Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 1041 - 504: The Scammer’s Lifeline_3

Qin Huai said this directly.

Zhao Cheng'an remarked that Qin Huai's cursing was really foul now.

"They all say that a spirit only meets their destined straw in the last lifetime, but I feel I've already met mine in this life. Even if Xiao Qin didn't give me this coconut mooncake, I might awaken in a few years." Gong Liang said, adhering to the local customs, his address to Qin Huai shifted from Master Qin to Xiao Qin.

"In this life, I have completely forgotten that I am a spirit. Only some residual memories influence me through dreams. Yet, I still retain some traits of the Scammer beast, so I've been eloquent since childhood; otherwise, I wouldn't have become a salesperson at the Silk Factory."

"But I have stage fright."

"When I first joined the sales department, everyone had high hopes for me. They believed my talents would make me a good salesperson. Our department head even thought it was a pity for me to be at the Silk Factory, suggesting I could achieve great things at the neighboring Cotton Mill."

"But I knew I couldn't do it."

"The first time the department head took me to discuss a major deal, though I had prepared well, even drafting beforehand and envisioning many scenarios and responses, when I actually faced the situation, all I felt was fear and anxiety."

"I have a natural fear and dread of people with higher status than me. Before them, I was so frightened that my lips trembled, unable to speak, with my mind blank."

"The department head thought it was my first time showing timidity, did not blame me, and even comforted me. But I know that fear is engraved in my bones."

"I don't know why, but I'm just afraid, an instinctual fear."

"The second time the department head took me out for a deal, just like the first time, I botched it."

"The department head still comforted me, but by then I was contemplating quitting. I felt I couldn't be a salesperson and needed to find a job more suitable for me. I was doubting myself, even beginning to experience auditory and visual hallucinations like Qu Jing did in her middle life, unable to distinguish dreams from reality."

"It was Master Jing who saved me."

"He noticed something was wrong with me, didn't ask anything, didn't even initially encourage me. He treated me like a kid in need of comfort, bringing different delicious snacks home each day after work, telling me that if feeling down, have something sweet, and the mood would get much better."

"He didn't tell me what's right or wrong, didn't scold me for avoiding things, he just told me to do what I wanted, saying I'm still young, and any choice would have a bright future."

As Gong Liang said this, his eyes glistening with tears: "Master Jing was truly my straw."

"Without him, I might have become introverted like in my second life, living in fear daily, becoming eccentric, misunderstood, and ending my life in mediocrity and agony."

"Worse yet, I might have ended up like Qu Jing at that time, being tortured by dreams, unable to distinguish between illusion and reality, going insane and then committing suicide."

"But I didn't."

"And it's all because of Master Jing."

As he spoke, Gong Liang paused: "He saved me, yet I didn't save him."

"Many years after Master Jing injured his leg with coal balls, I've constantly pondered if, instead of running business outside, I had returned home, might I have heard Master Jing's cries in the first instance."

"If in the first moment of taking Master Jing to the hospital, I had determined to persuade Zheng Da and Shengli to transfer Master Jing to Shanghai, might I have saved his leg."

"If after Master Jing injured his leg, I had cared for him as he cared for me, not being busy with work, not thinking about venturing into business, but spending more time accompanying him next door, might Master Jing not have died of depression so early."

"After Master Jing's passing, when Zheng Da wanted to start a business, I gave him money to support his venture. When Shengli wanted to maintain the state-owned restaurant and turned it into Huang Ji Restaurant, I invested and helped him purchase the state-owned restaurant, renovating it to create present-day Huang Ji."

"Everyone says I help them because the three of us have known each other since childhood and have good relations, but it's more than just that."

"The most important reason is because they are Master Jing's apprentices."

"As long as they are still here, as long as Huang Ji is still open, as long as Zheng Da is willing to do snack business, I'll feel Master Jing's craft is not interrupted."

"My spiritual support remains."

"Even if I don't awaken this time, he is my true straw."