only time

Somewhere in the imperial capital, there is an artificial river. On one side of the river, there are tall buildings, and on the other side, there is a small courtyard with lush vegetation.

The courtyard is not big, it stands by the river, and there is a room with its back facing the river, facing south, with red brick and ink tile sloping roof; in the northwest corner of the courtyard, there is a tall sycamore tree with luxuriant branches protruding from the courtyard wall, covering most of the courtyard.The small courtyard stands quietly on the edge of high-rise buildings, independent but not obtrusive at all.

On the eighth floor of a certain building, at a certain window, a man named Qiu Rang was overlooking the courtyard.

He often looked at the yard from upstairs, but he never saw the gate of the yard open, nor did he see the lights in the house.He thought that the courtyard was uninhabited, but now, he saw a touch of green in the open space in the southeast corner of the small courtyard.

He was on a business trip for a week, what happened this week?

"Someone lives in the yard?!" He asked his colleague in surprise.

Miyamoto Sho typed in a crackling manner, without moving his face from the computer screen, and replied casually: "I didn't pay attention."

Another colleague, Lin Chuanchuan, leaned over to him and took a look, then shook his head: "I really haven't noticed it. By the way, why are you looking at that yard every day? Is there something that seduces you? Or do you want to buy it?"

Qiu Rang smiled, there are indeed things that enthrall the soul, but he can't talk about it.

One late night half a year ago, he had a car accident at an intersection not far from downstairs.A subway station was being built at that intersection, and the protective fence occupied half of the road, making it a mess, and minor accidents often occurred.That night, the warning light on the fence seemed to be broken, and it was pitch black when a car sped by and knocked him into the air, and the driver fled.The moment he flew into the air, he thought he was going to die, but suddenly he was surrounded by a mass of colorful flames and landed firmly.A five-color bird with the size of one person appeared in the flames. The colorful bird called itself Phoenix.The colorful bird said that since it saved his life, he had to do something for it in return.The arrogant attitude offended him, as if he was begging it to save him.But he is also a person who will repay his kindness, so he endured and agreed.

He asked: Is this difficult or dangerous?

Fenghuang: Is there anything more dangerous than losing your life?

One sentence choked him, and for a moment he couldn't think of words to counter it.Later, at a certain moment, I thought: Is it more tiring to live?

Fenghuang also said that it was not a violation of ethics and laws, so he was relieved.

He asked what it was, since he was going to do it, he should know the situation, right?

A ray of light fell on his left wrist, and the light disappeared. On the inner side of the wrist, there was a half-finger-sized pattern of colorful birds, like a tattoo.

Fenghuang said that there is no need for him to do anything for the time being, and he will naturally know when the time is right.

After Fenghuang finished speaking, he flew away and disappeared into the courtyard with sycamore trees not far away.

When he woke up, he thought he had a dream, but when he raised his hand and saw a clear pattern on his wrist, he realized that something really happened.

He went online and checked newspapers, but he found no reports about the car accident or Phoenix.

He asked colleagues if they had ever seen a colorful phoenix.The colleague laughed and said, who would have seen such a legendary thing?It's possible to dream.

He lost the desire to speak.

It's half a year.In the past six months, Phoenix has not appeared once.

He went to investigate around the yard and found no usable information.

It's as if he really had a dream, and it was the kind of sleepwalking to get a tattoo.

Thinking back to reality, Qiu Rang smiled, "How can I afford it?"

"Then take a closer look, maybe one day it will be dismantled and you won't have to look at it."

He was startled, and quickly asked: "Will it be demolished?"

Lin Chuanchuan smiled, "Isn't the subway building downstairs? There are gossip that a road will be built next to the river to match the subway station, but I don't know which side it will be built on."

Qiu Rang gave a faint "Oh".If it is demolished, the tree will have to be sawed off, and where will the phoenix live?

Lin Chuanchuan turned around and walked back to his work station, picked up his mobile phone and badge, and urged him as he walked out: "Let's go, let's eat and eat. I'm starving to death~~~"

Qiu Rang took another look at the small courtyard, then turned around and knocked on Miyamoto Xiang's table.

"Let's go and eat."

Qiu Rang and four colleagues including Miyamoto Xianglin Chuanchuan came to a restaurant in the shopping mall downstairs of the unit.This restaurant is on the first floor and is called "飱食". There are dry pot, spicy hot pot, grilled fish, rice noodles, stir-fried vegetables, etc. The price is affordable and the taste is good.The key is that their food tastes rather spicy, and the colleagues who ate with Qiu Rang are all spicy lovers, so they naturally became regular customers here.

Under the guidance of the waiter, several people entered the room and sat down, opened the menu and began to discuss what to eat.Among the five people, only Qiu Rang was a man, and the decision-making power was naturally in the hands of the ladies. He only gave some reference suggestions when they couldn't discuss the results and were asked.

While the ladies were discussing what to eat, Qiu Rang glanced around the restaurant, and finally passed through the entire lobby and landed in the direction of the front desk.

In front of the monitor at the cash register stood a man in navy blue cotton overalls.The man looked about 40 years old, with a thin body and sickly white skin. His short hair was neatly arranged to reveal the same fair ears, his thin lips were slightly pursed, his eyelids were drooping, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes, which made him look listless.

When a man is not communicating with others, he is quiet and reticent; when communicating with others, he is kind, courteous, and soft-spoken.He didn't seem to be very familiar with the business, and asked a female employee next to him for advice from time to time.When he was studying, he looked serious, and when he thanked him, he would smile shyly, as if he was a newcomer who just came out of society.

This man appeared in this restaurant half a year ago.In the first half of the year, he either greeted guests at the door or waited in the restaurant. This was the first time Qiu Rang saw him registering the cashier.

Qiu Rang thought: Is this learning cash register?

Qiu Rang was deeply impressed by his first encounter with this man.

They came to eat rice noodles that day, and this man served them.The noodle at this shop is served separately from the soup, which is served in a scalding stone bowl, the noodle in its own bowl, and a pile of ingredients in an egg-sized vessel.The man brought the rice noodles and toppings first, and the soup last.

The table was covered with saucers, and there was no room for soup bowls.Just as several people were hurriedly closing the things on the table, the little boy on the table behind him wanted to leave his seat, climbed down from his seat, failed to stand firmly, and bumped into the man.The man staggered, his arm hit Qiu Rang's shoulder, and he groaned.

Qiu Rang heard him groan and turned his head to realize something had happened.Some of the soup spilled out, and some of it spilled onto the man's hand, which immediately turned red.Qiu Rang quickly took the plate in his hand and put it on the vacated place on the table.

Everyone was concerned and asked him to deal with it quickly.

The man tried his best to suppress his painful expression, but when he opened his mouth, he apologized to them: "Sorry, the soup has spilled."

Because of these words, the man attracted Qiu Rang's attention.

Seeing that the man was burned, the parents of the child at the back table hurriedly took the child to apologize together.The man smiled shyly and repeated: "It's okay", "Just be more careful in the future", speaking softly.

Soon, under the urging of everyone, the man went down to treat his scalded hand, but luckily nothing serious happened.

After that, every time Qiu Rang came to eat, he would observe this man intentionally or unintentionally.The man seems to have never worked in the service industry before. At the beginning, he seemed very clumsy and forgetful. He often heard customers urging him and other waiters' whispered reminders.

A hand suddenly appeared in front of him and shook Qiu Rang's thoughts.

Sho Miyamoto, who was sitting next to him, followed his gaze and asked, "What are you looking at so preoccupied? You're smiling like an idiot."

Hearing Miyamoto Xiang's words, he realized that the corners of his mouth raised at some point.The others also looked at him and at the direction of the front desk, and followed Miyamoto to make fun of him.

He restrained his expression embarrassingly, avoided the question and asked, "Have you decided?"

Everyone replied: "Spicy hot pot."

"it is good."

Everyone said their own requests one by one, and he responded one by one, got up and walked to the front desk.

This store pays before meals.He selected the ingredients, weighed them, and walked up to the man.

The two looked at each other and smiled lightly at each other.

The man buried his head between the screens, his bony fingers kept busy.

"175 yuan." The man raised his head, smiled lightly, and reminded him in a gentle voice: "Please scan this code to pay."

He turned on his phone and started paying.The man is busy paying the next customer again.

After paying, he said to the man, "Okay."

The man said "thank you" softly.

He returned to his seat and told everyone the price.

Someone asked: "Is there a discount?"

Only then did he remember this, and turned back to the cashier.

The man was checking out, looked up and saw him, and smiled at him.

He also smiled, stood aside, watched the man's movements quietly, and waited.

After a while, the man settled the bill for one person and asked him, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Qiu Rang showed the badge in his hand and said, "The 175 one just now, did you help me get a discount?"

Their company is a large listed company, and here is just a branch office, renting a 30-story building with thousands of people.It is no exaggeration to say that almost all the restaurants in this mall rely on their company for food.Therefore, many restaurants offer discounts to their companies, as long as you show your work card, you can get a discount.

The man said, "Excuse me, let me look for it." He lowered his head and rummaged through a box containing tickets.

After finding out the ticket, the man looked at it, blushed in panic, and said apologetically, "Sorry, no discount, I forgot to ask you, I'm really sorry."

"Then can you give me a discount now?"

He doesn't care if there is a discount or not, but others do, especially the person who asked if there is a discount just now is Zhang Qi, who is very fussy.Everyone eats equally or AA, and he doesn't want to have any economic disputes with such a person.

The author has something to say:

I didn't expect it to be updated so soon... Hahahaha hiccup

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