Following the white bone hand handing the paper in the bathroom, Mei Chinese New Year's Eve witnessed a series of supernatural events such as a pencil that suddenly floated at home, a broken water cup that slipped off the table, and witnessed the inexplicable disappearance of handwriting on the whiteboard at work; The children in the cram school began to spread rumors that there was always a young lady with no feet floating behind Teacher Mei, wearing a green dress and combing two buns, as if everyone had seen it.

Some parents heard the rumors from their children and called the principal one after another. In order to avoid the loss of students, the personnel department immediately interviewed Mei on Chinese New Year's Eve, issued the month's expenses in advance, and refunded half a month's salary when he joined the company, and asked Teacher Mei to find another high job, anyway, it was just a teaching assistant.

Mei was fired on Chinese New Year's Eve with such a confused face.

After graduating, he failed to get the teacher exam, and worked odd jobs here and there for several months before he was recommended by a senior to go to an educational institution to work as a teaching assistant. As a salted fish, the frequency of social activities on Chinese New Year's Eve tends to be close to zero, and occasionally dinner with old classmates is also in a low-consumption place like a food stall; He doesn't like sneakers, nor does he like to play with keyboards, except for food, transportation, rent, and telephone bills, most of the rest of the money is put into the second-hand bookstore outside the east gate of the exhibition hall, and exchanged for miscellaneous old books.

According to his roommate Zhou Wei, this person wasted all the time he should have spent clubbing all night in the pile of old papers, and lived the life of an ascetic.

However, May Chinese New Year's Eve now has to endure the pain and say goodbye to his old pile of papers. He has been employed for less than two years, the unemployment insurance has not yet taken effect, and he has to rely on a passbook to live before he finds a serious job; But seeing that half a year's rent is about to expire, the job is gone, and the rent money saved before is still partial, and some money is still left for living expenses after unemployment, and the salary just received is not enough at all. Mei was embarrassed to call home on Chinese New Year's Eve to ask for money, so she had to think about it, first mortgage her books back to the second-hand bookstore, and then redeem them when she found a job again.

He spent a morning of hard work, carefully counted the old books in the bookcase from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, left the ones that he was really reluctant to do, and then stacked them into two trolley boxes and got on the bus bound for the exhibition hall.

There is a bridge outside the east gate of the exhibition hall, and the south end of the bridge is a street of flowers, birds, fish, insects, and antiques, which the locals call the Nanjin Bridge Market, and the second-hand bookstores are crowded between the large and small shops along the street. When the weather has not yet cooled down, this street is full of stalls, which is very lively; However, it was already November weather, and the sky began to fall snowflakes again, and the street was deserted with only Mei Chinese New Year's Eve walking alone. There is a light sign hanging on the lintel of the bookstore, and the white paper board is written with ink pen and two large characters of "pillow leisure", and the antique black ground green lacquer plaque next door to the cultural relics store next door does not look very abrupt.

He pushed open the glass door covered with ice flowers with difficulty, and saw a fat and strong raccoon cat lying on the cash register with its belly turned out, and a cloth bell of Taobao nineteen yuan nine hung on its furry neck. It lazily spread out its four paws, a dark markings ran from the top of its head to the tip of its tail, and its big hairy tail drooped down from the countertop, swaying and shaking, giving people the urge to pounce on it and bury its fur and suck wildly. Hearing the sound, the gold leaf bead-like cat's eyes opened the slit, and when she saw that it was Mei Chinese New Year's Eve entering the door, the tanuki yawned with her teeth, turned over and squatted, raised her hind paws, kicked the bell three times, and then quickly scratched her chin and let out a sweet and delicate whine.

The bell sounded, and a young woman wearing a bamboo-blue robe hurriedly walked out of the bookshelf. She was holding a book in her hand and a magnifying glass, which was Yu Xianzhen, the proprietress of a second-hand bookstore. When the cat saw the proprietress coming, the two hind paws stepped on alternately, and the body jumped vigorously, landing on Yu Xianzhen's shoulders steadily, coiling himself into a fur scarf.

This tanuki flower is seven or eight catties by eyesight, but the figure of the proprietress did not shake a little, as if it fell on her shoulder, it was really just a fluffy scarf, not a strong adult "pastoral tiger".

Mei often frequented second-hand bookstores on Chinese New Year's Eve, but she had never seen this cat before; But he just had a vague feeling that this cat was very familiar to him, both in terms of appearance and in terms of clingy and protective posture.

Seeing that it was Mei's Chinese New Year's Eve, Yu Xianzhen's eyes crossed a trace of surprise, and then this surprise was relieved, and greeted with a smile: "Teacher Mei came to see the book again?" ”

It's not here to see books, it's to sell books. Mei Chinese New Year's Eve was a little embarrassed, and she explained her intention very formally. Unexpectedly, Yu Xianzhen agreed very happily, and supported Mao to go up to the second floor to call the boss down. Tanuki meowed twice, looking very reluctant, but she still twisted her hairy buttocks and jumped up to the second floor lightly.

Mei Chinese New Year's Eve carried a large and a small trolley suitcase, and was amazed: "This cat is really obedient." ”

Yu Xianzhen put the book and magnifying glass on the cash register, and replied: "When there are outsiders, they pretend to be obedient, and when there are no outsiders, they are skinny, jumping up and down, like a bandit." ”

Even though Sister Yu looked disgusted, she could still hear from her words that she had a very good relationship with the cat. Mei Chinese New Year's Eve has always liked cats, but with his economic level, there is no condition to let the furry child eat well and live well, plus he still shares a house with others, so he has always maintained the state of cloud sucking cats. This time, when I saw Sister Yu raising such a smooth cat, I could say that I was envious, and I regretted why I didn't touch it just now: "What's its name?" ”

"Name?" The proprietress had just pulled out the account book from under the counter, dusted off the ashes on it, and then laughed narrowly, "His name is Rabbit Cub." ”

The young bookstore owner was sorting out the shirt collar turned out of the sweater, taking small square steps, step by step downstairs, hearing the three words "rabbit cub" was a stumbling side, almost planted down the stairs, fortunately Mei Chinese New Year's Eve was pestering the proprietress to inquire about the preparations needed to raise a cat, and neither of them saw his gaffe.

The husband of the proprietress is surnamed Qi, called Qi Yanzhi, and he follows his name, and there is quite an old elegance between his gestures, like a well-preserved old book, which lasts for a long time. Boss Qi has always done things authentically, whether he picks up people or treats things, he is always open-minded and unhurried; So although he looked tender, he already had the taste of an old shopkeeper, and he had a very good reputation on this street.

Because there were no other customers in the store at this time, Qi Yanzhi moved out a camphor wood box, counted out a book in front of Mei Chinese New Year's Eve, reported the title, and stacked it into the box. And every time he quoted the title of a book, the proprietress took a pen and wrote down the corresponding price in the account book, and the two cooperated very tacitly.

After counting the books, Qi Yanzhi glanced at the list of numbers, estimated a number in his heart, locked the lid of the sandalwood box, and then handed the key to Mei Chinese New Year's Eve: "Cash or transfer?" ”

"Let's transfer it." Mei Chinese New Year's Eve took the key, looking at her already empty trolley case, her heart was quite complicated. These books have been saved by him from his freshman year to the present - for a few of them, he also nibbled on steamed buns for five cents in the cafeteria for a month.

And almost at the same time as I put the key chain in the wallet, the phone rang with the arrival prompt. He opened the app in surprise and confirmed that the mechanical sweet prompt sound was not a system failure, and he was immediately more and more surprised.

Obviously, that number was much higher than his psychological expectations.

Boss Qi carried his mobile phone, yawned coyly, and began to rub the boss's side intentionally or unintentionally: "Make up a whole number to keep accounts, they are all old acquaintances, so you won't be counted as interest, and you will be given a total of six installments, and the repayment will start in March next year, and you will take the book back when the balance is paid...... What do you think? ”

What do you think?

It's like deliberately alleviating poverty.

When Mei came out of the second-hand bookstore on Chinese New Year's Eve, the snow was already a little lighter, but the sky was getting darker and darker, and the dark clouds were piled up together, as if they were about to fall down at any time, and the road was covered with a layer of snow, and it creaked when stepping on it. Fortunately, before he came out, Sister Yu helped him put a small trolley box into the inside of the big box, and it was not too difficult to walk.

As he walked to the bus stop, he planned for his future: he would work odd jobs and submit his resume to a few smaller educational institutions in the city...... When the Chinese New Year comes, he won't go back to his hometown first, the round-trip fare is at least more than 300, and he has to bring gifts when he goes back, and he doesn't want his family to know that he is unemployed......

…… Why did you walk for so long and still haven't reached the platform?

Suddenly stopped, Mei Chinese New Year's Eve raised her head and looked around vigilantly.

He was still on Nanjinqiao Street, and the snow was falling a little heavily, and the shops on both sides were filled with black fog.

At this time, in the second-hand bookstore, Yu Xianzhen sat behind the cash register, holding a magnifying glass, and continued to read her unfinished book. Seeing that there were no customers, Boss Qi simply styled his ears and tail, loosened the collar of his white shirt, exposed the outline of his collarbone, and sat down against the proprietress's knees. The big hairy tail shook tentatively twice, and after judging that the proprietress was looking at the book intently, and after noticing his small movements, Qi Yanzhi secretly stretched his tail into the skirt and hooked the calf under the pleated skirt greasy and crookedly.

Yu Xianzhen turned the page without changing his face, slid down with his left hand, and grabbed the back collar of Qi Yanzhi's fate.

The big humanoid cat that was caught in the bag did not hesitate at all, and simply tried to arch its whole head into the arms of the proprietress; The proprietress still looked at the page, but her left hand let go of his collar and rubbed the big cat's fine, soft hair......

Syllable.

Boss Qi, who was immersed in Gentle Township, was thrown to the ground with a confused face, raised his face aggrievedly, and looked at the proprietress who suddenly stood up.

Yu Xianzhen subconsciously twisted the beads on his wrist and said in a deep voice: "Something happened outside." ”

The big humanoid cat could only get up in resignation and turn its ears to listen to the movement outside.

Then, a soft cold light flashed, Qi Yanzhi was like a snowman who had been exposed to the sun for a long time, and his clothes collapsed into a paralysis, and a round cat head arched out under the hem of his clothes, baring his snow-white fangs, and roaring like a wicked cat: "Is this kid a special meow??? How can you spread any thing! ”

said that he was about to jump out with his hind paws, but he was fished into the arms of the proprietress in mid-air, and the big cat's golden round eyes looked at Yu Xianzhen in puzzlement, and the hairy paws hugged the proprietress very honestly.

"We don't have to toss around." The proprietress sneered, "He's here." ”