Nie Zhiyuan didn't completely believe Zhou Pin's words. After returning home, he investigated further and found that it was indeed as Zhou Pin had said, or even worse, which greatly shocked him.
Nie Zhiyuan didn't have a good relationship with these two classmates before, but since their grades were decent, Nie Zhiyuan assumed they were good people. When they came to apply for jobs, he hired them without hesitation, never expecting them to be such classmates.
After this incident, Nie Zhiyuan became silent, no longer as sunny and lively as before. After all, he was still a boy under 20 years old, and no matter how mature he was, his experience and mindset were still lacking. Of course, that's another story.
When Xu Lin returned from the Ministry of Culture, it was almost time to get off work, so she asked Zhou Pin to go home together.
Recently, the bookstore and teahouse have not received good reviews. The Ministry of Culture wants Xu Lin to make up for the losses, and Xu Lin took the opportunity to propose terminating the contract.
Unexpectedly, Xu Lin was so assertive, threatening to terminate the contract with just a simple warning. The Ministry of Culture was also unhappy and decided to terminate the contract.
So Xu Lin spent the entire afternoon talking to them about terminating her contract. She never imagined that her long-term career would be cut short after only a few months.
“I’ve bought all the books; we’ll take them with us,” Xu Lin said.
"Tens of thousands of books. If we were to travel openly and honestly, we'd need to hire several cars, including our luggage," Zhou Pin said half-jokingly.
Xu Lin thought about it and agreed. However, things hadn't gotten chaotic yet, and they could gradually move on later.
After dinner, the two began studying the map and planning their route, figuring out where would be a better place to leave the base.
In fact, Xu Lin did not want to leave the Northwest. This land was probably the least affected by the apocalypse so far, having only experienced extreme cold and heat at the very beginning.
According to survivors from other places, some areas suffered severe insect infestations, others experienced tsunamis, earthquakes, hailstorms, acid rain, and even fireballs falling from the sky and inexplicable fog and toxic gas. In short, it was incredibly difficult to survive.
After their research, the two discovered that the disaster would be less severe if they continued westward from the Northwest Base. That area was previously uninhabited, but after the apocalypse, it might be suitable for human habitation. However, no one could say for sure, so they could only take it one step at a time.
The next day, as soon as she arrived at work, Xu Lin called Li Jingjing and Nie Zhiyuan into her office and told them about terminating their contract with the base.
"Whether the contract is terminated or not, I will follow Sister Lin," Nie Zhiyuan said first.
“My boss is you, it has nothing to do with whether or not the base terminates its contract,” Li Jingjing said.
“I know your loyalty. I called you two over here in advance to let you know so that I don’t hear about it from others. I will gradually reduce investment and lay off staff later…” Xu Lin said.
"Why? Weren't we doing just fine?" Nie Zhiyuan asked, puzzled.
He moved out of his home in his second month of work, so he probably wasn't very familiar with the situation at the base. Even if he knew that the leadership at the base had been reshuffled, he probably wouldn't have thought it had anything to do with a small bookstore. His family probably let him work out of retirement to give him experience.
"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Now that we've lost our base, a bunch of shady characters are waiting to come and kick us while we're down. It's better to keep a low profile," Xu Lin said.
"But our bookstore is the spiritual canteen of the base. If we gradually become decadent, what will happen to the future of the base?"
"A spiritual canteen" is how Xu Lin defines bookstores.
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