Chapter 51: The Undeliverable Express IX (below)

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Original Translations: Crafted with Care, No Unauthorized Reposting Allowed.

You go back to the basement, sleepy and tired, and fall asleep as soon as your head hits the bed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was still in the same dark, small basement, and still with the same familiar energy.

A young body seems to have an endless supply of energy, no matter how many flights of stairs it has climbed or how far it has run the day before, as soon as it wakes up, it is as good as new.

But your heart, however, is too tired to get up.

There is a strange "split" between your body and your will.

Lying in bed, you lazily think that even a small, ordinary person like you, with such a strange thing happening to you, would not be a sensation.

But soon, you think of the old man on the side of the road, the cat litter lady who was violated by the air-conditioning man one time, and the regretful gaze of the master yesterday, the earnest exhortation of the leader before he left ......

You wipe your face and resign yourself to sitting up again.

After folding your quilt into a square and making your bed neatly, you change into the uniform you almost took off yesterday, wash your face and brush your teeth, and tidy yourself up to leave the house.

You buy three breakfast portions on the roadside, eat one in the shop, take one to the chef and give one to the old man on the corner, telling him to be careful when crossing the road.

It's not too early or too late, you step into the office, hand the master the pancakes you bought and quietly go to carry the delivery you have to make today.

On your way out, you hear Mr. Wang muttering again about whether his daughter should go to Tsinghua University or Peking University and casually say to him.

"Go to Tsinghua University. Even if you choose Peking University now, you will have to ask your daughter to change to Tsinghua University this afternoon."

With a puzzled look on Mr. Wang's face, you drive the delivery truck and head out of the business location.

This time, instead of handing out cigarettes, you join your fellow couriers and listen to them spouting off about this "abrasive" rule, filling out forms and moving deliveries with the same gusto as they do.

On your way out, you took the rubbish piled up in the communication room and threw it in the bin outside.

You delivered to the family with the chubby little boy, and managed to distract him by casually folding a paper aeroplane out of paper and giving it to him while the little boy was crying.

You didn't think twice about the big bun; after all, you'd already had your Michelin-grade morning tea and your stomach was now full.

You deliver most of the deliveries not too fast and not too slow, and the ones you don't deliver are not in a hurry. You are like an old courier master, stuck to the point of returning to the business at noon.

After chatting with the team leader and the master about their morning delivery, you finish your lunch and watch as the master loads you with another load of deliveries.

So you start delivering the afternoon delivery.

You first find out the digital copy of " Xiao Heyun ", make a few phone calls and after finding no answer, you put yourself on an alarm and call every hour.

Then you wait until almost two o'clock and call Qin Rourou, the cat litter lady.

After confirming that the person was home, you sat downstairs in her flat for half an hour waiting for her to wake up from her nap, carried the bag of cat litter and brought it up to the door for the cat litter lady.

You delivered the cat litter outside the door, and after not going in and instructing her not to open the door to random strangers in her pyjamas, you went back downstairs and continued to sit on the flower bed and wait.

You see the air conditioning man enter the door of the flat.

You tail him and watch as he stands for a moment in front of the door of 402, then suddenly goes up to the fifth floor and knocks on the door of 502.

For those of you who have visited the balcony of Miss Cat Litter's house, you know what that's all about.

There were many light clothes belonging to women drying outside the balcony of her house, each of them exquisite and lovely in colour and style ...... but not belonging to men.

The cat litter lady did not open the door, you see the air conditioning worker at once ear iron door, at once trying to pull out tools, a nameless fire in the heart, three or two steps scurry forward, strangled this air conditioning worker's neck, pulled him down.

He struggles violently, his defiant instincts, bred from prison, causing him to attack you.

But you were younger, stronger and more trained than him, so you beat him up in the hallway.

"Rat Lao San, just released from prison and you're not being honest?"

You stamp your foot on his hand as he tries to rummage through his bag for the hammer and look at him condescendingly.

"If you dare to touch the door on the fifth floor again, I'll beat you up once I see you! I know where your house is and I know where Old Liu who introduced you to the job is, if you dare to do anything, I won't let you off ......"

Last time at the police station, you probably knew the identity and origin of this air conditioning worker.

You look at your opponent's frightened and surprised face and sneer to scare him.

"No one cares where a guy like you dies anyway, right?"

The other party ran off in tears and sobs, vowing not to come back to the neighbourhood.

You know that the other person is only temporarily intimidated and will still be tempted to commit a crime over time.

Such people are simply psychologically sick and should not be released until they are cured.

So you call the police and tell them that you saw someone at someone's door with the intention of picking the lock, you inform them that you stopped the person and from the argument you know the name of the air conditioning worker.

The police reply you will visit the one that repaired the air conditioner, and by the way investigate the identity of the air conditioner that contact registered.

When you get out of Miss Cat Litter's house, you pick up your phone again, add the cheated woman's WeChat, fill in the request message that you saw her husband getting intimate with a younger man, and leave it at that.

As you pass the lottery station again, you stop for a moment at the entrance and finally choose to turn around and leave.

You keep calling Xiao Heyun's phone once an hour, but you still can't reach him.

You shake your head and sigh, putting it with the other deliveries that don't get delivered and stop trying to contact their owners.

After delivering the courier and returning to the business point, you report on the day's work, have the team leader insist and register it, do all the formalities and you are off duty.

Today, you don't want to go back to sleeping in a damp, dark basement.

Looking at the balance in your account, you choose to go to a five-star hotel near your flat and spend over a thousand dollars to book a room for one night.

Maybe it's because you're wearing the uniform of the company they often deliver to, or maybe it's because it's not a holiday and the lady at the front desk has upgraded your room for free.

For the price of a regular room, you get an Executive Deluxe room with an exceptional view.

You've never had a room so nice, even the toilet is bigger than the basement you live in.

And don't bring any toiletries in at all, the hotel has everything you could use ......

"And maybe include the ones that don't get used."

You silently think as you squeeze the lotion and cotton pads and other things that are laid out next to the bath.

Lying in the bathtub, you look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, and the traffic and the lights outside make it all feel surreal.

Your thoughts drift away.

"No one cares where a guy like you dies anyway, right?"

You think of what you said today when you punched that air conditioning guy.

In fact, how are these words not about yourself?

You are trying very hard to live, trying very hard to put down roots in this city, you care about everyone around you and try to make a difference to others ......

But no one cares, and no one will notice you.

In an attempt to shake off the sudden slump, you get up from the bathtub and take in the cold air of the air-conditioning to clear your head before putting on your bathrobe and stepping barefoot on the soft carpet of the guest room to begin your 'exploration' of the suite.

At first, it's refreshing to check out the hotel's free TV shows, and then open the fridge to see the ridiculously expensive paid-for food.

Flipping through the menu of your hotel's food delivery service, you gawk at the prices on it, and then the thought rises.

You feel that if you don't deliver in the future, you can choose to go for a delivery in a district with more five-star hotels.

You begin to wonder what the difference is between the Yangchun noodles in a five-star hotel and the ones your mother serves.

So you make a phone call and ask for a delivery service.

It turns out that there is no difference between Yangchun noodles in a 5-star hotel and your mum's, except that your mum's portions are more generous than the hotel's ......

The initial novelty wears off a little and you look at the empty room, a little bored.

No matter how big the room or how luxurious the furnishings are, without the company of family, it is just an empty shell to make sleeping more comfortable.

Having lost your family and sold your old house, you no longer have a home.

You suddenly feel like it's a waste to stay alone in a hotel like this.

You feel a strong desire to talk to someone and share your inexplicably low and backward "impulse spending" with them.

At this point, you have two candidates.

Yes try contacting the cat litter lady who has memorised the number ......

Or do you want to look for the homeless old man on the side of the road?

Published at: 03/02/2022 20:00