“Ding-dong! Your E-Me order has been received. Please deliver it as soon as possible!”
Seeing the message on his phone, Wang Hao pedaled his little blue electric scooter toward the restaurant without stopping.
“I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting, sir.”
The shop assistant looked apologetic. The food had taken a little too long to prepare, and Wang Hao's delivery was now likely to be late.
“It's fine.”
Wang Hao waved a hand, grabbed the takeout, and hurried back to his scooter. Just as he stepped out of the shop, his phone rang at the worst possible moment.
“Wang Hao! Hurry up with that delivery. If you're late again, I'll dock your entire month's delivery wages!”
“Don't worry, Boss Zhou. This one's definitely not going to be late!”
Boss Zhou's furious voice kept yelling through the phone. Wang Hao had lost count of how many times the man had docked his pay.
Clutching the takeout, Wang Hao clenched his fist, hopped onto his blue electric scooter, and sped toward the delivery address.
“I absolutely can't be late this time. If I'm late again, Boss Zhou will dock my entire month's wages.”
The weather was especially strange that day. Wang Hao had barely made it halfway when a torrential downpour began.
Rain pelted his helmet, blurring his vision.
“What a rotten day. I don't even know if I'll make this delivery. Damn it! I'll risk it!”
He twisted the throttle all the way. No guts, no glory.
The scooter was moving too fast, and Wang Hao failed to see the banana peel at the intersection. He and the scooter both went flying into a filthy ditch.
A wave of suffocation washed over him. His vision blurred.
When he opened his eyes again, he had become a ragged beggar beneath a bridge.
Damn it! A brutal start from the very beginning!
