Chapter 4 Chapter 4 "Are you the boss lady?"
"He doesn't eat much sweets." Sister Sun spoke first.
Boss Jin tucked his trouser legs in, didn't look up, and just said "hmm" casually.
"Hmm!" Xiao Zhou put the cake down again, "Then I can only eat two servings."
The atmosphere in the store was a little subtle. Xiao Zhou turned around to leave, but Ji Ci stood there motionless.
"Are you injured on your leg?" Ji Ci asked.
Boss Jin then looked up: "Hmm?"
Ji Ci: "There's too much musk in this ointment."
Sister Sun looked at her: "You still understand these?"
"I understand a little bit." Ji Ci said, "It's raining and humid, and you're wearing so little, it would be strange if it doesn't hurt."
Jin Sen was stunned at first, then he laughed: "You sound like my mother."
Ji Ci: “…”
She glanced at Sister Sun, nodded slightly, and turned away.
They didn't have dinner in the evening because Sister Xu, Dr. Liang and Xiao Zhou went on strike together, and Ji Ci really didn't want to go out to eat alone with Boss Jin.
Besides, the other party seemed to be very busy and couldn't take care of her for the time being.
Ji Ci simply swallowed the matter.
In the next few days, it rained heavily in Yuncheng.
There was a thick mist outside the store, and the temperature had risen a bit.
The pet shop was not doing much business, and Ji Ci was standing at the door in a daze, holding wontons.
Next door is a snack shop, and the warm yellow light illuminates a small, hot shop.
She went out with an umbrella to buy a bag of chestnuts, and when she came back she happened to see a car driving into the auto repair shop next door.
The driver got out of the car and called out, "Is anyone there?"
Ji Ci stopped with an umbrella in hand, and without waiting for a response, she went over and said, "The boss may be out. Is there anything you need?"
"It's a puncture," the driver said. "When will he be back?"
"I'll ask for you." Ji Ci took out his cell phone and called Boss Jin.
Jin Sen was repairing a heater for someone in the next street and had already packed up to leave. After receiving Ji Ci's call, he left quickly and the family saw him out.
When we arrived at the store, the car owner was eating chestnuts with Ji Ci.
Ji Ci sat on the small stool he usually sat on when repairing tires and looked up at him: "Why don't you hold an umbrella?"
"It's raining a bit," Boss Jin took off the tool bag and asked the driver, "Which tire?"
The road on their side connects to the national highway, and occasionally a dump truck would pass by, leaving tracks and scattering gravel all over the ground. Some cars were driving fast, and their tires were large and thin, so they would get blowouts when they ran over the dirt. Jin Sen's shop was the closest auto repair shop down one of the forks in the road, and he often had this kind of business.
"It's stuck in the side, it can't be repaired, it needs to be replaced." Jin Sen took the cigarette handed to him by the driver and bit it in his mouth. "Do you want the original one or the ordinary one? I have to adjust the original one."
Ji Ci was watching from the side.
She discovered that Boss Jin liked to smoke while working. Sometimes he didn't even light up his cigarette, but would just chew it. When he spoke, he couldn't open his mouth, and his voice sounded vague and low, but he could still speak clearly.
"How long will it take to transfer the goods?" asked the driver.
"About an hour," Jin Sen lowered his head to light a cigarette, "or I can change the spare tire for you and you can run over there yourself. But the price you offer will be different from mine."
The driver asked about the price and compared it for a long time, but in the end he was too lazy to continue and asked for the goods to be transferred.
Boss Jin went to make a phone call.
The driver returned to Ji Ci, who handed the bag of chestnuts to him, and the driver took another one.
"Are you the boss's wife?" asked the driver.
Ji Ci was stunned and shook her head quickly.
"His girlfriend?" the driver asked again.
Ji Ci was confused by the question and pointed to the pet shop next door: "I work next door."
The driver said "Oh" and seemed to understand.
So the next second he asked again: "Can I add WeChat?"
Ji Ci: “…”
"Xiao Ji." Boss Jin called her.
Ji Ci stood up in a flash: "Huh?"
She walked quickly to Boss Jin holding the bag of chestnuts.
Boss Jin folded up the opening of her chestnut bag and said, "The bench is not clean. Next time, sit inside."
Ji Ci hummed, "I...I'm going back to the store."
She turned around, but before she took a step, her arm was grabbed by Boss Jin and she turned back.
"Just stay here with me."
Jin Sen and Ji Ci took a clean stool and took out the little sun from the house and placed it in front of her.
Then, without caring what the driver thought of him, he just sat next to Ji Ci.
The driver simply went back to his car.
"I'm at work." Ji Ci put her knees together, clasped her hands together and placed them on her knees, looking down at her nails.
"If you go back to the store, he will have to follow you," said Boss Jin.
Ji Ci said, "I asked him to apply for a card."
Boss Jin laughed: "A black shop?"
With nothing to do, Boss Jin pulled an object from the shelf and began to unpack it. Ji Ci crossed his arms across his chest, leaned over to take a look, and asked what it was.
"Music box." said Boss Jin.
"You have a wide range of business," Ji Ci observed with interest. "Can you repair everything?"
"It's not that amazing," Boss Jin shook his head slightly, "It's been repaired for half a year and it still hasn't been fixed."
They were so close together that their shoulders almost touched through the heavy fabric.
Ji Ci looked sideways and saw raindrops still hanging on the black coat. She remembered that Sister Sun had come to deliver the plaster before, so she asked, "You haven't answered me when I asked you last time."
Boss Jin raised his eyes: "What?"
Ji Ci reminded him: "Your legs."
Boss Jin paused, then moved his right foot: "It's twisted."
"You're lying," Ji Ci said disdainfully, "Your ankle is not injured."
"Hiss..." Boss Jin tilted his head, "Are you an expert?"
Ji Ci hugged her chestnuts and said, "Not much."
Not only does she not want to talk, she also doesn't want to listen.
Back in the store, Ji Ci sat at the counter and continued peeling his chestnuts.
After a while, just as Boss Jin said, the driver really arrived.
Ji Ci asked him if he wanted to apply for a card, and he said he could get one by adding WeChat.
Ji Ci made up her mind and said that she liked the boss next door.
The driver looked enlightened and said he figured it out.
Ji Ci's heart skipped a beat, and she asked anxiously, "What did you see? Is it that obvious?"
The driver laughed and said, "Add WeChat, or I'll tell the boss next door."
Ji Ci: “…”
She can tell it or not, she has no other choice.
In the end, Ji Ci didn't give the other party WeChat and didn't dare go out, for fear that the other party would really say nonsense.
Fortunately, Boss Jin didn't behave abnormally, so Ji Ci comforted herself that she was overthinking it.
On New Year’s Day, Sister Xu’s baby was born, and both mother and daughter are safe.
A few days later, Ji Ci and Xiao Zhou went to the hospital to visit Sister Xu. She had recovered a lot, but she still had back pain and sore legs.
Dr. Liang studied animal hospital, which is not his major.
Ji Ci pulled up the bed curtains and gave Sister Xu a massage.
Xiao Zhou was surprised: "How come you also know this?"
Sister Xu grinned hoarsely with pleasure: "I forgot, your resume says that your undergraduate degree is... medical."
Ji Ci went to university and studied medicine, which shocked Xiao Zhou for a hundred years.
"No wonder you could smell something in the ointment that day?"
"Musk." Ji Ci said.
"Yes, yes," Xiao Zhou quickly replied, "It's the one in the palace fighting movies."
"Which day?" Sister Xu smelled a hint of gossip.
"The day Sister Sun brought us the cake," Xiao Zhou's eyebrows almost flew up, "Sister Xu, what's going on between Sister Sun and Boss Jin?"
"Don't ask me," Sister Xu said with a look of toothache, "I don't know."
Although he said this, even if he "didn't know", he must know something.
After much coaxing and persuasion, Xiao Zhou finally pried Sister Xu's mouth open a little and got some new information.
Boss Jin bought the auto repair shop two years ago. He didn't do this before. He was an armed police firefighter.
During a mission to rescue trapped people, he was hit on the leg by a falling beam and retired due to the injury.
After hearing this, Ji Ci was able to connect everything together.
"Sister Sun is the one that Boss Jin saved..."
Sister Xu nodded.
"No wonder I always thought Boss Jin was so righteous. It turns out he used to be a soldier of our people!"
Xiao Zhou was still chattering in her ear. Ji Ci puffed out her cheeks and lowered her eyes.
The sky is overcast and the humidity is very high.
Especially at night, it is hazy with mist and rain, just like the south of the Yangtze River.
Ji Ci was worried about the cats and dogs in the pet shop, so she went to the shop with wontons in her pocket to take a look.
Everyone was healthy and enthusiastic. She checked the heating and found nothing wrong, then closed the door and left.
“Crash—”
The auto repair shop next door happened to have also closed its last rolling door.
Ji Ci was the first to notice a hint of orange. Boss Jin took out the cigarette from his lips and asked, "Aren't we closed today?"
Ji Ci walked down two steps: "I live nearby, so if you're worried, come and take a look."
After that, she asked again: "Are you going out so late?"
Jin Sen threw the cigarette into the puddle beside the store door: "It's cold, go sleep upstairs."
He lived in the room opposite Ji Ci's, and he didn't care about making the bed.
Ji Ci said "Oh" and opened the umbrella.
Rain was falling in the air, like cotton wool, and a mist was lingering over the street. I couldn't hear the sound of the rain, but I could feel the chill, and my clothes were quickly soaking wet.
Jin Sen looked up at the sky, and the umbrella covered his head.
"Why don't you like holding an umbrella?" Ji Ci raised her arm.
Jin Sen smiled and pushed the umbrella handle towards her: "It's okay."
The edge of the umbrella rested on his shoulder.
"When I went downstairs tonight, I heard a grandmother say that if you pay the property management fee now, you will get free rice, flour and oil. Do you want to pay... or should I?"
"I've already paid it," Boss Jin put on the hood of his jacket, "Don't worry about those."
Jin Sen likes to wear black, and it suits him well. His hair is a little damp and hangs down gently. His eyebrows and eyes are in shadow, and only his high nose bridge is visible, with a little of the tip of the nose showing, sometimes hidden and sometimes disappearing. The rest is tucked into the collar and cannot be seen.
Ji Ci responded and looked down at the shadow on the ground.
The ground was wet, covered with a flat layer of water film. The light projected by the street lamps exploded on it, and the uneven concrete road surface reflected scattered light spots, like a lost frame in a movie, jumping and hopping. Before she realized it, everything had changed.
Ji Ci stepped on it.
She was always nervous when walking at night, and would walk as fast as she could, especially after what happened last time. Ji Ci was always on edge, afraid that some monster would suddenly jump out.
But you don’t have to worry so much when Boss Jin is here. He will walk next to you alone, and you don’t have to think about anything.
Ji Ci's heart also became moist.
"If your legs hurt, try applying heat."
Her voice seemed to be wrapped in rain and fog, almost invisible, and Jin Sen couldn't hear it clearly at first.
"Hmm?" He glanced sideways.
Ji Ci turned around and said to him seriously, "Keep warm, or you'll get arthritis."
Boss Jin nodded in agreement: "Do you understand this?"
"I..." Ji Ci hesitated, retracted her gaze, and looked down at her feet, "I understand a little bit."
They entered the apartment building together, and Boss Jin pressed the up button for the elevator.
Ji Ci took the umbrella to the other side, turned half of her body around, lowered her head and shook off the rain on it.
The elevator door opened and they walked in. It was Jin Sen who pressed the floor number again. Ji Ci stood a little further in, and it seemed like she could never shake off the water on her umbrella.
It only takes a few seconds to get from the first floor to the eighth floor, but the small and enclosed space always makes people feel uncomfortable.
Coming back together like this seemed a bit too intimate. Ji Ci had never walked such a long distance with anyone of the opposite sex.
I always think of Sister Sun in my mind, wondering if she has ever walked with Boss Jin, and I also think that she probably has.
But walking through it doesn’t mean anything, just like what they are doing now, they are just walking a distance.
Ji Ci held the door handle and pressed her fingerprint.
Behind her, Boss Jin also responded and opened the door.
Ji Ci opened the umbrella and squatted down to put it at the door.
Maybe she should have said "goodnight," but wouldn't "goodbye" be more appropriate for their current relationship? Or "see you tomorrow"? It didn't seem to matter.
Got to pick one, she's closing down.
Thinking this, Ji Ci stepped over the threshold.
"Go to bed early." Jin Sen said.
She froze for a moment, then quickly turned around: "Oh, you too."
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