Chapter 35: The Lei Feng of Those Years

  From the day I agreed to let Qiao come to the dessert shop to help during summer vacation, for the next three consecutive days, until today, I haven't seen him again.

  If he hadn't told me in advance that he had an exam, I would have almost thought he was regretting his decision and taking evasive action. Fortunately, he is a steadfast man, under my piercing gaze, he actually used the resolute oath "the mountain has no corners, heaven and earth are united, only then will I not come to help" which made me feel both moved and relieved - after all, I didn't waste so much sweet dessert's sweetness.

  As for his work uniform, I suppose most people have a subconscious definition of "feminine" when it comes to dessert shop service staff, and unfortunately, my aunt and I are two of those people. So initially, the uniforms were all made in women's sizes. Although we still have two standard-sized uniforms available in the store, we can't possibly force Cheng Qiao into a woman's uniform just to save on labor costs. Therefore, finding him a suitable yet not exaggerated work uniform that can bring out his "beauty" and "lucky cat" effect has become my special task for now.

  I clicked my tongue, and indeed, it's hard to predict what will happen in life. Who would have thought that one day we'd hire a male waiter to help with business?

  "What's with your reaction? Hey, I'm asking you, did you even listen to what I said?"

  "Ah?" I suddenly raised my head, and the little Yu opposite me was staring at me with wide eyes, a cold sweat trickling down his forehead. I forced a laugh, "Of course I listened, but it didn't listen to orders inside and ran out on its own..."

  "White, you bastard!" Xiao Yu said indignantly, pointing at my nose. "I said that my writing career might end this summer!" She paused for a moment, her expression becoming very melancholic. "Didn't I say that I had started serializing a new article 'Re-encountering Ominous Signs' in another magazine? But before that, there was a period of time when I didn't have any inspiration, so I didn't write much. Later on, because I was busy preparing for exams, I wanted to write but didn't have the time. As a result, that article still hasn't even seen the shadow of ominous signs until now. Some old readers have already abandoned me, and new readers aren't used to my writing style yet. My popularity has plummeted to an all-time low! What's most infuriating is that yesterday I actually received a threatening letter from the editor! It didn't scare me, but one of my roommates was scared unconscious by that bloody severed hand! To make amends, I even had to treat her to dinner, and it looks like I'll have to keep treating her until the holiday! This is just too damn frustrating!"

  I nodded and murmured in agreement.

  She slammed her hand on the table and stood up, angrily saying: "Hmph... you're so heartless! I'm already in such a miserable state, and you give me this kind of reaction. Do you still have a conscience?!"

  "Shh! Sit up straight and pay attention to your image, don't scare away my guests! I'm listening carefully, aren't I? Besides, I'm not a tyrant, I have a conscience, and a heart that's not made of stone. Seeing the flames of anger in her eyes again, I immediately put on a serious expression, "Then can you hurry up and write?"

  "I did, I wrote day and night after the exam, but now my inspiration is exhausted and I'm stuck again. And to make matters worse, recent horror movies have been getting more and more rubbish, not bloody enough. Plus, A-Qian has been even more normal than me lately, completely lacking the awareness to spark my creativity." By the end, Xiao Yu's expression was gone, "What kind of fate can be so torturous, it's really... heaven wants me dead."

  I almost burst out laughing: "This is what you call a lot of twists and turns? Then..."

  She interrupted me with a tragic tone: "I don't want to hear comparisons, I just know that now I am the Emperor of Multiple Sorrows! From now on, you can all call me the Emperor of Multiple Sorrows!"

  Defeated by her self-abandoned appearance, I decided to comfort her properly. "Actually, when your first supernatural novel was serialized in the magazine for the first time, it made that originally always out-of-print school magazine stall for a whole month. We thought your writing career would end then, but you still persisted so stubbornly for so long, and I think it's already very difficult."

  She stared blankly for a moment: "You're mistaken, that issue of the magazine wasn't a huge hit, but it didn't sell poorly either."

  This time it was my turn to be stunned, and I didn't know how to respond.

  Haiying, who had been quietly standing by with her arms around her, finally spoke up: "Actually, there hasn't been any backlog, Yaoyao must have remembered it wrong, and you know she's always had a bad memory."

  Xiao Yu let out a soft "oh" and fell back into her self-abandoning state.

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  But actually, I didn't misremember this matter. At that time, we had just been informed that Xiaoyu was going to be printed in lead type, and everyone was very excited except for A Qian. Because she was almost the prototype of Xiaoyu's book, thinking about how she would react when she found out, we were terrified and didn't dare say another word.

  Because Xiao Yu is the author, she can get a free physical copy of the magazine. Moreover, thinking that she will be serialized for so long anyway, buying any issue would have the same effect as collecting it. So we didn't plan to go buy another one immediately. Not long after, I went to find a newly released manga and dragged Haiming along to the bookstore. While looking for books, I unexpectedly heard the store owner complaining to someone else that this issue's xxx doesn't know what's wrong with it. The first article is already unusually eerie, but this time even the sales volume is eerily unusual. He said something like "we should stock less in the future".

  The first one was the serialized piece by Xiao Yu. Under shock, Haiying and I immediately went to investigate with our boss, only to find out that not a single copy of xxx had been sold this month. It didn't even have time to digest before it fell into a slump from being sold out. When our boss continued to say he was going to call the magazine company to strongly advise against featuring that wooden fish again in the next issue, Haiying and I took out all the money we had on us and bought up all the remaining stock of that issue under our boss's incredulous gaze. Finally, we called my dad to come pick us up from the bookstore with no money left...and a pile of magazines.

  Then I watched in admiration as Haiying calmly explained to my dad, as the class leader, why a second-year high school class would need this type of magazine. Meanwhile, I decisively sent a text message to get MuMu involved too.

  After that, we searched for a small number of magazines in different bookstores and sent them all to the welfare institute and nursing home after sorting. Although the directors' faces were a bit stiff when they accepted, we still proudly felt that we had made a great contribution to the flowers of our motherland and the pillars of old age.

  And I, who don't have a good memory, must have had a profound reason to remember this matter so deeply. Because we three good kids did good deeds without leaving our names, and in order to be able to do it all the way, we had to tightly hold on to our food expenses, which were severely damaged, and couldn't let others know. Just as we were eating the half-cooked vegetables from the cafeteria with expressionless faces, Ah Qian and Xiao Yu were eating meat with big mouths and curiously asking us if we were preparing for life after becoming monks in advance.

  This vitamin overdose and spiritual torment that was almost dying to live lasted for a whole month. When the tender chicken breast mixed with the flavor of a few Sichuan peppercorns exploded on my tongue, I deeply understood a truth with tears in my eyes - in this world, people who behave normally are crippled angels, while those who behave abnormally are God's favored children. And what we need to do is to strive to make ourselves abnormal in all aspects...

  Recommend good friends' masterpieces, ancient romance lovers can take a look, and don't forget to add bookmarks, there are recommendations on the homepage.

  A beauty in chaotic times can conquer the world, but a lifetime of quiet solitude is a lonely one.

  [bookid==《Mistress of Chaos》]