During dinner ti, Zhao Haii lingered about until the canteen was free of other students before going in.
"Hello, one serving of food, please."
She handed over a al ticket.
The canteen auntie was ready to finish work, saw her co in, and casually remarked, "Why are you coming so late? The food has gone cold."
Zhao Haii smiled faintly: "I dislike the crowd, thought of coming later to eat."
"There’s only this left, I’ll give it all to you."
The auntie scraped the remaining food into her al box, much more than the usual serving, including a stead bun.
"Thank you."
Zhao Haii took the al box and found a corner out of the way to sit down.
The auntie looked at her departing figure and silently sighed.
Zhao Haii was oblivious to the auntie’s pitying gaze. She first took the stead bun, tore off and ate the part dipped in the vegetable broth, leaving the rest on the lid of the al box.
She could save it for tomorrow.
She ate her food in big bites; it was cold, but it was enough to fill her up.
Behind the food service window, the auntie put down her work and along with her colleague, they left as well.
The canteen was very quiet, with no sharp clanging of pots and pans, nothing to hurt Zhao Haii’s pride.
Outside the door, a head disappeared into the darkness, as if having seen nothing.
Zhao Haii ate her fill and before leaving, she cleaned the table, straightened the chairs, and then quietly took her lunch for tomorrow and departed.
Room 208 was empty; Zhou Li and the others from the Spanish Departnt had gone to practice their speaking, and as for Lin Nianhe... no one knew where she was.
Zhao Haii rubbed her stomach, sat down by the bed, and took out paper to write a letter ho.
She had already filled several sheets but hadn’t sent them yet—better to send more at once to save money.
Just as Zhao Haii wrote the date, there were two light knocks on the dorm door, followed by the sound of a key in the lock.
Zhao Haii knew it was Lin Nianhe outside the door without it opening.
Only she would knock twice before using her key.
The wooden door was pushed open, and Lin Nianhe walked in.
Different from her usual vivacious appearance, she had a worried expression and looked listless today.
Zhao Haii put down her pen and asked, "What’s wrong with you?"
"Ah, just worried." Lin Nianhe sat next to her on a stool, poured a cup of water, and drank it slowly.
Zhao Haii couldn’t fathom what worries Lin Nianhe might have.
Lin Nianhe didn’t wait for her to ask, she just started complaining: "My sister’s husband helps out at a magazine. Editors need the manuscripts to be copied cleanly after revising before sending them off for printing, but there’s too much work and the editors can’t handle it, so they have to find soone to do it."
"My sister is sick, and my brother-in-law needs to take care of her. Unfortunately, the magazine has too much work, and he can’t manage. He wanted to cover for him... but I don’t have the ti."
Zhao Haii’s eyes lit up, and after a mont of silence, she ventured, "That... can I do it?"
Lin Nianhe suddenly looked up, "Really? You’re not kidding ? You really can do it?"
Zhao Haii’s face reddened, and she said quietly, "My handwriting is fairly neat, if that’s okay..."
"Magazine provides paper, ink, pens, 50 cents for ten thousand characters. If you want to do it, I’ll give you the address to the magazine, and you just go find Old Wu, he’ll assign you tasks," Lin Nianhe said directly. "But once you’ve taken on a task, you must complete it, or you’ll have to compensate for the loss."
"I can do it, I can!" Zhao Haii nodded repeatedly, her face reddening even more.
"You really are helping out a lot!" Lin Nianhe reached out and hugged her, "Or else my brother-in-law would have to force to copy articles."
Zhao Haii murmured softly, "Actually... I’m not doing it to help you... I am..." Really broke.
Lin Nianhe interrupted her with a smile: "I don’t care why you’re doing it, you helped anyway. If you ever need anything, just tell , and I’ll help you!"
Zhao Haii’s eyes were slightly wet. She nodded gently and said in a low voice, "It was you who helped ..."
"Speak up, don’t talk through clenched teeth, it makes flustered."
"..."
The following day, in the morning, the Physics departnt had no classes, and Zhao Haii went to the magazine office with the address given by Lin Nianhe.
"Hello, comrade, I’m looking for Comrade Wu."
Seeing the bustle of the magazine office made Zhao Haii sowhat uneasy.
"Old Wu, Old Wu, soone’s looking for you!"
Old Wu hurried over, still holding a stack of manuscripts in his hands.
"Hey, hello," Old Wu nodded at Zhao Haii, "you must be Nianhe’s classmate, right?"
"Yes, my na is Zhao Haii." Zhao Haii bowed slightly, "Hello."
"No need for formalities," said Old Wu, gesturing for her to follow him as they walked, "Copying manuscripts isn’t hard; just need to write legibly and avoid mistakes. However, sotis the manuscripts can be a bit ssy and hard to read, so you will need to be attentive."
"Um, um!" Zhao Haii listened very carefully, nodding repeatedly.
"But you’re a university student; I’m sure you can do well." Old Wu led Zhao Haii to find the editor, saying directly, "Sister Zhang, this is Zhao Haii, a student from Peking University. She wants to help us with copying manuscripts."
Sister Zhang looked up at Zhao Haii and handed her two sheets of paper: "Copy this manuscript for to see."
"Okay."
Zhao Haii’s palms were sweating, even more nervous than when she first tried horse taming.
Sister Zhang gave her a short essay to copy, approximately over two thousand words.
There were no empty seats in the room, so Old Wu could only find her a chair.
"This..."
Old Wu was sowhat helpless.
With the magazine issue about to be published, everyone was extrely busy, and there really was no spare space.
"It’s fine, I can just copy here."
Zhao Haii spoke and squatted in front of the chair, spreading out the manuscript and notebook on it, and began to copy the text after removing the pen cap.
Old Wu watched her serious deanor and breathed a sigh of relief.
He found a cup for her, poured so hot water, and then went to get his own manuscripts.
This job was found for him by Lin Nianhe. He wasn’t clear on the specifics, but it seed that one of Lin Nianhe’s neighbors worked at the magazine office, which led him to discover such work was available.
Old Wu felt this job was very suitable for him—he could copy at the hospital without neglecting the care of Guan Manling.
Last night, Lin Nianhe called him to inquire if the magazine office still needed soone. Rembering Sister Zhang’s recent complaints, he promptly told Lin Nianhe that they did indeed need soone badly, as Sister Zhang had been staying up late to copy manuscripts herself.
Old Wu had originally co to pick up manuscripts today and should have left right after getting the materials. But knowing that Zhao Haii was Lin Nianhe’s friend, he decided to wait until the young lady’s matter was settled before leaving.
Zhao Haii wrote quickly. About an hour later, the manuscript was copied.
She didn’t feel it while writing, but after finishing, she realized her legs were so numb and weak that she couldn’t even stand up.
Old Wu stepped forward to help her, moving the papers and pen, and let her sit down.
Zhao Haii felt a bit embarrassed: "I’m sorry to have caused you trouble."
"It’s nothing."
Old Wu thought the girl had a gentle temperant and was easy to get along with.
He looked at the manuscript copied by Zhao Haii; the writing was neat and beautiful, very good.
He spoke in a low voice, "It should be no problem, don’t be afraid."
Zhao Haii tapped her legs, and upon hearing this, she finally let out a sigh of relief, a touch of joy appearing in her eyes.
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