Qiao Sheng hadn’t expected that something as trivial as calling a scrap collector to her door for convenience would bother Gu Huo.
At first, she didn’t think much of it, but after his reminder, she felt a belated sense of unease.
Although society was governed by law and petty crimes weren’t rampant, that didn’t mean they didn’t exist.
In her previous life, as a young woman living alone, she had been particularly cautious about personal safety and rarely let strangers into her home. After crossing over, she had been so preoccupied with dealing with her troubles that she had overlooked this detail.
Gu Huo was concerned for her safety, and warmth welled up in her heart. She nodded to show she understood.
Gu Huo glanced at the bowl of bland, watery noodles.
He wanted to tell her to eat quickly before they turned soggy and unappetizing.
But then he thought, even if they didn’t turn soggy, they probably wouldn’t taste good anyway…
At that moment, he didn’t realize that, when dealing with Qiao Sheng, he usually had no desire to speak unless absolutely necessary.
Gu Huo said, “I’m going to work.”
Qiao Sheng replied with an “Oh.”
Gu Huo’s heart skipped a beat.
Why was she so well-behaved…
Again, he wasn’t used to it.
Without another word, Gu Huo opened the door and walked out.
As he turned to close the door, he saw Qiao Sheng pick up the bowl of bland, unappetizing noodles and prepare to eat. A sudden thought crossed his mind: Would those noodles end up in the trash?
She was quite picky about food.
What a shame to waste a perfectly good bowl of noodles.
Then again, based on what he knew about her, she probably wouldn’t clean up after herself. Tomorrow, he could rinse the leftover noodles with hot water and have them for breakfast.
By then, wouldn’t they be a mushy mess?
Life wasn’t easy. Being able to eat enough and stay warm was already an achievement. Gu Huo didn’t have high material demands, nor did he feel entitled to ask for more.
“Why does this taste so bad?”
Qiao Sheng took a bite, frowned in disgust, picked up the bowl, and walked away.
She bypassed the trash can and headed straight to the kitchen.
She’d forgotten to add salt!
After adding salt and stirring it in, she slurped down the entire bowl of bland, watery noodles, which tasted of nothing but salt, finishing even the broth.
She had been busy all afternoon and was already starving.
…
“Xiao Gu, come handle the cash register.”
At the boss’s call, Gu Huo was reassigned to a new position.
The store wasn’t short on cashiers, so Gu Huo didn’t understand why the boss wanted him to take over.
His main job was as a stock clerk and porter.
But any position was fine. As an employee, he knew his place. Gu Huo obediently stood behind the cash register without asking questions.
Earlier that afternoon, a fellow cashier had stomach issues and asked him to cover for a while. He had learned how to operate the register then and quickly got the hang of it.
The convenience store had two cash registers, and the customer flow was usually evenly split—after all, no one liked waiting in line. But after Gu Huo took over one register, a long queue quickly formed at his counter, while the other register had only a few scattered customers.
Gu Huo wore the store’s standard dark blue vest. With his gentle demeanor, warm smile, and polite but unassuming attitude, he focused intently on his work without noticing the difference.
The boss stood nearby, watching the noticeably higher customer traffic compared to usual, his eyes crinkling with a smile.
Hey, he’d guessed right!
That afternoon, he’d noticed that when Gu Huo helped out at the register, the line in front of him was noticeably longer.
Later, when Gu Huo left the register during mealtime, things returned to normal.
Moreover, during his absence, a girl who had just left returned to buy something. Seeing that the cashier had changed, she shyly asked where the previous cashier boy had gone.
The boss, being the boss, naturally possessed exceptional qualities that others lacked.
He found this phenomenon quite interesting. To test his hypothesis, he simply had Gu Huo take over the cashier duties.
He marveled in amazement.
Whether it was men or women, as long as they had a good appearance, they were welcomed everywhere.
He secretly regretted that Gu Huo had been working for him for quite some time. If he had known earlier that Gu Huo’s face could bring such good foot traffic to the store, he would have arranged for him to be the store’s “face” much sooner.
Ah, what a waste of a treasure!
With the young man standing there fresh and clean, the number of pretty girls in the store increased. And with more pretty girls, how could there be fewer young men, eager as cats eyeing fish?
It was simply a virtuous cycle.
The boss happily calculated to himself. Meanwhile, Gu Huo finally finished his busy work and somewhat awkwardly asked for half a day off the next day.
The middle-aged man in his forties rubbed his nearly bald head: “What’s wrong? Is your sister still not well?”
The “sister” he referred to was Qiao Sheng.
Those who didn’t know the situation naturally assumed Gu Huo and Qiao Sheng were siblings.
It was too complicated to explain in a few words, so Gu Huo let others misunderstand.
When he had asked for leave before, he hadn’t mentioned Qiao Sheng’s hunger strike, only saying she needed care and couldn’t be left alone. Others naturally assumed his “sister” was sick.
Sharing too much with those you barely know could invite unnecessary trouble.
Even if he had explained, who could have helped him solve the problem?
It might even have led to prying questions and sympathetic looks.
He didn’t need sympathy.
“No.”
Gu Huo’s mind flashed to the image of that little girl, fresh and clean, and he suddenly wondered what she was doing now.
Was that bowl of noodles still there?
To be honest, although Qiao Sheng’s change made him somewhat uncomfortable, he hoped it would continue.
She was like a lost lamb returning to the right path.
If their grandmother knew in the afterlife, she would surely be very pleased.
Gu Huo explained that he needed to return to school for a competition. Although the boss, who had just discovered the benefits of using him properly, was reluctant to let him go, he couldn’t hinder the young man’s future, could he? Naturally, he agreed.
With the leave request settled, Gu Huo began planning for food and drink the next day.
Even the cleverest housewife can’t cook without rice. The house was completely out of supplies, and if they didn’t buy some food, everyone would go hungry.
Fortunately, the boss knew about his difficult family situation. While others were paid monthly, Gu Huo was paid weekly, so he could receive a few hundred yuan today.
Just then, Gu Huo’s phone received a picture.
It showed a bag of rice, two bundles of dried noodles, a small bottle of salad oil, and a bag of salt.
Qiao Sheng: “Is there anything else missing? I haven’t left the grain and oil shop yet.”
But what Gu Huo was concerned about was where she got the money.
She had bought a dress and only had a little over ten yuan left, enough for maybe two bundles of noodles at most.
They had sold some scrap for a few dozen yuan, but that money was with him.
The message he sent received no reply. Waiting until the end of his shift, the unanswered question left Gu Huo feeling uneasy. He hurried home with quick steps.
The house was quiet.
Qiao Sheng’s bedroom door was tightly shut. She must have already gone to sleep.
Gu Huo hesitantly lowered his raised hand and went to the kitchen first. He discovered that she had not only bought rice, flour, oil, and salt but also eggs, a piece of meat, some ribs, half a chicken, and several vegetables.
In other households, these ingredients wouldn’t be considered much.
But in their home, these things were truly a lavish feast!