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墨書 Inktalez
Wei Yuan focused his mind, and the dark gray mist in his mind began to transfer to his hand. He then rubbed the Video Disk a few times with his hand, pretended to examine the disk carefully, wiped the back with his sleeve, and handed it to the Boss of the Video Store, saying, "Try it again now."
The Fat Boss took the disk, and sure enough, when it played again, there were no issues. However, Wei Yuan noticed that the female lead on the screen looked very familiar. After watching the content of the disk, the Fat Boss couldn't help but frown, but he still fast-forwarded to finish it and handed it back to the middle-aged man, saying, "Is there no problem now?"
To his surprise, the man persisted, "You should either exchange it for another one or refund my money. How do I know it won't have problems again when I take it home?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan also frowned. Was there really someone so shameless in this world? From his observations, he could tell that the disk in the middle-aged man's hand was not bought or rented from this store; he was deliberately holding a damaged Video Disk to scam a few bucks. Was that really necessary?
When Wei Yuan heard that the man was still babbling on, he said, "This Western film is titled 'Spring Tide in Full Bloom with Red Begonias' in Chinese. It's the same one where Stephen Chow is intensely digging out a bullet from a bone in 'Domestic Lingling Paint.' Boss, is this one from your store?"
Upon hearing this, the Fat Boss praised him, saying, "Brother, you have a good eye! Although I've seen this film personally, I don't have this Video Disk. If you're willing, I'll buy it from you."
The middle-aged man’s eyes nearly popped out; he awkwardly tried to find an excuse for himself: "My wife rented this; she might have gotten the address wrong. I'll go home and give her a talking-to!"
The Fat Boss didn't intend to expose him and smiled as he returned the Video Disk to him, saying, "Take care!"
Then the Boss of the Video Store smiled at Wei Yuan, saying, "Brother, you're quite amazing; as soon as the Video Disk gets into your hands, it works perfectly!"
Just as Wei Yuan was about to clarify his purpose for being there, he suddenly heard a baby's cry. The Fat Boss quickly climbed up to the loft and came down holding a baby girl. He smiled at Wei Yuan, saying, "Do you think my daughter looks like me? Isn't she beautiful?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan was at a loss for words. The reason was that he was preparing to apply for a job at this very Video Store, and the current Fat Boss had a very creative appearance—short and stout with rolls of flesh all over him and an extremely lewd look. So if he answered that she looked like her father, then she couldn't possibly be beautiful; if he said she didn't look like him, he'd offend him. However, Wei Yuan could only smile insincerely and say, "Yes, very beautiful!"
But in his heart, Wei Yuan felt that this answer was even more hurtful because it implied two things: either that child was born from your wife with someone else or that your daughter's genes are mutated!
Then the Fat Boss enthusiastically asked, "Is this brother here to rent a Video Disk?"
Wei Yuan shook his head: "Actually, I'm here for a job interview!"
The Fat Boss, wearing a joking expression, said: "The monthly salary is eight hundred. We open at eight in the morning and close at nine in the evening. No holidays and no full attendance bonus. Late arrivals will be fined fifty; early departures will be fined one hundred. Any problems with that?"
Clearly, Wei Yuan did not understand his sense of humor and seriously considered it before asking: "Does it include meals and accommodation?"
Upon hearing this, the Fat Boss laughed, causing his entire body to jiggle, and even the child in his arms almost got tossed out. He chuckled, "Young man, I'm just joking with you. If you're really willing, it's twelve hundred a month, plus three hundred for meal allowances. If you don't mind, you can sleep in the attic. Your job will just be to help watch the store and greet customers..."
After hearing this, Wei Yuan replied solemnly, "I'm willing."
The Fat Boss said, "No need to sound like you're reciting wedding vows. Just relax a bit. My name is Gu Jing. Working in my store doesn't have so many rules; just greet the customers when they come in!"
Thus, Wei Yuan began his first job after temporarily leaving school. Half an hour later, he realized that working at this Video Store indeed had no rules and hardly any workload. Although the Boss was present, Wei Yuan could treat him as if he were invisible!
After assigning Wei Yuan his tasks, Boss Gu Jing put on his headphones and immersed himself in the movies playing on the DVDs in the store. Aside from staring intently at the screen with his bulging eyes, he paid no attention to Wei Yuan.
Finally, after an hour, Wei Yuan welcomed his first customer.
The customer selected a few Video Disks and said, "I'll rent these; the deposit stays the same, right?"
Wei Yuan turned around and asked, "Boss, how much is the deposit usually?"
Gu Jing loosened his headphones but continued watching the screen without responding.
"Is it still the same as before? A hundred bucks here, and you'll return the change when I bring back the disks?" the customer asked again.
"Boss, is that right?" After asking several times with no response from him, Wei Yuan decided to take off his headphones. To his surprise, Gu Jing was still fixated on the subtitles without any reaction.
"Boss, can you say something to prove you're alive?"
"I can!" The Fat Boss answered shortly before putting his headphones back on and resumed watching.
"…"
After finally collecting payment and sending off his first customer, Wei Yuan understood why such a small-scale Video Store needed employees. It turned out that once the Boss started watching movies, he lost all interest in everything happening outside. No wonder he could run a Video Store; with such a complete collection of Video Disks in the shop, it truly showed that every field has its talents...
Once he finished watching an old movie that lasted over two hours and took off his headphones, Wei Yuan asked, "Boss, there was a customer just now; did you know?"
"Is that so?" Gu Jing asked in confusion.
"He took the film without paying. Did you know that?"
"Really? Then why aren't you chasing after him?" Gu Jing said anxiously.
Wei Yuan then took out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it to him. Following that, Gu Jing, who had just finished watching a movie, pulled out a stack of films and placed them on the table, saying to Wei Yuan, "Do you like watching movies?"
"Not bad."
Gu Jing patted him on the shoulder and said, "I really like young people who love watching movies. Let's watch together!" He then handed another pair of headphones to Wei Yuan.
At that moment, Gu Jing was playing a film from the 1990s, a work by Hong Kong's hard-boiled director Johnnie To, which was his pinnacle creation in the gangster biopic genre, "The Emperor of Shanghai in the Winds of Time." Soon, both of them were captivated by this film about Du Yuesheng.
After finishing the movie, Wei Yuan shared his thoughts on it, which immediately sparked an excited response from Gu Jing, who was eager to find someone who understood him. Then this chubby guy, who somewhat resembled Hong Kong filmmaker Wang Jing, opened a document on the computer beside him and told Wei Yuan, "When you have time, take a look at this. It's a script I wrote!"
At that moment, Wei Yuan began to feel a bit envious of this chubby guy's life. Perhaps not everyone in this world could become wealthy and prosperous, but if one could develop their interests into their work while also earning money from it, then at least life wouldn't feel like it was just being spent in constant weariness...
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