Yun Zhen went downstairs just in time to see Brother Zhao poke his head out of a black Beetle.
He waved at her.
“Get in.”
Zhao Peng sat in the driver’s seat and pushed open the passenger door with one hand.
Yun Zhen climbed in.
This vehicle was great in every way—it ran fast and blocked the wind—but squeezing inside was a bit of a struggle.
Once she was settled, Zhao Peng helped her buckle her seatbelt.
Being confined in such a cramped space with a relatively unfamiliar man made Yun Zhen extremely uncomfortable.
She turned her head and asked, “Brother Zhao, did you find a job I can do?”
Zhao Peng nodded.
“I found three part-time gigs.
One is as a restaurant server, but only for the two-hour lunch rush; that pays fifty yuan a day.
Another is sorting vegetables at the market from four to six in the afternoon, which pays sixty yuan a day.
The last one is a supermarket stocker, working from nine in the morning to six in the evening for a hundred and twenty yuan a day.
“I recommend the restaurant or the vegetable market.
The supermarket job pays more, but the work is tedious.
You’d have to carry, restock, and organize goods.
It’s much more exhausting than the other two.
What do you think?”
The jobs he had found for Yun Zhen were all things anyone with a pair of hands could do.
The requirements were low, and so was the pay.
It wasn’t that Zhao Peng couldn’t find good jobs; it was simply because Yun Zhen was a minor with no educational background.
Growing up as a drifter, she likely didn’t even know how to read.
Finding anything better was practically impossible, so he could only try his best to find the easiest part-time work available.
These three options were carefully selected—literally anyone could do them.
She wondered, “Restaurant chores?
Sorting vegetables at a stall?
What’s a supermarket?”
Yun Zhen mulled over which one to choose.
After deliberating for a long time, she replied, “Brother Zhao, I’ll go sort vegetables.”
She hadn’t fully grasped the concept of time in this world and had no idea how long “two hours” was, but she certainly understood the difference in pay!
Sorting vegetables was easy, undemanding, and paid more than the restaurant.
“Sixty yuan?
Is that sixty cents?” she wondered.
That was a lot.
Back then, working herself to the bone weaving cloth for a whole month only earned her half a tael of Silver, which was just over five hundred cents.
By sorting vegetables, she could earn that much back in less than ten days.
She just didn’t know how much rice and flour cost in this world.
Zhao Peng started the car.
“Alright, let’s go check out the vegetable market first.
If that doesn’t work out, we’ll head to the restaurant.
It’s right across the street.”
A few minutes of driving brought them to the market.
“This is the vegetable market?” Yun Zhen got out of the car.
Before her was a massive iron-roofed building filled with rows of tightly packed stalls.
They weren’t just selling vegetables; some stalls were piled high with colorful fruits.
She realized this was the very same big building she had seen when she first arrived in this world!
She remembered it clearly—there was a little clock inside that spoke human words.
So, this big building was called a vegetable market.
“Let’s go in.
I’ve already contacted Sister-in-law Liu.
If you decide to take it, you can start right away.”
Yun Zhen followed Zhao Peng inside.
It was massive in here!
There were vendors selling vegetables, fruits, poultry, and fish.
Suddenly, a long row of pork stalls caught Yun Zhen’s eye.
Stall after stall displayed cuts of pork sliced into various strips, along with every part of the pig imaginable.
There were mutton vendors too, with whole, headless, skinned sheep hanging behind their counters.
The smell was so strong that passersby couldn’t help but cover their noses.
“Beef!”
The most shocking sight of all appeared before Yun Zhen.
Behind the mutton section were actually several stalls selling beef.
Whole cows!
The people here could actually slaughter cows and sell their meat!
In her world, killing a cow was strictly forbidden; doing so would get a person arrested by the authorities.
Let alone eating it!
“Sister-in-law Liu, I brought the kid over to take a look at the job.”
Yun Zhen and Zhao Peng arrived at a small stall.
Sister-in-law Liu, wearing an apron over her padded cotton jacket, was currently sorting vegetables.
There were no customers at her stall at the moment.
“Zhao, you’re here.
This must be Yun Zhen, the girl you mentioned,” Sister-in-law Liu said.
“I happen to be short-handed.
The work isn’t exhausting.
If you think you can handle it, you can stay.
I’ll pay you sixty a day.
Your job is to pick out the bad leaves from these vegetables and throw them in the trash bin over there.
“I’m usually too busy selling to sort them myself.”
Taking in Yun Zhen’s youthful, earnest face, Sister-in-law Liu could tell at a glance that she was a hardworking kid.
Yun Zhen thought the job sounded great.
She nodded in agreement.
“Hello, Sister-in-law Liu.
My name is Yun Zhen.
I’d love to work here.”
“As long as you’re willing, that’s fine by me.
The work is easy.
You can start today, and you’ll be paid sixty, settled daily.” Sister-in-law Liu agreed to keep her on.
Seeing that Yun Zhen was willing to stay, Zhao Peng turned to her.
“I’ll take you to see the restaurant now.”
He then spoke to the vendor.
“Sister-in-law Liu, I’m going to take this kid to check out the server job at the restaurant.
If she decides to work here, she’ll come over at four.”
It was currently three-thirty, and Zhao Peng wanted to show Yun Zhen the other option.
“Sure thing, go take a look around.
If she isn’t satisfied, she can come back here,” Sister-in-law Liu said.
She was a broad-minded person and didn’t mind them keeping their options open.
She knew Zhao was from Sister Zhang’s charity organization, and the kids tagging along behind him looking for jobs all had pitiful backgrounds.
She wasn’t about to make things difficult for them.
Yun Zhen followed Zhao Peng out and headed toward the restaurant.
“Sister-in-law Liu’s shift starts at four in the afternoon.
It’s exactly three-forty right now, so I’ll take you to the restaurant across the street,” Zhao Peng explained.
“The restaurant job is only for two hours at noon.
If you can handle the workload, you could do both and gain more experience.
If it’s too much, you can just drop one.
They’re only part-time gigs anyway.”
“Thank you, Brother Zhao!
I didn’t expect to find work this quickly,” Yun Zhen said, her heart full of gratitude.
“Don’t thank me, this is my job.
Besides, it’s my first time seeing a kid as hardworking as you.” Zhao Peng gave her a thumbs-up.
He then suggested, “Since your mornings are free, why don’t you enroll in a class to learn a trade?”
Since both jobs started after noon, her mornings were completely open.
He reminded her, “Learning a trade at our organization is completely free.”
Yun Zhen thought about it for a moment.
“Brother Zhao, can I learn how to read first?”
“Of course.
The organization offers special foundational courses, including language and math.
They mainly teach Mandarin and basic arithmetic.
It used to be called a literacy class, specifically designed for adults and older kids nearing adulthood to learn how to read.”
“Then I’ll go learn to read.”
Thanks to Zhao Peng’s explanation, Yun Zhen decided that from now on, she would work in the afternoons and take foundational classes in the mornings after eight o’clock.
Old Yang’s Private Kitchen was conveniently located directly across from the vegetable market, just a two-minute walk away.
As soon as they walked in, Zhao Peng got straight to the point.
“Brother Yang, I heard you’re looking for someone to help out during the lunch rush.
I brought someone over for you to meet.”
“Zhao Peng, my boy, you’re here.” The restaurant was mostly empty at this hour, and the owner, Yang Lin, was idly scrolling through his phone.
Brother Zhao made the introduction.
“This is Yun Zhen, a newcomer at our organization.
She’s seventeen this year.”
Seeing that Yun Zhen was practically skin and bones, Yang Lin figured she was a child who had suffered a hard life, and a wave of pity washed over him.
“Here, you just need to clear tables when it gets busy at noon.
Little sister, if you want the job, you can come over anytime.
The pay is settled daily at fifty a day,” Yang Lin said.
“Little sister, do you want to work here?”
She wondered, “Noon?
That means midday, right?”
Brother Zhao had said it wouldn’t conflict with the vegetable-sorting job at Sister-in-law Liu’s stall.
Yun Zhen was overjoyed.
She could work two jobs a day and earn a double wage!
“I can come,” she replied.
“Alright, then you can start tomorrow.”
And just like that, it was settled.
Now that Yun Zhen had found work and resolved her biggest worry, her entire demeanor visibly relaxed.