I am weak and friendly

Chapter 315 OIFU...Trending on local search again (3K views, please vote at the end of the month)

While programmers were celebrating OIFU's plugin system and preparing to compete for the title of OIFU's number one plugin, throwing a cross-network programmer party, in a small restaurant in a corner of Hailing City, the owner was sweeping away the rainwater that was seeping in through the crack in the door.

Nearby, the proprietress was scrolling through her phone while complaining, "See, I told you we should close early and go home. Now we really can't go back."

The shop owner said, "If we just talk about going back, what if we actually go back and the rainwater floods the shop and soaks everything inside?"

Then the owner added, "Besides, I was just thinking that if the rain stops, we might have a few more tables of customers!"

The boss sighed, "This rain, who knows how many more days it'll last... I'm afraid all the vegetables we just prepared in the kitchen will spoil again..."

The store was already struggling, and this is just making things worse.

As the boss was speaking, he suddenly noticed a red envelope being pushed under the door.

This red envelope has been stuck in the door crack for who knows how long. It's probably stuck in a corner and hasn't been discovered yet. If it weren't for the rain, it wouldn't be able to get out now.

"Huh?" The boss squatted down and picked up the red envelope from the water.

"Strange...what is that?"

The outer shell of the red envelope was already a bit rotten from being soaked, but the two purplish-red bills inside were still brand new.

It's two hundred yuan.

There was also a note inside with a few lines of text written on it.

Although it was soaked in water, thankfully it was sandwiched between banknotes, and it was written with a ballpoint pen, so although it was blurry, it was still barely legible.

"Uncle and Aunt..." the boss uncle barely recognized her, and then with a "snap," the boss's wife turned on the headlights that she had turned off to save electricity.

Under the headlights, the two people carefully examined the note:

"My mother is sick at home... I have no money... This is... 200... I'm returning it... I'm so sorry... Zhao... Jie..."

After they finished reading, they looked at each other.

"Is this... to repay the 200 yuan we lost before?"

"No, didn't Jiaqiang come to pay back the money a couple of days ago?"

Two days ago, Lin Jiaqiang came here specifically to return the 200 yuan that had been stolen from the store. He said he had found a job and received an advance on his wages, so he came specifically to return the money and apologize.

He said he made a mistake in a moment of impulse and that he is now rich and wants to pay back the money.

When they arrived, they brought a box of milk. They left the money and the milk without even taking a sip of water. Before the shop owner could chase after them, they ran away and didn't answer several phone calls.

It was noon, and the couple spent half the afternoon reflecting on it, sighing with emotion.

But... why did it happen again? Why did I have to pay back the money again?

“Zhao… Jie? He’s Jiaqiang’s friend, right? I remember he came by once that day,” the shopkeeper said after thinking for a moment.

"Oh dear, I've wronged that child!" The proprietress felt a sharp pain in her heart. "It wasn't Jiaqiang who took the money, what are we going to do now!"

"I told you it wasn't Jiaqiang." The shopkeeper had a look on his face that said, "I told you so."

In the past, he would have been glared at by the landlady for ages, but this time the landlady felt very guilty and didn't care about his hindsight advice like "I told you so."

"So he came that time to pay off a debt for his friend?" the proprietress sighed. "Oh, what a good boy..."

“They’re all good kids,” the boss said.

"Yeah, they're all good kids. Everyone has their difficult times..." the landlady sighed. "What was I thinking back then? I just couldn't get over it and insisted on kicking Jiaqiang out..."

She's easily moved to tears, and her eyes were already starting to well up. She quickly turned her head away without saying a word, tears streaming down her face.

Because nobody has it easy.

The shop owner thought to himself.

This little shop is doing so badly now, it can't even earn 200 yuan a day, and there are still two people here to keep it running.

If they hadn't had some savings and weren't hoping for things to improve, the two of them would have closed the shop long ago.

The problem is, even if we close the store now, we don't know what to do. We might as well just keep going and maybe things will get better someday.

It will be alright...

"Hey, call Jiaqiang and the others tomorrow and ask them to come over for a meal. Also, invite Wenjie to come along..." The landlady's voice finally calmed down a bit as she turned to instruct the boss.

"Okay, I'll call when the rain stops," the boss said.

Then the two of them looked at the torrential rain outside the door.

"Where are those two children now? Are they getting wet and cold?"

"I don't think so. Didn't Jiaqiang say he found a job?" "Jiaqiang is such a good kid, he'll definitely find a job."

The two of them stared out the window, lost in thought for a long time.

It was getting darker and darker; it was already past eight o'clock in the evening.

The rain has lessened considerably compared to before, but it still shows no signs of stopping.

Both of their phones were ringing as they scrolled through short videos.

The news circulating locally was mostly about rainfall, and the two of them were sharing and discussing it with each other.

"The road along the river is flooded."

“That road floods every time it rains, and it’s been repaired several times but it’s still not working.”

"Oh dear, the basements next to our community are flooded. I wonder how our community is doing."

"Our neighborhood is on higher ground... so it might be better, but I don't know what will happen if it gets any lower."

I was scrolling through videos when one of them popped up.

The video was posted by a local influencer whom the store manager follows, known as "Hailing Xunmo Ge" (海陵寻摸哥). He has over 700,000 followers and usually posts videos about exploring local shops and attractions. He is a well-known and influential influencer in the local area.

The shop owner was actually hoping every day that Brother Xunmo would come to his shop to check it out, maybe he could bring him some business.

Unfortunately, he sent "Be careful" to Xunmo Ge several times, but no one replied.

These influential figures wouldn't look down on a small shop like his.

"To everyone watching my video, is the rain still heavy where you are? I heard that this rain has covered a wide area, basically half of the eastern coastal region is affected, and Hailing is the epicenter of the downpour. It is said that most of the rain has fallen in Hailing."

"When I opened my phone today, I saw posts on my WeChat Moments and private messages from fans saying that this place was flooded and that place was flooded. Let's not be upset. It is said that in the hour or so before the rainstorm started, the amount of water that fell into the Lingshan Reservoir was equivalent to that of the reservoir. How big is the Hailing urban area? Do you think it was impossible for it not to flood? Even the best drainage facilities can't stop it!"
"Actually, many of you need help. If you encounter any difficulties, you can leave a message in my comment section, and we will try our best to help you get assistance. Also, those of us staying at home are probably a little better off. Even if some low-lying areas experience temporary power or water outages, most of us still have shelter from the wind and rain, right? But there are some people who are in greater danger now because they don't even have a place to stay."

"I don't know if everyone remembers, but a while ago there was an app called OIFU, yes, the one that helped people open vending machines and eat expired food..."

"Some of my colleagues criticized the creator relentlessly, saying they didn't pay attention to food safety and were harming people, to the point that the creator didn't dare to respond. And what happened? They came, filmed a bunch of videos, posted a bunch of insults, raked in the traffic, ate all the food, and left, leaving behind a mess."

"It was only after that day that I realized there are really a lot of homeless people in this society. I've filmed a few videos in the past two days, and you may have seen them. Nowadays, even if people are homeless, they won't tell you. They try their best to dress decently. Even if they're right next to you, you might not be able to tell."

"In this heavy rain, they can only take shelter in places like under bridges, shopping malls, and subway stations. Many shopping malls will be closing soon, and the subway will stop running early. They may really have nowhere to go..."

"So I did some research and found that the creator of OIFU had actually released an emergency update with a new feature just in response to this rainstorm..."

"I've seen it, and this new feature is really great. This is what it means to do professional things by professionals. I and my friends worked on it for several hours in the background, but we couldn't help many people. They updated the software and the whole city can use it!"
"This new feature allows you to post information to help others. If you are willing to provide assistance to people who are temporarily in trouble, such as providing them with a temporary place to stay or offering them any extra food you have, you can post it."

"Or you can send it if you need any help; this function is also available."

"If you're not very good at using a phone or posting these things, that's okay. Just post your address and what you can provide in the comments section, and our team is adding these coordinates to the site... Look, there are already so many on the map, it's densely packed..."

"If you have OIFU, many people downloaded it last time and even tried it out in vending machines, right? If you haven't deleted it, update it and you'll see the latest features..."

"If you haven't downloaded it yet, please ask us for the download link in the comments or via private message."

"Xunmo Ge's strength is limited on his own, but he has 700,000 fans. The combined strength of all of us is limitless."

The shop manager watched the video, then watched it again, and then looked at the proprietress.

The proprietress also looked at him.

"Anyway, we don't have much business, right?"

"Yes, vegetables will spoil if they're not sold."

"Shall I send one?"

"Let's do it. We're bored anyway at night, might as well do something."

The store manager really doesn't post these kinds of things; he can only watch videos on his phone.

So he opened the comments section, carefully typed in his shop's address using handwriting input, and then, following the instructions, briefly listed what he could offer:

"Hot water, food, and a place to stay."

Actually, this Hailing Xunmo Ge (a popular online influencer) is not the only person to release OIFU-related software; many other online celebrities have also released related information.

OIFU was already popular once before, although it quickly faded from popularity. But it was a preview, and many people had this software installed on their phones.

Now, it's unclear whether OIFU has been revived by these people or if they are simply riding on OIFU's popularity.

OIFU has quietly become a trending topic on local social media.

(End of this chapter)