After school that day.
Inside the cafeteria.
Zhang Yu was eating dinner with Zhou Tianyi and Bai Zhenzhen.
Bai Zhenzhen was, as always, cold and silent, calmly facing the huge plate of food in front of her and quietly devouring it.
Zhou Tianyi glanced at Zhang Yu and said, “Your financial situation seems a bit rough lately.”
“That obvious?”
Zhang Yu paused for a moment, thinking to himself—could the debt collection calls have already reached his classmates? If so, wouldn’t his seventy-thousand-yuan debt be exposed at school?
Zhou Tianyi looked at Bai Zhenzhen’s meal—filled with chicken, duck, and fish—then back at Zhang Yu’s poor five-yuan combo meal.
He stroked his chin and said, “Based on my three months of observing the cafeteria, what someone eats here can effectively reflect their financial situation at the time—even their cultivation strength.”
“For example, someone who eats ten jin of food in one go wouldn’t share a table with someone who only eats three jin.”
“Because they’re just in completely different tiers—each on opposite ends of the school’s social ladder.”
“So it was because I eat too little…”
Zhang Yu let out a mental sigh of relief.
He had really thought his identity as a broke guy was about to be exposed.
He turned to look at Bai Zhenzhen, staring curiously at the dozen or so chicken drumsticks in her bowl.
“Ah Zhen, those drumsticks look pretty special. Can I try one?”
Without even looking up, Bai Zhenzhen responded, “Scram.”
Zhou Tianyi chuckled, then picked up a duck leg from his own bowl and placed it in Zhang Yu’s, saying, “Zhenzhen went really hard in training today—she must be starving. Try mine instead.”
“Good brother!” Zhang Yu gave him a big thumbs up and gratefully bit into the duck leg.
Watching Zhang Yu wolf it down, Zhou Tianyi smiled, “If you’re really in a tight spot, I can lend you some.”
Zhang Yu waved him off.
“No need. I’ll sort it out myself.”
Although he was knee-deep in debt, Zhang Yu had never planned to borrow money from his classmates.
Even if he did, it wouldn’t come close to fixing the problem.
He needed a way to earn money continuously and pay the debts back over time.
“At the very least, I need to keep up with the monthly interest… can’t let the debt collectors escalate things again.”
Zhang Yu knew well enough that as the overdue period stretched longer, the debt collection company would resort to more and more aggressive tactics.
From online insults to real-world confrontations—each step getting worse than the last.
“Not to mention rent, utilities, food expenses…”
As these thoughts crossed his mind, his head began to ache.
After Zhou Tianyi left, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly spoke.
“From what I’ve observed over the past three months, Zhou Tianyi treats you really well.”
Zhang Yu: “You think so?”
Bai Zhenzhen chuckled.
“A guy smiling and giving the duck leg from his own bowl to another guy—I’ve only seen two scenarios where that happens in my sixteen years of life.”
“One, they’re father and son.”
“Two… hehehehehe…”
Zhang Yu raised an eyebrow, “Ah Zhen, the things you watch are pretty wild, huh.”
Bai Zhenzhen went on, “Yuzi, you don’t really need to be afraid. In this school, you’re the one holding the dominant position anyway.”
As she spoke, she pushed her tray towards Zhang Yu.
“Ugh, I’m full. I’ll just generously grant these leftovers to you. After all, you are my good son.”
“Get lost.”
Zhang Yu snatched up the tray.
A quick glance showed that the leftovers were neatly arranged—a clear sign they hadn’t even been touched.
Just as Zhang Yu looked up to thank her, all he saw was Bai Zhenzhen’s back disappearing out of the cafeteria.
As she walked outside, Bai Zhenzhen’s expression cooled again.
In her heart, she whispered, “Yuzi, actually… there’s a third scenario where that kind of thing happens too.”
She turned her gaze toward the cafeteria steps.
A cafeteria worker was dumping leftover rice and dishes into a bowl for a waiting cat.
…
After leaving school, Zhang Yu began to seriously plan how to make money.
“My rent is fifteen hundred, utilities around two hundred something… the loan requires fifteen thousand a month repayment…”
“…Tsk…”
His head hurt just thinking about it.
“I need to make at least twenty thousand a month… A normal job definitely won’t cut it.”
With a thought, the Feather Scroll unfolded in front of him.
Zhang Yu
Dao Heart: Level 1
Spiritual Power: 7.7
Body Strength: 0.84 Level
Martial Techniques: Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Techniques Level 2 (17/20), Free Fist Level 1, High School Basic Sword Technique Level 0
Daoist Techniques: Basic Breathing Technique Level 1, Basic Heart Refining Technique Level 1
Upon seeing the newly added “High School Basic Sword Technique Level 0” entry, Zhang Yu was reminded of today’s martial arts class.
Martial arts class was where students learned various Combat Martial Arts and Battle Martial Arts.
Out of a total 100 points, 80 were dedicated to practical combat performance.
First year high schoolers were required to learn at least one unarmed combat art and one armed combat art.
This High School Basic Sword Technique was what he’d learned in class today.
But apparently, since he hadn’t fully grasped it, it was still showing as Level 0.
When he tried to interact with it a little, Zhang Yu realized that even though it was Level 0, the skill could be manually dragged and focused on.
He figured that with his own potential, if he specialized in this one art, he could probably level it up quickly.
As these thoughts rolled past, he kept staring at his panel, trying to figure out what job he could do.
“Even though I’ve only just embarked on the path of Immortal Cultivation, I’m still a student at Songyang High School…”
After a brief silence, Zhang Yu took out his phone and contacted a tutoring center he’d attended before.
He had joined Songyang High School only after taking a year of extra classes there following junior high graduation.
“This kind of center pays decently. And I’m a current full-time student at Songyang High—should be an advantage.”
But when he asked, the teacher at that center told him they were already full and suggested he try other places.
So Zhang Yu started calling around to other tutoring centers.
“Hi, I’d like to work part-time as a tutor. I’m currently a first-year student at Songyang High…”
“Which Primary School and Junior High did you graduate from?”
“Well, I’m already officially a Songyang High student—”
“Sorry. There are plenty of tutors with top high school degrees. For someone like you, who hasn’t even graduated yet, most parents will really look into your first and second academic backgrounds.”
After hearing where Zhang Yu went to Primary and Junior school, the other side didn’t reply again.
After repeating this kind of exchange five or six times, Zhang Yu finally got it.
“Damn it!”
“Even tutoring jobs care so much about your earlier school records?”
“The level of competition in tutoring has gotten this crazy?”
Zhang Yu felt as if his Primary and Junior High diplomas were like two embarrassing stamps stuck on his face, making it ten times harder just to land a part-time tutoring gig.
So he was forced to temporarily give up on the tutoring path and turn to his backup plan.
“Guess I’ll have to try temp jobs…”
As for these kinds of temp jobs, the original Zhang Yu had already looked into them during the past three months since school started.
Of course, the temporary jobs being spoken of here were not like the ones ordinary people found—they were the kinds meant for people who had already embarked on the path of Immortal Cultivation.
High schoolers made up a fair portion of these part-timers because not everyone came from money.
Many needed to ease the financial burden at home or buy things they wanted.
But since they hadn’t graduated yet and still had classes during most of the day, they could only do short-term or temporary work.
Zhang Yu had also learned a bit about this type of job in recent days.
So right now, he contacted an agent and asked if there was any work available.
“You’re a bit late—today’s jobs are all taken.”
“How about you come wait here? When new jobs pop up, you can grab them right away.”
…
Half an hour later, Zhang Yu arrived at a small public square.
From far away, he could see people scattered around the square—sitting or lying, old and young, men and women alike.
Some lay flat on the ground to rest, others still in school uniforms were sitting cross-legged and practicing breathing techniques.
Following the address he was given, Zhang Yu found a small human resources agency in the corner of the public square.
The company was small and its storefront looked like a run-down real estate office.
The dirty glass was plastered with a mess of hand-printed flyers.
Glancing at the dusty signboard, Zhang Yu pushed open the door—and immediately got slapped in the face by an overwhelming wave of cigarette smoke.
Frowning, he stepped in.
Behind a messy desk, a man in his mid-forties looked up through a haze of smoke and asked, “You the high schooler who texted earlier?”
Zhang Yu nodded.
The man introduced himself as Old Wang and said he was the agent in charge.
He pulled out some forms and handed them over.
“Fill out your resume. I’ll get you registered.”
Zhang Yu took a look and found that aside from personal info, it also asked for what Martial or Daoist Techniques he had learned, along with their corresponding levels, and his academic performance.
Once he filled everything out and handed it over, he asked, “How long does it usually take to get a job? And what’s the pay like?”
Old Wang scratched his messy hair and casually said, “At the very least, a few hundred per hour… but how soon you find something just depends. If you’re unlucky, going a week without a gig is normal.”
Zhang Yu thought, “The pay’s that high? In that case, working just two or three hours a day would be enough to cover living costs and repay my loan!”
He was just getting excited when he heard that jobs were hard to come by.
He asked, “Why?”
He emphasized, “I’m top ten in the first-year class at a Key High School. Still difficult?”
Old Wang chuckled and pointed outside.
“See those folks in the square? Aside from guys like you, most of them are high school graduates.”
Zhang Yu was shocked.
“No way? They’ve finished high school and still need temp work even after starting cultivation?”
Old Wang shrugged.
“Didn’t get into University. Not every high schooler gets in, you know.”
“If you don’t, you’re stuck at Qi Refining Realm your whole life. Can’t even break through to the second floor of the Primordial Ruins. You’re just scraping by here on the first floor year after year.”
Zhang Yu still didn’t get it.
“They could still find a formal job on the first floor, right? Why work temp gigs?”
Old Wang explained, “They don’t sleep anymore. After finishing their day jobs—and assuming their companies don’t ask for overtime—they do temp work at night.”
“Otherwise, how would they repay loans? How would they afford to maintain their cultivation?”
That answer stirred something deep in Zhang Yu’s heart.
Nothing from his past memories had prepared him for this.
He used to think that once you graduated high school—even if you didn’t get into University—you could just work in some City Center skyscraper office, sipping tea and enjoying air conditioning, earning a decent paycheck…
But now, turns out it’s endless hardship.
Studying hard 24 hours a day before graduation, then working non-stop 24/7 afterwards.
The suffering just multiplies.
Old Wang looked at Zhang Yu’s resume and laughed, “Oh! Songyang High, huh? We’re schoolmates! I went there too—dropped out during senior year though.”
Zhang Yu: “Dropped out?”
Old Wang shrugged.
“Couldn’t get into University. Figured it was a waste of money. I only finally finished paying off my high school debt last year.”
“Since we’re alumni, I’ll give you some advice.”
“Don’t push too hard in high school. If it looks like you ain’t gonna make the cut, better to drop out early. Otherwise, you’ll end up like some people—buried in debt and ruined for life.”
After submitting his forms, they told Zhang Yu to wait outside.
He’d be contacted immediately if a job came up.
Zhang Yu asked, “Do I really stand a chance getting something, with all those high school grads competing too?”
Old Wang said, “Relax, some jobs actually require current high school students specifically.”
