Summer in Rongcheng was always long and sweltering.
But for Xia Yiyang, it wasn’t just the heat that felt endless—it was the work.
In previous summers, he’d been lounging comfortably at home like a little emperor. If he ever felt like leaving the palace, he’d pay his respects to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor Father, act cute and beg for some spending money, then happily head to the mall for a scripted murder mystery game or a movie, or spend a whole day at Universal Studios.
But this summer was different. The little emperor had gone incognito to Rongcheng, cutting watermelons, peeling mangoes, and kneading ice jelly every day… After just one week of labor, he’d already gotten a taste of how hard life could be.
Tired as he was, he didn’t shortchange his own stomach—every time Sheng Lin made the staff meal, Xia Yiyang would wolf down two big bowls! Stir-fried pork with chili, fish-fragrant pork slivers, cured meat with green bamboo shoots, pickled pepper chicken—he stuffed it all in.
The aunties praised him: “Boys his age sure can eat! Xiao Xia looks like he doesn’t have two pounds of meat on him, but he sure chows down like a beast!”
Xia Yiyang: “…Is that really a compliment?”
Sheng Lin stared at Xia Yiyang’s slender waist and pointed chin, genuinely baffled about where all the food went. Still, afterward, he’d always make an extra portion of rice and cook a bit more food.
He wasn’t some heartless slave driver—he couldn’t let the kid go hungry.
…
The first week of hard work was finally over, and tomorrow was Xia Yiyang’s day off!
From the morning on, the smile at the corners of Xia Yiyang’s eyes and brows was impossible to hide. Just thinking about being able to laze around on his little hostel bed all day tomorrow, playing on his phone, made him so giddy that his features went all over the place—and he threw himself into hauling watermelons with even more vigor.
Sigh. In the past, every holiday he’d want to go out and have fun. Now that he had a day off, all he wanted to do was lie flat and sleep. How decadent—this tyrant’s life was getting more and more depraved.
But before he could indulge in decadence, there was something more important to take care of—he needed to ask Sheng Lin for his first week’s pay.
Although the contract said wages were paid monthly, Xia Yiyang urgently needed money to cover his hostel bed fee—otherwise, he really would have to sleep under a bridge!
He pumped himself up internally: “Asking for your wages is every worker’s right! Come on, Xia Yiyang, be brave—ask Sheng Lin for your pay!”
But asking for money was such an awkward thing for him. The words circled in his throat all day, and he rehearsed his pitch over and over.
Technically, he wasn’t unused to asking for money—every time he asked the Emperor Father for extra allowance, he’d be all fawning and sycophantic, massaging his shoulders and patting his back, charming his father into laughing so hard that he’d hand over his hard-saved private stash to his son.
But the problem was, Sheng Lin wasn’t his dad. Was he supposed to massage Sheng Lin’s shoulders too? He’d probably get taken down before he even got close.
Sigh—why was it so hard for a lowly worker to demand wages from a capitalist!
Xia Yiyang thought he was hiding his thoughts perfectly—no one would notice.
But those big, dark eyes of his kept darting toward Sheng Lin, and the moment Sheng Lin turned around, he’d whip his gaze away… That utterly transparent act of “covering up” was impossible for anyone to miss.
Auntie Zhao whispered to Auntie Li: “I bet Xiao Xia’s going to quit.”
Auntie Li told her not to gossip: “Don’t talk nonsense. Xiao Xia’s only been here a week—why would he quit?”
Auntie Zhao: “Pfft, I’ve seen it all. Kids like him can’t handle this kind of hardship. Look at him staring at the boss all day with that face like he wants to say something but doesn’t dare—definitely planning to bail.”
Auntie Li thought about it and found it more and more suspicious: “Hey… now that you mention it, it is a bit odd, huh?”
Auntie Zhao: “Just wait and see—he’s definitely going to ask the boss for his wages today.”
They didn’t bother to lower their voices when talking. It was just chit-chat—and the boss had never banned them from chit-chatting!
Judging by Sheng Lin’s expression, he’d probably guessed it too.
After closing that night, Sheng Lin packed the unsold ice jelly into takeout containers. Xia Yiyang dawdled around sweeping the floor, and after a long time, finally mustered the courage to call out to Sheng Lin.
“Boss, I’d like to discuss something with you.” The boy gestured for Sheng Lin to step into the stairwell for a private chat.
They stood on the stairs, one step above the other. Even though the boy was a step higher, he still had to look up slightly to meet Sheng Lin’s eyes.
The stairwell light had poor contact—Sheng Lin had been too lazy to fix it—so the bulb flickered on and off. The boy’s face was half-hidden in the alternating light and shadow, and every time the light came on, those glass-marble eyes of his sparkled.
“What is it?” Sheng Lin thought to himself—he’d even used the polite form of “you.” When had this kid ever been so courteous? He’d been giving Sheng Lin those wide-eyed, needy looks all day long, as if Sheng Lin were some kind of villain.
Xia Yiyang said: “I’ve been working for a week now—could I get this week’s wages in advance? I know the contract says monthly, but I’m… a bit short on cash right now.”
The man let out a faint sigh to himself—Xia Yiyang really had come for money. It seemed the two aunties had been right on the mark.
Sheng Lin asked him in a low voice: “You’ve been trailing behind me all day, just for this?”
Xia Yiyang felt a bit embarrassed and nodded.
“…” Sheng Lin didn’t say anything more. He took out his phone and transferred the money to Xia Yiyang.
Whether it was Xia Yiyang’s imagination or not, he felt that his boss’s expression was somewhat complicated—but the light above was too dim for him to make it out clearly.
WeChat chimed—the wages had arrived. Seeing the bright red numbers on the screen, Xia Yiyang immediately forgot all about that faint sense of dissonance.
The boy’s beaming, ecstatic expression was far too obvious. Sheng Lin felt an inexplicable irritability creeping in. His voice dropped another notch: “So you’re not coming to work tomorrow, then?”
“Of course not!” Xia Yiyang thought—tomorrow was his first day off, had the boss forgotten?
He was about to remind Sheng Lin, but Sheng Lin changed the subject, cutting off his unfinished words.
“Then off you go.” Sheng Lin took a step back, retreating into the darkness beyond the dim yellow light. He paused, then added, “Remember to pack your things—phone charger, earbuds, wallet… You haven’t been working many days, but you’ve brought quite a bit of odds and ends. And the ice jelly on the counter—it’s for you.”
“Okay!” Xia Yiyang agreed cheerfully.
Every night, their shop would dispose of any unsold ice jelly and fruit—they never sold overnight leftovers. Since it would just be thrown away anyway, occasionally Xia Yiyang and the aunties would take some home as a late-night snack, and Sheng Lin never said a word.
But tonight’s ice jelly snack was different from the usual—besides the fruit, there were two extra-large, extra-huge scoops of ice cream on top!
Ice cream was the shop’s deluxe topping, and unlike fruit, it wouldn’t go bad in the freezer. Xia Yiyang wondered—why was the boss being so generous today? He’d even packed ice cream especially for him.
One scoop strawberry, one scoop chocolate—both his favorites, hehe.
Happily, he said goodbye to Sheng Lin, picked up the heavy ice jelly late-night snack, and skipped out of the shop.
And then something even more delightful happened—by the roadside, his new friend Wen Sen was straddling a small electric scooter, a cigarette dangling from his lips. When he saw Xia Yiyang coming, Wen Sen tossed the cigarette to the ground and stamped it out, then waved him over.
Xia Yiyang gasped in surprise: “Wen Sen! What are you doing here?”
“Business was terrible today—sang my throat raw and barely made a few cents. So I packed up and came to hang out with you,” Wen Sen said with a grin. “You said you were working at a snack street near Rongcheng University. There aren’t that many ice jelly shops around here—I checked them one by one and found you pretty quickly.”
Xia Yiyang was thrilled. After a long, exhausting day of work, stepping out to find a good friend waiting on an electric scooter to take him home—could there be anything happier than that?
He practically jumped onto the back of Wen Sen’s scooter, holding his guitar for him.
“By the way, when did you buy an electric scooter?” Xia Yiyang asked curiously.
“Buy? I stole it off the street,” Wen Sen said casually.
Xia Yiyang: “!!!”
Feeling the boy behind him suddenly go rigid, Wen Sen clicked his tongue, turned his head, and said: “Look at you, you silly goose. It’s borrowed from a friend—I’ve gotta return it in a few days.”
Xia Yiyang was exasperated: “Can you not joke about stuff like that?”
“Fine, fine,” Wen Sen teased him. “Why are you so easy to fool? You believe everything I say.”
Bickering back and forth, the two of them rode off on the little electric scooter, their laughter and chatter echoing through the dim alleys, past the rows of straight camphor trees lining the road, fading into the distance.
Neither of them noticed the tall figure standing silently at the window on the second-floor attic of the ice jelly shop, watching their receding backs.
It wasn’t until the scooter turned the corner, its dim taillights swallowed by the endless night, that the man finally turned and walked back into his room.
…
Having just received his first paycheck, Xia Yiyang was too excited to sleep. This was the first time in his life he’d ever worked for money. After falling for that scam, he’d immediately found a way to earn it back—he felt like giving himself a round of applause!
His first week’s wages totaled only seven hundred and eighty yuan—barely enough for the old Xia Yiyang to buy a single Lego set. But now he knew how hard it was to earn money, and every single yuan had to be carefully budgeted.
First, he set aside four hundred for the hostel bed fee. Originally four hundred would only cover a week, but with Wen Sen’s help bargaining, the same price could get him a full ten days.
From the remaining three hundred and eighty, Xia Yiyang set aside two hundred for his “travel fund.” Sichuan province was rich in travel destinations—just within Rongcheng itself there were two panda bases. He’d heard that baby pandas were on display over the summer, and they were this tiny (gesturing)!
He needed to save up more so he could go see them soon.
The last hundred and eighty yuan he used to buy some Sichuan specialty products—not for himself, but to send directly back home to Beijing.
Nowadays, the Shu Road is no longer so difficult—express delivery rides the high-speed rail. Sent out on the first day, it arrives bright and early the next morning.
As soon as her mother received the package, she immediately video-called him. At that moment, Xia Yiyang’s day off had just ended, and he was on his way to work. Before answering the call, he made a point of ruffling his hair and straightening his collar to look a bit more presentable.
“Yiyi,” as soon as the video connected, his mother’s concerned voice came through, “we got the hotpot base you sent.”
“Good to hear!” Xia Yiyang held up two fingers to show a tiny pinch. “I made sure to pick the super super super mild ones—you can share some with Grandma’s family and Nana’s family too.”
His mother looked at him through the screen, worry all over her face: “You haven’t called in so long—I was really worried. This is your first time traveling alone, and you went all the way to Sichuan. Yiyi, how about Mom and Dad fly over to keep you company?”
“No, no, no!” Xia Yiyang quickly shot down the idea. “You two focus on work—there’s no rush to come until school starts! Sichuan’s great—I’m eating well, sleeping well, and having a great time.”
Eating staff meals, sleeping in an eight-bed hostel, and playing Fruit Ninja at the ice jelly shop every day—he couldn’t even touch the hem of “having a great time.”
Sorry, Mom—he didn’t want to lie either. But he was an eighteen-year-old adult, not a seventeen-year-old kid. Some things he just had to bear on his own. (Clenches fist) (Sighs) (Heavy) (Mature)
He chatted with his mother for a long time, and if it weren’t for the shop’s opening time approaching, he could’ve kept going.
“Mom, gotta go—I’m off to play (go to work)!”
“Wait, one last thing!” his mother said. “Remember to take lots of pictures when you’re out and post them to the family group so Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Grandpa can all see.”
“Okaaay—” Xia Yiyang dragged out the word in agreement.
But what photos did he have of going out? He’d been scammed clean within three days of arriving in Rongcheng, and ever since then, he’d been stuck circling the ice jelly shop. The furthest place he’d been was the panda’s butt in Chunxi Road—he hadn’t even seen a single strand of real panda fur.
Ah, forget it—he’d figure something out later.
Xia Yiyang hung up and rushed to the ice jelly shop, arriving right on time.
“Good morning!” he greeted the two aunties with abundant energy.
To his surprise, the aunties looked at him like they’d seen a ghost.
Auntie Zhao asked: “Xiao Xia, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here for work!” Xia Yiyang was baffled. “I had yesterday off—of course I’m coming in today.”
Auntie Li said: “Oh my! Didn’t you ask the boss for your wages before your day off? We all thought you couldn’t handle the hard work and found an excuse to skip out!”
“!!!” Xia Yiyang hadn’t expected to be misunderstood like that. He remembered the obscure, unreadable look in Sheng Lin’s eyes when the man transferred the money that night—did Sheng Lin think he’d take the money and run too?
For no reason at all, a spark of irritation flared up in Xia Yiyang’s chest—He’d been working so hard every day, peeling mangoes until the yellow got stuck under his nails, and he’d never once thought about bailing. Who gave Sheng Lin the right to distrust His Majesty?!
Auntie Li pressed him for details: “How much did the boss pay you?”
Xia Yiyang answered glumly: “Just the week’s wages. One hundred thirty a day, six days—seven hundred eighty. Not a cent more, not a cent less.”
“That much?!” Auntie Li said in surprise. “At the shop I worked at before, if a kid like you asked for pay after just one week, they’d never get the full amount! Uniform deductions, meal deductions, plus some ‘tuition fee’—oh! And didn’t you ruin a whole watermelon on your first day because you didn’t wear gloves? Another boss would’ve docked you for that too… Deduct this, deduct that, and if you even saw two hundred yuan after the first week, you’d be lucky.”
Xia Yiyang was taken aback: “Those bosses are awful!”
“That’s just how business is. It’s not that they’re awful—it’s that our boss is good,” Auntie Zhao chimed in. “Don’t let his fierce face fool you. When’s the last time you were short on meat in your bowl? A kid like you floating around Rongcheng alone—how could he have the heart to bully you?”
Xia Yiyang: “…”
How strange. He’d just been stewing over Sheng Lin not trusting him, but now, thinking about the wages he’d happily spent as soon as he got them, that resentment suddenly dissipated.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the stairwell, and a familiar figure descended step by step.
When Sheng Lin saw the boy standing at the counter, his expression flickered almost imperceptibly.
Just a flicker.
Just a flicker—but Xia Yiyang caught it.
“Boss~” Xia Yiyang puffed out his chest and walked up to him, deliberately teasing, “Surprised or not? Shocked or not?”
“…” Sheng Lin said nothing.
Xia Yiyang’s mouth rattled on like a machine gun: “You thought I’d take my first week’s pay and run, didn’t you? I’m not the kind of person who starts something and doesn’t finish it, Boss. With an employee like me—who doesn’t slack off, doesn’t cut corners, and isn’t delicate—you can rest easy. Even if some other ice jelly shop offered me ten times the pay, I wouldn’t leave this place!”
“…” Sheng Lin still didn’t respond.
Xia Yiyang thought—why was the boss so aloof? His little Employee of the Year had come back, and he didn’t even have any reaction? Was he happy or not?
“Boss, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“I was just thinking,” Sheng Lin finally spoke, “that any place offering you ten times your pay probably isn’t an ice jelly shop—it’s a powder shop.”
————————
The boss cooks so well—of course the good little employee isn’t going to quit. [sparkly eyes]
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