Chapter 6 Chapter 6 “The one who cooks and the one who washes the dishes cannot be the same person…
Ji Ci plans to be friendlier to Boss Jin.
But plans were difficult to implement, and she didn't even see him for the next half month - Boss Jin went into seclusion to repair the circuits.
Yuncheng built a new commercial ancient town this year. As New Year’s Eve approaches, they filled it with lanterns, fireworks and other attractive things.
The advertisement has been running for nearly half a year, and Ji Ci knows this place. Boss Jin went there to work overtime as a temporary worker, and the store has been closed for two weeks.
The pet shop is also busy.
During the Chinese New Year, everyone is busy dressing up. Some buy clothes, some have their hair permed, and even their pets are not left behind. Some have their fur trimmed, and some have their pets groomed. Prices double during holidays, but there are still a steady stream of orders every day.
Trimming is a more professional job and Ji Ci is not capable of it. For the past half month, she has been either washing cats or dogs. In the end, her arms were so tired that she couldn't even lift them.
Fortunately, they were busy but earned a lot of money. The day before New Year's Eve, Sister Xu gave them a huge red envelope to go home and celebrate the New Year.
Ji Ci was led by Xiao Zhou to cheer twice. After the cheers, she still had a smile on her face. Suddenly, she remembered that she had no home and didn't know where to go back to.
"You want to stay in Yuncheng?" Sister Xu asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Ji Ci nodded slowly, "There's no one at home."
Ji Ci's mother passed away early, and she was raised by her grandmother. Her grandmother also passed away two years ago, and she is now alone.
"Why don't you come with me?" Sister Xu took Ji Ci's hand. "You can help me take care of my daughter. What do you think?"
"Thank you, Sister Xu," Ji Ci could hear the other party's concern, "I'm fine on my own."
Eat alone, sleep alone, live alone.
She has experienced a lot in the past two years, and she will live well as long as she can see the sun.
Because Ji Ci stayed in Yuncheng during the New Year, the pet shop opened for boarding for a few days. During this period, except for fixed expenses, all other expenses were directly charged to Ji Ci, which increased her income a little.
After thanking Sister Xu, Ji Ci registered the foster care list one by one. With the addition of a few new babies, she had to build good relationships with these "little customers" in advance.
After seeing off her colleagues one by one, Ji Ci closed the door and drew the curtain, leaving her alone in the entire store.
She was very idle, so she curled up in the recliner inside the counter, holding wontons in her arms, covered herself with a small blanket, squinted her eyes, and placed her cell phone on the small table with a popular TV series on it. She could hardly watch the whole thing, so she just listened to the audio and was distracted by the plot. She was simply enjoying the store's heating, which made her feel drowsy.
She didn't know how long it had been before she heard the doorbell say "Welcome" again, and the puppy started barking.
Then there were several knocks on the door, and the double glass doors slammed against each other. Ji Ci sat up with a sudden movement, his mind tense, and he grabbed the phone.
"Xiao Ji, are you in the store?"
It’s Boss Jin.
The string that Ji Ci was holding tense suddenly loosened.
She wrapped the wontons in a blanket, got up and opened the door.
Boss Jin wore a black jacket with a fitted waist, which made him look slimmer.
He was wearing dark blue jeans, the legs of which were tucked into his high-top riding boots, and his motorcycle was parked outside.
"Have you eaten yet?"
Boss Jin was holding something in his hand and was not polite at all. After Ji Ci opened the lock, he pushed the door open and walked in.
"No," Ji Ci took a step back, "I'm not very hungry."
"Eat," Boss Jin put the food in his hand on the shelf by the door, "I'm going to go get busy first."
He came and went quickly, like a gust of wind. By the time Ji Ci reacted, the roller shutter door next door made a "crashing" sound, and then the light came on.
Ji Ci wrapped her coat around her and followed him out: "Are you still busy so late?"
"I came back to pick something up," Boss Jin said, clanging around the store, his voice muffled by several buckets of latex paint. "Go back early tonight."
It was getting dark, almost seven o'clock.
Ji Ci said "Oh": "Then you should pay attention too."
Boss Jin found what he was looking for, tossed it in his hand, stood up and walked out of the store: "I heard from Boss Xu that you stayed in Yuncheng for the New Year."
Ji Ci reacted slowly and nodded.
"We can spend the New Year together." Boss Jin smiled and stepped down the rolling door with a "clatter".
Ji Ci was slightly stunned: "You're not going home for the New Year?"
Boss Jin stood in front of her, lowered his eyes and put on his leather gloves: "I'm the only one in my family."
He must have rushed all the way here, so he spoke fast and urgently, with a hint of breathlessness in his words. The white mist he exhaled was in clumps, all around their sight. Ji Ci felt that Boss Jin's entire face was blurred, leaving only a nice outline.
"I still have two days to go, but I can leave. If you encounter anything, call me immediately."
Ji Ci nodded and said yes.
"Let's go." Boss Jin gently pressed her head through his gloves.
Ji Ci closed her eyes, then slowly turned sideways and watched Boss Jin lift his legs to step onto the motorcycle and put on his helmet. He was wrapped up tightly, so he shouldn't be very cold.
She walked back to the steps outside the pet shop, her eyes pausing on the other person's right leg. Boss Jin grabbed the handlebars and waved at Ji Ci.
Ji Ci shrank her neck due to the wind: "Be careful on the road."
Boss Jin didn't rush to leave. He bent his fingers and waved them back, meaning for her to go in first.
Ji Ci had no choice but to enter the store.
Through the glass door, the red taillights disappeared around the corner of the street. Ji Ci was stunned for a moment, then pulled the door curtain.
The thing on the shelf was still hot. When I opened it, I saw it was a lotus leaf chicken.
Ji Ci pursed her lips, feeling a sour feeling at the root of her nose. She felt mixed emotions, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time.
I don’t know if the wonton in the room smelled the aroma of meat, but it made a soft cry. Ji Ci brought the chicken to the front desk and secretly gave it a small piece of shredded chicken to satisfy its craving.
As long as I have food to eat and sleep to sleep, life is actually not that difficult to endure.
-
On New Year's Eve, Boss Jin said in advance that he would come back.
When Ji Ci received the message, she was putting up couplets. There were so many different kinds of couplets in the pet shop that there was no space to put them up, so she took two of them back and put them up at Boss Jin's house as well.
She took a photo, sent it to Boss Jin, and asked him if he wanted to have hotpot together.
Boss Jin said yes.
When she first moved here, Ji Ci wanted to treat Boss Jin to a meal, but for various reasons she never succeeded. This time she made up for it.
It was quite natural. There was no deliberate mention of who invited whom or who made an appointment. They both spoke vaguely, just like when Jin Sen said he was coming back, he waited for Ji Ci to say he wanted to eat hot pot. The two of them understood each other and hit it off immediately.
But the hot pot was not eaten in vain. When Boss Jin came back in the evening, he brought a few dishes with him. He was cold and dusty. He put down his food and squatted in front of the sun to warm his hands.
Ji Ci liked to eat the lotus leaf chicken, but she had a small appetite and couldn't finish one whole one. Boss Jin asked her to break it into pieces as she pleased and he would eat the rest.
Ji Ci didn't want to break it too ugly.
The hotpot is spicy, but since they both can handle spicy food, they didn't make a double-boiled pot. As soon as the bottom of the pot boiled, the aroma came out with the bubbling bubbles, and the energy was like a suona, occupying the entire living room in a very rogue manner.
The Spring Festival Gala was playing on TV, but no one was watching. It just served as background music. There was no heating in the room. Ji Ci took the little sun under the table. She was wearing cotton slippers, but Boss Jin was not.
Ji Ci asked him why he didn't buy one. Boss Jin was very surprised and said that he had never thought about buying that thing.
Not only the cotton slippers, he had never even thought of buying the fancy plush pajamas that Ji Ci was wearing.
The difference in thinking between men and women felt very fresh to Ji Ci, just like she had only just learned in college that boys could take off their underwear after taking a shower. Hearing something that was completely beyond her ability to understand was like an arrow shooting through her brain. It was interesting and pleasant to hear, so she wanted to hear it again.
There are so many trivial things in life, and Boss Jin starts talking more when he eats.
He was too hot from eating, so he took off his coat and put on a black turtleneck sweater. The warm light in the room made him look furry. His hair and eyelashes had grown longer. Talking did not interfere with his eating. He finished two boxes of beef rolls before drinking a sip of Sprite to moisten his stomach. Ji Ci glanced at the remaining dishes, holding her chin and wondering what was left in the refrigerator.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the door.
Specifically, it’s not Ji Ci’s family, but the one next door.
Boss Jin stood up and opened the door.
Ji Ci was chewing crispy bamboo shoots. She saw Jin Sen pause for a moment after the door opened, and then she heard Sister Sun's voice.
"Why...are you living here?"
Ji Ci choked, covered her mouth with a piece of paper, and wondered whether she should find a place to hide.
But Boss Jin rejected it for her.
"Xiao Ji lives here, I'm having hot pot with her."
Sister Sun was stunned for a moment before she realized who this "Xiao Ji" was, and she was unable to continue the conversation.
Ji Ci stood up, walked over hesitantly, and called "Sister Sun" at the door, saying that there were a lot of dishes prepared and asked if she wanted to come in and eat together.
Sister Sun came back to her senses, waved her hand, and put the gift box she was carrying against the wall. "I just stopped by to take a look. Happy New Year! There are people waiting for me downstairs. You guys go eat."
She left quickly and Ji Ci didn't try to keep her.
The elevator door closed and Boss Jin brought in the two gift boxes. Ji Ci looked down and saw the nutritional powder and wild ginseng.
"It's quite nutritious." said Ji Ci.
"Send it back to her mother later." Boss Jin closed the door.
Ji Ci asked in surprise: "You have all met the parents?"
Boss Jin tsks, "We're just neighbors. What do you mean by meeting the parents? Be more serious."
Ji Ci pursed her lips, sat on the stool for a while, picked up her chopsticks again, but didn't pick up any food. She just rested her hand on her cheek and muttered after a while, "Sister Sun is so nice."
Boss Jin ate the meat in silence for a long time, then looked at her thoughtfully: "Are you interested?"
Ji Ci: “…”
She reacted and picked a coriander leaf to hit him.
Boss Jin almost choked with laughter.
"Why don't you agree?" Ji Ci picked up a piece of lotus root and nibbled on the edge like a kitten.
"It's impossible to negotiate." Boss Jin said simply but with a shudder of surprise.
Ji Ci's eyes wandered around, and her voice was as soft as a cat's meow: "You can't even negotiate and yet you still accept people's things."
Boss Jin swallowed the fish ball in his mouth and cleared his throat: "She'll feel better if I take a little bit."
Ji Ci bit the straw and blew bubbles.
"Don't you know those things?" Boss Jin said again.
Bubble stopped and Ji Ci raised her eyes.
"How do you know I know?"
"Why else do you keep looking at my legs?"
Ji Ci was speechless for a moment. After a moment of silence, she spoke with great difficulty: "...When did I always look at your legs?"
It's difficult to remove a false accusation from your head.
"It's my occupational disease," Ji Ci argued. "When I see someone with a problem, I want to take a few more glances."
"That's right," Boss Jin nodded. "I heard from Boss Xu that you studied medicine."
Ji Ci: "Are you asking about me?"
Jin Sen ignored her question and asked, "Why did you go wash the dog?"
Ji Ci held her breath and said, "Experience life."
"Weren't you avoiding life before? Now that your living standards have improved, are you experiencing it differently?"
Ji Ci hadn't realized that Boss Jin was so talkative, and for a moment, she couldn't really take advantage of him, so she urged him, "Hurry up and eat."
"That's just the beginning." Boss Jin raised his chin and pointed at the TV. "I still want to listen to 'Unforgettable Tonight'."
After Ji Ci finished her meal, she didn't leave but sat there to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
After a while, the wontons came out. She picked them up and held them, continuing to watch.
Boss Jin didn't have an unforgettable evening. If he had, the hot pot base would have been enough to make elixirs. At nine o'clock in the evening, he cleared the dishes and took them to the kitchen.
Ji Ci tried to carry the pot, but he stopped her: "The person who cooks and washes dishes cannot be the same person."
So Ji Ci went to hug the cat again.
Boss Jin worked efficiently and washed the dishes in a short time. Ji Ci stood in the door frame and gave him instructions, telling him to put things here and there.
When the rag wiped the last bit of water stain on the kitchen counter, an orange-yellow firework suddenly exploded in the sky outside the window. The light was faster than the sound. With a "bang", both of them looked up.
The second flower quickly took off into the sky, and the orange-yellow light trailed behind it, fading from the curtain-like night sky.
Boss Jin folded the rag, tilted his head to look at Ji Ci beside him, and said very naturally, "Happy New Year."
Ji Ci was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and rubbed the cat's head twice, saying in a low voice: "...Happy New Year."
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If you like it, please add it to your collection. This is very important to me [burst crying]
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