Beep beep beep —
Lu Yi Yun was woken up by the alarm clock and fumbled to turn it off.
Five minutes later.
Ding ding ding ding —
She was woken up by the phone alarm again.
She couldn't turn it off this time. In order not to oversleep in the morning, she put the phone on the dining table before going to bed. Unless she had a two-meter long arm, there was no way to turn off the phone alarm from the bed.
She rubbed her eyes, fumbled for her glasses from the pillow, and put them on. Jasmine was lying on her quilt and was woken up by her movements. It jumped off the bed and meowed as if it was saying good morning, then went to the basin to drink water.
"Good morning, Jasmine," she said with a yawn.
Next, she got dressed, got up, washed up, made oatmeal … The routine had become a habit, and she could complete it smoothly even without the intervention of her brain. When she sat next to the dining table and scooped oatmeal into her mouth, her brain gradually woke up from the state of sleep.
Jasmine was also eating breakfast at her feet. In terms of food expenses, it ate much more expensive than her.
Compared to ordinary girls of the same age, she could skip the step of makeup before going out — it seemed like only one step was skipped, but in fact, it saved an hour, because she could skip the process of removing makeup when she went home.
Saving an hour a day meant saving 15 days a year.
If she could live for 75 years, she could start learning makeup at the age of 15, and no longer need to do makeup after the age of 75. In 60 years, she could save two and a half years. It was really scary to think about.
Two and a half years of her life were spent on applying makeup on her face. She really wanted to say to her face, "Thank you for your hard work!"
She could do a lot of things in this one hour, such as drawing.
But now, she was more used to drawing in the pet shop, rather than locking herself at home to draw. Another reason was that … after all, her comics were based on Zhang Zian. He was handsome, muscular, and gay. It was easier to draw based on the character's prototype, right?
After she and Jasmine finished breakfast, Jasmine cleaned the bowls and bowls, and put it into her backpack as usual. Then she put the tablet on her back and set off to the pet shop across the street.
She and her next-door neighbor went out at the same time, and they both looked familiar. She tried to open her mouth to say "good morning," but in the end, she was too timid to say it. She lowered her head and covered her eyes with her bangs.
The neighbor did the same, awkwardly pretending that he didn't see her.
That was pretty much how neighborhood relations worked in modern society.
The layout of the houses in the old-fashioned residential area was not good. They were short, small, damp, and dark. The people who rented here basically did not have much money. However, this was also good. No one looked down on each other.
In fact, with her current income from drawing and working, she could totally afford to rent a better house, but there was no need to waste money. After all, the house was just a place to sleep.
As she left the entrance of the neighborhood, the aroma of breakfast wafted out from Li's Supreme Snack Bar for Cat Fanciers on the right.
"Good morning."
Someone greeted her, and there were three voices.
She turned her head and saw Ting Ting and Xiao Zhuang. They had been volunteering at the snack bar every day for almost half a month. They just had to persevere for another ten days or so, and they would succeed.
Ting Ting and Xiao Zhuang were standing outside the snack bar, talking to Sun Xiaomeng. Sun Xiaomeng was probably assessing their sincerity in adopting.
Sun Xiaomeng looked a little tired, with dark circles under her eyes. She probably didn't sleep well last night.
"Good morning," Lu Yi Yun replied softly.
She did not continue to interrupt their conversation, looked left and right, and trotted across the road.
The shutter door of the pet shop was not open. Usually, it was already open when she arrived.
She took out the key from her pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed the shutter door up with some effort.
She opened the glass door. Everything was normal in the pet shop, but it was a little too quiet compared to usual. The noisy grey parrot was not there. According to Zhang Zian, he had entrusted the cats and dogs to a friend while he was abroad, because his friend liked them very much. He did not say which friend, and she did not ask.
She took Jasmine out of her backpack and let it play freely in the shop. She then carefully cleaned the cashier's desk, mainly wiping the dust off the keyboard, mouse, monitor, POS machine, invoice printer, and other equipment. After that, she sat down on the chair at the cashier's desk, connected the digital tablet to the computer, and prepared to draw.
As for the cleaning work in the shop, she would wait for Wang Qian and Li Kun to come to work. They usually came a little late because they always played games until late.
Although she had only published one or two chapters of her comic on Weibo, the response was good, even better than her previous comics. Today, she planned to draw a draft of the third chapter.
She scribbled a few strokes and erased them all. She drew a few more strokes and erased them again.
She did not know why, but she always felt a little awkward. She could not calm down and draw. Usually, she did not feel this way. It was like … something was missing. Was it because the shop was too quiet? But the last time Zhang Zian went to the United States, the shop was almost as quiet, and it did not affect her drawing.
She raised her head and slowly looked around the shop.
The frolicking kittens, the cat tree, the display cabinet, the puppies in the display cabinet, the shelves …
After looking around, she suddenly found something strange, and she could not help but be stunned.
The Holy Cat statue that was sitting across from the checkout counter was gone.
She thought that she had not woken up yet, so she secretly pinched herself. It hurt, but the Holy Cat statue was still not there.
What happened? It was still there yesterday before she got off work.
She panicked. Was there a thief in the shop? But the shutter door was locked, and there was no sign of it being pried open. The small change in the drawer of the checkout counter was still there. Although it was not much, there were still a few hundred dollars in total. Which thief would steal the heavy bronze statue instead of the money? Was there something wrong with them?
If the statue was a work of art or an antique, it would be fine. But she clearly heard from Zhang Zian that it was just a replica, and not that valuable.
Did Wang Qian and Li Kun deliberately hide the statue to play a joke on her? That was not right either. They thought that she was too dull to play a joke on, so they would never play a joke on her.
And there was only one key to the shutter door. She was the last to leave yesterday, so Wang Qian and Li Kun did not have the chance to hide the statue under her eyes.
Her heart was beating fast. She left the checkout counter, trotted to the statue's original position, and squatted down to take a closer look.
There was a shallow white mark on the ground, which was different from the color of the surrounding floorboards. It proved that the statue had been there for a long time, but now it had disappeared.
The statue was made of pure bronze, and it was very heavy. It was so heavy that no one would move it when they were cleaning.
When she first saw the Holy Cat statue, she felt that its shape was very strange, and its color was very gloomy. But after she got used to it, she felt that it was okay. Many customers were also very interested in the statue when they came to the shop, and some even asked if it was for sale. Zhang Zian said that the statue was a gift from someone else for the opening ceremony, so it was not convenient to sell it. But Lu Yi Yun felt that he was asking for a low price …
Right, this statue was a gift from Snowy for the opening ceremony. Maybe she should ask Snowy where she bought it from, and if there were any other similar statues?
Lu Yi Yun wanted to buy a similar statue out of her own pocket and put it in its original position, pretending that nothing had happened. The Holy Cat statue had disappeared while she was looking after the shop, and she did not want Zhang Zian to think that she was the one who stole it. Although she did not have much money, she never stole, and she did not want to be suspected of being dirty.
She took out her phone, found Snowy's WeChat ID, and sent a message after some consideration: Snowy, good morning. Do you remember where you bought the Holy Cat statue in the shop?
Ever since she had added Snowy on WeChat, this was the first time she took the initiative to send a message to Snowy.
After clicking send, she held her phone and waited, her mind in a whirl.
So early, has Snowy woken up? I heard that anchors are night owls …
She did not wait for long before she received a reply from Snowy. It was a voice message.
She clicked on the message, and Snowy's voice came from the phone's speaker. It sounded a little lazy, as if she had just woken up.
"Good morning, Xiao Yun … The Holy Cat statue, let me think … Ah, I remember, I bought it from a second-hand shop called 'Found in the Old Days.' Yes, that's it … Coming! I'll be down in a bit! "
She could vaguely hear Snowy's mother calling her downstairs to eat, but her voice was very far away. It seemed that Snowy lived with her parents, and her house was not small.
Lu Yi Yun did not care about anything else, and typed: How much did you buy it for?
Snowy sent another voice message: How much … I forgot, maybe a few thousand?
A few thousand was still okay, and Lu Yi Yun could afford it. She breathed a sigh of relief and typed: Is there only one Holy Cat statue in the shop? Is there a second one?
Snowy: No, there isn't. There is only one in the shop, there is no second one. I remember that the owner was a very gentlemanly old man. Rather than saying that he sold it, it was more like he gave the statue to me for free. He also said something about the spirit of the god, and that his small shop could not handle it … It's been a long time, and I can't remember it clearly.
While Snowy was sending the voice message, her mother called her downstairs to eat again, and she responded impatiently.
Hearing that there was only one such statue, Lu Yi Yun's disappointment was obvious.
Snowy: Xiao Yun, why did you suddenly think of this? Did something happen?
Lu Yi Yun: Nothing, I just remembered it by accident. Snowy, hurry up and go eat, don't let your mother wait too long.
Snowy: Yes, I am getting up … Snowball, go down, don't lie on the blanket … Oh right, Xiao Yun, Mr. Store Manager went abroad, right? Is everything okay in the shop?
Lu Yi Yun: Everything is fine, don't worry, Snowy.
Snowy: That's good, I am going to eat!
Lu Yi Yun sighed. There was no other way, and she could not compensate him even if she wanted to. She could only tell Zhang Zian the truth, and hope that he would not treat her as a thief.
She found Zhang Zian's WeChat, and after some hesitation, she sent him a message: Sorry, Mr. Store Manager, the Holy Cat statue in the shop is missing …
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