Mingzhu carried her luggage and hid in the duty room outside the gate of the sewage plant by the lake in the rain. What makes Mingzhu feel strange is that there is no one on duty in the two-square-meter pavilion.
She rubbed her neat and tidy student¡¯s head with her hands and stood wet in front of the glass window, staring helplessly at the heavy rain falling in the sky. When she thought about her job, food and accommodation, she couldn't help but feel sad.
"God, what should I do? Bodhisattva, please help me!" At a loss, she took out the jade pendant engraved with Guanyin Bodhisattva from her collar and put it on her neck. She put her palms together and whispered. Eyes pleaded.
"My child, this is a gift from my aunt in the temple. Take it with you, the Bodhisattva will keep you safe!" This is the peace jade that Mingzhu's mother gave to her before she left. At this time, Mingzhu, who had no relatives and no other options, could only place her hope in the Buddha, but the only answer to her was the deafening thunder and the sound of rain.
Gradually, this annoying heavy rain finally turned from heavy to light and entered a state of drizzle. Give Heizi a call now! Otherwise, what will you do today? Thinking of this, she looked around for a public phone. I saw a sign with the words "Public Telephone" at the door of a book kiosk under a century-old banyan tree across the road. Mingzhu picked up her luggage on the ground, quickly walked out of the duty booth, walked through the lane with many vehicles, and walked towards the public phone booth opposite.
"Hello! How much does it cost per minute to make a long-distance call within the province?"
"Let's start together!" The proprietress who was reading the newspaper in the book booth glanced at her and responded slowly and absently.
After hearing this, Mingzhu reached into the pouch next to her bag and took out a dollar. What a disaster! How can you live with only this change? She cried secretly.
"Oops, my wallet was stolen, and now I only have this one dollar left. Auntie, can you please make it cheaper?" She looked at the landlady with a look in her eyes.
"No, there are many liars these days. Who knows whether what you say is true or false?" The landlady glanced at her coldly and said expressionlessly.
¡°Forget it, let¡¯s stop fighting and find yourself a job as soon as possible! Thinking of this, she silently turned around and left the pavilion, heading towards the ferry.
When Mingzhu arrived at the ferry, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon, and there was still drizzle in the sky, but Mingzhu's stomach was so hungry that it kept ringing "Gulu! Gulu!" She came to a snack bar next to the entrance of Lujiang Hotel at the ferry terminal. She looked at the white steamed buns and swallowed her saliva from hunger. From time to time she looked at the one-dollar note in her hand, and from time to time she looked at the steamed bun at the door of the shop in a daze.
At this moment, a Mercedes-Benz stopped outside the hotel, and a round head poked out of the car. The man squinted his eyes and looked at Mingzhu for a while, then greeted her: "Hey, Miss, are you looking for a job?" Mingzhu looked at him but didn't respond. The rich young man with a crew cut stepped out of the car without saying a word, came to her side, and asked seductively:
"I need a secretary. The monthly salary is very high, five thousand a month. Are you willing?" The man smugly stretched out his chubby palm and waved his five clumsy fingers in front of Mingzhu.
"Five thousand? But I have no work experience!" Mingzhu opened her eyes in surprise and asked curiously.
"You don't have to have experience, you can learn from experience! Let's do this, I'll pay you five thousand yuan first, and you come with me!" the man said with a leer.
No reward for no merit! How could pie fall from the sky? Mingzhu thought for a moment and shook her head.
"You look like a new student, earning 10,000 yuan a month!"
"I'm sorry! Please invite someone else to go!" She finally realized that the man was not recruiting a secretary at all. The further she moved to the side, the more stubbornly the man clung to her.
"Go away! Or I'll call the police!" Mingzhu looked angrily, her almond-shaped eyes widening. She ignored the strange man and evadedly approached the security office outside the hotel door. The man had no choice but to leave angrily, and Mingzhu returned to the snack bar with peace of mind, spent 20 cents on a steamed bun, and wolfed it down in a few licks.
"Little sister, please give me some money to buy snacks!" An old lady in ragged clothes, with a dish-colored face and unkempt hair appeared in front of Mingzhu. She was hunched over, holding an aluminum bowl with a few coins in her left hand, and stretched out her right hand in front of Mingzhu to beg.
¡°Mother-in-law, my money has been stolen and I have no money to give you!¡± She said with confusion on her face.
"Okay, okay, my little granddaughter is almost starving!" the mother-in-law said to Mingzhu, pointing to the little girl playing on the floor not far away. Without saying a word, Mingzhu put all the eighty cents she had just found into the old man's aluminum bowl.
"That's it, how stingy!" the old man said and left.
At this time, two young women dressed in gorgeous clothes walked towards them. Their noses were filled with fragrant powder, and their pearls were so smoked that they couldn't help but cover their noses with their hands and sneezed several times.
¡°My little sister is very beautiful, have you just come to Xiamen?¡± One of them, a tall woman with long wavy hair and a pair of single phoenix eyes, asked her coquettishly. Mingzhu didn't answer. The other was a petite woman with short hair that reached her ears, a round complexion, and a baby-like face. She remained silent and just looked at her with pity.
"It seems like you don't have money to eat. You only have one dollar dangling in your hand. The guest just now is a kid from a rich family that many people can't even try to get. This opportunity has come to you. , but you gave up so easily, what a pity!" The long-haired woman sighed with regret. Mingzhu gave her a disgusted look and left the place.