txolops Chapter 262 Helping Out
Chapter 262 Helping Out
"Everything is complete. Please check it. If everything is in order, please sign this list to indicate that you have received it."
The old man pushed the list and pen in front of her.
Xu Xiaoyan carefully checked each item against the list, and after confirming that everything was correct, she signed her name again.
"Thank you so much, sir! Thank you so much!"
She picked up the keys and the file folder and thanked them sincerely again.
After thinking about it, I felt that simply expressing my gratitude verbally wasn't "complete" enough.
Then, she naturally reached into the back pocket of her backpack and pulled out two Snickers bars.
He quickly and discreetly slipped it into another pocket of the old man's work jacket that was still empty.
"It's nothing, thank you so much for troubling you today. I've caused you a lot of trouble."
The old man accepted the small gift, and a somewhat amiable expression finally appeared on his face as he nodded.
"Alright, the car is yours now, and all the paperwork is done. This world isn't easy, but as long as you make something of good quality, even if the location is 'average,' you can slowly build up your business and establish a good reputation."
He offered a few words of encouragement, which was unusual for him, and then pointed to the other end of the warehouse, to a metal door slightly larger than the side door he had entered through, large enough for vehicles to pass through:
"Go ahead, you can drive the car out from there. It's a new car, get used to the feel of it."
Xu Xiaoyan nodded repeatedly, holding the file folder, and walked quickly toward dining car number 03.
She inserted the key into the lock and gave it a gentle turn—a crisp "click" was heard, followed by the gradual illumination of the blue backlight on the dial.
The battery indicator needle steadily pointed to "F" (full charge), and other indicator lights were flashing normally, indicating that the car had entered standby mode.
"Wait! Wait—!!!"
A hurried, sharp cry, even slightly distorted due to excessive urgency.
Accompanied by the sound of footsteps approaching from afar, the sound suddenly came from the shelf area where miscellaneous items were piled up deep in the warehouse.
Xu Xiaoyan suddenly looked up and looked in the direction of the sound through the windshield.
A tall, thin figure was seen stumbling and running from the other end of the warehouse.
He took large, erratic steps, completely disregarding the scattered debris on the ground.
I almost tripped over an old toolbox lying on the ground, staggering several steps before regaining my balance, my glasses slipping down to the tip of my nose.
The man who came was a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty years old.
Wearing a slightly wrinkled uniform, which was a little different from Lao Yu's work clothes, she was probably a warehouse clerk or a low-level manager.
He was wearing a pair of cheap black plastic-framed glasses, and his eyes behind the lenses were wide open, filled with astonishment and disbelief.
His gaze remained fixed on the No. 03 dining car that was already running beneath Xu Xiaoyan.
Then he suddenly turned to Old Yu, who was taking out a cigarette from his pocket and preparing to light it.
They charged forward with an almost predatory, reckless attitude!
"Old Yu! Old Yu!!!"
His voice rose to a very high pitch, hoarse and cracked from extreme excitement, anger, and panic at the failure of his plans, echoing through the empty warehouse.
He grabbed the sleeve of Lao Yu's work clothes, his fingers trembling violently from the excessive force.
His cheeks instantly turned from their normal skin tone to an almost liverish color as he stared intently at Lao Yu.
"You! You actually...you actually approved this car?! This is number 03! This is that number 03 car!!!"
His other hand, which was also trembling, pointed straight at Xu Xiaoyan's food cart with his index finger. His voice was almost a roar, and spittle flew out as he spoke with excitement.
Xu Xiaoyan sat in the car, taking in the entire scene of the sudden and intense conflict that broke out at the warehouse entrance.
After the initial shock and a hint of instinctive nervousness, she quickly calmed down.
This was not an accident or misunderstanding at all, but a dispute and power struggle among the warehouse guards.
I was just an insignificant "outsider" who happened to get caught up in it at a crucial moment.
Grandpa Yu may not have really "forgotten" Old Chen's greeting.
His watertight and absolving-of-fact rhetoric seemed to have been prepared in advance.
It's possible that she simply doesn't want to listen to "Old Chen," or it's possible that there's already a rift between the two.
More likely, his expensive bottle of high-end liquor played a crucial role in causing Lao Yu to "selectively forget" or make a "risky decision."
Faced with tangible, substantial rewards, a colleague's verbal greeting clearly carried far less weight.
Regardless of any old grudges or conflicts of interest between them, this food truck number 03 now belongs to her!
Just as Old Chen opened his mouth, seemingly about to turn his attention to her, the "snatcher"—
Xu Xiaoyan's eyes suddenly sharpened, and she decisively shifted her right hand into forward gear and slammed her right foot down on the ignition switch!
"Whoosh—!" The body of food cart number 03 trembled slightly, and then it darted forward lightly and swiftly!
The electric vehicle's instantaneous torque characteristics brought a noticeable push-back feeling, firmly pressing Xu Xiaoyan's body into the driver's seat.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly, ignoring the increasingly furious shouts behind her, "Stop! Stop!!" from behind, made even more exasperated by her sudden start.
The food cart drove steadily into the passageway outside the warehouse.
In the rearview mirror, the two figures entangled and confronting each other at the warehouse entrance quickly became smaller and blurry.
Old Yu seemed to still be spreading his hands, saying something to the furious Old Chen.
His expression was unclear, but he probably still had that same unyielding look.
The tall, thin man named Old Chen chased after him to the door in vain.
But it clearly couldn't catch up with the electric car that had already accelerated.
He could only stand inside the threshold, waving his arms helplessly in the direction the food truck had gone.
The exit gate is already in sight.
There were two double iron gates painted dark green, which were half-open at the moment, leaving a gap large enough for vehicles to pass through.
However, just as her food cart was less than twenty meters from the gate and she was about to speed up to pass through,
Suddenly, a figure staggered out from a fork in the passage on the right!
She was a young woman, her hair disheveled from running, her long hair clinging messily to her sweaty forehead and cheeks.
Her light blue woolen dress was now torn and disheveled.
She was barefoot and ran unsteadily, almost falling several times because of the hem of her skirt.
His face was covered with crisscrossing tear stains and mud, his once delicate features were distorted by extreme terror, and his lips trembled.
As he ran, he kept looking back in a panic, as if the pursuers behind him were not people, but evil spirits.
Xu Xiaoyan's eyes narrowed, and she subconsciously released the accelerator, slowing the car down again.
She squinted and took a closer look using the light in the corridor—good heavens!
Isn't that the girl who was being stared at by that pot-bellied fat man in the management office's "living room"?!
A minute later, three more people came running out from behind the same fork in the road; it was the same family.
The middle-aged couple ran behind. The man was panting heavily, his face ashen, while the woman looked anxious and exasperated, her hair disheveled.
The younger cousin followed closely behind, closest to the girl, his face no longer displaying the obsequiousness and controlling nature he had shown in front of "Director Chen."
Instead, there was a mixture of annoyance at the disruption of plans, panic at things spiraling out of control, and a raw, ruthless expression.
As he chased after him, he continued to mutter obscenities, his voice echoing through the passageway.
"Stop! You brat, stop right there! You've gone too far!" The middle-aged woman's shrill voice carried a hint of hysteria.
"Damn it! I'll catch you and cut off your legs! I'll teach you to run!" My cousin roared even louder, his voice filled with malice, and quickened his pace, about to catch up.
Hearing the increasingly approaching shouts and footsteps behind her, the girl became even more panicked and desperate.
He lost his footing completely and fell to the ground with a "thud," his knee hitting the rough ground with a dull thud.
But she seemed not to feel any pain, or rather, the pain was nothing compared to the fear behind her.
She forced herself to her feet and scrambled to her feet, ignoring her wounds, and continued running desperately toward the exit gate.
Clearly, after experiencing some unimaginable and terrifying situation, she finally could not bear it any longer and chose the most decisive way to escape, even if she was barely clothed.
Seeing that this important "bargaining chip" or "investment" was about to slip away, the family naturally became desperate and completely tore off the veil of hypocrisy as "family."
The girl's running route happened to cross diagonally across the passage directly in front of Xu Xiaoyan's food cart, less than five meters from the front of the cart.
The three people chasing closely behind her were almost in a straight line.
In a flash, countless thoughts raced through Xu Xiaoyan's mind.
Help her? I'd be in trouble myself! Besides, that family doesn't look like they're easy to mess with; getting involved would just be trouble.
To turn a blind eye? It seems that one's heart is not entirely unmoved.
She had just witnessed the despair in the girl's eyes not long ago, and had felt a deep sense of fear because of it.
She didn't hesitate for long, but turned the steering wheel to the right by a tiny, almost imperceptible angle.
At the same time, he precisely controlled the ignition switch with his feet, allowing the food cart to be subtly positioned on the optimal route for the three pursuers.
Then, a dramatic scene unfolded.
Just as the girl stumbled past, almost brushing past the front of the food truck by two or three meters, she was in a very dangerous situation.
"Squeak—!" A piercing sound rang out.
The car suddenly blocking the pursuit route caught the three pursuers off guard!
They were so focused on the girl running away that they had no idea the food truck would happen to be blocking their way.
My cousin, who was rushing to the front and was about to grab the girl's clothes, almost crashed headfirst into the hard metal side of the dining car!
He slammed on the brakes, his body lurching forward from the momentum, and he instinctively braced himself against the food cart to regain his balance.