Stall business

"Pei Zhi, let me ask you again."

In the dim, cramped cell, the sentry's hands were tied behind his back to the back of a metal chair. His head hung low, a few strands of bangs draping over his eyes, making it impossible to discern his expression. Through the window, a few narrow strips of white sunlight streamed in. The air was still, as if nothing was flowing.

"Speak!" The backlit officer suddenly became stern and kicked the sentry hard on the knee. The sentry's entire body, along with the metal interrogation chair, shook before regaining its composure. "Are you still going to continue to deny your responsibility and fault for Commander Shen's serious injury?"

Pei Zhi pretended not to hear, but lowered his head even more. Soon a snort of laughter escaped from the corner of his lips: "Why, does my silence affect your ability to punish me, sir?"

"Asshole!" The man stood up and pointed at him, his voice trembling with anger. "The White Tower has saved your life, how could you do such a thing!"

"Did Fang Suiming tell you that?" Pei Zhi's tone was unexpectedly frivolous. "Is it because of me that Commander Shen made a mistake in judgment and almost got himself killed?"

"You are really hopeless!" The officer panted heavily, glared at him fiercely, and turned his military boots with two "clicks", and the small door of the prison cell closed heavily.

The echo of the chains clanging spread out and then disappeared.

Pei Zhi didn't raise his head, didn't even move, like a half-dead stone tablet. After a long while, he slowly raised his eyes.

The sunlight from the window has been rotating with time, moving from his feet to his neck, like a burning knife mark.

-

"Xu Youling—you've gone too far—"

Song Qi, with a sad face, half-crouched on Xu Youling's cart, covering his face with his elbows, unwilling to exchange glances with the people passing by.

"How could you have such a good roommate like me!" He squeezed out a fake cry from the fabric of his sleeves, "After a tiring workday, I finally got off work and I was willing to accompany you to wash someone's dog..."

Xu Youling paused while pulling the cart, and said helplessly, "Why don't you get out of the cart first? This isn't meant for carrying people."

"I don't care! Starting tomorrow, I will definitely not come with you anymore!" Song Qi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Yesterday we washed a golden retriever weighing over 100 pounds! Over 100 pounds!"

"But the owner embarrassedly added money." Xu Youling whispered, "Actually, if you calculate it, the hourly wage is still much higher than working."

"I don't want to risk my life for money... Do you know how painful it was when it kicked me in the chest? That kick! So powerful!"

Xu Youling's comfort was not enough in the face of Song Qi's desperate roar, so he simply shut up and concentrated on pulling the cart, letting Song Qi howl at the top of his lungs.

Ever since Xu Youling discovered his suspected golden finger in this world, he began to think about starting a business.

Since the current funds and objective conditions do not support him to run all the way to the border to complete the glorious mission of rescuing the villain, why not accumulate some money and social connections first as help and foundation for carrying out the mission later?

In the real world, Xu Youling is also the type who likes to live frugally. During his freshman year, he first worked part-time in the university administration department, but felt that the hourly wage was too low. So, in addition to his studies and work, he took the teaching qualification exam and planned to start tutoring.

However, the city where he went to college was not where he was born and raised, and the people he knew were very limited, not to mention parents of high school students who needed academic tutoring. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and paid an agency fee before he found his first student.

The high school student was not that dull, he just needed some appropriate guidance. Xu Youling taught classes during the day and prepared lessons at night. On weekends and weekdays, he took the bus for more than an hour to go to the student's home to teach.

Spreading out his lesson preparation notes that had become brittle from writing, Xu Youling took the warm water handed to him by the student's parents. As the cool breeze from the air conditioner blew over him, he began to sigh that the 200 yuan agency fee he had spent was well worth it.

Xu Youling later tutored several more students until his junior year, when he gradually stopped. He had no plans to pursue graduate studies, but rather wanted to enter society as soon as possible, accumulate a small fortune, and build a warm home.

During his internship, he was also looking for other jobs and part-time jobs. After many twists and turns, he happened to find a part-time job washing and brushing small animals at the pet hospital at the entrance of the community where he rented.

Why did she choose to do such physically demanding work? Xu Youling herself couldn't quite explain it. But every time she successfully "tamed" a naughty cat or dog, making them beautiful, clean, and fragrant, Xu Youling felt a genuine joy.

It feels like the joy of having a home where you can keep pets.

So, he was probably a little restless. Although he knew that the things he was doing now would have limited benefits in completing the task, he still did it happily.

What's more, he has a golden finger that can indirectly soothe the master's state by soothing the spiritual body. Why not use it more often and try its detailed effects?

The two walked to the shopping district near their home and stopped at the night market. Song Qi reluctantly climbed off the cart and began to help Xu Youling set up the stall, mumbling something like "Don't come next time."

"Okay, okay, I'll do it myself next time." Xu Youling packed up his tools quickly and agreed with some apology.

The last time he set up a stall was within the community. Xu Youling gritted his teeth and paid the agency fee just like he did that time, so he bought a cart and went to a busy area. Sure enough, there were more customers.

At first, most people just came to watch the fun, but later the orange cat took the initiative and performed the whole process of being scrubbed, blown, and applied with softening ointment by its owner in front of everyone with all its heart and without any sense of privacy.

Xu Youling was washing himself to death, but the orange cat lazily let him fiddle with it, showing off his comfort and happiness like a master. When he was like a fluffy bun, he took the initiative to sniff the spirit body of the onlookers, which aroused his curiosity and made him lie down under Xu Youling's evil soft brush.

Xu Youling was overjoyed to have earned back his initial investment in the pushcart overnight, and he continued to set up stalls in the area. He worked hard to upgrade his equipment and services, and shamelessly negotiated with nearby shops to connect their water and electricity for his stall, with weekly bills.

Xu Youling was very nervous when he went to the talk. He had no confidence in his eloquence, but the other party still accepted it, probably because he had a very obedient and honest face and didn't look like he would run away.

This small stall unexpectedly became famous in this night market street. Xu Youling struck while the iron was hot and learned the projects from the pet hospital where he used to work part-time. He listed them one by one on a small blackboard that he bought at a huge cost, and rewrote them before setting up the stall every day.

The current services include cleaning and degreasing, loose hair trimming, beauty styling, soothing fragrance... The prices are fair and there is no deception.

At least that’s what Xu Youling himself thinks. Please, his golden finger has an additional soothing effect, and these cannot be counted as user services!

However, even if he didn't write on the blackboard, the guests themselves could feel the significant changes in their spiritual bodies and their own states, and naturally attributed it to the gentle and skillful technique of the shy young man.

So even though Xu Youling hadn't been setting up the stall for very long, word of mouth spread and more and more customers came, to the point where they had to be called and queue up.

"Number 12! Is Number 12 here?" Xu Youling held up the turtle high. "Your spiritual body is ready!"

God knows how a spiritual turtle could have barnacles and seaweed stuck to its body. Could it be that this guest's spiritual image was a body of water, just like the owner of the river crucian carp before?

"Thank you!" the guest held the turtle and tapped its shell twice. "I told you to move more!"

Xu Youling gently reminded: "You can clean it yourself at ordinary times. Be careful that the barnacles may stick to your body."

After all, one's own soothing effect is relatively limited, and the most important thing is for the owner to insist on taking good care of himself and his spiritual body both physically and mentally.

"Next!" Xu Youling raised his voice, thinking that he might need to get a small speaker. "Number 13, is number 13 here?"

A young boy came out holding an eagle, his eyes a little evasive: "I'm number 13."

"Sir, you are a sentry, right?" Xu Youling shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry, we don't receive sentries."

"Why?" The boy's eyes widened suddenly, looking completely incredulous. "My classmate had his spirit body cleansed here a few days ago!"

"Is your friend a guide? We haven't received any sentries since we opened." Xu Youling explained patiently, extending his palm to point to the "Guides Only" sign on the small blackboard. "My assistant and I are both guides. Blindly contacting your spirit body may result in..."

"How can you do business like you!" The boy shook off the spirit body, and the eagle was thrown heavily to the ground, letting out a shrill scream.

Xu Youling's heart tightened. Just as he was about to check on the eagle's safety, Song Qi dropped the rag in his hand and rushed over angrily: "What do you mean? How did we do business? Explain it to me clearly!"

"So what?" the boy angrily pushed Song Qi's shoulder. "You guides, who have absolutely no fighting ability, are nothing more than cannon fodder even if you manage to squeeze into the White Tower. You're only fit to assist the sentinels. And you're so picky about not doing business with them!"

"Shut up!" Song Qi was pushed and became angry. He rushed forward and punched the boy in the face.

The two men quickly started fighting. Xu Youling went to separate them, but he was caught off guard and was kicked several times. He had no choice but to ask the onlookers for help: "Please help us call the police, please..."

-

At the police station late at night, the police officer on duty closed his notebook silently and stared at the boy with bruised nose and face and Song Qi for a while.

"Just for this?" He took a deep breath. "Just for this, they started a fight and almost overturned the frying pan of the stinky tofu next door?"

"What do you mean just for this..." Song Qi was still indignant, "It was obviously him, that bastard..."

The boy knew he was in the wrong, so he turned away abruptly without saying a word.

"Alright, alright, stop talking." The police officer waved his hand impatiently. "Take your statements. Who made you so impulsive? You're really young."

Xu Youling accompanied him in taking the statement and was so tired that his eyes almost closed.

God knows that in the real world, he has never set foot in a police station except to apply for a new ID card. After traveling through the book, he was forced to be interrogated here in the middle of the night. This is really the price of a second life.

He finally couldn't stand the oppressive atmosphere anymore and whispered to Song Qi, "I'll wait for you in the lounge next door."

There were several other police officers on duty in the lounge. They smiled at Xu Youling friendly and allowed him to sit down and read magazines and newspapers.

The latest edition of the newspaper had clearly been delivered that morning, but it was already wrinkled, like the others. Xu Youling flipped to the advertisements page to see the real estate listings, checked the numbers, and quickly flipped through the pages. He then glanced at the entertainment section, which was also full of celebrities he didn't recognize.

Hearing Song Qi's sigh of relief, he curled his lips and folded the newspaper back to its original shape. When he was about to put it back, a line of large characters suddenly caught his eye.

"...The expeditionary force lieutenant colonel left a team member partially disabled. The incident is still under investigation..."

The face cannot be seen clearly in the black and white photo, and the eyes are blurred.

But Xu Youling knew it was Pei Zhi.

Pei Zhi gritted his teeth and looked at the camera, ready to tear everything apart.