Chapter 6: An Awkward Encounter

Chapter 6

The twenty yuan note in her hand was crumpled.

Her mom had stuffed one hundred yuan into her pocket last night when she said she wanted to find a summer job.

This morning when she parted ways with her dad, he had given her fifty yuan and told her to go buy some food. And now he had given her another twenty yuan, so she had a total of one hundred and seventy yuan.

The app showed she had 1160 yuan, so she didn't add any more.

The money the system had given her today had reached the limit. After walking ten thousand steps this morning,

Su Xiaoqi only confirmed that this system really existed and wasn't just imagined when she spent the money.

If she got one thousand yuan per day, and there were thirty days in a month, that would be thirty thousand yuan.

Then she wouldn't have any pressure paying her tuition fees; half a month would be enough.

But paying tuition wasn't the same as buying clothes. She couldn't cheat. She still needed a source of income.

She had only casually mentioned wanting to tutor yesterday, but today she decided to really find a tutoring job.

She could temporarily stay at her aunt's house.

She used to care more about appearances.

She felt working part-time jobs was embarrassing, but after going home this time, she experienced that while other families were sleeping in the middle of the night, her parents were still working hard, doing tiring labor to earn meager wages, and then giving all of it to her.

Compared to that, her going out to work should be something to be proud of, not embarrassing at all.

There was another thing: she had money now, and it made her feel different.

If she didn't have money and went to work, it would be just to survive.

Just surviving was always carefully treading, afraid of making a wrong step and losing her livelihood.

But with money in her pocket, she inexplicably had more confidence. Even if she lost her job, she could still live.

Going to work was to gain more than just money, but also experience in dealing with people and the world.

Su Xiaoqi walked all the way to her aunt's house.

Her aunt's house was actually just the hospital dormitory.

The hospital was right next to her high school. Her aunt was a janitor at the hospital, responsible for the hygiene on the first floor of the inpatient department, practically working 24 hours a day, so the hospital provided dormitories.

But the conditions were very crude. It was different from where the doctors and nurses rested. It was in the basement of the hospital, dark when you went in, with windows on one side, and not far away was the hospital morgue.

It was awkward because on the day they got their college acceptance letters, she had run into Liu Shaowei.

The boy she had promised before the college entrance exam to go to the same university with.

Then Su Xiaoqi didn't test well, getting into a private university, while Liu Shaowei performed decently, getting into a top public university.

Su Xiaoqi went south to another city, while Liu Shaowei went north.

Their lives diverged from here, seeming worlds apart, like a huge ravine, insurmountable.

That day, standing in front of Liu Shaowei, he had just smiled awkwardly before leaving surrounded by a group of classmates. She heard they were going to celebrate getting into college at KTV.

She stood there, crying like a dog.

Very sad about not testing well for college, and the boy she liked was gone too. Hard to say which made her sadder.

To make things worse, she had cried so hard her glasses fell off, and it was this boy living next door who had picked them up and returned them to her.

She had cried until her eyes were blurry, snot running down her nose.

Very embarrassing.

"Xiao Lin, I heard you got into Alliance University. My niece Xiaoqi also got into Alliance University. You'll have to look after each other there." Her aunt greeted him loudly.

Su Xiaoqi could only stand aside awkwardly smiling.

Very awkward.

Although he was at an average high school, he had tested into the best university in the city, while she was at a top high school but only got into some unknown private school in the city. There was no comparison.

"Okay Aunt Su, I'm off to a part-time job. Let's chat later." He smiled appropriately and walked out.

"Um, Lin, wait a moment." Su Xiaoqi called out to him, her face a little red.

She had only been a student before, with pitifully little social experience, let alone working part-time jobs. Hearing him so calmly talk about going to a part-time job, she thought she could ask him about it.

"You guys chat, I'm going to make dinner." Her aunt walked away blithely.

Leaving Su Xiaoqi standing there, pushing up her glasses again, trying her best to stand upright and look him in the eye.

"Um, I also want to find a part-time job, tutoring or something. Could you tell me how to find one?"

On the narrow stairwell, Lin Min did not expect Su Xiaoqi to actually take the initiative to talk to him. Seeing her standing in front of him, cheeks fair with some baby fat, eyes curved, lips red, most of her face obscured by big black glasses, actually she looked much prettier without them. Because he often saw her with a towel on her head after washing her hair, glasses off, looking soft and cute.

But with glasses on, she became a bit fierce, a bit arrogant, not very easy to get along with.

He smiled and said, "Sure, let's go together. I have a tutoring interview today."