Director Gao slammed the table angrily. “Ke Youzhi! When did our unit ever recruit ticket sellers? I made it perfectly clear to you from the start—we were hiring temporary loaders. And you assured me Comrade Miao was suitable. Who gave you the nerve to deceive both sides?”
He wasn’t foolish. Thinking about Ke Youzhi’s recent maneuvers, he could roughly guess Ke Youzhi’s intentions, and his expression grew increasingly grim.
The union secretary slowly stood up. “Director Gao, calm down first. Comrade Miao Jianguo, do you have any evidence for what you’ve said?”
Miao Jianguo wiped his tears and nodded emphatically. “My parents, my wife, my son and daughter, and my eldest brother’s whole family all know about this. Because of this matter, we even split up the household. Oh, right, as compensation, my eldest brother and his wife agreed to pay for building our house. It’s written clearly and explicitly in the household division agreement, and my eldest brother and his wife signed it.
My sister-in-law is Ke Youzhi’s own sister! If the leaders don’t believe me, I can call my wife right now and have her go back to get the written agreement.”
Everyone exchanged glances—this was no small matter.
The union secretary pondered for a moment. “Alright, then bring the agreement over. We’ll take a look first.”
Miao Jianguo immediately called the sugar factory.
With all this commotion, the departure time was delayed. Ke Youzhi was still lying on the ground wailing, shouting that Miao Jianguo was trying to kill him. In this state, he clearly couldn’t drive.
Director Gao had no choice but to have Miao Jianguo quickly tend to his wounds and replace Ke Youzhi. Miao Pingkang was driving alone for the first time, partnered with the newly assigned Miao Yunwei.
The siblings exchanged a glance outside the bus door, encouraging each other.
As soon as they boarded, a group of passengers impatiently urged, “Are we leaving or not? We’ve already been delayed so long! I promised my family I’d arrive by noon. Don’t drag this out until the afternoon!”
Miao Pingkang immediately returned to the driver’s seat, while Miao Yunwei checked tickets one by one inside the bus.
She had a passenger list in hand, which she had asked the clerk to copy early that morning. When checking tickets, she only needed to verify that the names and departure addresses matched, making the process exceptionally fast.
Miao Pingkang had thought it would take another twenty minutes, but Miao Yunwei finished in just five.
As the bus smoothly left the station, Zhao Qiming felt half of his anxiety ease.
The fight between Miao Jianguo and Ke Youzhi had already spread throughout the entire unit, including the detailed accounts of how Ke Youzhi had deceived the Miao family. If mishandled, this could implicate him. There couldn’t be any more trouble now.
While he was deeply worried, Miao Yunwei was in high spirits.
Normally, after the job transfer announcement, there would be a training period before starting work. But with this unexpected turn of events, she had turned misfortune into fortune and was directly on the bus. As long as this trip went smoothly, the training wouldn’t matter as much.
Seeing Miao Yunwei’s radiant expression in the rearview mirror, Miao Pingkang’s tense nerves relaxed a little. He said slowly, “This route goes from Nanxi City to the provincial capital, passing through Xia City, Quan City, and Pu City. We’ll stop for ten minutes at each city’s bus station. Some passengers will get off, and a new group will board.
Before passengers disembark, you need to check their tickets and confirm everything is correct. The rest of the time, just observe the passengers and offer help if needed. I noticed Aunt Zhang doesn’t do much besides checking tickets—it seems pretty easy.”
Miao Yunwei shook her head repeatedly. “Brother, we can’t compare ourselves to Aunt Zhang.”
Just then, someone in the bus got carsick and couldn’t hold back, vomiting all over the floor.
For a moment, the surrounding passengers turned away with looks of disgust.
Miao Yunwei was momentarily stunned before quickly getting up and making her way over, holding onto the seats. “Is there anything I can help with?”
The other person clearly hadn’t expected the ticket seller to take the initiative to show concern. In their daze, they vomited again.
Miao Yunwei hurriedly rummaged through the box for bags, only to pull out a brand-new roll of paper bags. The packaging was still intact, clearly untouched by Zhang Xiuqing.
She couldn’t help but feel exasperated. Quickly tearing open the packaging, she handed two bags to the passenger. Noticing a half-eaten jar of salted plums in the box, she took one over as well.
After eating the salted plum, the woman’s carsickness symptoms noticeably eased.
Miao Yunwei breathed a sigh of relief and reminded her, “Comrade, you can lie down, close your eyes, and try to sleep for a while. It might make you feel more comfortable.”
Too weak from vomiting to argue, the woman followed Miao Yunwei’s suggestion and lay down, no longer continuing to retch.
Miao Yunwei relaxed, then took two old newspapers and a plastic bag to cover the vomit. Immediately, everyone’s expressions softened considerably.
As the bus jolted along the gravel road, Miao Yunwei returned to her seat.
Yuanbao’s voice echoed in her mind, “Congratulations, host, for successfully helping a passenger solve a problem. First task progress: 1% complete. As a reward for completing your first task as a beginner, you have been granted a Bus Cabin Cleaning Tool Set. The appearance is a one-to-one replica of the bus’s cleaning tools. The host can retrieve them at any time, and if left unused for over an hour, the tools will automatically return to storage.”
After Yuanbao finished speaking, Miao Yunwei noticed that a dim spot on the screen in her Sea of Consciousness suddenly lit up, displaying “Bus Cleaning Tools.”
By tapping into it, she could access detailed descriptions and specific usage methods for these tools.
Thus, for the next two hours, she was completely absorbed in studying these tools. To outsiders, she appeared to be resting with her eyes closed, seemingly sleeping quite soundly.
Some of the chattering passengers also grew weary about an hour after the bus departed. They followed Miao Yunwei’s example, closing their eyes to rest, and the bus suddenly fell quiet.
When the bus arrived at Xiamen Bus Station.
After Miao Pingkang parked the bus steadily, Miao Yunwei also opened her eyes, quickly stood up, and called out to everyone, “We’ve arrived in Xiamen. Passengers getting off here, please take your belongings with you. If you need help with luggage, feel free to ask me. Others have ten minutes to use the restroom. Remember to bring your tickets, as they will be checked again when reboarding.”
Upon hearing this, everyone stood up and crowded toward the exit, not wanting to stay on the bus for a second longer.
Miao Yunwei helped several departing passengers retrieve their belongings from the overhead racks and assisted them in safely retrieving luggage from the storage compartment.
Her attentive service earned praise from quite a few passengers.
She smiled shyly, then hurried back onto the bus, which was now empty. Miao Pingkang had likely gone to the restroom.
She quickly retrieved the Bus Cleaning Tools. Placing the seemingly ordinary broom and dustpan beside the pile of filth, Miao Yunwei rested her hands on the tools. With almost no effort, the tools began working on their own.
The broom swept the filth into the dustpan, which automatically transferred the waste into the trash bin. With a single click, the area was cleaned, leaving no trace behind.
Miao Yunwei breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed a bucket, and ran off the vehicle to fetch some water. She gave the floor a quick mop with the cleaning mop, and it became so clean you could see your reflection. After a one-click cleaning, the mop looked brand new, with no trace of use.
She hurriedly carried the dirty water off the vehicle to dump it, taking the chance to use the restroom as well.
Exactly ten minutes had passed from start to finish.