Every trip to the mall was the same—the two of them split up to shop and came back with a cart full of supplies. Shan Ge drove a Ford Raptor pickup, stomping on the accelerator and squealing the tires around corners with a satisfying screech. Before long, they arrived at the massive building materials mall. This place had everything from construction materials down to tiny screws, TVs, computers, motors—you could almost get everything in one stop. The only catch was the exorbitant prices. Compared to China, where a twist drill bit cost six or seven baht, here it was 40 baht. He Mu picked one up and saw it was made in Wenzhou. The other items were much the same.
Shoppers flowed in and out nonstop. Most customers pushed two carts each, and the checkout lines often stretched long. Even though it was a building materials mall, it was as bustling as a wet market. The vast majority of shoppers were Chinese, and they profoundly influenced the direction of Thailand's economy.
Shan Ge was a VIP customer with access to a dedicated monthly billing channel, which was much faster than the regular checkout.
They needed to buy 350 meters of air hose. One entire aisle of shelves was lined with various soft and hard hoses—stainless steel, iron, copper, aluminum, PVC, PPR, PE—in all thicknesses and varieties, along with all kinds of connectors, elbows, tees, and valves. What He Mu and Shan Ge needed was high-pressure clear PVC hose.
After waiting about ten minutes, a tall girl walked over. She was wearing work clothes, a thin apron, and a mask, leaving only her eyes visible—her eyes were quite bright and beautiful.
Wearing gloves, she struggled to pull a large coil of air hose from the shelf, cut the binding straps, and began unwinding it loop by loop. As she pulled the hose, she tilted her head and used her arm to hold down the slipping end, her movements crisp and efficient. After unwinding about ten loops, she started measuring using the scale on the beam overhead—a meter-long marking on the beam. She stretched the hose with both hands, eyes fixed on the hose in her grip, measuring meter by meter. The measured lengths were dropped on the floor, and she stepped on the end to keep it from recoiling.
He Mu had been watching out of boredom, but gradually, he found himself drawn to her. Every twenty or thirty meters or so, she would straighten up, gently shake her wrists, and then continue. Sunlight slanted down through the skylight above the shelves, falling on the shoulder seams of her work uniform.
When she had measured over a hundred meters, He Mu laughed and said to Shan Ge, "The hose has markings on it. Why is she measuring it meter by meter?"
Shan Ge chuckled. "They're just being stubborn!"
The girl seemed to sense they were talking about her. She suddenly dropped the hose on the floor, shot them a glare, and started measuring again—the count she had just been keeping was probably broken.
When she reached over a hundred meters again, He Mu and Shan Ge couldn't help it and burst out laughing. She glared at them, threw the hose down hard, grabbed her phone from the counter, tucked it into her back jeans pocket, and walked off without looking back.
He Mu saw that clear, slightly annoyed look in her eyes, and something deep inside him felt like it had been given a sharp electric jolt. He stared blankly at the corner where she had disappeared—she had already turned the corner, but he was still standing there dumbfounded, the aftereffect of that electric shock still simmering in his chest. It wasn't pain, but an indescribable itch, his head feeling slightly swollen.
Shan Ge noticed his brightening eyes, flushed face, and dazed expression, and laughed, giving him a pat. He Mu snapped out of it, but his heart was still throbbing, feeling heavy, as if a large wooden mallet were not striking down but repeatedly pressing against his chest.
He turned to Shan Ge and said, "Bro, I like this girl!"
Shan Ge laughed. "If you like her, go for her! She looks pretty fair-skinned, her figure is good too, but who knows what her face looks like. But for now, we need to get the hose and head back to the company."
Just then, a supervisor walked over and explained that the girl was measuring this way because company policy required it—it wasn't that she didn't know about the markings, but that they shouldn't have interfered with her work.
In the car, He Mu's mind was filled with the girl's glare. Shan Ge watched him being so distracted and smirked to himself, deciding to bring him back after work for another look. But when they returned and circled the mall, they couldn't find her—it seemed she had already finished her shift and gone home.
They grabbed a quick bite to eat. Back at the hotel, He Mu skipped his workout today, feeling completely drained. His mind was filled with the girl's image, that slightly angry, slightly annoyed look in her eyes that seemed to shimmer. He replayed every detail of her in his mind—what he had for dinner or what was said, he had no idea. He tossed and turned all night and barely slept until dawn.
The next day, He Mu watched Shan Ge finish his work and wanted to head straight to the mall. But Shan Ge had to set up the trial production in the carpentry workshop and didn't have time, so he sent He Mu to buy another 50 meters of hose, saying, "In case we need extra as a backup."
When He Mu arrived at the mall, he found the girl. She was restocking items among the shelves. When she saw him, her hands paused for a moment before she continued.
He Mu pushed his cart over and pointed to the air hoses. "I need 50 meters."
The girl glanced at him, said nothing, and turned to pull out the hose.
He Mu pointed to the markings on the hose and carefully said, "There are markings on this. You don't actually need to measure it that way."
Without looking up, she replied, "Company policy. We can't look at the markings. We have to measure."
"I'm sorry I upset you yesterday. How about I buy you a coffee?"
"Do you want it or not?" she asked, as if she hadn't heard his question.
"Uh…" He Mu was at a loss for words.
"I need a few 2.5 connectors," he said awkwardly.
She pointed to where the connectors were kept. "Please get them yourself. Those don't need measuring."
He Mu grabbed a handful of connectors and tossed them into his cart. The girl stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
"I also need… 49 meters of hose."
The girl gave him a look and started measuring. Meter by meter, she measured, and He Mu stood watching. When she reached around thirty meters, she suddenly stopped, straightened up, and shook her wrists—the exact same movement he had noticed yesterday.
He Mu blurted out, "Are your wrists uncomfortable?"
The girl paused briefly, ignored him, and continued measuring.
After she finished, He Mu couldn't think of anything to say. He took the cut hose and measured it himself—it was exactly 49 meters.
"You measured it so accurately!" he praised.
The girl acted as if she hadn't heard.
"I might have remembered wrong. I think I meant 50 meters, not 49."
The girl stopped putting the remaining hose back on the shelf and turned her head to look at him.
"Please cut me… one more meter." He really couldn't think of anything better to say.
She stared at him for a full two seconds, pulled out a meter, measured it, cut it cleanly with one snip, and handed it to him.
Holding the one-meter length, He Mu wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He pointed to the 49-meter coil on the floor. "Um… could you help me tie that up?"
The girl crouched down, took three short straps, tied up the 49-meter coil and the one-meter piece together, and helped him place them in his cart.
Looking at the two coils, He Mu mustered his courage and said, "Well… I'll take this one-meter piece. The 49 meters… I don't need it for now."
The girl's eyes suddenly widened. She stared at him for a good five or six seconds, then unexpectedly turned her head away.
He Mu thought he must have imagined it—her lips seemed to twitch slightly.
Then she retrieved the one-meter hose from the cart and carried the 49-meter coil back to the shelf.
He Mu tried to think of something more to say, but she had already turned to assist another customer.
He was still racking his brain for a conversation starter when he heard a commotion nearby. He pushed his cart over to see.
A middle-aged man in a blue-and-white shirt was pointing aggressively at the girl, his face half red with anger, his voice raised. His shopping cart was piled high with pipe fittings—he looked like a regular customer.
"What's the big deal? I come here and spend money every day. What's wrong with touching you?" His voice was loud, and a small crowd had gathered.
The girl stood her ground, her face pale but her eyes sharp. She stood perfectly straight. The man reached out to grab her.
He Mu suddenly charged forward with his cart, ramming it into the man's thigh. The man staggered back several steps, nearly falling.
"Are you blind?" he roared at He Mu.
He Mu stared back coldly.
Several people came over to check on the girl. A Thai employee quietly said in Chinese, "This customer does this every time. He touches someone here, pinches someone there. Even the manager can't do anything about him…"
His leg hurting, the man lunged at He Mu. Seeing him approaching, He Mu swung the handle of his cart. The man collided with it and nearly tipped it over, stumbling back three or four steps, doubled over coughing—he must have hit his chest.
After listening for a moment, He Mu finally understood what had happened: the man had touched her, and she had slapped him back, leaving his face half red.
"Aren't you going to get out of here before the police come?" He Mu said, glaring at him.
The man pointed at He Mu. "Just you wait!" Then he quickly left empty-handed, abandoning his purchases.
The girl's colleagues gathered around. Some patted her shoulder to comfort her, while others looked at He Mu with complicated expressions. The girl herself said nothing, simply bending down to pick up the pipes the man had knocked over and inserting them back into the shelf one by one. Her hands were trembling slightly, but her movements were steady.
He Mu walked over, opened his mouth to say something, and finally managed, "Are you… okay?"
The girl looked at him. Her gaze was softer than before, though she still said nothing, just gave a slight shake of her head.
"That guy told me to wait. I'll wait here for him," he said to her.
Her colleagues pulled her away. After a few steps, she suddenly turned back and glanced at He Mu's cart—with the one-meter hose inside it. He was leaning on the cart, watching her.
She slowly turned her head and walked away.
He Mu waited for about an hour, but the man didn't return to cause any more trouble. He eventually went back to the company. Shan Ge happened to be at the entrance and helped him carry the items. When he saw the one-meter hose He Mu had bought, he picked it up, shook it, and gave him a skeptical look.
He Mu smiled awkwardly—this one was going to be hard to explain.
The next morning, He Mu went back to the mall. From a distance, he saw the girl standing among the shelves.
He walked over and picked up a connector, fiddling with it. "I'm sorry I upset you yesterday. How about I buy you a coffee?"
"We're not allowed to eat while working."
"Can we eat after work?"
The girl glanced at him, a slight movement at the corner of her mouth—it was unclear if she was about to smile or sigh. "No. If I drink coffee after work, I won't be able to sleep."
"How about water? You can sleep after drinking water." He paused after saying it—who asks someone out for water? Feeling awkward, he quickly added, "Then how about I treat you to a meal?"
"No, I'm having dinner with my sister today."
"I wanted to apologize for yesterday."
"It's okay. That's part of my job."
"That person yesterday… and then I bothered you too. I'm sorry."
"That person…" she paused briefly. "You're a good person. But I need to get back to work."
With that, she walked away lightly.
He Mu stood there, thinking: I need to do something. He ran out of the mall, bought a croissant and a bottle of milk tea at the entrance, and turned back around. When he found the girl, she was helping another customer retrieve items.
He waited nearby. When she finished, he pressed the items into her hands. "If you're hungry, have a little something."
She started to refuse but seemed embarrassed. She looked down at the things in her hands, then back up at him.
He Mu felt uneasy under her gaze and was about to explain when the girl suddenly handed the items to a colleague beside her, whispered something, and the colleague smiled and walked away.
She looked at him. This time, she didn't avert her gaze.
"Thank you," she said.
She spoke those two words with such sincerity, her voice sweet and soft, that He Mu's whole body melted. Her accent pushed the initial consonant high and curled the tongue at the end, as if afraid he wouldn't understand—it sounded both like "thank you" and yet completely unlike it.
Hearing her gentle, slightly delicate voice, he swore a hundred oaths to himself: even if I have to walk through mountains of blades and seas of fire, plunge into a cauldron of oil, roll on a bed of nails, or get slapped dozens of times, I will do whatever it takes to get to know this girl!
By the time he finished swearing his oaths, the girl had disappeared from sight.
He Mu looked down at his cart—it was empty. He had completely forgotten about buying the air hose.
But he felt incredibly happy, his palms sweaty. Today had been a success; at least he had spoken with her.
He pushed his empty cart toward the exit. Halfway there, he thought he heard someone calling him from behind.
He turned around. The girl was standing by the shelf, holding a coil of hose in her hand.
"Didn't you come to buy air hose?" she said.
He Mu laughed. "Did I come to buy air hose?"
She walked over and placed the hose into his cart. "Fifty meters. I measured and tied it for you."
"When you came earlier, I was thinking," her voice was still that soft, sweet tone, "you've come a few times now. You can't always leave empty-handed, right?"
He Mu looked at the hose in his cart, picked up one end, squeezed it, and laughed. "This hose is really good today. Very soft!"
The girl turned and walked away. After a few steps, with her back to him, she said softly, "That milk tea… it wasn't very good!"
He Mu stood there, watching her figure disappear at the end of the aisle. This time, he saw clearly—her steps were a little lighter than yesterday.
(To be continued, next chapter: The Strike)