I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 363
Chapter 363: Are We Getting Married?
As the sun gradually rises, people heading to work enter their factories, shops, and offices one after another, while children going to school fill the surroundings with the sound of reading. A new day has begun.
This small county town has a very simple structure: in the middle, there’s a massive crossroads with intersecting east-west and north-south roads, and it’s surrounded by rolling, grass-covered hills.
When Xiao Mo and I flew over from the sky under the cover of night, we noticed that the entire county looked like one of those villages generated in plain areas in games.
“The people here seem to be in good spirits.”
I remarked as I walked with Xiao Mo along the wide streets of the small county town. We watched customers in the small shops and elderly folks playing chess and chatting by the roadside.
The streets in the small county are very wide and not very regulated.
I didn’t see any traffic lights or zebra crossings, but the cars here are very considerate and always give way to pedestrians—of course, the population density here isn’t enough to cause traffic jams.
I had checked online before, and this small county has less than twenty thousand people. The surrounding living environment is very harsh, with an average altitude of over four thousand meters and an average annual temperature of minus four degrees Celsius.
The area is rich in mineral resources, and because there are many grasslands, quite a few people raise cattle and sheep. There are also coal miners and even specific hunting grounds where people can hunt.
It’s said that there are only ten schools in this area: three kindergartens, five primary schools, and two middle/high schools.
For example, the school that Xiao Mo and I are currently in front of should be a primary school. The big characters on the gate read “Xing Su Hope Primary School,” which is quite cute.
However, from the appearance of the gate, the school’s teaching conditions seem very rudimentary: a simple fence, directly inside is the teaching building, next to some activity areas with things like horizontal bars, but no dormitory building. It seems that the students here don’t board but are all day students.
Despite the rather poor environment, the sound of the children reading inside is very loud—
“In the empty mountains, no one is seen, but the sound of human voices is heard.”
“The returning sunlight enters the deep forest, shining again on the green moss.”
Each word is pronounced with a pause, as if filled with hope.
The sounds of children studying at the nearby school, the sounds of elderly people playing chess by the roadside, and the sound of strong winds blowing through the mountains in the distance, all intertwined, created quite a unique atmosphere.
It felt like… I hadn’t experienced these things in a long time. Although we often hear the morning exercises from Starlight Elementary School near Ai Luodi’s house in Nanqi District, compared to the more modern urban Shenzhen City, this small county town is quite backward.
“How about we take a photo?”
Hand in hand with Xiao Mo, under the gaze of the elderly onlookers, we walked a bit further. I ran ahead and turned around.
“The scenery here looks quite nice. Let’s take a few photos here first, and then we’ll head to that underground cave you mentioned, meow?”
This small county town is a typical resource-exhausted city. You can tell that most of the able-bodied workforce has gone to the big cities, leaving behind only the elderly and children.
So, apart from coal mining and a few small factories, there are hardly any jobs that young people from big cities would like.
There are no office buildings, no food delivery services, and no taxis—just shops, grocery stores, snack bars, and grain and oil stores.
However, I must say that the beef jerky here is quite good. Maybe it’s because I’m in cat-girl mode right now; cats are always very sensitive to high-protein foods.
“Do you want to take a photo?”
After hearing my suggestion, Xiao Mo hesitated a bit. “Actually, I had the same thought, but not here.”
“Hmm?”
I was a bit curious. “Where is it?”
“On the way here, I saw a photo studio specifically for couples… I think it’s a photo studio.”
Xiao Mo seemed a bit unsure as she pointed to a street not far away. “Over there, about a hundred meters.”
A photo studio in such a remote county town?!
“By the way, Xiao Mo, how did you spot the photo studio from the sky on your first glance?”
I was surprised. “I had all my attention on the snack shops!”
“Little glutton.”
Xiao Mo replied casually. “Actually, the main reason was that back then, that photo studio was one of the few places that were open in sight, so I looked at it twice.”
“Let’s go there then!”
I ran over. “Lead the way!”
The photo studio was indeed not far ahead, near the crossroads. It gave me the feeling of an old-world place where you still needed to develop film.
It wasn’t just a photo studio. It seemed to be a general store too, selling beef jerky, milk skins, and some dried fur products, with a strong local flavor.
As Xiao Mo and I arrived at the shop, my phone rang from my skirt pocket. The caller ID showed it was Sikong Yue.
We had collaborated a few times before, and since Xiongxiong was also a friend from my novel’s book club, it was natural for us to exchange contact information at the comic convention. However, I was a bit surprised she was calling at this time.
“Hello?”
I pressed the answer button and motioned for Xiao Mo to go into the photo studio first.
“What’s up, Miss Sikong Yue?”
“I heard from the store that you and Xiao Mo took a seven-day leave for a honeymoon trip?”
Sikong Yue sounded quite cheerful. “Can I cover your shifts for the next few days? I happen to be free.”
“Cover our shifts… what do you mean?”
I was puzzled. “Do you want to work at the café too?”
“Just temporarily. My dad’s company is hosting events here until the end of the month, and I’m bored to death. But I can’t just hang out at your store and freeload every day, so I thought I could work there for a few days. I asked your manager, and she agreed. But she said that Nuo’er will officially become the manager at the end of the month, so she told me to check with you.”
As Sikong Yue spoke, I could hear the sound of cats meowing and cat claws scratching a cat scratcher. I recognized the sounds from the ‘Building 3’ and the ‘Mosquito Bag’.
“How about it? I’ll work until the end of the month, and I only want a hundred yuan per day, and I’ll cover my own uniform costs.”
“Are you really serious about this?”
I thought for a moment. “Well… do you have your health certificate and all that? Have you done this kind of work before? Just so you know, being a waitress at the café isn’t easy, especially mentally. It can be quite challenging.”
Waitressing is considered one of the lower-tier jobs in society. Although theoretically, all jobs are equal, most people still view waitressing as a job with little future. Sikong Yue, being a young lady from a well-off family, might find it hard to handle.
“I used to work as a waitress in America for almost a year, so don’t worry.”
In response to my doubts, Sikong Yue sounded very confident. “I promise everything will be in order! Sister Ouyang will be supervising, so nothing will go wrong!”
“Uh… can I ask why you suddenly want to work as a temporary worker?”
“I want to pet the cats.”
“……”
“Alright then… just discuss the specifics with Sister Ouyang. Xiao Mo and I are out of town and won’t be back for a while.”
“Great, I’m relieved to hear that. I’ll send you a photo of my outfit once it arrives.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up, I looked around and saw that Xiao Mo had already gone into the photo studio and seemed to be asking the owner for a few outfits.
“Xiao Mo?”
Putting my phone back in my pocket, I peeked into the shop. “Why did you suddenly… huh?”
I then saw Xiao Mo coming out holding a wedding dress and a tailcoat. The wedding dress was very petite, looking like it was meant for a short girl, while the tailcoat was designed to match Xiao Mo’s height.
“Boss, I’ll take these two. Wrap them up.”
With a wedding dress in one hand and a tailcoat in the other, Xiao Mo looked like a big spender as she walked straight to the owner.
“I’ll take them both.”
“……”
……