Guan Anlin returned just before the end of the New Year.
After some discussion with Chen Yuncheng, in order to save on the cost of renting the house, he simply installed a bunk bed in the room inside the store. Although the room was not big, neither of them cared about it. It was like returning to the living environment of the previous dormitory.
Before the official opening, Chen Yuncheng followed Sun Shiliang to get the goods and gradually filled the shelves with boxes of cigarettes, alcohol and drinks. He also hired a young girl in her twenties named Wu Xiaozhu to watch the shop and keep accounts.
Sun Shiliang wanted to hand over this store to Chen Yuncheng. He was in the wholesale tobacco and alcohol business, many of which were directly bought from local dealers. He took Chen Yuncheng around and ate a lot of food to introduce people to Chen Yuncheng. In the beginning, he was doing a sales pitch to a few customers to come here, saying that they are all his stores and that he would give the same discount for goods from both sides1it was like they were just going from one place to another place to get acquainted with the people around the market and get them to know and maybe buy products from Sun Shiliang’s place.
When the shop started to stock up, Chen Yuncheng moved out of the daily rental house and lived with Guan Anlin in the inner room of the shop.
Chen Yuncheng slept on the lower bunk, while Guan Anlin slept on the upper bed.
The environment here was not as damp as Chen Yuncheng’s previous kiosk, and there were two people living in the room, so it was not so cold. The bedding on the bed was newly bought, and it was fluffy and soft when they lay on it, which was more comfortable to sleep on than the bed in the daily rental house.
The best thing was that the store was equipped with air conditioning2this is including the units that have heating mode; a big floor-standing air conditioner outside, ready to be put up with a plastic curtain at the shop door in summer, which will keep the inside cool; while on the inside was a small unit hanging, which had not been turned on yet. Chen Yuncheng felt that winter was almost over, and the room was not so cold, so there was no need to turn it on.
Guan Anlin didn’t pay attention to anything, he lay on the upper bunk and watched videos on his mobile phone.
The two of them had been sorting out the goods all day, moving and lifting containers up and down, and now they didn’t want to do anything except lie down and rest.
Chen Yuncheng put his hands behind his head and stared at the depressingly spacious bedpan above him, and thought about how Ning Junyan hadn’t contacted him for a week.
The wound on his wrist had faded, and it might completely disappear in two days, so those violent and extreme actions of Ning Junyan were gradually forgotten by Chen Yuncheng as the injury disappeared, and he remembered again how good Ning Junyan had been to him.
He actually wanted to call Ning Junyan again, but he was hesitant because he was afraid that Ning Junyan would not answer. He didn’t know what Ning Junyan was thinking, if Ning Junyan didn’t want to see him, he was afraid that his phone call would become harassment to the other party.
While he was entertaining all sorts of foolish ideas, Guan Anlin poked his head out from the upper bunk to look at him. Chen Yuncheng was frowning, but before he could loosen his frown, Guan Anlin saw his expression, and asked him, “What’s wrong?”
Chen Yuncheng replied, “It will be officially opened tomorrow.”
Guan Anlin let out an “En” and said, “Isn’t it pretty good?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” Chen Yuncheng’s tone sounded like he was lamenting.
Guan Anlin pulled his head back and after a while said, “My sister will be taking the university entrance exam in June this year.”
Chen Yuncheng knew that his sister had good grades and was top-notch in the local middle school, so he asked, “What university does she want to go to?”
Guan Anlin said, “She wants to come here for the exams, and I want her to go here too.”
Chen Yuncheng chatted with him absentmindedly, “It’s good to come over, you siblings can take care of each other.”
Guan Anlin was silent for a while, and said to Chen Yuncheng, “You can meet her when the time comes.”
Chen Yuncheng sighed and rolled over to lie on his side, “Even if we are not talking about age, do you think your sister, a college student, would look at a man like me who is almost thirty, has no car or house, and is still working for someone else to look after the shop?” When he said this, Chen Yuncheng was a bit baffled. He thought about Ning Junyan was not only a university student, but also seemed to be some kind of doctoral degree who had also studied abroad, but because his head was not right, he fell in love with him.
Guan Anlin said, “I’m burning up at the thought of her dating another man in the future.”
Chen Yuncheng said, “Your way of thinking is not normal.” After he said that, he was not in the mood to chat with Guan Anlin anymore. He closed his eyes and said, “I’m going to sleep.”
The next morning, the tobacco shop was officially open for business. The flower baskets Chen Yuncheng had ordered were delivered early in the morning and placed on both sides of the shop’s front door, although no firecrackers could be set off, the atmosphere still looked lively.
Customers who had previously booked cigarettes, alcohol and beverages through Boss Sun, were to start their official deliveries today.
An old van was parked in front of the shop, which Sun Siliang had given them specifically for deliveries. In the morning, Chen Yuncheng and Guan Anlin took stock of the goods and moved them to the car one by one, ready to deliver the goods to the customer.
For the rest of the time, Chen Yuncheng and the newly recruited Wu Xiaozhu continued to take inventory of the goods in the store and kept making adjustments to the goods on the shelves.
This evening, Sun Shiliang asked Chen Yuncheng and the others to have dinner together, saying that it was to celebrate the opening of the new store and asked Chen Yuncheng to call Guan Anlin and Wu Xiaozhu together.
Before hanging up the phone, Sun Shiliang said to Chen Yuncheng, “Xiao Chen, can you call Dr. Ning as well?”
Chen Yuncheng froze for a moment and said, “I don’t know if he’s free today.”
Sun Shiliang said, “That’s okay, ask him for me. If he can’t today, I will invite him to dinner another day. There’s an elderly person at home who needs an operation and I want to consult Dr. Ning.”
Sun Shiliang had helped Chen Yuncheng too much over this period of time, and Chen Yuncheng had no way to refuse him, nor was he willing to give him a perfunctory answer, so he had to say, “I’ll ask him.”
When he hung up the phone, Guan Anlin had already opened the van and got into the driver’s seat, he honked the horn and said to Chen Yuncheng, “Get in the car.”
Chen Yuncheng nodded, turned around and gave Wu Xiaozhu a few words, pulled open the passenger door of the van and got in, and went to deliver the goods with Guan Anlin.
Neither of them was familiar with the delivery address, so Chen Yuncheng took the delivery slip in his hand, entered the address into his mobile phone and opened the navigation.
As Guan Anlin drove on, he occasionally turned his head and saw that Chen Yuncheng’s expression did not look too good and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Chen Yuncheng said, “It’s nothing.”
Guan Anlin found some topics to talk about with him, “Boss Sun has introduced his distributors and clients to you, so when we have saved up enough capital, we will poach his clients and start our own business.”
Chen Yuncheng glanced at him.
Guan Anlin said, “It’s better than working for someone else.”
Chen Yuncheng had been busy all morning, and he still didn’t feel relaxed even now. He leaned on the back of the chair and said, “Sun ge has helped me so much, so I will continue to help him as long as he needs it.”
Guan Anlin hummed lightly and did not say anything.
Chen Yuncheng remembered that he had a chat with Sun Shiliang once after drinking, saying that Sun Shiliang trusted him so much that he dared not let him down.
At that time, Sun Shiliang was quite indifferent and told Chen Yuncheng to broaden his horizons, not put too much emphasis on profits, and not to care too much about gains and losses. He also drank a lot of wine, patted Chen Yuncheng on the shoulder, and said, “I’m a person who makes friends without expecting something in return. After a while, when you need help, you will find that all your friends are there, and they are willing to take the initiative to repay you. “
Chen Yuncheng could feel a little bit of free-spirited energy in Sun Shiliang that did not belong to this era, and said, “Not all people are like that nowadays.”
Sun Shiliang put his arms around his shoulders at the time, “Aren’t you just like that? You said why I gave you a hand, I thought you were like me and worthy of a sincere friend. Whether you can make money or how much money you can make is not important now. If this business is not doing well, we will replace it with another one, as long as there are friends, there will be a way to go.”
Chen Yuncheng felt that he yearned for the free-spirited way of Sun Shiliang.
They delivered the goods to the customer, and after unloading the goods from the car, the other party only had the middle-aged lady in the store, and Chen Yuncheng took the trouble to help her move the goods in and put them on the shelves.
The lady thanked them repeatedly and gave them two bottles of mineral water after signing the form on their way out.
Chen Yuncheng took off his coat when he was carrying goods. He sat in the car and unscrewed the water bottle to drink a mouthful of water.
Guan Anlin said, “We’re done with the job after we unload the goods. We need to charge extra money if we have to help move the goods next time.”
Chen Yuncheng raised his hand to wipe the water stains around his mouth, “It’s just a favour, don’t worry about it so much.”
Guan Anlin said a few words in a low voice, started the car and left.
After a while, Chen Yuncheng felt that the sweat on his body had subsided, and he also cooled down. He reached for his coat and put it on, and said, “After delivering the goods, take me to the hospital, and go back first. Then, take Xiaozhu to have dinner with Sun ge at night.”
“What are you going to the hospital for?”
Chen Yuncheng looked ahead and sat quietly for a while before saying, “Sun ge told me to invite a friend over there, so I’m going to the hospital to invite the friend.”
“Which friend?” Guan Anlin couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked for more information.
Chen Yuncheng said, “You’ve seen him before, it’s the friend that lent me his house to stay for a while before.”
“Oh,” Guan Anlin understood, and his tone was not very friendly, “The one that drives the Land Rover.”
Despite his reluctance, Guan Anlin still dropped off Chen Yuncheng at the hospital entrance and drove off by himself.
Chen Yuncheng stood at the door and looked at the gate of the hospital where people were coming and going. He took out his mobile phone and hesitated for a while, but he still didn’t call Ning Junyan and walked directly into the hospital.
According to the frequency of Ning Junyan’s night shift, he should be on the day shift today.
Chen Yuncheng went to the floor of Ning Junyan’s department in the inpatient building. It was just after the new year, and the hospital was already full of patients, and there was almost no room for extra beds in the corridor.
All the nurses were busy, and no one noticed him. He looked like an ordinary family member of a patient, and walked along the corridor to the door of Ning Junyan’s office, raised his hand and knocked on the door, but there was no response inside.
He stepped back, went to the resident doctor’s office, and asked a doctor who was walking outside, “May I ask if Chief Ning is in today?”
The doctor said, “Yes, I guess, he’s here for all the morning rounds.”
Chen Yuncheng asked again, “So is he in surgery now?”
The doctor turned around and asked someone, and told Chen Yuncheng, “He should still be in surgery.”
Chen Yuncheng thanked him, walked to the bench in the corridor closest to Ning Junyan’s office and sat down, waiting for Ning Junyan.
A nurse stopped in front of him and looked at him curiously.
Chen Yuncheng nodded at her.
The nurse smiled and said, “I’ve seen you before, you’re Chief Ning’s friend, right? Are you looking for him?”
Chen Yuncheng stood up and said, “Yes, when will he probably be back?”
The nurse said, “The operation is ongoing. But it seems to be taking quite a long time, so I guess it’s almost time to be done. Just wait a little longer.” The nurse left after speaking.
Chen Yuncheng then sat down again, leaned back and waited. He took out his mobile phone and glanced at it, and thought that if he couldn’t wait for Ning Junyan until six o’clock, he would only go to Sun Shiliang first, and try to contact Ning Junyan later.
In the end, he waited for about half an hour and saw Ning Junyan’s figure appearing in the corridor.
Ning Junyan was wearing a white coat, his hair was slightly damp, and his tall and straight figure was slowly approaching from a distance. When Chen Yuncheng saw him, he obviously saw Chen Yuncheng too, but no expression could be seen on his face.
Chen Yuncheng stood up and was just about to speak when a young doctor with a medical record book stopped Ning Junyan’s path and opened the book in his hand to say something to him.
Ning Junyan withdrew his gaze from Chen Yuncheng, looked at the medical record in front of him, flipped through the pages with his hands, turned around and followed the young doctor out.
Notes
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