Wasn't using his house as a hotel last night enough? Or is Lu Mingran really planning to cling to him?
Su Yun decided to pretend this person didn't exist for the time being. He ignored Lu Mingran and went straight to the young girl to hand over his shift. The girl glanced at him, then at Lu Mingran, with a grin on her face.
"So that's why he's been hanging around here all day. He was waiting for you, boss."
“Don’t talk like that,” Su Yun said, taking the employee apron and tying it on. “I’m not familiar with him.”
"It's not cooked yet, but it will be cooked soon."
Lu Mingran picked up a broom and cleaned up the "corpses" of the balloons, then walked over to him as if to claim credit and asked:
"How do you think of my work skills?"
Su Yun said without looking up, "What does it have to do with me whether you do a good job or not?"
"Yes, we are related."
Lu Mingran's eyes sparkled:
"I'd like to work the night shift here."
——————————————————————
After the girl who worked the day shift left, Su Yun found himself completely besieged by Lu Mingran, who kept buzzing around, trying her best to sell him how suitable she was for the night shift:
"I saw her last night; the person taking over the night shift was also a girl. How could you bear to let a girl stay up all night?"
"If she knew you were trying to take her job, I reckon she would just hate you."
Regarding this, Lu Mingran was certain that the man wouldn't do it, because according to the novel's plot, the girl would call to resign at eight o'clock tonight.
He is ready to start his job.
Since Su Yun was ignoring him, he had no choice but to find something to do. Seeing that so many people were passing by but few were coming in, Lu Mingran pulled out a large megaphone from some corner, carried a box of milk from the store's promotion, and went out.
"Thump." The sound of a box being placed on the ground could be clearly heard from outside.
Then, Su Yun's eardrums and heart were struck again:
"Hey, come on over and take a look! There's a special sale! A case of Sheng Yi Yuan milk was originally 35 yuan, but now it's only 33.8 yuan!"
Startled, Su Yun immediately looked up.
He was used to being quiet, and after taking over his parents' business, he always quietly tended the shop, not seeking much profit, only a stable life. Lu Mingran's method of blasting music and shouting promotions through a megaphone caused serious harm to his young mind.
That said, he went to the promotion as soon as he was told to. He's really not afraid of strangers at all. How can he be so shameless?
"land--"
Su Yun wanted to call the person back, but after only uttering one word, he saw Lu Mingran suddenly stop.
As Lu Mingran was holding the megaphone and looking around, her eyes happened to land on a man.
Mr. Hu.
————————————————————————
The shop is located in an old neighborhood with a strong sense of local life, and today, a man has set up a stall on West Street.
He was wearing sunglasses, leaning on a black cane, and there was an advertisement under a brick at his feet. It looked like he was holding an erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), but the advertisement on the ground said that he was a fortune teller who could read palms, predict marriage, and do everything.
Most people scoffed at him as they passed by. But Lu Mingran watched from afar and thought to himself, "Mr. Hu, you're pretending to be a down-on-his-luck江湖人 (jianghu person, a person from the martial arts world), but your aura is just too outstanding. At first glance, among these vendors, you are the most conspicuous."
Having seen enough, Lu Mingran put down the loudspeaker, strolled over to Mr. Hu, bent down, and pretended to be carefully watching his advertisement.
Mr. Hu let him look at him, leaning on his cane with both hands, looking calm and composed.
"gentlemen--"
Lu Mingran squatted down, raised her eyelids to look at him: "Since you're so good at calculations, then calculate what I'll do in fifteen minutes."
"Oh? I'm afraid I can't calculate that."
To Lu Mingran's surprise, Mr. Hu didn't even bother to deal with him and simply said it didn't matter.
But Mr. Hu also said, "I can't count you, but I can count the people who were with you last night."
"..." Lu Mingran did not expect that Mr. Hu actually remembered him, and also remembered Su Yun.
An eerie silence suddenly fell between the two.
After a long pause, Lu Mingran reviewed the novel's plot and spoke to Mr. Hu:
"He is a good person."
In the novel's ending, many details hint that Mr. Hu's acceptance of Su Yun as his apprentice had an element of exploitation. There is no love or hate without a reason, and perhaps there is no such thing as a free master.
So Lu Mingran said: He is a good person.
Please, at least soften your heart a little, considering how kind he is.
Mr. Hu smiled and said, "Young man, don't praise others as good people."
Have you ever heard the saying, "Evil deeds live for a thousand years, while good people don't live long"?
That was a truly amusing remark, which made Lu Mingran laugh, and Mr. Hu laughed too. Amidst the laughter, Lu Mingran stood up and said, "Sir, I'm leaving."
Take care.
Lu Mingran left, and as soon as he turned his back, the smile on his face turned cold, and then he put on another kind of cunning smile.
He suddenly stopped and slipped into the alley. As soon as he entered, he took out his phone and quickly made a call.
Lu Mingran had wanted to do this for a long time.
He's someone who's loved reading supernatural novels since he was a child, and he's read quite a lot of them, which is probably one of the reasons the system chose him.
What Lu Mingran had always wanted to complain about was that many serialized paranormal posts started by confidently claiming that the events were true, whether people believed it or not, and the first few so-called real ghost stories they told were indeed convincing.
However, starting from the scene where the protagonist recognizes a master, when he becomes narcissistic and the master who gives him cheat codes arrives, the sense of realism disappears, and it becomes obvious that this is a fictional novel.
Lu Mingran really wanted to ask them, didn't anyone report these charlatans who were messing around in the street?
If not, he's willing!
Beep—the call is connected.
"Hello, is this the urban management hotline?"
Lu Mingran didn't even give the operator a chance to speak, and said with her hands on her hips while making the call:
"Urban management officers, I want to report you! There are people illegally setting up stalls here, obstructing the road, in broad daylight, aren't you going to do anything about it?!"
Chapter 8 Want to become a Grandmaster? No way (8)
When Lu Mingran was in college, she observed the back-and-forth struggle between the vendors and the urban management officers at the school gate, and realized one thing:
Street vendors who set up stalls year-round have their own information channels; they generally know when the urban management officers will come and when they will leave.
At this moment, the only person who probably doesn't know this is Mr. Hu, an outsider.
Before long, the vendors' phones started ringing. They all received serious warnings and quickly began packing up their belongings, riding off on tricycles and other vehicles. One of the vendors, a young man selling jianbing (Chinese crepes), kept looking back at the young girl who was relentlessly chasing after him and said, "I won't let you down. I will definitely come back and take responsibility."
—Because he had just received the money, but hadn't made the pancakes yet.
Only Mr. Hu sat there, turning his head to watch others tidy up, remaining calm. Lu Mingran peeked out furtively, her mouth wide open and eyes narrowing as she laughed, then quickly covered her mouth and pulled back, coughing a few times to pretend nothing had happened.
"I asked you to calculate what I'm going to do in fifteen minutes, and you couldn't figure it out. That means you're not capable enough."
After muttering these words to herself, Lu Mingran returned to Su Yun's small supermarket, feeling satisfied and smug.
Just then, a truck was parked at the entrance, restocking the supermarket. Seeing this, Lu Mingran ran over to help Su Yun move the boxes.
While the two were busy, the atmosphere finally became more harmonious and pleasant. After restocking, Su Yun handed Lu Mingran a bottle of drink:
"Thanks."
"By the way," Su Yun also opened a bottle and started drinking, sitting on the stool and looking outside, "why did you suddenly go outside just now?"
Of course, Lu Mingran wouldn't say that in order to prevent you from becoming her master, she would report your master to the city management and sacrifice her own family for your sake.
Lu Mingran would just clutch her chest, pretending to have angina, and say that she had just raided a superstitious den.
Lu Mingran, still sitting on the stool, turned around and raised her chin to Su Yun, who was doing the accounts, teasing him, and said:
"By the way, Su Yun, how about I tell your fortune?"
"I can predict that you will die someday."
Su Yun was amused: "What are you calculating? If you put it that way, I can calculate it too."
Lu Mingran had been waiting for this very sentence:
"Yes, Su Yun. So, if you ever encounter those people who set up stalls to read palms or tell fortunes, you absolutely must not believe them. It's best not to even give them a glance."
Su Yun listened and nodded, humming in agreement. He could see ghosts, so he wasn't that averse to this kind of thing.
Moreover, some charlatans were a joke to him—once, a charlatan was doing feng shui for his relatives, and Su Yun personally witnessed a passing ghost tugging at the charlatan's clothes from behind, while the charlatan was shaking a bell and self-importantly performing a ritual.
At this moment, Su Yun was focused on calculating the accounts, and Lu Mingran's words gradually became background noise, not reaching his ears. When he finally stopped being immersed in his own world and looked up, it was already dark.
Su Yun glanced at the wall clock: eight o'clock in the evening.
Lu Mingran was still in the shop, chatting with customers who came in. Su Yun looked at him and said, "Are you really planning to stay at the shop tonight?"
Su Yun sighed, thinking that it was because she was too shy that Lu Mingran was able to keep going. Maybe she should just give this task to Wanwan.
Wanwan has been working the night shift for him for a long time, while several day shift employees have come and gone, but she has remained the same. Su Yun knows that this girl seems to rarely go out during the day, and her complexion is always poor.
However, when talking to Wanwan normally, there was nothing unusual about her. Seeing that she was very efficient and had a sweet and likable smile, Su Yun decided to keep her.
For some reason, Wanwan suddenly called him.
"boss……"
Wanwan spoke, her voice heavy with nasal congestion: "I might not be able to come to work."
"You... have a cold? That's okay, get some rest."
"no."
Wanwan said, "I want to resign."
Upon hearing this, Su Yun's first reaction was to hold the phone and look at Lu Mingran, who was sitting with her back to him.