The sound of New Year's firecrackers gradually faded away, and the lively feeling in every household naturally dissipated slowly.
Everyone goes to school or works, and some who work or study in other places have left their homes after a brief reunion.
Qingzhen, which belongs to the Kehua District of Yuecheng, is a small town. After the brief hustle and bustle of the Spring Festival, it has returned to its usual tranquility.
Qin Xiaoxia was walking on the street bored. Those stalls that used to occupy the streets during the Chinese New Year, such as those selling balloons and bulk goods, had almost disappeared. The stall owners were always so sensitive to the fading of the New Year atmosphere.
At this time, he would also think about how these guys make money and survive in a non-festival environment? They can't be like the antique sellers, who open a business for half a year and make a living just by selling those knockoff goods for 5 or 10 yuan each?
"I guess setting up a stall during the New Year is just a part-time job." Qin Xiaoxia thought casually.
Ahead, Qin Xiaoxia had arrived at her destination, Rising Supermarket.
This time I came out to purchase some food and daily necessities. During the New Year period, I have almost used up all the stock.
Outside the supermarket, advertisements for New Year discounts and giveaways are still posted in red, and the festive music inside is still playing in a loop, as if this is the last stand of the new year.
"For me, the only benefit of the Chinese New Year is that the products are heavily discounted..."
While selecting the things you want to buy, put them all into the shopping cart.
"Hey, it seems that the takeaways I usually eat haven't reopened yet. I really want to eat Lao Liu's secret braised pork noodles and golden fried rice!"
With this sigh, Qin Xiaoxia threw two bags of pineapple buns and a box of instant noodles into the shopping cart, added some replacement toothbrushes, towels and other toiletries, and went to the checkout counter with the loot that filled most of the shopping cart.
One of the main reasons why he was reluctant to go to the supermarket during the Chinese New Year was the long queues for checkout.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, there were not many customers in the supermarket. In addition, the Spring Festival holiday had passed for most people, so the crowded queues for paying in the supermarket some time ago did not appear.
In just a few minutes, Qin Xiaoxia walked out of the supermarket carrying two large nylon bags full of purchases.
A breeze blew by, and he couldn't help but sniffle.
The Wan Niuchi River outside Qingcheng has been gradually polluted for unknown reasons since some time ago, and several attempts to clean it up have had no effect.
Whenever the northwest wind blows, the unique stench in the river will remind people in some places in small towns of "it". Rising Supermarket is a place where people can intuitively feel it.
There have been strict environmental inspections recently, but the environmental protection department is said to have checked many times but still cannot find the cause. Of course, ordinary people like Qin Xiaoxia still think of the disorderly discharge of pollutants by enterprises and the inaction of environmental protection.
The stench quickly passed by with the wind, and he quickened his pace with the bag in hand to avoid the pain in his nose.
As a freelancer, Qin Xiaoxia does not have the worry of having to go back to work after the spring break. Well, he is what ordinary people consider a lazy person.
However, although he seems to be quite idle most of the time, he does not consider himself a vagrant in his self-definition. At least he has income from online reselling and part-time creation, and he is still looking for a more stable job.
At the same time, he also had to clean and look after an old building from time to time as an "administrator". After all, according to Old Man Qin, when Qin Xiaoxia turned 40, the ownership of the building would belong to him, which was less than 20 years!
From this point of view, it can be said that he is "wearing multiple hats".
As I walked and thought, I soon returned to Qianlou Community, an old community that was built almost twenty years ago.
Then he went up to the sixth floor of Building 12 with ease.
Before taking out the key to open the door, he subconsciously looked at the palm of his hand. There was a deep scar caused by a burn. The scar from many years ago still seemed to be painful.
"This damn old man is really cruel!"
Cursing someone who had passed away in his heart, Qin Xiaoxia inserted the key into the keyhole.
With a "click", the door opened.
I took a quick look inside the room, went in, put the bag on the table, and prepared to change into slippers.
“Huh!”
A surprised sound.
"Why is one of your slippers missing?"
Various shoes were neatly stacked on the shoe rack, but one of Qin Xiaoxia's favorite pairs of slippers was missing.
Only one is missing.
He didn't have amnesia and he had only been out for less than half an hour.
I clearly remembered that he had placed the slippers next to the shoe rack.
Then I looked at the house carefully. Although I couldn't see anything visually, I always had an indescribable sense of disharmony intuitively.
Is there a thief?
This was Qin Xiaoxia’s first reaction.
So immediately, Qin Xiaoxia picked up a folding stool and went to each room's door one by one to look around, and also carefully looked under the bed from the door.
He tiptoed around the house in a shabby manner for more than ten minutes and finally confirmed that there was no one else in the house.
Then he looked around to see if there was anything valuable missing.
Nowadays, few people keep large amounts of cash at home, and Qin Xiaoxia is no exception. He also doesn't like to wear jewelry.
The most valuable items in the entire house, apart from the large pieces of furniture, are a desktop computer, a laptop, and a tablet.
It was obvious that none of these things were missing, and even other places in the house did not look like they had been touched.
'What kind of thief is so bored? He stole my slippers, and only one?'
Qin Xiaoxia returned to the shoe rack and looked at the slippers in confusion.
There are anti-theft bars on the windows, so it is impossible to climb in through the windows. The roof terrace door has an internal latch and there is no keyhole from the outside, so it is impossible to get in either.
I went back to the entrance, opened the door and looked at the door lock. There was no sign of prying. Could it be that there was an expert in lock picking?
"Did I lose one of my slippers before leaving the house?"
He shook his head to get rid of this ridiculous idea.
But it’s not like I’ll run into a ghost, right?
Qin Xiaoxia is basically distrustful of the notion of ghosts and gods. The reason why I say basically is that he still visits Old Man Qin's grave, as there is always a time to remember the ancestors.
But as for haunted shoe-stealing… forget it.
After all, I haven't checked the house thoroughly yet. Maybe something has been stolen that I have forgotten about. Look at the messy house and the thick dust in some places.
'Let's do some spring cleaning!'
He is usually lazy and even skips the traditional cleaning before the New Year. He can't remember when was the last time he did a thorough cleaning.
I'll take this opportunity today to clean it up thoroughly and take a closer look to see if anything is missing.
Basically, this is one of the few situations that Qin Xiaoxia, a lazy guy, can take the initiative to clean up.
…
You don’t know until you scan it, and you’ll be shocked when you do.
Qin Xiaoxia discovered that in dead corners such as under the bed and under the sofa, there was so much dust that it had curled into balls, which was a bit exaggerated.
Thus, the vigorous cleaning campaign officially began.
Mops and brooms are all used, and rags and detergents are used continuously.
It didn't take long for Qin Xiaoxia to start sweating profusely. Soon he was left with only a thin sweater. Only his hands were a little cold from contact with the cold water, but definitely not too cold.
The messy things were finally neatly sorted and stacked, and some corners that had been covered with dust for a long time were taken care of.
We even found a lot of long-lost things, including a bus card, two dried plums, some small miscellaneous items and coins of varying quantities.
Around 6 o'clock in the evening, the duplex penthouse, including the attic roof balcony, was finally cleaned, making Qin Xiaoxia very tired.
He stretched his back and his bones made a crackling sound.
"I'm getting old... or am I really lacking in exercise?"
Talking to himself, looking at the relatively tidy "doghouse", Qin Xiaoxia still felt quite a sense of accomplishment.
Although I don’t know if there are any omissions, I can basically be sure that there is nothing missing at home that he can remember.
But there was still a small problem: the slipper was still not found.
“Pah.”
The mop leaning against the table fell over, and Qin Xiaoxia subconsciously bent down to pick it up.
At this moment, the coat he put on after cleaning got caught on the back of a chair beside the table. He bent over and with a big movement, the chair fell over with a "bang".
Qin Xiaoxia picked up the mop and stared blankly at the overturned chair, because a slipper was stuffed in the gap at the bottom of the chair.
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