430 First Day of Work
The mall in the dark was like a slumbering beast, the entrance was its maw. However, Han Fei had no choice but to walk into the belly of the beast. The mall had 3 main entrances, A, B and C as well as a worker-only entrance. After dark, entrance A and B would be closed, and only entrance C and the worker-only entrance could be used.
Currently Han Fei was at Entrance C and it was the only entrance with lights. “Hello, I’m new here…” Once Han Fei entered the door, he could hear arguments. Two people in guard uniform stood beside the wall while a middle-aged man wearing the mall’s worker id tag was scolding them.
“We use money to hire you to be guards, not to come play games on your phones! Thanks to you people, we have lost our merchandise again! If I catch you slacking one more time, I’ll show you the door!” The middle-aged man didn’t hold back at all.
“But we went on patrol, there was no one on the 3rd floor at the time…”
“Excuses, I am sure you barely paid attention during the patrol!”
“Fine, but can you stop pointing your fingers at us?” The other guard countered with a rising voice.
“Did that offend you? As a guard, you don’t even know that the surveillance cameras are down, is that how you conduct yourselves as guards?” The middle-aged man looked around 50 plus but he had a big temper.
“But the cameras were fine, it just so happened to break down that day, what do you expect us to do?”
“Yes, things are that coincidental! It has to break down when the merchandise gets lost!” The middle-aged man poked out his round belly. “I can’t believe you two think that I will buy that bullshit. At the end of the day, it’s your choice, if you want to stay then do your job, if you don’t, then get lost! You really think you’re hired here to enjoy life?”
“You…” One of the guards wanted to grab at the middle-aged man’s collar but was stopped by the other guard.
“What, you want to hit me? There are cameras everywhere! Let me see if they will ‘coincidentally’ break down this time.” The middle-aged man challenged, the fats on his face jiggled. As the fight was about to start, the mediating guard saw Han Fei. He dragged the arm of the other guard and headed into the mall with their flashlights.
The middle-aged man was not done. He roared a few more times and then turned to Han Fei. “This is your first day of work and you’re late for a whole hour.” The man gave Han Fei a side eye. His brows frowned as if smelling the mold on Han Fei. “I am willing to give you this chance because I pity you, you need money to help your mother, but if this is your working attitude, you won’t get further pity from me.”
Even though Han Fei was not really the original owner of the rental, being called pitiful did annoy Han Fei. This was a job, not charity work. Despite his personal feelings, Han Fei showed the emotions the man wanted to see, apology, self-blame, fear of losing the job and respect to the middle-aged man. Without saying a word, Han Fei already gave the man the answer he wanted. Only the weak would get satisfaction from bullying those weaker than them. The middle-aged man was stern, he critiqued Han Fei harshly. Han Fei was like a child without any social experience, he agreed with everything the middle-aged man said.
The man was very satisfied with Han Fei’s performance. He didn’t realize that when he turned around, Han Fei’s expression had completely changed. If he was not inside the memory world, Han Fei would show the man the meaning of business killer.
“Come this way.” The middle-aged man led Han Fei through the safety corridor and took the stairs to the corner of the 2nd floor. “This is where you’ll change into uniform and exchange shifts. Your senior will come get you and show you around. Learn as quickly as you can.” The middle-aged man got a call and then walked away.
Han Fei stayed in the staff breakroom for about 5 minutes before hurried footsteps came from the corridor. A woman around 30 walked in. “Zhu Wei gave you a hard time, didn’t he?” The woman saw Han Fei and she could already tell what happened. “The man has a bad temper, don’t take what he said to heart.”
“It’s fine.” Han Fei noticed the woman wasn’t wearing a guard uniform but a uniform of the mall staff. Han Fei was surprised, he thought he was here to be a guard, “How shall I call you?”
“My name is Huang Li, or oriole. It’s a beautiful songbird, my family once had one.” The woman was the first kind person Han Fei met in the memory world. “So you can call me Sister Huang.” She opened the dresser and handed Han Fei a set of clothes, a ring of keys and a worker id, “The mall’s first floor sells makeup and luxury goods, 2nd to 4th floor are clothes, 5th floor are for toys and electronics as well as a cinema, 6th floor is the restaurants and eateries, the basement 1st floor is where you can find the market as well as a small bookstore and café. Just remember the general locations of the shops. Also do not wander about at night, especially don’t go to the 3rd floor.”
“Why?”
“The 3rd floor is for ladies’ outfits but recently merchandise has been vandalized or stolen. The leader suspects that a thief has hidden somewhere on the 3rd floor during the day and only came out to do these things at night.” Huang Li had Han Fei change into the uniform. “But those have nothing to do with us, we only need to finish our job.”
“Sister Huang, what is our job?” Han Fei really didn’t know.
“Zhu Wei didn’t tell you? My god, he didn’t tell you anything?” Huang Li stopped to look at Han Fei. “Then you better think this over. You might want to quit now.”
“Is this some kind of dangerous job?”
“It’s not really dangerous, it’s just complicated, and you’ll be working the night shift…” Huang Li said with some embarrassment, “Actually the boss of the mall started his business with a secondhand store, so he kept one running 24 hours at the mall near Entrance C. Our job is to man the cashier, take stock of inventory, logistics and so on. The shop also has a few donation boxes. We will gather old clothes and toys from the nearby residents and donate them to the children in the mountains.”
“Well, it sounds like the boss is a good person.”
“He is indeed a philanthropist and he has been blessed with good karma. He is now rich.” Huang Li smiled. “Plus doing good things will make you feel good.” Huang Li led Han Fei to an inconspicuous corner near Entrance C, this was probably the most secluded store at the entire mall. Huang Li opened the door with the key and turned the sign to open. “Today, we’ll work together but after you’re familiar with everything, you’ll be working the nightshift alone.”
Huang Li introduced the various sections and the location of all the products. Then she taught Han Fei how to use the cash register. With his photographic memory, Han Fei learned everything within half an hour.
“You’re such a quick learner! Have you done something similar before?” Huang Li was quite clumsy when she first started the job.
“I’ve worked part time at a convenience store before.”
“With your efficiency, your boss must have been so sad after you left.”
“Well, he was quite sad alright.”
Walking through the shelves, Huang Li and Han Fei reached the back of the shop. Under a row of second hand clocks, Han Fei noticed something covered underneath a black cloth. “What’s this?”
“I don’t know either. Based on the inventory list, it’s called an altar.” Huang Li pulled back the cloth and Han Fei’s eyes widened immediately. Underneath the wall of ticking clocks, there was a black altar and the small doors of the altar were sealed shut with nails. “We sell something like this too? Are there really customers interested in something like this?”
“Yes. Actually, I’ve seen some before.” Huang Li explained, “But strangely enough, those customers will only come at night, you might run into them when you work your shift.”
