Chapter 3, 003. Checking in is God's job, it's all included.

The next morning, Chenzhoudu woke up at seven o'clock sharp, quickly washed up, ate the breakfast he had bought on his way back the day before, covered the furniture with white cloth again, tidied up his things, and prepared to go out.

In the past, Shen Jinghai had always been strict with him in Shanghai, setting his own set of strict standards for everything from food to daily life.

Now that he has suddenly gained freedom, he has already developed a habitual biological clock.

My suitcase broke, but luckily I didn't have much stuff in it and it wasn't too heavy.

When the property management staff came yesterday, he borrowed a screwdriver and removed the good wheel from the front and installed it in the back so that it could be pulled with difficulty.

After leaving the house, he first returned the screwdriver to the property management, and then followed the navigation to "Du".

The alley where "Crossing" is located is called Shanfeng Alley. Although it is narrow and dense, it is very clear on the navigation map.

It only takes 40 minutes to walk there from Tianhewan via a shortcut.

Almost the entire Shanfeng Lane is lined with privately owned guesthouses and inns, and "Du" is the second one among them. Further along, there are some restaurants, barbershops, repair shops, and so on. It's as if they've created a unique little world in this not-so-bustling lane.

Xia Chan was not there at the time; the entire "Du" courtyard only had a receptionist and a few guests.

Perhaps because it was daytime, there were more people in the courtyard today. A few guests were having breakfast in the open-air restaurant on the west side of the courtyard, a child was squatting by the pond playing with a cat, and the man from Shanghai was talking loudly on the phone in the corner of the courtyard in Shanghainese.

The receptionist was a gentle and kind young woman, who looked quite young and a bit introverted. Seeing his eyes brighten slightly as he stopped pressing the calculator, she smiled sweetly and said softly, "Hello."

"Hello, I booked a three-month short-term rental yesterday and I'm here to check in."

The girl seemed even more surprised, her eyes crinkling into a wider smile. "Sister Xiaochan already told me." Then she pulled out something that looked like a contract from a stack of documents beside her, glanced at it, and handed it to him.

"Please take a look. If there are no problems, please sign in these places and then give me your ID card."

After reviewing the entire process, and confirming that everything was as Xia Chan had described yesterday, he promptly signed his name and handed over his ID card.

She took the ID card and paused slightly as she was about to enter the information.

Then she looked at him with even greater surprise.

"What's wrong?" Chen Zhoudu asked, slightly surprised.

“No…” She smiled even more apologetically and shook her head, her fingertip touching the character “渡”. “I just felt… it was a bit of a coincidence.”

Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but laugh, "I think so too."

The room chosen by Chenzhoudu was on the third floor, on the east side, and it was the largest of all the long-term rental rooms. Opening the window, one could see the contours of the distant mountains, with the morning mist like a wisp of smoke lingering around the distant peaks and ridges.

This room had been cleaned when he came to see it yesterday, and now it looks like it has been cleaned again carefully.

The pink lilies that were in the vase yesterday have turned into lilies of the valley today, and a handwritten greeting card sits neatly on the table.

"to:

"Du" welcomes you to your stay.

Wishing you a happy life.

There's no "to" in the name, but the handwriting is casual, unrestrained, and somewhat sharp.

This led to unfounded speculation that someone might have written it.

Thinking about it carefully... he really hadn't told her his name yet.

Chen Zhoudu carefully gathered his few remaining belongings, placed the empty suitcase by the door, and planned to throw it away the next time he went out.

The two wheels on that suitcase are so badly broken that even if they were repaired, they probably wouldn't be able to run smoothly again. It would be better to buy a new one.

He returned and sat down at the table by the window, opened his laptop, and planned to organize the study materials he hadn't finished before.

The table wobbled slightly. At first, Chen Zhoudu thought he was imagining things, but after sitting for a while, he realized that there was indeed a slight back-and-forth swaying.

It seemed that the joint between the table legs and the tabletop was loose. After getting up and checking, I found that there was indeed a small gap at the joint.

This set of tables and chairs is actually made of mortise and tenon joints, with not a single screw in the entire set.

He briefly examined the gap, wondering if he could stuff some paper or apply glue, but the gap was too small to fit the paper, so he had to go downstairs to ask the front desk if they had any glue.

"What's wrong?" The receptionist was a little surprised when she heard his request. After he explained the reason, she came over to check the room, but her expression was somewhat troubled.

“This table is made of mortise and tenon joints. If you apply glue, it won’t be able to be disassembled later, and I don’t have any glue here right now… How about this, I’ll get you a new one.”

The sunken boat crossing was certainly a good idea. The solid wood table was heavy, and not something the two of them could lift alone; the receptionist said they should wait for the repairman to return and come directly up to him.

After the receptionist left, Chen Zhoudu tidied up the documents for a while, and before he knew it, it was already noon. The sun was blazing outside, and there were three knocks on the door.

Chen Zhoudu thought it was the repairman, so he got up, rubbed Qingming's acupoints, and went to open the door. "Master..."

Before he could finish saying "Hello, Master," his voice suddenly caught in his throat.

The person outside slowly raised their head, revealing a pale face under a baseball cap. Carrying what looked like a toolbox, they brushed past him and casually asked, "What's broken?"

She was wearing a reddish-brown baseball cap, as well as her usual loose-fitting red cargo pants and black T-shirt. She had probably just come back from outside, as there was a thin layer of sweat on her chin and neck.

His actions and tone were very crisp and efficient.

Chen Zhoudu subconsciously glanced down the corridor behind her to make sure there were no more construction workers, then turned back, slightly taken aback, and pointed to a table leg, saying hesitantly, "Here..."

Xia Chan pressed one hand on the table and carefully examined the area, confirming that one of her legs was indeed loose.

She paused, about to flip over the table to see the Apple laptop on it, and asked calmly, "Can you move it?"

Chen Zhoudu stared at her blankly and nodded.

She immediately wiped her hands on her overalls, picked up his laptop and charging cable, and put them aside.

Then, holding the edge of the table with one hand and bracing one foot against a corner, he used a sudden burst of force to shove the table—which flipped 180 degrees and lay on the ground.

Upon seeing this, Chen Zhoudu's brow twitched and he instinctively stepped forward to lend her a hand, but she quietly stepped aside, blocking him and the table, and said in an inscrutable tone, "Get out of the way! Don't touch you."

Then, she braced herself against the edge of the table with one foot and held onto the stool leg with the other, flipping the table upside down onto the ground. She then shook the loose table leg a few times, took a pair of gloves from her toolbox, put them on, stepped onto the tabletop with one foot, gripped the table leg tightly with both hands, and wobbled it forward and backward. With a snap, the table leg was removed.

"..." The sinking boat crossing was simply breathtaking.

After the table legs were removed, Xia Chan casually tossed it on the ground, put her hands on her hips, took a breath, then took off her gloves, wiped her sweat with her sleeve, and squatted down next to the toolbox to start rummaging through it for something.

Finally, she found a small piece of wood that was roughly the same size as the cross-section of the table leg. Xia Chan placed it next to the table leg and compared it to the table leg. Then, she sat down on the ground with a flourish, picked up a knife, and began to carefully shave it bit by bit, just like she was sharpening a pencil.

Chen Zhoudu stood there, unsure of what to do, and afraid of causing trouble, so he could only stand there silently and watch her cut.

If removing the table legs was rough work, then shaving the wood was delicate work.

The size and thickness of the wood chips had to be precise to the millimeter. She stared intently at the wood block as she carefully shaved it, completely focused and meticulous, as if she were handling a precious work of art.

Beads of sweat clung to her nose, and her pale red lips were slightly pursed. Her hands were long and slender, but not delicate; they were covered in dust from her work, and there were even a few tiny scratches on the back of her fingers.

Involuntarily, Chen Zhoudu also tightened his fingers.

Xia Chan placed the finest, thinnest piece of wood onto the table leg and then used quick-drying glue to secure it at the joint.

After the glue dried completely, she picked up the table leg and placed it back into the mortise on the tabletop. Then, like when she was building blocks as a child, she pushed and tucked it in. The table leg was now perfectly engaged with the tabletop again and wouldn't move no matter how she shook it.

When the table was flipped back over, Chen Zhoudu could no longer stand idly by and stepped forward to help. Xia Chan glanced at him but said nothing, and together they flipped the table back over.

"Okay, that's all. You can come to me anytime if you have any further questions."

After confirming that the table was completely stable, Xia Chan packed up her toolbox and prepared to leave.

"Hey..." Shen Zhoudu called out to her subconsciously.

Xia Chan stopped and turned around.

The scene seemed to suddenly return to that moment under the lamp last night, and Chen Zhoudu was speechless when he met her gaze.

He hesitated for a few seconds before rummaging through his drawer, then returned to her with a band-aid in his palm.

Xia Chan looked at the band-aid and then at him in surprise. Her face was covered in sweat, but she suddenly smiled and said, "I don't need this."

Chen Zhoudu paused slightly, then slowly clenched the band-aid in his palm and let it hang down.

Her fingertips twitched slightly at her side, but she ultimately didn't take it. She glanced at him one last time and turned to leave.

Chenzhoudu spoke again, "That..."

She turned back again.

Her gaze remained calm and indifferent, showing no emotional change, but Chen Zhoudu felt that if she didn't say something this time, she might run out of patience.

But what... what should I say?

Should we apologize?

Talking about this would probably exhaust her patience even more.

Or perhaps it's said, "My name is Chenzhoudu"?

However, this deliberate attempt to strike up a conversation might make people suspect that there are ulterior motives.

If he were her, he would probably just sneer and then pick up a hammer and kill him.

He hesitated several times, but finally took a deep breath as if gathering some courage, and said, "Thank you."

Xia Chan paused for a moment, then genuinely laughed. It wasn't a cold laugh, but rather a playful one as she looked at him, his lips curving upwards and his eyes sparkling. "You're God, the one who's booked it."

A note from the author:

----------------------

Gods (not really) [Let me see], hahaha babies, unconditional paragraph comments are now open, babies are welcome to come and play~

If any of you enjoy this story, I'd be incredibly grateful if you could add it to your favorites! I really appreciate your support! [Sprinkling flowers]

Thank you so much to the fairies "This is just a bot account", "Hoshino", and "Xia Luo Yide" for the nutrient solution! I'm so happy! Goodnight everyone~ See you tomorrow! [rose]