Races: Online

What was Han supposed to do now?

It was time to pick a side and in a way, his silence about the true purposes of inviting Lucia, Tierra and Bleu was a small plus to humanity. Sure, Professor Owen was blackmailing him about keeping it a secret.

But if Han shifted his mindset into thinking that it was only right to help out the 'little guy' or his people in this case… then the blackmail could be easily pretended to not exist.

So now that was kind of resolved, the least of Han's problems were the anger and wrath of Sybeth for discovering that Han was affiliated with other Races—and Han Jing's own problems on the other hand was waking up to a rightful pain of a sore neck.

"Ah gah—this sucks a lot." Han Jing raised his head up from the table now slightly trickled with his own saliva and he quickly wiped that off before placing the keyboard properly in its place.

He didn't last playing games with Mou Gu all night, and Han Jing could see that the guy left him without saying goodbye. 

Well, that was all fair and right to Han Jing who could see from the desktop's monitor that it was already the 25th of September.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was finally over and it was the dreaded Tuesday.

All he wanted to do was actually drag himself back to his apartment, family or not, and then throw himself to his bed and literally pass out. This time, he didn't want to go participate in Races: Online or participate in being the filial son of the Han family either.

Han Jing wanted to veg out.

Unwind and relax and there was no individual, no singular person from Mou Gu, Odele to even Chan Lee who could change his mind as he pulled himself up to his feet and then dragged himself out of the PC cafe after paying the guy at the counter.

Through the use of his willpower alone—he managed to climb all the way up back into his apartment and then unlock then enter the house. Han Jing came to see that the entirety of his family was awake and even eating brunch.

"Jing, you've finally come back!" His mother was quick to point out with a relieved smile. "Did you sleep with—er, at Mou Gu's place?"

Han Jing stared at his mother blearily, rubbed his still sore neck and said. "Barely. I think I'm going back to sleep."

He was about to zombie-walked all the way to his bed, until he heard the sigh of disappointment coming from his father. 

"You chose to stay out with your friends instead of staying at home. You know how rare it is for me to be able to come home, the least you could do is actually put some effort into being here."

"Well, I'm sorry—" Han Jing began and then bit down his tongue. He sounded far from being sorry and that was the problem. Even though he could say that he was tired, Han Jing didn't end up being disrespectful to his mother.

It was just that whenever it came to his father and him… they always rubbed off on each other the wrong way. Even the littlest things could set either of them off and Han Jing just wanted to live his day in peace now.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds—

"Your mother mentioned this flower business of yours. Is that what you plan on doing now?" His father talked to him again, as if what Han Jing said or what his father said was now something that never happened.

Han Jing could hear that there was no question in that tone and it was probably more of his old man questioning if his first born son was really going to spend his days as a flower vendor. 

It was already bad enough that Han Jing didn't choose to grind like his old man, but now he was going to sell flowers too?

Han Jing would just love to say yes, he was the flower boy. The bonafide seller of flowers far beyond any person's wildest imaginations and enough to make druids frolic around to dance about a circle of flowers. 

But no, Han Jing wouldn't give in to that and neither would he give in to the satisfaction of saying 'No' sarcastically either.

"No. It was just before the festival."

"I suppose it does make sense to do it during the holidays as a side business to supplement your income, but I'm glad that it won't be your main job," His father said. "The years, effort and money that we've spent on obtaining that college degree of yours would have been such a waste."

Han Jing blinked once and thought about how close his bed was from him and yet how far it still was. It looked almost unreachable and that if he tried to take another step forward, the floor beneath him would collapse. 

For now, he just wanted to wrap things up.

"Yes, it would have been a shame," Han Jing said.

As if he wasn't wasting the college degree now. 

Was his old man going to say anything else? Any more helpful questions or conversations that might have resembled his father actually trying to see how Han Jing was?

There was none.

Only silence ensued between them and before Han Jing knew it, he literally threw himself into bed and pulled the covers over him. It was childish and maybe too much for someone who was already close to halfway about his twenties… but he didn't care.

"What about you, Jinjing? How are your studies coming along?"

"You should see her test papers, Shirong. Come and show it to your father,  Jinjing."

The conversation between his parents resumed as a background noise that Han Jing didn't bother paying a mind to. And yet Han Jing's thoughts didn't stop there at all and even the exhaustion of last night's events didn't put the man into immediately slumbering peacefully.

Instead, this was the moment that Han Jing thought about how he was doing. In the past, it might have seemed that someone in their twenties or thirties were well-put together.

Han Jing's father married around his age and did his best to work hard for his family, even going here in Shanghai for a more competitive salary and literally bootstrapping everything… while Han Jing was a far cry from him.

"Ugh," he tried to find a comfortable spot in his bed, moving around for the best spot that felt just right.

He soon found it, but his brain was really not giving him a moment to rest. Whenever he thought about his father and whenever the guy was here… somehow, it almost felt like they were just strangers who happened to be underneath the same roof.

But it was only a matter of when Han Shirong once again left and spent most of his hours working and barely seeing them again. That was the life of what it meant to be staying in one of the expensive cities and trying to raise a family well-above their means.

As early as nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week… Han Jing was loath to inwardly admit that he could almost understand why the man didn't bother coming back here unless it was the holidays.

It was much more convenient to stay at some nearby place to work than to head back to their apartment. There was never enough time at all.

That was why Han Jing didn't even bother trying to work in a company like his father.

Han Jing could see what it did to his old man, and it made him more hopeful that maybe, just maybe freelancing or doing remote tasks would let him work on his own terms.

But frankly, even that was an illusion. 

It was easy enough to fall into working 24/7 if you weren't careful and got into the idea of hustling and into the mindset of putting one's career above everything else. It was stressful, it was hard to compete and struggle in such a world where almost everyone else like him shared the same goals, desires for a better life.

Thankfully, or not, Han Jing was far from the person who buried himself in work. 

He was probably so against it, that his luck gave him a streak of bad cards as a result. Han Jing did try, he really did… but somehow, it was never really enough. Never making enough money and always trying to make ends meet.

It was for that reason that he never left home.

Much more practical though.

And so… Here he was, Han Jing, and it was only the fact that some random email that promised him $1000, made his life completely change into something better. Well, not quite. 

He was still living in the same apartment, same room and same hard bed that he used for more than a decade now.

Maybe it was actually time for him to do some changing?

Han Jing didn't earn that much from the pearls—at least, he didn't earn enough like others who could literally retire and then spend the rest of their days doing whatever they wanted, but even the fact that he was currently in possession of enough money to not worry for a year?

That was a lot better than most.

It was at that thought that Han Jing finally drifted off to sleep, making a promise to actually wake up later and maybe go purchase something. Whether he deserved it or not, Han Jing would worry about it later.

—-—-

Author's Note: Ah, do you know of the 9-9-6 work week in China? Now, that isn't to say that it's the only country that has a 72/hours week schedule, I'm sure that there are people out there who can maybe work 80/hours per week @_@ but did you know that this 9-9-6 work week was only abolished this August 27, 2021?