Volume 1 Beginning of Summer Chapter 2 Umbrella
Xiao Chen took a step back, putting some distance between herself and Jiang You. Her tone was defensive, "It doesn't matter."
"Yeah?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just curious," Jiang You picked up the cup on the stage, turned around, and filled the water at the water dispenser. His tone was gentle, not hurried or slow, "I thought you were Liang Hao's girlfriend, it seems I was wrong."
Jiang You filled four cups with water one by one.
Xiao Chen relaxed. "I saw this on Weibo. Netizens asked me to..."
"Netizen? Are you a big V?" Jiang You turned his head and glanced at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen smiled and said, "Not really, there are only tens of thousands of fans. By the way, have you donated?"
"Donation?"
"It was donated to Liang's parents. They rushed here from Xinlong countryside. Liang Hao is their only son. How do they live in the future?" Xiao Chen sighed, with sadness on her face. "It was not easy to cultivate a top student, and he was the top scorer in the college entrance examination in their city. He is also very capable. He started to lead the project in the second year of his work, but in the end..." Xiao Chen shook her head and took out her mobile phone. "Shall I send you the link?"
"Okay." Jiang You took out his cell phone from his pocket.
After Jiang You added Xiao Chen as a friend on WeChat, Xiao Chen sent him the link.
"Crowdfunding, legal aid..." Jiang You clicked on the link and whispered the key words on the page, "Want to sue the company?"
"Xiaozha Technology only agreed to compensate for six months' salary, which is not enough for his parents' future life."
Jiang You closed the page.
"Hey..." Xiao Chen saw Jiang You open the kitchen door, walk out of the kitchen with a cup in one hand, and walk in front of Liang's father and mother.
Liang's father and mother took the cup he handed over and looked up at him.
Jiang You sat down in front of them. "In March, Liang Hao paid me three months' rent, and I still have one month's deposit here." He took out an envelope from his trouser pocket and stuffed it into Liang's father's hand. "You can live here peacefully. When I met Xiao Zou in the next room this morning, I told him to move into my other room."
"Haozi, Hao..." His lips trembled, "Haozi, he won't commit suicide..."
Liang's mother shed tears, "During the Chinese New Year, he promised me that he would bring a wife back next year..."
Xiao Chen came out with two more glasses of water. She put the water on the table, took out a pack of tissues from her bag, and pulled out one.
Liang's mother took the tissue and wiped her tears. "He, he has always been good-tempered since he was a child. He never gets angry with anyone..."
"Before the New Year, he knew I was alone and treated me to a meal of dumplings," Jiang You stood up. "I have something to do in the store, so I'll go back first. My cell phone number is on the back of the envelope. If you need anything, please contact me."
"well… …"
"By the way, have you seen an umbrella? It's dark blue. I left it here when I came here last time."
Liang's father and mother looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Can I look on the balcony?"
Father Liang nodded subconsciously.
"I'll just take a look. If I can't find it, forget it," Jiang You said as he opened the door and walked into Liang Hao's room.
The room was simply furnished with a bed, a computer desk, and a cabinet, with two open suitcases on the floor.
There is a black and white photo of Liang Hao on the computer desk, and behind the photo frame is an urn.
Jiang You stepped over a pile of debris on the ground and walked onto the balcony.
His eyes quickly swept across the balcony floor and clothesline.
He saw a strand of hair tangled in a coat hanger.
"Did you find it?"
Jiang You turned around and saw Xiao Chen standing at the door looking at him with a strange look in his eyes.
"Found it." He walked to the left side and took out a dark blue folding umbrella from under the flower stand. Then, he pushed aside a shirt hanging on the clothes hanger in front of him and walked back to the balcony door. He looked down at Xiao Chen and asked, "What's the matter?"
Xiao Chen looked at the umbrella in his hand and said, "It's okay."
Jiang You walked past her, left the room, and nodded to Liang's father and mother, "Then I'll leave first."
Jiang You walked out of the house.
The door slammed shut.
Xiao Chen also walked out of the room, her eyes fell on the envelope in Liang's father's hand.
"Xiao Jiang is also a good person..." Father Liang looked at the phone number on the back of the envelope, "Haozi's incident, I wonder if it will affect his ability to rent out the house in the future."
Jiang You walked downstairs.
The clouds briefly blocked the sunlight. A gust of wind blew, and the branches and leaves swayed, rustling.
Jiang You took out his mobile phone, opened the ride-hailing app and called a car while walking towards the gate of the community.
When approaching the gate of the community, a girl with long black hair and wearing a shirt and suspenders skirt walked into the community.
The skirt is below the knee and falls on the graceful calves.
The cell phone rang and Jiang You looked away. He pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear.
“Okay, I’m almost at the gate of the community, yes, the east gate.
They passed each other.
It seemed that a few strands of long hair were brushing across his shoulders.
The girl stopped, turned around, and followed the dark blue folding umbrella in Jiang You's hand.
She saw a yellow taxi parked at the entrance of the community.
Jiang You opened the door and got in the back seat. After the door closed, the taxi drove forward and quickly disappeared from the girl's sight.
The girl clenched the wooden sword in her hand.
More than twenty minutes later, the taxi stopped at the entrance of Cultural Street.
Jiang You paid on the app and got out of the car .
The streets are a bit deserted on weekdays.
Jiang You walked slowly. The insect house was located at the corner of the street, with a separate yard. He stepped into the yard and walked forward about ten meters. He took out the key and opened the door.
"We opened late today."
A lazy female voice came from behind Jiang You.
Jiang You turned around and saw a woman wearing a grey V-neck dress with her hair loosely tied behind her head walking into the yard.
She is Chen Nan, the owner of a coffee shop on Wenhua Street.
Seeing that it was her, Jiang You smiled, "Sister Nan, you look so beautiful today. Is that a new dress you bought?"
"No, I bought it several years ago. This style has become popular again this year, so I took it out and tried it on."
"The clothes I bought last year don't fit into my body anymore. I'm just gaining belly fat."
Chen Nan walked up to Jiang You and looked him up and down. "You should start working out. You were so skinny when you first got here. Girls nowadays all like six-pack abs."
"Yes, yes, we need to lose weight." Jiang You echoed.
Chen Nan turned her head and fanned herself with her hands. "It's so hot, shall I get you an iced latte?"
"Put a bag of candy here. I'll get it later. I went to the police station to give a statement this morning."
"What have you done wrong?"
"What could I have done wrong? The employee who committed suicide by jumping off a building at Xiaozha Company was my tenant."
"That programmer? I saw it forwarded on my WeChat Moments."
Jiang You nodded. "His parents rushed over from home. He is the only son. How pitiful."
"That's right. These Internet high-tech companies sound good, but they are all capitalists who make money through hard work. I will never let my daughter marry a programmer in the future. It's too hard. Your house will be hard to rent in the future."
"What's so bad about renting it? Just lower the price. Who will remember it in two or three years?"
“That’s true.”
After Chen Nan and Jiang You chatted for a few words, they left.
Jiang You walked into the store, turned on the light, and placed his umbrella on the long table. He looked around, bent down, and pulled out a plastic bag from the shelf. He walked back to the table, opened the umbrella, and pulled out a strand of long black hair from the umbrella handle.
He put the hair into a plastic bag and sealed it. Then he put away his umbrella, walked to the counter, and threw both the umbrella and the hair into the drawer.
He sat down on the soft chair behind the counter, leaning back heavily, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.
