Archive of Our Own ^beta

For Shi Qingxuan, it was much easier to communicate with people than with a soulless, cold machine that absorbed everything it saw without giving anything in return. This snack vending machine was starting to drive him crazy. Shi Qingxuan had been hanging around it for a long time, trying to get out of him what he paid.

At least a chocolate bar!

He had already fed this machine, which was not responding to anything, all his money, but it still did not deign to spit out anything. Only the creaking screws were turning steadily, and the green characters were flashing on the small screen as if mocking Shi Qingxuan and at his attempts to satisfy hunger with a quick snack at such a late hour.

Insert a bill — yeah, right! Only deception and scam. Shi Qingxuan had tried everything that came to his mind, but the machine still did not yield to his manipulations.

“Gracious machine with the most delicious nuts, chips and sweet water in the world,” Shi Qingxuan folded his hands and pressed them to his chest, deciding that he had no choice but to respectfully ask the machine to take pity and give him what he wanted with all his heart and empty stomach, “I’m not asking you for much, but please give me at least something. I can’t do this anymore!”

But the machine didn’t answer. Only a black and green smiley face winked at him on the narrow screen.

“Have mercy, oh Great Machine! I gave you everything I had! With this money I could have bought you for a long time, but I’m asking only the smallest thing!”

In fact, Shi Qingxuan was not used to quick snacks from the vending machine, but today was that rare day when he had absolutely no time. He hadn't had time to eat since the morning, having been exhausted first by the road, then by studying, and then by sitting at work until late. When he noticed that he was hungry, all the nearby shops and restaurants were already closed, and his dead phone had deprived him of the opportunity to order delivery. The only salvation from starvation, as Shi Qingxuan thought, was the snack machine on the first floor. But even it did not heed his prayers.

"To die of hunger near a snack machine… How absurd!" Shi Qingxuan groaned, giggling nervously.

Despair and hunger were increasingly mixed in him. Shi Qingxuan was ready to give up. He would have liked to hope that someone would return to the office soon and be able to 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 placed his palm on the machine for the last time, when he heard a sharp knock and felt the machine tremble under his hand as if from fear, and then rustling packages and small heavy bottles rained down on him.

Shi Qingxuan couldn't believe his eyes. Heart pounding wildly at the mere thought that prayers had been answered.

"Thank you, stubborn machine!" he exclaimed and immediately noticed how someone's hand froze in front of him for a moment, and then nevertheless took a couple of packages of chips and water.

Shi Qingxuan looked up and looked at the thin, tall guy in surprise. He had only seen him a couple of times before, briefly, and when he asked others about him, he only found out that some student worked at the company at night, but no one really talked to him and even running into him was rare.

"H-hello!" Shi Qingxuan responded awkwardly. “Ming Yi, I think?...”

But Ming Yi didn't answer him, only opened the bag of chips and walked away.

Shi Qingxuan felt awkward and a little ashamed — it wasn't the machine that took pity on him, but Ming Yi, with one precise blow to the machine, shook out of it everything that he 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 that he saw a smile on Ming Yi's lips, and immediately thought that perhaps next week he would again be late at work, but this time not alone.