Chapter 639: Putting on Airs

A news reporter had seen a great deal before. Hanks had encountered countless of young and vigorous men who talked wildly during his current affairs interviews before.

With alcohol seeping into his brain hindering his professional intuition, it caused him to unable to detect the extraordinary temperament unwittingly flowing out of the eyes of the black-haired young man in front of him. The ace reporter put down his cookie and raised his wine glass high before saying loudly with a chuckle, “I’ve seen many young people who are full of hot air but you’re the most vocal one I’ve seen! Come, I’ll toast to you for this! Cheers!”

“Cheers!” The surrounding young people raised their wine glasses for fun and cheered at the same time.

After Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a while for being ridiculed, Riley’s pleading voice resonated beside his ear, “Oh Lisheng, Hanks is just drunk. Please don’t be angry. Please, please…”

“Am I such a petty person, Riley?” The young man snapped back to his senses and smiled coldly before whispering to her, “This is your promotion party so I won’t mess it up. Besides, compared to a fierce bloodshed, I’d rather prefer seeing this reporter Hanks regretting his entire life.”

After saying so, he turned around and left the wooden house.

An iron gate separated the noise and split it into two worlds. The cool outdoor air was refreshing. The young man sat on a wooden fence under the eaves and watched the homeless on the lawn who was wrapped tightly in a torn down jacket. Something crossed his mind, making his original gloomy expression slowly change as a playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Hi, you’re Riley’s younger brother, right?” Under the misty starlight, a graceful figure sat on the wooden fence a little far away from the young man and was sipping on a cocktail. With a husky voice, she said, “Don’t mind Hanks. He’s always so conceited when he’s drunk and sometimes he can be aggressive too. Isn’t this a common problem with ‘strong’ men? I apologize on his behalf.”

“A truly strong person doesn’t have such a common problem.” Now that his contemplation was interrupted, Zhang Lisheng smiled noncommittally. Taking a deep breath of the dry cold air, he turned to look at the beautiful face with a light makeup on about half a meter away. “Apologize on Hanks’s behalf? Are you his partner?”

“I used to be, but now I’m an independent on-camera reporter for NBC. My name is Julie Mihr. Riley has introduced me to you just now.” The graceful figure extended a hand to the young man.

“I’m Zhang Lisheng.” Zhang Lisheng shook the slender palm in front of him decently and said politely, “I’m honored to be able to chat with a beautiful lady like you in such a long spring night.”

“Oh, you’re not as inarticulate as I thought, Mr. Lisheng.” Julie smiled in surprise in slight tipsiness. “I see, you must have pretended to be deep just now and purposely put on airs to attract girls’ attention right?”

“No, I don’t wish to get anyone’s attention. In fact, since I was sixteen until now, I have always tried to make myself look ordinary in others’ eyes.” The young man looked ahead and shook his head with a smile.

“But you’re saying all these to attract my attention, aren’t you? Oh, I thought you really had a big news or something y’know. Alright, since you’re a fellow who has some tricks in your sleeve in striking up a conversation if you can do me a little favor.” The female reporter put down the glass and picked up a plate full of biscuits and beef pies that she quietly brought out of the party. “And give these foods to the homeless on the lawn, I don’t mind chatting with you longer.”

The increasingly harsh economic environment, especially the lack of natural resources, had caused more people to be unemployed in many oasis cities in the Noah World, and the number of homeless people in richer communities had naturally increased as well. However, if one was willing to accept a high-intensity job and a relatively harsh working environment, it was not difficult to make ends meet.

From this perspective, the vast majority of beggars in the city were, in fact, a group of people who were immersed in the loose Labor Law and were unable to extricate themselves from the good social welfare of the old peaceful era, thus resulting in them to be automatically eliminated by the cruel new era. Zhang Lisheng found them to be nothing but ‘salvageable trash’, with absolutely no sense of sympathy towards them at all.

Upon hearing the girl’s words, the young man was taken aback. A sneer carelessly appeared at the corner of his mouth. Despite maintaining the basic courtesy, he did not make any rude remark on Julie’s arrogance and merely said nothing at all.

After waiting for a while, the female reporter saw that the young man next to her was acting indifferent to her request and was merely looking coldly at the homeless on the lawn not far away like they were garbage that was casually left on the street. At once, she frowned under the bright moonlight.

Then, she stood up and walked on her high heels in a slight limping manner onto the lawn before putting the plate full of food in front of the beggar closest to her. After she whispered something to him, that homeless person muttered, “Thank you… Thank you…” and picked up the food to gobble it up.

After a while, the crisp sound of a chocolate cookie being chewed and the faint aroma of the cold beef pie began to seduce the other beggars on the lawn to surround them. Julie patiently waited for them to divide the whole plate of food before finally taking the plate again. Then, stepping on the uneven lawn, she retreated back to the wooden fence.

From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of the sneer that had not faltered from the black-haired young man’s mouth. At once, an inexplicable anger rose in her heart, prompting her to rebuke in a sharp tone unique to a reporter, “There’s no wrong for young people to make an impression by appearing noble and unique but you should never ‘make fun’ of the most basic compassion.”

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“Providing relief to beggars with food at a party carefully prepared by others can’t really be said as compassion.” Zhang Lisheng casually replied without looking at the girl.

Upon hearing this, Julie was even more enraged so she explained loudly, “I’ve already asked Riley. These were all leftover food…”

“So since these were all leftover food, shouldn’t they be thrown into trash instead?”

Julie was rendered speechless by the young man. She wanted to refute but she had nothing more to say. Her face turned flushed with red and the door just so happened to be opened at this time. As dance music poured out of the house, Jules stretched out her head and looked at the girl standing outside of the house and the plate in her hand before shaking her head in a hurry, “I knew you’d go out to show your compassion again. C’mon in! We’re going to sing a ‘thank you song’ to Riley soon.”

The ‘thank you song’ was a new segment added by the migrants who had migrated to Noah World when they attended private parties, mainly because the times had become so difficult that it was no longer easy for any host to hold a sincere party. For this reason, if the guests were happy with the host’s hospitality, they would sing a ‘thank you song’ to show their gratitude.

This gave Julie a chance to remove herself from this awkward situation so she replied, “Oh is it so late already, Jules?”

She hurriedly went into the house and calmed herself a little. Then, with the other colleagues, she surrounded Riley and began to sing ‘Friendship is Priceless’ while gently clapping her hands.

After singing the ‘thank you song’, some guests began to leave but Julie stayed until the last moment of the party. She brought some kind colleagues to pack all the food and gave to the homeless on the street, before finally calling for a taxi.

In a car that was speeding in the brightly lit city, with the howling cold wind blowing away all drunkenness and the heat in her heart, Jules, who was sitting on the co-passenger seat, shook her head and rolled up the window before saying enviously, “Riley is so fortunate. Her father has migrated to the Noah World long ago so she can save a lot of her rent and her entire family is reunited safely. ”

Cathy who was sitting behind the girl exhaled a mouthful of alcoholic breath and shrugged, “It’s indeed a worth-praying good thing to have an entire family reunited in Noah but it’s not that nice living altogether. If it were me, I’d rather spend money and rent my own house, I’d be freer in this way.”

“What’s wrong with living with family anyway? I had always decided to live with my parents before I got married, but unfortunately, I don’t have the chance to do so now.” Jules was silent for a while before saying in a quiet voice.

When Cathy realized that she had touched the sad spot of her best friend, she panicked and hurriedly joked, “Is that so, Jules? But if you had a brother who has no blood relationship with you and who is still regarded as a little baby by your stepmother, would you still be willing to live together with your family?”

“Oh, Cathy, you are so mean, Riley is our good friend.” Jules replied but she could not help but burst out laughing.

Julie who shared a car with the two girls joined in the conversation and asked, “Do you mean that Asian young man who is called Zhang Lisheng?”

“Yes. Ah, I think I saw him too when you’re outside the house during the party just now…” Jules’s eyes turned wide with misunderstanding. “Well, actually, according to psychologists, mama’s boys can be kind, quiet, and rarely accustomed to bad habits so they can be not bad as well…”

“Jules, if this is really said by psychologists before, then Riley’s Asian brother would be considered as the scoundrel among all mama’s boys. He’s so pretentious that it’s absolutely revolting.”

“Miss, what made you say so? D-Don’t tell me that he made his move on you or something?” Jules and Cathy asked in unison curiously.

“It’s worse than that…” Julie shrugged and began to vent her resentment and disdain for the young man on the way home.

When the female reporter woke up from her drunkenness the next day, she had long forgotten everything that happened last night. The span of a week passed by unwittingly in her busy work.

Today, after finishing the report of a homicide, and before Julie could leave the area surrounded by yellow tape that the police officer put up, she suddenly heard a haste ringtone in her purse held by her assistant.

“Miss, it’s from Mr. Henry. Looks like we have more work now. I guess we won’t be able to have any lunch now.” Cathy took out the phone and glanced at it before handing it to Julie with a low spirit.

“Just eat tomorrow if we have work today. Since I’ve promised to spend everyone to steak, I’ll never stand you guys up.” Julie smiled and took the phone. At once, an unusually excited voice resonated beside her ear. “Julie, oh God bless! Patin’s interviewing car has been hit by a cement truck so Luke has been sent to the hospital. Because of this, the big news of LS Group’s crazy acquisition of desert land is now taken over by us. I need you to rush to the Ocean Empire Building immediately now and contact Hanks. He’s already on his way there. Remember, you must be in the lobby of the Ocean Empire Hotel within 15 minutes! Now go! Go!”