A Weekend of Arrangements and an Unexpected Invitation

It was the weekend.

Chen Ran indulged in a leisurely sleep, not rising until nearly eleven in the morning. After showering, dressing, and enjoying the lunch Jiang Zilin had prepared,

he intended to make a trip to the convenience store to settle matters with the newly arrived employee, Ipinas.

She had already been working at the convenience store for two or three days.

Previously, she had always worked alongside Jiang Zilin, with only last night being her first solo shift.

From the current state of affairs, there appeared to be no issues.

Ipinas’s work progressed smoothly; she had already mastered daily tasks such as cashier duties and restocking shelves. In truth, convenience store work comprised little more than these simple tasks, presenting no real challenge.

When Chen Ran visited the convenience store that afternoon,

his purpose, beyond delivering Ipinas’s lunch, was to arrange her ‘dormitory’…

****

Upon arriving at the convenience store,

Chen Ran’s first observation was Ipinas’s astonishing appetite, a subject Jiang Zilin had often complained about.

On his way there,

the meal boxes he carried contained enough food to be at least three or four times the combined lunch portions he and Cold usually took to school.

The rice alone filled a small bucket—Chen Ran estimated it was equivalent to two full pots cooked in their household rice cooker.

Only after Ipinas devoured every last grain did a faint expression of satisfaction appear on her face.

It was truly frightening.

She seemed a little embarrassed to be watched while eating.

A shy, almost nervous expression bloomed on the tall woman’s face as she continuously fiddled with her pristine white dress with both hands, much like a little girl.

Chen Ran cleared his throat lightly, diverting the conversation.

“Ipinas, are you from another country?”

“Eh? Um… yes… yes, I am…”

“Oh, which country are you from?”

“Ah… I… I don’t remember… My family arrived here a very, very long time ago… already.”

Ipinas spoke haltingly.

Though she had no discernible accent, her phrasing and vocabulary felt somewhat ‘unnatural,’ akin to the dubbed dialogue in foreign films—the kind that produces lines like, ‘Oh my God, I shall vigorously kick your posterior, Tom.’

And for some reason,

Chen Ran had a persistent feeling that he had heard Ipinas speak like this before.

Then it struck him.

Rinzi had apparently said something similar; when he had previously asked if she was a foreigner, she, too, had mentioned that her ancestors had arrived in this country long ago and that she no longer remembered her country of origin.

Chen Ran, however, did not dwell on it.

After ‘feeding’ the new employee, he proceeded to the adjacent storeroom.

This area had previously ‘doubled’ as a lounge, so it wasn’t particularly dark. A window faced the convenience store’s back alley, and though obstructed by buildings, faint sunlight still managed to filter in.

Within the room, spanning roughly thirty square meters, numerous five-tiered iron shelves lined the walls, mostly laden with boxes containing inventory.

On the opposite side stood a small sofa and an office desk.

It was said that when the Jiang sisters were children, their mother, Jiang Ruohua, would mind the store, while Jiang Zilin played alone in the storeroom, and Cold would come here to do her homework after school.

However, as the two sisters grew older, their visits became infrequent.

The only exceptions were occasional weekends when Jiang Zilin worked, and Cold would come to keep her sister company and do her homework in the storeroom.

For the past two days,

the new employee, Ipinas, had been temporarily sleeping on the sofa.

One could still see the woman’s suitcase piled beside the sofa, along with the blanket draped over it.

Due to the lack of space,

Chen Ran planned to move the office desk, push the sofa against the wall, and then lay a futon on the floor. Ipinas was simply too tall, requiring a custom-made bed, which would likely take another week or two.

Afterward, he would purchase a few simple storage cabinets.

With these thoughts in mind, while calling Jiang Zilin to come lay the futon, Chen Ran also went to the electronics store on the street, bought a water heater, and brought someone to install it in the convenience store’s restroom.

Since this restroom was not open to the public and was only used by the store attendants, converting it into a shower room posed no issue.

What Chen Ran utterly failed to anticipate, however, was this:

After all was said and done, he witnessed an expression of profound gratitude on Ipinas’s face, almost to the point of tears.

“Thank you, Boss!”

“I will brave fire and flood for you! From now on, Ipinas will do whatever you ask, without hesitation… whatever you ask!”

The tall woman declared with such booming enthusiasm that Chen Ran was momentarily stunned.

‘Had I really done so little to warrant such a reaction?’ he mused.

Even Jiang Zilin, who had arrived to lay the futon, cast him a strange look, as if he had accomplished something extraordinary.

Thus, the better part of the day slipped away.

As Chen Ran walked home with Jiang Zilin in the evening, he pondered contacting the agency that had once tried to recruit him as an idol, to see if he could find a part-time job.

This wasn’t solely to maintain his fabricated story in front of the Jiang sisters.

Chen Ran also understood that,

regardless, living a good life was impossible without money, and thus, he needed to work. True, he had once partnered with Master Tenryu and seemingly swindled a substantial sum from the Rokubun-kai yakuza.

But surely, he couldn’t spend the rest of his life like that bald man, pretending to be a divine being and swindling people, could he?

Primarily, such methods of earning money were inherently unstable.

Chen Ran considered that contacting the idol agency to work as a model, perhaps shooting commercials or magazine covers, would provide a more stable income.

It required no specialized knowledge; he merely had to stand there.

Such were Chen Ran’s thoughts.

While his transmigration to this world had previously lacked a sense of reality, Chen Ran now felt a strong desire to live within the Jiang household as an integral part of their family.

Therefore,

if that were the case, working and earning money was naturally of utmost importance. As for studying, Chen Ran genuinely found himself uninterested.

Especially now, when his personal interest was hardly a prerequisite.

After allocating points to his intelligence attribute in the King’s Game app, academic material became as simple as children’s literature.

Complex equations, which proved quite challenging for his classmates, appeared as straightforward as ‘1+1=?’ to him.

This was also why Chen Ran now,

despite still being a student, was already contemplating how to work and earn money.

He genuinely had no need to study.

Consequently, upon returning home, Chen Ran called the idol agency manager who had pestered him for the better part of a day on the street, agreeing that they should notify him ‘if any work came up.’

Having completed these tasks,

as the setting sun slowly dipped below the horizon, stars and moon began to twinkle faintly from behind the clouds.

Chen Ran had assumed that,

his busy weekend had simply drawn to a close.

However,

shortly after he arrived home, the doorbell rang once more.

“Eh?! Who is it?!”

Jiang Zilin, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen, startled like a frightened rabbit, as visitors rarely called upon their home.

Chen Ran, who was seated in the living room, gestured for Cold, who was doing her homework nearby, to continue, then rose to open the door at the entrance.

It was Rinzi, their neighbor from next door.

“Good evening, little Ran…”

The mature and charming lady smiled faintly, her long, silver-white hair shining particularly captivatingly under the moonlight.

“Good evening, Rinzi. Is there something you need?”

“Well… um…”

Under his gaze, Rinzi stammered, continuously gasping for breath…

her breaths coming in ragged ‘s-ha, s-ha’ sounds.

“Little Ran, would you… would you like to come over to my house… just for a little while, yes, yes, yes, and have some tea… s-ha… ha…”

“?”