PDLP Chapter 7, First Wage
Chapter 7, First Wage
The next morning, Lin Chen was woken up by his phone vibrating with a text message about his bank card balance. He squinted at the screen and instantly became wide awake. After buying instant noodles and liquor the day before, he still had 3,200 yuan left in his card.
Three thousand two.
Buying ten truckloads of bananas? Dream on.
Lin Chen sat on the edge of the bed, smoked a cigarette, and went through all the loan apps on his phone. His Alipay credit limit was long gone, his Ant Credit Pay showed "no available credit," and he had even turned off Meituan Pay Later. He stared at the ceiling for three seconds, then got out of bed and pulled a bank card from the bottom of the drawer.
This card was left to him by his mother for his wedding, with the stipulation that it should not be touched unless absolutely necessary.
Lin Chen clutched the card in his hand, remained silent for a moment, and muttered to himself, "Mom, your daughter-in-law might be a few years late, but your son is going to be the boss of the Monkey King."
He looked into his card and saw it contained exactly 80,000.
This is the dowry money his mother had saved up for twenty years.
Lin Chen gritted his teeth and immediately called the fruit wholesale market: "Hey? I'm the one who contacted you yesterday. Yes, ten truckloads of bananas, the best kind. Can you deliver them to the foot of Flower Fruit Mountain? Sure, cash on delivery."
He got dressed and went out to Flower Fruit Mountain.
The morning fog was thick on Huaguo Mountain, and the dew soaked Lin Chen's trouser legs. As he walked up the mountain path, he saw Sun Wukong squatting on a large rock in front of the Water Curtain Cave, holding a banana and munching on it.
Seeing Lin Chen come up, Da Sheng casually tossed the banana peel aside and said, "You're here?"
"You're here." Lin Chen sat down next to him, and the two of them acted like old friends, neither of them saying a word.
After a moment of silence, Lin Chen said, "The bananas will be here soon."
"Hmm?" Sun Wukong looked at him, his tone puzzled.
"Ten truckloads, that should be enough for the monkeys to eat!" Lin Chen added.
Sun Wukong paused in his actions, then slowly turned to look at him: "Ten truckloads? Where did you get so much money?"
Lin Chen didn't answer, but instead took out a pack of cigarettes he had just bought at the supermarket and offered one to Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong waved his hand: "I, Old Sun, don't smoke this stuff."
"That's perfect, saves me money on cigarettes." Lin Chen lit one for himself, took a puff, and the smoke dissipated in the morning mist. "Don't worry about the money, I mean what I say."
Sun Wukong stared at him for a few seconds, his golden eyes flashing as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just snorted: "Aren't you afraid that I, Old Sun, will eat all your bananas and then turn my back on you?"
"I'm not afraid." Lin Chen smiled. "If you were that kind of monkey, you wouldn't have had to wait for me at the foot of the mountain all night yesterday."
Sun Wukong's expression froze for a moment.
Lin Chen continued, "That sparrow yesterday, its wings were flapping quite loudly, it was across from my house, right?"
The Great Sage remained silent.
How did you know?
"It's so conspicuous, wouldn't it be stupid if I didn't notice it!" Lin Chen flicked his cigarette ash. "A proper sparrow isn't that big."
Sun Wukong opened his mouth, paused for a long while, and then suddenly laughed—not a sneer, but a genuine laugh: "Hey, you little rascal, you have a sharp eye."
"Nonsense, if I wanted to do business with the Monkey King, would I lack this level of shrewdness?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a truck horn sounded from down the mountain.
Ten heavy trucks lined up and drove to the foot of Huaguo Mountain. The drivers got out and saw only a desolate wilderness, not a single person unloading their goods in sight. Just as someone was about to curse, they saw a young man in a T-shirt and a man in red with a golden headband walking down the mountain.
"The bananas have arrived." Lin Chen patted the door of the first car. "Unload them all here."
The driver peered over and said, "Unload here? There's no warehouse here, aren't you afraid it'll rot?"
"It won't rot." Lin Chen glanced back at Sun Wukong. "Someone will take it."
Sun Wukong didn't say anything, but just whistled towards the mountain.
The next second, the entire Flower and Fruit Mountain trembled.
Monkeys emerged from the woods, caves, and crevices of the rocks, a dense, dark mass of at least a thousand. They stared in disbelief at the trucks below and the bright yellow bananas on them.
Then, one of the monkeys made a sound, and the next second, the entire troop of monkeys erupted in commotion.
They rushed down the mountain, some responsible for unpacking, some for carrying, and some for piling the bananas together. Their division of labor was clear, and they cooperated seamlessly, even more professional than human moving companies.
Several drivers stared in disbelief. One of them took out his phone to take a picture, but Lin Chen stopped him: "This is a trade secret, don't take pictures."
Sun Wukong stood aside, watching the monkeys happily clutching the bananas, and seeing several little monkeys wolfing them down on the pile! Suddenly, his eyes reddened.
There was a glint in those golden eyes.
Lin Chen saw it, but he pretended not to.
He squatted down, glanced at a little monkey that was hugging and munching on a banana, and said, "Eat slowly, there will be bananas every day from now on."
The little monkey paused for a moment, then grinned at him, as if it were laughing.
After all the bananas were moved, the monkeys threw a banana party on the mountain. Sun Wukong sat on the highest rock, watching the monkeys below go wild, and remained silent for a long time.
Lin Chen walked up the mountain and sat down next to him.
"Lin Chen," the Great Sage suddenly spoke, his voice much lower than usual, "you are the first person to actually bring me, Old Sun, food."
Lin Chen didn't reply.
"Five hundred years ago on the journey to the West, those mortals said they would make offerings to me, Old Sun, but they forgot about it as soon as they turned around. Those gods in the Heavenly Palace said they would help me, Old Sun, but they made me guard their Peach Garden. You rascal..." Sun Wukong turned to look at him, "You really didn't hesitate and brought the things over first."
Lin Chen smiled and said, "I have only one principle when it comes to doing things: get things done first, then talk about other things."
"What do you want me to do?" the Great Sage asked.
Lin Chen took out the pre-printed contract from his briefcase and handed it over.
"Sign the contract and put your fingerprint on it. From today onwards, you are the first employee of Huaguoshan Scenic Area." He paused, then added, "Benefits: base salary plus performance bonus, I'll handle the five social insurances and one housing fund for you, quarterly bonuses depend on performance. If you do well, there will be a year-end bonus."
Sun Wukong took the contract and flipped through it. He couldn't recognize most of the characters written on it; the little bit of literacy he had learned from Tang Sanzang back then had long been forgotten by his master—but he understood the signature section on the last page.
"Security Director," the Great Sage read the title aloud. "Me, the mighty Great Sage Equal to Heaven, being relegated to a mere gatekeeper?"
"He's not a gatekeeper," Lin Chen corrected. "He's the security director, responsible for the entire scenic area's security. Think about it, if someone comes to cause trouble, you could just go up and smash all the video platforms online with one blow. How much is that traffic worth?"
The Great Sage thought about it and realized that it made sense.
He flipped through the contract again and suddenly asked, "How much does it say per month?"
Lin Chen gave a number.
Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow. This amount was five times higher than his monthly salary in Heaven.
"Write." The Great Sage stretched out his hand. "Press where?"
Lin Chen took out a box of inkpads from his bag, opened the lid, and said: "Right thumb."
Without hesitation, the Great Sage reached out and pressed his hand into the inkpad, then slapped it onto the contract.
The scarlet fingerprint was clearly visible on the white contract paper.
Lin Chen looked at the fingerprint and let out a long sigh of relief. He stood up and extended his hand: "Welcome to the company, Director Sun."
Sun Wukong looked at the outstretched hand, hesitated for a second, and then reached out and grasped it.
"Don't call me Director Sun." Da Sheng frowned. "It sounds awful."
"What should I call you then?"
"Great Sage".
"Alright, Great Sage." Lin Chen smiled brightly, "From today onwards, you're officially employed."
Sun Wukong was taken aback: "What do you mean by 'having a formal position'?"
"That's right... you can't just quit your job anytime you want; you need to submit a report a month in advance."
"What if I, Old Sun, don't resign?"
"Then I'll keep working until I retire."
Sun Wukong thought for a moment, then suddenly grinned and said, "Alright, anyway, I, Old Sun, was just worried about having nowhere to go."
Lin Chen took out another piece of paper from his bag, a simple salary card application form: "Here, fill in the card number, it'll be used for next month's salary."
The Great Sage took the pen and wrote a card number in a crooked and messy manner.
He had just opened the account at the bank a few days ago. When he opened the account, the bank teller looked at him for three minutes and asked, "Are you... a cosplayer?" Da Sheng almost couldn't help but hit him with his stick.
After completing the formalities, Lin Chen stood up, looked at the monkeys running wildly all over the hillside, and said, "Starting tomorrow, I will come up the mountain to plan the scenic area's routes. Keep an eye on things for me, and once I get the permits, we can start construction."
Sun Wukong plopped down on a rock, crossed his legs, and said, "You think you can handle this with your meager permits?"
"Whether you can handle it or not, we'll know when your first paycheck arrives." Lin Chen chuckled and turned to head down the mountain.
After taking a few steps, Sun Wukong's voice came from behind: "Lin Chen."
"Um?"
"I'll remember this banana meal today..."
Lin Chen didn't turn around, but just waved his hand with his back turned.
He walked down the mountain with lighter steps than ever before.
He only had two yuan left in his card, but he wasn't worried at all. He had an employee who was the best worker in the country, unmatched by anyone.
The mountain breeze blew past my ears, rustling the leaves.
Lin Chen looked up and saw that on the distant mountain peak, the clouds had split open, and golden sunlight shone through the gap, shining directly on the main peak of Huaguo Mountain.
He couldn't help but curse, "This is fucking weird... but I like it."
Unbeknownst to him, on the very path he was descending the mountain, a cell phone camera was hiding behind the bushes, secretly taking a picture of him shaking hands with Sun Wukong.
That photo will be trending on the internet tomorrow.