Chapter 9 Chapter 9 "Well, finally someone can control you...
After the Lantern Festival, time flies by.
The winter in Yuncheng is very short. The flower market in the city becomes lively and spring comes with it.
There is a pot of forsythia in front of the snack shop opposite the pet shop. The slender branches extend from the edge of the porcelain pot to the ground. Ji Ci started to pay attention to them when they formed buds. By the time the branches were covered with goose yellow stars, people had already taken off their winter clothes and put on lighter sweaters.
At seven o'clock in the morning, the garbage truck clanged through the street. When Ji Ci went downstairs, she met a few students playing around. She bought a basket of buns and a tea egg from the breakfast shop downstairs with them and carried them to the shop.
The door of the auto repair shop next door was actually open.
It's really strange.
When she passed by, she looked inside and saw nothing. Then she heard a loud "bang" and was startled.
Boss Jin hissed, turned sideways and swung his hand. He caught a glimpse of someone at the door and followed their gaze. Ji Ci looked away guiltily and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Not bad," Jin Sen bent down and picked up the wrench that had fallen on the ground, "Are you up so early?"
"I get up this early every day." Ji Ci walked towards the pet shop.
She stepped onto the steps in front of the pet shop, lowered her head, took out the key and opened the door.
"Why."
Boss Jin's voice was mixed in with the barking of dogs, and Ji Ci turned around.
"Why are you ignoring me lately?"
Boss Jin had his hair cut short, which made him look very energetic. In addition, he was wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt today. At first glance, he looked like a big man, four or five years younger than usual.
He spoke with a smile, his arm casually draped over the pile of half-broken iron racks in front of the store, as if he was chatting up a lively young man on the street, not very serious.
"No," Ji Ci's eyes wandered and she took off the door lock. "The store is busy."
"You haven't replied to the message yet." Boss Jin said again.
"I'm back." Ji Ci pushed the door open and walked into the store without looking around.
"Just reply 'hmm'." Boss Jin's voice fell behind him.
"You're fine."
Ji Ci walked into the store with her head down. She didn't know what to say and didn't expect Jin Sen to ask directly.
Some things should not be made public, at least that's what Ji Ci thinks.
She casually put her breakfast on the counter and went into the studio.
When I put on my apron and came out, I saw Boss Jin standing by the counter, his head lowered, his wrist resting on the counter, his index finger fiddling with the thick fuzz on the belly of the wonton.
The cat lay on its back with its belly up and its four legs facing the sky, looking very comfortable.
Ji Ci: “…”
traitor.
"How do you know I'm okay?" Boss Jin raised his eyes and looked at her with a smile, "I'm in a serious situation."
Ji Ci's heart skipped a beat, and she whispered, "I don't believe it."
"What you said a few days ago," Jin Sen got straight to the point, "Boss Xu just told me that you wouldn't be going home for the New Year, and he didn't ask me to take care of you."
Ji Ci paused, turned around and looked at Jin Sen.
"Really," Jin Sen spread his hands helplessly, "Most people pay me for doing things for them."
Ji Ci: “…”
She hesitated for a moment: "I give you money?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Sen laughed.
"squeak--"
The sharp sound of brakes interrupted the awkward eye contact, and Boss Jin turned sideways to look outside the store.
There was the sound of a car door slamming shut, and someone yelled at the door of his shop: "Boss! Fix my car!"
"Coming," Boss Jin said in a loud voice, took two steps outside, turned around, and pointed at the breakfast on the counter while walking backwards. "After breakfast, we can get back to work."
Ji Ci followed with a mop in hand, and stood at the door of the store, leaning her head out. The two men were bending over to look at the tires, and it was probably blown out by another stone.
As expected, Boss Jin had a cigarette between his fingers. As he spoke, he tilted his head and bit the filter, and his eyes met Ji Ci's.
Before he could open his mouth, the other party retracted its head in a flash, and then a golden-haired head popped out, but Ji Ci grabbed it by the neck and grabbed it back.
Jin Sen didn't take a puff of cigarette before he put it out. He finished laughing and put it out.
The next month was calm. After a continuous spring rain, Sister Sun came to bring ointment to Jin Sen again.
Before going next door, she would come to the pet shop first. After the chance encounter on New Year's Eve, she felt a little sad when she saw Ji Ci again.
This awkwardness was both inappropriate and embarrassing, so Sister Sun tried to cover it up and called out to her, "Xiao Ji, I heard you're a medical student. Can you help me see if this ointment is okay?"
Ji Ci stuttered and put down the cat litter in her hand: "Sister Sun, the ones you bought must be good."
Sister Sun smiled and pulled her wrist: "Let's go, Boss Jin doesn't know what he's talking about. Let's take him to the hospital. I can't do it alone."
Ji Ci didn't want to go, but she had no reason to refuse, so she went to Boss Jin and watched Sister Sun hand over the ointment. She also persuaded Jin Sen a few more times, asking him to go to the hospital for physical therapy more often.
Jin Sen really didn't take it seriously. He waved his hand and said that his legs had almost fully recovered and he didn't need these things at all.
"If you're not busy, go ahead," Ji Ci finally said, "arthritis is very uncomfortable."
Jin Sen paused and argued, "That's not true."
"You're lying," Ji Ci curled her lips, "Roll up your pants and let me see."
Jin Sen: “…”
Why are you taking it so seriously now?
Sister Sun burst out laughing: "Well, finally someone can control you."
Jin Sen sighed helplessly: "Do you really need to? Bring her here."
Ji Ci: “…”
It felt like I was teasing her right in front of her.
Ji Ci tidied up the hair on her temples and felt a little feverish on her face. She advised Jin Sen to go to the hospital. After all, hiding the disease and avoiding medical treatment would only make the condition worse.
Jin Sen went for physical therapy that afternoon, took a photo and sent it to Ji Ci with the caption: "Is it okay? Doctor."
Ji Ci changed his previous cold attitude, but he was not very enthusiastic either. He just replied with an emoticon of a nodding cat, and temporarily accepted the title of "doctor".
In April, Yuncheng was so hot that it felt like summer.
The owner of the snack shop across the street has already started fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, and the pet shop has turned on the air conditioner, so Ji Ci is occasionally so cold that she needs to go out to warm up.
The door of the auto repair shop next door was open, but the owner had disappeared.
When someone comes to buy something, they ask questions as soon as they see them, regardless of the fact that they are wearing pet shop work clothes.
Ji Ci was stunned: "I'm not from this store."
The customer nodded, like a humanoid: "Then get me a bundle of ground wire."
Ji Ci didn't know where to start complaining for a moment.
"You can call the boss." She pointed to the sign.
"No trouble," the customer walked straight into the store, "Just get me a ground wire."
Ji Ci scratched his head and followed in after a moment: "Ground wire... Wait a minute, I'll call the boss."
Boss Jin is organizing electrical wires five kilometers away and can't get there at the moment. The customer needs it urgently and has to find it himself.
Ji Ci asked what the ground wire was, and Jin Sen said it was the colorful ones in the middle of the store.
After some difficult communication, the customer picked out two bundles and took them away.
He gave it in cash, three hundred yuan, to Ji Ci. Since he didn't have change, he just took a bottle of water.
Before leaving, he even said hello to Ji Ci, as if he had treated her as his boss.
Ji Ci worked two jobs for one salary. She put the money in her pocket with a helpless look on her face, and then sent a message to tell Boss Jin that the other party had taken a bottle of drink.
Jin Sen asked her if she wanted to drink and told her to get it herself.
Ji Ci said she didn't want to drink.
She went back to the pet shop and had nothing to do, so she searched on Baidu what a ground wire was. As she was looking at it, she suddenly smelled a burnt smell, so she put down her phone and planned to check the water heater behind the store.
But before he could get there, Dr. Liang suddenly ran out of his office. He was holding a cat bag in his left hand, and with his right hand he scooped up a fat cat and stuffed it in. "The old building behind is on fire. Come with me and catch the cat!"
Ji Ci was startled: "What?!"
She knew that the building was built decades ago and was in danger of collapsing. When she first arrived, there was a lot of fuss about its demolition, but later it was dropped.
Ji Ci once went to pick up a pet, and found the narrow stairwell filled with debris. At the time, she just thought that without property management, something would happen sooner or later, but she didn't expect that something would happen so quickly.
"Are you angry?" she asked as she grabbed the cat.
Dr. Liang said, "I didn't see any fire, just smoke."
The two of them moved quickly and put all the foster cats into cat bags.
Dr. Liang went to drive halfway, so Ji Ci put the cat bags one by one at the door of the store and went to take the dog.
After a while, the car arrived. The small compartment was filled with cats and dogs, and they were planning to drive to a square not far away to take shelter.
Ji Ci didn't leave. She was still thinking about Boss Jin's shop. She called him, but no one answered.
I always have a bad feeling in my heart.
There were constant sirens not far away, and messages kept popping up in various groups on my phone. It was said that the fire was on the fourth floor, where a family of three had just moved in.
After a moment's hesitation, Ji Ci closed her eyes, steeled herself, and trotted towards the fire, phone in hand. Whether it was the fire's size or the proximity, the scorching smell grew stronger. Looking up, she could see thick, gray smoke filling the sky. The wailing of sirens and cries of alarm mixed together, making everyone's nerves race.
"They climbed up. Someone climbed up."
Ji Ci pushed through the crowd, and everyone looked up at the same time.
She followed along and unexpectedly discovered a figure climbing over the plastic-steel window on the third floor. The other person was standing on the flimsy awning and using hydraulic shears to cut open the iron railing of the fourth-floor balcony and bend it upwards.
"There's another child on the fourth floor."
"It's a sin that my parents ran away."
A small hand was vaguely stretched out from behind the railing. The parents who ran out from downstairs were stopped by the police and burst into tears.
The firefighters and police officers who arrived at the scene were laying an air cushion downstairs. Ji Ci didn't dare to breathe and stared at the back without blinking.
Although it was blurry, she was basically certain that the man was Boss Jin. He was the first one to rush upstairs when this happened. However, it was such a high place and there was a fire. She was already terrified just standing downstairs.
The cell phone rang and Sister Xu asked her where she was.
When she spoke again, Ji Ci's voice was already filled with tears: "Sister Xu, Boss Jin went to the fire scene to rescue people."
Sister Xu said anxiously: "Don't worry about whether he can be saved or not, just come back first."
"I..." Ji Ci looked at the blurry shadow on the high-rise building and couldn't move at all. "I'm afraid he'll get into an accident."
Police cars and fire trucks were lined up at the intersection, and reporters and internet celebrities carrying cameras moved as they heard the sound.
Ji Ci was evacuated along with the crowd several hundred meters away and had no clear view of what was happening at the fire scene.
Sister Xu grabbed her arm from behind and pulled her away. Ji Ci shook her head: "Sister, I can't leave."
"It's useless for you to stay here, and it's dangerous." Sister Xu said panting.
Ji Ci knew all of this. After holding it in for a long time, she finally said the same words: "I can't leave."
As he was speaking, there was a sudden loud "bang" and then a cry of surprise from the crowd.
Ji Ci's heart trembled, and she couldn't stand for a moment.
Some people said "rescued", while others said "jumped down".
Ji Ci squeezed forward and asked what was wrong.
"Boss Jin from the auto repair shop," the man pointed back, "jumped down with his child."
The police car led the way and the ambulance roared towards the hospital. Ji Ci held Sister Xu's arm, her eyes fixed on the corner of the street as the red and blue warning lights flashed.
Ji Ci came back to her senses after a brief pause. She let go of Sister Xu and said, "I have to go to the hospital."
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
