Hot, it was so hot.
It wasn't even July yet, but the sun in the sky was like a charcoal fire, tirelessly radiating heat. Cicadas chirped noisily, making people frown involuntarily.
In a steaming small restaurant, the proprietress had sweat beads the size of soybeans on her forehead, a pen clamped between her lips as she muttered to herself while calculating the bill.
The small wooden table by the window reflected light, but not because it was clean—it was covered in a web of greasy stains. A young couple had their arms linked, as if they might melt together.
"Hua, look, order whatever you want to eat," the man in the couple said with a wave, inviting the girl.
The girl, with a single braid over her shoulder, pouted and unceremoniously ordered three meat dishes, then frowned discontentedly, "Brother Jianguo, I still want ice cream."
Both of them had a thin layer of sweat on their heads; the heat was almost unbearable.
"Well..." The man called Brother Jianguo looked up and tried to soothe her, "How could this shabby little place have ice cream? Be good, we'll buy some after we eat."
A hand reached over, holding two popsicles wrapped in oil paper, and a cheerful voice said, "Have these. They're popsicles made with rock sugar water from our store. They're not as good as the cream popsicles from the shop outside, but they're five cents each—cheap and tasty."
Hua looked up and her eyes lit up.
Her face was round, cheeks rosy, two glossy black braids hanging over her chest. Her eyes were bright and big, and her figure was slender but not skinny. This girl was truly beautiful.
Hua wasn't well educated, but the more she looked, the more she felt—
This girl looked just like the female movie star pasted on the back of the red mirror at home.
Qi Sui greeted them with a smile, holding a small notebook that served as the menu. She carefully noted down the three dishes they ordered, then on a piece of white paper, she copied the dish names crudely, clipped them to a wire on the kitchen window, and thus placed the order.
The proprietress watched Qi Sui busily attending to several tables, then waved her over.
"Xiao Sui, have you thought about what I said yesterday?"
Qi Sui had come to the city with her boyfriend last week.
She wasn't as capable as her boyfriend Chen Ping, so she had to randomly visit several shops on the street, asking if they were hiring.
Things weren't as strict as before; small privately-owned shops could hire workers as long as they had the proper paperwork.
Qi Sui was lucky. On her third try, a proprietress surnamed Liang happened to need a waitress. There was no such fancy term back then; being a waitress essentially meant being a general helper.
She would take care of customers, write down orders, help serve dishes, and wash dishes. Sister Liang offered a monthly salary of 150 yuan—not much, but enough for a girl.
Hearing the proprietress's words, Qi Sui bit her lip, looking hesitant.
The reason was simple: the restaurant's location was too far from where her boyfriend worked.
Seeing this, Sister Liang gripped her hand tighter and compromised, "How about this, Xiao Sui? Look, at the back of my restaurant, there's a small storage room that used to store frozen meat. But later, when we added a freezer and expanded, that room became useless. Consider staying with me. I'll pay you, and you can stay in that little room temporarily."
"I'll give you a lock. You can lock it up normally. After work, just lock up the store for me. That's all you need to do. How about that?"
That sounded good.
Qi Sui thought about it. Her boyfriend lived in the dormitory at his workplace. If she worked alone, she'd have to rent a place to sleep, which would cost a lot of unnecessary money.
Sister Liang's proposal was much more convenient than renting her own place.
With that in mind, she nodded, agreed with a smile, and sweetly called out "Sister Liang" a couple of times, then stuffed two fruit candies she had bought at the market into her hand.
"Oh, what are you doing, child?" Sister Liang tried to refuse, but without much effort, the two candies ended up in her pocket.
Then she asked curiously, "Xiao Sui, did you come to the city alone? Are your parents okay with that?"
Hearing this, Qi Sui laughed bitterly in her heart.
How could they be okay with it?
Qi Sui's family was simple: a father and a mother. After giving birth to her, her mother developed uterine fibroids that were about to turn malignant, so she had to have her uterus removed, losing her ability to have more children. Her father was a simple farmer, and Qi Sui was his only daughter, so he was very protective.
But the more protective you are, the more trouble children get into.
When Qi Sui was sixteen, she didn't want to study anymore. Probably influenced by some gossip at school, she insisted on going to the county town to do business.
Her parents knew she had gone crazy. "Doing business"? Wasn't that something only rich people could do?
Qi Sui stopped going to school and just stayed at home, causing a ruckus for years.
Until it was time for the girl to marry. The child betrothal between the Qi family and the Chen family was due. But Chen Ping wore a bitter face, saying he had no money, no face to marry Sui Sui, and couldn't give her a good life.
The two families had no choice. The Chen family scraped together 200 yuan as a bride price, and the Qi family cleared out an empty room and prepared some furniture, planning to make the wedding grand and let the young couple settle down peacefully.
But Qi Sui seemed possessed; she insisted on going to the county town with Chen Ping to do business, and sneaked out in the middle of the night with cash from her dowry, carrying a bundle, leaving only a crooked note:
"Dad, Mom, I'm going to do business with Brother Chen Ping. When we make big money, we'll come back and take you to enjoy life."
Qi Sui shook her head, hiding the bitterness in her heart, and put on a round, cheerful face that looked endearing.
"I came with my boyfriend, but he doesn't work here. We usually don't live together."
Sister Liang nodded knowingly.
It wasn't surprising. These days, many young people rushed to the county town on a whim, mostly because they heard it was easy to make money and there were many opportunities. But making money wasn't that easy!
Sister Liang sighed.
"Then your boyfriend? Does he just leave you to fend for yourself?"
Qi Sui touched her head, her healthy, rosy face beaming with sweet generosity, "He's at the east end of town. Sister Liang, have you heard of 'Wan Zi Qian Hong'? He works there as a waiter."
Then she looked embarrassed, "I'm not as good as my boyfriend. They didn't choose me; they chose him."