Chapter 3: Beginner’s Luck (2)

The day before yesterday afternoon, I was in the middle of a verbal sparring match with a weirdo on my phone. It started because a cleaning job wanted me to elaborate on my career plans for the next year.

Just as I was ‘planning’ to curse his ancestors, I received a message from someone named ‘Zhao Yanzu.’

“Miss, I’m very interested in your resume. I have a job here that is very suitable for you. Are you interested in chatting?”

I’m just a fresh graduate, and my resume only has three lines of part-time experience during university.

One line was tutoring, one line was as an hourly worker at a fast-food chain, and the last line was a brick-carrying internship on a construction site during the first half of my senior year.

Being able to determine a suitable job for me based on three lines of work experience must mean it’s some kind of manual labor or assembly line position, probably at some electronics factory.

But when I saw the company name—Nine People Office.

What’s that?

I opened the company profile, but couldn’t figure it out.

The person on the other end of the phone was still persistently sending me messages.

“I see on your resume that you can cook, clean, and endure hardship. I happen to have a job here that is perfect for you, with food and accommodation included, five social insurances and one housing fund, no probation period, and no work hour restrictions.”

Is the stroke of great fortune finally happening to me?

I excitedly typed two characters, but before I could send them, another sentence came, making my eyes widen like copper bells.

“A monthly salary of 10,000 yuan, plus generous commissions, with no upper limit. You can even get an advance of three months’ base salary.”

What scars or no scars!

I, Le Xiao Mai, have the constitution of a thick-skinned person who forgets the pain once the wound heals!

So I typed my birth information and sent it to the other party at the fastest speed, praying that my rigid birth chart could counteract the brains of this ‘Zhao Yanzu’!

I waited anxiously for half a minute, and the other party replied with the address for the interview tomorrow.

I excitedly held my phone, looking at those characters. My whole body was trembling, as if 30,000 yuan was waving to me.

This is what it feels like to win the lottery!

The next day, I dressed up carefully, wearing the little white dress I bought last year for the huge sum of 200 yuan, preparing to greet the 30,000 yuan with my most beautiful appearance, only to hear a sarcastic voice from behind.

“Oh, Xiao Mai is going for an interview. You don’t need to dress so grandly for an interview for a cleaning company, do you? Bringing out all the clothes you’ve been saving.”

Lin Miao sized me up playfully, turned her head, leaned against the cabinet, blew on her fingers, and snorted with a smile: “That’s right, if you don’t wear it now, you won’t have a chance later. After you start working, it will all be work clothes issued by the company.”

“Dress up nicely, maybe the personnel manager will have a lustful intention and promote you. Xiao Mai, you have to seize the opportunity.”

Our dormitory is a standard six-person room at Northern University. In the dormitory, there are three bunk beds. In another corner, there is a large wooden cabinet with compartments. Each person uses one compartment as a storage cabinet, and there are three small desks arranged together, forming a common area.

The one speaking was Lin Miao, who was painting her nails in the common area. She had always been at odds with me.

It should be said that she was at odds with the whole dormitory, but she didn’t dare to openly bully others, only targeting me everywhere.

Because I was poor, I rarely participated in dormitory and class activities. She would always taunt me from time to time with words like “poor,” “country bumpkin.”

I, ‘McHammer,’ am not a vegetarian. I’ve never been afraid of fighting. These little tricks are not worth my while.

So I tied my ponytail in front of the mirror and said with a smile: “That’s right, I was also inspired by someone, preparing for a seduction. With my looks, I should be able to easily win over some old men who like young girls, right? And with my eloquence, I might really rise to the top.”

I put my bag on my shoulder and looked at her sincerely, blinking my eyes: “Unlike someone, who has been sucking up for so long, but didn’t even get any breakup fee, and was caught by the main wife. What a waste of effort and acting skills.”

Lin Miao’s affair with a certain boss in Xicheng had long become an open secret in our dormitory.

Before, everyone tacitly kept silent, but now that we are about to graduate and become strangers soon, Le Xiao Mai will not indulge her bad habits!

Actually, I don’t think I’m that pretty. At most, I have regular features. All the praise my grandparents gave me when I was a child, I categorize as unconditional love for ‘children in their own family, who look good no matter what.’

Lin Miao was hit where it hurts. Angered, she threw the nail polish in her hand at me. Fortunately, I dodged quickly and didn’t let her succeed.

“Le Xiao Mai! I’ll fucking kill you! How dare you laugh at me!” She bared her teeth and claws, wanting to come forward and grab my hair.

The others in the dormitory went forward to stop her, pretending to persuade her to calm down, not to be angry, saying that Xiao Mai was talking nonsense, but none of them wanted me to apologize to her.

“I didn’t say it was you. Why are you so excited and putting a label on yourself?” I pretended to be very innocent.

“Ahhhhh! Le Xiao Mai, you bitch!” Lin Miao pretended to rush up.

I’m in a good mood today. I can’t let this busybody ruin it.

“Sisters, I’ll bring milk tea back for everyone tonight.” I waved friendly to the roommates who were blocking Lin Miao. “Thank you for your hard work. I’m leaving!”

“Hurry up and leave! Don’t add fuel to the fire here!”

“Are you going to have a fight before you graduate?”

“Go! We can’t hold her back anymore… Miao Miao, calm down, ah ah ah, don’t pinch my hand!” The roommates glared at me one by one, chattering in a mess.

“Le Xiao Mai! I’m going to tear your mouth apart today! If you have the guts, don’t run!” Lin Miao stretched out her index finger, which was painted messily, and shouted.

I gave her a graceful back view: “I’ll have a one-on-one fight with you when I come back later. I’m going to seduce old men. Bye-bye.”

The dormitory door cut off Lin Miao’s various swear words and foul language. My face smiled into a sunflower, and I happily ran towards my 30,000 yuan.

——————

The interview address that Zhao Yanzu gave me was a coffee shop at the entrance of a high-end residential area in Xicheng.

At first, I was muttering in my heart. Why choose a coffee shop for a good interview? Could it be a fraudulent company trying to fool people?

Then I thought, it’s a public place anyway. I’ll go and take a look first. If the person is unkind, I’ll just run away and call the police.

Just as I was praising my clever little brain, a man sat down opposite me, revealing a set of big white teeth.”

Are you Le Xiao Mai?”