Chapter 32: The Meaning of Washing Feet

Zhang Xian emerged from the foot bath salon three hours later, and since the experience was good, he directly topped up a 20,000-yuan VIP membership card.

Those who made large top-ups received bonuses: depositing 20,000 yuan gave a 3,888-yuan gift, and since it was the opening day, the shop also had a golden egg smash lottery—depositing 2,000 yuan granted one smash attempt; Zhang Xian's 20,000-yuan deposit earned him ten lottery chances.

Nine of them were 39.9-yuan foot therapy experience cards; the other one was a lucky win: a mountain bicycle.

So Zhang Xian rode home happily on the bicycle.

"Xiaoxian, you're back!"

At Liu's doorway now, besides Liu Fusheng, Pang Dachun, and Wang Shulan, several more elderly men and women had gathered, all offering advice for Liu Dongxu's wedding.

These were neighbors who had lived here for decades; though they might bicker daily, when someone had a major event, they usually lent a hand.

With so many gathered here, Zhang Xian's "glorious feat" of going to the foot bath salon had already spread—now that the man himself had returned, Liu Fusheng immediately called out to him.

"Where did this bicycle come from?"

Seeing Zhang Xian riding a brand-new bicycle, Liu Fusheng asked again.

"Won it in a lottery."

Zhang Xian parked the bicycle beside him.

"Where did you win it?"

"Xiaoxian, you're so lucky!"

Wang Shulan, who always loved grabbing small advantages, immediately perked up at the news of winning a bicycle in a lottery.

"Was it from the foot bath salon's lottery?"

Pang Dachun chimed in—he'd heard Zhang Xian went to the foot bath salon, so he'd gone to the alley entrance to check; the newly opened salon was bustling, with rows of flower baskets and a table piled with "golden eggs," promising a smash chance for every 2,000-yuan deposit.

"Uncle Pang, you went to the foot bath salon too?"

Zhang Xian asked with a smile, effectively confirming the bicycle came from the salon's lottery.

"I just walked by!"

Pang Dachun quickly shook his head.

"Walking by isn't enough—you have to experience it yourself to know if it's good!"

"Uncle Pang, I've got some lottery-winning experience cards—take this one, you can use it for a free session!"

Zhang Xian said, pulling out the 39.9-yuan experience card he'd just won and handing one to Pang Dachun.

"Huh?"

"This??"

Pang Dachun stared at the card in his hand, unsure how to respond.

"Uncle Pang, go ahead—no cost at all!"

Zhang Xian smiled again.

When Pang Dachun had passed by the foot bath salon earlier, he'd naturally glanced inside; at that moment, a girl in a qipao had been standing at the counter talking to the cashier.

No need to ask—she was the salon's technician.

Holding the experience card, Pang Dachun couldn't help picturing the girl's slender figure in his mind.

If he paid to go himself, his wife would surely fight him to the death—but since Zhang Xian gave him the card for free, maybe there was a chance.

"Xiaoxian, where did you get so many experience cards?"

Seeing the card in Pang Dachun's hand, Liu Fusheng grew envious—he too wanted to try this free foot bath.

"Won them in the lottery, Uncle Liu, here's one for you too!"

Zhang Xian handed another card to Liu Fusheng.

"Uh, that's not right…"

Liu Fusheng glanced inside the house—his wife Sun Fengyan was preparing dinner, not at the door.

"It's just a foot massage—nothing big!"

"Auntie Wang, take one too, Auntie Sun, why don't you try it too..."

Zhang Xian had no intention of using the 39.9-yuan cards—they were the most basic foot therapy, boring—he'd rather get everyone else to use them, to distract them from gossiping about him.

"I've never been to a foot bath salon—trying it out sounds good!"

Wang Shulan beamed—she loved grabbing freebies, and this free card was perfect.

"Xiaoxian, where did you get so many experience cards? I saw the sign outside the salon—it said you needed to deposit 2,000 yuan for one lottery chance."

Zhang Xian had already handed out five or six free cards; Pang Dachun couldn't help asking.

"I deposited 20,000—the more you deposit, the more you get—perfect!"

"You all chat—I'm heading home."

Saying that, Zhang Xian pushed the bicycle into his own courtyard.

Pang Dachun, Liu Fusheng, and the others stared at each other, all stunned.

Once Zhang Xian opened his door and went inside, they immediately began whispering.

"Did you hear that? He deposited 20,000!"

"With the money old Zhang makes, how could he afford this?"

"Depositing 20,000 at a foot bath salon—what good could that possibly do?"

"Xiaoxian used to seem so honest—how did he turn into this?"

"We've never had such a wasteful kid in our alley—that's 20,000! That's four months of my pension!"

One after another, they condemned Zhang Xian.

At that moment, Liu Dongxu and Wang Jiajia walked over, holding hands—they'd just returned from the wedding company.

"Auntie Er, Uncle Pang, you're all here."

Liu Dongxu greeted them with a smile.

"Dong Xu, you're back just in time—your mom's dinner is almost ready." Liu Fusheng pointed toward the house.

"Perfect—I'm starving!"

Liu Dongxu had no intention of chatting with these older folks; he pulled Wang Jiajia into their own courtyard.

"Shulan, let's go inside—dinner's about to be served."

"Pang Dachun, let's play a few more games tomorrow morning."

Liu Fusheng invited Wang Shulan to join them for dinner; they had merely been neighbors before, now they were in-laws.

Wang Shulan didn't refuse; she followed him into the Liu household.

Meanwhile, Pang Dachun and the others dispersed.

By the dining table.

The three Liu family members, along with Wang Shulan and Wang Jiajia, sat together.

The meal was nearly finished.

"Yan Jie, you didn't hear this outside, but Zhang Xian actually recharged twenty thousand yuan at the foot massage parlor."

"That's just wasteful!"

Wang Shulan told Sun Fengyan about Zhang Xian.

"Huh?"

"Twenty thousand yuan at a foot massage parlor??"

Sun Fengyan was shocked, then shook her head repeatedly: "Xiao Xian has gone bad—he's really not thinking about his future!"

Saying this, she immediately warned her own son: "Dong Xu, you absolutely must not follow Xiao Xian's example—decent people don't go to foot massage parlors!"

"Besides, none of the women who work there are good—what respectable girl would take a job there!"

Cough, cough...

No sooner had Sun Fengyan finished speaking than Wang Jiajia, who was eating, choked.

"Jiajia, are you okay? Drink some water."

Liu Dongxu kindly handed his fiancée a glass of water.

"I'm fine—I bit into a small chili."

Wang Jiajia drank calmly, but inside she couldn't help thinking: Why didn't I ever meet a customer who recharged twenty thousand yuan at once? I'd have made a fortune in commissions!

"Auntie, did Zhang Xian really recharge twenty thousand yuan at the foot massage parlor?"

Liu Dongxu asked curiously.

"Of course it's true! At the parlor, you get one free lottery draw for every two thousand yuan recharged—Zhang Xian got over ten free trial cards just from that! And he even gave one each to me and Brother Liu!"

As she spoke, Wang Shulan pulled out the free trial card Zhang Xian had given her.

Upon hearing this, Sun Fengyan immediately turned to her husband.

Liu Fusheng forced a nervous smile and pulled the free trial card from his pocket—he hadn't planned to tell his wife, intending to sneak off for a trial tomorrow, but now Wang Shulan had spilled the beans.

I should've never invited this woman over for dinner!

Liu Fusheng silently grumbled inside.

"Brother Liu, you never told me—so you're planning to try it out?"

Sun Fengyan glared fiercely at her husband.

"I just hadn't gotten around to telling you yet!"

Liu Fusheng reluctantly handed the trial card to his wife: "I don't care about this thing—when you have time, go with Shulan. It's free anyway."

Sun Fengyan snorted and slipped the card into her pants pocket.

Wang Shulan realized she'd probably said the wrong thing and quickly smiled to smooth it over: "Yan Jie, Brother Liu isn't that kind of man—Zhang Xian offered it freely, so he couldn't refuse."

"Exactly! Everyone got one—I couldn't possibly make myself an exception!"

Liu Fusheng immediately chimed in.

Hearing their explanations, Sun Fengyan dropped the subject and turned her ire back to Zhang Xian: "Old Zhang posted on his Moments today—he's performing out of town. Meanwhile, Xiao Xian is wasting money at home! If he keeps spending like this, no amount of earnings will be enough!"

Wang Shulan nodded in agreement: "Who says otherwise? Old Zhang really needs a wife to manage his money—otherwise, all the money he works so hard to earn will be squandered!"

As Wang Shulan spoke, she secretly thought: If I become Xiao Xian's stepmother, I'll have to keep a tight grip on the purse strings.

"Zhang Xian is getting more and more out of line!"

"I'll go ask him—what's he thinking?"

Liu Dongxu slammed his fist on the table in righteous anger, then stood up and left the house.

He was already full, so going out would help him digest.

Of course, digestion was secondary—he mainly wanted to properly "criticize" his good friend Zhang Xian.

As he entered the Zhang family courtyard, he called out: "Big Brother Xian, you home?"

"Did you finish eating?"

Woof woof woof...

Before Zhang Xian could respond, a small yellow dog burst out of the house and barked furiously at Liu Dongxu.

"Weier, come back!"

Zhang Zhaodi stepped out from inside: "Weier, don't bite!"

She kept calling it "Weier"—it made Liu Dongxu feel deeply annoyed.

At that moment, Zhang Xian walked out from inside: "Dong Xu, what's up?"

"Nothing much—I just finished eating and thought I'd come chat for a bit."

"Alright, let's go for a walk."

Zhang Xian had just finished eating too—he'd ordered a hot pot delivery from "Hot Pot to Your Door," and he and Zhang Zhaodi had devoured four catties of meat, thoroughly satisfied.

"Zhaodi, take Weier inside, and I'll bring you back some ice cream."

At the courtyard gate, Zhang Xian added another warning to Zhang Zhaodi.

"Xian Ge, can your family's dog get a new name?"

Outside the Zhang family courtyard, Liu Dongxu said with a gloomy face.

Zhang Xian spread his hands: "It already knows its name is Weier—changing it now is too hard. Why don't you pick a new English name instead? You barely use your English name in China anyway."

"Fine, then I'll pick a new English name!"

Liu Dongxu sighed helplessly. As Zhang Xian said, the little yellow dog already knew it was called Weier—it was hard to change now, after all, even the smartest dog has limited intelligence.

So if he didn't want to clash names, he'd have to give up his own.

"Xian Ge, I heard you recharged twenty thousand yuan at the foot spa. Is that true?"

Liu Dongxu adjusted his mood and changed the subject.

"Whoa, you already know?"

Zhang Xian wasn't surprised Liu Dongxu knew—there were no secrets in this alley, especially after so many people had gathered outside the Liu family's gate just now.

"So you really did recharge that much."

"Were the technicians good?"

Liu Dongxu asked curiously. His outburst in coming to find Zhang Xian wasn't to condemn him—it was to learn from him.

While studying abroad in the United States, he'd heard other Chinese students say foot spas in China offered exceptional service, but he'd gone straight to the United States after high school, and because flights were expensive, he'd rarely returned home during his years abroad.

So visiting a foot spa had long been on his list of must-do things upon returning to China—and now Zhang Xian had beaten him to it.

"If you want to talk about technicians, you'll need a whole pack of cigarettes to get through it."

Zhang Xian knew exactly what the guy was after—he pointed straight at the supermarket at the alley's entrance.

"Got it, I'll go buy some right away."

Eager for the true teachings, Liu Dongxu walked without hesitation toward the supermarket.

"Get Huazǐ. If I smoke anything else, I'll cough."

Zhang Xian called after Liu Dongxu's back.

"Got it!"

Liu Dongxu paused slightly, then waved in reply.

A moment later, he walked out of the supermarket holding a pack of Huazǐ and two bottles of water.

Then, eagerly, he lit one for Zhang Xian. When the other exhaled a puff of smoke, he spoke again: "Xian Ge, can you tell me now?"

"Where do you want me to start?"

Zhang Xian asked.

"I've never been to a foot spa in China—tell me everything from the beginning!"

Liu Dongxu's eyes glowed with thirst for knowledge.

"Alright, I'll start from the beginning. Foot spas come in many types: purely modest, half-modest half-rough, and fully rough. The one at our alley entrance seems to be half-modest half-rough—it has handwritten questions and oral questions..."

"Of course, you know I'm a decent man—I wouldn't touch anything shady. I go to foot spas only to relax my tired body."

"Fishing is physical work—you sit by the river all day long. Sore back, stiff waist—it's normal. So after fishing, I thought: why not get a massage, unwind a bit? It's also answering the nation's call to consume more!"

"Though I'm spending only a little money, small amounts add up. If you don't get your feet washed and I don't get mine washed, the foot spa goes bankrupt. And when the foot spa shuts down, all those girls lose their jobs. Do you think they're just individuals?"

"No—they're behind broken families: gambling fathers, sick mothers, younger brothers studying in school. If she loses her job, that family is finished."

"So do you think I'm washing feet?"

"No—I'm washing the hope of each broken family!"

Here, Zhang Xian squinted and exhaled a puff of smoke: "Dong Xu, do you still think twenty thousand is a lot?"