"Here, here..."
A well-built man raised his glass, pointing to Yu Ze, who was seated at the main table.
"Hello, hello, you are the hero who acted bravely just now, aren't you?"
The woman had a light makeup and a clear and delicate appearance, with a hint of faint vanilla scent, which reminded Yu Ze of the grassland and the taste of vanilla-flavored ice cream.
"I am not a hero, just an ordinary passerby by chance."
Yu Ze skillfully displayed the modesty of a countryman, with a confident expression, and successfully intimidated the "female journalist".
"But what you did could certainly be described as heroic."
The journalist thrust her microphone towards Yu Ze, seemingly disregarding his mouth full of barbecue sauce.
"Let me briefly mention this, regarding such matters, it's unnecessary to focus on me. Instead, attention should be directed towards the psychological well-being of the suicide victim. Why, in a society like ours, where overall prosperity is achieved, do people still choose to end their lives? Is it an emotional issue or something else? Journalists should delve deeper into such matters…"
Yu Ze waved his hand, accepting the interview.
The self-media journalist was left at a loss by Yu Ze's words, thinking that she dared not delve further into such matters.
"So, this hero, what is your name?"
"Don't ask for my name," Yu Ze said solemnly, "Have you ever seen people who do good deeds actively leaving their names? So, how can I willingly tell you my name? Just consider me a passerby."
"Oh, the nameless hero… Then, can you talk about what you were thinking at that time? I watched the video of you saving the person; you are amazing. Have you ever been in the military? How did you climb the building so quickly?"
"I did not think of anything at that time. How can you consider gains and losses when saving a life? I just thought, I couldn't let that person die like this. Being alive means there is hope. I have never been in the military, and I just like to exercise regularly. The climbing speed is subjective; I don't feel it's very fast…"
Yu Ze's words were filled with positive energy, leaving the journalist very satisfied.
After the interview, everyone started eating and drinking again. Many people from the older neighborhoods, after finishing dinner, came out for a walk, hearing the news and watching the video circulating in the group chat. They all came over to join in the fun, and both inside and outside the barbecue restaurant were crowded. The queue was as long as rush hour at ZB.
"Since you're here, how can we not raise a toast?"
Old Chen's face, covered with streaky pork, smiled like dried beef. Business had never been better before, with several tables set up outside the door and even one person couldn't handle all the grilling. Seeing this, Yu Ze came over to lend a hand. Boy, it became even more lively. A group of men sat both inside and outside the shop, drinking summer night beer and shouting loudly, "Hero-cooked barbecue, can't miss it!"
Cheng Youshi and Mi Li busied themselves, gradually feeling something was off. Weren't they here to have dinner? How did they end up as food-delivery staff?
Yu Ze was too busy to even answer his phone calls. Finally, finding a moment to glance at it, he noticed an unfamiliar number but didn't pay much attention and continued grilling. It was strange; wasn't he here to treat everyone to dinner? How did he end up helping with the barbecue?
Busy until eleven o'clock at night, Yu Ze finally finished helping. Cheng Youshi and Mi Li were exhausted, grabbing his shoulders and saying, "Brother Yu, this is much more tiring than working as an employee at Honey Ice City."
"These days, it's not easy to make money."
Yu Ze comforted them with a few words. "Go home now. We'll meet again if fate allows."
"Brother Yu, take care. You will definitely succeed!"
Mi Li left reluctantly, clearly in a bad mood.
Taking the opportunity to wash his hands, Yu Ze didn't greet the enthusiastic people and slipped away directly, or else he would have to have a few more drinks.
Back home, he stretched and yawned. Since the public restroom was temporarily unoccupied, he took a cold shower and then lay on his bed, enjoying the breeze from the fan. Although it was hot outside, his mood was good.
"Hmm, five missed calls?"
Yu Ze was surprised. Normally, nobody would call him that many times without leaving a message, not even scammers, perhaps because they knew he was poor.
Among the five missed calls, four were from the same number, and the remaining one was from a different number.
He thought for a moment but didn't call back. He opened the group chat and discovered that many videos were circulating in the neighborhood group, all small videos of him saving the person, but each filmed from different angles.
"Tsk, no one managed to capture my heroic pose."
Yu Ze clicked on all the videos with a serious expression, making sure that none of them captured his handsome posture or muscles.
"Ah, after all, ordinary people are not film-makers; expectations shouldn't be too high..."
Just as this thought crossed his mind, another call came in, yes, from the number with the highest number of missed calls.
"Hello?"
Yu Ze casually answered the call.
"..."
There was silence on the other end.
"Hello? Strange, why isn't anyone speaking?"
Yu Ze was about to hang up when the voice on the other end finally spoke. It was a woman's voice, tinged with gritted teeth, "Yu Ze, you finally answered the phone. I've never encountered someone as ignorant as you, fuck."
Yu Ze had always had a good memory, remembering everything except for unimportant matters.
He could even recall the roaring scolding of the homeroom teacher in first grade, echoing throughout the classroom, with the fat on his chest trembling uncontrollably with the surge of emotions, giving a strong sense of dizziness and an overwhelming impact.
"Homeroom teacher?"
Yu Ze instinctively replied, "Teacher Li?"
"Huh?"
The other side was bewildered, "You're Yu Ze?"
"I am Yu Ze, who are you?"
Yu Ze replied, elementary school homeroom teacher, couldn't possibly be calling himself, it had been so many years.
"Heh, you ask who I am? I'm really amazed by you."
The other person restrained their anger, "Why don't you listen anymore?"
"Dr. Wang?"
"I'm not a doctor..."
"Officer Zhang? Nurse Zhao? Leader Qian? Driver Sun? Professor Zhou? Expert Zhu? Manager Yang? Secretary He?"
"Why are you reciting Baijiaxing here?"
The other person said impatiently, "I'm Yang Mier."
"Yang Mier? Teacher Yang?"
Yu Ze was extremely surprised, "Why are you calling me?"
"...I remember instructing my assistant to give you my contact information."
Yang Mier gritted her teeth, "Why didn't you add me as a friend?"
"I didn't know that number was for adding you as a friend."
Yu Ze innocently replied, "I didn't want to presume and disturb you either."
"What kind of emotional intelligence do you have? I gave you my phone contact, and you still didn't dare to presume?"
Yang Mier tried her best to control her emotions, not wanting to let herself get so easily angered by such a simple sentence. "Then why didn't you answer the call?"
"I was busy helping, helping others, and really didn't have time to check my phone... Look, I'm free now, and I'll answer your call immediately."
Yu Ze hurriedly explained, otherwise the other person would think he had low emotional intelligence, and that would be troublesome.