Better to Accept Than Stand on Ceremony

After eating his fat-loss meal and watching the race, Huang Chong went straight to bed.

Du Wei, meanwhile, chatted sweetly with his girlfriend on the phone in the living room before continuing to play Elden Ring, the large PC game released earlier that year.

Funny enough, in this day and age, simply avoiding being controlled by phones, games, and short videos, maintaining a routine, and going to bed early every day was already one sign of a disciplined personality.

Even going to bed early was incredibly difficult.

At least, Du Wei couldn't do it.

The guy stayed up gaming almost every night, only getting up around noon the next day to go hold down the fort at the shop.

In the month or so Huang Chong had lived with him after graduating from college, he had never once seen Du Wei eat breakfast normally.

Still, Huang Chong was an employee at Du Wei's bike shop. Though he had gotten the job through connections, he still went to bed early, woke up early, and reported to the shop on time every day.

Brothers were brothers, work was work. He kept those matters clearly separate.

After all, he wasn't the only employee at the shop. There was also technician Liu Chaoyang and another technician's assistant.

If he relied on his relationship with the boss and couldn't even manage a basic nine-to-five schedule, he would only make Du Wei look bad and would never earn the others' respect.

Of course, the staff structure had changed now. He had become a technician too, leaving only one young man as a technician's assistant, so Du Wei planned to hire another newcomer.

After all, Huang Chong would leave sooner or later. One technician was barely enough for the shop, but having only one assistant definitely wasn't.

Especially since Du Wei was the kind of slacker boss who only talked business at the shop every day, shooting the breeze with rich young men and female cycling friends. The guy couldn't do any hands-on work at all.

"Old Du, have you lost your mind? You actually pulled an all-nighter playing Elden Ring? Aren't you afraid Wu Fang will find out and nag you to death?"

When Huang Chong got up the next morning, he found Du Wei's eyes bloodshot. The man was still playing games on the TV in the living room, unusually hyped up, making Huang Chong genuinely worry for him.

However, Du Wei was terrible at the game yet utterly addicted to it. He had already stayed up countless nights trying to clear it, so one more or one less made no difference to him. He said carelessly, "How can a man's happiness be known by women? As long as you don't betray me and secretly rat me out, how would she know I stayed up all night gaming?"

Huang Chong shook his head speechlessly.

As he remembered it, Wu Fang wasn't exactly a great beauty, and her figure was even on the fuller side. But she was extremely sharp. Du Wei's little schemes and self-righteous cleverness had always been obvious to her. Most of the time, she simply couldn't be bothered to expose him.

Still, he had no interest in meddling in the young couple's affairs. He made himself a fat-loss version of a sandwich and prepared to head to work after eating.

"Hey, what are you making? Make me one too!"

Du Wei didn't even lift his head, but the moment he caught the scent drifting from the kitchen, he suddenly got hungry.

Huang Chong naturally wasn't stingy about it. He pressed together a low-fat sandwich made from two slices of whole-wheat toast, lettuce, an oil-free fried egg, low-fat mayonnaise, sliced tomato, and shredded cucumber. Then he cut it diagonally into two triangles and handed half to Du Wei.

Du Wei wolfed it down in two huge bites and found that aside from being a little too bland, it actually tasted pretty good.

The sandwich was also juicy and refreshing, but the portion was too small to fill him up, so he asked Huang Chong to make him another full-sized sandwich.

"Old Huang, you know what? This fat-loss meal tastes pretty good. It's way better than those boiled vegetables that idiot Wu Fang eats every day.

"If I ever want to lose weight, I'll hire you as my cook.

"You'll be in charge of my three meals a day, and you'd better find all kinds of ways to make fat-loss meals delicious so I can shed pounds painlessly and enjoy losing weight."

Huang Chong nearly failed to hold himself back from punching that huge face of his.

Painless weight loss, his ass. With that appetite of Du Wei's, even if the food was low-fat, eating several pounds in one meal would still make it impossible to control the calories.

Of course, he knew Du Wei was just talking big. There was no way the guy would ever lose weight. Asking him to watch what he ate was practically asking for his life.

He asked directly, "Are you full? If you are, I'm heading to work!"

Du Wei nodded and picked up the controller again, ready to play Elden Ring for a while longer.

This game was just too fun.

But when he saw Huang Chong heading out with the hand-carry bag he usually used for his cycling clothes, cycling socks, goggles, and other gear, he couldn't help asking, "What are you doing, Old Huang? Yesterday, you rode forty kilometers at Zone 4 threshold for over an hour. Aren't your thighs sore today? You still want to train?

"Don't blame your brother for being nosy. Wanting to become a professional rider is a good thing, but you need to take it easy too. Don't wreck your body.

"You're just a beginner. As the saying goes, haste makes waste, understand?"

Huang Chong knew Du Wei was concerned about him, but after finishing his ride last night, he had taken a Beginner Training Recovery Energy Gel.

After one night's sleep, he had already recovered completely and didn't feel tired at all.

He replied, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. That little bit of distance yesterday was nothing to me. It couldn't possibly stump me!"

Du Wei's expression immediately darkened.

The way Huang Chong said it, Du Wei's own legs currently felt like they were filled with lead.

That definitely had something to do with his staying up all night, but didn't Huang Chong's words make him sound pathetic?

He said irritably, "Keep pretending. You're acting tough now, but when you really strain a muscle, your big brother will still have to take care of you!"

Huang Chong laughed, picked up his keys, and waved them around. "No way, Old Du. It was only forty kilometers, not four hundred kilometers in a day. How could that amount possibly strain a muscle?

"If I were really that fragile, there'd be no point in becoming a professional rider.

"Trust me. After I train a little more, I'll lead you on rides. Then you can relax behind me and draft!

"Alright, no more bullshit. I don't want to be late for work.

"Go get some sleep. Don't wait until Wu Fang comes knocking herself. Then I'll have to play mediator between you two again, and that's exhausting!"

Du Wei had initially wanted to trade a few more barbs with Huang Chong, but the moment he heard Wu Fang might come knocking, he suddenly had nothing to say. He merely raised a middle finger at Huang Chong to express his feelings.

Damn it. If Wu Fang really came looking for him, he would be finished.

Getting scolded would be the least of it. She would probably confiscate his game controller too.

That little woman was fierce.

After arriving at the bike shop, Huang Chong worked as usual.

It was summer vacation, and all the students were on break. College students in particular had more free time than dogs. On top of that, mask restrictions had loosened considerably, so business at the shop was booming.

Some customers came to order bikes, have bikes assembled, or get maintenance done. Others suffered mechanical failures on the road and came to the shop asking for temporary repairs.

Those more serious about cycling had even moved past the beginner stage and entered formal training. Quite a few came specifically for fitting data, intending to adjust their bike parameters or buy new bikes.

In short, even with both Huang Chong and Liu Chaoyang working as technicians, they were still swamped. After nearly an entire day, they barely had time to take a sip of water.

"Brother, it's a good thing you became a technician. Otherwise, with Boss Du's business booming like this, I really couldn't handle it alone."

At dinnertime, Liu Chaoyang forcibly carved out half an hour to eat and rest. He had truly been worked to the bone that day and was starving so badly his chest nearly stuck to his back. Even the fast food in that culinary wasteland of an industrial park tasted delicious.

Working himself to the bone every day, his thirty-something body was growing increasingly exhausted. If he didn't start drinking some goji berry tea soon, he wouldn't be able to hold on.

Therefore, he no longer had the energy to envy Huang Chong's naturally gifted top-tier craftsmanship.

Huang Chong nodded deeply in agreement.

It wasn't just today. In fact, there had been an overwhelming number of orders lately.

The root of it was that novice cyclists all tended to share the same belief about road bikes: the frame had to be from a foreign brand. Even for an entry-level bike, riding something foreign felt more prestigious.

That was why boutique channel shops like Du Wei's, which handled purchasing and agency sales for numerous foreign road bike brands, truly had booming business.

To say nothing else, as long as customers could find a road bike model currently on the market, Du Wei had a way to purchase it for them. That ability alone put him far above ordinary bike shops.

On top of that, Du Wei was generous by nature. Whether someone was an old customer or a new one, as long as it was a simple mechanical issue—like a flat tire on the road or a problem with shifting—if they came to the shop for help, he would have Huang Chong and the others handle it for free. The shop had built up a good reputation, making business even better.

Of course, Huang Chong didn't work overtime after dinner. No matter how busy they were, that was impossible. He had his own important things to do. As usual, he changed into cycling clothes and rode out on his TCR to train.

When he arrived at the greenway to ride instead of choosing to circle West Lake, he ran into the three guys who had given him advice before, just as expected.

Sure enough, just as they had said, they all came here to ride after work.

The moment they met, those three outgoing loudmouths warmly greeted him and teased, "Yo, not bad, brother. You've got the right gear today. Not only did you change into cycling clothes, you're even wearing clipless shoes. You didn't have a zero-speed fall, did you? Hahaha!"

"And if I remember right, you were still using aluminum wheels the day before yesterday. Today, you've already switched to carbon wheels!"

"Looks like you're one of us too, brother. You must have secretly crammed some professional knowledge after going home, right? Want to follow the three of us and train together today?"

Huang Chong heard their suggestion. Naturally sociable by nature, he wasn't socially anxious at all. He immediately agreed with a smile, saying readily, "No problem. Riding alone is pretty lonely anyway, so I'll gladly accept and join you three pros. Let's see how long these weak legs of mine can keep up with you."