After eating his low-fat meal and watching the race, Huang Chong went straight to bed.
Dewey, however, was in the living room, chatting for ages on the phone with his girlfriend before diving back into a huge PC game that had just been released at the beginning of the year: Elden Ring.
It's funny, really. In this day and age, simply not being controlled by your phone, games, or short-form videos—maintaining a regular schedule and going to bed early every night—is in itself a sign of a self-disciplined person.
In fact, going to bed early is incredibly difficult.
In any case, Dewey couldn't do it.
The guy stayed up late playing games almost every night, only waking up around noon the next day to go hold down the fort at his shop.
In the month-plus that Huang Chong had lived with him after graduating from college, he had never once seen the guy eat a proper breakfast.
But Huang Chong was an employee at Dewey's bike shop. Even though he got the job through his connections, he still went to bed and woke up early every day, heading to the shop to work on time.
'Brothers are brothers, and work is work.' He was very clear on that point.
After all, he wasn't the only employee in the shop. There was also the technician, Liu Chaoyang, and another technician's assistant.
If he took advantage of his close relationship with the boss and couldn't even keep a basic nine-to-five schedule, it would just give Dewey a bad name and he would surely lose the respect of others.
Of course, the staffing situation at the shop had changed now. He had become a technician, leaving only one other young man as a technician's assistant, so Dewey planned to hire another person.
He was going to leave sooner or later anyway. One technician was barely enough for the shop, but a single assistant definitely wasn't.
Especially since Dewey was a slacker of a boss who only talked business at the shop, spending his days shooting the breeze with rich young heirs and female cyclists. The guy couldn't do any of the actual technical work.
"Old Du, have you lost your mind? Pulling an all-nighter to play Elden Ring? Aren't you afraid Wu Fang will find out and chew you out for it?"
When Huang Chong got up the next morning, he found Dewey with bloodshot eyes, still in the living room playing games on the big screen, looking unnaturally wired. He was genuinely worried for the guy.
However, Dewey—terrible at the game but utterly addicted and determined to beat it—had already lost count of how many all-nighters he'd pulled for it. One more night made no difference to him. He said nonchalantly:
"A man's gotta have his secrets. As long as you don't betray me and snitch, how's she gonna know I was up all night gaming?"
Huang Chong shook his head, speechless.
From what he recalled, while Wu Fang wasn't a classic beauty and even had a fuller figure, she was extremely sharp. She always saw right through Dewey's little schemes and clever tricks; she just couldn't be bothered to call him out on them most of the time.
But he couldn't be bothered with the couple's affairs. He went to make himself a low-fat sandwich, planning to eat and then head to work.
"Hey, what are you making? Make one for me too!"
Dewey didn't even look up, but the aroma wafting from the kitchen suddenly made him hungry.
Huang Chong, of course, wasn't stingy about it. He pressed together the low-fat sandwich—made with two slices of whole wheat toast, lettuce, an oil-free fried egg, low-fat mayonnaise, sliced tomatoes, and shredded cucumber—then cut it diagonally into two triangles and handed one half to Dewey.
Dewey wolfed it down in two big bites and found that, aside from being a little bland, it was surprisingly good.
Plus, the sandwich was nice and juicy. The only problem was the portion was too small; it wasn't filling at all. So, he asked Huang Chong to make him a whole new one.
"Old Huang, I gotta say, this diet food tastes pretty good. Way better than the boiled vegetables that silly girl Wu Fang eats all day."
"If I ever want to lose weight in the future, I'm hiring you as my chef."
"You'll be in charge of my three meals a day, and you have to find ways to make diet food delicious so I can lose weight painlessly and happily."
Huang Chong almost couldn't resist punching the guy in his big face right then and there.
'Painless weight loss, my ass.' With an appetite like his, even the lowest-fat food would be a calorie bomb if he ate several pounds of it in one sitting.
Of course, he knew Dewey was just talking big. The guy would never lose weight; asking him to watch what he eats was like asking for his life.
He asked directly:
"Are you full yet? If you are, I'm heading to work!"
Dewey nodded, then picked up his game controller again, ready to tackle Elden Ring for a little longer.
'This game is too much fun.'
But seeing that Huang Chong was again leaving with the tote bag he usually used for his cycling kit, socks, and glasses, he couldn't help but ask:
"What are you doing? Old Huang, you rode 40 kilometers in Zone 4 threshold for over an hour yesterday. Aren't your legs sore today? You're still going to train?"
"Don't think I'm being nosy, but while it's great you want to be a Professional Cyclist, you have to take it easy. Don't ruin your body."
"You're just a beginner right now. You know what they say, haste makes waste, ya know?"
Huang Chong knew the guy was just concerned for him, but he had taken a Basic Training Recovery Energy Gel after his ride last night.
Waking up today, he was already fully recovered, with no feeling of fatigue at all.
He replied:
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Yesterday's mileage was a piece of cake for me. It was nothing!"
Dewey's face immediately darkened.
The way he said it... Dewey's own legs felt like they were filled with lead right now.
It was definitely related to him not sleeping all night, but for Huang Chong to say that, wasn't it just making him look like a total amateur?
He retorted irritably:
"Yeah, right, keep talking big. You're just being stubborn now. When you actually pull a muscle, your big brother here is gonna have to be the one to take care of you!"
Huang Chong laughed, grabbed his keys, and waved a hand.
"It won't come to that, Old Du. It was only 40km, not 400km in a day. How could I pull a muscle from that little?"
"If I were really that fragile, I wouldn't bother trying to become a Professional Cyclist."
"Trust me, just wait till I've trained a bit more. I'll be your lead-out, and you can just relax and draft behind me!"
"Alright, enough talk. I don't want to be late for work."
"You should get some sleep. Don't wait for Wu Fang to come knocking. I'll have to get stuck in the middle playing peacemaker, and that's exhausting!"
When Dewey heard the first part, he had been ready to argue back, but the mention of Wu Fang showing up suddenly made him shut up. He just shot Huang Chong the middle finger to express his feelings.
'Damn it, if Wu Fang really shows up, I'm screwed.'
'Getting chewed out would be the least of it. She'd probably confiscate my game controller.'
'That girl is fierce!'
...
After arriving at the bike shop, Huang Chong started his workday as usual.
It was currently summer vacation, so students were off. University students, in particular, with more free time than they knew what to do with, had plenty of time for recreation. On top of that, mask restrictions were becoming more relaxed, so business at the shop was booming.
Customers came in to order bikes, have them assembled, or get them serviced. There were also those who had mechanical failures on the road and came to the shop asking for emergency repairs.
More serious cyclists—many of whom had already passed the beginner stage and were now training professionally—came in for bike fittings to adjust their bike's parameters or prepare for a new one.
In short, even with two technicians, him and Liu Chaoyang, the shop was so busy they could barely keep up. They hardly had time to take a sip of water the entire day.
"Little bro, looking at it now, it's a damn good thing you became a technician. Otherwise, with Boss Du's business booming like this, I'd never be able to handle it all by myself."
During dinnertime, Liu Chaoyang, who had forced himself to take a half-hour break to eat and rest, was truly exhausted today. He was so famished that even the fast food from the industrial park—a veritable food desert—tasted delicious.
Being this damn busy every day, his body, now in its thirties, was getting more and more worn out. If he didn't start drinking some goji berry tea, he felt like he wouldn't be able to hold up.
As a result, he no longer had the energy to be jealous of Huang Chong's self-taught, top-tier skills.
Huang Chong nodded in deep agreement.
It wasn't just today; orders had been flooding in for a while now.
The root cause was that the newer a cyclist was, the more likely they were to share a common belief about road bikes: the frame had to be from a foreign brand. Even for an entry-level bike, they felt they had to ride an imported product to look good.
That's why a boutique channel shop like Dewey's, which handled purchases and acted as an agent for many foreign road bike brands, did such explosive business.
Nothing else needed to be said; as long as a customer could find a road bike model that was currently on the market, he had a way to get it for them. That capability alone put him far ahead of other ordinary bike shops.
On top of that, Dewey was a generous guy. Whether it was an old customer or a new one, if they came to the shop for help with a simple mechanical issue, like a flat tire on the road or a problem with their gears, he would have Huang Chong and the others fix it for free. This had built the shop a great reputation, which made business even better.
Of course, Huang Chong didn't work overtime after dinner. No matter how busy things were, it was out of the question. He had his own important business to attend to. As usual, he changed into his cycling kit and went out on his TCR to train.
And just as he got to the greenway for his ride, having decided not to do laps around West Lake, he unsurprisingly ran into the same three guys who had given him advice before.
They were true to their word, coming here to ride after work.
The moment they saw each other, the three of them—all cheerful and big-mouthed—greeted him warmly and started teasing him:
"Yo, not bad, man! Your gear is on point today. Not only are you in a cycling kit, but you're also wearing clipless shoes. Didn't have a zero-speed fall, did you? Hahaha!"
"And if I remember correctly, you were on aluminum wheels the day before yesterday, right? You've already upgraded to carbon wheels today!"
"Looks like you're one of us, bro! You must have gone home and secretly swotted up on your pro knowledge, huh? How about you join the three of us and train together today?"
Hearing their offer, Huang Chong, being naturally outgoing and not at all socially awkward, immediately smiled and agreed, saying cheerfully:
"No problem! I was just thinking it's too lonely riding by myself. In that case, I'd be honored to accept. I'll join you three big Pros and see how long these newbie legs of mine can keep up with you."