Chapter 15: Work Uniform

Brother Xu blinked, staring at the child in confusion.

“What are you saying? I didn’t understand a word.”

“Nothing, it’s fine,” Wang Jiexiang sighed deeply, “You want to go inside, right?”

She stepped aside, making way for him.

Brother Xu scratched his head, still unsure of the situation, and walked past her into the noisy card room.

According to the previous scenario, soon Yin Xian would come out on his own and go to the cafeteria to eat.

Wang Jiexiang walked to the entrance to wait for him, forcing herself to calm down.

Why had it failed again?

She referred to her first entry into the staff dormitory as the “first loop.”

In the first loop, she got angry when she found out that He Shan was Yin Xian’s first love. She left on her own, and the world reset.

Then came the “second loop.” In the second loop, she broke up Yin Xian and He Shan and went to the cafeteria with him.

The new development during the meal was: Yin Xian was targeted by his coworkers. He left her and went to the phone booth to make a call, and the world reset again.

Now she was in the third loop.

Being in the third loop meant that her deduction from the second loop—”someone was interfering with the progress of true love, causing the world to reset”—was wrong.

Think again, smart Jiexiang! She pressed her hands to her temples and began a new round of reasoning.

In the first house on Little Rabbit Island, she had helped the 4-year-old Yin Xian who met bad people.

In the second house, she helped the Primary School Student Yin Xian, who was trapped inside while his parents argued and longed to go out to play.

In this third house, Yin Xian had also been wronged, with his coworkers from the factory’s auto repair section ganging up on him.

The work uniform!

Her eyes lit up: If she told Yin Xian not to wear the clean work uniform, maybe it could break the deadlock?

Wang Jiexiang stood on tiptoe and peeked into the room. Yin Xian had already greeted Brother Xu. He put on a new work uniform handed to him by a card player and walked toward her.

“Yin Xian!”

She called his name and waved at him, hoping to avoid the mishap from the previous loop when he knocked her aside.

Of course, he didn’t recognize her.

Yin Xian bent down and looked at her at eye level.

“Do you know me?”

“I’m the child from your mom’s new family. She asked me to find you and told you to take care of me. She’ll come to pick me up tonight.”

For the third time, Wang Jiexiang finally lied convincingly.

“Oh.”

Yin Xian didn’t suspect anything and motioned for her to follow him.

Wang Jiexiang refused to walk, as his work uniform hadn’t been changed yet.

“Ah!”

She pretended to be surprised and pointed at his clothes.

“Why is there a dark mark here? You should change back into your original uniform.”

“What’s dirty?” he looked down to check.

“It’s really dirty, it really is.”

Wang Jiexiang said as she subtly rubbed her hand against the blackened wall.

“Look behind you!”

Yin Xian didn’t fall for it and didn’t look back, but her hand was already pressed against his clothes.

In the cold atmosphere, Wang Jiexiang withdrew her hand.

A chubby black handprint was left on Yin Xian’s work uniform.

“Uh,” she weakly explained, “I told you, it’s really dirty…”

Yin Xian, with a stiff face, unbuttoned his work uniform.

“When my mom comes to pick you up, I’ll report this to her.”

He walked back to the card table, returned the clothes to the player who lent them to him, and apologized.

The other person didn’t mind the small stain and even asked if he wanted another new one. Yin Xian shook his head and directly put on his own work uniform that had been draped over a chair.

Seeing this, Wang Jiexiang let out a sigh of relief: If Yin Xian had changed into a brand-new work uniform, she would have had to work even harder.

Once they exited the dormitory building and saw the direction Yin Xian was heading, Wang Jiexiang still refused to move.

“Where are you taking me?”

“There’s no place for kids here. I’ll get you a ball, you can play with it outside.”

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to play with the ball!”

She thought: Since the breakup between He Shan and Yin Xian wasn’t the reason he was stuck, there was no need to break them up again. Completing the stage was the real goal.

“I want to eat. Take me to eat, okay? I’m so hungry, I’m starving.”

Yin Xian glanced at her.

“Fine. But don’t come find me when you get bored.”

Wang Jiexiang nodded eagerly.

They arrived at the staff cafeteria.

Unlike the previous loop, Wang Jiexiang had already eaten. She wasn’t hungry, but while waiting in line to order, her attention was entirely focused on the long table in the corner.

She wondered if the new work uniform would make a difference, or if they would still dislike Yin Xian?

So, she thought the safest approach was to avoid having Yin Xian sit at that table.

Making up an excuse that she didn’t want to sit with strangers, Wang Jiexiang held her food and stood with Yin Xian for at least ten minutes. Aside from that long table, there were no other available two-person seats.

She watched as several people finished their meals but stayed seated, not leaving.

“Forget it.” Playing smart didn’t work, what needed to be faced couldn’t be avoided.

Wang Jiexiang followed Yin Xian and sat at the vacant spot at the long table.

Among the chatting coworkers, one sharp-eyed person spotted them first. Wang Jiexiang recognized him as the one who had mocked Yin Xian the most, saying: “Can’t even work, but at least you eat on time.”

Staying alert, she picked at her food with her chopsticks, listening carefully.

“Why aren’t you eating? Didn’t you say you were hungry?” Yin Xian asked, looking at her curiously.

“Wait.” Wang Jiexiang made a shushing gesture.

“Wait for what?”

“Just wait.”

The coworkers chatted animatedly. She listened carefully to their conversation, but none of it was about Yin Xian.

After a long while, several people finished eating and stood up.

Wang Jiexiang’s heart leapt: Safe! Great, the plot has changed!

“Engineer Yin.”

The man leading them even spoke to Yin Xian before leaving.

“We’re heading to the factory, you can come see the new cars later.”

Yin Xian calmly agreed.

Wang Jiexiang followed Yin Xian out of the cafeteria.

He didn’t mention buying cigarettes or making a call, just took her straight to the Auto Repair Shop.

“You said you didn’t want to play with the ball. Stay here, but don’t run around the factory.”

Yin Xian opened his office, moved a clean chair for Wang Jiexiang.

“I want to follow you.”

She wasn’t the unruly child he thought she was! She had a mission to save him.

“No.” Yin Xian refused her.

Someone outside called him over.

“Be good, I’ll buy you a popsicle when I’m done.”

He strode out of the office, locking the door behind him.

“Hey…”

Wang Jiexiang stared at the closed door, muttering, “You didn’t even ask me what flavor I want.”

Yin Xian’s office was a genuine office.

It was purely for work, with a desk full of unreadable blueprints and many foreign-language books.

Wang Jiexiang originally planned to pass time by looking for a book… but after walking around, she couldn’t even understand the titles of those books.

Sitting on the chair, she idly swung her legs, her mind wandering.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when the door was finally opened from the outside.

“Yin Xian!”

Wang Jiexiang looked up.

But it wasn’t Yin Xian who entered, it was someone she had never seen before.

“Are you Yin Xian’s sister?” The person walked to the water dispenser and filled a cup of water.

“Yeah,” she didn’t feel like explaining further. “Where did Yin Xian go?”

“We finished up together, he just went out.”

“Out?” Wang Jiexiang’s heart sank upon hearing those words.

Without missing a beat, she rushed out of the office toward the phone booth.

“Yin! Yin Xian!”

She saw his back, and he hadn’t reached the phone booth yet.

Hearing her voice, Yin Xian turned around.

He turned his head and clearly looked in her direction, but it was as though he didn’t see her.

Wang Jiexiang ran forward and collided with an invisible wall.

It was a barrier.

In the first loop, she had gotten angry and wanted to ignore Yin Xian, walking out of the Auto Repair Shop. She encountered a barrier at the entrance that stopped her from leaving.

But how could the barrier appear here?

In a place where she had once walked freely, blocking her way?

“Yin Xian! Don’t go make the call!”

Wang Jiexiang shouted as loudly as she could.

But sadly, he couldn’t see her, nor could he hear her voice.

Yin Xian turned around and, without a second glance, entered the phone booth.

At this point, Wang Jiexiang’s third loop came to an end.

As the sound of mahjong and the never-ending gray mist enveloped her again, she remembered the words the rabbit had repeated several times.

“These houses give me a bad feeling.”

How had she not believed it back then?

She had excitedly thought she was filming an artsy romance film—“Raising a Little Husband,” “First Love 300 Times” and the like—but after being trapped, she finally realized its true nature…

Trapped in the Auto Repair Shop, it was unmistakably a horror film.