Chapter 8
"It almost resulted in a death."
An ice pop whetted their appetites, so instead of going straight home, Josh took him to the market. They decided to splurge a little and bought vegetables and meat, as well as iced cola, which they hadn't had in a long time.
When we got home, we discussed cooking together.
Normally, neither of them has a big appetite, but perhaps because they were in a good mood today, they had a strong appetite and ate all the food.
After finishing his meal and waiting for his electric scooter to be fully charged, Josh set off for work.
Today is the first day, so I can't be late.
Before leaving, Josh specifically reminded Chen Zhiyu, "Remember to close the doors and windows before you go to sleep. I heard from Aunt Li across the street that those thugs haven't been caught yet, so be careful."
"Call me if you need anything. If all else fails, go find Aunt Li across the street. I've already spoken to her."
Seeing that Chen Zhiyu agreed to everything, Qiao Xi was relieved. When they arrived at their destination, Zhang Jia had already started working.
It was lunchtime, and as soon as Josh entered, Zhang Jia, who was standing by the counter, pulled him into the changing room.
Rather than a changing room, it was actually a small room divided into two areas by a wooden board.
There was only one row of lockers in the women's changing room.
Li Jia handed her the key, "It's the third one from the inside. Come over after you change your clothes. I have to go now, it's crowded."
The work uniform was a bit baggy, with the store's logo printed on the back. The fabric was also quite thick and not breathable. Josh quickly put on the uniform, put his own clothes in the closet, looked at his phone, thought for a while, and then put it in his pocket.
Not daring to linger too long, I quickly went into the kitchen.
The kitchen was bustling with activity. It was already hot and humid in July, and the rising steam and smoky atmosphere made it even more stifling. As soon as Josh entered, he was enveloped by a huge amount of steam, feeling as if every pore on his body opened up and he was sweating profusely.
Before he could react, Zhang Jia suddenly shoved a plate full of food into his hand and hurriedly said, "The second table on the left, table number 16."
Josh quickly reached out his other hand to steady the plate, took small steps back to the kitchen door, turned sideways to block the curtain, and went out.
The air conditioning in the dining area was very cold. Suddenly, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her. Josh shivered. Her eyes scanned the area quickly, and she kept silently counting in her mind: the second table on her left, table number 16.
Once they found the right spot, Josh put it down safely.
Having completed the first task, Josh let out a soft breath. Although the task seemed simple, he was still a little nervous.
For the next few hours, she continued this mechanical work.
This kind of work doesn't require much skill and isn't very difficult; it just requires standing for long periods of time.
Having not exercised for a long time, Josh's back was really sore at first. It felt like a mountain was pressing down on her back. She moved a couple of steps to the left and right to stretch her muscles and bones, straightened her back with all her might, and then bounced on her toes to relieve the pain a little.
Suddenly, a hand covered her back. Thinking she was blocking someone's way, Josh was so startled that she took a big step forward and quickly turned around.
An older woman behind her was smiling at her, her hand still hanging in mid-air, and asked with concern, "Are you tired?"
Seeing that the aunt was wearing the same work uniform as her, she assumed she was a colleague. Josh was about to nod when she paused, then quickly shook her head. "It's alright."
The auntie's gaze swept over the dining area first, then she approached her and whispered, "The customers are all eating right now. If you get tired, go to the restroom or wait in the kitchen for a while. You need to learn to be lazy, otherwise no one can stand standing all the time."
Hearing this, Josh felt a sense of relief and nodded, "Thank you."
"It's alright," the auntie said again. "If you get hungry, go to the kitchen, find a blind spot in the surveillance cameras, and ask the chef for some scraps."
Josh's eyes widened, and he whispered, "You can do that?"
She had no prior experience in this field and knew absolutely nothing about it.
"No cook starves to death, and neither do we." The aunt probably saw that Josh was a recent graduate and kindly offered a few more words of advice, "You'll be a little tired when you're busy, but when you're not busy, learn to be a little lazy."
Josh thanked him sincerely.
A few hours was enough time for Josh to get to know his colleagues, and everyone was easy to get along with.
When the night shift starts, only three staff members remain: two waiters and one chef. As the night approaches, the restaurant becomes deserted.
After cleaning, Zhang Jia led her to a table against the wall to sit down. "The night shift is tough, but it's relatively easy."
Other classes didn't dare to sit outside so openly to rest. Even the uncle in the kitchen moved a stool against the wall and dozed off. Only then did Josh take out her phone. She was busy when she felt her phone vibrate to remind her, but she didn't have time to pay attention to it.
There are two pieces of information.
One message was sent by Tang Ning around 11:00 PM: "How are you doing? Can you still hold on?"
The other message was from Chen Zhiyu. His phone was an old phone that Chen Zhibin had discarded. The message was sent around 9 o'clock and contained only the word "sister".
Josh replied to Chen Zhiyu first, "I was busy and didn't notice. What's wrong? Remember to close the doors and windows."
He must be asleep. Josh sent a message but didn't get a reply, so he didn't bother him anymore.
Then he replied to Tang Ning, saying that Tang Ning was a night owl and couldn't possibly be asleep, "It's alright, night shift."
Sure enough, Tang Ning replied quickly, "Can I come to see you?" Then a second message followed, "I hope I won't bother you. If it's really not possible, I'll order a bowl of noodles and keep you company."
Josh laughed, "What are you after? So pointless?"
Grandma Tang Ning is still in the hospital. There are three siblings in her family, and this week it's Tang Ning's turn to take care of the elderly woman. "No one is home, and I'm a little scared."
"It's a bit dangerous to go out so late at night, isn't it?"
"No, I checked, it's not far from my house, only five minutes away." Tang Ning was probably genuinely scared and didn't want to stay home. "There's a police station along the way."
It seemed she was determined to come. Josh asked Zhang Jia to make sure everything was alright before replying to her.
Tang Ning arrived quickly as expected, and even ordered a bowl of pea noodles as a late-night snack.
The three of them were classmates and knew each other quite well. They chatted intermittently throughout the night, making the long, dark night not too unbearable.
In the latter half of the night, there were indeed a few people eating, those finishing their night shifts, those starting their early shifts, and those spending the night at internet cafes.
Tang Ning stayed up with them until dawn, but she couldn't hold on any longer. She said goodbye to them, and before leaving, she ordered a plate of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and took them home.
At five in the morning, things got busy again. Later, Josh's head felt heavy, and after he couldn't help but yawn for the third time, he finally made it to the end of the workday.
At seven o'clock in the morning, the sun was covered by a layer of clouds. It was a little cold to ride a bike at this time. Josh forced his eyelids open and rode smoothly to his neighborhood before the morning rush hour.
As soon as I entered the community, I saw a group of people gathered around the flower bed, discussing the situation.
Josh yawned, glanced at it quickly, and vaguely saw a bright warning strip. Her mind was limited by extreme sleep deprivation, and she didn't think much of it after seeing it, quickly putting it out of her mind.
Josh dragged his exhausted body into the building entrance. Just as he stepped onto the stairs, he almost bumped into Aunt Li, who was rushing down from above.
When Aunt Li saw her, her eyes lit up, and she grabbed her arm, "Did you see that? What happened?"
Josh felt that her brain was definitely affected by severe sleep deprivation, and she couldn't understand what Aunt Li was saying at all.
Aunt Li stretched her neck forward and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She asked, "You didn't know? You haven't seen the news yet? It's all over the neighborhood group chat!"
Most of the residents in this community are long-term residents who have lived here for decades. The community group chat was created spontaneously by the residents, and they use it to post announcements, messages, or information about which store has the cheapest eggs or the freshest vegetables.
Of course, most of the posts were health and wellness tips. With everyone posting one after another, it was easy to miss important information, so Josh had set it to Do Not Disturb mode a long time ago.
"No, I was busy all night." Josh rubbed his aching head and laughed it off.
Actually, she wasn't busy; she just hadn't been paying attention to the group messages. She was wondering why there were 99+ messages. Didn't these elderly people sleep? Was the whole neighborhood working the night shift today?
Seeing her relaxed demeanor, Aunt Li knew she hadn't heard anything yet, so she quickly said, "You don't know, something happened in our neighborhood."
"What is it?" Josh was startled, and the warning tape he had just seen suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Good heavens, something big has happened!" Aunt Li got all excited as soon as she said that, raising her arms high and acting like a conductor, gesturing and explaining. Her movements were so fast that Josh's eyelids were drooping. She grabbed Aunt Li's hands and blinked, "What exactly happened?"
"Do you remember the group of troubled minors I told you about?"
Josh's drowsy mind actually processed for a moment, "I remember, whose car window did they smash this time?"
"Where?" Aunt Li shouted in her shrill voice, her voice immediately rising several decibels, "It almost caused a death."
A human life? Josh's neck stiffened suddenly.
Aunt Li: "It is said that late tonight, a group of kids came to our community and were about to smash a car when a tenant who came home late at night stopped them. Those kids are really ruthless when they get angry. They hit the man on the head. Goodness, if our community security guard hadn't found out in time, it would have been more than just one blow."
"Just think about it, if they can smash such thick car windows, how could they possibly smash a person's head? My God, that's terrifying."
"You saw it?"
No, that's not the case.
"Was the accident in one of our neighborhoods?"
"Yes, it was a tenant. The security guard found him and quickly called the police. The person was taken away by an ambulance in no time." Aunt Li sighed and said, "It's a good thing we replaced those old men who only know how to play cards. When something really happens, we have to rely on the young people."
“What could those old security guards do? They couldn’t even run as fast as me. I don’t even know who was working for whom.”
Upon hearing about the vandalism of private cars in the neighborhood, several residents, led by Aunt Li, immediately went to the property management office to report the problem.
The security guards in the community used to be elderly men, but after their disturbance, the property management replaced them with younger security guards.
"Take last time when my package was lost, I asked them to help me check the surveillance footage, but a bunch of old men were playing cards and ignored me. They told me to check it myself. If I knew how, I wouldn't have needed to ask them for help."
"Young people are clever; otherwise, what a big problem would have arisen, causing widespread panic."
"Did you catch them?"
"No way, a group of kids can run very fast. It's lucky that you saved one life."
Aunt Li pointed upwards, "My daughter heard about this and came to pick me up early this morning. She wants me to stay at her place for a while. I thought I'd tell you all, please be careful. You have a young child at home, and you're working the night shift."
Thinking of this, Josh immediately came to her senses and started to walk upstairs. "Auntie, I'll stop talking now. I'll go upstairs and take a look."
"Go quickly, and be careful."
"Okay, I got it."
Josh didn't stop for a moment, panting as she ran upstairs. The combination of staying up all night and sudden exercise made her a little dizzy. She was covered in sweat and felt sticky, but ignoring the discomfort, she shakily took out her key from her pocket and tried to insert it into the lock.
I couldn't get in no matter how many times I tried.
Josh closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, tried to calm himself, pressed his left hand against his right wrist, and waited until the trembling stopped before trying again.
Just then, the door opened from the inside.
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