Daniu, the guy who worked at the car wash, had Down syndrome. Right at that moment, he was diligently washing a car inside the shop.
As soon as he finished bustling around with the wash, the driver got back in, lowered the window, reached out with his phone to scan the QR code, and suddenly started yelling at Daniu.
Because Daniu was slow to react, he couldn't win the argument. The man cursed at him, started the engine, and tried to drive away.
Amidst the general noise, the other two workers were busy repairing cars inside the garage and hadn't heard the dispute outside at all.
Qin Jiujiu had heard it, though. The man had only paid twenty yuan, even though the agreed-upon price for the wash was thirty.
She stood up instantly, closed the distance to the driver's side door in two long strides, and just as the car was about to move, thrust her hand through the open window, felt for the door lock button, and pressed it. Yanking her right hand back, she used her left hand to violently wrench the door open.
Startled, the man slammed on the brakes on reflex, his body jerking forward from the momentum.
Leaning her left hand against the door and resting her right hand on the upper frame, Qin Jiujiu looked down at him and demanded, "The car wash costs thirty yuan. What makes you think twenty is enough?"
Regaining his senses, the man tried to play dumb. "The idiot told me twenty from the start!"
"Say that again! Don't think I didn't hear him; he kept saying thirty. Pay up right now!"
She pointed at the QR code on the wall, her tone fierce and desperate, radiating pure aggression the moment she lost her temper.
Knowing he was in the wrong, the man grumbled under his breath, scanned the code, and begrudgingly paid the remaining ten yuan.
"Happy now?"
"No, I'm not. Who are you calling an idiot? Apologize! You're not going anywhere today unless you do." Qin Jiujiu took a fighting stance, finishing her sentence by forming her right hand into a fist and pounding it against the car frame.
Daniu had been standing right behind her all along. Seeing her act like this, his simple mind made him think she was about to get into a fight and get hurt, so he rushed forward to pull her back.
He had just been handling something greasy and forgot, completely losing all sense of pressure in his hands, and smeared a huge black oily handprint right across her light green sleeve.
Ignoring it entirely, Qin Jiujiu kept her eyes locked on the man.
Cowed, the man turned to Daniu and said, "Sorry about that, my friend, didn't mean to offend you earlier."
Daniu let out a dazed response. This sort of thing had happened several times before, especially when he was left alone in the shop, but he had never expected it to end like this.
Only then did Qin Jiujiu pull her hand back, close the car door, and wave him off.
The man hurriedly stepped on the gas and sped away.
"Your sleeve... it's dirty." Daniu pinched another spot on the sleeve, only to smudge another patch of black oil onto it. Stomping his feet in panic and shaking his hands, he had no idea what to do.
Patting him on the shoulder, Qin Jiujiu soothed, "It's fine, I'll wash it clean in a bit. Don't worry about it, go back to work."
Daniu had no other tasks left—his main responsibility was washing cars, and even something like this hadn't gone right—so he slumped dejectedly onto the tall wooden stool where He Yi had been sitting earlier.
Qin Jiujiu returned to her usual calm demeanor, sitting in her chair and patiently comforting him.
Before long, He Yi and the other person returned.
After carrying the retrieved parts inside, He Yi walked up to Qin Jiujiu and instantly spotted the black handprint on her sleeve.
His heart skipped a beat. "How did that happen?"
Qin Jiujiu looked down at the dirty patch and tugged at the fabric. Before she could answer, Daniu chimed in eagerly, "Xiaoyi, she helped me chase that guy away, and the man even apologized to me." He spoke slowly, and sometimes his logic was a bit disjointed.
A surge of irritation welled up inside He Yi, but afraid of scaring them, he forced his temper down and continued asking, "Are you hurt?"
Fearing he would overthink it, Qin Jiujiu replied, "No, it was nothing. I just said a few words and the guy ran off."
"Good."
If she had gotten hurt here, He Yi would have gone out of his mind with frustration.
Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, he hurried upstairs in two strides.
The second floor had been partitioned into a living space with a somewhat low ceiling. He Yi practically brushed his hair against the top as he ran over, opened his laptop, pulled up the surveillance footage, and dragged the progress bar backward.
The camera's view showed Qin Jiujiu's back and the man's face.
Though he couldn't hear the audio, his heart seized the moment he saw her blindly feeling for the door lock, terrified that the man would slam on the gas and drag her along.
Fortunately, her courage, nerve, and ability to command the situation were off the charts. Like a battle angel, she had pointed to the QR code, made the guy pay, and—who knew what she said—struck the door frame twice with her little fist, beating the man into submission.
Those two strikes landed right in the middle of his heart. He was completely transfixed; she was too adorable.
Then he saw the source of the black handprint.
His irritation vanished instantly, replaced by an even more terrifying sensation.
With trembling hands, he clipped that section of the video, saved it, and still feeling uneasy, logged into WeChat and sent a copy to File Transfer Assistant before he finally began to calm down.
All the way downstairs, he kept debating whether to offer to wash her clothes or just buy her a new set.
Fortunately, He Yi didn't have to agonize over it for long, because he saw Qin Jiujiu staring straight at him again, deploying her signature tactic. "He Yi," she said, "can you lend me some money? I want to go buy a new outfit, and I'll pay you back in a few days."
In Qin Jiujiu's eyes, He Yi was the only person in the world connected to her; everyone else was just a bunch of data points devoid of currency exchange. Asking He Yi came naturally and unapologetically to her.
This time, He Yi didn't remain indifferent. In fact, a small part of his mind split off to grade her unshakeable confidence: *so cute.*
Feigning nonchalance, he nodded. "Alright, I'll go with you. But you have to wait for me to run home, take a quick shower, and change my clothes, okay? It's very close."
Qin Jiujiu gave a soft assent.
He Yi grabbed his house keys and called out as he passed Qin Jiujiu, "Let's go."
Qin Jiujiu didn't process it immediately, but on instinct, she stood up to follow him. This time, He Yi deliberately slowed his pace.
It wasn't until He Yi led her into Century Huacheng, the residential complex directly across from the auto repair shop, that Qin Jiujiu realized they were heading to his place.
She didn't say anything, simply following him into the nearest building, stepping into the elevator, and watching him press the button for the seventh floor.
He Yi had lost his mother at a young age, but fortunately, his father had studied automotive repair in vocational college and opened a shop early on. Over the past few years, business had been growing steadily, the shop had expanded, they had hired two apprentices, and He Yi even had further expansion plans.
When the housing development first launched, his father and he put their heads together and bought a two-bedroom apartment of one hundred square meters in full. He had moved in when he started high school.
They chose this complex because the ceilings were designed to be quite high, a little over three meters. Both He Yi and his father were nearly 1.9 meters tall, so living there didn't feel oppressive, and for a hundred-square-meter two-bedroom, both bedrooms and the living room were reasonably spacious.
Qin Jiujiu was settled onto the sofa as he turned on the television, switched it to a channel for her, and then hurriedly grabbed some clothes and turned toward the bathroom.
The living room was clean and tidy, devoid of unnecessary clutter. The cabinets were custom-built to match throughout the entire home, unified in style and pleasing to the eye.
Among them was a glass-doored cabinet displaying various medals. Qin Jiujiu went down the line, looking at them one by one.
He Yi had intended to take a quick shower to wash off the smell of engine oil, but the mere thought of her waiting in the living room outside kept his mind wandering.
When he emerged, he was already dressed neatly in a well-fitting V-neck white T-shirt and black cuffed cargo pants, which highlighted his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs—looking like a completely different person from his usual student persona in school uniform.
Qin Jiujiu suddenly felt a little tempted.
With their own thoughts hidden in their hearts, the two of them walked down the street.
The April streetscape of the human world was as gorgeous as a brilliantly colored oil painting.
A gentle breeze swept past her long hair, and soft strands brushed lightly against He Yi's arm. He lowered his gaze for a split second and couldn't help muttering inwardly, *How is it that even her hair is this pretty?*