Chapter 4
The convenience store faced away from the sun, so even during the day, the lights inside were kept on. Otherwise, it would be too dim, and no one would want to come in and shop. The two light-colored wooden doors were wide open, with strings of beads hanging from the top to serve as a curtain. Two pale red stickers were pasted on either side of the entrance: Welcome.
The store didn’t sell a huge variety of things, but it was well-stocked. From cigarettes and alcohol to sanitary pads, the shelves were packed full. Chen Qingtang was sitting behind the glass counter with her head down; all that was visible was her fair forehead and the green ribbon hanging beside her shoulder.
Pei Yunle did a quick turn. The free space in the store was pitifully small. With Xiaoduo squeezed in as well, she felt it was an effort just to turn around.
[Is it boring staying at home?] The black characters materialized on the dim yellow screen, making Pei Yunle’s eyes feel a little dry.
Does Chen Qingtang think I was just wandering around aimlessly when I ran into that silly girl? Pei Yunle shook her head. Though she had barely smiled since yesterday, she now managed a slightly fawning grin.
“No, I came out looking for you.” Her voice grew quieter as she spoke, eventually becoming as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
In her confusion, Chen Qingtang’s almond-shaped eyes seemed to grow rounder, her eyebrows lifting slightly.
“You want to be friends with Big Sis Chen too? She’s mine,” Xiaoduo said with a frown.
Pei Yunle was speechless, wanting nothing more than to grab a broom and sweep the little simpleton out. The comment made her, a person who was usually quite contrary, feel a bit tongue-tied. She could feel her cheeks flush and raised a hand to touch them. They were indeed hot. It seemed she had really run hard just now.
[You should go home first. I’ll bring you a popsicle later.]
Seeing this message, Xiaoduo, licking what was left of her own treat, left happily.
“Here’s the thing,” Pei Yunle said, pulling a small stool from a nook and moving it next to Chen Qingtang. “Since I’m going to be staying here for a while and don’t really have anything to do, I was wondering if I could help you watch the store.”
[But I’m not short on help here.]
That was true. The store was tiny, and it wasn’t like it was overflowing with customers. There was no need for two people.
Pei Yunle gave a sheepish smile. Her eyes darted around and landed on a student bent over by a shelf, trying to choose from a pile of potato chips.
Unsure of how to address the girl, she mimicked the local way of speaking, “Hey dearie, what are you looking to buy?”
The student looked up, startled. Seeing Pei Yunle towering over her by half a head, she felt a wave of pressure. Like a chick caught in the act, she whispered, “Chips…”
“What flavor do you like?”
“Um…” The student turned back to the chips. The whole reason she’d been agonizing for so long was that she didn’t know what flavor to get. She turned back to Pei Yunle. “I don’t know.”
Pei Yunle casually grabbed a bag of spicy-flavored chips from the shelf and shoved it into the student’s hands. “This one’s delicious. How about you try this?”
The student clutched the bag, wanting to refuse but not daring to. She had never liked spicy chips, but Pei Yunle looked like the kind of person who might eat you alive. She had no choice but to lie. “Thanks.”
Pei Yunle couldn’t stop herself from grinning, patting the student on the shoulder. “Come again next time.” She then looked at Chen Qingtang. “How about that? My sales technique is pretty good, right?”
The student paid for the chips with a miserable look on her face and left. Before she went, Chen Qingtang gave her a free lollipop.
Beaming, Pei Yunle walked back over and plopped down on the stool next to Chen Qingtang again.
“Really, really, you should hire me. With my tireless efforts and amazing talent for sales,” she held up three fingers, “in just this much time, I’ll definitely make you a rich woman.”
Chen Qingtang fanned Pei Yunle with the cattail fan, as if worried she’d gotten heatstroke.
[It’s very boring here, and there’s not much to do. You probably won’t be able to stand it.]
“But it’ll be the two of us here. How could it be boring?”
[But I can’t talk, and I don’t have any jokes to tell you. You’ll get tired of it.]
“Some people who can talk might as well not. Besides, you don’t have to tell me jokes, I can entertain you. Come on, is it a yes or no? Please?”
Although Chen Qingtang seemed approachable, Pei Yunle always felt there was a thick barrier between her and others, and she didn’t dare to touch her casually.
The fan swayed again. The wisps of hair on Pei Yunle’s forehead had dried and were now blown to the sides. Without yesterday’s exaggerated, heavy makeup, her face was revealed to be clean and bright. She looked like a harmless, well-behaved white cat that had retracted its sharp claws and was now just circling by Chen Qingtang’s legs.
A faint, clear smile appeared on Chen Qingtang’s face, and she nodded in agreement.
Pei Yunle bit her lower lip and scooted her chair closer to Chen Qingtang. “There’s one more thing. At the end of each day, could you give me a wage of ten yuan?”
She felt a little embarrassed saying this, finding the situation both funny and pathetic. Her eyes darted all over the place. “It costs 320 yuan to get to Anyang from here. I only have ten yuan left, so I can’t buy a bus ticket home.”
So she’s a stray cat.
Chen Qingtang’s fingers drummed on the calculator. Ten yuan was nothing to her, but she didn’t agree right away. She just waited, curious to see what else Pei Yunle would say or do.
Pei Yunle stole a glance at the slender figure out of the corner of her eye. The red beaded curtain clinked as people came and went.
“Please, big sis, I can do a lot. Like moving and stocking goods, cleaning, working the register… I’ll do anything. A big person like me for only ten yuan a day! You can’t go wrong, you can’t lose out. It’s a 9.9 yuan deal with free shipping, and I’ll even walk home with you at night for free. What are you waiting for? Take me with you.”
Chen Qingtang finally couldn’t hold back her laughter and tapped Pei Yunle’s nose with the fan.
[Are you sure? You’ll run into some difficult people here, especially at night.]
Pei Yunle thought of yesterday, of the group under the banyan tree, and the Liu Daqiang they had mentioned.
She raised her arm, as if trying to flex her bicep. Although the curve was pitifully small, she still patted the bit of muscle. “I can protect you. And if I can’t win a fight, I’ll grab you and run.”
Having lived in this small town for over twenty years, Chen Qingtang had heard all sorts of talk, both human and monstrous. But hearing these foolish, empty promises, she still agreed.
She did like cats, after all. Although they could be difficult to raise—proud and unpredictable—when a cat insisted on curling up in your lap, there was probably no one who could refuse.
Not far from the convenience store was an elementary school. Business was only really brisk when school let out. The rest of the time, it was just people buying cigarettes or drinks. Most of the day was very quiet.
“That Xiaoduo, does she come here every day? Or does she ‘five-finger discount’ things from other stores every day?”
Chen Qingtang was doing the bookkeeping. She casually flipped to a page full of numbers, her handwriting neat and strong. “No, most of the time she doesn’t play in town.”
Then I must have just had terrible luck. Pei Yunle huffed in annoyance. “So where does she usually hang out? I need to know so I can avoid her.”
—”The back mountain.”
“What’s she doing on the back mountain? Didn’t you say there are a lot of snakes there?”
The tip of the pen hovered in mid-air for a long time. Chen Qingtang didn’t write anything, until a drop of black ink fell, blooming on the white paper, its edges spreading out like a spider’s web.
Seeing this, Pei Yunle didn’t ask any more questions. In her mind, she drew a big red X over the place called “the back mountain.”
At dinnertime, Chen Qingtang went across the street and bought two bowls of rice noodles. Pei Yunle found them bland, but they filled her stomach.
After quickly finishing her noodles, wanting to prove she wasn’t all talk, she volunteered to take a case of beer and do Chen Qingtang’s delivery run to the residential building next door.
Naturally, the building had no elevator. She huffed and puffed her way up five floors. By the time she reached the door, she was on the verge of collapsing on the spot with the beer. When had she ever endured such hardship?
When Pei Yunle got frustrated, she found it hard to suppress her emotions, and her expression had already turned sour. She had just set the beer down by her feet, her arms too sore to lift, when she used it as an excuse to kick the door, a small release for her temper.
The door opened quickly. A portly man’s body filled the entire doorway. Pei Yunle didn’t know if he had called Chen Qingtang or messaged her on WeChat, but she didn’t have the energy for small talk. She said curtly, “29.90. Have you paid?”
The man first looked her up and down. “How come it’s someone new?”
His stare made Pei Yunle uncomfortable. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and just clicked her tongue. “Have you paid or not? If you have, I’m leaving.”
“Bring it inside for me.”
“Inside? You’re a grown man, don’t you have that much strength? It’s only 30 yuan worth of stuff, you’re lucky I’m not charging you a delivery fee. Carry it yourself. I’m busy with the next delivery.” Pei Yunle turned to leave.
“Hey, hey, what’s your WeChat? Let’s add each other, it’ll be more convenient to find you next time.” The man squeezed out from the doorway, eagerly waving his phone.
The irritation in Pei Yunle’s heart flared. “Just add the store owner. Why would you add me? The accounts will get all messed up. Ugh, just contact the owner yourself next time.”
Seeing the man walk towards her, trying to grab her hand, she jumped back two steps in alarm, then lifted her leg and kicked him hard. Afterwards, she shot downstairs like a rabbit. Several times, she felt like she was flying, her heart unable to keep up with the frantic pounding in her chest.
“Son of a…” Pei Yunle ran all the way to a streetlight before she dared to stop, only when she heard the sound of people talking and laughing. As she walked back to the store, she rubbed her face hard with both hands, wondering how often Chen Qingtang had to deal with things like this.
Walking down the street, Pei Yunle, who had never experienced anything like this before, suddenly felt a tightness in her chest. A wave of heat rushed to the crown of her head. She felt as if she’d been pushed underwater, her lungs filling with water that then overflowed into her eyes, mixing with the heat in her head to become two hot tear tracks.
Pei Yunle stood by the streetlight and kicked the pole again and again in frustration. Passersby stopped to stare at her, trying to figure out what was going on. Pei Yunle glared at them. “What are you looking at? Never seen a pretty girl kick a streetlight before? Keep looking and I’ll kick you next!”
She suddenly wanted to go home. The thought surfaced once again.
When she got back to the store, Chen Qingtang was already sweeping the floor, just waiting for her to return so they could go home.
Noticing Pei Yunle’s foul expression, she poked her arm.
The response she got was a tone even fouler than the expression. “What do you want?!”
Chen Qingtang was startled for a moment by the inexplicable temper. But seeing that Pei Yunle no longer had the beer, she figured something else must have stemmed from that incident, though she didn’t know what.
Chen Qingtang had dealt with many unpleasant things—unreasonable customers, extortion, harassment. Nothing surprised her anymore. Except for someone losing their temper at her. It seemed cats really were difficult to raise; they liked to show their claws at the slightest provocation.
Pei Yunle was used to her princess temper. Other people’s feelings were of no concern to her; she only cared about her own emotions at any given moment.
“Did that guy give you the money for the beer?” Her tone was flat and low.
Chen Qingtang nodded.
“I want to walk alone. If there’s nothing else, I’m heading back.”
Tonight, she didn’t want to walk with anyone. The thought of having another person beside her made her feel unbearably irritable.
Chen Qingtang let out a long sigh and watched Pei Yunle stride away. She glanced back at the pile of swept-up trash on the floor. The dust and debris had scattered everywhere.
