The Guardian of the Fanwai Pet Shop
At ten o'clock in the evening, Mu You and Lin Xue flew back to City K at the end of the day.
After leaving the airport, the two took a taxi home. When they arrived at the place where Lin Xue and Xiaoya rented a house, Lin Xue got off the car and went back to the community, while Mu You urged the master to continue driving to the pet shop.
It was already 10:30 in the evening, and Mu You thought the store should have closed long ago.
It turned out that the lights in the pet store were still on when they got closer.
Xiaoya stood at the door, wearing an apron and holding a broom in her hand. While cleaning up, she looked out from time to time.
This image stunned Mu You, almost making him think that he traveled back to two years ago...
"boss!"
Xiaoya immediately noticed Mu You walking out of the darkness, and trotted out with apprehension and anticipation on his face: "How's the approval going?"
"Need to say? Of course it was done smoothly."
Mu You smiled, and took out two documents from his bag.
"Is it really done?" Xiaoya hurriedly took the file and looked at it.
The magic creature breeding and sales certificate obtained before has several official seals, in addition to a list of creatures that can be sold, and other documents that she can't understand.
"Yes, the animals and venues have been approved, and we can open anytime later." Mu You said.
"Very good!"
After reading it, Xiaoya showed a relieved smile: "Boss, when shall we open the shop?"
When will the store open...
Mu You pondered for a moment. In fact, he had already considered this issue almost on the plane when he came here.
"Saturday."
Mu You made a final decision and said, "This Saturday, we will officially open for business."
"Saturday... so fast..."
Xiaoya murmured. She had been looking forward to the opening before, but now that she heard that it was going to open, she suddenly became a little nervous again.
The pet store has gone from bad to worse in the past two years. It was even on the verge of bankruptcy a while ago and had to be forced to transform.
After the transformation, it prospered for a while, but soon sank again due to the impact of the launch of the Fool's Game, and this time it sank even more thoroughly.
The store had no business for a whole month. In the four years since she joined the pet store, she has never experienced such a long period of closure.
When there was no customer for a week before, Xiaoya was inexplicably flustered, very afraid that one day Muyou would suddenly tell her: The world is changing too fast, the store will not continue to open, and then give her a severance pay to let her go home…
If this scene really happened, Xiaoya really didn't know what to do.
She has been in this store for four years, and she is used to everything here, and she is used to the life of taking care of the animals every day, and sending them to the right owners one by one.
She has no other skills. She has never graduated from high school, and she only knows how to deal with animals. Ending all this suddenly will definitely make her extremely confused.
Fortunately, Mu You has never shown the intention of giving up, and has been silently collecting magical animals, preparing for another transformation.
And this time, Xiaoya also saw the effect. The video posted a few days ago, with its terrifying views and popularity, as well as countless people's comments urging the opening, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a fake.
In the future, pet shops should prosper again, right?
"If only uncles and aunts were still here..."
Xiaoya involuntarily sighed with emotion in a low voice. But just after he finished speaking, he felt a little regretful, and hurriedly raised his head to look carefully at Mu You, only to find that Mu You was fiddling with his mobile phone, and he didn't seem to hear her words, so he was relieved.
"It's getting late, go to bed early today, and start tomorrow, but there are many things to be busy." Mu You patted her on the shoulder and walked into the pet shop.
"Um."
Xiaoya also went back to the store to put down her things, greeted Mu You, and took her bag home.
Lying on the bed at night, Xiaoya was still imagining what the new store would look like in the future, and watched many times of chocobo racing videos because of insomnia.
Looking at the messages expressing support and expectations in the video, I gradually gained confidence in my heart.
The next morning, Xiaoya got up early with dark circles under her eyes. After tidying up, she went out before six o'clock and rode to the cemetery in the northern suburbs.
There is the burial place of Mu You's parents.
Four years ago, as a girl who dropped out of school at the age of 17 and came to work in the city, Xiaoya knew nothing and hit a wall everywhere. Fortunately, when he was about to have nowhere to go, he ran into Mu You's parents.
Uncles and aunts took her in, gave her a job, and let her live in the store temporarily, and this was the most difficult time. After that, she stayed in the pet shop like this.
So for her, the pet store is not only a place to work and make money, but also a place like home, and her uncle and aunt were the only people in the city who were kind to her at that time.
After the two elders passed away, she and Mu You would often take turns visiting the cemetery, so their tombs were always cleaner than those around them.
Before arriving at the cemetery, Xiaoya went to the flower shop next to her to buy a bunch of flowers, the most common yellow and white chrysanthemums, and brought them into the cemetery.
But what she didn't expect was that when she walked along the stone road to her destination, she found that someone was already in front of the cemetery.
"Boss?" Xiaoya called out in surprise.
Today is not Ching Ming Festival, nor is it the anniversary of the death of Mu You's parents.
"coming."
Mu You was not surprised by Xiaoya's arrival, he waved his hand and signaled her to come over.
"Boss, you also..."
Xiaoya walked closer, only to find that the area around the cemetery had been cleaned up, except for a bottle of white wine that was almost empty at Muyou's feet.
She knew that Mu You didn't drink alcohol, and this wine must have been prepared for his uncle who loved baijiu the most during his lifetime.
Obviously Mu You has been here for a long time, and she has said everything she should do and want to say.
"Yeah, you have to tell them about such a big thing." Mu You picked up the wine bottle and poured the remaining wine in front of the tombstone.
Xiaoya also walked over and placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone.
After staring at the words on the tombstone for a while, she suddenly looked at Mu You and said with a smile, "Boss, at that time, it's a good thing you didn't give up."
Mu You naturally knew what Xiaoya meant by 'at that time'.
Two years ago, when he learned of his parents' death, Mu You was still in other provinces and had a decent job.
It was of course a huge blow to him to learn the bad news suddenly.
In a daze, he rushed home from thousands of miles to attend the funeral, deal with the handover of various affairs and personnel arrangements after his parents passed away...
At that time, there were two choices before him: inherit the pet shop left by his parents; or give up the pet shop, rent and sell the shop, and then continue his work and life as usual.
Rationally speaking, he should of course give up the pet store. In this way, while continuing his high-paying job, he can also regularly have a good rental income as a backup, which allows him to live a very nourishing life in the first-tier cities.
But emotionally, he doesn’t want to close the pet shop, because this is a shop that his parents have devoted many years of hard work to run.
If the pet store is abandoned, what is lost is not only a property, but also a sustenance.
It is impossible to do both. If he wants to inherit the pet store, it means that he has to give up his job and everything he worked so hard in another city at that time, and he has no financial security since then.
Besides, at that time, when he returned to the pet shop after finishing everything, it was already three days later.
Combining the time when the store was closed after the parent's accident, it has been a whole week, and the store has been left unattended.
In a week, most of the animals should die, right? Even if you want to continue to operate, it is basically impossible...
However, when Mu You dragged his exhausted body back to the pet shop that night, what he saw was not as deserted as he imagined.
The lights are on in the pet store, and there is a person in the store.
All the animals are well taken care of, and the shop is also cleaned.
At that time, Xiaoya, who was still childish, just like last night, wearing an apron, holding a broom, standing at the door, forced a smile at him, and called Brother Mu, welcome him home .
Mu You noticed that the girl was only strong and calm, she was holding the broom hand, even trembling slightly because of fear.
Xiaoya looked at him with such an expectant yet extremely apprehensive expression, as if waiting for a verdict, waiting for his verdict on the pet shop.
At that time, Mu You suddenly lost his confusion.
It turned out that the store left by his parents was not only his own sustenance, but also the sustenance of others.
So the first thing he said after entering the store was: "Don't worry, I won't let the pet store close."
Mu You has already forgotten the expression on Xiaoya's face at that time, but in short, it was the two of them, with their hands, who laboriously and clumsily supported the store.
Although with the development of the epidemic, the situation of the store took a turn for the worse, suffered from economic pressure, and gradually gave up some things, but the two never gave up. They persisted until recently, and finally ushered in a turning point...
"If you give up at that time, you will probably lose a lot of things." Mu You sighed secretly.
Without the pet shop, he would not meet Lu Yao, and would not have the USB flash drive, and would not enter the game in advance.
He will probably be like an ordinary person, until the public beta, before he can get the qualification for the game, become a member of the crowd of players, and disappear from everyone.
Where might it be like now, and even have the ability to change the direction of the future world...
"Boss, don't worry! Our store will definitely be booming!" Xiaoya encouraged him with a smile.
"of course."
Mu You also smiled, and then looked at the tombstone, as if saying to his parents, but also to himself: "The pet store will continue to operate. It may not become the largest and most famous store, but it will definitely be. live forever..."
Then neither of them spoke, and stood in front of the tomb, each silent for a while.
"Let's go."
After a while, Mu You got up suddenly, packed up the wine bottle, and prepared to go home.
"Ah... just left? No more cleaning?" Xiaoya was at a loss, she seemed to have done nothing but put a bouquet of flowers when she came.
"I'm done with all the work, what are you still doing to sweep? I have the energy to go back to the store, I have a lot of things to do today, let's go." Mu Youdang walked out on the stone road first.
"Oh." Xiaoya quickly followed.
It wasn't until she was about to leave the cemetery that she turned her head, looked in the direction of the tombstone, raised her fist, and made a cheering gesture.
(end of this chapter)