Chapter 9: A Fighter Jet Among Tragedies

The sky grew dim as night quietly descended. It was time for the Xinyue Restaurant to close for the day. Gu Liuxi finally finished all her chores and stretched comfortably, her face filled with satisfaction.

In the past, every time she finished work was when her spirits were at their highest. The fatigue of the entire day would be swept away; finishing work signaled that her labor for the day was done and her wages for the day were secured.

The only thing she possessed that could be considered luggage was that Stone Mirror. The fragmented set of wedding robes had already been thrown away by her. Fortunately, the shopkeeper was kind and gave her three identical sets of staff uniforms. Although the clothes were a little large, it was at least better than having no clothes at all.

She returned to her own tiny storage room. Although the room was crude, it was at least a place for one person to live.

She was the only girl in the entire restaurant; as a girl, she couldn't exactly squeeze in with several grown men!

The shopkeeper had kindly vacated a storage room for her to use as a room. By the time she had finished cleaning up almost everything, the storage room finally felt lived-in.

There was a small wooden bed, a set of quilts, and a storage cabinet she had repurposed as a wardrobe. A table with one missing leg had been repaired by her into a small table, and several already dilapidated stools had also been patched up; at least they were sit-able.

On the table sat a teapot with half its lid missing, which she had replaced with a lid from another teapot to make it whole. There were also several chipped cups, all of which she had washed clean and arranged on the table.

The tiny storage room was originally used to store some of the restaurant's waste. She had recycled all those scraps, clearing out the useless things and keeping everything that could be reused.

The small storage room had been cleaned thoroughly by her; the table, stools, teapot, and teacups were all washed spotless.

Looking at the fruits of her labor, Gu Liuxi revealed a gratified smile.

Until she saved enough travel funds, this would be her temporary home.

She happily threw herself onto her small bed, rolling around several times.

*Knock, knock—*

A sudden knocking sound came from outside the door.

Gu Liuxi stopped her rolling. In the middle of the night, who would be looking for her?

"Coming, coming..."

Gu Liuxi got off the bed and walked to open the door.

Outside the door was Chi Heng, holding late-night snacks.

As soon as Gu Liuxi saw it was Chi Heng, she brightened up. "Chi-zi, how is it you? How did you know I lived here?"

Chi Heng did not answer her question; instead, he poked his head inside.

The tiny storage room was visible at a glance: a small wooden bed, semi-old quilts, a table with unevenly thick legs, dilapidated stools, a strange teapot, chipped teacups, and a cabinet missing a door panel where two sets of work uniforms—identical to the one she was wearing—hung alongside some scattered items. It was extremely crude, yet very clean.

When he learned that the shopkeeper had moved her into a storage room, his first thought was how anyone could live in a storage room, so he hurriedly asked for its location and came looking.

He hadn't expected that this tiny storage room, though very crude, would be arranged so cleanly and swept so spotless. Although the items inside were pieced together haphazardly, it didn't feel out of place; rather, it felt quite novel.

Seeing Chi Heng peeking in to inspect her house, she simply stepped aside to let him in.

As he walked into the small room, he seemed somewhat out of place.

Gu Liuxi boasted to him proudly, "How is it? This will be my home from now on. Not bad, right!"

Even though these were all recycled scraps, it at least looked like a home. Although it was a bit crude, to Gu Liuxi, who had suffered much hardship since childhood, none of this mattered.

"It's alright!"

After a long pause, Chi Heng finally gave a mediocre review.

In truth, Chi Heng had been watching her every move at Xinyue Restaurant all day. Seeing that it was almost closing time and knowing Gu Liuxi must be exhausted after working all day, he had gone out to buy her a portion of late-night snacks.

He hadn't expected that by the time he returned with the snacks, she had already set up her little nest.

Although this little nest was extremely crude, one could see that she had put a lot of heart into decorating it. Looking at the differently colored teapot lid and that unevenly thick table, it was clear she was working hard to make her own life more comfortable.

She had shocked him once again.

They had only known each other for one day, yet the shock she brought him was already quite significant.

"By the way, this is the late-night snack I brought for you. You aren't allowed to mention money to me; this is a gift of friendship..." As if knowing she would surely calculate every penny and wouldn't take even a tiny advantage from anyone, Chi Heng gave her a preemptive warning. Otherwise, the moment she opened her mouth, she would surely say, *How much is this meal? Just note it down, I'll pay you back.*

Gu Liuxi was instantly amused by the expression on Chi Heng's face. "Yes, yes, yes..."

Not only had Chi Heng brought her out of the deep valley, but he had also found her such a good job. In her heart, she had long since regarded him as a friend; he was also the first friend she had made since coming to this world.

Between friends, if one was too calculating, they couldn't be called friends.

Today, she ate a meal of his late-night snacks in her capacity as his friend.

Someday, if he had anything he needed her help with, she would naturally lend her utmost assistance.

This was her definition of a friend.

Gu Liuxi didn't have many friends to begin with. She had a few close ones, but because she moved frequently, she had eventually lost contact with them all.

Therefore, friends were precious to her.

Chi Heng placed the food on the table. "Come, eat! You've been busy all day. Eat and get some rest early; you have to work tomorrow!"

"Okay, okay, okay..." However, to be honest, she was indeed quite hungry. After working all day and then busily tidying up the storage room, her stomach had long since been protesting. If Chi Heng hadn't come, she would have gone to sleep by now.

When hungry, if one falls asleep, the hunger goes away.

This was something she used to do often. It wasn't that she had no money, but that she couldn't bear to spend the money she had worked so hard to earn.

Her unscrupulous father would remit tens of thousands in living expenses to her every month, but she hadn't touched a single cent of that money; there were already several hundred thousand sitting in her account.

"Mmm! Delicious, so delicious..."

Although Gu Liuxi ate in large bites, her manner of eating was not coarse at all.

Seeing her eat so happily, Chi Heng's mood instantly brightened along with hers.

Seeing the look of pure satisfaction on her face, for some reason, a very warm feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

How long had it been since he had felt such a feeling? Even he couldn't remember clearly.