Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Ring

Chen Zhi had undergone subtle changes after New Year's Eve.

For example, different modal particles appeared at the end of messages, he did not hang up the phone actively, and he came to Feng Ran's apartment more frequently.

Feng Ran gave him a key, and there began to be traces in the house that did not belong to him.

The refrigerated iced black tea, the cleaned trash can, and the clothes neatly placed in the dryer were all constant reminders that the other owner of this room had visited not long ago.

The cross-border behavior that was unique to Chen Zhi strengthened his memory again and again, eroded him, and possessed him. It was like drowning in a pink river of love, getting deeper and deeper, but he was stunned and did not resist. The reason had nothing to do with love, but it was just difficult to control himself.

One day in early spring, an old customer came to the store and pulled dozens of cars over. They worked overtime until the early morning, and several masters simply slept on the floor with their clothes on, but the spring rain was as dense as needles and the spring breeze was bitingly cold. Chen Zhi was probably still waiting. Feng Ran resisted his fatigue and drove home.

At the sharp turn of the lower ring road, the high beam headlights hit a bush, and a man dressed in black appeared. The headlights flashed, and he raised his hand to cover his eyes.

Feng Ran saw in the rearview mirror that he raised his arms high, ran two steps towards his car, pulled over and stepped on the brakes to stop.

"What's the matter?" He leaned his head out and asked.

"The motorcycle, there's a problem." It was a young man with short hair, covered in mud, his hair and face were wet, and rain was still dripping down. Feng Ran looked at him cautiously, he clenched his hands, very embarrassed, "My phone is out of battery."

"Your home is quite far from here." When the car drove onto the highway, the man reported a place name, Feng Ran looked at the navigation and said.

They dragged the huge iron block out of the mud and stuffed it into the trunk. They were all exhausted and panting, and no one spoke. It was quiet for too long, and Feng Ran was quite uncomfortable, so he spoke.

The people around him still didn't say anything. He glanced at them, and the man said "um". He

is really shy.

After a tiring day, Feng Ran was very sleepy after driving late at night. He called Chen Zhi and told him to go to bed early. He turned on the rock music in the car and finally felt a little more energetic.

"Don't mind the noise, do you?"

Feng Ran wanted to say a few words, just to refresh himself. But the man remained silent. He was slightly upset and regretted taking this job.

After sending him to the destination, he helped to look at the motorcycle and said some solutions. The other party wanted to add his contact information, but he didn't give it to him. He was busy getting in the car to return, but the car wouldn't start.

"Fuck." He cursed in his seat and punched the steering wheel. The sleepiness disappeared and he felt that he was unlucky today.

He didn't have any tools in his hand. He did everything he could, but it was still pitch black. He was afraid that there was something wrong with the circuit. It would be difficult to repair it in the middle of the night. In a few hours, it would be dawn. He got out of the car and knocked on the wooden door that had just been closed.

The man opened the door, his eyes and tone were equally dead: "It's you."

Feng Ran said: "It's unfortunate, my car broke down, is it convenient for me to stay here for a while? It's too cold in the car, I'll leave at daybreak."

The man opened the door wider, and he flashed in.

As soon as he entered the door, it was pitch black inside, without any light, but there was a faint strange fragrance in the air, like a metallic smell, it was hard to tell what it was, Feng Ran said: "Brother, can you turn on the light?"

"Your left hand side." The voice was already five meters away from him, Feng Ran didn't know how he teleported there.

He touched a switch, and when the light came on, he was distracted for a moment. He didn't enter the door just now, so he didn't know there was a different world here. The room was pitifully narrow, but it was filled with all kinds of silver jewelry, and it was not an exaggeration to describe it as overwhelming. Feng Ran never knew that jewelry could be made in so many ways. The silver occupied almost all the space, and all the open space combined, at most only three people could stand at the same time.

The man sat behind a large wooden table where instruments were placed, wearing a special glass eye mask, and said, "It's a bit messy, sit anywhere. The water is here, the bed is over there, and the bathroom is out this door, go ahead."

Feng Ran casually picked up a chain made of silver rings and said, "Did you make them?" These various silver rings were not plain rings, each of them was extremely beautifully designed, and it was obvious that they had been carefully crafted. The craftsmanship was also very good, and there was no flaw to be found, but they were casually strung together, and Feng Ran felt sorry for them.

"Yeah."

"Are you... the boss here? Do you make silver jewelry? Do you make everything?"

"I guess."

"How long have you been doing this?" "

A few months."

"Not long then. You have such good skills, you must have learned for many years."

He put down the chain and picked up an exquisite silver hairpin, which had a gorgeous pattern on it, which seemed to be an allusion to some ancient figure. The tail was inlaid with enamel and broken diamonds. The design was gorgeous, but not eye-catching, and very modern, with a wonderful balance between the ancient and modern styles. He said while praising, "How much is this thing?"

The man gave a number, and Feng Ran immediately put it down, looking at him as if he were a robber.

The man said calmly, "I still have work to do, you can do whatever you want."

Feng Ran looked around, and after being curious enough, an idea came to his mind.

"How much does a ring like that cost?"

"It depends on the demand."

"Just tell me the price, I'm just asking, nothing else."

"Hundreds, tens, we have them. We also have small ones."

"Then this is really not expensive, I thought everything here was priced at a robbed standard."

The man glanced at him and lowered his head silently.

Feng Ran thought for a while and said, "Then, can I order two rings from you? Um... both men's."

"Yes."

"As for the data and design drawings, I'll give them to you in a few days?"

"Yes."

"Okay! Then let's settle it."

Feng Ran's bad mood disappeared. This trip was not in vain. He finally got a result after thinking about the return gift for several days. He could

n't afford something too expensive, and it had to be meaningful and unique, so it had to be a handmade ring.

At daybreak, he asked someone to tow the car back to fix it. At noon, he received a call from Shen Zhi, asking him what time he returned home last night.

He thought that he should not confess the gift, so he said that he gave it to a passerby and left.

Shen Zhi was still thinking about it at night. He held his mobile phone and looked at it for a long time,

but he couldn't figure out what it was. Feng Ran said: "Nothing happened. He was just a taciturn man who didn't say a word in the car. The brake pad of the motorcycle had a problem, which was easy to solve, but I didn't fix it for him and just left it in his yard." "

Why?"

"I think his attitude is very average," Feng Ran said nonsense. He really didn't intend to help, but in order to get him to give a discount, he helped him fix it. "If you bother others to do things, you have to have the attitude of bothering others." Shen

Zhi smiled and said: "What other attitude do you want from others? To repay you with your body?"

Feng Ran put his arm around his waist and said: "I just want you to repay me with your body, nothing else."

The model Feng Ran wanted to make was a design work of Shen Zhi a few years ago.

He asked Chen Zhi at that time how he came to design a pair of couple rings. Chen Zhi said that in order to make a living, he had to take many such orders, but too many of them were rejected by the client. The one that was left was the one he liked very much and on which he had spent a lot of effort. He hoped to bring it back if there was a chance in the future.

Feng Ran secretly copied the drawings from his computer, took them to the store and showed them to the boss.

The boss took one look and said, "Six thousand."

Feng Ran gritted his teeth and said, "A little cheaper."

"No bargaining."

"I can also repair your motorcycle for you."

The boss looked up at him and said, "Isn't it repaired?"

"What if there is a problem someday? You can't guarantee that there will be no problem in the future. Besides, the motorcycle needs regular maintenance even if it is fine."

"I ride a bicycle, the motorcycle is not mine."

After a long confrontation, Feng Ran squeezed out a word through his teeth: "Okay."

The boss said again: "Pay the deposit here, WeChat or Alipay."

"Wait a minute! That's too fast. Don't you want to discuss the details?"

"The picture is for men's and women's rings. You want two men's styles. The picture needs to be modified. After the modification, the plain rings will come out and we will give you confirmation."

"Then pay the deposit after the modification."

"..."

"I won't run away. I won't turn them into ring chains."

Ever since Feng Ran knew that the ring chain belonged to those customers who paid the deposit but changed their minds because of a breakup or something, he felt very unlucky and always asked the boss to take it away. He didn't want to touch the funeral object of love again.

When he asked the boss why he didn't melt it, he didn't say anything. He realized that even if it was a funeral object, he probably put in a lot of sweat, time and energy, and he didn't lack that little money. After all, he just couldn't bear to part with it.

"There is no such rule." The boss said softly.

"Rules are dead, but people are alive. Don't worry, I can rescue you from the highway in the middle of the night when it's raining. Doesn't that prove how reliable I am? Tell me honestly how many hours you waited that day. Is there anyone as kind as me?"

"...Okay."

After a lot of persuasion, the boss finally gave in. Feng Ran is a moonlighter, with no financial management concept and spends money lavishly. The money he earns every month is not much. After paying the rent, eating and drinking, it's all gone.

He took a look at the balance in his account, there was still 4,600 left, and he secretly decided that it would be okay if he lived frugally this month.

However, something went wrong with Shen Zhi. Feng Ran was asked to book a restaurant, and he always made appointments at a spicy hot pot restaurant. He finally noticed it.

Feng Ran felt guilty and said, "I transferred part of it to Qingqing."

Shen Zhi was prepared: "I asked, and her living expenses are paid by your mother."

"I subsidized her, and she wanted to buy new clothes and so on. I'm sorry to tell you."

Shen Zhi was skeptical.

It was a weekend when Feng Ran picked up the goods. There were many people in the silver shop. It seemed that a couple who were preparing to get married brought a few friends to the store to discuss making a set of gold jewelry. The store was pitifully small to begin with, and it was crowded at the moment. Feng Ran couldn't even imagine how crowded it was.

He leaned against the wooden door and was bored. He took out a cigarette and lit it, listening to the boss stumbling and talking to the customer inside. He spoke softly and said little, but the customer was impatient, and there was tension in his words. He couldn't help but find it very interesting, and laughed outside while biting the cigarette.

The store was quiet for a few seconds, and the door creaked open. The boss and he looked at each other in silence.

Feng Ran put down his cigarette and said, "You are busy, I am not in a hurry."

The boss said, "I am in a hurry. There are some details..."

"You are in a hurry to make money from me. Your customer is still inside, so be careful when you speak." Feng Ran lowered his voice, "Be careful that the order you have in hand will be lost just because of two words."

The boss hesitated for a while, as if he was shocked by his words, and said, "Wait for me, there are tea and chairs at the door, take them yourself."

Feng Ran agreed.

Soon, the price was discussed in the room. The boss insisted that 20% off was the limit. The customer was very difficult to deal with, and he used both soft and hard tactics. It was obvious that he came prepared. The boss's voice was silent for a long time. The customer said that he had investigated many stores and no boss did business like this. If it continued like this, it would go bankrupt sooner or later.

The air was quiet for a while, and the boss said that if it really didn't work, he would find someone else.

The customer slammed the table and said what kind of attitude you have.

Feng Ran pushed open the door and leaned on it, looking at the people who surrounded the boss, and said, "That's enough."

Several people turned around and stared at him aggressively.

"Where are you from?"

"Don't worry about where I'm from, I've been listening to you for a long time." Feng Ran put down the cigarette, and white smoke diffused from his mouth and fingertips, lingering in front of the calm eyes, "You are not here to buy things, you are in the same industry, and you are here to cause trouble, right? The one on the left, you have a camera on your collar, right? I saw you a long time ago, sneaking around. It's been such a long time, have you taken all the pictures?"

The boss stood up.

"No, who are you? I'm buying my stuff, why do you mind my business?"

"That's enough, if you have the guts, just do it at the price he said, I've already laid out the options for you, why are you picking?"

"I can see that you, you guys are in the same group. Boss He, I have nothing to say about your business. But I tell you, you'd better be careful in the future. I've been in this business for many years, and I have many brothers. It only takes a word to mess up your store!"

Feng Ran got angry when he heard this and said, "Who are you trying to scare, I--"

The boss said, "Okay."

Feng Ran calmed down a little. He shouldn't have gotten involved in this matter, but he instinctively wanted to help the boss.

The boss said again, "What are your demands?"

Feng Ran thought to himself, can't I see that? It's clear that he doesn't want you to continue doing business.

Sure enough, the leader said, "We have rules in our market here. When you come from outside, you have to adapt to the local customs and abide by the rules."

The boss said, "What rules?"

"Did you see that? All the shops here have to say hello to her. And..."

Feng Ran said, "Okay, okay, why are you talking nonsense to them? I've seen this kind of exclusionary method ten years ago. It's too outdated. Get out of here if you have nothing else to do. I have things to get."

The boss said, "What else do you want? The photos have been taken."

Feng Ran sneered and said, "Yeah, what can you get by taking photos? It's better to become a disciple and learn from others instead of envying their skills. What's the point of doing these things?"

He looked around among the people and noticed that their vague gazes were all on one person. He realized that he was the leader, stared at him and said, "I'm talking about you."

The atmosphere was instantly explosive.