The Girl Who Hid in the Darkness

Jingle—

The familiar sound of wind chimes rang out at the bookstore entrance.

Since it was Friday, the store was livelier than usual. Someone was picking out notebooks and pens by the stationery shelves, while several middle school students who had gotten out early clustered around the manga section, excitedly flipping through newly arrived serials.

The owner was still seated behind the counter. When she saw her enter, she raised her eyes.

"You're here? Perfect. A batch of new books came in this afternoon, and I haven't had time to sort them out yet."

She pointed at several unopened cartons piled in the corner. "There. Take those boxes inside too. Put the popular series closer to the front. Come find me for your pay after you're done."

Lin Jianxia nodded. Avoiding the customers' gazes, she carried the boxes into the back room.

Though the pay for this job was not high and it was nothing but manual labor, Lin Jianxia had always treasured it.

For one thing, Sisyphus was not far from Lin No. 3 Middle School, within walking distance. For another, the bookstore was secluded enough that students from her school rarely went out of their way to come here.

More importantly, her work area was almost entirely in the small storage room at the back.

Even if someone she knew happened to enter the bookstore, she had plenty of time to avoid them and reduce the chances of running into them to a minimum.

It was not that she found working odd jobs embarrassing. But if her classmates happened to hear her talking to the owner in the store...

It would be quite troublesome for her.

After carrying the boxes into the back room, Lin Jianxia realized that this shipment was much larger than usual, nearly piled into a small mountain.

Normally, when this happened, the owner might have told her to come back the next day to sort everything out. But with the weekend approaching, she probably would not be able to avoid it today.

If she finished sorting it all... she would probably be busy until seven or eight again.

The only thing that offered her a little comfort was that over the past few days, she had stocked up her younger sister's snack box with plenty of food. At least she did not need to worry about her sister going hungry tonight.

Looking at the mountain of books before her, Lin Jianxia pressed her lips together, hung her backpack on a rack nearby, and silently began sorting.

Opening the kraft paper, tearing off the plastic wrap, flipping through pages to inspect them, sorting them by category, shelving them one by one...

She repeated those seemingly simple actions for hours.

Whenever her waist ached so badly she could barely stand it, Lin Jianxia would brace herself against a bookshelf and rest for a moment. Then she would grit her teeth, bend down, and continue.

By the time she gently slipped the final novel, titled <Why Do I Have a Childhood Sweetheart After Rebirth?>, onto the shelf, the light outside the small window had completely faded.

Only the dim incandescent bulb overhead provided a little light in the tiny storeroom.

Lin Jianxia straightened up and let out a long breath.

She looked up at the clock hanging beside the door. The hour hand was clearly pointing at eight o'clock at night.

After taking one final look around and confirming that no books had been missed, she slung on her backpack and walked out of the storeroom.

At eight in the evening, there were only a handful of customers left in the bookstore. Two or three people were still quietly browsing.

Lin Jianxia walked up to the counter, her tone finally relaxing. "Aunt Zhao, I'm done."

The owner, who had been watching a drama behind the counter, glanced at her and reached over to pause it. But she said nothing, merely getting up and heading toward the storeroom.

Lin Jianxia froze.

Was she... going to inspect it all?

She did not think much of it and simply stood quietly where she was, waiting.

But the owner was gone far longer than she had expected.

Lin Jianxia could not help looking at the clock several times. The minute hand slowly moved from "12" to "2" before the owner finally appeared at the storeroom door.

"Aunt Zhao..."

She had barely begun to speak when the other woman interrupted her.

"I went in to take a look just now." The owner frowned deeply, her tone carrying obvious displeasure. "Several new books have creases on their covers, and two of the spines have dust on them. You didn't clean them properly."

As she spoke, she casually pulled out several books she had deliberately selected and slapped them down in front of Lin Jianxia.

"How am I supposed to put books in this condition out for sale?"

Lin Jianxia was stunned and instinctively lowered her head to look at the books on the counter.

She remembered clearly—she had been extremely careful while sorting them. The creases on those covers had already been there before she opened the packaging; they had obviously been caused during shipping.

As for not wiping off the dust...

Her job was to sort and shelve books. If she had to carefully wipe down every single book in the storeroom, she probably would not finish even by midnight.

Besides... she had been sorting them to the same standard for the past month, and Aunt Zhao had never said there was a problem.

Why was she suddenly picking at these details today, right before payday?

A trace of suspicion had just risen in Lin Jianxia's heart when what she heard next made her relax.

"Forget it. I won't hold it against you this time." The owner's tone softened as she turned to rummage through the cash register. "Come get your pay."

The words of explanation circled in her mouth, but in the end, Lin Jianxia only pressed her lips together and said softly,

"Okay, Aunt Zhao. I'll be more careful next time."

The owner took a thin envelope from the drawer and pushed it toward Lin Jianxia. "There, this month's pay. Go home early. It's already dark."

Lin Jianxia took the envelope, then paused just as she was about to leave.

Pressing her lips together, she opened it on the spot and lowered her head to count the money under the counter light.

One bill, two bills... When she reached the end, her fingers stopped, and her heart sank with them.

The agreed monthly pay had been 1,200 yuan, but there were only six hundred-yuan bills in the envelope—exactly half missing.

She raised her head, her voice hesitant. "Aunt Zhao, this amount... doesn't seem right?"

At that, the owner's previously relaxed expression vanished. She sighed, her tone turning troubled.

"Xiao Lin, it's not that Aunt Zhao is deliberately making things difficult for you. You've seen it yourself. Business has been terrible lately, all these books are tying up stock, and the rent has gone up... I really can't keep the money flowing."

Lin Jianxia tightened her grip on the envelope, her voice a little hoarse. "But Aunt Zhao, we agreed on 1,200. I did everything according to your requirements."

"Agreed?" The owner suddenly laughed. "Xiao Lin, do you really think I don't know that you secretly read books in the back storeroom?"

"With so many books, who could say for sure if one or two went missing? I didn't hold it against you and still paid you. That's already generous enough."

Lin Jianxia's face went pale at once. "I've never taken any books from the store! You can check the inventory records, and I only ever read after finishing my work..."

"After finishing?" The owner cut her off, her tone turning sharp. "Letting you work here was already me doing you a favor, and now you want to nitpick?"

"Did we sign a contract? No, right? Then I can pay you however much I want."

She waved her hand impatiently, as if shooing away something unlucky.

"Get out of here. This is all you're getting, take it or leave it. And don't come next week either. My little bookstore can't accommodate a great Buddha like you."

Their argument gradually grew louder, drawing the attention of the few remaining customers in the store.

Clutching the thin envelope, Lin Jianxia stood blankly before the counter, suddenly feeling cold all over.

She opened her mouth, only to realize she no longer had the strength even to argue back—in the face of such shameless refusal to pay and naked malice, any reasoning seemed so pale and powerless.

Lin Jianxia did not know how she had made it out of that bookstore.

When the night wind blew against her, leaving her face icy cold, she belatedly raised a hand to wipe it.

She clutched the remaining six hundred yuan tightly, as though it were the last fragile straw for a drowning person.

But this little money... was not even enough to cover this month's rent.

Her job was gone too. What about next month? Next month's rent, living expenses... where would they come from?

She bit down hard on her lower lip and walked through the alley beneath the dim yellow streetlights, her steps growing heavier and heavier, as if her feet had been filled with lead.

Her vision blurred, then cleared. Cleared, then blurred again.

The night wind swept through the empty alley, stirring up a few dead leaves. Occasionally, headlights passed in the distance, stretching and shrinking her shadow.

At last, that slender figure slowly crouched down in an empty corner, burying her face in the crook of her arms.

As though by doing so, she could hide all her grievance, anger, and confusion within that small patch of darkness.