48 Hours a Day

Chapter 900: Tool

Although the flight didn’t last too long, it was already night when the two arrived at Naha International Airport, including the time spent waiting at the airport.

Han Lu contacted the local guide in advance to pick them up at the airport exit. Around twenty minutes later, they arrived at the Hyatt Hotel, and Han Lu booked two rooms for herself and Zhang Heng. And early the next morning, Han Lu fulfilled her promise made before they went diving. The first thing she did was to accompany Zhang Heng around the nearby shopping mall to get a change of clothes and buy some necessities.

Seeing Zhang Heng walking out of the fitting room, wearing beach pants and a T-shirt, Han Lu could not help but compliment him. “You look good in this, comparable to advertisement models, I believe.”

“Is that right? But we have already bought two sets. Let’s forget about this one,” Zhang Heng said.

“No, no, no. I like this set. Trust me.” Han Lu took out her credit card. “Yonaguni Island is located at the westernmost point of Japan, and there are no big shopping malls on the island. So, we have to prepare a few sets of clothes, right?”

Her last question was meant for the local guide beside her. The latter was a handsome, Chinese-Japanese young man. Whenever he smiled, the people around him could feel the breath of summer. That was why he charged a lot for his service fee. The standard local guide’s service fee was 1,000 to 1,500 yen per hour. However, the local guide that Han Lu had hired charged her 4,000 yen per hour. And he was in high demand as well.

But when he put on his signature sunny smile to pick up Han Lu from the airport, he saw her frowning. That was because Han Lu did not expect her assistant to be so careless. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t mind hiring a handsome local guide to keep her company. After all, everyone liked attractive people.

But this time, she was on vacation with Zhang Heng. It did not make sense if she got herself a handsome local guide. Since the decision was made, Han Lu would not dismiss him. If she had done that on the spot, everyone would be able to see that she was trying to hide something. So, she could only bite the bullet and accept him as their local guide.

Unfortunately, the person that suffered the most from this matter was the local guide. Though he was the one that provided the service, no one would pay double the price just to get a standard local guide’s service. He was supposed to enjoy the sun, sea, and beach with her. Occasionally, he would talk to his client about life. That was where the value from paying the extra money came from.

Especially this time, when the local guide saw Han Lu walking out of the airport, he felt his heartbeat slowing by two beats. After that, he saw Han Lu frowning at him. This was his first experience getting rejected by his client. Fortunately, he only needed to send the two to the hotel that night, and he left without speaking much with them. It wasn’t until the next day before he realized that he was only a tool to them.

Han Lu would only speak to him when she needed translation service or tell him when she wanted to go next. As for the rest of the time, she would treat him like he was invisible. Even though the sky was clear and the sea breeze embraced Naha today, the local guide’s mood was as bad as a blizzard ravaging the island. After taking Han Lu’s order, he squeezed out a smile and a “Yes.”

“Pay with my card.” Han Lu finally made a decision. In fact, she did not bother to listen to the local guide’s opinion. She just wanted to make use of him to convince Zhang Heng.

As expected, Zhang Heng did not say no anymore. Neither he nor Han Lu was short of money, so he would not dwell on whether to buy the set of clothes that he was wearing.

…

No matter how old a woman was or what a woman worked as, they always had great enthusiasm when it came to buying stuff in a shopping mall. Although they were here to buy clothes for Zhang Heng, Han Lu would take the opportunity to buy the clothes she liked too. In the end, the two ended up spending their entire morning shopping.

Not only did Zhang Heng buy five sets of clothes, but Han Lu had also bought a ton of cosmetics, shoes, and bags for herself. As she walked out of the mall, the local guide’s hands were filled with shopping bags.

“It’s getting late. Let’s find a place for lunch,” Han Lu said while looking at the depressed local guide.

“What are some of the special restaurants nearby?”

“I don’t know.”

The local guide shook his head.

“You don’t know?” Han Lu frowned, “You charge 4000 yen an hour, and you didn’t even bother to do some research for us?”

Now that Han Lu had mentioned it, the local guide started to get angry. He did charge Han Lu 4,000 yen an hour. However, he was not happy when she made him carry everything that she bought. With his handsome appearance, he could easily find another client. It was not necessary for him to stay here and work for them to get the hard-earned cash.

There were still many young and beautiful girls in this world waiting for him to fill the emptiness in their hearts. Upon thinking about that, the local guide stood straight and said, “Sorry, Miss Han. I don’t feel well today. I don’t think I can work as your local guide any more.”

Without waiting for Han Lu to speak, he continued, “I will refund all the fees I have received. And I apologize for all the trouble that I made.”

After finishing talking, he put down all the shopping bags on the side of the road. At that moment, he felt really proud of himself. He compared himself with the Chinese poet, Tao Yuanming who refused to lower himself down for five buckets of rice.

“Of course, you are free to go. I don’t need you to refund the money to me as well. But, you have to at least wait until another local guide to take over your job.” Han Lu was displeased with his service from the beginning. After paying him 4,000 yen per hour, he still failed to provide her with the most basic service. And when he was working, he looked weak, and he looked like he had no intention to serve them at all, which was why she been looking for an excuse to fire him. She did not expect he would take the initiative to quit the job.

“Let’s find a restaurant for us first.” Han Lu took out her mobile phone to contact her assistant to get her a new local guide. In the end, Zhang Heng talked her out of it.

“It’s okay. We are going to travel to the island soon anyway. I can be your translator to translate some of the basic conversations.”

Zhang Heng stopped an old couple who was about to cross the road and politely asked them to recommend some good restaurants nearby.

When the local guide heard the conversation between Zhang Heng and the old couples, he was taken aback. Usually, a tourist hired a local guide because they did not speak their language. Otherwise, they could go wherever they wanted to if they could communicate with others in their language. Previously, Zhang Heng did not show he was capable of speaking in Japanese. He would remain quiet whenever the local guide did the translation for them.

That was why the local guide assumed that Zhang Heng did not understand Japanese. To his surprise, Zhang Heng was well-versed in Japanese, and he even carried a Tokyo accent. He started to think that maybe Han Lu did pay him that 4,000 yuan per hour to help her carry shopping bags. Had he misunderstood them from the beginning?