Recently, online news portals have been reporting that some shops on Moubao have been sending customers burial clothing after they left negative reviews. But honestly, that’s nothing too concerning, and I’ve seen scarier things being sent by courier mail. I am a delivery man.
My name is Ji Wen, and I’m 21 this year. Originally from Chongzhou, Sichuan, I didn’t get into university after graduating high school, so I decided to start working. That’s how I ended up in the nearly-unknown city of Zhongwei, Ningxia.
When I first joined the ranks of society, everything seemed so simple. Even if I didn’t have academic qualifications, as long as I was willing to suffer a bit, I would make it one day. But after working for a few years, I finally realized that getting rich was impossible for someone like me, without schooling, money, or background. After moving around a few cities, I decided to work as a delivery man in Zhongwei.
Truth be told, a person could work as a delivery man anywhere. And I could have returned home too; I would certainly save on some expenses that way. But I didn’t do that because I was so determined when I first left. Though I never told my friends that ‘I won’t return even if things don’t go well’, I would find it difficult if my friends and family found out that I made a living by delivering packages.
That’s why, even though I work away from home, I feel a certain peace inside. When anyone calls and asks after me, I just tell them that I work at a factory, that the salary and benefits are good. And they’re unable to see my self-deprecating smile over the phone.
I work at the north branch of XX Delivery, and my boss is named Zhang Peng. He’s a thin, 30-something man. Sometimes he’s out meeting with clients, and other times, he’s out playing mahjong, but he’s not usually in the store. His wife is the one usually watching the place, and after a long time, she usually starts yelling and complaining. The few occasions I’ve seen the boss at the store, he was arguing with his wife.
I didn’t meddle in their private affairs, so I would leave after finishing up my work each day. Some days though, I envied Zhang Peng. I wondered to myself, if I ran a delivery service like him, would I be able to be as idle as he was?
My work wasn’t terribly tiring. Each morning at 8, I rode my electric-powered three-wheeler pedicab to the main office. I unloaded packages and then sorted packages. After getting the packages for my area, I scanned them and loaded them up. Then I delivered them one by one. Our district wasn’t that big, but there were a lot of small neighborhoods, which made deliveries a bit of a hassle. When I first started working, I wasn’t very familiar with the Zhongwei streets, so I’d be delivering packages until 8 or 9 at night. The boss nearly fired me back then. But as I slowly learned the area, I would finish my deliveries by 3pm. Then I went home to sleep, or play LOL, or just do whatever.
For each package I delivered, I earned 1 yuan, which meant I could make 3-4 thousand yuan each month. That wasn’t bad. The only downside was that it was hard to take any days off. Anytime I had business and asked the boss for a day off, he got this unhappy, disgruntled look, because that meant he’d have to make the deliveries.
I’ve been here for a bit more than a year now, and I have about 20 thousand yuan saved up. If I continue at it for another two years, and I borrowed some money from my family, I’d be able to contract my own delivery branch. And then the hard times would be over, and the good times would be on their way.
That morning, I got up at 8 o’clock, scarfed down some leftovers, and headed to work. My place wasn’t too far from the store, so I got to work about five minutes later. The place I was renting had a main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Rent was 6 thousand a year, and I was more or less satisfied with it. The only thing that bothered me was the building’s exterior. The bricks had long ago turned dark, and the building looked like it was built before the Communists took over, like it might cave in on itself at any moment. The corridors in the building were also unlit, so if I came home late, I’d start sweating out of fear.
When I got to the store, the boss’ wife had already opened for business. I changed into my uniform, loaded up the previous days’ packages, and then set off.
The main office was about ten minutes away. The big truck from the next major delivery hub in Yinchuan was already parked outside, and some other delivery drivers were already sorting packages.
“Ji Wen, you’re a bit late today.”
That was the delivery guy for the west branch, Little Wang. His colleague, Little Li was beside him. I didn’t know their names, but they were about my age. We usually chatted a bit while sorting packages in the morning, but that was about it.
There were five branches total for this delivery company in Zhongwei. The delivery drivers for the other three branches were all new, and I didn’t know their names at all, so I just did my work with Little Wang and Little Li.
As familiar with the roads as I was, I could easily identify which packages were mine, and so, we quickly split up the packages. I was loading up my cab when a package caught my attention.
It was about the size of a shoe box and wrapped up in paper. It didn’t look it, but when I picked it up, it was light as a feather, as if it were empty.
I didn’t question the package much. Shops on Moubao often sent out these ‘farming packages’ to increase their ratings. I just packed it in with the rest of the mail, and after saying goodbye to Little Wang and Little Li, I headed off to make my deliveries.
Recently, online news portals have been reporting that some shops on Moubao have been sending customers burial clothing after they left negative reviews. But honestly, that’s nothing too concerning, and I’ve seen scarier things being sent by courier mail. I am a delivery man.
My name is Ji Wen, and I’m 21 this year. Originally from Chongzhou, Sichuan, I didn’t get into university after graduating high school, so I decided to start working. That’s how I ended up in the nearly-unknown city of Zhongwei, Ningxia.
When I first joined the ranks of society, everything seemed so simple. Even if I didn’t have academic qualifications, as long as I was willing to suffer a bit, I would make it one day. But after working for a few years, I finally realized that getting rich was impossible for someone like me, without schooling, money, or background. After moving around a few cities, I decided to work as a delivery man in Zhongwei.
Truth be told, a person could work as a delivery man anywhere. And I could have returned home too; I would certainly save on some expenses that way. But I didn’t do that because I was so determined when I first left. Though I never told my friends that ‘I won’t return even if things don’t go well’, I would find it difficult if my friends and family found out that I made a living by delivering packages.
That’s why, even though I work away from home, I feel a certain peace inside. When anyone calls and asks after me, I just tell them that I work at a factory, that the salary and benefits are good. And they’re unable to see my self-deprecating smile over the phone.
I work at the north branch of XX Delivery, and my boss is named Zhang Peng. He’s a thin, 30-something man. Sometimes he’s out meeting with clients, and other times, he’s out playing mahjong, but he’s not usually in the store. His wife is the one usually watching the place, and after a long time, she usually starts yelling and complaining. The few occasions I’ve seen the boss at the store, he was arguing with his wife.
I didn’t meddle in their private affairs, so I would leave after finishing up my work each day. Some days though, I envied Zhang Peng. I wondered to myself, if I ran a delivery service like him, would I be able to be as idle as he was?
My work wasn’t terribly tiring. Each morning at 8, I rode my electric-powered three-wheeler pedicab to the main office. I unloaded packages and then sorted packages. After getting the packages for my area, I scanned them and loaded them up. Then I delivered them one by one. Our district wasn’t that big, but there were a lot of small neighborhoods, which made deliveries a bit of a hassle. When I first started working, I wasn’t very familiar with the Zhongwei streets, so I’d be delivering packages until 8 or 9 at night. The boss nearly fired me back then. But as I slowly learned the area, I would finish my deliveries by 3pm. Then I went home to sleep, or play LOL, or just do whatever.
For each package I delivered, I earned 1 yuan, which meant I could make 3-4 thousand yuan each month. That wasn’t bad. The only downside was that it was hard to take any days off. Anytime I had business and asked the boss for a day off, he got this unhappy, disgruntled look, because that meant he’d have to make the deliveries.
I’ve been here for a bit more than a year now, and I have about 20 thousand yuan saved up. If I continue at it for another two years, and I borrowed some money from my family, I’d be able to contract my own delivery branch. And then the hard times would be over, and the good times would be on their way.
That morning, I got up at 8 o’clock, scarfed down some leftovers, and headed to work. My place wasn’t too far from the store, so I got to work about five minutes later. The place I was renting had a main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Rent was 6 thousand a year, and I was more or less satisfied with it. The only thing that bothered me was the building’s exterior. The bricks had long ago turned dark, and the building looked like it was built before the Communists took over, like it might cave in on itself at any moment. The corridors in the building were also unlit, so if I came home late, I’d start sweating out of fear.
When I got to the store, the boss’ wife had already opened for business. I changed into my uniform, loaded up the previous days’ packages, and then set off.
The main office was about ten minutes away. The big truck from the next major delivery hub in Yinchuan was already parked outside, and some other delivery drivers were already sorting packages.
“Ji Wen, you’re a bit late today.”
That was the delivery guy for the west branch, Little Wang. His colleague, Little Li was beside him. I didn’t know their names, but they were about my age. We usually chatted a bit while sorting packages in the morning, but that was about it.
There were five branches total for this delivery company in Zhongwei. The delivery drivers for the other three branches were all new, and I didn’t know their names at all, so I just did my work with Little Wang and Little Li.
As familiar with the roads as I was, I could easily identify which packages were mine, and so, we quickly split up the packages. I was loading up my cab when a package caught my attention.
It was about the size of a shoe box and wrapped up in paper. It didn’t look it, but when I picked it up, it was light as a feather, as if it were empty.
I didn’t question the package much. Shops on Moubao often sent out these ‘farming packages’ to increase their ratings. I just packed it in with the rest of the mail, and after saying goodbye to Little Wang and Little Li, I headed off to make my deliveries.
