Chapter 19: Survival? Employment?

  Gu Xi turned his head and gazed intently, his bright and spirited eyes, thick eyebrows, yet didn't feel very rugged, listening to this accent seemingly not a local person.

  "Ruo" "Kan" "Xiao" ""Shuo""Wang"

  "Oh! That thing has arrived, really can't eat it. By the way, have you familiarized yourself with any apartments recently? I just stayed in a hotel last night and it was ridiculously expensive, if this continues I might end up sleeping on the streets, this internship is really going to torture me to death." He blinked his eyes shyly, propped himself up with both hands on the ground, stretched out his two slender legs, licked the ice cream cone, and his voice seemed less hoarse afterwards.

  "What did you study?"

  When she met someone of the same age, her topics seemed to have increased a lot, and perhaps all the qualities on his body attracted her. Looking at the silver-white mini camera next to Ye Kaiwen, she began to talk eloquently, maybe she had been holding back too much recently.

  "My name is Yeh Kae Wen, studying music, msic? ok?"

  Ye Kaiwen, a senior music major student, comes from an ordinary family. His parents borrowed money everywhere for his studies. The university days are memorable. In the blink of an eye, they passed by, and classmates went their separate ways. Those with connections went to find companies to sign contracts or participate in singing competitions. But he couldn't find direction, his dreams were very pure, and his thoughts were simple.

  "Oh, found a job?"

  "Actually, I changed jobs twice on the school side and quit within two months. The salary was really low, and the boss was particularly exploitative." Ye Kaiwen's mouth was full of ice cream cones as he busily told her about the situation.

  "What's your job? Selling songs in bars?"

  She loved music and had mastered the staff at the age of eight. In her free time, she would write lyrics and compose songs, but the more she liked it, the more unbalanced her heart became. Her family couldn't afford the expensive tuition fees, and besides, she felt like she didn't exist at home, so she gave up on the idea. However, whenever she saw those music lovers who chased their dreams purely on the streets or in bars, she would silently envy them.

  "What are you thinking? Want to sign an employment contract and go to a bar to sing? Working as a miscellaneous staff in an entertainment media company, honestly, I was really fired by the supervisor."

  "Now the employment pressure is huge, many of my classmates have changed four or five jobs already. Listening to them makes me feel confused, and I haven't even started looking for a job yet." Gu Xi spoke out the words that had been buried in her heart for several months, seeming to feel much more relaxed afterwards.

  "Really? I also think the salary is too low." Ye Kaiwen's expression was very innocent, simple to the bone, furrowing his brow and scratching his hair as he spoke.

  "Alright, let's not talk about it for now. It's hard enough to just get out there and do something, so I'll just force myself to do it for now. The sky is darkening, I have to head back." She took a deep breath, thinking that reality was really too far off from her imagination.

  "Hey, what's your name? Can we meet again?"

  "Same old place! Maybe we'll never see each other again in this lifetime!" She left without looking back, stretching out her right hand to gesture.

  Watching her walk away step by step, he quickly snapped photos. This girl was really special, so when inspiration struck, he ran to the bottom of the streetlight and sat down with a thud, swiftly pulling out an old green notebook from his backpack, writing down "Frozen Vision" word by word, sentence by sentence, as if he had a guitar he could compose music while revising lyrics.

  Rumbling——rumbling——the sound grew louder, he subconsciously touched his flat stomach. When he first came out of the hotel, he had a big bag of instant noodles, and now he was hungry again. He let out a deep sigh and got up to walk back to the small alley next to where he originally lived to buy a boxed meal. Looking at the few bills left in his pocket, he felt extremely annoyed. On days when he had no money, he couldn't even lift his head while walking. As soon as he arrived at the hotel, he fell onto the bed and his mind was filled with thoughts of how to make money.

  Early in the morning, after opening the curtains, the dazzling sun climbed up to half of the sky. Other book friends were reading: "Tempting and pampering, relying on seducing people's wives" latest chapter. Ye Kaiwen simply washed up, changed into a clean set of clothes, picked up a file bag and headed towards the talent market. With no confidence in his heart, under the enthusiastic guidance of the staff, he got a monthly card, saw the crowded scene inside from outside the door, felt anxious and passed the ticket gate.

  Clerks, salespeople, warehouse managers... all require more than a year of work experience, with a monthly salary of 2000+, one after another, everywhere is so crowded, even the hotel service staff lined up in a long queue, suddenly I feel a lot of pressure here.

  "Hello, are you a graduate? It says here that you have experience as a sales promoter and a telemarketing customer service representative. You changed jobs twice in just three months? So how long do you plan to stay with our company?"

  He stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard these few words. He tiptoed and saw a girl wearing glasses and very formal clothes, except for that one mouthful of pearly white teeth that was particularly eye-catching, her square face was really ordinary to the point where people could ignore her existence. He vaguely saw her resume written with dense and clear entries, listing out her campus experience in neat rows.

  She had applied for the position of reserve store manager at a shopping mall. Looking at the interviewer's serious expression and sharp words, it seemed like there was no hope. Just as Ye Kaiwen was about to look at the recruitment information on the wall, he was suddenly squeezed to the other side. Ping An Insurance? Recruiting telemarketing sales?

  Hesitated for a long time, recalling the day of internship gathering when he and his colleagues all said they didn't want to enter the insurance industry. The more I thought about it, the less dare I approached. Having been stuck inside for an hour, I couldn't bear it anymore and ran out, looking at the recruitment notice outside, which was crowded by a group of job seekers, who were squeezed several meters away, and even on tiptoes, they couldn't see anything.

  Walking away in disappointment, another day's time was wasted. Before long, a very familiar voice came over, "Hello, please take a look at the new Jia Wei takeaway menu, delicious and affordable! Thank you!" Distractedly took it, walked several steps before turning back, saw a person holding many sheets, wasn't this girl seen last night?

  "It's a small world, and yet I get to meet you." Ye Kaiwen turned around and walked back, patting her shoulder with a smile.

  "What's up? Got an interview? I found a job posting on 58 last night, and it just so happens to be near the talent market." Gu Xi said with wide eyes.

  "Not yet? The requirements are so high, if this continues, we'll have to stop eating. Let me help you send some." He looked a bit disappointed as he took half of the single pages from Gu Xi's hand and they sent them together.

  "Right!"

  Two hours later, the single page was finished. He received his day's wages again and heard his stomach rumbling loudly, so Gu Xi took him to a nearby restaurant to order two dishes to eat together.

  A small restaurant with a great atmosphere. Listening to lively music, and having free soup to drink, eating while chatting, "Can't survive without money? Easy, follow me!"

  "Where are you going?"

  Ye Kaiwen watched her rush to the cashier to pay, and then followed her to the subway station. Before long, after exiting the subway, he saw her looking around everywhere.

  "Last night I saw on the internet that this popular bar 'Fanhua Street' is looking for a part-time singer, why don't you go try out? It seems like you can earn several hundred yuan just by singing one show."

  Gu Xi took out her phone and looked at the webpage from last night. One after another, passersby asked for directions, "Excuse me, how do I get to Sheng Qing Bar?"

  "Is that the bar you're looking for? Just walk straight and turn left, it's about 100 meters diagonally opposite the West District Hotel." An elderly woman with snow-white hair, wearing a bright white pearl necklace, looked particularly noble. At her age, she still put on makeup meticulously. After finishing speaking, she frowned, saying that nowadays kids love this kind of entertainment venue.

  Fan Yu Hotel? Isn't this one of Ling Haoyu's branches? The place where the incident happened, seeing Ye Kaiwen who still didn't dare to raise his head, he called out, "Hurry up, we'll get someone over here soon!"

  Across the road, she gazed at the Fan Yu Hotel opposite her. There were still a few police cars parked in front of her. She let out a sigh and quickened her pace. The words "Sheng Qing Bar" appeared before her eyes. Indeed, there was a recruitment notice scrolling back and forth on it. "Hey, what's up? Come on in!"