Chapter Five: Gao Xiaowei

  This week I made two deals, one didn't make money and the other still didn't make money. Moreover, I lost a bucket of instant noodles. Since being struck by lightning, nothing good has happened to me in these 24 hours.

  I hung the door from inside and went upstairs to sleep, but unexpectedly ran into Xiao Qian at the stairs again. I asked in surprise, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

  Xiao Qian's face turned red as she lowered her head and said, "I... I was just about to ask you how this thing is used?" In her hand was the house card that I had given her.

  "Haven't you ever rented a place outside before?"

  She shook her head.

  "——Come, I'll teach you."

  I led her to the door and told her: "See this arrow on the card? This end is facing up, insert it like this..."

  He asked, is the room key or a magnetic card? Of course, when we first opened this store, it was decorated according to Samsung's standards! The hardware facilities are quite impressive, and when we first opened, there were three or four people just doing odd jobs. I even bought two cash registers!

  I opened the door, I was afraid she didn't know how to use anything, so I taught her one by one: "This is a water heater, pour in water and sit on this stool for a while, it will heat up automatically. This is the air conditioner remote control. You should know how to turn on the TV, right?"

  She looked bewildered but nodded randomly.

  "The bathroom can be used for bathing, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me anytime." I said with a smack of my lips: "Actually, she hasn't even opened the door to her room with anyone before, what a good girl."

  She saw me off at the door and whispered: "That... I still don't know your surname and name, benefactor."

  I burst out laughing: "Just said you're obedient and you've become poor again, I'm a benefactor, my surname is Long, just call me Little Dragon."

  "Then I'll call you Little Dragon Brother."

  "Alright then, go to bed early."

  Xiao Qian bowed her head and murmured: "Little Dragon Brother, how should I thank you?"

  I scratched my head in embarrassment and said: "What's there to thank? Everyone has bad days, go sleep it off. What's that saying again? The sun is new every day!"

  Xiao Qian stared blankly and said: "This sentence is wrong, how many suns would that be?"

  "It's not like you're on QQ, what does it matter how many suns there are? Just feel the spirit."

  "Oh."

  I turned around, leaning against the wall with one hand and smiled: "Then how do you want to thank me?" I had to tease her, a girl talking about gratitude in the middle of the night was going to have to pay the price.

  Who would have thought that she was stunned there, thinking seriously for half a day. I sighed and said: "Forget it, forget it, just kidding you." I didn't really want to take advantage of her, just wanted to teach her a lesson, but unexpectedly met a naturally silly master.

  As soon as I walked out of the door, I heard Xiaoxian say with a determined tone: "From now on, I'll help you clean up here. It looks pretty dirty to me."

  Can't it be cleaned? It hasn't been swept since the railway department increased speed. I happily said, "That's what you said."

  Xiao Qian bowed to me with a million blessings and then closed the door.

  The next day I got up early and was about to open the door, but as soon as I stepped into the corridor, I felt inexplicably that something was different from usual. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but there seemed to be a sense of splendor in the air. Upon closer inspection, I finally discovered the difference: someone had carefully swept the place clean.

  I walked along the corridor to the staircase, and then down to the lobby, which was spotless everywhere. I looked up and found Xiaoxian busy in the small dining room. I greeted her with a smile: "You're really helping me out!"

  Xiao Qian was standing beside a dusty table, while all the tables behind her were spotless. What's strange is that she didn't have a rag or a broom in her hand. I couldn't help but ask: "How did you do it?"

  Xiao Qian didn't say a word, her head slightly tilted back, then she put her mouth on the table: "Plop——"

  Suddenly dust flew everywhere, and a table was blown stiff by her, revealing a human figure...

  Xiao Qian straightened up, a rare bright smile on her face: "Clean?"

  I collapsed and said, "The table is clean like this, what about the floor?" Only then did I realize that a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the ground, almost enough to bury people's heels! It turned out that half of the building was blown out by her like this.

  Xiao Qian said, "Don't worry, watch this." She crouched down and put her mouth to the ground, "Whoosh!" With a blow, a miracle happened: The dust on the ground actually rose up in layers like the tide going out, as she blew, the dirt piled up, and finally all of it was swept into a corner. Xiao Qian picked up a stiff paperboard and scooped them all up, asking me, "Should I throw them all away?"

  I was stunned: this girl's lung capacity is too terrifying! Her chest isn't big either.

  Xiao Qian saw that I wasn't speaking and carried a bowl of congee out the door, pouring it all onto the road.

  I muttered to myself: "This guy is not human, this guy is not human..."

  Just then, someone behind him chuckled and said, "Who are you talking about?"

  I turned around to see Wu Yongsheng, Old Wu walked down the stairs with a refreshed look, seemingly having slept well last night. I pointed at Xiaoxian and stuttered: "Do you know what she did?"

  Old Wu smiled and said: "I know, I heard her blowing conch early in the morning."

  "I exclaimed in surprise: 'Don't you find it strange?'"

  "What's so strange about that?" Old Wu said, thinking of something and continued: "It seems she didn't have money to give you either, so she found a way to make a living for herself."

  "Right, aren't you going back yet?" He said that and I suddenly remembered that this guy was also a freeloader.

  Old Wu laughed and said: "I told you I won't owe you, what kind of seed are you?"

  "What kind of seeds?"

  "Any seed will do, I'll find something for myself too."

  I stared at him blankly, having no idea what foreign language he was speaking.

  Old Wu looked around and saw a half-eaten dry apple on the counter that I had gnawed on at some unknown time, picked it up and asked me: "Do you still want this?"

  "I pointed at the refrigerator and said, 'There's still some left, go wash it yourself.'"

  Old Wu shook his head, dug out the apple core from the apple and put it in his palm, walked straight out of the door, used his finger to dig a small hole about a few inches deep, put the apple core in and buried it with soil. He came back in, picked up a cup of water and went out again, carefully watering the mound of earth, and said with a smile: "In a few more days I'll invite you to eat apples, and the extra ones will be sold to pay for my rent."

  I crouched down gloomily: "I know where you came from, a mental hospital - can that grow out?"

  Lao Wu said confidently: "It depends on who is planting."

  At this time, Xiao Qian also saw Lao Wu. She was first startled in expression and then greeted him awkwardly: "Senior."

  Old Wu smiled warmly at her and patted her head, saying: "Hmmm, so young and yet very good, I knew it from the moment you arrived yesterday."

  I shouted loudly on the side: "Don't take advantage of a girl!" As the boss, I haven't even touched her yet...

  Old Wu said in surprise: "At my age, when I'm rich enough to be her grandfather, what's the point of talking about taking advantage or not?"

  "I retorted: 'Still occupying! Even if you lost your virginity at 14, it's not like you can be someone's grandfather, right?'"

  Lao Wu and Xiao Qian exchanged a smile, saying: "Don't call me senior anymore, just call me uncle."

  Xiao Qian's face turned red as she said, "How dare I?"

  Old Wu said: "What are you afraid of? How old are you this year?"

  Xiao Qian counted on her fingers and said: "I calculated, it seems to be..."

  Just then, the phone I placed in the hall rang, and I hurried in to answer it. The old man and the young one were whispering to each other in low voices, and I vaguely heard words like "Jiaqing" and "several thousand years old". I thought to myself, why are they still talking about palace dramas?

  I picked up the phone: "Hello?"

  Then a loud-mouthed woman inside shouted: "Is that you, Yangyang?"

  "Ah, it's Aunt Meng." She was my stepmother.

  "Hey Yangyang, is your store still open?"

  "Yes, what's up?"

  "Let your sister hide at your place for a few days."

  "What's wrong with Xiaowei?"

  "Never mind, this little rascal is so careless, he beat up Wang Er's son, and now Wang Lao's men are looking for her everywhere. Wang Lao himself is also hiding, probably furious too. I'll wait till his anger subsides before talking to him again. During this time, Xiao Wei can't show up, I've thought about it, you're the safest bet."

  "What's going on?"

  "Never mind, let's talk in person. You wait for me this afternoon and I'll send this little brat over." Before the phone was even hung up, I heard a girl's voice shouting loudly on the other end: "Auntie is afraid of him? I'm not going anywhere!"

  "Shut your damn mouth, I'm telling you to be quiet!"

  The phone hung up...

  I'm depressed again. These two women, the daughter is a lady and the mother is an old lady, they're from different generations but still come to me for help...

  These two are not people you can afford to offend.

  Meng Yi didn't say anything, after taking over my father's Bao Hua Group, she only expanded, not only eating and occupying more in engineering projects, but also opening a mixing station in each of the four cities, almost monopolizing everything. Many colleagues mention Meng Lijun with gritted teeth.

  As for Gao Xiaowei, she was born to Aunt Meng and another man. She was still in her mother's arms when my father married Aunt Meng that year. The reason she didn't change her surname to Long was out of respect from my father towards Aunt Meng. And Aunt Meng wasn't someone who dwelled on past loves either. In her own words, "whoever it belongs to is whoever it belongs to", and changing surnames was just a useless formality. She wanted to hold onto the surname Gao.

  My dad is extremely fond of my younger sister, to the point where outsiders might think I'm the one who's adopted. In this matter, Aunt Meng has been very considerate of my dad's feelings; after all, they've been married for so many years without having children, probably also related to this. As the saying goes, "returning a peach with a plum," people in the business world have their own code of conduct and rules. That's why Aunt Meng has always wanted to groom me as the successor of the Bao Hua Group, but my dad won't agree, so they've been at odds for years.

  It was because of this that my father, in order to reduce the influence and harm of Meng's aunt on me, sent me to a boarding school from the age of 7, where I received ordinary education like other children.

  And my sister Gao Xiaowei, her mother's temper doesn't need to be said, and her stepfather spoiled her, so she was arrogant and domineering from a young age. At first, my dad kept an eye on the overall direction, but after he went to prison, she became completely lawless, street racing, prostitution, and gang fights were all common occurrences, as if she was the leader of a group of rich girls. My sister and I didn't have many opportunities to meet except during holidays, and when we were together, we didn't have much in common, we were two different kinds of people.

  But she is also my sister, in a nutshell: Gao Xiaowei and I are half-siblings with different fathers but the same mother.

  Division line

  I think I drew it pretty well...