A few people went back to the dormitory with Xiao Qi. On the way back, Yun Shu started talking about getting a driver's license.
Mi'er said she wanted to go together.
Seeing that Wei Cheng was not saying anything, Yun Shu took the initiative to ask Wei Cheng if she would like to go get a license together.
It would cost over 4,000 yuan to get a driver's license.
Wei Cheng hesitated for a moment and said, "I also want to get one. There are many part-time job opportunities posted on the school forum to earn tuition through work-study. I've signed up for a few. If I get selected, I should be able to earn the tuition soon."
"Okay, I'll pay first for you. When you earn enough money, you can pay me back or pay me in installments, whatever works for you," Yun Shu said.
Xiao Qi did not jump in to offer help. She curiously asked after hearing Wei Cheng's words, "There are things like this on school forums too? I thought there was only gossip."
"There are. There's a work-study column. You can take a look. You fill in your information and if the employer finds you suitable, they will call you to come over. I did a part-time job last weekend, it was quite interesting. Someone was hosting a dinner party and needed temporary servers. The pay was pretty good, 300 for one night. I wonder why they like hiring college students to be servers. Anyway, I went there, changed into their uniform, followed instructions to work. Nothing too special, the jobs posted there are quite formal. The student union screens them, so shady ones won't be there."
Wei Cheng's exam results were third-place. That's also because she could not devote all her energy to studying. She had to spend a large part of her time on work-study to earn tuition since she has two siblings and her parents were just mushroom farmers. Relying purely on family would make going to college very difficult. There were actually more opportunities in school and it was much easier to earn money than what her parents made. She didn't even want her parents to send her living allowance now. She wanted to earn enough to pay for next semester's tuition too.
Of course there were many money making opportunities in school, but there were also many expenses. No matter how hard Wei Cheng worked, she was still just an 18-year-old girl. Buying new clothes, accessories and going out with classmates were all necessities, not vanity. It was a matter of basic self-esteem.
Xiao Qi understood Wei Cheng very much. Although she had won quite a lot of prize money from various competitions, she had the same attitude as Wei Cheng when it came to work-study.
Her parents had such a hard time making money. They could dig 100 catties of spring bamboo shoots from the deep mountains, carry them dozens of kilometers over mountain paths, and only earn 20 yuan in the end. That was 2 mao per catty of bamboo shoots.
That 20 yuan was hard-earned money. In comparison, there were many work-study opportunities in school and it was much easier to earn money. No need to take shady paths, as long as one was willing to work, one could support oneself. Xiao Qi felt this was great.
Although she had the system, the money in the system was accumulated until a certain amount before she used it to buy property, changing it into fixed assets. So the amount she actually spent herself was not a lot.
Therefore, even though she had a lot of money now, Xiao Qi was still willing to do work-study, to keep herself grounded, study well and make progress every day.
After hearing about the forum from Wei Cheng and returning to her dorm, Xiao Qi also logged in to take a look. There really were a lot of opportunities. Xiao Qi browsed and selectively registered her information according to the different job requirements.
Xiao Qi's qualifications were slightly better, so she didn't need to take those server jobs which wouldn't benefit her much. She chose some tutoring jobs. She had worked as a tutor during the summer holidays and found it very rewarding. Not only did she teach others and help them, it was also greatly beneficial for her own improvement. If not for tutoring Jiajia and the others over the summer, her English would not have improved so quickly and so well. Because she was a tutor, there was pressure but also motivation. Teaching leads to learning.
There was a tutoring job requiring the teaching of Calculus and English. The pay was quite high, 500 per lesson, but the requirements were also high. These two subjects happened to be what Xiao Qi was good at. Moreover, she was planning to apply for postgraduate studies, so more learning could not go wrong. She filled in her profile, English and Calculus midterm exam scores and submitted the application. She felt there was a good chance.
There were also translation jobs. Xiao Qi registered her information for those too, not English translation, but Japanese. However, she did not have any certification. She could only submit an audio recording of herself reciting Japanese.
Another interesting one was a part-time job at an auction house. Xiao Qi registered her information for that too. The pay for that one was not high, but Xiao Qi was completely unfamiliar with it and felt that it would be quite good to understand it if she got the opportunity.
There were also things like golf course caddies, tennis hitting partners, all kinds of game boosting services. Xiao Qi browsed through them quickly. She felt those were not her strengths or interests, so she did not register for them.
She selectively registered information for some jobs, leaving her phone number, then closed her computer.
She started practicing calligraphy.
After practicing calligraphy for half an hour, she felt completely calm and only then went to lie down to sleep.
Sleeping half an hour at noon would make her a lot more spirited and clear-headed in the afternoon classes.
In the afternoon there was Computer Lab class which required going to the lab building, so they had to set off earlier.
The dorm mates got up from their noon break and started changing and getting ready.
At this time, Xiao Qi’s phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. Xiao Qi picked up. It was a woman's voice, sounding very brisk and cheerful, saying she was looking for a tutor and was quite satisfied with Xiao Qi’s information. She asked if Xiao Qi was available to come over on Saturday morning.
Xiao Qi was originally thinking of going property shopping on Saturday morning, but considered that buying property was not something that could be done in one day. It would be fine to go next week instead. She nodded and agreed, and the other party said she would send the address shortly.
Sure enough, soon after hanging up a text message came with an address in Meng City urban area. It was quite far.
However, for earning money there was no room for fussiness. Even though it was a bit far, it was still easier money than what her parents made at home. She was still willing to go. She replied with two words: received.
Her dorm mates saw that Xiao Qi had managed to secure a part-time job so quickly and were quite curious.
"Whenever I apply for these work-study opportunities, it takes one or two days to get a reply. Didn't expect Xiao Qi to be so fast." Wei Cheng said.
"Maybe the other party needs someone urgently and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Xiao Qi also felt it was a bit fast. That was some incredible efficiency.
Wondering how her other two applications turned out, Xiao Qi waited until dinnertime when the Japanese translation application displayed rejection. Although Xiao Qi had submitted an audio recording, the other party still required certification. Without certification, it was a no go.
The auction house application did not call Xiao Qi and also did not show rejection. She did not know the outcome.
The waiting and not knowing was rather antsy, like an itch that needed to be scratched, making her a little anxious.
After dinner, Xiao Qi tidied up then went out to the sports field to jog a few laps. With sweat pouring out, she felt refreshed and stopped worrying about it.
She could also have gone horse riding to relax as jogging and riding both alleviated stress well. But these two days, because of what the student union president previously said, Xiao Qi felt a little awkward. Also, the coach was on vacation this week, so Xiao Qi decided not to go over this week and see next week.
In the evening for Spanish elective class, Xiao Qi saw classmate Li Wei Jin already there when she arrived.
This time, Xiao Qi went straight to sit at the desk behind Li Wei Jin. After sitting down she tapped his back with her pen and asked, "Didn't you need to sit a resit exam?"
Li Wei Jin put on an extremely serious expression and said, "I discovered I have fallen in love with Spanish and decided to enroll in the elective course. I already registered."
Xiao Qi: ...
You do you.
When the class bell rang, thin Teacher Aijin came to class in a plaid cheongsam, making her look even thinner, like a stick of firewood, although she herself probably loved this look. Her expression was very jubilant as soon as she came in today. Seeing the boys and girls in the front seats and the surrounding desks, her smile grew even more amiable.
Teacher Aijin did not teach Spanish poems today. Instead, she introduced one of Spain's most famous architectural achievements, the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Xiao Qi was very surprised. She had just read about this in the morning and had not expected Teacher to give a detailed lecture about it in the evening.
Teacher Aizhen was still using English to introduce the content, switching to Spanish when it involved Spain, so unknowingly they had learned many new words and sentences this way.
Xiao Qi's beginner level Spanish was not enough for her to directly understand everything, but it meant that with this foundation, learning would now be much easier. She still needed to study.
Xiao Qi listened very carefully, following along with the slides Teacher was presenting, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Royal Palace of Madrid located in Spain's capital city. Its former name was Palacio Real de Buen Retiro. In 1734 it was burned down and in 1736, King Philip V and his queen Isabella rebuilt it into what is now known as the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Teacher Aizhen then told the story of King Philip V and his queen. Teacher Aizhen was a very romantic person, and ordinary stories became very romantic when she told them.
As for Li Weijin's listening comprehension, his English was passable enough for him to somewhat keep up, but learning Spanish was more tiring for him. Fortunately his family fully supported his studies and had arranged for a private tutor. He decided he would make up for lost time by studying hard over the weekend, determined to catch up to Xiao Qi.
Xiao Qi did not pay attention to Li Weijin in front of her. She listened to the lesson attentively, following along with the slides Teacher was showing, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The Li Weijin sitting in front of her today did not smell like Chinese medicinal herbs. As soon as he sat down, Xiao Qi caught a whiff of a very nice lemony scent, like fresh green lemons. Then she sensed something like freshly brewed green tea, as well as the coolness of mint. But underneath this cool sensation there seemed to be an undertone of Chinese medicine, though Xiao Qi did not know their names. Strangely, the lingering scents also included the sweetness of sugarcane, the woody aroma of cypress wood, and even a hint of rum.
Li Weijin's perfume smelled too good. With top, middle and base notes each showing different facets, Xiao Qi's extremely sensitive nose picked up this complex and lingering scent. Attending class, she felt unusually alert and energized, and felt that the content Teacher was lecturing seemed richer and more colorful. She was very curious to ask Li Weijin what perfume he had worn today...
A few people went back to the dormitory with Xiao Qi. On the way back, Yun Shu started talking about getting a driver's license.
Mi'er said she wanted to go together.
Seeing that Wei Cheng was not saying anything, Yun Shu took the initiative to ask Wei Cheng if she would like to go get a license together.
It would cost over 4,000 yuan to get a driver's license.
Wei Cheng hesitated for a moment and said, "I also want to get one. There are many part-time job opportunities posted on the school forum to earn tuition through work-study. I've signed up for a few. If I get selected, I should be able to earn the tuition soon."
"Okay, I'll pay first for you. When you earn enough money, you can pay me back or pay me in installments, whatever works for you," Yun Shu said.
Xiao Qi did not jump in to offer help. She curiously asked after hearing Wei Cheng's words, "There are things like this on school forums too? I thought there was only gossip."
"There are. There's a work-study column. You can take a look. You fill in your information and if the employer finds you suitable, they will call you to come over. I did a part-time job last weekend, it was quite interesting. Someone was hosting a dinner party and needed temporary servers. The pay was pretty good, 300 for one night. I wonder why they like hiring college students to be servers. Anyway, I went there, changed into their uniform, followed instructions to work. Nothing too special, the jobs posted there are quite formal. The student union screens them, so shady ones won't be there."
Wei Cheng's exam results were third-place. That's also because she could not devote all her energy to studying. She had to spend a large part of her time on work-study to earn tuition since she has two siblings and her parents were just mushroom farmers. Relying purely on family would make going to college very difficult. There were actually more opportunities in school and it was much easier to earn money than what her parents made. She didn't even want her parents to send her living allowance now. She wanted to earn enough to pay for next semester's tuition too.
Of course there were many money making opportunities in school, but there were also many expenses. No matter how hard Wei Cheng worked, she was still just an 18-year-old girl. Buying new clothes, accessories and going out with classmates were all necessities, not vanity. It was a matter of basic self-esteem.
Xiao Qi understood Wei Cheng very much. Although she had won quite a lot of prize money from various competitions, she had the same attitude as Wei Cheng when it came to work-study.
Her parents had such a hard time making money. They could dig 100 catties of spring bamboo shoots from the deep mountains, carry them dozens of kilometers over mountain paths, and only earn 20 yuan in the end. That was 2 mao per catty of bamboo shoots.
That 20 yuan was hard-earned money. In comparison, there were many work-study opportunities in school and it was much easier to earn money. No need to take shady paths, as long as one was willing to work, one could support oneself. Xiao Qi felt this was great.
Although she had the system, the money in the system was accumulated until a certain amount before she used it to buy property, changing it into fixed assets. So the amount she actually spent herself was not a lot.
Therefore, even though she had a lot of money now, Xiao Qi was still willing to do work-study, to keep herself grounded, study well and make progress every day.
After hearing about the forum from Wei Cheng and returning to her dorm, Xiao Qi also logged in to take a look. There really were a lot of opportunities. Xiao Qi browsed and selectively registered her information according to the different job requirements.
Xiao Qi's qualifications were slightly better, so she didn't need to take those server jobs which wouldn't benefit her much. She chose some tutoring jobs. She had worked as a tutor during the summer holidays and found it very rewarding. Not only did she teach others and help them, it was also greatly beneficial for her own improvement. If not for tutoring Jiajia and the others over the summer, her English would not have improved so quickly and so well. Because she was a tutor, there was pressure but also motivation. Teaching leads to learning.
There was a tutoring job requiring the teaching of Calculus and English. The pay was quite high, 500 per lesson, but the requirements were also high. These two subjects happened to be what Xiao Qi was good at. Moreover, she was planning to apply for postgraduate studies, so more learning could not go wrong. She filled in her profile, English and Calculus midterm exam scores and submitted the application. She felt there was a good chance.
There were also translation jobs. Xiao Qi registered her information for those too, not English translation, but Japanese. However, she did not have any certification. She could only submit an audio recording of herself reciting Japanese.
Another interesting one was a part-time job at an auction house. Xiao Qi registered her information for that too. The pay for that one was not high, but Xiao Qi was completely unfamiliar with it and felt that it would be quite good to understand it if she got the opportunity.
There were also things like golf course caddies, tennis hitting partners, all kinds of game boosting services. Xiao Qi browsed through them quickly. She felt those were not her strengths or interests, so she did not register for them.
She selectively registered information for some jobs, leaving her phone number, then closed her computer.
She started practicing calligraphy.
After practicing calligraphy for half an hour, she felt completely calm and only then went to lie down to sleep.
Sleeping half an hour at noon would make her a lot more spirited and clear-headed in the afternoon classes.
In the afternoon there was Computer Lab class which required going to the lab building, so they had to set off earlier.
The dorm mates got up from their noon break and started changing and getting ready.
At this time, Xiao Qi’s phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. Xiao Qi picked up. It was a woman's voice, sounding very brisk and cheerful, saying she was looking for a tutor and was quite satisfied with Xiao Qi’s information. She asked if Xiao Qi was available to come over on Saturday morning.
Xiao Qi was originally thinking of going property shopping on Saturday morning, but considered that buying property was not something that could be done in one day. It would be fine to go next week instead. She nodded and agreed, and the other party said she would send the address shortly.
Sure enough, soon after hanging up a text message came with an address in Meng City urban area. It was quite far.
However, for earning money there was no room for fussiness. Even though it was a bit far, it was still easier money than what her parents made at home. She was still willing to go. She replied with two words: received.
Her dorm mates saw that Xiao Qi had managed to secure a part-time job so quickly and were quite curious.
"Whenever I apply for these work-study opportunities, it takes one or two days to get a reply. Didn't expect Xiao Qi to be so fast." Wei Cheng said.
"Maybe the other party needs someone urgently and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Xiao Qi also felt it was a bit fast. That was some incredible efficiency.
Wondering how her other two applications turned out, Xiao Qi waited until dinnertime when the Japanese translation application displayed rejection. Although Xiao Qi had submitted an audio recording, the other party still required certification. Without certification, it was a no go.
The auction house application did not call Xiao Qi and also did not show rejection. She did not know the outcome.
The waiting and not knowing was rather antsy, like an itch that needed to be scratched, making her a little anxious.
After dinner, Xiao Qi tidied up then went out to the sports field to jog a few laps. With sweat pouring out, she felt refreshed and stopped worrying about it.
She could also have gone horse riding to relax as jogging and riding both alleviated stress well. But these two days, because of what the student union president previously said, Xiao Qi felt a little awkward. Also, the coach was on vacation this week, so Xiao Qi decided not to go over this week and see next week.
In the evening for Spanish elective class, Xiao Qi saw classmate Li Wei Jin already there when she arrived.
This time, Xiao Qi went straight to sit at the desk behind Li Wei Jin. After sitting down she tapped his back with her pen and asked, "Didn't you need to sit a resit exam?"
Li Wei Jin put on an extremely serious expression and said, "I discovered I have fallen in love with Spanish and decided to enroll in the elective course. I already registered."
Xiao Qi: ...
You do you.
When the class bell rang, thin Teacher Aijin came to class in a plaid cheongsam, making her look even thinner, like a stick of firewood, although she herself probably loved this look. Her expression was very jubilant as soon as she came in today. Seeing the boys and girls in the front seats and the surrounding desks, her smile grew even more amiable.
Teacher Aijin did not teach Spanish poems today. Instead, she introduced one of Spain's most famous architectural achievements, the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Xiao Qi was very surprised. She had just read about this in the morning and had not expected Teacher to give a detailed lecture about it in the evening.
Teacher Aizhen was still using English to introduce the content, switching to Spanish when it involved Spain, so unknowingly they had learned many new words and sentences this way.
Xiao Qi's beginner level Spanish was not enough for her to directly understand everything, but it meant that with this foundation, learning would now be much easier. She still needed to study.
Xiao Qi listened very carefully, following along with the slides Teacher was presenting, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Royal Palace of Madrid located in Spain's capital city. Its former name was Palacio Real de Buen Retiro. In 1734 it was burned down and in 1736, King Philip V and his queen Isabella rebuilt it into what is now known as the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Teacher Aizhen then told the story of King Philip V and his queen. Teacher Aizhen was a very romantic person, and ordinary stories became very romantic when she told them.
As for Li Weijin's listening comprehension, his English was passable enough for him to somewhat keep up, but learning Spanish was more tiring for him. Fortunately his family fully supported his studies and had arranged for a private tutor. He decided he would make up for lost time by studying hard over the weekend, determined to catch up to Xiao Qi.
Xiao Qi did not pay attention to Li Weijin in front of her. She listened to the lesson attentively, following along with the slides Teacher was showing, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The Li Weijin sitting in front of her today did not smell like Chinese medicinal herbs. As soon as he sat down, Xiao Qi caught a whiff of a very nice lemony scent, like fresh green lemons. Then she sensed something like freshly brewed green tea, as well as the coolness of mint. But underneath this cool sensation there seemed to be an undertone of Chinese medicine, though Xiao Qi did not know their names. Strangely, the lingering scents also included the sweetness of sugarcane, the woody aroma of cypress wood, and even a hint of rum.
Li Weijin's perfume smelled too good. With top, middle and base notes each showing different facets, Xiao Qi's extremely sensitive nose picked up this complex and lingering scent. Attending class, she felt unusually alert and energized, and felt that the content Teacher was lecturing seemed richer and more colorful. She was very curious to ask Li Weijin what perfume he had worn today...
