Chapter 36: Gaokao Score? College Application?
Outside the Zijing Garden construction site.
Xu Heping set up his stall and started hawking his boxed lunches, just like any other day.
He didn’t really need to shout. Ever since Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant had also started offering an eight-yuan boxed lunch special, many of the workers had gone over there. The ones who still came to his little stall were basically all familiar faces.
Every day, he just had to set up his stall, and after the workers got off their shift, everything would be sold out in less than half an hour.
The rest of his time was spent on his phone, shooting the breeze with people online or occasionally checking the class group chat to see what exciting lives everyone was leading after the college entrance exams.
But now that the stall was all set up, it just felt like something was missing if he didn’t shout a few times.
While Xu Heping was still chatting away in the class group, a notification popped up that someone had sent him a private message.
He opened it and saw it was from the class president.
"Heping, you’re good friends with Xu An. Can you get in touch with him? Has he checked his results? What was his score on the college entrance exam, and what schools is he planning to apply to?"
"Not sure about that. I’ll ask him this afternoon," Xu Heping replied casually.
"Okay, ask him when you’re done and let me know what you find out."
"OK."
After replying, Xu Heping went back to shooting the shit with his classmates in the group chat.
In Xu Heping’s mind, Xu An had always taken the college entrance exam very seriously.
’How could he forget something as important as checking his score and applying to schools? It’s probably just that the class president can’t reach Xu An, and since Xu An doesn’t have a phone, neither of them knows what’s going on with the other.’
At eleven o’clock, the shift ended.
Qiao Xingguo leisurely packed up his tools and headed for the construction site’s exit.
He ran into a few coworkers he knew, and they slowed down to walk out with him.
"Xingguo, you heading to that boxed lunch stall by the gate to get food?"
"Yep." Qiao Xingguo nodded, then added, "You never get tired of their boxed lunches. They have new stuff every day."
"We’re gonna go with you and buy from that stall today."
Qiao Xingguo turned to look at them, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"I thought you guys liked the boxed lunches from Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant across the street. What’s with the sudden change of heart?"
"The food at Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant is fine for a few meals. It’s heavy on the oil and salt, which suits us manual laborers. But after a few days in a row, you get sick of it. All the meat tastes the same. It’s just too much."
One of the workers waved his hands dismissively, a look of utter disgust on his face.
When they reached the site entrance, they found that the usually quiet boxed lunch stall was surprisingly crowded.
Xu Heping was frantically packing lunches and making change. Spotting Qiao Xingguo and the others out of the corner of his eye, he quickly shouted, "Brother Xingguo, hurry up! There are only two boxes left!"
Hearing this, Qiao Xingguo didn’t even have time to say anything to his coworkers. He rushed forward and grabbed one of the boxed lunches.
The last remaining box was snatched up by another hand.
Today’s twenty boxed lunches sold out in just ten minutes, setting a new record.
By the time the coworkers who had come out with Qiao Xingguo realized what was happening, the stall was completely empty.
"What’s going on today?" Qiao Xingguo didn’t leave right away, feeling a bit puzzled as he watched more workers come up to ask if there were any lunches left.
"I have no idea. I was also wondering why so many people showed up all of a sudden," Xu Heping said, just as perplexed.
Just a moment ago, he had been leisurely playing on his phone and talking big online, having the time of his life.
But as soon as it hit eleven, several groups of workers came out of the site, all heading straight for his stall, and bought up all his boxed lunches in a flash.
Just then, another worker came over. After confirming with Xu Heping that all the lunches were gone, he looked annoyed.
"I got off work right at eleven! I just stopped to chat for a minute, and now they’re all gone?"
"The food in the cafeteria isn’t bad, is it? You could eat there for this meal and come back to the stall for the next one. If not, there’s that whole row of fast food places across the street. Plenty of options," Qiao Xingguo advised from the side.
"Those places across the street taste the same as the cafeteria. I came to this little stall specifically to get something different." The worker sighed. After double-checking that the lunches were truly all gone, he finally walked away from the stall.
He stood at the gate, glanced at the fast food restaurants across the street, hesitated for a moment, and then walked straight back into the construction site.
"It all tastes the same anyway. Why spend money to eat out when I can get free food in the cafeteria?"
Across the street at Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant.
The owner had suffered a concussion from a fall yesterday and was still lying in a hospital bed, too dizzy to even get up.
Gao had worked at Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant for over two years. He’d always been clever, so the owner was quite fond of him.
For the time being, the restaurant’s affairs were left for Gao to manage.
To keep Gao from buying ingredients at the wholesale market and increasing the restaurant’s procurement costs, the owner told him the location of Anxin Food Processing Company. She also warned him to cover his tracks and not give the game away.
At first, Gao was very confused by this warning, but after he picked up the goods from Anxin Food Processing Company, it all clicked.
’No wonder the normally stingy owner had been so generous to the workers lately. So this was the kind of stuff she was using to cook for them.’
’The owner is really something else, coming up with a scheme like this. She’s the boss for a reason.’
When he saw that business outside was still bustling and the workers were happily picking out their dishes, Gao’s admiration for his boss rose to a whole new level.
’The boss is a genius. I’m taking notes!’
Thanks to the students from Hai City Nautical College, Xu An packed up and got back to the Zijing Garden construction site by twelve-thirty today.
From a long way off, Xu An could see Xu Heping had already packed everything up. He was lying in the shade of a tree with his feet up, playing on his phone. A blade of wild grass he’d picked from who-knows-where dangled from his mouth, bobbing up and down. He looked completely carefree.
"Heping, time to head back!"
"Coming! It’s only twelve-thirty. How come you’re back so early today?"
Hearing Xu An’s shout, Xu Heping leaped up from the ground. He glanced at the time on his phone and saw it was only twelve-thirty; usually, Xu An didn’t get back until after one.
"There’s a college near Hai City Library. WHOOSH! A crowd of twenty or thirty people showed up, and just like that, everything sold out in one go."
Xu An helped move the baskets and other items onto the three-wheeled cart.
"Heh, my side did pretty well today too. Twenty boxes sold out in just over ten minutes, and they weren’t all regulars. I think I can increase the number tomorrow."
Xu An thought for a moment, then nodded. "Twenty boxes is a bit low for your spot. Go ahead and add ten more. I’ll hold off on my side, though. I’m worried those students just came on a whim. Once the novelty wears off, they might not come back."
After packing up, the two of them—one on the three-wheeled cart, the other on a bicycle—leisurely rode off toward Xu Family Village.
"Anzi, what was your score on the college entrance exam? What schools did you apply to?" Xu Heping suddenly remembered the class president’s request and quickly asked.
College entrance exam score?
Schools?
Applying?
Xu An completely froze.
For the past half-month or so, he’d been busy either with the boxed lunch business or taking care of his family.
After deciding he wasn’t going to college in this life, Xu An had completely put matters like his exam score and applications out of his mind.
’Even though I’ve already decided not to go to college, I still need to keep up appearances.’
"Heping, have you checked your own score?" Xu An didn’t answer Xu Heping’s question, asking one of his own instead.
"No need. I definitely didn’t pass. I checked the answers after the exam—didn’t even break 300. The only place that’ll take me is the school of hard knocks." Xu Heping was completely unconcerned about whether he got into college or not.
Then, as if worried Xu An might try to persuade him otherwise, he added, "When my parents get back from their business trip, I’m going to run the fish pond with them. I’m no scholar. I was born to be a big boss."
After saying that, he seemed to think of something else and added, "Anzi, don’t you worry about your family. Just go to college with peace of mind. I’ll be in the village, and I’ll definitely take good care of everything for you."
The words, ’I’m not planning to go to college,’ were right on the tip of Xu An’s tongue, but Xu Heping’s speech forced them back down.
’Forget it. I’ll tell him later.’
"Heping, come with me to the internet cafe."
"Sure. We closed up early today anyway. We can go for an hour or so and it won’t be too late."