Pretending to have learned the rehabilitation movements from Dr. Shen, Zhang Lili then proceeded to complete the discharge procedures in an orderly manner.
She gave the caregiver an extra two hundred yuan to help her carry the old woman into the car, and then asked the caregiver to ride along. After getting out of the car, she helped Luo Meihong into the wheelchair.
Throughout this, Luo Meihong’s curses could be heard:
"Bullshit doctor! My leg was ruined by the hospital! They have to pay me!"
"Zhang Lili, are you deaf! Put me down! Where are you taking me! You dare disobey me! I'll have Hu Xingfa divorce you!"
"Get away! Don't touch me! You stink! It's all because of you! You stink so much I can't move my legs!"
Along the way, Zhang Lili turned a deaf ear, her expression calm as she drove home. After Zheng the caregiver helped Luo Meihong into the wheelchair, she took out two hundred yuan from her wallet. After watching Zheng the caregiver walk away, Zhang Lili pushed the wheelchair into the elevator, and then into Luo Meihong's apartment.
She turned around and closed the security door. Zhang Lili, who had been silent the whole way, finally spoke her first words.
"Even if you're paralyzed, your son hasn't come. So it's me who has to."
Luo Meihong's continuous shouting was abruptly silenced by this sentence. Her eyes then turned red, and she roared at Luo Meihong:
"That's because you, you vixen, tricked him! He doesn't even know my leg is bad! That's right, it's you!"
Zhang Lili circled around Luo Meihong's wheelchair and sat on the sofa, leaning back against the cushions, placing her feet on the coffee table and crossing her legs.
"Mom, you say such a big thing, do you think I dare not tell Xingfa? I told Xingfa as soon as possible yesterday, but he said he was busy and had to go on a business trip today, and he won't be back for a week."
Luo Meihong watched Zhang Lili's leisurely movements, feeling inexplicably flustered. She suppressed herself and frowned:
"It's understandable to go on a business trip. I have my daughter-in-law to take care of me, that's enough. What are you still sitting there for? Give me the remote. I want to watch TV. The hospital's broken TV is too quiet, I can't hear anything clearly!"
Seeing that Luo Meihong had stopped scolding, Zhang Lili stood up and handed her the remote, still smiling and saying softly:
"So, Mom, think about it. You are paralyzed now and will never be able to get up again. If you anger me away, you will only continue to be served by Zheng the caregiver. If you want me to continue serving you, then Mom, you have to be obedient, understand?"
Luo Meihong blinked her eyes, her hands tightly gripping the TV remote, muttering:
"Got it, got it. No need for that caregiver, it's a waste of money. The hospital too, a harmful hospital. I was fine, but I ended up like this after going there."
Zhang Lili slapped the table, "Be quiet!"
Luo Meihong instinctively opened her mouth to curse back, but then she thought about the rest of her life. Finally, she closed her mouth.
Therefore, all this talk about not understanding things or not knowing how to read faces is fake. The only reason is that people are not afraid of you. Once Luo Meihong had something to fear, Zhang Lili completely had her under control.
Since Liu Fang was added as a salesperson, the system, as described in the scrolls, began to count the sales made by Liu Fang to Liu Chen. In the past few days, Liu Chen would take time out to check the number of lottery tickets he received after finishing his cram school.
This feeling of getting lottery tickets without doing anything made Liu Chen feel like he was floating when he walked these past few days.
Moreover, because no sales were missed, he accumulated eighty lottery tickets in just three days.
Liu Chen sat on his pink lace-trimmed bed in his pink bedroom, his hands clenched, his head slightly bowed, and whispered, "Phew, System Dad, I hope I can draw another salesperson ticket this time, even a temporary one!"
"Start ten consecutive draws."
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one Junior Recruitment Sticker, which grants one Junior Employee within 24 hours of use.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one backpack, which only feels weightless when used by the host.'
'Received one thousand one hundred yuan in cash.'
'Received one waterproof electronic watch, which will not be damaged by water.'
'Received one bottle of sunscreen spray, which prevents tanning after use.'
Accumulated three days of lottery tickets, got eighty-eight thousand yuan, one recruitment sticker, one electronic watch, and one bottle of sunscreen spray?
"The items drawn this time seem to have a lower probability than last time? Last time, I had fewer lottery tickets but three items... So, the system isn't a guy?"
Muttering to himself, Liu Chen cast his gaze at the red lottery ticket drawn in the bottom left corner.
The red lottery ticket floated into the air and then enlarged.
"Within 24 hours of use, one Junior Employee will be obtained."
Flipping it over and over, the ticket only had this one sentence. But what a Junior Employee meant was not explained at all.
He couldn't figure it out, but based on his trust in the system's products, Liu Chen lay back on the bed, looking at the faint light from the streetlamp outside filtering through the curtains: "I'll try it tomorrow."
The next day
After opening the door and cleaning up, Liu Chen pulled his mother over to sit behind the desk.
"Mom, look, our family's business has been quite stable lately. I've checked, and we can ship over two hundred pieces a day. With just you and Aunt Li, it's too tiring."
Liu Fang's somewhat slouched posture immediately straightened up as she shook her head, "Not tired, not tired. As long as I think about our mortgage, I don't feel tired at all."
Liu Chen didn't know what to say when he heard this. Although he secretly stuffed five hundred yuan into the family drawer every day, and Liu Fang could afford the mortgage even if the business didn't make money, this was something he couldn't tell her.
The words at the tip of his tongue could only be silently changed to: "Aunt Li is also tired. She's just here to work for a salary, and now she's doing twice the work. If this continues, and Aunt Li gets tired and leaves, how will you manage alone?"
"I've already told Sister Li that if the business is this good all month, I'll increase her salary to one thousand eight hundred."
Liu Chen pursed his lips and looked at Liu Fang, who seemed to not understand. He changed his approach.
"But no matter how high the salary is, Aunt Li has her limits. And next month, our third year of high school will start. At that time, you'll be alone in the morning. You'll have to handle orders and move goods. What if someone takes our goods while you're inside moving them?"
Liu Fang had no way to refute this. She had been immersed in the joy of rapidly increasing turnover lately and hadn't thought that far ahead.
"Then, should we hire someone else?" Liu Fang volunteered this sentence. Although it was a question, it was enough for Liu Chen.
"Yes, let's hire another employee, male or female is fine. I'll write a recruitment notice and post it outside the store."
While Liu Fang was still frowning in hesitation, Liu Chen was already nimbly taking out a promotional poster previously distributed by Si Quan Tangyuan. He flipped it over and wrote "Recruitment" in big letters on the smooth white back with a thick marker. Below it, it read "male or female, under forty-five years old."
After writing, he looked at the characters, which resembled those written by a child, formed by vertical and horizontal strokes. He paused for a moment, then pretended to take a card sticker out of his pocket and stick it on top of the poster.