Chapter Ten: Begonia blossoms, so very beautiful, a lot like Cheng Zong! Ji XiaoYu gnawed at the pen cap and thought for a moment before asking, “Cheng Zong, what"s your full name?”
“Cheng YuTang.”
“Hey, is Yu the same "feather" as mine?”
“No, ‘Yu", as in to bestow, to take part in something."
(t/n: indirect uses of "yu", a different character from "yu" being feather)
“What do you mean?” Ji XiaoYu had a question mark over his head, and then added a witty phrase he had heard recently, “Cheng Zong, can you speak human speech?”
Cheng Zong: “……..”
It already is human speech, it"s you, kid, who didn"t learn and can"t understand it! The blue veins in Cheng YuTang"s forehead suddenly throbbed. "It"s the "yu" (and) in heaven and earth, the "yu" in black and white!"
“Oh, it"s that simple, you should"ve said so earlier.” Ji XiaoYu laughed and said, “That tang, is that lollipop (bangbang tang)?”
Able to see that this guy"s literary talent was basically equivalent to a cow"s skill for playing piano, Cheng YuTang replied simply this time, "It"s the "tang" in begonia (haitang).”
“Oh, begonia blossoms, ah, so very beautiful, a lot like Cheng Zong!”
Cheng YuTang held himself back, patiently asking, “Can you write?”
“Yes, it"ll be alright!” Ji XiaoYu took the pen and swiped. He finished his last stroke with a flourish.
Cheng YuTang took a look, the handwriting was all crooked, all kinds of scribblings, but it was easy to see just what was written.
“Cheng YuTang, the president of HongSheng, has promised to provide Ji XiaoYu with a job in security. The starting salary is 4,500 yuan a month, with five social insurance and one gold, including room and board. At the end of the year, the bonus will be paid according to performance and the salary for the next year will also be raised accordingly.
Ji XiaoYu must report within 10 days, must ensure that he is conscientious and diligent during the work, must be on-call, and must never be lazy.
Both parties agree according to this, and those who violate this agreement will be struck down by thunder and lightning and their divine form will be extinguished.
Cheng YuTang: ______
Ji XiaoYu: ______
Date: September 22, 2018”
Cheng YuTang: “……..”
What the h.e.l.l has been written here, isn"t this kid laying a trap for himself?
Ji XiaoYu didn"t think there was anything wrong with it, asking excitedly, “Cheng Zong, I just wrote what you just said. No problem, right?”
As a spiritual beast, he wasn"t bound by the laws of the human world, but Ji XiaoYu had for himself a set of spiritual beast (………) principles. This was already the most severe punishment he can think of, a lightning tribulation and divine elimination. It was also the greatest sincerity that he could show.
How could Cheng YuTang understand the thoughts of this pheasant spirit? He was just shaking his head in his heart, no problem? It"s too much of a problem, I"ve never seen such a bizarre contract in my whole life.
But……
He took one brief look at Ji XiaoYu, whose twinkling, sparkling eyes were full of antic.i.p.ation, Cheng YuTang changed the words before they left his mouth again, “Alright, that"s it.”
This kid was clearly a greedy money-grubber. At best, he was trying to get money from Cheng YuTang and he wasn"t afraid to talk about lacking money. I want to see what slippery thing he"ll try.
Ji XiaoYu quickly said, “Then you make your signature to seal the agreement.”
Cheng YuTang, without speaking, signed his own name with the pen, then dipped his index finger in the ink pot and pressed a bright red fingerprint on the signature.
Ji XiaoYu followed suit and, in the end, he held the agreement and smiled so that his eyes curved, “Thank you, Cheng Zong, I previously didn"t think that you looked like a good guy at heart. Now I"ve found out that you"re actually a good person!”
“…….” Cheng YuTang found that talking to this kid was too much of a test to his nerves, and said darkly, “I"ll arrange for you to work. This contract is a secret agreement between you and me. You put it away for yourself, don"t just take it out and show it to others casually. If you lose it, don"t blame me for not keeping track of it.”
If someone else sees this inexplicable under-the-table deal, what would happen Cheng Zong"s reputation?
"A trump card, generally it shouldn"t rashly be revealed, got it!” Ji XiaoYu carefully folded the paper and put it into the shirt pocket. He patted his chest happily, “Don"t worry, other people will only see it if they take it from my dead body!"
Cheng YuTang: “……..”
……
When Ji XiaoYu returned to the little restaurant, a few customers were just coming out. When they pa.s.sed by, Ji XiaoYu faintly smelled a strong, yet fragrant stench, as if someone had poured a bottle of perfume into an open sewer.
He frowned and wrinkled his nose, turning his head to sweep his gaze over those people.
The skinny man whose mouth stuck out looking like an ape"s chin slightly lifted his eyelids, with a glimmer flashing in his squinted eyes as he met his gaze. Then he bowed his head and went out.
“Xiao Yu, why are you frozen outside? I just got a couple more delivery orders, they"re just waiting for you to deliver!”
Zhang QiaoYan"s eyes were sharp, so when she saw Ji XiaoYu standing at the door, she immediately greeted him.
“Coming.” Ji XiaoYu took pulled back his gaze and quickly stepped into the little restaurant.
After work in that evening, he waited for Zhang QiaoYan to go home and Wu YaoQiang to go to the supermarket outside to buy supplements to send back to his mother. Then Ji XiaoYu took Li DeFa to sit down at the table and prepared a pot of the little restaurant"s inferior TieGuanYin tea. He poured the cup for Boss Li with his own hands and then sat down across from him.
When you have time on your hands, you want to court someone"s favor. There"s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It seemed this kid is finally unable to resist finding himself a higher wage. Li DeFa, with this thought in mind, c.o.c.ked his legs and blew the tea foam on the liquid surface. He took two sips before slowly asking, “Come on, what do you have to say?"
Ji XiaoYu directly replied, “Uncle Li, I want to resign.”
Li DeFa almost choked on the tea. He coughed for a long time before he was able to calm down, then he stared at him. “What did you say?!”
“I said, I want to resign,” Ji XiaoYu answered, unflinching. “Uncle Li, I"ve been here with you for three months now and I want to try a different job.”
Li DeFa composed himself, bitterly saying, “Xiao Yu, there are more young people from the countryside who have worked in Ning Cheng recently than flies in the air, but most of them can"t find anything serious to do. They can only go to the construction site to carry bricks and cement. You don"t know how lucky you are, ah. You tell Uncle Li the truth, is it that the salary is low? For one month, 2800 yuan and room and board, it"s really not low, you can just easily ask around and know that. Those who brag about buying a villa and a BMW in two years are just lying, so don"t be fooled. Look, you"ve done a good job in the past few months, so starting next month, Uncle Li will give you 500 yuan raise per month, as much as Qiang Zi, is that good?!”
“Uncle Li, thank you for your kindness, but I"m sorry, I"ve decided to change my job,” Ji XiaoYu said succinctly. “To avoid the restaurant being busy when I leave, you should recruit a new friend now.”
He knew Li DeFa"s stinginess very well, so this increase was already the limit. With a raise of 500 yuan per month, it added up to 3300 yuan a month. It is really high on Screw Street, but it was still 1200 yuan less than the deal with Cheng Zong, so the gap was still relatively large.
Don"t blame him for always looking upwards. As a single father who wanted to raise a baby, he was also forced by the circ.u.mstances.
What"s more, he has already set up the agreement with Cheng Zong and he had to return in a week. A spiritual beast couldn"t be said to be untrustworthy.
When Li DeFa saw that he was unmoved, he couldn"t keep an ugly expression from coming over his face. He put the teacup on the table and said in a bad mood, “I have eaten more salt than you"ve ever eaten rice1. I don"t need you to teach me! What you said just now, I thought you were being a hothead and not thinking clearly, but Uncle Li won"t worry about you. If you don"t want to do it, there are a lot of people who will rush to grab the position. There will be no other inn after pa.s.sing this village2. I will give you a few more days so you can take time to think about it for yourself.”
With that, he walked away angrily with this hands folded behind his back.
Ji XiaoYu had expected Boss Li would react like this. Although he felt helpless, he also didn"t intend to change his mind.
In fact, in addition to the low salary, there was one more inconvenience to living in the small restaurant; that was, the problem of sleeping.
Ji XiaoYu wanted to incubate the egg every night, but he had to avoid outsiders. Although Wu YaoQiang moved to the first floor to go to sleep, from time to time, he would run up to the attic, to take a shower, to get something, or whatever. There was no door in the attic and the entire narrow s.p.a.ce at the top of the staircase could be seen at one glance.
Qiang Zi Ge was a careless, rough man. He didn"t think that there was anything to avoid between two men like themselves. He never called out before going upstairs, often catching Ji XiaoYu off-guard. Ji XiaoYu euphemistically told him a few times and Wu YaoQiang agreed but didn"t even listen, the next time just coming in directly again.
So Ji XiaoYu not only couldn"t just sleep bare-naked right now, but also had to be wary of not letting Wu YaoQiang discover his secret. It was really a little nerve-wracking.
That said, that night, Ji XiaoYu had slept until the middle of the night, when he suddenly heard a little movement. He opened his eyes with vigilance and found Wu YaoQiang, naked except for a pair of underwear, holding a flashlight and looking for something in the box. At first glance, he looked like a thief.
He couldn"t help but lean up on his hand and ask, “Qiang Zi Ge, what"re you looking for?”
“Ji LaoDi, did I wake you up? Sorry.” Wu YaoQiang flashed his flashlight straight into Ji XiaoYu"s face. His other hand was scratching frantically at his arm. “It"s going to be National Day (October 1st) soon and there are many mosquitoes. I want some mosquito repellent to drive them away. I seemed to remember it was in this box, why can"t I find it?”
“In a shoe box inside the wardrobe, I put it away.” Ji XiaoYu reached out to block the light and helplessly lifted his sheet. He got up and opened the door, taking out the shoe box and handing it to Wu YaoQiang.
As a spiritual beast, common snakes, rats, and bugs were afraid to get close to his body, so he didn"t need to use mosquito repellent, insecticides, or anything like that. So when he arrived, he had put the mosquito repellent into the wardrobe.
“Thank you…….. Hey, what is this?”
Ji XiaoYu followed Wu YaoQiang"s gaze to the bed. Uh-oh, it"s my egg!
He had just been sleeping deeply, so he had forgotten this thing!
The author has something to say:
A few days later.
Xiao Ji: I just realized the words in the agreement are actually a trap for myself.
Cheng Zong: Clever ?
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Footnotes:
1. I have eaten more salt than you"ve ever eaten rice (我吃过的盐比你吃过的米还多): a saying meaning the person has more experience and age than the other ↩
2. there will be no other inn after pa.s.sing this village (过了这个村可就没这个店了): idiom meaning opportunity seldom knocks twice; if you give up an opportunity, you"ll never come across it again ↩
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surprise, this is a contract romance novel ?