Reborn Man (4)
Translated by Jev Kaez
Edited by Jev Kaez
Ji Rui folded the advertisement, put it in the pocket of his clothes, and put everything like the snakeskin bag and gloves in a discarded cardboard box in the bathroom.
He climbed the stairs to the sixth floor, washed his hands, reheated the food, and called to the woman in the house: “Mom, come out for dinner, I have heated seaweed soup.”
A pale woman walked out of the room, coughing as she walked.
Ji Rui poured water for her: “don’t forget to take medicine after eating.”
“Okay.” Ji Rui’s mother looked at her son´s burnt face: “The weather is so hot these days, it’s too hot to go out.”
“No, didn’t I tell you I was doing part-time job before? and I’m not very tired. I’m not too young, so I can share some for the family.”
Ji Rui’s father went early, leaving his mother alone to raise him. Now her mother was ill and dismissed by the company. The family had no other source of income besides savings.
The medical expenses alone cost thousands a month, and he must share more.
But it took him a little longer to collect the waste than he thought. If he continued like this, in order to take better care of his mother, he might not be able to go to school well.
After all, the tuition was very expensive, and taking classes and participating in activities would take up almost a day of his time, and there was no way to make extra money.
He ate a lot of food and was silent for a while, then said, “If it really doesn’t work, I’ll take a leave of absence and not go to university.”
“Cough cough…” The woman coughed violently a few times, but her gentle voice was a little more severe: “Don’t say such messy words, you must read the book, you don’t have to think about money matters, The family can still afford it.”
Ji Rui didn’t say anything, and his mother insisted on washing her bowl.
When entering the bedroom to change clothes, he subconsciously touched the pocket of his previous clothes, and he took out the advertisement paper in the pocket.
He dialed the number advertised on his phone, which was only used for texting and answering calls.
The ad was handwritten, using a pen, and the writing looked beautiful, so even if it was likely a liar, he still had a fluke and wanted to give it a try.
“Hello, are you Mr. Lu? I’m a resident of the same community, first… My surname is Ji, I saw the recruitment notice you posted on the bulletin board, and I wanted to ask, have you hired someone??”
Ji Rui licked hid chapped lips, a little salty, and he waited anxiously for an answer.
A young male voice came from the other end of the phone: “Not yet, I just posted the notice today.”
In fact, Lu Yi didn’t expect to be able to recruit someone immediately, but the takeaways around here were really not very tasty. If he had the time to toss with what he ate, he might as well earn more money.
There was another problem, the service of ordering take-out was definitely not as hygienic as the home, unless he called for service of a high-end restaurant.
In general, high-end restaurants may not necessarily deliver even if you have money. Even if they were willing to deliver, the money for a meal was enough for him to invite people to cook every day.
It was just a temporary thought; he didn’t expect someone to ask about the situation so quickly. And listening to the voice, the candidate was still very young.
Ji Rui became emotional. He looked at the time on the wall. Their family always had dinner earlier. Because his mother was not in good health, she went to bed very early, and even had meals at five o’clock.
“Then Mr. Lu, have you had dinner?”
Lu Yi replied, “No.”
He lived a very regular life these days. As usual, at this point, he will choose to go downstairs to eat a bowl of rice rolls.
Having lived here for more than ten days, he had tried almost all the clean-looking food stalls nearby. In the end, he still felt that he couldn’t accept this kind of life, so he came up with the idea of asking someone to cook.
If he had the conditions, he still wanted to be as nice to himself as possible.
In the Lu family, they invited more than one cook to cook. The Lu family paid those cooks a lot of money, and he didn’t discuss the cost. Lu Yi didn’t know the market price very well. This was what he could provide stably at the moment, and he felt that it should be more than reasonable. After all, he was still very picky about food.
Ji Rui swallowed subconsciously, and then asked nervously, “If you don’t mind, I can come and cook for you right now. Can you try my craft?”
Although it may not be successful, he was full of hope, like a little rabbit in his heart, thumping and jumping wildly.
Lu Yi was stunned: “But I didn’t prepare the ingredients here.”
Ji Rui said, “It’s alright, there is a vegetable market nearby. You order some dishes, and I’ll buy them for you…”
The earlier he got the job, the more money he could make.
Lu Yi always felt that the other party was in a hurry, but this point was really similar. He ordered a few dishes at random: “You can buy it yourself.”
“The dish´s money?”
“You bring the food, and I will pay you.”
This sounded like a liar, Ji Rui walked up the stairs with fresh green vegetables, lean meat, and a live bream.
He opened the door and was greeted by a young man who looked very young, probably similar to him, but his aura gave him a very mature feeling.
“You’re the one who applied? Ji Rui, right?”
Ji Rui nodded: “It’s me, may I ask, is it just a person´s share?”
“Yes, just me.”
Both felt that the other party was not reliable, Lu Yi thought that the other party was too young, and Ji Rui was afraid that he would be cheated of money.
After thinking about it, he still asked Lu Yi before he started to do it: “That, the money…”
It was okay to work for nothing, but he was afraid that he would be defrauded of extra money. Although it was a good thing to be able to get this job, the person in front of him, who was so young, always made him feel like he was being played.
Lu Yi didn’t know that the person in front of him was thinking about it so much, but he was very happy: “How much money, I’ll give it to you.”
Ji Rui breathed a sigh of relief: “53 yuan and 2 cents, you can give me 53.”
If he erased the odds, the other party should have a good impression of him.
“Did you bring your mobile phone? I’ll transfer it to you.”
A blush appeared on Ji Rui’s cheeks. Of course, he was not shy, but felt a little humiliated. At this age, many students in the class have new mobile phones, but he was the only one who still used the old-fashioned mobile phones in order to save money.
“I didn’t transfer money, just cash.”
Lu Yi took a piece of fifty and gave him a piece of five yuan, and he had no other change in his hand.
“You’d better cook first, and call me when you’re done.”
He originally wanted to write something in the study, and after thinking about it, it would be better to move the computer to the living room. It was necessary to guard against others. Although there was nothing valuable in the living room, this place was also rented by him. Losing something big was sure to cause extra trouble.
It took about forty minutes for a meal, and after Ji Rui brought the food and soup, he even cleaned the tableware and chopsticks.
Lu Yi tasted it, and his eyes lit up.
Although it was not particularly delicious, and it was not comparable to those chefs in five-star hotels, the food tasted very familiar, and it did taste good.
“Okay, starting from tomorrow, you come to my house to cook, and each time I give you a week’s worth of vegetables, you can buy it yourself. The salary is the number mentioned above. It will be paid on the 15th of each month, and the salary will be calculated according to the natural month. There are still a few days in this month. Do you want to settle the bill on the 15th of next month, or accumulate it and send it together next time?”
After getting the job, Ji Rui’s eyes were bent into beautiful crescents: “Just settle the bill next month.”
Even if it was just a few days, it was money.
After asking the other party more than ten questions, and after confirming that the other party would not run away in the short term, Lu Yi said, “If this is the case, then sign the contract first, and I will draft the contract.”
The home printer he bought had arrived a few days ago, just in time to try it out.
Hearing the contract, Ji Rui stammered: “Do you still want to draw up a contract for this kind of thing?”
Lu Yi stopped and glanced at him: “Since we have decided to create a labor relationship, of course we need a contract as a constraint. It’s good for me and you.”
Ji Rui stood silently in the living room, looking at the figure of the young man… He was obviously about the same age as him, and for some reason, he felt that the other party seemed to be very powerful.
Ji Rui’s new job was finalized, and he felt that his employer was mysterious.
Obviously very young, but like the elderly, he had a very strong self-control, and his life was also terrifyingly regular. He would be every day on the computer knocking, red and green horizontal lines, it looked like doing stock market charts.
Ji Rui had never traded in stocks, but he knew some old investors. Some were just following the trend, all by luck, while others were researching, and in the end, no research had come out.
Although the employer looked very young, he somehow believed that the other party was not messing around, but a very capable person – if not, how could he be so self-willed and hire him to cook for 5,000 a month.
In order to keep this job, Ji Rui carefully selected recipes every day, and carefully observed Lu Yi’s reactions at the dinner table and picked up a few more dishes.
No owner would dislike a contract worker like this.
Lu Yi was very happy to eat, and Ji Rui was also happy with the money.
In a blink of an eye, about ten days passed. Things came to a turning point. There were guests in Ji Rui’s small dilapidated house. They were all faces that Ji Rui had never seen before, and they looked luxuriously dressed, not like the same passers-by.
Ji Rui wanted to run away, but felt embarrassed.
He looked at his mother, and the look he got was to signal him to be quiet.
Then, he heard those vicious people who looked like debt collectors in the underworld speak.
Ji Rui’s mind flashed a lot of messes until these uninvited guests said, “Miss, you should go back with us.”
Ji Rui’s eyes widened, Miss, he was a boy.
And it was not a TV series. In this day and age, who would call that?
He murmured, but his mother said, “Okay, but I have one condition.”