Chapter 3
"What?! You let that bastard move in? Are you crazy?! Hey, you gambler, gamblers' whole families die! Don't you know that?"
“I know, you’ve said it hundreds of times already. Your classmate’s cousin’s husband offended someone at the card table, and his whole family was killed.”
"You know you still brought her into the house? Are you crazy?!"
"I think he'll get better! I want him to be better; he wasn't like this before."
Gu Mengzhu wrapped the fruit in plastic film, pulled it towards the machine, pried open a small opening with her right thumb, then slid it closed on both sides and handed it over. Chen Luo took the packaged fruit and put a discount tag on it. But she really couldn't understand it, and began to mutter in exasperation:
"Sister, how much do you really know about him? You're just separated by a newspaper, a screen; you can't even tell if the person on the other end is a human or a dog. I know celebrities have an aura, I understand that. But you think he's like that, which is actually just your wishful thinking. You think he's a good person, but he's like these rotten fruits—his blemishes are covered up, he's all packaged up. Ideals are ideals, reality is reality. The reality is, he's a gambler, and you're a pauper. He's willing to risk his life for gambling, while you have to live a life of bowing and scraping every day just to save your own. You can't afford to risk your life against him!"
Gu Mengzhu didn't reply, mechanically continuing her work with her back to her. Chen Luo turned on her phone's flashlight and shone it in her eyes, forcing her to stop. She spoke wearily and helplessly:
"what?"
"I want to bring you to your senses. Ideally, there would be an interrogation room with a spotlight the size of a football shining in, and we could dig out your brain to see if it's full of mush. I think only water in the brain can explain your fearlessness."
"He's already moved in, what else can we do?"
“Yeah, right.” She slapped Gu Mengzhu on the shoulder. “Serves you right, who told you to act without thinking! Here’s what we’ll do, if anything happens, just send me an ‘S’ on your phone and I’ll call the police for you right away.”
Gu Mengzhu looked at Chen Luo with a puzzled expression:
Why S?
"SOS! An international distress signal, you don't even know that?! And you majored in English in college."
"I didn't think of that for a moment! Besides, it's just a private second-tier university, what kind of respectable university is it? After graduating, I'll still end up working for someone else."
She rubbed her arm that had been slapped, looking somewhat aggrieved.
"You're much better off than me; at least you went to university. I went to work in a factory right after graduating high school. That damn factory was a shady place; we only had two days off a month, worked sixteen hours a day, and had to hold back three days' wages. It was inhuman!"
"And you worked there for more than four years?"
"To the owners of these illegal factories, aren't we considered human beings too?"
Gu Mengzhu was being stared at and, under duress, silently shook her head.
"By the way, don't tell anyone about this. If others find out, it won't be good for either of us."
"They're all so rotten to the core that they're gambling addicts, why are they worried about what others will say?"
Anyway, I don't think it's good.
"If you think it's bad, why did you tell me?"
"I'm not telling anyone how upset and upset I am, but please don't tell a third person."
She pleaded with Chen Luo with her eyes, and Chen Luo sighed:
"Fine, I won't say. I'm not usually a big mouth anyway."
"And you're not allowed to tell your boyfriend either."
"Alright, alright, I'll keep it to myself, okay?"
Gu Mengzhu nodded in satisfaction and smiled at her.
"You two stop chatting, someone come and help me wrap the gift boxes."
"They're here! They're here!"
Chen Luo patted her hand twice, signaling her to continue working, and then got up and walked over.
At 10 p.m., Gu Mengzhu finished work. She had been working the night shift all month; after the shop closed, the buses stopped running, and there wasn't a soul on the streets. Fortunately, her rented apartment wasn't far, only a 20-minute walk away. The moonlight was bright, but there weren't many stars visible through the clouds.
Gu Mengzhu had worked eight hours straight and was exhausted. If she ran into an acquaintance now, she probably wouldn't even be able to manage a smile. She had already eaten dinner and wasn't hungry. She was just walking along the road in the dim light, her mind completely blank. She couldn't remember anything, nothing could enter her brain. She felt dazed and confused, as if her entire body had been drained.
But there was still one light, the light from her rented room shining brightly in the dark urban village. Gu Mengzhu had graduated almost six years ago, and for the first time, the light was still on when she came home; for the first time, someone was waiting for her inside. Suddenly, she felt a surge of strength, and like a sprinter, she ran with all her might, climbing to the seventh floor in one breath. As she opened the door, breathless and panting, only one thing was on her mind:
Someone is waiting for her.
Upon seeing that face, Gu Mengzhu laughed like a fool.
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