At ten o'clock in the evening, Mu You and Lin Xuekankan flew back to K City at the end of the day.
After leaving the airport, the two took a taxi home and arrived at the place where Lin Xue and Xiaoya rented a house. Lin Xue got off the car and went directly back to the community, while Mu You urged the master to drive forward and arrived at the pet shop.
It was already 10:30 in the evening, and Mu You thought the store should have closed long ago.
Only when I got closer did I realize that the pet shop was still lit.
Xiaoya stood at the door, wearing an apron and holding a broom in her hand. While cleaning, she looked out from time to time.
This image made Mu You startled, almost making him think he had traveled back to two years ago...
"boss!"
Xiaoya immediately noticed Mu You walking out of the darkness and trotted out quickly, with anxiety and expectation on her face: "How is the approval going?"
"Needless to say? Of course it was successfully completed."
Mu You smiled and took out two documents from his bag.
"Is it really done?" Xiaoya hurriedly took the document and looked at it.
The certificate for raising and selling magical creatures that she obtained previously had several additional official seals, as well as a list of creatures that could be sold, and various other documents that she couldn't quite understand.
"Yes, the animals and the venue have been approved, and we can open at any time." Mu said.
"Very good!"
After Xiaoya finished reading, she also showed a relieved smile: "Boss, when will we open the store?"
When will the store open...
Mu You pondered for a moment. He had actually already considered this issue on the plane when he arrived.
"Saturday."
Mu You finally made the decision: "We will officially open this Saturday."
"Saturday...so fast..."
Xiaoya murmured. She had been looking forward to the opening before, but now that she heard that it was really going to open, she suddenly felt a little nervous again.
The pet store has been deteriorating in the past two years. Recently, it was even on the verge of bankruptcy and had to be forced to transform.
After the transformation, it prospered for a while, but soon it sank again due to the impact of the launch of The Fool's Game, and this time it sank even more completely.
The store had no business for a whole month. In the four years since she joined the pet store, she had never experienced such a long period of closure.
When there was no customer for a week in a row, Xiaoya felt inexplicably flustered. She was very afraid that one day Mu You would suddenly tell her that the world was changing too fast and the store would no longer be open, and then give her a severance package. go home……
If this scene really happens, Xiaoya really doesn't know what to do.
She has been in this store for four years and has become accustomed to everything here. She is used to taking care of the animals every day and delivering them to the right owners one by one.
She has no other skills. She has never graduated from high school and only knows how to deal with animals. The sudden end of all this will definitely make her extremely confused.
Fortunately, Mu You never showed any intention of giving up, and has been quietly collecting magical animals in preparation for another transformation.
And this time, Xiaoya also saw the effect. The video posted a few days ago, the terrifying number of views and popularity, as well as the comments from countless people urging the opening, did not look like a fake.
In the future, pet shops should flourish again, right?
"It would be great if my uncle and aunt were still here..."
Xiaoya could not help but sigh in a low voice. But as soon as she finished speaking, she felt a little regretful. She quickly raised her head and looked at Mu You carefully, only to find that Mu You was fiddling with her phone and didn't seem to hear her words, so she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's getting late. Go to bed early today and start tomorrow. But there are many things to be busy with." Mu You patted her shoulder and walked into the pet shop.
"Um."
Xiaoya also went back to the store to put down her things. After saying hello to Mu You, she picked up her bag and went home.
Lying in bed at night, Xiaoya kept imagining what the new store would look like in the future, and watched the Chocobo Race video many times while suffering from insomnia.
Looking at the messages expressing support and expectations in the video, I gradually gained confidence.
Early the next morning, Xiaoya got up early with dark circles under her eyes. After tidying up, she went out before six o'clock and rode to the cemetery in the northern suburbs.
That's where Muyou's parents are buried.
Four years ago, Xiaoya was a girl who dropped out of school at the age of 17 and came to work in the city. She knew nothing and ran into obstacles everywhere. Fortunately, when he was about to lose his last resort, he met Mu You's parents.
Her uncle and aunt took her in, gave her a job, and allowed her to stay in the store temporarily. Only then did she get through the most difficult time. And she stayed in the pet shop like this ever since.
So for her, the pet shop was not only a place where she could work and make money, but also a place like home, and her uncle and aunt were the only people in the city who were kind to her at that time.
After the second elder passed away, she and Mu You would often take turns visiting the cemetery to sweep their graves, so their tombs were always cleaner than those around them.
Before arriving at the cemetery, Xiaoya went to the nearby flower shop to buy a bouquet of flowers, the most common yellow and white chrysanthemums, and brought the flowers into the cemetery.
But what she didn't expect was that when she walked along the stone road to her destination, she discovered that someone was already in front of the cemetery.
"Boss?" Xiaoya called out in surprise.
The person sitting in front of the cemetery over there is Mu You.
Today is not Qingming Festival, nor is it the anniversary of the death of Mu You's parents. It is just an ordinary day. Unexpectedly, the two of them came to visit the graves at the same time.
"coming."
Mu You was not surprised by Xiaoya's arrival. He waved hello and motioned for her to come over.
"Boss, you too..."
Xiaoya walked closer and found that the area around the cemetery had been cleaned up, except for an almost empty bottle of white wine at Mu You's feet.
But she knew that Mu You didn't drink, so this wine must have been prepared for her uncle who loved to drink white wine during his lifetime.
It was obvious that Mu You had been here for a long time and had said everything she needed to do and say.
"Yes, you have to tell them about such a big thing." Mu You picked up the wine bottle and poured the remaining wine in front of the tombstone.
Xiaoya also walked over and placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone.
After staring at the words on the tombstone for a while, she suddenly looked at Mu You and smiled: "Boss, at that time, fortunately you didn't give up."
Mu You naturally knew what Xiaoya meant by 'that time'.
Two years ago, when he learned of the death of his parents, Mu You was still in another province and had a decent job.
Of course, it was a huge blow to him to suddenly learn the bad news.
In a daze, he rushed home all the way to attend to the funeral, deal with the handover of various affairs and personnel arrangements after the death of his parents...
At that time, he had two choices before him: inherit the pet shop left by his parents; or give up the pet shop, rent out the shop, and continue his work and life as usual.
Rationally speaking, of course he should give up the pet store. In this way, while continuing his high-paying job, he can also have a good rental income as a backup on a regular basis, which allows him to live a very nourishing life in a first-tier city.
But emotionally, he doesn't want the pet shop to close, because this is a shop that his parents have devoted many years of hard work to running. It is the most important thing to his parents after him, and it is also the only thing that his parents left to him.
If you abandon the pet store, you will lose not only an industry, but also a sustenance.
And it is impossible to have both ends. If he wanted to inherit the pet store, it meant that he had to give up his job and everything he had worked hard for in another city. From then on, he had no financial security.
Besides, by the time he finished everything and returned to the pet store, it was already three days later.
Including the time when the store was closed after my parents' accident, it has been a full week without anyone taking care of the store.
Within a week, most of the animals should be dead, right? Even if you want to continue operating, it is basically impossible...
However, when Mu You dragged his tired body back to the pet shop that night, what he saw was not the deserted scene he had imagined.
The lights were on in the pet store, and there was another person in the store.
All the animals are well taken care of and the shop is kept clean.
At that time, Xiaoya, who was still childish, stood at the door wearing an apron and holding a broom in her hand just like last night. She gave him a forced smile and called Brother Mu to welcome him home. .
Mu You noticed that the girl was just strong and calm. Her hand holding the broom was even trembling slightly because of fear.
Xiaoya looked at him with such an expectant but extremely uneasy expression, as if she was waiting for a verdict, waiting for his verdict on the pet shop.
It was at that time that Mu You suddenly lost his confusion.
It turns out that the store left by his parents is not only his own sustenance, but also the sustenance of others.
So his first words after entering the store were: "Don't worry, I won't let the pet store close."
Mu You has forgotten the expression on Xiaoya's face at that time, but in short, after that, it was the two of them, with two hands, supporting the shop laboriously and clumsily.
Although with the development of the epidemic, the situation of the store took a turn for the worse, they suffered from economic pressure, and others looked down upon, and they gradually gave up on some things, but the two never gave up and persisted until recently, and finally saw a turn for the better...
"If you gave up at that time, you would probably lose a lot of things." Mu You sighed secretly.
Without the pet shop, he wouldn't have met Lu Yao, wouldn't have the USB flash drive, and wouldn't be able to enter the game in advance.
He will most likely be like an ordinary person. He will not be able to qualify for the game until the public beta, become a member of the vast majority of players, and disappear from the crowd.
Where is it possible to be like now, and even have the ability to change the direction of the world in the future...
"Don't worry, boss! Our store will definitely be prosperous!" Xiaoya encouraged him with a smile.
"of course."
Mu You also smiled, and then looked at the tombstone, as if saying to his parents, or to himself: "The pet shop will continue to operate. It may not become the largest and most famous store, but it will definitely exist for a long time..."
Then neither of them spoke, and they stood in front of the tomb in silence for a while.
"Let's go."
After a moment, Mu You suddenly stood up, packed up the wine bottles, and prepared to go home.
"Ah...just left? No more cleaning?" Xiaoya was at a loss. She seemed to have done nothing when she came over except placing a bunch of flowers.
"We've finished all the work, what else are we doing? If you have the energy to go back to the store, there are a lot of things to do today. Let's go." Mu You walked out on the stone road first.
"Oh." Xiaoya hurriedly followed.
It wasn't until she was leaving the cemetery that she turned back, looked in the direction of the tombstone, raised her fist and made a cheering gesture.
