bustling city

Zhou Jin jokingly said that at that time, he felt like a doll who could be dressed up by others.

But then, he said frankly that in fact, he really didn't cooperate at all, especially wondering why Yan Jun seemed to have endless patience.

It was only later that I realized that those who really have the city are all like Yan Jun: they will never lack patience for the results they are determined to achieve, and wait for it to ferment and reveal the opportunity.

When I mention this, I praise him, saying that he is also very patient. These words are not all compliments—and most of them are not. The Zhou Jin I have seen is a man who can be described as absolutely elegant. , I can see a sense of orderly stretch from his movements, the speed of his speech, and his attitude, which makes it impossible for me to imagine that he would grow up in a gutter-like slum child.

"I have been trained through rigorous training, not born with it," he smiled a little embarrassedly, and explained, "Yan Jun is very concerned about this, saying that aggressiveness is my biggest weakness in the casino."

In fact, it's normal for people to be a little passionate when they are young. I think that Yan Jun before meeting Zhou Jin probably had such a aggressive and impulsive period more or less, but he let himself go earlier. Just become a deep-minded person.

I told Zhou Jin about this idea, and he seemed a little disappointed after hearing it, saying that Yan Jun had paid a price many times worse than him to become what he saw.

He turned all these costs into stubborn and even harsh requirements, and imposed them on the young Zhou Jin one by one, urging him to temper his soul. In fact, he built him an extremely strong fortress. In order to protect his abilities, he can use this fortress to protect himself very well.

I think that everyone walks through their life alone, and rarely meets a real guide. Perhaps for Zhou Jin, and even for the legendary red knight, those past events are wonderful Yes, but in the extremely dark time and space, meeting such a powerful person with a lamp in front of him can probably be regarded as a kind of salvation.

I have never had such a profound experience, and Zhou Jin at that time would not have thought so much. Facing an employer who made endless inexplicable demands every day, the only feeling he could feel was irritability.

On the first day—that is, the day when the coin game was played—Yan Jun signed a contract with Zhou Jin that was incomprehensible, and there were only a few clauses. To protect him from death, after the matter was over, Yan Jun gave him identity and money to let him leave Mephisto.

As for what exactly he was asked to do, there was not a single word mentioned in the entire contract.

Zhou Jin looked at it for a while, probably because the confusion on his face was so obvious that Yan Jun couldn't help asking him if he couldn't read.

As an answer, Zhou Jin grabbed the pen on the table, and signed his name at the end in a fluttering manner.

Yan Jun acted as if he didn't see him eager to prove his competitiveness, and introduced him to the woman who brought the things: that was his assistant, surnamed Luo, I don't know her name, Zhou Jin still calls her Miss Luo.

Zhou Jin has no other impressions of her, except that she is very agile, as if one person manages the things that five or six people should take care of, in an orderly manner.

When I came to see Yan Jun, I never talked too much, and even omitted the pleasantries. I was always reporting work, confirming details, and also served as Yan Jun's life housekeeper.

—— Regarding this, Zhou Jin has one thing that he remembers most deeply. He said that when he came out of the shower that day, Miss Luo was waiting in the porch with a pair of scissors, and said calmly that he wanted to cut his hair.

Zhou Jin refused very decisively at that time, thinking that this woman in a professional suit did not look like she would give someone a haircut.

So with his half-wet hair on, he tried on several sets of suits brought by Miss Luo. The styles ranged from low-key to complicated and luxurious, and they all fit, but none of them matched.

In Zhou Jin's own words, wearing it is like a monkey show - isn't it common for monkeys in circuses to perform in human clothes? He thought he was like that at the time.

I laughed out loud, and Zhou Jin also smiled faintly, as if he was looking back at himself at that time like an outsider.

When he was trying on the clothes, Ms. Luo confirmed each cut with a designer-like professional expression, and Yan Jun was still waiting on the ground, just like that day in the casino, holding a glass of wine and putting one hand in his trousers In the pocket, I occasionally remind Miss Luo not to be so strict, and the child's figure may change in the future.

Looking at his funny self in the mirror, Zhou Jin couldn't help discussing with Yan Jun, saying that there is no need to do these silly things.

Of course Yan Jun would not listen to him, and predicted inscrutably: "It's not suitable today, but it will be suitable after a while."

In the evening, Yan Jun drove him to a bar called Cuscuta.

If it is accurately divided, it has already left Mephisto City, and there is not a short distance between it and Notos.

Zhou Jin didn't quite understand why he went to a place where there was no village and no shop behind him for a bar break, thinking that it might be their rich people's way of playing.

This bar is quite different from most of the ones in Mephisto, Zhou Jin felt it when he opened the door and entered.

There's very little of the decadent music that's so popular in city bars, where the accompaniment trumps the vocals.

Zhou Jin didn't know most of the songs, but they all sounded like the old blues and folk styles.

The entire wall behind the bar is a wine cabinet, filled with various glass bottles at different heights, and there is only one woman in front of the bar, with long curly hair reaching to her chest, black with dark brown, and with thick but not bright makeup. It was Yan Jun, so he raised his hand and snapped his fingers to greet him. Seeing her expression, Zhou Jin deduced that Yan Jun should be a frequent visitor here.

The woman quickly shifted her gaze to Zhou Jin, looked him up and down, and asked Yan Jun: "You're only so old, can you enter the bar?" Zhou Jin was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and a hooded vest that day. Under the background of Yanjun's suit and leather shoes, he really looks like a little kid, no wonder the woman asked this.

"Yes, you can even enter the casino."

Yan Jun sat down and motioned Zhou Jin to sit next to him and not to run around.

Zhou Jin endured the discomfort in his heart and sat in front of him—he planned to stay away, but the obvious evaluation in the woman's eyes made him shudder, and he always felt that he was a commodity waiting to be collected on the shelf.

The woman didn't hold back at all, and looked at it for a while before turning around and taking a few wine bottles from the cabinet.

"Are you going to take him to gamble?" she asked.

"Basically, this kid is very talented," Yan Jun took out a stack of money from his wallet and put it on the bar, and said, "I can't find anyone better than him."

Zhou Jin didn't quite understand his behavior. Before the wine was drunk, he would give the money first. Such a big stack, depending on the color, should be all twenty dollars, but there was something else in the middle, which was very secretive. The thickness doesn't look like banknotes anymore. Zhou Jin was curious and couldn't help but look at it a few more times, but before he could figure it out, the woman took the money away and stuffed it into a drawer.

"Okay, anyway, you can do it with ease."

She held the small measuring cup between her fingers, and in just a short moment, she had poured three or four liquids into the shaker barrel, then turned her wrist skillfully and swung the shaker barrel. The posture was so dazzling that Zhou Jin instinctively thought of the shaker. The action of the sieve cup.

"Your little friend seems to be curious about everything?" The woman hinted as she divided the wine into two goblets.

"Being good at observation is very necessary at the gambling table."

Yan County Road.

The cocktail was light in color and soft in smell. Seeing that Yan Jun drank it as naturally as drinking boiled water, Zhou Jin took a sip too, almost choked, his throat was burning, and he wanted to cough.

He didn't want the woman with mean eyes to see the joke, so he gritted his teeth and endured it, blushing.

"Get another one for him," Yan Jun said lightly, "Children will not grow taller if they drink strong alcohol."

The woman was very cooperative, and quickly adjusted a mild one for him. She pushed it in front of Zhou Jin, looked at the boy's flushed face, but said to Yan Jun: "The price will be calculated separately."

Zhou Jin felt it was ridiculous when he heard the words. The stack just now cost at least two hundred dollars, and it was too foolish to buy just one glass of wine.

However, Yan Jun, who is a frequent visitor, is very used to it, nodded and said: "Let's keep it in the account."

After finishing speaking, the two began to drink in silence, and soon a few drinkers came in sparsely, and they all sat around the bar. The woman stopped chatting with them and went to receive other people.

Zhou Jin thought hard, not knowing what Yan Jun brought him here for. Seeing his leisurely appearance, it really seemed that he was simply here to go clubbing.

He is the kind of person who will start immediately no matter what he does, as soon as he decides, he really doesn't adapt to Yan Jun's rhythm.

At the beginning, I was able to persuade myself with "since I take other people's money, I will follow other people's arrangements", but gradually, my anxiety grew uncontrollably.

Yan Jun seemed to have calculated his psychology correctly, and when he was about to ask a question, he interrupted: "Have you heard it?" Zhou Jin realized that he was talking about the song played in the bar.

"No."

He answered in a muffled voice.

"It's called Top of the World, it's an old song," Yan Jun introduced unhurriedly, as if breaking away from the chatter, "This style was not popular many years ago.

what do you think? "Zhou Jin sighed obviously, subdued his temper, and barely listened to the voice a little bit.

The mezzo-soprano was relaxed and gentle, with a sweet tone, and it sounded like someone in love.

"It doesn't match the title of the song."

Zhou Jin said honestly.

Yan Jun smiled noncommittally, and drank the wine in his glass.

Zhou Jin played that song on the record player for me, I know it, many years ago there was a band called Carpenter, this song was included in their most famous album.

"Now I understand why Yan Jun said that," Zhou Jin listened attentively, and said to me, "I really didn't understand anything before."