01 0.1
Today was the early shift. At 7:25 a.m., Li Yaya left her rental apartment and rode her electric bike for 25 minutes to her work location. This was her first job, as a cashier at a cake shop.
The bakery opens at 9:30 AM, and the early shift needs to arrive at 8 AM to begin pre-opening preparations. This includes placing baked bread on the shelves, packaging finished desserts and labeling them with the production date, and even exchanging leftover bread from last night for a free cup of coffee at the cafe next door.
Li Yaya was very sleepy. After working at a cake shop during the day, she had to sell beer at a bar at night. It was common for her to come home late at night and not get enough sleep.
Free coffee couldn't save Li Yaya. All she needed was a good, complete rest for the entire day. It didn't have to be long; just one day would do. Lying in her rented apartment, a short respite for the day was enough.
But she can't.
She has to pay her debts.
The cake shop is not busy in the morning. After finishing the preparatory work, the rest of the time I just stand in the store, welcome customers when they come in, pack their items, do the cashier work, and promote membership. Li Yaya can earn a commission of 4 yuan for a recharge of 200 yuan, 10 yuan for a recharge of 500 yuan, and 20 yuan for a recharge of 1,000 yuan.
Finally, say goodbye and welcome back next time.
Li Yaya leaned against the cash register, her knees bent. It was almost midnight, and she had already been standing for four hours. The store wasn't busy on a weekday, so she only had to work until 2 p.m. before the night shift would take over.
The bar's working hours are from 9 or 10 to 1 or 2 the next day, and it's not fixed. Today, Li Yaya has 7 hours of breathing time. It has been a long time since she had such a long time to herself.
Li Yaya decided to treat herself to something delicious.
After finishing her shift, Li Yaya stopped by a nearby supermarket, looked around, and finally bought two discounted bottles of milk to take home. Everything in the supermarket was expensive, and the price-performance ratio was extremely low. It was better to buy more vegetables and Meituan Youxuan.
I originally planned to treat myself, but I couldn't bear to buy anything.
Li Yaya rented a one-bedroom apartment on the sixth floor of a 1990s residential complex. While the complex was old and the floors high, the rent was cheap. There were no property management fees, only garbage fees and utility bills. She could even cook, which significantly reduced her living expenses.
Working two jobs back-to-back, she could earn around 12,000 yuan a month, and 13,000 yuan on a good day. If it weren't for debt repayment, 12,000 yuan would be enough to live comfortably in this third-tier city. Of course, if it weren't for debt repayment, Li Yaya wouldn't have to work so hard at two jobs.
Every month, 10,000 yuan is used to repay debts, and the rest is her living expenses, including rent, water, electricity, transportation, communications, etc.
I don’t even dare to get sick.
If you budget carefully, there will be a surplus.
With heavy steps, Li Yaya climbed up the stairs and arrived home.
She put the milk in the refrigerator and cooked a bowl of wontons Sister Honghong had made, adding a poached egg. The women at the shop always cared about her, always thinking of bringing her some of whatever delicious food their families made. But Li Yaya couldn't repay them right now. She thought to herself that once she paid off her debts and earned enough money, she would definitely treat the women to a feast.
Slurp, slurp! I was sweating profusely while eating. The old fan was whirring away beside me.
Li Yaya often stared at it in a daze, wondering which of them would fall first.
There was no time for melancholy; Li Yaya needed to make the most of it. She glanced at the time and saw she still had three more hours of sleep. Good thing she had a quick shower, washing away the sweaty, cow-licked feeling. She then brought a fan into the bedroom and finally fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, it was already completely dark. Every time this happened, Li Yaya would be enveloped by a sense of loneliness, but it would not last long. Being sentimental was reserved for those who had nothing to do, and she did not deserve it because she had to get up and go to work.
After taking a quick bite, Li Yaya rode her third-hand electric bike and walked into the night.
Li Yaya really lives up to her name, she looks like a bean sprout and is too thin, the kind of thin that comes from malnutrition.
It was still early, and the bar hadn't started serving customers yet. Only a few scattered tables were occupied. Li Yaya was chatting with a colleague in the lounge. Her colleague's name was Xiaodie, supposedly a young woman who had just come of age. Li Yaya didn't know her real name. She said she had run away from home with her boyfriend after a fight at home. Her boyfriend also worked at the bar, and the two of them lived on their earnings.
Li Yaya does not approve of this lifestyle, but envies their unrestrained and free-spirited nature.
Xiaodie is still young and gossipy. "Sister Yaya, there's a new singer in the store. He's so handsome and sings beautifully. If I didn't have a boyfriend, I'd really want to pursue him."
Li Yaya never cared about whether there were more or fewer people in the store. As long as she didn't get less money than she deserved, that was all that mattered.
"It's okay if you can't catch up with her. Just take a closer look at her later." After saying that, Li Yaya walked out of the lounge and went to work.
Looking at handsome guys is for people who have nothing to do. Handsome guys can't be eaten or spent as money, and it will delay her work.
Li Yaya is such a boring person, her life is nothing but working. However, Li Yaya was still attracted by the voice on the stage.
A tattered veil, a simple white T-shirt, washed jeans, and sneakers. A clean, fresh-faced young man. He sang Wu Bai's "Bridge of Tears," "...I know you're just as bad at expressing yourself/Imagine the lies we weave in our love/Sweet moments drift down like falling petals/From then on, my life turned to dust/Lonely people always get used to the stability of solitude/At least our lines once crossed..." It was so rare, because she'd heard the song before.
Normally, Li Yaya had rarely heard the songs sung by the singers on that stage. But when she came across a song she had heard before and liked, Li Yaya paused for a moment, a rare moment.
As they paused, Jiang Yi's eyes fell on Li Yaya. Their eyes met, and Li Yaya gave Jiang Yi a faint smile. After all, they were colleagues now, so she just said hello, then turned around and went back to work. Gradually, more and more people filled the store, and Li Yaya was so busy that she had forgotten the little incident.
Jiang Yi, on the other hand, had a vivid memory. It was the first time he saw the coexistence of fatigue and tenacity in the eyes of a person, a thin girl who looked like she could be blown away by the wind at any moment. Curiosity took over, and he wanted to know her name, to get to know her.
It's easy to find out her name, just ask any staff member, but she gives people a feeling of keeping strangers away, so I have to think of a way.
After a busy first half of the night, Li Yaya finally had a moment to relax and sit at the back door of the bar to unwind.
Pat your sore shoulders and stretch your arms.
"Li Yaya." Someone suddenly called her name. Li Yaya was startled. She couldn't be so unlucky that she would be discovered just after sneaking out to rest for a few minutes.
He turned his head and met Jiang Yi's face.
Fortunately, he was not the foreman.
"Are you calling me?" Li Yaya asked tentatively.
After the busy day, Li Yaya had completely forgotten the boy who had just sang "Boy" on the stage. Seeing that Li Yaya had no impression of him at all, Jiang Yi did not care at all, but sat next to Li Yaya carelessly.
"Hello, my name is Jiang Yi, and I'm the new resident singer in the store. Nice to meet you, Li Yaya."
"Hello." Li Yaya was a little confused. He was new, so what was there to get to know? This person was quite strange.
"Can I add WeChat?"
"I'm going to work." The two said in unison. Li Yaya didn't care what Jiang Yi said and went back to work. Jiang Yi was left standing there awkwardly with his phone still not fully taken out.
At 2:30, Li Yaya finally got off work.
She rode her third-hand electric bike and went home exhausted. She didn't even hear the voice calling her from behind.
If Jiang Yi had been three points curious about Li Yaya when they first met, he was now seven points curious. No, he had to let Li Yaya get to know him.
I pushed the electric car under the carport to charge it, climbed up to the 6th floor with heavy steps, and washed off the smell of cigarettes and alcohol that I had picked up in the bar. It was almost 4 o'clock.
And at 7:25, she had to go out again.
The other cashier at the cake shop was off duty today, so Li Yaya had to work the entire day. From 8:00 AM to closing time at 8:30 PM, then back to work at the bar at 9:00 PM until 1:00 PM. Li Yaya couldn't count how many hours she had to work today.
Fortunately, more than half of the debt has been paid off. If I persist a little longer, these days will be over.
Fortunately, Li Yaya is quite strong. As long as one is alive, one can live on. It is no big deal.
For breakfast, they had leftover bread from the store yesterday. Honghong brought Yaya lunch, a bowl full of meat. While eating in the warehouse, Li Yaya felt like crying for some reason. She lowered her head, tears as big as beans falling from her eyes. She swallowed them mouthful by mouthful along with her meal.
What I fear most is the concern from the outside world after a person has worked hard for a long time.
This scene happened to be seen by Sister Honghong who went into the warehouse to get something. As a mother, she couldn't bear to see such a scene. Sister Honghong sighed, patted Li Yaya's shoulder gently, and just said that it would be fine.
Will it be okay? Yes, it will be okay.
Li Yaya also allowed herself a brief moment of vulnerability. Just like Sister Honghong said, people are not made of steel and concrete, so how can they always be hard?
After eating, take a 5-minute break and then continue working.
Fortunately, Li Yaya still has two relatively stable jobs.
Jiang Yi doesn't sing at bars every day. He might sing at one bar on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at another on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. He's always irregular. He goes wherever there's money to be made.
Unfortunately, I can't go to see Li Yaya today
Jiang Yi specifically asked other bar staff and learned that Li Yaya came every day regularly and was a relatively stable employee of the bar. It was either 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock, and as long as he came, he would definitely see her.
Jiang Yi finally felt relieved.
Only Li Yaya, everything happening around her has nothing to do with her, and there is no need to get involved with everyone around her.
Life goes on and on. One day turns a circle, sunrise and sunset. No, it has been a long time since Li Yaya has looked up at the sky.
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