Once Hugo had taken a few bites, Bai Ci spoke up slowly. Her tone was gentle, as if she were just making casual small talk. “Hugo, I just heard from Lin Wan that you all have to deliver ten letters every day. I didn't realize the post office here was so busy.”
Hugo looked up, swallowed his food, and replied in a low voice, “It hasn't always been this busy. It's just that recently, the amount of mail suddenly spiked.”
“The postmaster signed contracts with several local merchants to deliver promotional flyers to their customers. Old Tom said there are currently four merchants who have signed up for this service. It's busy, but we can still manage.”
“I see.” Bai Ci nodded gently, an understanding look on her face, though she remained skeptical.
Merchants sending promotional letters could indeed explain the increase in mail. Sixty letters a day—divided among four merchants and some miscellaneous senders—seemed reasonable on the surface, but she still felt something was off.
She didn't press further, fearing she might arouse Hugo's suspicion. Instead, she watched him eat in silence, occasionally reminding him to slow down. Hugo, somewhat overwhelmed by her care, ended up eating faster and faster. The blush on his face deepened, and he would occasionally look up at her with a hint of shyness in his eyes.
Once Hugo finished his lunch and packed away his lunchbox, Bai Ci spoke up as if she had just remembered something. “Oh, by the way, Hugo, I'd like to send a letter. Since I'm already at the post office, I might as well do it now. But I haven't written it yet. Do you mind if I write it here?”
In truth, she had no one to write to. Wanting to send a letter was merely an excuse.
She wanted to use the pretext of sending a letter to linger in the post office a bit longer and observe more of her surroundings.
Hearing this, Hugo immediately nodded and said earnestly, “Of course. You can go to the counter in the lobby. There are pens there. Mrs. Ella, who is in charge of the counter, has a child at home, so she goes back at noon, but she should be just getting back about now. She's the post office's cleaner, but she also handles the payments. Sending a letter doesn't cost much; just charge it to my account.”
A cleaner handling the finances? Talk about ahead of its time.
“Alright, I'll go take a look then,” Bai Ci said with a smile and a nod, standing up to head toward the lobby.
Hugo watched her back, hesitating for a moment before deciding not to follow, considerately giving Bai Ci some private space to write her letter.
The lobby was still very quiet. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged woman wearing a faded blue dress that had been washed many times. Her hair was loosely tied back, and she wore a warm smile as she organized the writing paper and stamps on the counter. This must be the Mrs. Ella Hugo had mentioned.
Bai Ci walked up to the counter, gave a slight nod, and spoke gently, “Hello, Mrs. Ella. I'd like to mail a letter. May I write it here?”
Ella looked up, her gaze sweeping over her, and her smile grew even warmer. “You must be Miss Lora, Hugo's fiancée, right? Old Tom just told me all about it—how Hugo has a beautiful fiancée who came to bring him lunch.”
“Of course you can write your letter here, Miss Lora. Please, have a seat. The paper and envelopes are right here; take a look and see which one you like. I'll get the payment from Hugo later.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Ella.” After thanking her, Bai Ci sat down on a chair by the counter and chose a set of the most ordinary writing paper and envelopes.
She picked up the pen and immediately began to write.
She didn't actually have anyone to write to, but she had already figured out how to make her lie seamless—by writing the letter to Hugo, the only recipient whose address she knew.
Was it strange to write a letter to someone who shared the same roof? It was just a little romantic game between a couple; there was nothing strange about it.
When in love, doing illogical things was completely logical.
Bai Ci lowered her eyes slightly, her pen gliding across the paper, leaving lines of writing in its wake.
She was grateful that the Anomalous Infection standardized the language and writing systems of the instance.
She didn't write anything too elaborate, simply transcribing a Western love poem she had once memorized.
Ella tidied up nearby. When Bai Ci finished writing, the older woman saw the recipient on the envelope, and a smile she couldn't hide spread across her face.
After all, watching other people's sweet romance was always a pleasure.
“No need for a stamp; let's save you two some money.” Ella sealed the envelope and handed it back to Bai Ci without applying a stamp. She then smiled and pointed toward the back of the post office. “The first room on the left inside is where everyone works. Hugo's desk is the one near the back door, and his mail carrier bag is kept right there.”
“The letters to be delivered today should have all been packed this morning. Just slip yours directly into his mail carrier bag, slide it toward the bottom, and give him a little surprise.”
Ella figured she would let the postmaster know in advance so that when he counted Hugo's letters later and found eleven, he wouldn't look too closely at the extra one. There was no need for a bunch of outsiders to pry into a letter between a young engaged couple.
“Thank you, Mrs. Ella,” Bai Ci said in gratitude before walking in the direction Ella had pointed.
Before she even reached the door, she nearly ran into someone coming out. Bai Ci instinctively stopped and looked closely; it was Zhao Yu.
When Zhao Yu saw her, his eyes flickered, and a subtle, enigmatic smile appeared on his face. He deliberately raised his hand, showing off a letter he was holding. Bai Ci could clearly see a small blue stamp with the number “2” in the bottom-left corner of the envelope.
Before Bai Ci could react, Zhao Yu withdrew his hand. With a strange curl of his lips, he swaggered away without saying a single word.
Bai Ci stood there, feeling utterly bewildered. What on earth was Zhao Yu doing?
Going up to press him for answers would be out of character, so Bai Ci decided to stop overthinking for now. She pushed open the door to the workroom and walked in.
Inside the workroom were six desks. Each desk had varying amounts of paper, ink, and pens on it, with a mail carrier bag hanging next to each one.
Following Ella's directions, she quickly found the desk near the back door. The mail carrier bag hanging beside it looked very familiar; it was indeed the one Hugo had carried out that morning.
Bai Ci stepped forward and gently opened the mail carrier bag. Inside was a neat stack of letters. She instinctively glanced at them and noticed that the bottom-left corner of the envelopes also bore a small blue “2” stamp, extremely similar to the one on the letter Zhao Yu had just shown her.
She checked the covers of all the envelopes in the bag; every single one of them had that exact same small blue “2” stamp.
Looking at the sender addresses, aside from one that was from someone in another town—which appeared to be a genuine personal letter—the rest of the letters shared the exact same sender address: a grocery store in town. These were clearly the promotional letters Hugo had mentioned.
Bai Ci placed her own letter at the very bottom of the stack and carefully slid them all back into the mail carrier bag.
After putting the letters back, she instinctively counted them: 1, 2... 9, 10.
Wait, what?
Rate on N.U.
