Shuangling: Braving the Rapids

After seeing Qin Laishun off, Erniu took Yue Chuan directly into the car repair shop.

The shop was small, with three iron frames piled with wrenches, jacks and other tools, leaving only a car repair bay. It was more like a parking space than a repair bay, and at that moment a Jinbei van happened to be parked in the shop.

Yue Chuan was looking around when, with a clatter, a square-faced man in blue overalls suddenly emerged from under the car. Before the boy could even see where he'd come from, the man spoke first: "Kid, you're here for a summer job, right? Have you had lunch yet?"

The square-faced man was Erniu's husband, named Jin Haiquan. He was a big, burly man, but he spoke quite politely, at least on the surface, much better than Yuechuan's second cousin.

"I'm not hungry yet, I can eat after I finish my work!" Yue Chuan's stomach was already growling with hunger, but he was too embarrassed to eat before he started working.

Jin Haiquan immediately noticed the boy's embarrassment and said with a smile, "Don't rush to work. Put your luggage in the backyard first, and I'll take you out to eat after I finish tightening these screws."

After saying that, the man haphazardly stuffed a wrench into his work clothes pocket and then crawled into the ditch under the car. The ditch was about two meters long and waist-deep, but only half a meter wide. As the burly man slid down, his buttocks were exposed.

Seeing this comical yet awkward scene, Yue Chuan suppressed his laughter, while Er Niu's face showed a hint of disdain. Realizing she had lost her composure, Er Niu tossed her head with a slanted eye and shouted, "Stop staring! Hurry up and come with me to the backyard!"

Walking further into the shop, a black iron gate immediately came into view. Behind the iron gate was the backyard where Jin Haiquan and his wife lived, and Yue Chuan was sent to the small house at the very back.

Pushing open the creaking, broken door, a sour, musty smell hit him. Yue Chuan pinched his nose and peered inside, only to find the door standing there motionless like a telephone pole.

Is this definitely a living area, or not a storage room? But even if it is a storage room, it shouldn't be this messy. It's not even as clean as Ah Huang's doghouse!

Not to mention the cigarette butts and instant noodle bags scattered all over the floor, the bunk bed in the corner was rusted and crumbling, and piled high with greasy, tattered clothes. Yue Chuan's heart pounded: Would this rickety bed collapse while he was sleeping on it?

The worst part was the old-fashioned three-bladed fan hanging from the roof beam. The fan blades were covered with yellow spots, looking like fly droppings.

Yue Chuan was about to suffer from trypophobia. His throat was churning with acid, and he was wondering where to put his feet when Er Niu came over carrying a tin bucket.

"Here, get some water and tidy up the house properly! That old geezer built this house like a pigsty, it stinks to high heaven..."

The woman, cursing and swearing, retreated three zhang away, leaving Yue Chuangan staring blankly in the courtyard. To be honest, he wanted to grab the bucket and run away, but he hadn't gotten the money yet, and it wasn't his style to just abandon the job and leave now! Besides, if he really turned around and left, who knows what his second cousin would say about him behind his back.

Yue Chuan gritted his teeth, went back to the shop, and retrieved half a bottle of disinfectant. Then, he covered his mouth and nose with a rag and resolutely crawled into the dark, damp room…

Before he knew it, half a day had passed. Apart from grabbing a couple of bites of his boxed lunch at noon, Yue Chuan hadn't sat down at all. Now, after tossing the last few bags of garbage into the scrap heap, along with the stinking rat carcass, it was finally barely habitable.

Turn on the switch, and the three-blade ceiling fan started spinning with a creaking sound. Before long, the disinfectant and musty smell in the room completely dissipated.

After laying clean bedding and mats on the iron-framed bed and neatly stacking textbooks on the small table by the window, Yue Chuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When they returned to the front store, Jin Haiquan had already emptied the "Jinbei" out of the store. When the man saw Yue Chuan, he grabbed a high-pressure water gun and shoved it into his arms: "Kid, grab the water gun, I'll teach you how to wash a car."

Jin Haiquan demonstrated the car wash process step by step before going about his other tasks. Yue Chuan, meanwhile, scrubbed the car body until it gleamed with a water gun, then crouched down and crawled into the car, where he began a more meticulous interior cleaning process with a scouring pad and car cleaner.

The boss wasn't there, but the boss's wife was eating sunflower seeds and "monitoring" Yue Chuan's every move. Seeing that the boy was working diligently, Er Niu didn't say anything more. Perhaps it was only now that she accepted this cousin who was as thin as a stick.

"Wife, what did I tell you? Don't underestimate this child just because he's small. He's very capable when it comes to work. Now you're not going to yell at him to leave, are you?" Jin Haiquan said with a smile.

Hearing the man's words, Erniu pouted and retorted irritably, "You think you're so good at judging people! Alright? If it weren't for your good eye in choosing me, with your looks and your family's circumstances, you probably wouldn't even be able to find a wife!"

"Look, look, how did we bring this up again? When we got married, my family didn't skimp on the bride price!" Jin Haiquan hurriedly argued.

"What? You still can't come up with a dowry? How much money did my family contribute to opening this car repair shop? Aren't you ashamed to say such things, you grown man..."

To better criticize her partner, Erniu brought up all those old grievances, opening her mouth wide and chattering on and on, leaving the man complaining endlessly.

……

When the couple bickered, Erniu never suffered a loss. It was also thanks to Jin Haiquan's good temper that their marriage could have ended.

Twenty minutes later, the Jinbei van at the entrance was brand new. This was Yue Chuan's first job during his time working, and he did a good job, earning verbal praise from Jin Haiquan.

Because the repair shop also runs a car wash, Yuechuan had no rest all afternoon. By the time the sun set, the boy was so tired that his body felt like it was falling apart.

"Hey! Being too shy really hurts! If I had known it would be this hard, I should have eaten two boxed lunches for lunch!" Yue Chuan sighed to himself, rubbing his rumbling stomach.

By this time, Yue Chuan's short-sleeved shirt and shorts were soaked through. To make matters worse, cheap detergent was smeared on his bare chest and legs, stinging his skin. This sticky, burning discomfort reminded him of the time he spent picking corn in the sweltering summer heat—his palms and neck were scratched by corn leaves, leaving bloody marks, the sweat soaking the wounds, the burning pain exactly the same as what he felt now.

Seeing that Yue Chuan's face was pale and he seemed to be about to collapse, Jin Haiquan quickly called out to him, "Little Chuan, take off your short sleeves, I'll give you a bath, and then we'll go have a nice meal!"

Without waiting for Yue Chuan's reply, Jin Haiquan walked over with a plastic hose. Seeing the boss's wicked smile, Yue Chuan quickly waved his hand to refuse, but unexpectedly, a jet of water sprayed onto him.

Although he was soaked to the bone, the refreshing coolness made Yue Chuan feel incredibly comfortable. So, he stopped dodging, exhaled a breath of stale air, and shouted with delight, "Wow! That feels so good!"