I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 297

Chapter 297: Are You Willing to Unravel the Combinations on the Blackboard?

 

“Opening a branch?”

 

When I handed the document from Su Yunjin to Ouyang Xue, who was eating in the staff lounge, Ouyang Xue was initially surprised.

 

After taking the document and reading it carefully for a while, she said, “I know about this place mentioned in the document. It was supposed to be turned into an internet café before.”

 

“Do internet cafés still make money nowadays?”

 

“It’s hard to say. Running an internet café in this era is like playing a game of survival of the fittest. Those that are managed well still make money, but those with dirty environments, poor service, and high prices are easily eliminated, unless there’s no competition nearby.”

 

Ouyang Xue frowned slightly. “It seems like there aren’t many internet cafés around here.”

 

I added, “But our location here is somewhat remote.”

 

In most cases, the location of an internet café is crucial.

 

Nowadays, everyone has a computer. If an internet café is located in a slightly upscale neighborhood, it’s only a matter of time before it goes out of business. Anyone with a bit of sense would open an internet café in areas with many students, especially college students.

 

The management of internet cafés in Shenzhen City is quite strict. The phenomenon of allowing machines to be turned on with temporary cards has become very rare.

 

Therefore, it doesn’t make much sense to open an internet café near a high school where students don’t even have IDs. It must be near a university, preferably a relatively ordinary one. Famous universities or even top-tier universities don’t seem to attract much business.

 

However, I remember hearing online that opening an internet café near a school isn’t as viable anymore. It’s better to open one near factories.

The darker and more exploitative the sweatshops nearby, the better the business for the internet café.

 

Those who work in factories generally don’t have personal computers, let alone bring their own computers into the factory dormitories. They work in the factory for more than ten hours a day, becoming numb to it all. When they finally get a day off, of course, they go find an internet café to relax and have fun.

 

The person who posted the thread said that there are usually many people at the internet cafés near his factory, and they are packed on weekends and holidays. Sometimes, you have to wait for two hours just to get a computer. Some people even come to the internet café the night before, around three or four in the morning when it’s the best time to find the best computers available, and book them all night, coming back the next day to play.

 

The internet cafés near the factory never have available computers every day, and the ones a little further away are on the brink of closing down. This world is truly strange.

 

Anyway, I don’t have much confidence in opening an internet café on the new commercial street in Nanqi District. Places like cafés, which focus on snacks with electronic gaming as a secondary aspect, might work.

 

But if the revenue mainly relies on internet fees… it will easily go bankrupt unless it can hold out until the commercial street in Nanqi District is fully developed and the foot traffic increases significantly.

 

“I don’t quite understand…”

 

Putting down the document, Ouyang Xue looked somewhat troubled.

 

“What’s Su Yunjin thinking about now? We haven’t even finished dealing with things here… Did he mention when you’ll take over as the café manager?”

 

“He didn’t say.”

I shook my head. “He just told me to be prepared, probably within the next two months…”

 

As I spoke, I noticed something unusual about Ouyang Xue. “Sister Ouyang, uh, is everything okay?”

 

Ouyang Xue raised her head, looking somewhat guilty. “Is there anything else?”

 

“Sister Ouyang, are you… running a fever?”

I looked uncertain. “I feel like your body temperature is a bit high.”

 

If it were under normal circumstances, I might not have noticed this.

But now, I was in “Elf Mode.”

 

In Elf Mode, all my senses were enhanced, allowing me to clearly perceive changes in temperature around me. Earlier, when I was helping Xiao Mo cook zongzi, I used this heightened sensitivity to judge whether the contents in the pot were nine-tenths or fully cooked, and to determine whether the side being fried had achieved a golden color by smelling it.

 

At the moment, there were only Ouyang Xue and me in the employee lounge, so I could vaguely sense that her body temperature was slightly higher than the average person’s.

 

It should be a low fever now.

 

“Oh… you noticed that?”

Ouyang Xue seemed surprised. “It’s… it’s nothing. Just a slight fever. I’ll take some medicine.”

 

“Sister Ouyang, you’re always like this.”

I stepped forward, a bit annoyed, and tried to feel her forehead. “What’s the temperature?”

 

“Thirty-eight point two degrees, just checked.”

Ouyang Xue smiled wryly. “It’s mainly because the workers came to renovate the basement last night, and I helped them move things. I stayed up a bit late.”

 

“How late?”

 

“It was past one o’clock.”

 

“Don’t you have Ai Luodi for the night shift?”

 

“The young girl has delicate and fair skin…”

 

Ouyang Xue avoided my gaze. “I’m faster.”

 

“You don’t seem like a manager at all.”

 

I looked around. “Why are you running a fever? Is it a cold? Have you been to the hospital?”

 

“It should just be a minor cold, maybe.”

 

“Maybe?”

 

“A viral cold.”

 

At that moment, Yin Xiamo walked in from outside.

 

“There was a big temperature difference between day and night yesterday, and there was sea breeze by the seaside. When it got cold, you didn’t pay attention to keeping warm, caught a chill from the wind, and the cold virus took advantage. Take some medicine.”

 

“I’m really fine…”

 

“Working while sick is irresponsible to the customers. You probably just started feeling the fever.”

 

Yin Xiamo spoke with an undeniable tone. “Ouyang, if you don’t rest, I and Nuo’er will tell Li Chen about this.”

 

“You…”

 

Ouyang Xue instantly felt choked, “Why would you tell that boy?”

 

“The situation at the internet café on the commercial street has probably been handled more or less. I guess Su Yunjin wants you to relax for a while.”

 

Yin Xiamo remained noncommittal. “Does he know about you helping out here last night?”

 

“He probably does. Those workers were called over by Su Yunjin.”

 

“You see.”

 

Yin Xiamo gave me a “that’s it” expression. “The reason for Sister Ouyang’s health has been found, and Su Yunjin is also an incompetent boss.”

 

“I… It’s been like this since I was a child. I get colds five or six times a year, at most I’ll have a fever for two or three days, it’s nothing serious, I’m used to it.”

 

Ouyang Xue smiled. “Then Nuo’er, why don’t you go to the kitchen and help bring some hot water up? I’ll rest for a bit and drink some water. I’ll listen to you guys, I won’t go to work today.”

 

“That’s about right. Don’t force yourself when you’re not feeling well.”

 

I turned around. “Then Sister Ouyang, take a look at this report first, I’ll go downstairs to get hot water.”

 

No wonder the underground cyberpunk electronic gaming area, which was originally only about seventy to eighty percent complete, reached such a high level of completion overnight. It turns out that Su Yunjin had people come over to renovate it after we left last night.

 

Feeling like doing renovations in the middle of the night has become a tradition for the café.

Ouyang Xue, too, couldn’t bear to see the workers working hard without getting involved herself…

 

Let me find the hot water over here…

I went downstairs and headed straight to the kitchen, looking around for a while inside.

 

With this weather, although the café had free water dispensers everywhere for hot water, most of them just provided lukewarm water, far from the level needed for brewing cold medicine.

 

With the temperature today being over thirty degrees Celsius, under normal circumstances, nobody would specifically come to the café for hot water. So we didn’t boil much, only the kitchen had water above eighty degrees Celsius, kept warm in a thermos for backup.

 

“Found it.”

 

Taking out a thermos from the kitchen, I popped open the lid with a “pop” and checked the temperature of the water inside, confirming it was hot water before walking out with the thermos.

 

“Ding Dong! Welcome!”

 

Just as I was passing by the front door of the café on the ground floor with the thermos, the door suddenly swung open, and two familiar little figures walked in from outside.

 

It was Li Denghua and her recently made good friend Zhou Xiaofei. Li Denghua still dressed as usual, wearing a gorgeous Lolita dress, with a pair of Gothic cross-patterned tights on her slender legs, and small Lolita round-toed shoes on her feet, holding a parasol and a small handbag.

 

What surprised me was that Zhou Xiaofei seemed to have deliberately dressed up today. She was no longer wearing the school uniform but a small Western-style dress similar to Li Denghua’s, paired with flat shoes and lace socks. Her originally somewhat dark face seemed a bit whiter, with two small ponytails tied up, looking much cuter than I remembered.

 

However, it was strange that Li Denghua, upon entering, kept her head low the whole time, looking like she didn’t dare to look at me much. Meanwhile, Zhou Xiaofei beside her was holding onto her dress hem the whole time, leading the girl towards me.

 

It was like… she was leading a prisoner?

 

“Hey, big sister Nuo’er is here.”

 

Seeing me, Zhou Xiaofei walked over while still grabbing Li Denghua’s skirt hem, saying, “Just like we agreed before, be serious, stand properly, and look at sister’s face when speaking.”

 

“My grandma used to educate me like this whenever I broke something at home.”

 

What were these two little ones up to?

I, holding the thermos, was momentarily unsure of the situation.

 

“Sister Nuo’er.”

 

Perplexed, Zhou Xiaofei at the door brought Li Denghua in front of me.

 

“Denghua has something to say to you.”

 

To me?

 

“Denghua, hurry up.”

 

Releasing her hand, Zhou Xiaofei gently tapped Li Denghua’s arm.

 

“This is your fault, you must apologize properly.”

 

“Ah… um… well…”

 

At Zhou Xiaofei’s urging, Li Denghua, who was slightly taller than me, raised her little head. First, she looked at me cautiously, then turned away, seeming a bit embarrassed.

 

“It’s about… what happened before…”

 

What happened before?

 

“I… I said some really mean things at that time… just…”

 

Li Denghua’s eyes flickered with a hint of self-blame. She hesitated for a while before summoning up the courage to take a deep breath—

 

“Sister Nuo’er, I’m sorry!”

 

The sudden increase in volume from the little girl caught me off guard for a moment.

 

“Wha… what’s… what’s going on?”

 

“It’s about what happened before when I asked you to help find the doll at school, and about your brother… about the test of loyalty or something. I was too stubborn. I’m really sorry!”

 

With her hands placed in front of her, Li Denghua bowed deeply to me and maintained the bowing posture.

 

“I never made friends with others since I was young, didn’t know how to respect elders, spoke without restraint, and didn’t understand the meaning of donation… Clearly, you are my benefactor, but at that time, I… said such mean words to you… I’m sorry! Sister Nuo’er, please forgive me…”

 

Oh… it’s about that incident…

 

Li Denghua’s speech reminded me of the scenes of myself running to Starlight Elementary School those few days.

 

Well, although I was slightly annoyed at that time, being bossed around by a little kid and all…

 

Li Denghua’s personality is really reclusive, strange, and… “tsundere”? But now the term “tsundere” has fallen out of favor, and it can even be seen as derogatory. Growing up in a wealthy environment, with her parents often too busy to care for her, if no one guides her, she is likely to suffer in the future due to her personality.

 

I think this is probably one of the reasons why Li Denghua was unpopular in the class before.

 

“A few days ago when I was chatting with Denghua, we talked about how she met Sister Nuo’er, and she mentioned this incident.”

 

While Li Denghua was still maintaining her bowing posture, Zhou Xiaofei took a step forward and said in a consultative tone, “I was very angry at the time and told Denghua that this was not right. She went too far, and it would hurt Sister Nuo’er a lot.”

 

“After I talked to her about it, Denghua has been feeling very embarrassed these past few days, and then we did this together.”

 

As she spoke, Zhou Xiaofei took out a handmade doll from the slightly worn backpack she was carrying behind her.

 

“This was taught to me by my grandmother, and I taught it to Li Denghua… Denghua, take yours out.”

 

“Mmm…”

Li Denghua also took out a doll from her bag, which was slightly “uglier” than Zhou Xiaofei’s, and handed it to me.

 

“I’m sorry, Sister Nuo’er.”

 

“Please forgive Li Denghua, she’s not a bad person, she just sometimes lacks tact in her actions and words. I’ve already educated her properly.”

 

With a mature demeanor, Zhou Xiaofei held both cloth dolls in front of me.

 

“We’re really sorry, please don’t be angry, Sister Nuo’er.”

 

“I’m sorry, Sister Nuo’er, please don’t be mad at me. I didn’t realize how rude I was back then…”

 

Li Denghua lifted her head, seeming to gather a lot of courage as she looked into my eyes.

 

“I… I just learned how to make this doll, so it might not look very good…”

 

Apologies and gifts from two elementary school students?

I noticed that Li Denghua’s left index finger and thumb were both wrapped in bandages.

 

“I’m not angry at all.”

 

After a brief moment of astonishment, I smiled gently, patted Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei’s heads, and accepted the two dolls.

 

“Then I’ll gladly accept your gifts!”

 

Placing the kettle on the table behind me, I walked towards the window with the dolls in hand, carefully placing them on the windowsill so they could bask in the warm sunlight streaming in from outside.

 

“This room happened to be missing two decorations, thank you.”

 

“Ah…” Li Denghua still seemed a bit cautious. “Has Sister Nuo’er forgiven me?”

 

“I wasn’t angry to begin with.” I patted the little one’s shoulder.

 

“It looks like you’ve learned a lot from being friends with Zhou Xiaofei!”

 

Zhou Xiaofei came from a very poor family, and in such households, children often turn out one of two ways: either disrespectful and idle, or disciplined and respectful. It was clear that Zhou Xiaofei belonged to the latter category.

 

“Not really, Denghua takes good care of me too.”

 

Zhou Xiaofei on the side became a bit embarrassed hearing my words, clutching her skirt.

 

“This outfit was a gift from Denghua.”

 

“It’s very beautiful, suits you well, like a little princess.”

 

I pulled the two children into my arms and said to Li Denghua, “Let bygones be bygones. Okay, I accept your apology. Let’s move on from this from now on.”

 

Then, I gestured towards a nearby table laden with various sticky rice dishes.

 

“Have you had lunch yet?”

 

“We… we have.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

Seeing Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei occasionally glancing towards the colorful sticky rice, I asked tentatively, “Did your family make colorful sticky rice yesterday?”

 

“No.” Li Denghua shook her head abruptly.

 

“Both Mom and Dad haven’t been home since last week, they were still working…”

 

“Then today, sister will treat you to some.” I pointed to a few nearby seats and picked up the kettle again.

 

“Sit for a while, play with the cat, and I’ll go upstairs to bring water to my equally clueless manager.”

 

“Be back soon!”

 

“……”

 

……