As she walked out of the interest class classroom, Su Xiahe suddenly saw hope in life.
Although the salary for teaching here wasn’t particularly high, as long as she came to teach in the evenings, it wouldn’t conflict with her daytime studies.
Regardless, being able to find a job was already a huge leap forward.
Once she paid off the debt she owed, she would save up money to pursue her own dreams.
She hoped that one day she could stand on the world stage and carry forward the classical essence of Chinese culture.
She sent a WeChat message to Meng Wanxing: [Wanxing, I found a job. Let’s have dinner together tonight.]
Meng Wanxing: [Congratulations! I told you, heaven never lets down those who are passionate.]
Su Xiahe remembered that Shen Jin had specially asked about her job today. Now that she’d found one, she should probably let him know.
So she sent Shen Jin a WeChat message: [Shen Jin, I found a job. Thanks for your concern earlier today.]
On the other end, after reading the message, Shen Jin stood up, walked over to the dog, and kicked its food bowl across the floor.
Yuhe trembled in place.
Then Shen Jin replied to Su Xiahe: [Congratulations on finding a job]
Su Xiahe: [Thanks]
Eight o’clock that evening.
Su Xiahe and Meng Wanxing stood at the school gate, eating barbecue while dreaming about their bright and prosperous future.
They didn’t return to the dormitory until eleven o’clock at night.
The next day, as night fell and the city lights began to glow.
Su Xiahe carried her instrument case to the interest training institution where she’d passed the interview the day before.
But she found the training classroom completely empty—all the facilities had been cleared out.
The recruitment poster she’d seen at the door yesterday had also been torn to shreds, discarded desolately on the ground.
What… was going on?
Filled with suspicion, she walked into the flower shop next door.
The flower shop owner greeted her warmly: “Miss, would you like to buy some flowers? Our roses were picked fresh this morning—they’re very fresh.”
“Excuse me, I’d like to ask—did the interest training institution next door move away?”
The flower shop owner said, “You mean next door? I heard someone reported them. Apparently they didn’t have the qualifications to run a training center, so the relevant authorities shut them down.”
Su Xiahe looked stunned: “They didn’t have the qualifications?”
“I don’t know the details,” the flower shop owner said. “Are you here for classes?”
Su Xiahe didn’t respond.
The flower shop owner added, “If you’re here for classes, then your tuition fees are down the drain. The person in charge of the institution was afraid people would come demanding refunds, so they fled overnight.”
Su Xiahe: “…”
Why did this happen?
She’d finally found a job—how could she be so unlucky that even the person in charge had run off?
She trudged out of the institution, dejected, and returned to the dormitory with a gloomy expression.
Meng Wanxing was in the dormitory, focused on her artwork, with paint splattered all over the floor.
When she saw the dormitory door open, she looked confused: “A-He, aren’t you supposed to be at work? Why are you back?”
Su Xiahe was practically in tears: “I think I’ve been having the worst luck lately.”
“What happened? Did the job fall through?”
“Yeah, the training classroom where I was going to work got reported—they said it didn’t have the qualifications to run a training center.”
Meng Wanxing was shocked: “That can’t be right. You showed me the institution’s brochure yesterday—it looked pretty legitimate. And they’d been around for so many years. If they didn’t have the qualifications, they should’ve been caught long ago.”
“Who knows!” Su Xiahe didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “This is just heaven not looking out for me.”
Speaking of that, Meng Wanxing could relate completely: “We’re both poor souls that heaven doesn’t look out for. I can’t even say for sure whether I’ll graduate in the next two years.”
Meng Wanxing’s oil painting teacher always held her back.
The paintings she submitted were always rejected by that Master Lu, and every time the reason was the same: no soul.
After washing up, Su Xiahe lay in bed and received a call from her aunt on her father’s side, Wei Fangliang.
“Aunt.”
The voice on the other end sounded somewhat regretful: “A-He, I know your grandfather’s situation left you with a lot of debt. Honestly, you’re pretty innocent in all this.”
Su Xiahe’s nose suddenly stung with emotion: “Aunt, please don’t say that. I don’t regret borrowing money to treat Grandpa at all. He raised me with so much hardship—this is my responsibility and my duty.”
“I know you’re a filial child, but…” The voice on the other end paused. “Your uncle was hospitalized not long ago. He just had surgery the day before yesterday.”
Su Xiahe asked, “What happened to Uncle?”
Wei Fangliang said, “They said he had a tumor in his brain. Fortunately, it was benign—they removed it surgically. After some rest, he should be able to be discharged.”
Hearing this, Su Xiahe breathed a sigh of relief: “Are you calling about the surgery costs…”
“Your cousin borrowed 100,000 yuan from the bank to cover the surgery fees, to be repaid over two years. With interest, that comes to over 6,000 yuan a month. I know things aren’t easy for you either, but you also know how your cousin’s job is—he only makes three or four thousand a month, and he has a family to support. So I was thinking, maybe you could help him out with 4,000 yuan each month.”
Wei Fang knew this child A-He very well—she had been filial since she was young, sensible, and good to them.
She also knew that during Su Jiuhan’s illness, those ugly-faced relatives of the Su family had piled all the expenses onto this young girl’s shoulders.
Although Wei Fang didn’t want to make things hard for the child, her own family was struggling right now, and she simply couldn’t afford to worry about anyone else.
Su Xiahe understood her aunt’s difficulties. She gritted her teeth. “Don’t worry, Auntie. I’ll find a way to scrape together 4,000 yuan for you every month.”
When her grandfather was sick, her aunt’s family had supported her with all their might, lending her tens of thousands of yuan over time.
“Good, good, good. I knew you were a sensible child. I’ll be waiting for you then.”
“Mm.”
After hanging up, Su Xiahe checked her bank balance. Adding the 1,000 yuan student aid that had come in a few days ago, her total savings were only a little over 4,300 yuan.
Without hesitation, she transferred 4,000 yuan to her aunt.
Not long after, her aunt sent a message saying the money had been received.
Su Xiahe tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, thinking all night.
The next morning.
Su Xiahe sent Shen Jin a WeChat message: 【This is really hard for me to say, but I wanted to ask—have you found a tutor for your nephew yet?】
Shen Jin curled his lips into a faint smile upon receiving the message.
Su Xiahe had reached out to him on her own.
This meant yesterday’s visit to the interest training institution had already taken effect.
But.
A-He, you didn’t come to me last night—your big brother waited for you all night long.
He replied: 【Not yet】
Su Xiahe: 【Then… could I be your nephew’s tutor?】
Shen Jin: 【Of course】
Shen Jin: 【My sister and her husband went to the countryside for a retreat last week. They’ll be back Monday morning. Come over at 2 PM on Monday—they should be home by then】
Su Xiahe: 【Okay.】
Su Xiahe: 【Thank you so much. I really appreciate you going through all this trouble.】
Shen Jin: 【We’re friends, no need to be so polite】
At that moment, Su Xiahe genuinely wished she could dig a hole in the ground with her fingers and crawl into it.
She really had no backbone at all, but…
Right now, she desperately needed a job.