother smiled faintly. “So if you’re scared just crawl back where you came from!”

“Useless, useless, all damn useless…”

Father’s anger seemed to swell continuously threatening several times to break past its limits sending him into complete madness.

But Mother simply maintained the gesture watching him calmly.

In the end the furious Father actually managed to restrain himself. He suddenly started cursing wildly, flipped the dining table in a frenzy, tore down the ceiling fan, smashed the nearby kitchen cabinet, crushed a glass cup, and then swept his bulging bloodshot eyes viciously over Lu Xin, Mother, and Sister before retreating back into the kitchen still cursing.

“Alright it’s okay now!”

Mother rose elegantly, adjusted Lu Xin’s collar, and said gently, “Go do your own thing. This is very important!”

“I know!”

Lu Xin was silent for a moment before saying softly, “Thank you!”

“Silly child, we’re family. Why say thank you?”

Mother tapped him lightly smiling. “But you must remember, no matter who you meet you must be polite and reason with them!” As she spoke she gently tucked a strand of hair back and smiled again. “Of course, if we reason with people they must also reason with us. You’re so honest you’d never harm anyone but if someone tries to bully you…”

Lu Xin looked up at his mother warily.

Her smile seemed both gentle and thoughtful. “Then our whole family will pay them a visit…”

Lu Xin felt his scalp tingle but just sighed softly.

For the sake of others’ safety he really couldn’t afford to let himself be bullied…

…

…

As usual Lu Xin arrived at the office forty minutes before officially starting work.

Throughout the workday he diligently processed all the reports and documents assigned to him. However he subconsciously sped up his pace even skipping lunch. By the time evening arrived and work ended he had finished everything being the first to sling his backpack over his shoulder and leave his desk.

He didn’t offer to stay late for overtime like usual because now he had other responsibilities.

Last night he had carefully reviewed the materials Chen Jing left him gaining some understanding of his new job.

He paid particular attention to the salary and subsidies section.

He knew that upon receiving Chen Jing’s notification he had to immediately rush to the designated location follow their instructions and handle the pollution incident. But even if nothing special came up for the entire month he would still receive his salary.

The main point was that he could get a subsidy for each pollution incident he handled.

This was the real money, ranging from ten thousand to thirty thousand, with some targets even marked at one hundred thousand.

Lu Xin felt highly motivated by this prospect deciding to do this job well.

Seek opportunities treat it seriously work hard aim for permanent status soon.

He brought his ID packing the satellite phone and gun into his backpack then headed out onto the street.

He brought his sister out to patrol.