Work Text:
Negotiating with people came far more easily to Shi Qingxuan than dealing with a soulless, cold machine that devoured everything it saw and gave nothing back. This snack vending machine was starting to drive him insane. Shi Qingxuan had been circling it for a long time now, trying to coax his chocolate bar out of it.
At least a chocolate bar!
He had already fed this utterly unresponsive machine several bills, but it still hadn't deigned to spit anything out. Only the creaking screws would turn a few times with something like hope, and then green characters would flash on the tiny screen, as if mocking Shi Qingxuan and all his attempts to satisfy his hunger with a quick snack at such a late hour.
Insert bill — yeah, right! Nothing but deception and fraud. Shi Qingxuan had already tried everything he could think of, but the machine still refused to yield to his manipulations.
"Gracious machine, keeper of the most delicious nuts, crisps, and sweet drinks in the world," Shi Qingxuan folded his hands and pressed them to his chest, deciding that he had no choice left but to respectfully ask the machine to take pity and grant him what he desired with all his heart and empty stomach, "I'm not asking you for much, but please, just drop me something. I can't go on like this!"
But the machine did not answer. Only a black-and-green smiley face winked at him from the narrow screen.
"Have mercy, oh great machine! I gave you everything I had! With this money I could have bought everything inside you, but I'm asking for just a tiny bit!"
In truth, Shi Qingxuan was not accustomed to quick snacks from a vending machine, but today was that rare day when he had absolutely no time. He hadn't had a chance to eat since morning, worn out first by the road, then by classes, and then by sitting at work until late. By the time he realised how hungry he was, all the nearby shops and restaurants were already closed, and his dead phone had robbed him of the chance to order delivery. The only salvation from starvation, Shi Qingxuan thought, was the snack machine on the first floor. But even it did not heed his prayers.
"To die of hunger next to a snack machine... How absurd!" Shi Qingxuan groaned, laughing nervously.
Despair and hunger mixed inside him more and more intensely. Shi Qingxuan was ready to give up. He would have liked to hope that someone might return to the office soon and save him from an ignominious death on the job, but tomorrow, as luck would have it, was a day off.
Shi Qingxuan closed his eyes and laid his palm on the machine one last time, when he heard a sharp bang and felt the machine tremble under his hand as if in fear — and then rustling packets and small, heavy bottles came raining down on him.
Shi Qingxuan couldn't believe his eyes. His heart pounded wildly at the mere thought that his prayers had been answered.
"Thank you, uncooperative machine!" he exclaimed, and immediately noticed someone's hand freeze in front of him for a moment, then reach out and take a couple of packets of crisps and a bottle of water.
Shi Qingxuan looked up and stared in surprise at the tall, thin guy. He had only seen him a couple of times before, in passing, and when he had asked others about him, all he had learned was that some student worked nights at the company, but no one really talked to him, and running into him at all was a rarity.
"H-hello!" Shi Qingxuan said awkwardly. "Ming Yi, I think?..."
But Ming Yi didn't answer him. He just opened the bag of crisps and walked away.
Shi Qingxuan felt awkward and a little ashamed — it wasn't the machine that had taken pity on him; it was Ming Yi who, with one precise blow to the machine, had shaken out of it everything it was supposed to give out.
"Thank you! I'm in your debt!" Shi Qingxuan shouted after him.
Ming Yi turned around with a chuckle. "You're welcome."
Shi Qingxuan was ready to swear he had seen a smile on Ming Yi's lips, and he immediately thought that perhaps next week he would again be late at work — but this time not alone.