RBCT Chapter 58, Act 2
Chapter 58, Act 2
Old Zhao, having received the money, didn't want to waste a single second.
Before dawn, he woke Lin An from his room, urging him to wash up and change his clothes, and dragged him to the housing management bureau.
Lin An was completely devastated.
He sat on the steps in front of the convenience store, holding a glass of water in his hand, his eyes half-open and half-closed, his head drooping down little by little like a chick pecking at rice.
"Alright, alright, stop dawdling."
Old Zhao glanced at the old-fashioned watch on his wrist and urged:
"They start work at 8:30, so we should go early to queue up and get things done sooner."
Lin An lifted his eyelids and asked weakly, "What time is it?"
"6:40."
"...The housing authority opened at 6:40?"
"It takes time to get there, and I feel more at ease if I go earlier."
Lin An took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the urge to curse.
When we were poor, we had to work from dawn till dusk; now that we have money, we still have to work from dawn till dusk.
Doesn't that mean he's got money for nothing?!
You know, he and Doraemon decorated the room until 2 a.m. yesterday.
The two of them, one person and one cat, moved the bed and dismantled the table, almost breaking the automatic screwdriver, before finally finishing the job with great difficulty.
Lin An had thought he could sleep in until he naturally woke up today, but things didn't go as planned.
He looked at Old Zhao with a sinister gaze, feeling that someone was repaying kindness with enmity.
"What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well last night?" Old Zhao asked.
Lin An's lips twitched, but in the end he sighed and swallowed his words.
Well, I'll just see this through to the end and go all the way.
Lin An supported himself on his knees as he stood up and disappeared into the morning mist along with Old Man Zhao.
This is the time when students are rushing to catch the bus.
On the platform, groups of two or three students with backpacks gathered together, each looking drowsy.
Seeing this scene, Lin An's drowsiness actually dissipated a bit.
It turns out that there are so many people in this world who are suffering just like him.
That's good, very fair!
"By the way, you said you wanted to change the convenience store. What kind of change do you plan to make it?" Old Zhao's voice drifted over from the side.
Lin An looked away, yawned, and mumbled, "I haven't decided yet."
Old Zhao was speechless for a moment.
Lin An explained, "There's no specific plan yet, but there's a general direction. The current convenience stores are too homogeneous and lack unique selling points."
Old Zhao was silent for a few seconds, feeling that he understood, yet also feeling that he didn't.
"you mean?"
"Streamline SKUs and improve space efficiency," Lin An said.
Old Zhao glanced at him, his eyes clearly saying: Can't you speak like a human being?
Lin An said, "It doesn't have to be the best, but it has to be novel enough, since no one else is selling it nearby."
"for example?"
Lin An's mind flashed through the profiles of Doraemon and Tang Yu, and he suggested:
What do you think of dorayaki and doujinshi?
Old Zhao: "???"
What is all this about?
……
……
In the afternoon, Lin An completed the necessary procedures and returned to the convenience store with the newly issued "Certificate of Other Rights to the House".
Old Zhao took the bankbook and ran to the train station, clearly preparing to travel to Shenzhen overnight to see his son.
Lin An stood in front of the counter and looked around the convenience store.
Three rows of shelves stand against the wall, with instant noodles, sausages, soap, toilet paper... all ordinary daily necessities scattered on them.
The cashier was an old-fashioned writing desk, with an enamel teacup that Old Zhao hadn't had time to take away still on it.
He roughly figured out the area and went up to the second floor.
Pushing open the door, Doraemon was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with the dorayaki-making machine spread out in front of him. He was holding a screwdriver in his round hand, twisting and poking at a panel.
"What are you doing?"
"Adjust the sweetness of the red bean paste."
Doraemon didn't even look up. "Yesterday's batch was too sweet; it didn't suit my taste."
Didn't you say "delicious, delicious, delicious" yesterday? Lin An's lips twitched, and he took out a key from his pocket, tossing it around:
"The convenience store is now officially mine, and I plan to use it to sell dorayaki."
Doraemon's hand, which was tightening a screw, paused.
He raised his head, his eyes slowly widened, and then his expression turned to ecstasy:
"Really? That's wonderful! This has always been my dream!"
"This... I'm starting to regret it..." Lin An muttered to himself.
"Oh, by the way, I just got a phone call downstairs. It sounded like it was a professor from your literature department."
Doraemon dreamed of something, and said with a strange expression:
"That person asked you whether you were still going to class or not. If you weren't, they could refund your tuition at their discretion."
That sounds like he's harboring resentment... Lin An explained:
"I knew I was joining the literature department, and the academic affairs office approved my leave."
Doraemon shrugged, indicating that he didn't want to talk to me about that.
Lin An thought for a moment, then took out his newly bought folding phone from his pocket, flipped it open, found Zhang Hua's number, and pressed the dial button.
Two long beeps came through the receiver; the call was connected.
"Teacher Zhang, it's me, Lin An."
The sound on the other end of the phone was extremely noisy, like being in a movie theater; Zhang Hua's voice emerged from the background noise:
"Oh? Isn't this our genius screenwriter? What made you think of calling me?"
Lin An raised an eyebrow slightly.
Zhang Hua didn't give him a chance to reply, and said sarcastically:
"Are you staying away from school again, writing a script? Want to take a look? Maybe it'll be another project?"
Lin An didn't understand why the old man was being sarcastic, so he asked:
"What happened?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
The background noise continued; people were talking, and people were moving chairs.
Zhang Hua's voice rang out again, this time much more serious:
"Lin Cong and the crew stayed up all night to cut a rough cut of your project, which I watched with a few old guys from the literature and directing departments."
Lin An's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped his phone.
"How is it?"
Zhang Hua grinned and retorted, "What do you think?"
I think I should change your nickname to "Old Silver Coin"... Lin An thought to himself, then said directly:
"Can we send it to the TV station?"
After a few seconds of silence, Zhang Hua said:
"Sure, but my personal suggestion is to sign a contract with the actor first."
Is this to prevent them from raising the price on the spot? Lin An wasn't too worried about this, but he knew that in such matters, it's better to be safe than sorry, so he said:
"I'll discuss it with Lin Cong and Ji Tao."
Zhang Hua's tone became strange again:
"You still don't know?"
"Know what?" Lin An asked, puzzled.
Zhang Hua chuckled and said in a calm and unhurried tone:
"It's nothing, you'll find out soon enough."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
A hurried busy tone came through the receiver.
Lin An stared at his phone screen, his lips twitching slightly as he looked at the words "Call Ended".
I hate riddle tellers!
……
……
Zhang Hua did not lie.
Lin An indeed quickly found the answer to the riddle.
"Are you coming to my house?"
Lin An held his phone, his expression somewhat blank, his voice echoing in the empty first floor of the convenience store.
On the other end of the phone, Lin Cong yawned and said:
"Not only me and Ji Tao, but also Shen Teng, Dong Xuan, and Gao Yuanyuan are coming."
She sighed and said, "It seems that Ye Daying knows about our progress and is working hard on filming."
Lin An was full of complaints, wondering what this had to do with coming to his house.
Lin Cong guessed what someone was thinking and said calmly:
"They're rushing to meet their deadline, and we have to hurry if we don't want to fall behind. Script revisions, storyboard adjustments, actor blocking... these things aren't convenient to discuss at school."
Lin An felt that the person's answer was irrelevant and was about to speak up to stop him when the phone went dead.
Lin An: "..."