Chapter 444: Chapter 444: Another female classmate
Feng Yiping looked back and saw a girl standing by the sidewalk. In the dim light of the streetlamp and the changing coloured light of the congee shop sign, he couldn't see clearly, but it vaguely looked like one of the dishwashing girls he had just glanced at.
'You are?' he asked, stopping.
'Is it really you?' The girl took a few steps forward, "Don't you recognise me?'
The voice sounded a little familiar, so Feng Yiping leaned over to have a closer look, before tentatively calling out a name, "Wen Hong?'
'It's me, you don't recognise me, do you!' Wen Hong took off her slightly yellowed chef's hat and brushed a few strands of hair off her forehead with the back of her hand, smiling a little wearily.
It wasn't that he didn't recognise her, it was just that he was a little afraid to.
The Wen Hong in front of her was really worlds apart from the same tablemate from junior high school.
She was thinner than before, with a strong smell of cooking fumes, and she was not wearing as nice clothes as she had worn at school. Underneath the yellow, crumpled shirt, the sweat stains on the collar were clearly visible. Outside the shirt, she was wearing a thin, black cardigan sweater that looked cheap. Outside that was an apron, and on her feet were black rain boots. The whole person looked old and sloppy.
No matter how you look at it, she doesn't look like a twenty-year-old girl.
What's important is not this. At first glance, she not only looks tired, but there is also deep fatigue in her eyes. This kind of fatigue is not just the result of physical exhaustion, but also of mental exhaustion. It makes people feel sad just by looking at her.
At this moment, when she met Feng Yiping, a male classmate with whom she was not close when they were in school, she looked a little more lively.
'You work here?' At this moment, Feng Yiping didn't know what to say for a while.
'Yes,' Wen Hong said, pointing to the girls who were washing dishes in a large plastic basin and occasionally looking up at them. "Dishwasher, what about you, come and eat?'
'Feng Yiping, hurry up and find a good seat," Zheng Jiayi and Jin Lingjin said, but they didn't hear an answer. They looked back and saw that he was nowhere to be seen.
'Over there,' Jin Ling pointed to the way they had come.
'Are you okay?' Zheng Jiayi took Jin Ling's hand and walked quickly back.
'Your friend is coming over,' Wen Hong looked and saw the two girls who had been with Feng Yiping all the way walking towards them.
'Wait for me a second,' Feng Yiping told her, and ran over to meet the two of them, deliberately walking a few steps towards the restaurant they had chosen. At this time, these two well-dressed girls would be better off not meeting Wen Hong.
'What's wrong? An acquaintance?' Zheng Jiayi poked her head around to take a look in that direction, but Wen Hong had put her hat back on and retreated into the shadows.
'Yes, I'm sorry Jiayi, I may not be able to accompany you,'
'Something wrong?' Jin Ling glanced over there and asked.
'Well, you guys go back first, don't wait for me,'
'I'll leave the car for you,' Jin Ling didn't ask for a reason.
'No, I'll take a taxi,' it was so late, it would be better not to let the two girls take a taxi.
'You can have this car, I'll tell them to bring the costal car to pick us up, and Xiaofan will go back with us,' Jin Ling said imperiously.
'Okay then,' it was true that it was inconvenient to take a taxi at this time.
'You go and eat, see you tomorrow,' Feng Yiping finished his instructions and turned to Wen Hong.
Zheng Jiayi wanted to follow, but was stopped by Jin Ling. 'You're acting so mysteriously, and you're a girl. Do you know what's going on, Jin?'
'Don't worry, he can handle anything. Just think about what to eat later,'
'Oh,' Zheng Jiayi was a little upset, and kept looking back as she walked, "are you sure it's nothing?'
'Sorry, you go ahead and do what you need to do, I don't want to keep you from your work, and I haven't finished yet," Wen Hong said, rubbing her hands together.
'It's fine, it's no problem for me. We haven't seen each other for so many years, and now we've run into each other here, it's quite rare. By the way, what time do you get off work?'
'Usually after two,'
'Can you take leave?' Feng Yiping asked.
'I can't take leave,'
While they were talking, someone was calling from the dishwashing area, 'Xia Qiu, what are you doing? Don't you know that the kitchen is waiting anxiously for the dishes? You're still chatting here, do you not want to work anymore?'
A young woman with a stern face wearing a uniform walked over from the back door, with a name tag pinned to her chest and a notebook in her hand. It looked like she was talking to Wen Hong.
'Xia Qiu?'
'That's my name,' Wen Hong said, and ran past Feng Yiping, 'I'm sorry, manager.'
'Does being sorry help? It's the busiest time of the year, and without the bowls you're telling the customers to eat with their hands. Go back there quickly! I'm telling you, if this happens again, you're fired, and you'll also lose 100 yuan from this month's bonus.'
Wen Hong didn't dare to argue, so she nodded dully, glanced at Feng Yiping, and then bowed her head and walked over to the dishwashers, who were now like quails.
The manager even glanced at Feng Yiping a few times. Fortunately, he didn't scold him as well. When he walked past him, he naturally didn't look happy and even snorted.
'Manager, I'm sorry, Xia Qiu and I are old classmates. We haven't seen each other for many years, so we just had a chat a while ago. Can you please be flexible and not deduct my bonus?'
'So what if you're classmates? It's working hours, and it doesn't matter if your family is here. Besides, sir, if you're not going to eat, don't disrupt our staff's work,'
'Sorry, manager,' Wen Hong didn't want her classmate to be scolded, so she immediately came over to apologize, "My classmate will leave soon.'
'Yiping, you go ahead and get back to work. I'm fine here. Also, I don't start work until 10 o'clock noon. Can you leave your phone number?" It seemed that Wen Hong really did have something to say to him.
Leave? Feng Yiping was not going to leave just yet.
The manager's criticisms of Wen Hong, apart from being a bit harsh and the deduction of bonuses a bit arbitrary, were actually defensible. However, after Feng Yiping's explanation, she was still so unfeeling, which really annoyed Feng Yiping, who was a good-natured person. Don't be so heartless just because you're dark-skinned.
He took 300 yuan out of his wallet and said, 'Night snack, takeaway.' He glanced at the lightbox sign outside the door, which read, 'Roast goose, grilled oysters, butter-baked shrimp, beef offal hotpot, pig's blood soup, and whatever else you like. And, my classmate dragged me here to spend money, so you don't need to deduct her bonus, right?'
The manager looked at the money in Feng Yiping's hand and didn't take it. Since she was Xia Qiu's classmate, she was just a country bumpkin from a remote area, and she was still pretending to be rich in front of me?
At that moment, the driver Xiaofan arrived in time and handed Feng Yiping the car keys, 'Mr Feng, the car keys. Do you really not need me to drive later?'
'No, I just ordered some late-night snacks. See if you need anything else and take it back to those at home.'
The female manager saw the BMW logo on the car key and immediately smiled and took the money from Feng Yiping's hand. 'Oh, so that's what happened? I'm sorry Xia Qiu, I wrongly accused you. It's fine, you can chat with your classmates for a while, the bonus won't be deducted.'
She took Xiaofan in through the front door, and she probably couldn't avoid asking about Feng Yiping's identity.
Although the manager said she could chat for a while, Wen Hong still felt compelled to head towards the back door. 'Sorry to have wasted your time. I'll pay you back later. Actually, you really don't need to. Our manager is just a bit of a showboat,'
'That's fine. I needed to buy some anyway. How long have you worked here?'
Wen Hong continued to sit on the small stool washing the dishes, and Feng Yiping squatted down beside her without any hesitation, regardless of the girls and women next to them who kept looking at them.
'I've only just started working here a few days ago,' Wen Hong said with a wry smile.
'Do you work from 10am to 2pm every day?'
'I get two hours off in the afternoon,'
so that's almost twelve hours a day. "How much is the salary?" Feng Yiping thought about it for a moment before asking.
'My fixed salary is 800,' Wen Hong whispered.
'And the bonus? 500?'
An older woman next to them laughed and chimed in, 'She gets the lowest wage, 300 yuan,'
'Why?'
'I don't have any documents,' Wen Hong said, her eyes a little red.
Working 12 hours a day, she would probably not earn even 1,000 yuan a month after a month of hard work.
Feng Yiping pulled her up, 'Come, let's quit. I'll find you a job,'
'No, Yiping, the restaurant provides food and accommodation,' Wen Hong tried to pull away Feng Yiping's hand, but she saw the suds on her hands and was afraid of staining his clothes, so she pulled back.
'Don't worry, the job I find for you also provides food and accommodation. Where do you live? Show me now,' Feng Yiping said without giving her a chance to refuse, 'By the way, do you want to yell back all the things your manager usually yells at you?'