"Su Tang, I like you, be my girlfriend!"
"Tangtang, I got a stable job, I can support you from now on!"
"Su Tang, I'm sorry, she's very good, and my mom likes her too."
"Su Tang, I'm getting married..."
Ring ring... Ring ring...
"Phew!"
She suddenly sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, and took a deep breath.
It was that dream again.
That scumbag, he just won't leave me alone!
At nine in the morning, Su Tang, wearing large glasses and carrying an unfinished soy milk, rushed into the company just in time.
Before she could even settle in, a colleague from the east needed printing, and a colleague from the west needed the conference room organized. All sorts of miscellaneous tasks fell to them, the interns.
This was Su Tang's fourth company as an intern.
That's right, it's been over a year since graduation, and she's still interning!
She wasn't an isolated case.
S City, Su Tang had attended university in this city. It was a newly emerging first-tier domestic city. While not as prosperous as the top-tier cities, its economic scale was not to be underestimated.
Due to its proximity to the super-tier city H City, it developed rapidly. With dozens of universities gathered here, and countless companies, many emerging industries were constantly rising.
More companies meant more employees were needed.
Which employees were the cheapest?
Interns, of course!
Thus, situations like Su Tang's arose. Companies would hire a large batch of interns, make them work like oxen and horses, without social security or training, just as cheap labor, replacing one batch with another.
No connections, no core competitiveness, no high academic qualifications – all were eliminated.
The internship period at this fourth company was nearing its end. The assessment was tomorrow, and only one out of twelve interns would be kept.
It certainly wouldn't be her.
Was she dreaming?
She bet her money that the one who would ultimately be kept was the boy to the left of the left of her workstation. Although this boy hadn't seemed to do much work since the internship began.
However, his father was the company's purchasing manager.
She had accidentally overheard this last week when delivering documents to the purchasing department manager.
The moment the boy said "Dad," she knew her chances of being hired permanently were gone!
She had been conflicted recently. Ever since she knew her chances of being hired were slim, she had started browsing recruitment websites in advance, preparing to submit her resume again.
But she didn't know if she would be fortunate enough to end this vicious cycle of internship work next time.
The average internship salary in S City was around 3,500 yuan per month, as if the evil capitalists had agreed on it.
For the sake of affordability, she lived in a small partitioned room rented from her landlord, and even that cost 2,000 yuan a month.
After food and drink, not only was there little money left, but her parents, who lived far away in Z City, had to subsidize her occasionally.
Yesterday, her mother called to ask how the job was this time and if she could stay.
Su Tang remained silent.
Her mother seemed to understand her difficulties and once again urged her to return home to take the civil servant or public institution exams.
Her hometown, Z City, was a small fourth or fifth-tier city. The older generation valued having a stable job the most.
Returning home to take the civil servant or public institution exams right after graduation had also been her goal.
Although the school she attended wasn't a prestigious 211 or 985 university, she had a legitimate bachelor's degree. Majoring in history in college, it was sufficient to get a stable job in her hometown.
But in S City, this degree was truly unremarkable. There were countless people with higher qualifications, which was why she had been working as cheap labor.
She was conflicted. She didn't want to return home because there was a high probability of running into her scumbag ex-boyfriend, Qi Ya.
Qi Ya was Su Tang's boyfriend from university. He was a bit handsome, two years her senior, and coincidentally, from the same hometown as Su Tang. He was even her senior in high school.
Qi Ya was very good at taking care of junior female students. In this way, they slowly started dating.
They had a period of sweet, passionate love.
Qi Ya's parents were both teachers at the school. Before he even graduated, they told him to return home and take the public institution exam.
His future was all planned out, with even a wedding house prepared, as long as he passed the exam.
That scumbag actually lived up to expectations. After half a year of hard work after graduation, he passed the teacher's public institution exam in Z City and secured a stable job.
When Qi Ya first graduated, they were still good. Later, as she continued her studies and he started working, they gradually had less to talk about. He was always busy, and his replies to messages went from instant to delayed.
Su Tang had also planned to return home after graduation. After all, the future they had once envisioned was also what she longed for.
One phone call changed her decision.
He said he was getting married, and the girl was his colleague, who was very outstanding.
Later, she found out from a classmate that the girl's father was the vice-principal of the school.
Oh!
So, it was the girl's father who was outstanding!
And then?
Then, she stayed in S City, and that scumbag became a quiet ex-boyfriend, as if he had died.
She didn't want to go back. Z City was too small, and she might easily run into the scumbag who had made her cry for so long.
But being unemployed again also meant no money!
This would make Su Tang's life even more difficult.
She left work in a daze, walking on the street in a trance. It wasn't cloudy, yet she felt like dark clouds were hovering over her, following her everywhere!
Two girls walking out of a nearby building almost bumped into her.
They apologized to each other, and she lagged a step behind them, faintly hearing their conversation.
"Hey, when will we be able to earn that much money?"
"That big streamer is amazing, she earned over 100,000 today?"
"She's the Number One Sister of our family."
"Comparing ourselves to others is infuriating! She earns over 100,000 a day, and I only took home a little over 8,000 last month."
"You're already doing great. I've been on the minimum guarantee for two months. If I don't stream enough to meet the minimum guarantee this month..."
......
Su Tang understood. The two girls were likely streamers, and they were envious of a streamer who was doing very well and earning a lot of money.
She glanced back at the building the two girls had just come out of. Above it was a large recruitment billboard: Qing Luan Guild, recruiting live streaming newcomers, super high treatment, top traffic, waiting for you to paint a shining star journey together!
Su Tang always passed by this place on her way to work.
She knew about live streaming; it was a new profession that had emerged with the internet in recent years. She occasionally saw it online but didn't pay much attention.
Could this really earn money?
Not quite understanding this industry, Su Tang shook her head and returned to her place of residence with a harmless little doubt.
No dinner tonight.
She didn't have much money on hand and didn't want to ask her parents for more. She would just have some small biscuits she bought a couple of days ago to tide her over.
Money had to be spent wisely. If she lost her job again tomorrow, the more than two thousand yuan she had would be enough to pay for another month's rent, preventing her from being homeless!
The next day was the company assessment.
As expected, the one who stayed was the Crown Prince from the purchasing department.
She, Su Tang, was once again kicked out, like a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung.
One of the junior female students interning with her even cried.
As for her, she was beyond tears. This was her fourth time being kicked out, and she was more familiar with the internship resignation procedures than the Human Resources Department staff.
Indeed, as one lives longer, one automatically evolves into a resilient dung beetle.
Invulnerable and unfazed by any situation!
She expressionlessly gathered her belongings from her workstation and walked onto the street.
Knowing the outcome in advance was one thing, but now that the other shoe had dropped, the anxiety in her heart had finally died.
Su Tang calculated the money she had. All the resumes she had sent had disappeared without a trace. No matter how she calculated it, the money wasn't enough to last until she found a new job.
She walked to the building from yesterday again. Many people were out for lunch, mostly young girls, dressed beautifully and wearing exquisite makeup.
The word "minimum guarantee" from the two girls yesterday flashed through her mind.
With some unknown courage, she walked into the building carrying her cardboard box.
This was an office building. Upon entering, there was a large sign providing directions: Qing Luan Guild, please go up to the 19th floor for applications.
At this hour, many people were coming down in the elevator, and very few were going up.
Ding dong.
As the elevator door opened, a large logo appeared: Qing Luan Media.
Striking! Dazzling!
✦✦✦