Chapter 5
Jiang Rong swallowed subconsciously, not knowing whether it was because of the man in front of her or the bread with the nutty aroma. However, compared to her being at a loss, the man in front of her was almost handing the bread to her mouth.
After all, most people would feel embarrassed or even step back if they saw customers showing no interest, but he smiled and put the plate forward, promoting the dish: "It's really delicious."
Jiang Rong pursed her lips. Before she could say anything, the young man behind her quickly walked over and grabbed Jiang Rong's arm. He didn't care about Jiang Rong's pained expression and said self-satisfiedly, "Why are you walking so fast? I just want to help you out of kindness. I'm not afraid of getting hurt by you!"
Jiang Rong quickly pulled her arm free, called out his name, and replied word by word, "Lin Yao, I don't need it."
Lin Yao smiled, but that smile was full of mockery: "How can you not need it? Now that Grandma Zhou has moved away and I won't play with you anymore, where else can you go to eat?"
Jiang Rong looked at the young man in front of her. It seemed like the first time she realized that this guy was so self-righteous. He was obviously not like this before.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and refused again: "It's none of your business."
"Besides, you haven't shown up for so long, why are you saying this now?"
Jiang Rong just wanted to state the facts. After all, she had been working for so long. To be more precise, she had not seen Lin Yao near her home since she entered high school. Jiang Rong didn't quite understand why he jumped out and said such things at this time.
Lin Yao completely misunderstood Jiang Rong's words. A flicker of annoyance flashed across his eyes, but it quickly turned into confidence, as if Jiang Rong was just a child having a tantrum. He said helplessly, "I knew you were blaming me. I never thought my mom would send me to boarding school in junior high."
"Okay, it's okay for you to be angry with me..."
Jiang Rong quickly reached out and called for a stop. Why hadn't she realized this guy was so disgusting before? After she calmed down, she turned her head and said to the man in front of her, "I'm sorry."
Then he was about to leave, but the man took out a piece of packaged bread from his uniform pocket and stuffed it into Jiang Rong's hand, smiling: "Come back if you like it."
Before Jiang Rong could say anything, Lin Yao started mocking her: "Wow, you dare to give food to a jinx? Aren't you afraid that your store will go bankrupt in a few days?"
He looked at the man's clueless expression and smugly introduced him, "Oh, you might not know since you just arrived, but this person is a notorious jinx here. Her biological father was in jail, and after her mother finally remarried, she made her stepfather jump off a building..."
Jiang Rong lowered her head, pursed her lips, and didn't dare to look at the man's expression. In her panic, she only heard the man above her head chuckle: "I don't know, but why would I want to know this kind of thing?"
"It's not someone else's fault. What does this have to do with this little girl?"
Jiang Rong was stunned. She subconsciously raised her head and looked at the man in disbelief. Lin Yao was so angry that his face flushed red. He tried to correct the man's thoughts: "How could you think so? If it weren't for Jiang Rong's birth, their family wouldn't have encountered such a thing. Don't you think about why they were fine before, why did she become like this when she was born?"
"It must be because of her!"
The man ignored the young man's words. He smiled at Jiang Rong and stuffed another mint candy into the girl's hand. "Jiang Rong, that's a good name. Your mother must love you very much."
“My name is Shen Jianye, and I’m the manager of this coffee shop. If you think it’s delicious, you can come to the store and order one to try next time.”
Jiang Rong looked at Shen Jianye's smiling face. Although she always felt that the smile did not reach her eyes, it was a warmth that she had not felt for a long time. She curved her eyes and said, "Thank you."
Shen Jianye turned his head to look at Lin Yao and sighed softly: "Okay, little friend, can you please stop making trouble in front of my store?"
"If your mouth stinks like that, no one will like you."
This was even worse. This short sentence made Lin Yao completely jump up and down. He couldn't help but retort: "How is that possible? How can my mouth smell bad? You're talking nonsense!"
If Jiang Rong looked back, she would find that the boy was staring at her, as if trying to find out whether she still liked him. Unfortunately, Jiang Rong was too lazy to talk to him.
And since Lin Yao was obviously making trouble in front of someone else's store because of her, Jiang Rong blushed and walked forward. She held the mint candy in her hand, and her mind was full of the man's name.
Shen Jianye, what a nice name.
Lin Yao wanted to say something else, but seeing Jiang Rong walking forward, he could only glare at Shen Jianye and quickly followed. Seeing Jiang Rong treating the mint candy like a treasure, he couldn't help but pour cold water on her and said, "No one would want this kind of candy even if it was placed on the restaurant bar, and you treat it like a treasure."
Jiang Rong didn't even look at him, but Lin Yao kept talking beside him, "Don't look at him like this now, he just hasn't been unlucky enough to be with you yet, just wait and see."
"The closer I get to you, the more bad luck I'll have. It would have been fine if Grandma Zhou had moved away, but I've had several exams..."
Jiang Rong pursed her lips, and her mind couldn't help but imagine what would happen if the coffee shop went bankrupt. She subconsciously clenched the mint candy in her hand, and a surge of anger she had never felt before surged in her heart.
The two of them walked to the stairwell. As the iron door closed, Jiang Rong turned her head to look at him. She didn't know if it was because the store manager's words gave her courage, or if she really couldn't bear it anymore. She took a deep breath and stood in the shadow.
The setting sun shone through the iron gate onto Lin Yao's face. Jiang Rong pursed her lips and looked at him, speaking slowly and slowly: "Lin Yao, your mother must be waiting for you at the door again. Do you still want to stay with me?"
Lin Yao's chattering mouth suddenly stopped, and Jiang Rong turned and left after she finished speaking, too lazy to look at Lin Yao's expression. Although her words did not sound very lethal, this was the first time that Jiang Rong had said such threatening words to someone since she was a child.
She held the mint candy in her hand. The small plastic packaging was actually quite sharp and it hurt her palm a little, but Jiang Rong curled the corners of her mouth and walked towards home in a very good mood for the first time.
Lin Yao behind her was also obviously stunned, as if he was meeting Jiang Rong for the first time. His ears were red as if they were about to bleed. He wanted to follow but was hesitant. I don’t know if it was because he remembered his mother’s hysterical look. In the end, he just stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched Jiang Rong’s back as she walked away.
When Jiang Rong returned home and closed the door, her good mood continued until she put the mints and bread in her hands on the table, and then put the plastic packaging left over from the morning in her pocket next to them. Several plastic bags with the coffee shop logo were arranged in a row.
For fear that it would be blown away by the electric fan, she even used a book to press down a corner of it.
Before I knew it, I had so many coffee shop-related items around me.
And I also learned the name of the store manager.
Jiang Rong couldn't suppress the raised corners of her mouth, but before she could be happy for long, she heard a loud knock on the door. Jiang Rong subconsciously shrank back and quickly turned off the fan. She shrank under the table very experiencedly, fearing that someone would see her.
She bit her fingers and was a little panicked, but she still comforted herself in her heart that maybe it was not a debt collector, but just a stranger who came to sell something to her door.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard a man's furious voice coming from outside the door: "Open the door, open the door and pay me back!"
"When are you going to pay me back the money you owe me?!"
Jiang Rong bit her fingers even harder, not daring to make a sound for fear of being overheard by those outside. The houses in the old neighborhood were not soundproof, and the sounds of the two men talking outside were very clear to Jiang Rong. The shorter man next to her was the first to ask, "Brother, how did you know there were people in the house?"
"Did you see the little girl come back?"
The eldest brother didn't hesitate and slapped him on the back of the head without any hesitation: "I asked you to stare at me, what were you staring at?"
The younger brother chuckled foolishly, holding the back of his head and not daring to speak. The older brother started kicking the door: "Little bitch, I saw you come in, open the door for me!"
He kicked the old security door several times, causing it to sway and drop dust all over the floor. Jiang Rong had no time to feel sorry for the door, she could only feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest, and she prayed in her heart that they didn't actually see her.
However, the earth-shaking noise startled the little deer not far away. She walked over quickly in her high heels, crossed her arms and said unhappily, "Two handsome guys, how can I do business with you like this?"
The younger brother scratched the back of his head and said nothing. The older brother looked him up and down with a cold face and said, "Have you seen this little girl come back?"
The deer wasn't scared at all. He even glanced at the front door of Jiang Rong's house and replied calmly, "He won't be back at this time. He's a high school student. How could he be back before 9 or 10 o'clock after evening self-study?"
The eldest brother frowned. The younger brother wanted to say something, but when he saw that the eldest brother's face was still curled, he didn't say anything. The eldest brother could only ask again: "When is there usually anyone in this house?"
Xiaolu answered honestly, "Of course it's the weekend, but high school students have a lot of classes anyway, so I can't really answer you."
"But you're making so much noise here that it's really affecting my business. If you keep going on like this, I'll have to call someone."
As she spoke, she pulled up her sleeves. The two men looked at each other. The eldest brother did not stay any longer, but carved another mark on the wall: "Then we'll go."
The deer watched their backs gradually walking away, then muttered in annoyance, "You little money-loser, what a trouble." Then he walked back to his room.
It took Jiang Rong a long time to crawl out from under the table. The teeth marks on her fingers turned purple and black, but Jiang Rong had no time to care about it. She only now remembered that the most urgent thing was to find a place to work and earn money.
Looking down, I saw the packaging bags with the coffee shop logo on the table. I couldn't help but think of what Lin Yue's friend said. I don't know if I heard it right, but I seemed to hear her friend say that the coffee shop was still short of people, so the manager Shen Jianye was outside soliciting customers.
Thinking of the glamorous people in the store, they must be making a lot of money, and the prices in the store must be high. Jiang Rong shook her piggy bank, pursed her lips and took out a green bill from it. She waited for a while, making sure that the debt collectors had completely gone away, before she made up her mind, opened the door and walked out.
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