Chapter 42

Gao Fei went forward and gave him a light punch on the chest.

“Bro, are you alright?”

“Not really. Time’s almost up. I’m here to bid farewell to all of you,” answered Li Teng with a quick, awkward smile. His face was deathly pale, and he looked as if he was trying hard to suppress his emotions.

Gao Fei said in consolation, “It’s no big deal. This day will come to us sooner or later, too.”

Li Teng didn’t say anything more. He walked over to the coffee machine and got himself a cup of coffee. Then, he walked over to the table and sat on his seat.

Another bar chair had been placed there, though unlikely the same one that he had carried away earlier.

However, this was no longer of any significance.

The teenage girl took the initiative to speak to Li Teng. She asked, “Big brother, what’s your name? I haven’t had the chance to ask you all this time.”

The woman in the sunglasses and the white-collar woman also looked at Li Teng sympathetically.

Li Teng replied, “Li Teng. The Li of ‘child of the wood’ and the Teng of Shen Teng 1.”

The white-collar woman laughed and said, “Your sense of humor is certainly somewhat like Shen Teng’s.”

Li Teng shook his head. “Is that so? I’ve never thought of myself as a humorous person.”

“Big Brother Li, is the coffee that nice? Did you like drinking coffee a lot in the past?” asked the girl again. She was clearly rather curious about Li Teng.

“No, I’ve never had the habit of drinking coffee in the past. There’s only one reason why I’m drinking so much coffee here, and that’s because it’s free of charge. I didn’t eat anything when I came, so I’m hungry even as we speak! The coffee can at least stave off a bit of the hunger,” explained Li Teng to the girl.

“You hadn’t had anything to eat after you came? You must be really hungry! Why didn’t you redeem some with your points?” asked the girl.

“I wish I could, but my point balance is zero now. Also, because I’m not a newbie anymore, I can’t spend on credit, either. How do I buy food when I don’t have any points? That spectacled fella had also eaten the three plates of snacks that the film crew had provided for free, so I’m still hungry now. Looks like I’m really going to become a hungry ghost,” lamented Li Teng with a sigh.

The spectacled man was chatting with the pretty boy at the moment, but he overheard what Li Teng said. He really couldn’t stop himself from getting angry.

That fellow pretty much already had one foot in the grave, but he was still throwing shade on him and maligning him of eating the snacks.

How could anyone be this shameless?

Forget it. I’ll be magnanimous and not stoop to a dead person’s level.

After he thought it through, the spectacled man continued to chat with the pretty boy while fawning on him at the same time.

Over here, when Gao Fei heard what Li Teng said, he hastily got up, ran over to an eatery nearby, and bought six steamed buns for Li Teng. His finances were also very tight at the moment, so steamed buns were the only thing he could afford to eat after he had entered the film studio.

Therefore, he could be said to be sufficiently generous by spending two points to buy six buns for Li Teng now.

He was also given six carrot shreds for free, of course.

“I haven’t had meat in forever,” lamented Li Teng again as he stared at the six buns.

Although he had also eaten six steamed buns when he arrived, things like buns honestly didn’t fill one’s stomach up that much. The six buns entering his belly were no different from a bottle of water pouring into a desert. His gut that had been in an extended state of hunger had already fully digested those six buns a long time ago.

No matter how hungry one was, surely they couldn’t just eat steamed buns all the time, right?

Couldn’t someone who was about to die even have something good?

Gao Fei was about to get up again and head to the eatery to see if there were any inexpensive meat dishes when Li Teng reached out and stopped him.

“Don’t! Bro, it’s just a casual mention, don’t waste your points on me. Besides, I know that you can’t afford meat dishes. Steamed buns are pretty good, too. In any case, it’ll do as long as I don’t become a hungry ghost before I go.”

After matching the buns with the carrot shreds, it didn’t take long for Li Teng to go through the six buns like a whirlwind.

As he rubbed his tummy, at last, Li Teng no longer felt that hungry.

“You’re still hungry, right? Have a good meal before you go on your way!”

No one had noticed the woman in the sunglasses leaving just now. She returned at this point with an additional plastic bag in her hand. After she came back to the table, she tossed the bag over to Li Teng.

A delicious aroma wafted out of the bag when he opened it—inside the bag was actually a whole roast chicken!

“This roast chicken… It must have cost a lot, right? I’m someone that’s leaving soon. There’s no point in investing in me at this point anymore,” said Li Teng as a reminder to the woman in the sunglasses.

She replied without much emotion, “I got it for you, so just eat it!”

Although they had only interacted briefly twice, Li Teng’s wit and positive nature had left a very deep impression on her. The roast chicken had cost her eight points. The woman in the sunglasses hadn’t wasted her points to buy it for Li Teng because she held special feelings for him. Rather, it was simply because she admired his character very much and felt that it was a huge shame for him to die just like that.

Li Teng asked the woman, “What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know that. There’s no point even if I tell you, anyway,” she replied. She didn’t want to answer the question.

As a disclaimer to the woman in the sunglasses, Li Teng said, “You gave me this roast chicken on your own accord, right? I didn’t cheat you into giving it to me! You’d better not get into a petty dispute with me after I eat it!”

“Yes, so just eat it!” she replied wryly.

“I won’t stand on ceremony, then.” Li Teng picked up the roast chicken and dug in right away.

When he noticed that Gao Fei and the teenage girl were staring at him enviously, Li Teng hesitated for a moment before he tore off the two chicken drumsticks and gave one to each of them.

Both of them were too embarrassed to accept and returned them to Li Teng.

This was Li Teng’s meat dish meal before he would be executed, and it was even a gift from the woman in the sunglasses. How would they possibly be that thick-skinned enough to eat?

Upon seeing how the two of them were standing on ceremony with him, it wasn’t quite appropriate for Li Teng to press further, too. It didn’t take long before he cleaned off the entire roast chicken.

“Meat is just so delicious!” Li Teng sighed while burping and rubbing his belly.

This was the first time he was this full after he had become trapped on the stone pillar for so many days! And he even got to eat meat!

It couldn’t get any better than this.

“Why hasn’t that demonic granny returned?” asked the white-collar woman as she cast a puzzled glance at the street corner.

The woman in the sunglasses also found it rather strange. “You’re right, filming has already ended, so what is she up to? What’s taking her so long?”

The pretty boy also seemed to realize that something wasn’t quite right. He got up and circled around the street corner before he returned with a doubtful look on his face.

Everyone looked at Li Teng.

“What are you looking at me for? I don’t know, either,” said Li Teng with a shake of his head. Then, he picked up his coffee mug, intending to pour himself a cup of free coffee.

“Li Teng!” The female director walked out of the cafe and called out his name.

Li Teng hurriedly sat back down. “I’m here, Director.”

Everyone ceased their conversations and looked at the director.

This was the first time they had ever heard the director addressing someone by their name ever since they began their acting careers here.

The director chastised Li Teng, “In future performances, don’t overdo it and don’t be too violent in certain scenes. Even if you have something against certain actors, there’s no need for you to smash their heads to bits with a bar chair. Her head had pretty much turned into a pancake on the ground! You’ll waste a lot of the film crew’s resources, manpower, and time to reassemble and revive others if you do that.”

“This… I had no other choice. I was afraid that she would come back to life if I weren’t careful. She’s a ghost, you know!” replied Li Teng as he held his hands out.

“Oh, come on! As if you don’t know who the ghost is!”

Footnotes:

Shen Teng is a Chinese comedian and acto