“…”
“…”
The two stopped chatting.
Cheng Minghao simply wrapped his left arm around Lin Qingya’s waist and pressed down on her thigh.
They walked back to the classroom together, steps light.
—
A day or two later.
Night.
Back home.
It was Saturday again, and tomorrow was Sunday—a day to rest.
But for the past few nights, Cheng Minghao had skipped dinner and gone straight to ‘work,’ meaning he went out to look for part-time jobs.
Lin Qingya, on the other hand, stayed in Cheng Minghao’s room, timing the boiling of hot water every day, waiting for him to come back for noodles.
However, she was beginning to tire of this kind of life.
She decided to go downstairs and look for a part-time job herself.
Dinner could wait, but earning money shouldn’t be left to Cheng Minghao alone.
Even if what she was good at might attract strange looks.
After all, the things she could do were all things guys usually did.
But even so…
The food you eat is yours, the path you walk is yours, the words people say are theirs.
No matter what others said, she had to try her best, eat, and live life.
Downstairs.
Lin Qingya wore a white casual outfit, feeling it was a bit too thin for the weather.
It was warm inside, but cold outside.
“Boss, do you need a part-timer?”
Lin Qingya asked with a smile.
She was speaking to the middle-aged owner of a small convenience store.
Owners like this usually didn’t hire help.
After all, it was just a family-run business.
“No need.”
The answer was expected.
The male owner just glanced at Lin Qingya—her looks and figure—then shook his head and refused.
“No problem!”
Lin Qingya kept smiling, walking closer to the counter.
“Can I borrow a pen? I’ll leave my phone number. If you ever need to step out after high school lets out in the evening, I live upstairs. Even if it’s only five or ten yuan, I can help cover for ten, twenty minutes, half an hour, or an hour—it’s fine.”
“As for your store, are the prices clearly marked? I might be a bit unfamiliar with it.”
She asked.
The owner replied, “They’re marked, but some tags are missing. Too lazy to fix it, but I remember them.”
Lin Qingya said, “How about you sit, and I’ll help organize the tags? For free. If you need help another day, it’ll be easier for me to help, too.”
“This…”
The store owner hesitated.
He saw Lin Qingya making a gesture of prayer with her hands, and finally relented.
“Fine, you said it’s free. If it makes you happy, go ahead. There aren’t many customers this late anyway…”
“Thank you, boss!”
Lin Qingya beamed.
“Then, let’s start. How much is this?”
She picked up a small bag of Oreo and asked.
The owner answered,
“Usually three yuan per bag. For friends or students, if they buy more, sometimes I sell it for two fifty.”
“Oh~ then please lend me a pen and a stack of tags.”
Lin Qingya said.
While working for free, she also asked the owner about the situation in the Residential Community where she and Cheng Minghao lived.
She asked if any places nearby needed help.
The owner watched her work—slowly, mostly asking questions.
But since Lin Qingya was just a young girl, clearly a student, and had mentioned high school letting out at night, he just chatted with her casually.
During the conversation, the owner mentioned, “By the way, there was a pervert girl here a while back…”
“A pervert girl? What about her?”
Lin Qingya was squatting on the ground, busy writing price tags, and asked casually.
“Ahem! Nothing.”
The owner suddenly remembered Lin Qingya was a girl, so he dropped the subject about the dog-crawling girl from before.
He never imagined that the same dog-crawling girl was right in front of him, working.
What a coincidence.
Lin Qingya glanced at the owner, confused, but kept working.
After she finished, Lin Qingya returned the remaining blank tags and pen.
She held a sheet filled with product names and prices, put it in her pocket, and said,
“Boss, since you don’t need help now, I’ll check other places! Sorry to bother you. Goodbye!”
“Mm.”
The owner nodded, then suddenly remembered something.
“There are a lot of pretty girls nearby, but ones as beautiful as you are rare.”
“I remember your name is…”
He trailed off.
“Lin Qingya!”
Lin Qingya said her name with a smile.
“Oh, right, Lin Qingya. A lot of guys around here mention your name. Pretty girls always attract admirers, but they don’t dare to hit on you.”
The owner finished.
Lin Qingya’s cheeks turned red, and she smiled shyly.
She explained, “Um… Boss, could you help spread the word? I already have a boyfriend~ so please, tell everyone not to bother. Thanks for thinking highly of me!”
With that, Lin Qingya turned, waved at the owner, and said goodbye.
“Boss, I’m leaving. If you need me, call the number I left!”
The number Lin Qingya left was, of course, Cheng Minghao’s landline.
She’d fixed it and found the number under the phone.
She didn’t have a landline or cell phone at home.
But because of this, they’d need to recharge and pay for the landline—another small expense.
As she spoke, Lin Qingya walked out of the store.
But behind her, the owner called out.
“By the way, I saw you in a Hotel before. Why not work there instead of doing odd jobs here?”
“Ah? Hotel?”
Lin Qingya’s face flushed.
Was the original Lin Qingya that kind of girl?
No!
She suddenly remembered waking up on white sheets that morning.
She’d seen… that.
Lin Qingya quickly shook her head and explained,
“Oh, which Hotel? Where is it? Maybe I’ll go ask. I had a fever recently, so my memory is fuzzy… haha~”
She offered a vague explanation.
The owner said, “Oh, is that so?”
He didn’t know if it was true, and Lin Qingya didn’t know if he believed her.
But it didn’t matter.
The owner simply explained,
“Go out, turn left, walk a block, turn left again, and at the end, there’s a three-way intersection. You’ll see the Hotel there. Go ask. I think they have night shifts.”
“Night shifts?”
Lin Qingya was puzzled, then nodded.
She decided to check it out.
If she could study during the day and work at night, it would be tiring but doable.
The original Lin Qingya could endure, so she could, too.
She just wasn’t sure, given her small frame, what kind of work she could do.
Jobs for girls and boys were very different, after all.