In August, Jiangzhou was as hot as a steaming cauldron, making it hard to catch a breath. The air seemed to have solidified.
Jaxon was fanning himself to get a bit of breeze while clumsily handling the food on the barbecue grill in front of him—flipping and sprinkling seasonings. His movements clearly showed that he was no expert.
In fact, Jaxon was far from being a barbecue master. He had only been in the barbecue business for less than a month. His skills were still rough, and his equipment was extremely basic: a grill, two tables, and a dozen or so stools.
As for his business, it was lukewarm. Only one of the two tables was occupied by three people, while the other remained empty.
Jaxon glanced enviously at the trio. From their conversation, he learned that they were students from a nearby school. A year ago, Jaxon had been in the same position as them. But now, a year later, he found himself standing behind this rather shabby barbecue grill.
"Such a cruel world!" Jaxon muttered to himself, continuing to flip the ingredients in his hand.
"Boss, give me ten skewers of meat, ten chicken wings, ten slices of pork belly..." Just as Jaxon was lamenting the cruelty of the world, a voice full of vigor reached his ears.
Jaxon's heart leaped with joy. For a small stall like his, this order was a big deal.
"Sure thing," Jaxon replied cheerfully, looking up at the customer. But then, his movements froze, and his brows furrowed unconsciously.
The man in front of him had disheveled hair, a dirty face, and tattered clothes with numerous patches. He was wearing a pair of half-broken slippers. If he had held a bowl in his hand, he would have looked like a beggar.
"Hurry up, I'm very hungry," the man urged, seeing Jaxon's hesitation.
"Okay, I'll get right on it," Jaxon replied, though his hands remained still.
The man seemed to notice Jaxon's concern and said, "What, afraid I don't have money?"
"Of course not," Jaxon thought to himself, but he didn't dare say it out loud. "No, no," he quickly replied.
"Good," the man said, then muttered to himself, "I really don't have any money."
Jaxon, of course, didn't hear the last part.
"His voice is strong, and though his face is dirty, he has an impressive presence. He's probably not a beggar," Jaxon thought to himself, getting back to work.
After all, the customer is always right, and with so many people watching, he couldn't just judge a book by its cover and drive the man away.
After a while, Jaxon finally finished preparing the order. He handed everything to the man and said, "Here's everything you ordered. That'll be 360 yuan."
The man took the food from Jaxon's hand, but instead of paying, he started eating immediately. Jaxon didn't rush him. As long as the man didn't leave, it was fine to eat there.
"Boss, three more bottles of beer!" The only other table of customers shouted over.
"Coming right up!"
Jaxon grabbed three bottles of beer and walked over to the table, keeping an eye on the man in tattered clothes out of the corner of his eye.
"Here's your beer," he said, placing the bottles on the table and turning to go back.
But when he turned around, he froze. The man who had been eating just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
Jaxon was certain that his eyes had been off the man for only two seconds—just the time it took to put down the beer. Yet in that brief moment, the man had disappeared.
It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
Jaxon quickly scanned the street, but it was mostly empty, and there was no sign of the man. It was as if he had never been there.
"Really strange," Jaxon muttered to himself.
After searching a few times and finding no trace of the man, Jaxon reluctantly returned to his stall.
"He must have been a deadbeat, eating without paying. All that talk about having a strong presence was just my imagination," Jaxon thought bitterly.
"Hey, what's this?" As Jaxon walked back to his stall, he noticed a gray ring lying next to the barbecue grill. He picked it up and examined it. He couldn't tell what it was made of, but it was smooth and round.
"Did that man leave this? He didn't have money to pay, so he left this ring as compensation?" Jaxon wondered.
During that time, no one else had come to his stall, so it was clear that the ring belonged to the man who had just left.
"A broken ring for 360 yuan? No wonder he didn't have the heart to say it and just left something behind," Jaxon muttered to himself.
He was about to throw the ring away, but it felt decent to the touch, so he decided to keep it and put it on his finger. Surprisingly, it fit perfectly.
"Well, something is better than nothing. I guess I'll just consider the food as charity for a beggar," Jaxon consoled himself. There was nothing he could do about it now.
Around one in the morning, the street was mostly deserted. Jaxon finally packed up and headed back to his ten-square-meter rental room.
After putting everything away, there was hardly any space left in his room. He lay down on his bed, reflecting on his experiences since graduation, and couldn't help but feel discouraged.
Jaxon had graduated from a third-tier university with a major that wasn't in high demand. As a result, the job he found after graduation wasn't great. But things got worse when he was fired the next day for seeing something he shouldn't have seen in his manager's office (and because he entered with his left foot first).
With no good degree and no work experience, finding a job became increasingly difficult. In order to survive in the city, Jaxon had to work part-time jobs while looking for something better. He had done all sorts of jobs to make money: he had carried bricks on a construction site, worked as a mascot in a mall, and served as a waiter in a restaurant. In short, he was willing to do anything that was legal and paid.
However, his luck seemed to be perpetually bad. He had accidentally injured his foot while carrying bricks and was told not to come back the next day. When he tried to help a child who had fallen while working as a mascot, the child's parent accused him of scaring the child and caused a scene in the store, resulting in his dismissal. And when he worked as a waiter, a guest complained about a dish that was wrong due to the chef's mistake, and he was blamed and fired.
Finally, a little over a month ago, he used his limited savings to start a barbecue business, hoping to make some money during the summer. But running a barbecue stall wasn't easy. There were several other barbecue restaurants nearby with better space and environment, far superior to his small stall. Moreover, his cooking skills were average at best. Although he had been doing it for a month, his business remained sluggish, which made Jaxon, who was eager to make money, quite anxious.
"Not to mention, I was stiffed today," Jaxon thought bitterly, looking at the ring on his finger and recalling the evening's events. His mood became even more depressed.
He had worked hard to earn a little money, only to have someone eat for free, making his entire evening a waste, and even costing him some money.
Was his bad luck back again? Was his barbecue business going to fail?
In a fit of anger, Jaxon tried to take off the ring. But while it had been easy to put on, taking it off proved to be very difficult. After twisting the ring for a long time, he still couldn't remove it. Instead, he rubbed his finger raw, and a few drops of blood began to flow.
At that moment, something astonishing happened. The blood that flowed out was actually absorbed by the ring. The originally dull gray ring suddenly lit up, as bright as the midday sun.
"Host detected. Binding in progress..." A mechanical voice sounded in Jaxon's ear.