The failures which Liu Qing had experienced in that life had taught him a lesson—feelings were fake. Even if the feelings had once been real, they would become fake as time passed.
The only thing that was real and reliable was materialism.
Materialism was the foundation of all existence.
His main goal after being reborn was to amass as much wealth as possible.
He wanted to enjoy life instead of getting ravaged by it.
After work, Liu Qing went home and changed out of his security uniform. He did not stay at home and went shopping alone instead.
In the past, at this hour, he would be cooking dinner. By the time they finished eating and did the dishes, it would already be 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m..
Even if he had time to go out, he could not stay out too late because he had to start work at 7:00 a.m.and needed to wake up at around 6:00 a.m.
Now, he could just have his dinner in the canteen and get off work after having his meal. There was no need for him to buy groceries and cook dinner. The two more hours of free time felt so extravagant that it made him feel a little uncomfortable.
For someone who worked 12 hours a day, two extra hours of leisure time was such a huge blessing.
This also made Liu Qing regret his past behavior.
"How did I lose my mind for the past few years? Why did I want to be with that woman? Why did I sacrifice the quality of my life to fall in love? Isn't it good to be able to spend the money I earned? Why did I have to become an ATM slave?"
When he was obsessed with her, he worked hard to provide for her and still felt that it was a glorious thing to do.
However, once he was released from his obsession, it became clear to him how stupid his actions had been.
He went shopping until 10:00 p.m. Then he went to a barbecue stall and ate 20 meat skewers before returning home contentedly.
While eating the skewers, he did not forget to take a photo and post it on his WeChat Moments with a caption.
"It feels so good to spend my own hard-earned money!"
Before going to bed, he had a habit of scrolling through WeChat Moments. He saw that Huo Zhenzhen had also updated her WeChat Moments. It was a photo of her having western food at some restaurant. There were a total of nine photos with a caption.
"Being an exquisite woman, living an elegant life."
Liu Qing compared the photos posted on their WeChat Moments and immediately felt defeated.
He had lost!
He did not eat as well as the other person!
He could not stand this grievance, so he got up again and took a photo of the air conditioner in the room and added his caption.
"Thank you to the inventor of the air conditioner, Mr. Willis Haviland Carrier. He's the one who brought us an eternal spring season."
He sneered. "So what if you eat well? I have air-conditioning! Can your lousy fan compare to my air conditioning?"
After posting this, he finally fell asleep in satisfaction.
He had posted it on his WeChat Moments just to annoy Huo Zhenzhen.
He did not expect Xiao Wen to be irritated by it.
After he was woken up by the alarm clock in the morning, he habitually checked his WeChat and saw a few messages from Xiao Wen.
"So what if you have air-conditioning!"
"What are you showing off there?"
"Liu Qing, let me tell you that I'm very angry. I can only be appeased with a bottle of Nutri-Express!"
Liu Qing felt very helpless. It seemed that this young girl was fixated on using his air conditioner.
He did not want to offend her so he pretended that he did not see the message and did not reply to her.
When they gathered before the shift change, Xiao Wen deliberately walked up to him to step on his foot again. "You didn't even reply to my message," she whispered. "How rude."
Liu Qing glared at her and she looked up at him provocatively.
Never mind. I will not stoop to her level.
Liu Qing avoided her gaze.
Work was as boring as ever.
At around 2:00 p.m., Liu Qing sat in the sentry post and watched idly as pedestrians came and went on the street outside the gate. Suddenly, his eyes lit up when he saw a teenage boy wearing a flowery shirt walking towards him.
The boy's clothes and his build was a match with the image of the boy who stole the bicycle that he had in his memory.
As the boy pushed open the side door next to the guardhouse and entered the apartment complex, Liu Qing stopped him.
"Wait, are you from this apartment complex?"
The boy said confidently, "I'm here to visit my classmate."
Liu Qing acknowledged the reply and waved his hand. "Then you can go in."
He had wanted to stop the boy, but after thinking about it, that would not serve any purpose.
The apartment complex had two main gates and four side entrances, each with a broken access system. Even if Liu Qing stopped him here, he could still enter through another door.
There was no evidence of him stealing the bicycle, so there was nothing anyone could do to him.
It would be better to let him in and catch him red-handed later.
There was a reward for catching a bicycle thief. As long as the thief was caught red-handed, the lowest reward was 10 points and the highest reward was 20 points.
A reward of 10 points meant 150 dollars.
Liu Qing had to admit that he had his eye on that sum of money.
After the boy went in, Liu Qing stopped sitting in the sentry post and stood outside to look around.
There was more than one door in this apartment complex. After the boy stole the bicycle, he might not exit through this door so he had to be vigilant.
When Liu Qing's superior from the property management office came to do a spot check on him, he saw that not only was Liu Qing not napping or playing with his phone in the sentry post, he had even taken the initiative to stand guard outside the sentry post. The superior could not help but feel very gratified. He felt that this young man was quite a good worker and decided that he would give him more responsibility when there was a chance and make him a team leader.
There were not many responsible security guards like him around.
After looking around at the gate for more than half an hour, Liu Qing finally saw the boy in the flowery shirt riding a bicycle towards another door.
He did not hesitate and sprinted in that direction.
They were only a few dozen meters apart and he reached the boy quickly.
At that moment, the boy in the flowery shirt had already gotten off the bicycle to open the door. Liu Qing shouted at him loudly.
"Stand right there!"
Startled, the boy dropped the bicycle at the doorway to block it and scuttled outside.
However, how could a teenage child outrun Liu Qing who was an adult in his twenties or thirties?
It only took Liu Qing a few steps to grab him. "Young guy, where do you think you're going?"
The security guard in the sentry post outside that gate had only just managed to react and looked dumbfounded. "Xiao Liu, what's going on?"
Liu Qing grabbed the boy with one hand and dragged him into the apartment complex. He pointed at the bicycle thrown at the entrance doorway with the other hand and spoke.
"This kid isn't from the apartment complex. He didn't have a bike when he entered the apartment complex from my side, but now he's riding one out. I suspect that he's the bicycle thief!"
The boy was so frightened that he started crying and struggling desperately. Liu Qing turned around and shouted at him, "Behave yourself or I'll beat you up! Let me tell you, no one will care if a thief like you is beaten to death!"
The boy turned pale with fright and stopped struggling. He just continued crying.
"I didn't steal this bicycle. I borrowed it from my classmate."
Liu Qing ignored him and said to the other security guard, "Lao Mo, please call the team leader. Tell him that a bicycle thief has been caught here and ask him to come over and deal with it."