“Dang dang dang…”
“Dong dong dong…”
At exactly eight o’clock in the evening.
The Japanese-style decorated silver accessory DIY small shop, warm and slightly crowded yet making the atmosphere even better, was bustling.
Because an old customer’s recommendation post on Little X Book unexpectedly went viral, the shop’s business these days welcomed an unprecedented small boom.
Qiao Ling sat in front of her own workbench, currently making custom pure silver accessories for the online shop.
She held a blowtorch in one hand aimed at a small silver ring on a honeycomb brick, and in the other hand held a phone listening to the nagging from the other end.
“Before, we told you to take postgraduate exams and stay at school, for girls to study a few more years is not a bad thing, you just didn’t want to. Now, how hard it is to find a job, you yourself have felt it, right.”
“Told you to take a civil service exam, take a step back, even establishment or community work would be fine, your uncles in the system can still help a bit.”
“Your little shop hasn’t even recovered the capital until now, your dad and I have discussed it, even if it’s a loss it’s a loss, hurry up and close it down and properly prepare for exams.”
“You need to treasure your fresh graduate status, if you want to take the exam again later, that’s simply thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge [千军万马过独木桥, describing extremely fierce competition]…”
Qiao Ling stared with a pair of big eyes, carefully watching the fire level of the blowtorch burning silver, the voice on the phone going in the left ear and out the right.
The nagging from her mother on the phone became more and more vigorous.
“You don’t even know, two days ago your aunt arranged a blind date for you, talked with a guy of the same age, ai yo, once the parents heard you’re out there randomly opening a shop, not even having a proper job, they didn’t even leave contact information…”
The silver was burned to just the right softness, she turned off the blowtorch, suddenly raised the phone up high, paused for a few seconds in midair, then put it back to her ear: “Mom, did you hear that?”
“What?”
The other party was confused: “So noisy oh.”
Qiao Ling’s eyes were very recognizable, when she smiled, the aegyo-sal under her eyes puffed up thickly: “How could this be noisy.”
“This is the sound of your daughter making money hand over fist [日进斗金, literally ‘daily incoming a bucket of gold’].”
The other party was so angry she didn’t speak for two seconds, voice line a bit similar to her own raised a pitch: “Don’t play smart with me! Whether you earn money or not I can see at a glance.”
“Don’t even know what bewitching soup your grandma fed you back then, made you so obsessed with silver that you ignore everything else.”
“I’m leaving you some face, do you understand your current work is already seriously affecting your overall development…”
Qiao Ling clamped the phone between her shoulder and ear, picked up tweezers, pinched the soft silver into the irregular shape on the design drawing, “Mom, don’t be in such a rush to marry me off so early, okay…”
“You can’t think just because you married well, you think picking up some random guy outside is a good man.”
“What do you mean I married well? Even if I married well, that’s because back then I had a stable job, all aspects better than other girls, your dad only then…”
At this moment, a couple making rings near the window suddenly raised their hands to call her: “Hello! Can you come over and take a look at this!”
Qiao Ling immediately put down what was in her hands and walked over, brushing off the person on the phone in a few words: “Not talking anymore, I’m busy here, will listen to your stories next time.”
While tucking away her phone, she walked over asking: “What’s wrong, let me take a look…”
Basically, couples who come to the shop are here to make rings.
This couple seemed to have a bit of friction when they came, finally calmed down a little while making things, but now, don’t know what step went wrong, the two seemed to be firing each other up again.
The girl held the silver strip hammered by the boy and showed it to Qiao Ling: “Boss, look, he hammered the silver so flat, once circled up it’s already three sizes bigger than my finger circumference, how can this be done now!”
She glared at her boyfriend: “I already told you to hammer it lightly, hammer it lightly, you just don’t take it seriously!”
The boy also looked innocent: “How would I know the force on my first time doing this? Can you not be so aggressive, why bring guns and cannons [夹枪带炮, figuratively meaning to speak aggressively or with hidden attacks]?”
“Your first time? Didn’t you say you did this before with your ex-girlfriend?” The girl brought up old accounts again.
The boy laughed in anger, feeling she was being unreasonable.
Qiao Ling held the silver strip and looked at the couple who seemed about to quarrel, her shoulders shrinking in fright, blinking her eyes.
“You two, don’t be anxious, this can be fixed.”
Her voice wasn’t very loud, but because it was soft and cottony, it carried a natural pleasant magic, making people calm down as they listened.
The two looked at her.
Qiao Ling showed a small smile: “Silver is a very soft thing, very malleable, even if it deforms it won’t break.”
“Just like feelings, though sometimes there will be friction, bumps, as long as you still like each other, the essence won’t change.”
“The silver you two made with your hearts will protect your love.”
Her eyes turned, telling a small lie: “The couples who came to the shop to make rings already… quite a few have gotten married!”
The girl was obviously taken in by this kind of love story, “Really?”
The boy saw his girlfriend had calmed down, so he also didn’t pick a fight, holding her shoulder: “Listen, she already said it can be fixed, just trouble her to help us fix it, it’s fine, okay baby…”
Qiao Ling looked at the couple who were at each other’s throats one second and hugging sweetly the next, silently turning around, taking the silver strip hammered into a sheet to repair again.
“……”
For the sake of “the gods”’ love, putting in a bit more effort could count as accumulating virtue.
She returned to the workbench to rework the ring the boy had hammered too thin, at this moment, the phone in her pocket vibrated again.
Zizi——
Zizizi——
Originally she wanted to ignore it, but thinking about how not answering her mom’s call would be ten thousand times more serious than perfunctorily answering, Qiao Ling had no choice but to connect it again, “I’m working right now…”
“Didn’t mom already tell you not to hang up my call casually? I wasn’t finished talking just now.”
Qiao Ling held up the silver ring, examining it from all angles, frowning slightly, thinking how to repair it best.
“Ling Ling, mom never asked you for anything since you were little, just wanted you to go smoothly, you say, whatever you do, the family can help you, but you insist on choosing a path where no one in the family can help you…”
She hammered the silver ring while dealing with her mother’s nagging, at the same time two more customers in the shop were calling her: “Boss! Come help us, we don’t know how to do it anymore!”
“Hello! We need help over here too.”
“Hello!”
That couple urged: “That, is our ring fixed yet?”
Voices responding from all directions rang almost simultaneously, Qiao Ling looked up, suddenly feeling dizzy and not knowing what to be busy with first.
Anxiousness and irritation rose up in her heart, she felt a bit flustered, “Uh, wait a moment, please wait…”
She didn’t have time to hang up the phone, directly tossed the phone onto the table, and went first to solve the customers’ problems who were calling her.
As soon as Qiao Ling walked over, that couple noticed she had left their ring on the table and hadn’t dealt with it yet, so they were the first to make a request: “Hey wait, can you help us finish adjusting it first? We’re still planning to go eat afterward…”
She looked at them in confusion and apologized: “Please wait a moment, please wait, I’ll answer the other customers’ questions first…”
“Boss, come quick! We messed up this silver.” Other customers were calling.
“Dong dong dong…” Other tables’ customers were still diligently hammering their own silver.
“Dang dang dang…”
The small shop was instantly thrown into chaos, all kinds of noisy sounds rang out at the same time, until in the end, no one could hear any specific sound clearly anymore.
Just then, a table closest to the door—a high school girl wearing a school uniform—suddenly stood up and came over to pull her apron, “Um, jiejie [姐姐, elder sister; polite way to address a young woman]…”
Qiao Ling thought she also had a technical issue and immediately felt her head grow big, “Sorry, can you wait for me at your seat for a moment? I’ll come over in a bit.”
“No.” The high school girl pointed toward the entrance: “Just now, I kept hearing, it seems like someone was knocking on the door.”
“They’ve been knocking for a long time.”
Qiao Ling was stunned, following her gaze to look toward the main door.
Behind her, a group of customers were gathered together like hungry baby birds in a nest waiting for her help, the noise in a total mess, a pile of things waiting to be handled. She impatiently rubbed her hair and ran toward the door first.
The shop was already full; if more people came, customers would have to wait for a seat.
Behind her was a chaotic mess. When Qiao Ling ran over, she heard that series of heavy and frequent knocking sounds, obviously carrying temper.
She thought to herself: It’s over, because I didn’t hear, I must have made the customer angry, aiya what should I do now…
Qiao Ling rushed to the entrance and hurriedly opened the main door—
From eye level directly facing her came into view a loose-fitting men’s sleeveless T-shirt, printed with splashed ink, with several distressed tear designs in the middle. From the fringed gaps of the rips, faintly visible were some abdominal muscle lines.
She slowly lifted her gaze bit by bit, lifted it for quite a while, before meeting the man’s gloomy gaze.
When her gaze collided with his, Qiao Ling was startled by his fierce, as if about to open his mouth and eat someone, expression.
Inside the shop was noisy all around, while the entrance area fell into a deadlock.
In those few seconds of brain lag, Qiao Ling stood still, sizing up the person in front of her.
This was a… man too handsome to be real.
Qiao Ling’s gaze drifted a little, sweeping over his right arm from the deltoid muscle to the biceps, all the way nearly extending to the forearm, covered in black tattoos, and she was scared again into a shiver.
Densely packed and extremely fierce flower-arm patterns, paired with the man’s lean and strong muscles, gave people a very strong visual impact.
On top there was a very beautiful python, staring straight at her with a sinister gaze.
Qiao Ling swallowed her throat, her eyelashes trembled.
“May I… ask… do you have business…?”
Chen Kuang wore a sleeveless T-shirt and loose long pants, barefoot in casual slippers, clearly dressed in a homewear style yet giving off the cool aura of a street-photographed fashion guy.
One hand was in his pocket, the other hand still held in a fist knocking on the door, frozen in midair.
He already looked at people with his chin slightly raised, and Qiao Ling was short, so with this posture, Chen Kuang’s overlooking gaze appeared even fiercer.
Chen Kuang’s gaze swept down from her face, finally settling on her apron, his brows moving slightly.
“This place of yours is a shop?”
Qiao Ling was almost scared out of her wits from being stared at by him, both hands gripping the rubber-headed hammer, tightening her hold.
What’s he doing, what’s he doing??
Is he here to collect protection fee?
No, never heard there’s a big brother in this office building…
He knocked on the door for so long without any response, yet once the door opened, he turned around and asked such a question.
Chen Kuang’s attitude became even colder, the fist he had just pulled back now pressing against the shop’s door frame, his body leaning down.
His aura was fierce, like a wave of black heat pressing down.
At Qiao Ling’s height, she could only see half of his arm tattoo. In her mind, she had already drafted several versions of a pleading essay to ask big brother for a few days’ grace on the protection fee.
She looked up again, meeting Chen Kuang’s chilly gaze.
He furrowed his brows, “What’s your situation?”
Qiao Ling’s heart trembled, her legs going weak from fright.
She was already busy today, and now she even ran into a black–society, sudden grievance welled up in her anxiety, and her nose let out a crying tone.
Big brother.
Please give me a few more days!