Another interview came to an end.
Bai Yao walked out of the office building expressionlessly.
She glanced at the time—still enough to make the next one—and quickened her pace toward the subway.
The weather was scorching hot.
Her waist-length hair hung loose, the sun baking the top of her head.
Sweat had already plastered her bangs into sticky strands against her forehead and cheeks, and her thin white shirt was almost see-through in places.
But she wore a white vest underneath, so there was no risk of exposure.
It wasn’t rush hour.
Bai Yao entered the subway, found a seat at random, and pulled a handheld mini fan out of her small bag, aiming it at her neck.
She wore a crisp short-sleeved blouse and casual dress pants, the blouse tucked in, a belt cinching her waist to an impossibly delicate curve.
Bai Yao quite liked this look.
It made her appear sharp and capable, with a cool, confident air—as if she really were an experienced, reliable, mentally mature adult.
Long Jie’s restaurant seemed to be around here?
Bai Yao glanced at the map on her phone, suddenly remembering Senior Long Ziyi.
‘Later, I’ll drop by Long Jie’s restaurant.’
‘It wouldn’t be bad to open my own small shop to make a living someday~’
But then she thought about being her own boss, having to handle everything herself—probably more exhausting than working a regular job.
She quickly squashed that idea.
Long Ziyi had been so busy with the restaurant that she didn’t even have time for “Gender Levitation” anymore, completely losing her lewd thoughts.
‘Better to just go to more interviews without being picky. First find a proper job.’
Otherwise, Qiu Ye was preparing for the civil service exam and she still had no job.
The two of them would eat through their savings, and they’d been interns for a while but still had to ask their parents for living expenses—that would weigh on her conscience.
Anyway, every interview gave her a hundred bucks from the System.
That was motivation enough.
Meanwhile, Qiu Ye was alone in the rented room for once, with no little demon bothering him.
He bit the cap of his pen, feeling like he was back in Senior 3, endlessly grinding through past exam papers and wrong question books.
To be honest, even in Senior 3 he hadn’t been this hardworking.
Back then, he’d told his parents he would review at home alone, but in reality, he played games every day.
Even so, he got into a four-year university.
He considered himself pretty smart; the time he actually spent studying was pitifully small.
Maybe just a little more than last month.
He’d thought it was awesome back then, thought rebelling against his parents was something to be proud of, and even bragged about it repeatedly to his roommates and Bai Yao.
Now he thought how ridiculous that was.
Qiu Ye calmed down, finished another set of civil service exam test papers, rubbed his temples with a headache, let out a light sigh, then continued checking the answers.
Even though in front of Bai Yao he made the civil service exam seem like a trivial choice, the truth was he had no confidence at all.
But Bai Yao already seemed to believe he could definitely pass it easily.
In her eyes, he could do anything.
Often when he did something small, she’d look up at him with admiration, stars sparkling in her eyes.
That gave him a huge boost of confidence, but now the pressure was enormous.
What if he failed the exam?
Would his image in Bai Yao’s eyes collapse?
Qiu Ye took out two more sets of papers and finished the questions.
He also had to cook.
He glanced at the time, estimated Bai Yao wouldn’t be back very soon, and did a few more questions, so Bai Yao wouldn’t have to eat takeout all the time.
Takeout was bad for health—something his future mother-in-law kept emphasizing.
And he loved the look of surprise and admiration on Bai Yao’s face when she ate his cooking.
They were both working hard for their shared future.
At 7 PM, Bai Yao returned to the rented room under the cover of night.
Unlike the previous days when she came home looking hopeless, collapsed on the floor, and pretended to be dead the moment she entered, today she was in a noticeably good mood.
“Back so late? Eat.”
“Bro Qiu! I found a great company!”
“Oh? What do they do?”
Qiu Ye was scooping rice from the rice cooker while turning his head to look at Bai Yao.
“What kind of company? Are you interested?”
“Yeah! I’m interested!”
Bai Yao spoke while taking off her skirt and blouse, left in just a vest and panties, and bounced over excitedly.
“What’s for dinner?”
“Rice cooker beef roll rice.”
“I made something simple without any smoke or oil.”
The rented room didn’t have a range hood, let alone a kitchen, so she had to keep it simple.
“Oh~ Amazing!”
“Eat first. I’ll mix some water spinach.”
“Less garlic, please. I don’t like garlic.”
Bai Yao carried her bowl to the desk.
Qiu Ye lifted the inner pot of the rice cooker directly; the leftover rice was his portion.
“So what’s the job?”
“Uh… Operations intern for adult products?”
Qiu Ye looked at Bai Yao blankly.
Bai Yao’s face turned red as she lifted her bowl to eat, using it to hide her burning cheeks, her voice dropping two notches:
“Anyway… I saw the team atmosphere was pretty good, and they mainly work in the two-dimensional direction. Their dolls are really cute.”
To be fair, Bai Yao did have plenty of experience in that area.
Qiu Ye subconsciously glanced at the large box with a combination lock in the corner.
It was stuffed with all sorts of unmentionable toys.
She’d wanted to throw away the ones that didn’t work well or she didn’t like, but the trash bins in the urban village always got picked through by elderly neighbors.
So they kept piling up until they needed a dedicated box.
The one the System rewarded was still the best!
Bai Yao spent more money on that stuff each month than on clothes.
Qiu Ye was happy to have things easier—otherwise, after nine years, he would have been drained dry.
“But the subway takes four hours round trip.”
Bai Yao muttered.
“And they want me to be a livestream host for sales. I’m not interested in that.”
“I feel like you’d be more suited for product design? Since you use a lot?”
Qiu Ye teased.
“But if you tell people, they’ll think you’re a pervert. Which, honestly, you are.”
“I’ll just say I’m an operations intern…”
“And they might not even hire me.”
Bai Yao quickly changed the subject.
“How’s your review going?”
“Pretty good.”
“Let me check! How many questions did you do today? You didn’t slack off all day, did you?”
Qiu Ye finished mixing the water spinach, placed it on the table, and sat down next to Bai Yao.
“That’s more your style.”
“What do you mean? I did so much~”
Bai Yao glanced casually at the thick stack of papers and sighed.
“I can’t stand doing two sets. You’re amazing.”
She skillfully lifted her clean, pretty face and gave Qiu Ye an admiring, starry-eyed look.
Qiu Ye pretended to be immune, pushing her head back down.
“Eat.”
But inwardly, he felt a thrill.
A surge of motivation washed away his mental fatigue. He felt he could do several more sets tonight.
While eating, Bai Yao continued to share interesting stories from her interviews today.
A guy hitting on her on the subway, a company that left her waiting for an hour without acknowledging her, and a stray orange cat she almost mistook for a pig because it was so fat.
The phone rang, breaking the pleasant atmosphere.
Bai Yao’s phone buzzed.
Seeing her mother’s caller ID, she shuddered, too scared to pick up.
Recently, whenever she saw her mother’s call, her face would darken instantly.
But Bai Yao still stood up, retreated into the bathroom, and answered.
“Hello?”
“Bai Yao~ Have you talked to Qiu Ye? We’ll only ask for a betrothal gift of 288,000, and your dad will give a car as dowry. That’s already very little. Your cousin got 300,000 to 400,000 back then.”
“Mom…”
“It would be embarrassing if it were any less. You’re so pretty, aren’t you worth at least 200,000?”
“Mom…”
“Let’s have the engagement this summer? Everyone will be free then. We can have one ceremony on our side, one on Qiu’s side?”
“Forget it. I don’t want to get married.”
Bai Yao hung up directly.
When she turned around, Qiu Ye was standing at the bathroom door, looking at her with concern.
“Money, money, money… It’s annoying.”
‘We had such good feelings for several years, which was why we even considered marriage. But all my family talks about is money. It feels like our relationship has been tainted.’