Scoring Supermarket

Old Li had been working at the community supermarket for almost ten years, transforming from a naive young man into a greasy middle-aged one. He felt that the supermarket was like his life, he could see the end at a glance – plain, but something he couldn't give up.

Recently, the community started a new thing: residents would score the supermarket. It wasn’t anonymous scoring, but rather, real-name scoring via handwritten notes posted on the notice board at the entrance of the supermarket. At first, everyone found it quite novel, but later it changed its flavor.

"Old Li, this cabbage is a bit wilted today, minus one point.” Aunt Wang from building three, holding a crumpled cabbage, yelled at Old Li. Old Li quickly gave a smile: "Auntie, it’s newly arrived today, maybe it got a bit squished on the way.”

Aunt Wang ignored him, turned to walk to the notice board, and carefully wrote a line: “The cabbage is not fresh, service attitude is average, minus one point.”

Old Li looked at the densely packed notes on the notice board, feeling like a prisoner being judged. Some praised his smile, others cursed him for short weighing goods. He was like a person under a microscope, every detail endlessly amplified.

What troubled Old Li the most was that those with high scores could get some "rewards", such as getting some scarce goods, while those with low scores might be forced to close for rectification. This directly affected his livelihood.

To cater to the "Gods," Old Li began to be extremely cautious. He learned to arrange the vegetables neatly at the fastest speed, learned to greet every customer with the brightest smile, and learned to apologize immediately when customers complained. He turned himself into an emotionless supermarket machine.

But even so, his scores were still not high. Because there were always some people who would pick bones out of an egg - an egg too small, minus one point; an egg too big, also minus one point. It seemed that their lives were all about scoring the supermarket.

He started having insomnia, his dreams were all about scoring, scoring, and the critical looks of the customers.

One day, he saw a familiar figure – Old Wang, the notorious troublemaker in the community. He always liked to find fault, and would even argue with Old Li before. Since the scoring system was implemented, he stopped arguing. He just wrote notes every time. Old Li thought he was going to continue to deduct his points, but unexpectedly, Old Wang wrote on the paper: "Old Li's smile today is very sincere, add one point."

Old Li looked at the note, stunned. He felt it was absurd that a troublemaker had become his only comfort. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't laughed properly in a long time. His smiles were all for the sake of scores.

That night, Old Li didn’t have insomnia. He had a dream in which he was not a supermarket salesman, but a free shepherd, herding a flock of sheep and running on the grassland.

The next day, Old Li stood at the supermarket entrance, looked at the scores on the notice board, and smiled. He didn't immediately start working as usual, but walked to the notice board, picked up a pen, and wrote in the blank space: Today, I give this supermarket a score of zero.

Then, he tore off all the scoring notes, folded them neatly, put them on the counter, and took off his uniform. Old Li left the “Scoring Supermarket”, and no one knows where he went. Only someone occasionally saw a plainly dressed old man playing with stray cats in the park outside the community, his smile radiant.