"None of your business."
I replied angrily.
I couldn't forget the words he said when he first saw me, standing in front of Anna, "No matter who you are, I only recognize Sister Anna."
It was nearly noon. I sat down on the flower bed beside the school gate and took out the milk and sandwich I packed in the morning, planning to have a quick bite.
Alex looked incredulous.
"Don't tell me you packed this sandwich this morning just to save money for lunch. Are you that poor..."
Before he could finish speaking, his stomach growled.
It was near the end of the year and during the vacation, all the snack shops in the university town were closed.
Even if Alex had money now, he couldn't buy food.
Seeing this, I directly handed over a sandwich.
Alex thought I was going to share with him and reached out to take it with disgust.
But I just stuffed both sandwiches into my own mouth.
Looking at Alex's shocked and embarrassed face, I almost burst out laughing.
I wouldn't starve myself to do something stupid that I knew wouldn't bring me any good.
Maybe he saw what I was thinking, and Alex's face immediately turned sour.
But I didn't have time to care about his feelings. After finishing the sandwich, I immediately stood up and went to the next place.
Seeing that I was about to leave, Alex reached out and grabbed me, asking, "Where are you going?"
I pointed to the address on my phone's navigation and said impatiently, "Going to work. Don't delay me from making money."
But he stared at me with wide eyes, pointing at the destination on the navigation:
"It's twenty - one kilometers away. Do you still want to ride your broken bike there and then ride it back home?"
I still said, "None of your business."
Seeing that I had no intention of paying attention to him at all, Alex could only call the driver waiting aside, put my bicycle in the trunk,
and then stuffed me into the car, saying angrily, "I'll give you a ride."
Hearing him say that, I took my hand out of my backpack and just leaned back on the car seat calmly:
"Let me make it clear. Even if you give me a ride, I won't give the room to your Sister Anna."
Alex was choked by my words and subconsciously wanted to refute.
I said, "Dare you say that you followed me out today not to get the room back for your Sister Anna?"
After saying that, I deliberately mimicked his tone and said sarcastically, "I only recognize Sister Anna."
Alex was left speechless by my retort.
After a while, he finally said, "Sister Anna has been used to her place since she was a child. She really can't sleep if she changes rooms."
"Then she shouldn't have pretended to be generous and offered to give me her room.
"Or does she think her room is like a throne? Does she want to play the game of refusing three times like in ancient times?"
"As the saying goes, those who pretend will get punished. She's met her match this time." I said lazily.
Alex pursed his lips and didn't say anything more.
The customer who asked me to assemble a computer in the afternoon was an aunt, but the one who opened the door was a man with tattoos on his arms.
Maybe because the room was warm enough, the man only wore a T - shirt, showing his tattooed arms, and he had a thick gold chain around his neck.
He looked very intimidating.
Not only me, but even Alex was startled.
He subconsciously pulled me behind him, standing between me and the man with tattoos.
I stared blankly at his back in front of me, feeling a complex emotion in my heart that I couldn't describe.
Fortunately, a gentle - looking aunt came out at this time and patted the man with tattoos reproachfully, "Look at how you scared the child."
This aunt was my client.
She sometimes saw my videos and felt sorry for me, who was about the same age as her daughter, having to make a living by myself.
Since she recently needed to configure a computer for her daughter's study, she placed an order with me to support my business.
After assembling the computer, the aunt wanted to keep us for dinner, but considering the journey back, I still refused.
The aunt didn't force me to stay. Besides the assembly fee, she gave me an extra one - hundred - yuan red envelope and insisted that I accept it before letting me go.
I made three hundred yuan that day, and I was in a quite good mood.
But Alex's gaze at me became more and more complicated.
"Did you make a living like this before?"
In the car, he suddenly asked me.
I said, "Don't be silly. It's not like I can get such good computer - assembling jobs every day."
Compared to picking up waste, working illegally in a kitchen washing dishes, and washing dishes, this was already a relatively easy and well - paid job.
It was only because I now had some fan base and their support that I could get orders stably every week.
"Did you encounter... any danger before?" He frowned, seemingly remembering the scene when we first saw the man with tattoos at noon.
I was stunned for a moment and said casually, "Occasionally."
Alex was silent. After a moment, he softly said, "I'm sorry..."
This caught me off guard.
In these years, I had been struggling to survive at the bottom alone. I had learned how to resist others' malice and contempt and protect my own interests.
But for this sudden apology...
I smiled awkwardly twice and said, "It's okay. I have the strength and means."
As I said that, I took out an electric baton from my backpack and waved it in front of him:
"Have you seen this? This thing can make even an adult unable to stand, let alone an adult pig."