Reluctantly Willing

On the first day of work at the store, An Xiaoyan arrived very early. He changed into his uniform and waited beside the cash register.

A moment later, the manager grabbed him. "Why are you standing here? Go unload cargo in the warehouse."

"Sir, aren't I the cashier?"

"The cashier work is only part of it. Unloading and shelving run in cycles. There aren't any permanent jobs, so everyone's called a cashier. It sounds better."

An Xiaoyan didn't realize there was more to this. He walked to the warehouse and joined a bunch of people moving a big carton.

"Hey, beanstalk."

An Xiaoyan followed the voice and found a middle-aged man calling at him.

"Yeah, you."

"Can I help you?"

"Take a break. This job won't be done in a while."

An Xiaoyan put down his work and sat on the side. The man took out a pack of cigarettes.

"Wanna try?" The middle-aged man offered him one.

An Xiaoyan waved his hand. "I don't smoke."

"Huh, there aren't much like you anymore. I'm Li Gang. You?"

"An Xiaoyan."

Li Gang pursed his lips and exhaled a puff of smoke. "Such a pretty name, like a girl's. Ha, look at your soft skin. How did you end up doing physical labor?"

"It's a long story."

Li Gang extended a hand in an attempt to pat An Xiaoyan, but seeing the dirt on himself and An Xiaoyan's untainted skin, he pulled his hand back. "You're so clean and pure, I can't bear to touch you. Work hard. You won't get rich, but you won't starve either. Rest while you can, or you won't be able to once the leadership comes for inspection soon."

"What's with the inspections?"

"The big boss comes to the supermarket once a month. It's super tiring the day they come. He'll come next week, so be careful that day."

"Is the boss scary?" An Xiaoyan sensed something off with what Li Gang said.

"Not scary, but if he catches any mistake, you'll lose your job. This job's meager, but the boss never goes easy."

An Xiaoyan didn't speak after this. He didn't know if he could stay; he just wanted to seize the present.

The inspection day came before long. The inspection team would only pick one floor to check each time. By noon, there still wasn't any commotion on the third floor, so all the workers were relieved. It seemed that they could survive this month.

An Xiaoyan relaxed too. He got off the unloading ladder to go eat lunch.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed that the girl beside him was shelving crackers but couldn't reach the top shelf. An Xiaoyan stopped.

"Let me help you."

The girl turned around to find this slender young man standing behind her, she blushed instantly.

"Thanks. Just put the crackers on this shelf up there, one by one. I'm Ye Qing. You can call me Xiao Qing."

This task relied on height. An Xiaoyan wasn't tall, but he was at least taller than the girl. He quickly finished shelving.

"Let me buy you lunch."

An Xiaoyan waved his hand. He was just helping and it was nothing.

"It's no big deal. The cafeteria is serving sweet and sour pork today. You know how stingy our cafeteria is. Sweet and sour pork is really rare."

An Xiaoyan caved in to the girl's persuasiveness and followed her. When he passed by the cash register, he saw Li Gang cleaning up his cart and nodded at him.

Li Gang saw An Xiaoyan with the girl and the way they looked at each other. This guy was pretty skilled and got a catch so quickly, he thought.

An Xiaoyan had just missed the rush hour of the cafeteria when he arrived. After all, the second floor was being inspected and the first floor didn't dare to slack off either. The workers on and above the third floor were really lucky.

"It's that window. Let's go."

The girl dragged An Xiaoyan's arm and strutted forward without waiting for a reply. An Xiaoyan felt a bit awkward. This was his first close interaction with a girl.

"Two servings of sweet and sour pork."

Holding the plate, An Xiaoyan randomly chose a seat and sat down. A while later, the girl sat together with him.

After Ye Qing seated herself, she waited for An Xiaoyan to break the silence first. While she stared at him for as long as she could, An Xiaoyan didn't do anything except eat quietly with minimum chewing sound.

"Is it good?"

An Xiaoyan nodded. It really was good. He'd been here for more than a week, but he hadn't discovered anything as good yet.

A few mouthfuls later, An Xiaoyan put down his chopsticks. Ye Qing gaped at him in amaze. Is he really a man? How come he eats less than a girl?!

"Aren't you going to have more?"

"I'm done."

Ye Qing pointed at the rice remaining in his bowl. "You call that done? You eat too little."

An Xiaoyan shook his head, showing that he couldn't eat any more.

He actually wished that he could finish the food in his bowl, but he knew he couldn't. His body was still recovering. Prison food was worse than outside food and resulted in a lack of protein and vitamins for so long that his body now had difficulty digesting too many nutrients.

After coming out, he didn't dare to eat or drink excessively. He could only increase his portions gradually. Otherwise, he would vomit it all up like after his dinner with Liu Cheng that first day.

"I'll go now."

Ye Qing was still munching on her pork. She stared as An Xiaoyan prepared to leave.

She quickly swallowed her food and asked, "Uh, do you have a girlfriend?"

An Xiaoyan shook his head and left.

At that moment, a man was sitting in a VIP room on the second floor, sipping red wine while he watched everything that happened below.

Very good, An Xiaoyan. You already got girls flirting with you.

After Chen Chen finished touching base with the store workers, he asked, "Sir, when are we leaving in the afternoon? I've finished here."

"Do I have anything on my schedule this afternoon?"

Chen Chen flipped open the schedule and gave him the negative answer.

"Very good. We'll continue inspecting the store. Didn't you say that An Xiaoyan is working here?"

Chen Chen nodded.

"Find out what floor he's on. I'll go inspect that floor later."

Chen Chen quickly passed down the notification. He had no power. He just needed to follow instructions and do his job.

An Xiaoyan returned to his position. Just as he was prepared to start loading, Li Gang walked over from the other side.

"That girl looked nice. I think you have a shot."

An Xiaoyan didn't care to explain. For someone like Li Gang who was still single at 40 years old, all girls were like gold. His eyes shone when he saw them. An Xiaoyan was used to this by now.

"Look at you. You're probably not interested, so how about you introduce her to me? Help a brother out here, old and single."

An Xiaoyan put down his stuff. Turning around, he said seriously, "Don't ruin her."

"Hmph, what do you mean 'ruin'? What's so bad about me? Being with someone like you would ruin her. You're so thin, I bet you have no energy in bed. How can you satisfy a woman?"

With that, Li Gang walked away angrily. An Xiaoyan didn't say anything. After spending some time with Li Gang, he could tell that Li Gang was the type that just purely wanted a woman and nothing else.