Since the ho is basically unlivable and resembles a small river, all the valuable electronics have been moved onto the bed, while people go outside to find a place to sleep or stay over at workplaces.
Guo Guo's family lives in a lower and marginal section of the slum. Although it's quite close to the central lake and the rooms are relatively comfortable, they weren't spared from flooding.
The difference is, Guo Guo's grandfather isn't fond of outings, spending most of his ti resting in bed, while the family has stockpiled enough food to last the grandparent and grandchild a couple of days. So unlike others, they would stay and wait for the water to recede.
Guo Guo, on the other hand, has a tough ti. Whether the wind blows or it rains, she has to go to the store to manage it. Her pay for working without any lunchti throughout the year is substantial.
The hardware store's boss is generous, while the second boss, although the worst, treats her fairly by providing lunch. As a result, she calculated that she saved quite a bit of money over a month, which she could use to buy dicine for her grandfather.
As for what the boss wants her to sell, she sells it with no pressure on performance, and sotis there are custors who co to her proactively.
Today, while heading out, the rain isn't heavy, rely a few drops falling on her head. Guo Guo, who didn't bring an umbrella, pulls up her hood and rushes to the hardware store because she had stayed up late chatting with her grandfather the night before. From afar, she sees the second boss waiting at the door holding a straight-handled umbrella.
"Why are you late today?" The second boss, who usually didn't care about ti, imdiately starts scolding Guo Guo as soon as he sees her. Being accustod to his jokes, Guo Guo doesn't mind, opening the shutter door to let the second boss in first.
"I overslept, sorry about that!" She gives a polite explanation, recognizing him as the boss, while she is just a worker and shouldn't overstep boundaries.
"Here is a new batch of dicine, keep it safe." The second boss doesn't mind her explanation, taking out a package tightly wrapped in kraft paper from a big bag. Guo Guo imdiately recognizes the item. Every ti goods arrive, storing them requires attention. From the packaging, she knows this batch only requires room temperature storage and must be kept dry.
"There is a big shipnt recently, but we can't handle it here." The second boss's little eyes dart around. What he refers to as a big shipnt is another type of dicine. Guo Guo hasn't seen this kind before, only hearing the second boss ntion it occasionally, supposedly strengthening the body in so way. Anyway, it doesn't concern her; she deals only with business concerning n and won.
"Oh, is that stuff really so miraculous?" Guo Guo blinks and asks.
"I don't know!" The second boss, crouching at the entrance and smoking a cigarette, lifts his head to look at the sky. Although it is dayti, black clouds linger above, suggesting a potentially heavy rain later. "If there's no business, close early and store the dicine safely. I'm leaving."
"Second boss, your umbrella!" Upon hearing she could close early, Guo Guo is naturally cheerful, but the second boss leaves in a hurry, with a knitted brow indicating he has sothing urgent.
Thinking while putting the valuable dicine on a high shelf, Guo Guo uses a tin box to lock it up, treating all dicine similarly by placing them in silver tin boxes, covering them with a thick blanket as a precaution in case heavy rain leaks from the ceiling.
The hardware store is a small storefront built with rain boards and so plywood, essentially an illegal construction between two buildings. Expecting solidity is futile, so during the rainy days, Guo Guo inevitably scurries around plugging leaks where materials are lacking before heavy rain sets in. Consequently, she will be grateful for less cleanup later, and even her retreat space might suffer; spending the ti for repairs is necessary for her own good.
"Guo Guo!" Just as she climbs up on a stool, soone calls from outside. Leaning down, she sees Ah San from the inn, rrily waving him over.
"Ah San, you ca at the right ti, bring the hamr."
"Oh, okay!" Ah San starts looking into the toolbox, while Guo Guo suddenly thinks of sothing and shouts at Ah San.
"Do you know what a hamr is?"
"Is it this one?"
"That's a wrench, the hamr is right next to the wrench, yes that's it, bring it to ." While supervising from the stool, Guo Guo watches Ah San below with unease.
"What do you need this for?" Ah San hands the hamr to Guo Guo, subsequently asking.
"Of course for fixing the roof, it's gonna rain soon, why are you here?" Guo Guo secures nails with wood over the crevices, the light is dim, but it can shield rain. "The inn is quite a distance from here, did you bring an umbrella?"
Jumping down from the stool, Guo Guo doesn't feel bored due to Ah San frequently visiting her for company. With few people around the hardware store and Ah San, who doesn't understand what she does, she never feels dull.
"Xiao i asked to co." Ah San stands aside, and with only one chair in the hardware store, naturally, it belongs to Guo Guo.
"Xiao i?" Guo Guo scrunches her brows in discontent. "Why are you still with her? Didn't she already reject you?" Taking out the ledger, she records today's goods.
"Hehe, she said she wanted to see ." Ah San naively stands by the door, glancing diagonally towards 'Phoenix Tail' nightclub just across.
"Then go find her, why stay here with !"
Guo Guo doesn't bother anymore with Ah San. Xiao i was her classmate who dropped out, and she only learned Xiao i was in the escort business by chance during her first day of trading illegal drugs, with her first transaction being with Xiao i.
Both were dumbfounded at that mont, but fortunately, Xiao i was savvy and left with the drugs without a word. It wasn't until a week later they truly t, as Xiao i lived in the building next to the hardware store, conveniently close, resulting in frequent encounters with Ah San over ti.
The saying about a toad wanting to eat swan at aptly applies to these two individuals. Unable to resist Ah San's foolish persistence, they were properly introduced during a rainy day.
Predictably, he was rejected on the spot. Whatever happened afterward with these two remains unknown, except Ah San didn't appear at the hardware store for quite a while, causing concern as a friend.
Unexpectedly, when Ah San returned, he seed wealthier, and rumors of a romance between Ah San and Xiao i began circulating, perplexing many. When asked about it, Ah San just chuckled foolishly saying he learned to make money. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote on Qidian with recomndation or monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
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