Chapter 71

"…Reward?"

On the other side of the bed, Gu Yunshu blinked slowly: "Social security?"

As a dead person, she has forgotten a lot of things. She can still barely understand the word "reward", but the word "social security" has simply been kicked out of her vocabulary.

Maybe she had a headache and worked overtime because of this word when she was alive, but those troubled memories or the meaning of this word itself have been taken away by time.

"It's a kind of welfare system." Xu Ming looked at her at a loss and tried to explain, "They help me pay insurance. If I pay, my medical treatment will be cheaper, and I will have a pension in the future..." Before

she finished speaking, the phone rang again. Xu Ming glanced down, then looked up and added, "It will be convenient to get a mortgage in the future."

- Shi Mian had just sent another message, saying that they paid five insurances and two funds, including provident fund and supplementary provident fund.

All that was missing was the five words "We welcome you" in bold and large letters.

"..." Xu Ming looked at the two messages, but fell into silence.

It must be said that the moment Xu Ming saw Shi Mian's message, he was a little moved.

Provident fund and the like are not important - the key is to help pay social security.

She was unlucky. The company she joined before was a rip-off. It didn't pay for social security during the probation period, so her social security has been cut off since she left school. She also specifically checked that if she had to pay it herself, it would be best to pay for flexible employment social security. However, this fee is relatively high. Even the lowest tier would cost more than a thousand yuan a month.

From a certain perspective, this is one of the reasons that prompted Xu Ming to return to rent a villa - living at home would free her from the rent burden. The original rent budget could just be used to pay social security.

Having said that, the amount is still a bit of a headache. Especially since she is currently in a window period...

and at this time, An Xin Yuanyi came over to deliver a pillow.

Xu Ming stared at the message on her phone silently, took a deep breath, and then another breath, and finally made up her mind -

[Sorry, I have to ask my leader about this first.] She poked at the screen of her phone quickly, and felt her heart ache every time she poked it, [I don't know if my unit allows part-time work. 】

Shi Mian also replied quickly, saying that it was okay and that he would tell her when he was sure. Xu Ming sent back an emoticon, closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. Gu Yunshu pulled a corner of the bed sheet and looked up: "Did you agree?"

"Not yet." Xu Ming lowered his head and pulled open the other side of the bed sheet, answering truthfully. Gu Yunshu tilted his head in confusion:

"But you looked like you really wanted to agree just now."

"You can't agree right away." Xu Ming said, "As an intern, I should have a heartfelt respect and loyalty to my job. At the same time, I exude a kind of inexperienced honesty and straightforwardness."

If she were a mature adult, she might have already started to inquire about the treatment of part-time jobs. But she didn't. She was just a young man who had just graduated from college and was full of awe for her unit. Therefore, even if she would be regarded as a fool by the other party, she must ask the leader before making a decision.

Of course, the leader himself has already agreed from the bottom of his heart.

"Oh..." Gu Yunshu nodded slowly. In fact, she did not quite understand what Xu Ming said, but she understood one thing - Xu Ming wanted to agree, but could not agree immediately, so he had to delay.

After a little thought, she asked a question that went straight to the soul: "But what if the other party thinks you are just shirking and actually want to refuse?"

"I don't know, let's see." Xu Ming shrugged and pulled the bed sheet flat. "But I don't think they will. Even if they really think so, they may come to ask again."

Shi Mian specifically found her and explained that she originally planned to poach her. And what was the reason for poaching her?

It can't be for her own ability. Xu Ming is not that narcissistic. The most likely reason is that she is from the Demolition Office, and is one of the only two people in the Demolition Office who can be contacted. The other employee who was stamped is Qiu Yufei. However, this guy has obviously returned to normal life. It is said that he even deleted the contact information of the person who contacted Anxin Gardening.

In other words, Anxin Gardening hooked up with her, but in essence, it was still hooking up with the Demolition Office. As long as she is the only living employee of the Demolition Office, her existence is irreplaceable.

"...So, the platform is still very important." After sorting out his thoughts, Xu Ming took a deep breath again and said with emotion, "A good platform is the shoulder of giants. It enables people to easily reach things that they couldn't reach before."

"Of course, we must always stay sober. Don't regard the help of the platform as your own ability. This is also very important."

Gu Yunshu: "..."

...The question is, the platform you are talking about, is it you yourself?

She raised her eyes and looked deeply at Xu Ming. After a moment of silence, she finally swallowed back this sincere question. She

lowered her head and patted the already flat sheets, then turned around to get the pillowcase again.

*

And just as Xu Ming said, within two days, Shi Mian sent another message. It was not the result of asking the leader, but during the chat, he took the opportunity of Qiu Yufei finding a new job to ask about the salary and benefits at the Demolition Office.

Xu Ming replied quickly:

[The compensation of the Demolition Office is not money, but something that suits my needs better than money.

[As for the income, I am still thinking about it. If the leader does not agree to work part-time for you, I may find some other network odd jobs.]

"......?"

In the distant, Anxin Gardening office, Shi Mian looked at this sentence and blinked thoughtfully.

Then he replied with a comforting word, and after replying, he slowly turned his head and looked at the leader who appeared behind his workstation at some point.

"...The reward is not money?" The middle-aged woman in simple clothes raised her hand and pushed her glasses, her tone somewhat determined, "Sure enough, it's the same as before. The Ghost Story Demolition and Relocation Office is very likely not a human organization."

"Well..." Shi Mian pursed her lips and said softly, "Sister Li, if this is true, will this unit be in danger? Should we persuade Gu Ming to resign first..."

"Didn't you see it? She said that the Demolition and Relocation Office could give her something more valuable than money, which means that there is already some kind of contract between her and the Demolition and Relocation Office, and she herself also agrees with this contract. In this case, how could she be persuaded back by a word or two from you?"

The woman with glasses said, lowering her eyes to glance at Shi Mian. Seeing that she still looked hesitant, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Even if we want to warn her, we can only do so through daily communication and slow guidance." After a pause, she spoke again, "Remember not to act too hastily. She is now our only window to contact the Demolition and Relocation Office. If we accidentally anger her, or arouse the Demolition and Relocation Office's vigilance, resulting in this window being closed, then we will lose more than we gain."

"Yeah, I see." Shi Mian nodded immediately, thought about it, and asked again, "Then what's next..."

"Continue to seduce her." The woman said coldly, not feeling that there was anything wrong with her wording. "The Demolition and Relocation Office won't give her money, so this is our opportunity. The most urgent thing is to establish further contact with her first."

Shi Mian nodded lightly, quickly turned her gaze back, and started typing on the keyboard again.

——After thinking about it for a long time, Xu Ming finally gave her reply.

She could work part-time, but social security was not necessary. She would still pay for it herself.

[???] Upon learning of her decision, Shi Mian immediately sent three question marks, [Why? If a company helps you pay, it can also ease your financial pressure, right?]

Xu ​​Ming did not explain much, just said "the leader won't let me." As for the real reason, it was actually very simple. She

just felt that it was good enough to get some compensation in exchange, and it would be a bit too much to get social security.

It was already known that the other party came to poach her for the Demolition and Relocation Office, but the Demolition and Relocation Office did not exist. Using intelligence to exchange for rewards can be explained as an exchange of interests, but using an organization that does not exist at all to put pressure on the other party and make the other party pay for a long time is a bit unreasonable.

With the background of Anxin Gardening... it is most likely that the money spent is taxpayers' money.

After all, hers is not a scam company, there is no need to take everything.

Besides, she is not the kind of person who gets involved in ghost stories every other day, and she only has a few ghost story information in her hands. Some exchanges are good, do you still expect to work long-term?

Therefore, Xu Ming's attitude is very firm. Shi Mian persuaded him twice, but seeing that there was no effect, he felt that he wanted to persuade Gu Ming to resign even more.

An organization that is most likely not run by humans, and the boss does not care about human affairs, but this silly child doesn't know how to run.

With this inexplicable feeling of regret, she sent a message to Xu Ming again, saying that if that was the case, she would draft another contract. The strange information provided by Gu Ming before could also be counted as part of the performance, and she would settle with Gu Ming first and try to transfer the money as soon as possible. When

Xu Ming received the message, he was sitting on a lounge chair in the yard, basking in the sun while choosing a doghouse for his dog, searching for the key words "cheap and good things". Seeing Shi Mian's words, he curiously asked how much it cost.

Shi Mian replied quickly, but Xu Ming was silent for a long time after seeing it.

Then he looked at the Samoyed lying at his feet, opened the online shopping website and began to search for luxury dog ​​houses.

The kind with full configuration.

Today is Friday, if you place an order now, it will arrive in the same city by Sunday at the latest. It was just in time for Qiu Yufei to come over, so she could build the doghouse for her. Perfect.

Xu Ming's abacus was clacking. She felt that her sluggish spirit in recent days was suddenly boosted by the upcoming income. Unfortunately, this kind of excitement did not seem to last long. She was tired again just after picking out a luxurious doghouse for the dog.

She did not treat herself badly. She adjusted the angle of the recliner and fell asleep directly. In her sleep, she could vaguely hear someone calling her, and there were some slight bell sounds. However, she was too sleepy and only responded vaguely a few times. Her consciousness soon sank again.

When she woke up again, she found that she had already lain back in the room, with the quilt covering her tightly.

Xu Ming pushed the quilt aside a little because she felt a little hot. She glanced at the big dog lying on the bed, and somehow she remembered the ringing sound she had vaguely heard before.

After a moment of silence, she couldn't help but pursed her lips lightly, raised her hand to touch the dog's head lying on the edge of the bed, and sat up with all her strength.

Her mobile phone was also taken over and was placed on the bedside table next to her. Xu Ming picked up the phone and saw that she had missed a lot of messages while she was asleep.

Half of them were from Tian Yiliang's assistant - since the last time she communicated with Tian Yiliang, Xu Ming added his assistant with her personal number. How to say it, he seems to be a good person, but a little too enthusiastic. For some reason, he always reminds her of the real estate agency she met when she was looking for a rental house before.

The other half was from Qiu Yufei - but this part of the message really confused her.

Because of the order, when Xu Ming opened the chat box, the first thing he saw was a lot of apologies and kneeling emojis, all sent unilaterally by Qiu Yufei. Xu Ming was scared and thought Qiu Yufei had done something unethical behind her back. She

flipped to the top and found out that it was because of the dinner date on Sunday - Qiu Yufei originally planned to come to see her on Sunday, but before getting off work this week, she suddenly notified her of the team building on Sunday, and next week she had already booked a ticket to go out of town for a drink, so the date with Xu Ming could only be postponed to the Sunday after next week.

The matter was clarified, but Xu Ming was even more confused. She flipped through the chat history again with a puzzled look on her face, and finally replied hesitantly:

[It's okay, you go. It's not a big deal, why apologize so loudly? 】

Qiu Yufei quickly replied: [I'm afraid you'll continue to be angry! 】

Xu Ming: [? I'm not angry...]

Qiu Yufei sent an emoticon package, on which was a cat with a tilted head, with the words "Do you want to see what you are talking about?"

Xu Ming: [? ? ? ]

Qiu Yufei: [Forget it, I forgive you. Originally, I broke the appointment. ]

Qiu Yufei: [Then I'll come to see you the week after next! ]

Qiu Yufei: [Yeah, yes, it's settled! ]

...?

Xu Ming sent an emoticon package back, and the chat was over. But she didn't rush to close the chat box, but went through the chat history again. After a moment of silence, he patted Qiu Yufei again and asked her to take a screenshot of her chat history and show it to her.

Qiu Yufei was puzzled, but she still did as she was told. The screenshot came soon. Xu Ming frowned and looked at it for a while, and soon received another message from Qiu Yufei: [What's wrong?]

[...Nothing.] Xu Ming pondered for a moment, and after thinking about it, he asked, [What time was it when I first replied to you?]

Qiu Yufei: [?]

Qiu Yufei: [18:22, what's wrong?]

[It's okay then.] Xu Ming replied slowly, [Maybe I thought too much.]

She just looked at the chat record, and she felt something was wrong no matter how she looked at it. After all, based on her friendship with Qiu Yufei, the other party didn't need to apologize so many times for a pigeon, and coupled with her later reply, Xu Ming couldn't help but think too much...

However, there was nothing wrong with the screenshots Qiu Yufei provided. There was nothing wrong with her answer just now.

The only problem was Xu Ming's own overly sensitive nerves and Qiu Yufei's exaggerated expressions that she had learned from nowhere.

...Having said that, based on a certain kind of vigilance that he couldn't explain, Xu Ming still tried his best to keep in touch with Qiu Yufei every day in the next two weeks. Fortunately, Qiu Yufei's performance had been very normal during those days, except that she would talk too much sometimes because she was too excited, which gradually put Xu Ming's mind at ease.

On the other hand, her life in the country was gradually getting back on track.

Because of her low spirits, she basically stayed at home for the past two weeks, and at most went out for a walk. Compared to her, other people obviously adapted better to this kind of rural place -

Gu Yunshu took a fancy to the nearby square dance group. In the morning, he went out to watch them dancing Tai Chi fan, and in the evening, he went out to watch them dancing folk style. When he was in the mood, he would shake his head and sway his body.

Lu Yueling also found new entertainment. She would go to the nearby fields whenever she had nothing to do. Everything she saw was new. At her strong request, Xu Ming took the time to draw another work card for her. The ID photo on the work card was a Q version girl in a long skirt feeling the nature in a green wheat field, proving that her name was "Xiao Liu".

Out of kindness, Xu Ming reminded her after he finished drawing that what she thought was a "wheat field" was actually just a patch of overgrown weeds.

Lu Yueling was so angry that she almost changed her name back.

As for the thirty Ajiao, with the help of Guo Shuyi, they all moved into the inner world of the strange story in the end. Sometimes they would follow Guo Shuyi out and wander around nearby. Xu Ming did not have high requirements for them, as long as they did not scare people.

In addition, she did not know if it was her illusion, but compared with the past, the Ajiao seemed to understand her better.

Mataigor asked her to buy some flower seeds, and took Niu Bugeng to try to plant them in the greenhouse; Comrade Bugeng, in addition to accompanying him to plant flowers, usually stayed in the greenhouse to study the roots that Landor had brought back before.

It was the one that Landor snatched from a certain mutant root, and its external form was a broken laptop. Xu Ming and his team had studied it before, but found it difficult to trigger its functions, and could not figure out its specific use, so they simply put it aside for now. Later, because of many things to do, I never took the time to deal with it.

I found it again when I moved this time, and it still couldn't be turned on. Xu Ming tried to put it together with the rule book, but there was no change. In addition, she was in a bad mood recently and didn't have the energy to study, so it was still idle.

Others had no interest in this thing, but Bu Geng applied to Xu Ming seriously and took the computer back to study. It's a pity that there is still no progress.

Overall, the quality of life is improving. The only inconvenience is that there are few takeouts to order, and it is not convenient to buy vegetables online. But there are often grandmas and grandpas nearby who set up stalls and sell the vegetables they grow, so it's not too bad.

Lando especially likes this - this way he can sell vegetables with cash

Xu Ming was also curious about where he got the money, Lando just said that it was saved before. Xu Ming was worried about whether he could count the money, but Lando fell silent after hearing this.

"I still recognize money." He told Xu Ming helplessly, "Whether it's paper money or coins. The amount is different, the color and size are different... I can still recognize it."

He actually has no problem with counting. It's just that he gets a little confused when he sees Arabic numerals, just like dogs can't distinguish certain colors, and some people have face blindness. In his eyes, it's really hard to see the difference between those numbers.

Xu Ming suddenly realized, and looked at him with more respect. Lando was speechless for a while, then he looked at the sky and walked out with an umbrella.

"Why are you going out now?" Xu Ming touched the Chow Chow squatting beside her and was a little surprised, "Didn't you buy vegetables? The sun is so bright now!"

"When I came back from buying vegetables, I saw someone fishing by the river. I went to take a look." Lando said, turned around and went out. I don't know what's so good about this kind of thing.

Xu Ming shrugged and looked at the time again. Today is Sunday, and it's ten o'clock in the morning. According to the agreement, Qiu Yufei will come over at about this time.

She was just about to ask if she wanted to send a message to ask, when her cell phone rang. She opened it and saw that it was a message from Qiu Yufei:

[I'm almost there! It's so hard to find where you live now! ]

Hard to find? That is true, after all, it is a rural area...

Xu Ming thought silently, raised his hand to reply, and saw Qiu Yufei's message pop up:

[I saw the house! Oh, the community in the east of the city is really confusing...]

...?

Xu Ming was stunned, what east of the city?

She had clearly sent the new address to Qiu Yufei before, and she also emphasized that it was in the south of the city... Why did she go there?

Before he could react, Qiu Yufei's message popped up again, as if she was talking to herself, but it didn't seem to be:

[Confirm again, your current address is 301, No. 6, May Community, Lanziqiao, East of the City, right? ]

...It's a ghost!

Xu Ming felt that the address seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while, so he quickly tapped the keyboard, hoping that Qiu Yufei would come back quickly - but even though she had already said no, Qiu Yufei continued to talk as if she didn't see it.

[Okay, I'm here.]

[I need a password to enter the building, give it to me]

[OK! The door is open!]

[I'll come up then!]