So Far, Everything Was Normal

Hao Ren, just as his name suggested, was a good person.

He lived in an obscure little northern city. If Beijing ever decided to build a twentieth or thirtieth ring road, it could barely count as being under the Son of Heaven's feet. Hao Ren himself was an utterly ordinary nobody. If every "good guy card" in the world were counted by homophones and credited to him, he could barely be considered famous throughout the land. No one recognized him on the street. He had spent over twenty years with a square, utterly average face that looked masculine, at most. His goal in life was to be a good person, and beyond that, he had no distinguishing traits whatsoever—this was Hao Ren.

It was May or June, when the summer heat had just arrived. Although northern weather was somewhat cooler, walking beneath the blazing sun during the day was still enough to make anyone irritable. The bustling downtown streets were filled with endless streams of vehicles, yet hardly any pedestrians could be seen outside. A tall, plain-looking young man in a white T-shirt and gray trousers was one of those few pedestrians. Hao Ren clutched several sheets of paper in his hand, doing his best to walk beneath the shade of roadside trees or buildings. The honking traffic and the deafening cicadas in the trees were enough to fray anyone's nerves, yet the chaotic noise did not seem to affect him much. He merely kept his head lowered as he walked, occasionally flapping his nearly soaked clothes because of the heat, then looking down at what he held in his hand—two were job advertisements, while the other was a promotional flyer handed out by a female student as he passed through the square. The flyer showed a lovely girl with a flower-like smile, and beneath her was a bold line of print: Jinrong Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, specializing in the treatment of...

Hao Ren felt that students these days were becoming less and less professional. Back when he had worked odd jobs handing out flyers, he had never stuffed something like this into the hands of a man who was obviously single. Still, the stiff flyer was pretty suitable for fanning himself.

"Two more places. If neither works out, forget it." Hao Ren muttered as he looked at the last two job advertisements in his hand. Fortunately, the two places were close together, so he could quickly finish today's "mission." One of them was up ahead: an advertising company that absolutely did not look impressive from the outside. But its sign sure sounded grand: Galaxy Media Pan-Cultural Development and Promotion Company. Just hearing that name made it sound like the sort of business that would collapse within half a year. Hao Ren had come here precisely because of that name. His main purpose was not to apply for the job, but to see what kind of extraordinary person could have come up with such a miraculous company name.

He walked several hundred meters with great interest before finally circling around the road divider. Then, under the blazing sun, he ran to the door of this outrageously named advertising company and discovered in surprise—it really had gone bankrupt. The sign was still hanging outside, but a notice announcing its closure was pasted on the glass door. It was dated two days ago, while the job advertisement in his hand was from four days ago... What a rapidly changing world. Did companies these days hire two new employees to ward off bad luck two days before going under?

He casually crumpled up the advertising company's job listing and tossed it into a roadside trash can. Then he lowered his head to look at the last one, and two seconds later, he crumpled that one up and threw it into the same bin as well. He could not help reflecting on whether he had been blind when sorting through these things two days ago—Bus Company hiring one office clerk. Requirements: twenty-five to forty years old, hardworking, computer literate, work experience preferred. Female.

He had come to downtown with great enthusiasm, just to see how shiny the glass doors were at an advertising company that had still been recruiting two days before going bankrupt. He really had too much time on his hands.

Hao Ren: male, interested in women, twenty-five years old, no ** habits. His strengths were that he was not picky about food. He was currently single, with few relatives or friends, and lived alone in the old house his parents had left behind in the southern old district of the city. Like most young men, his life goal was to earn over ten thousand a month by the age of twenty-five, marry a pretty wife, and preferably own a car. There was no way for him to be filial to his parents anymore, so at the very least, he had to live well enough not to disgrace the family. Of that series of life goals, one-third had now been completed: he was twenty-five this year.

It was truly a sad story.

He had come into the city today to look for work, though he was not actually in urgent need of an income. As mentioned earlier, Hao Ren lived in an old house left behind by his parents. He had to thank the older generation for the property they had left him; at least the house was quite large—it was an old-fashioned two-story building that had been converted into something like a family-run rental apartment.

For years, Hao Ren had made a living by renting out rooms. But because where he lived was so remote—so remote that even waiting for the old house to be demolished would probably require several decades of planning—the rental income was only so-so. It was not little, but it would never make him rich. It could let a bachelor like him live a fairly comfortable life, but that was all.

To be fair, with such a stable income, Hao Ren had no need to go looking for a job. But when a person stayed idle for too long, he started getting fussy, always feeling that he ought to make a little effort and broaden his path in life. More importantly—his old house was simply too remote, remote to the point of nearly being cut off from Human civilization. Since the last migrant-worker couple had Move Away from the rental house, no one had come to rent a room for nearly half a year. Looking at the empty two-story "apartment" month after month, Hao Ren realized something from the bottom of his heart: unless municipal planning tilted in his direction, if he wanted to keep living, he would probably have no choice but to find a job.

After studying the city plan at home for three days, Hao Ren decided that the chances of the area around his home turning into a commercial center overnight were truly slim. Considering that a grown man could not just waste himself away like this, he finally decided to find a job first. At least he would have an income to support himself.

Back then, he had been a hardworking, good man who earned his own tuition through part-time jobs. Under this bright sky, could he really starve to death?

But fate did not bend to human will. On his first day running around outside, he had basically... done nothing but run around blindly.

There was no point thinking so much. Hao Ren stretched and decided to rest beneath the shade beside a bench in a small roadside park. Once the hottest hour around noon had passed, he would find a small restaurant to fill his stomach, then take the bus home. Fortunately, this was a small northern city that could barely even be called third-tier. Though its economy was developing quickly, it still retained some of the leisure and openness of a small town. At the very least, the city's public land planning was decent. There were trees everywhere, and even in a downtown area where every inch of land was precious, there were quite a few small parks for people to rest in.

He found a piece of paper and wiped the bench clean, then sprawled down on it without a care. He covered his face with the flyer bearing the women's hospital logo and the pretty girl to block out the sunlight, and rested just like that. Of course, he did not dare fall asleep completely. There were more and more thieves these days, and there were not even enough good people for them to victimize. Though he had nothing valuable in his pockets, it would still be unpleasant to get picked clean. He only planned to doze for a while, at least to dispel the summer heat from his body.

But just as he had lain down, seemingly not even a minute later, the sunlight filtering in through the edge of the flyer had already dimmed, as if someone had come to stand beside him. Hao Ren revealed his face in mild surprise, only to discover in shock that the sun was already setting. A petite, slender female figure stood beside him. She happened to block the sinking sunset, and because she was backlit, he could not make out her appearance. He could only tell from her dim silhouette that she was a slim girl with short hair.

"Yo, you're awake?"

This unfamiliar girl seemed remarkably friendly. She waved as she greeted him in a carefree manner. Hao Ren sat upright at once. First, he looked around in astonishment and confirmed that it really was sunset. He had only intended to doze for a while, yet he had actually slept away half the day. Only then did he get the chance to properly examine the stranger before him. At that moment, the unfamiliar girl seemed to finally realize that standing against the light made it impossible for him to see her face. She grinned and shifted slightly to the side so he could see her clearly.

A very pretty girl—this was Hao Ren's first impression.

She was dressed quite lightly. She wore a fitted white short-sleeved shirt, with a slightly childish plastic puppy decoration on the collar. Below, she wore dark shorts and casual shoes, looking like a college student who had secretly skipped class to go shopping. This friendly girl had shoulder-length short hair. Perhaps she liked sports; her skin carried a faint wheat-colored tan, healthy and full of sunshine. Her features were delicate and lovely, but what drew the most attention were her lively, expressive eyes. They were more vibrant than any eyes Hao Ren had ever seen, as if all her spirit and energy were about to pour out through them.

Behind her stood a large suitcase that looked quite heavy.

Seeing Hao Ren staring blankly, the beautiful short-haired girl broke into an unprecedentedly brilliant silly grin. Though it might not have been appropriate to put it that way, Hao Ren truly thought it was a silly grin. It was clean and pure, the sort of smile that seemed rare on girls her age these days. She rummaged fiercely through her little bag for a long time before finally pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper and holding it out to Hao Ren. "Excuse me, do you know where this place is?"

Hao Ren slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. Setting aside what was going on with this rash girl, he lowered his head and looked at the address on the paper... Holy crap, wasn't this his home?!