Starving ourselves to save money was not a long-term solution, after all.
The high-paying job we were promised before we came was clearly not going to happen.
Every one of us started thinking of other ways to make a living.
But young people are full of endless hope.
We reasoned that even if Feng Jie couldn't get us those high-paying jobs, once we got familiar with the place, we'd find our own opportunities to make big money.
Besides, we had already paid the first year's tuition before we came. We just had to tough it out for another two or three months. Once we got the lay of the land, everything would be fine.
We held on, fueled by hope.
One evening, for a rare change, all of us were gathered together.
The four of us newcomers, trying to save money, would stay cooped up at home whenever we could. So it wasn't hard for the four of us to get together.
What was rare was seeing Feng Jie and her elusive boyfriend.
We'd heard her boyfriend was a second-generation wealthy and that they were already talking about marriage. But since we arrived in Singapore, we'd hardly ever seen him; we had no idea what he was so busy with.
On this rare occasion, everyone was present and accounted for, sitting in the living room and chatting.
Du Le and the others were all recent graduates with no real-world experience. They were too thin-skinned, so no one had the nerve to bring up the fact that the few-hundred-dollar jobs we were doing now were a far cry from what we had been promised.
I was awkward with words, the bookish type. If they weren't going to say anything, I certainly wasn't.
As I listened to their meaningless small talk, I observed them quietly.
Feng Jie's boyfriend had a full forehead and a broad, square jaw—classic signs of someone destined to inherit ancestral fortune.
But he had triangular eyes. People with eyes like that are stubborn.
It meant he was a malicious and short-tempered man, prone to severe domestic violence.
I recalled the marks under Feng Jie's eyes from the first time I met her and sighed for her inwardly.
Feng Dashu's family thought they had hit the jackpot with a second-generation wealthy son-in-law and had been showing off to everyone.
Little did they know what thorns lay hidden beneath that veneer of false prosperity.
They continued to drone on about nothing in particular.
My mind, however, was preoccupied with how I was going to cover next month's living expenses. I had no patience for their hollow pleasantries.
It felt like I was trapped in a dead end.
An idea struck me. I could check the others' fortunes. I wanted to see how they would break out of this predicament, to see if I could get any ideas.
Without anyone noticing, I used Plum Blossom Divination to perform a mental calculation for Sun Qirui and Du Le.
The results left me secretly astonished. You really can't judge a book by its cover.
Both of them, it turned out, would break free by earning money through physical means.
The difference was that Sun Qirui would be selling carnal pleasure, while Du Le would be relying on sheer, hard labor.
I didn't know the specifics of what they would do, but in any case, neither of their methods was an option for me.
Bored, I stood up and walked back to my bedroom, unwilling to listen to any more of their drivel.
Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together.
The school term was about to start. The school was located at Geylang Lorong 20.
When I was handling the enrollment paperwork earlier, I had found it strange. Could the National University really be this small? It didn't even have a running track. But then I'd shrugged it off. Singapore wasn't even a ten-thousandth the size of China, so it was normal for schools to be smaller.
It was only when the term officially began that I realized:
This wasn't the National University!
I wasn't enrolled in a master's program! This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The major wasn't what I had originally signed up for!
And the full year of tuition they had collected from me hadn't been paid in full—they had only paid for four months!
In other words, not only did I have to worry about food and rent, but now I also had to come up with the money for my tuition in a few months' time!!!!!
The school was wrong!
The major was wrong!
The degree was wrong!
The tuition was wrong!
The job was wrong!
More importantly, it was only then that I learned from other students that our school was a private school!
And under Singaporean law, only students from public schools are allowed to work part-time! For students at private schools, it's illegal! If you get caught, you get deported!
This meant that the few hundred dollars we earned by slaving away washing dishes wasn't even legal, and we were risking deportation at any moment!
Well, shit. If the government didn't allow us to work, then we had no way out at all.
Before I came, I had planned to send home whatever I didn't spend from my monthly earnings to help out my family.
Now, not only could I not send money home, I would have to rely on my family to keep sending me tens of thousands for living expenses.
Our families were all working-class. They couldn't spend years in debt just so I could attend this worthless private school.
This was leaving me with no way to survive!
At that moment, all my fantasies of a glorious future were utterly shattered.