After school that day.
In the cafeteria.
Zhang Yu was having dinner with Zhou Tianyi and Bai Zhenzhen.
Bai Zhenzhen, as usual, remained silent and expressionless, calmly facing the large plate of food in front of her, quietly eating.
Zhou Tianyi glanced at Zhang Yu and said, "Your financial situation seems a bit rough lately."
"Is it that obvious?"
Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback, wondering if collection calls had already been made to his classmates. Would his 700,000 debt be exposed at school?
Zhou Tianyi looked at Bai Zhenzhen's lavish dinner filled with chicken, duck, and fish, then glanced at Zhang Yu's five-dollar poor man's meal.
He touched his chin and said, "Based on my three-month observation of the cafeteria, what someone eats here can effectively reflect their financial situation and even cultivation level during that period."
"For example, someone who eats ten pounds of food won't sit with someone who eats three pounds."
"Because they are entirely different classes, located at the upper and lower ends of the campus social hierarchy, respectively."
"So you're judging by how little I eat." Zhang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, he thought his super poor status was going to be revealed.
He turned his head to Bai Zhenzhen and looked curiously at the dozen chicken legs in her bowl: "Azhen, these chicken legs look quite special, can I try one?"
Bai Zhenzhen didn't even raise her head and said, "Get lost."
Next to them, Zhou Tianyi laughed and picked up a duck leg from his own bowl for Zhang Yu: "Zhenzhen had a lot of exercise today, clearly starving. You can try mine."
"Good brother!" Zhang Yu gave Zhou Tianyi a thumbs up and grabbed the duck leg and started chowing down.
Watching Zhang Yu wolf down the food, Zhou Tianyi smiled slightly and said, "If you're having financial trouble, I can lend you some money."
Zhang Yu waved his hand and said, "No need, I'll handle it myself."
Even though he was deep in debt, Zhang Yu didn't plan to ask classmates to borrow money, or rather, borrowing from classmates wouldn't solve the huge 700,000 debt in one go. What he needed was a sustainable way to make money and repay debts.
"At least make sure to pay off the monthly interest, to avoid escalation by the collectors."
Zhang Yu knew that as his overdue period increased, the collectors' methods would become harsher, from online harassment to real-life encounters.
"And then there's rent, utilities, food expenses..."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu started to get a headache.
After Zhou Tianyi left, Bai Zhenzhen suddenly spoke, "Based on my three-month observation of you and Zhou Tianyi, he treats you really well."
Zhang Yu: "Really?"
Bai Zhenzhen chuckled, "A guy smiling while giving a duck leg from his bowl to another guy, in eighteen years of life, I've only seen two situations where this happens."
"One is when they are a father-son duo."
"The other, hehe... hehe..."
Zhang Yu raised an eyebrow, "Azhen, you have quite the eclectic taste in things."
Bai Zhenzhen: "Yu Zi, honestly, you don't have to be afraid. At this school, you're the one with the initiative."
With that, Bai Zhenzhen pushed her tray in front of Zhang Yu: "Sigh, can't eat anymore, you might as well have these leftovers, since you're my dear son."
"Get lost." Zhang Yu quickly grabbed the tray and glanced at it, seeing the neatly arranged, untouched leftovers.
Just as Zhang Yu was about to look up and thank her, he only saw Bai Zhenzhen's retreating figure leaving the cafeteria.
Outside the cafeteria, Bai Zhenzhen's eyes grew indifferent again as she thought to herself, "Yu Zi, actually there's a third situation where this happens."
Bai Zhenzhen turned her gaze to the steps at the cafeteria entrance, where a cafeteria aunt was dumping leftovers into a bowl for a cat.
...
Upon leaving school, Zhang Yu began planning ways to make money.
"I now pay 1,500 in rent, over 200 for utilities each month, and my loan repayment is 15,000 per month..."
"Hiss..."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu's head started to hurt again.
"I need to make at least 20,000 a month; a regular job definitely won't cut it."
With a thought, his Yu Shu unfolded in front of him.
Zhang Yu
Dao Heart Level 1
Mana 7.7
Physical Strength 0.84 Level
Martial Arts: Thirty-Six Forms of Body Building Level 2 (17/20), Freehand Level 1, High School Basic Sword Technique Level 0
Daoism: Basic Breathing Technique Level 1, Basic Heart Refining Skill Level 1
Seeing the newly appeared "High School Basic Sword Technique Level 0," Zhang Yu recalled today's martial arts class.
The so-called martial arts class was a course for learning various combat and martial arts skills, with 80 out of 100 points being based on practical combat.
For first-year high school students, they were required to learn an unarmed combat martial art and a weapon-based combat martial art.
And this High School Basic Sword Technique was what he learned in today's martial arts class, but it seemed to still be at level 0 because he hadn't actually mastered it yet.
But after a slight attempt, Zhang Yu found that this "High School Basic Sword Technique Level 0" could also be improved.
He estimated that if he specialized in this martial art, with his potential, he could also quickly master and upgrade it.
With these thoughts passing quickly through his mind, Zhang Yu turned his attention back to his dashboard, considering what kind of work he could do.
"Although I've just begun my journey on the Immortal Path, I'm still a formal student of Songyang High School..."
A moment later, Zhang Yu began to contact his old tutoring center with his phone.
The original Zhang Yu entered Songyang High School only after taking classes at this tutoring center.
"The income from this type of tutoring center should be quite good, and since I'm a formal student of Songyang High School, I should have an advantage."
But after inquiring, the tutor informed him that they were already full and suggested he try another tutoring center.
So Zhang Yu contacted other tutoring centers.
"Hello, I'd like to be a part-time tutor. I'm a first-year student at Songyang High School..."
"Where did you graduate from elementary and junior high school?"
"No, I'm already a formal student at Songyang High School!"
"Sorry, because we have a lot of tutoring teachers with key high school diplomas, parents will value the first and second degrees from before high school for part-time tutor roles."
After learning about Zhang Yu's elementary and middle school, the other party no longer responded.
Repeated this conversation five or six times, Zhang Yu gradually understood.
"Damn it!"
"Even part-time tutoring roles demand such high first and second degree requirements?"
"Has the competition for tutoring roles become this intense?"
Zhang Yu felt that his elementary and middle school diplomas were like two ugly labels on his face, making it very difficult for him to even find a part-time tutoring job.
So Zhang Yu had no choice but to temporarily abandon the tutoring route and try another backup plan.
"I'll have to try doing some temporary work for now."
Regarding temporary work, the original Zhang Yu had also learned about it in the past three months since school started.
Of course, the temporary jobs mentioned here are not the kind that ordinary people find, but those found after embarking on the Immortal Path.
High school students make up a significant proportion of this group, as not every high school student is wealthy. Quite a few need to earn money, either to ease the burden on their families or to buy things they want.
And because high school students don't have a high school graduation diploma, and most of their time is spent in classes, they often only take on part-time temporary jobs.
Zhang Yu had also gained some understanding of this path over the past few days, and now he immediately added a middleman and asked if there was any work available.
"You're a bit late to ask; today's jobs have been taken."
"How about you wait here for new jobs directly available for grabs?"
...
Half an hour later, Zhang Yu arrived at a small square.
From a distance, he saw scattered people sitting or lying around the square. Among them were old and young, male and female, some casually reclining on the ground to nap, others in school uniforms practicing breathing techniques.
Following the address given by the other party, Zhang Yu found a human resources company in the corner of the square.
The company was small, and its storefront looked like a real estate agency, with its dirty glass plastered with primitive job postings.
After glancing at the worn-out sign, Zhang Yu pushed the door open, and was hit by a strong smell of smoke, causing him to frown slightly.
Behind a messy desk, a middle-aged man was smoking. He looked up at Zhang Yu and said, "Are you the high school student who just inquired?"
Seeing Zhang Yu nod, the man introduced himself as Old Wang, a middleman here, and handed over a few sheets of paper, saying, "Fill out this resume. I'll register you later."
After taking a look, Zhang Yu found that in addition to basic information, he also had to fill in his martial arts and Daoism skills and levels, as well as his school grades.
After submitting the completed form, Zhang Yu asked, "How long does it usually take to find a job? What's the income like?"
Old Wang scratched his somewhat messy hair nonchalantly, "The minimum is a few hundred an hour... But it's hard to say how long it takes to find a job; it's normal to go a week without one if you're unlucky."
Zhang Yu thought, "Does work here pay this well? If that's the case, a few hours of work a day could cover my loan and living expenses, right?"
With this thought, Zhang Yu felt happy in his heart.
But then hearing that jobs were hard to find, he curiously asked, "Why?"
He emphasized his identity, "I'm in the top ten of the first-year students at a key high school, is it still difficult for me?"
Old Wang smiled and pointed outside, "See those people on the square? Besides high schoolers like you, the rest are high school graduates."
Hearing this, Zhang Yu was shocked, not believing it: "How is that possible? High school graduates, who are also practicing cultivation, still looking for temporary work here?"
Old Wang shrugged, "They didn't get into college, not every high school student can get into college."
"Without college, they'll spend a lifetime in the Qi Cultivation Stage, unable to reach the Kunxu Second Floor, so they just drift around on this first floor year after year..."
Zhang Yu was still puzzled, "But they can find formal jobs on the first floor, why look for temporary work?"
Old Wang explained, "People don't need to sleep. They finish their day's work, and if the company doesn't have overtime, they come to pick up temporary work."
"Otherwise, how do they pay off loans? How do they have enough money to maintain their cultivation?"
His words stirred waves in Zhang Yu's heart, as his previous knowledge didn't include high school graduates having such a hard life.
He thought that even if one didn't get into college after high school, they'd end up in an office in a city skyscraper, sitting in an air-conditioned office, sipping tea, earning a decent paycheck...
Turns out, wow, studying hard 24 hours before graduation, and working hard 24 hours after graduation, life just gets tougher.
Old Wang looked at Zhang Yu's resume and smiled, "Oh, from Songyang High School, then we're alumni. I also went to Songyang High School, but I dropped out in the third year."
Zhang Yu: "Dropped out?"
Old Wang shrugged, "Couldn't get into college, so why waste money. I just finished paying off the high school loan last year."
"As a fellow alumnus, let me give you some advice."
"High school is about knowing your limits. If it feels like you can't make it, better to step back early to avoid ending up with too much debt and ruining your life forever."
After filling out the information, the person told Zhang Yu to wait outside and that they would notify him immediately if any jobs were available.
Zhang Yu: "Competing with those who graduated high school, will I even get a job?"
Old Wang: "Don't worry, some jobs specifically seek in-school high school students."