This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 69 You Are My Lucky Star

The moment the key was inserted into the lock and turned, a sweet scent had already slipped out from the crack in the door.

Chen Shi'an pushed open the door, carrying two grilled sausages he had brought back. The bright lights inside stretched from the entrance hall to the living room, and the unique aroma of taro floated in the air, gently lingering around his nose.

Having an older sister in the family who can cook and loves making all kinds of desserts and snacks is truly wonderful.

Every time Chen Shi'an returned to his rented apartment and opened the door, he felt like he was opening a blind box, wondering what delicious food Li Wanyin was preparing for the night.

Fei Mo wasn't on the sofa at the moment. The TV in the living room was on. Chen Shi'an listened carefully as he changed his shoes and heard noises coming from the kitchen.

"Sister Wanyin—"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Wanyin, wearing home shorts and a T-shirt, peeked out from the kitchen doorway. Her smooth, dried hair fell down as she turned to the side.

"Shi'an is back?"

"Yes, what delicious food is Sister Wanyin making tonight?" Chen Shi'an asked knowingly. Sometimes he regretted that his sense of smell was too sensitive, which made him miss out on a sense of mystery and anticipation.

"Hehe, guess."

"I smell taro, sago, purple sweet potato, and milk?"

"Is your nose that sensitive?!"

Chen Shi'an smiled, changed into slippers, and went into the kitchen. Sure enough, Li Wanyin was making taro sago pudding, while Fei Mo brought his own bowl and squatted down to wait for his food.

There was a large bag of taro, purple sweet potatoes, and red sweet potatoes on the kitchen floor, and some dry soil could be seen inside the open bag.

"Sister Wanyin bought so many taro and sweet potatoes?"

Chen Shi'an squatted down to take a look. The taro and sweet potatoes were of very good quality. They weren't the large taro sold in the market, but rather the small taro that farmers used to grow. He picked up a few and weighed them in his hands. There's a method to choosing taro. When choosing fruit, you generally choose the heavier ones for the same volume, as they contain more water; but when choosing taro, you choose the lighter ones for the same volume, as they contain less water and are more powdery and soft.

"These taro are all very good. Did Sister Wanyin pick them herself?"

"I didn't buy it, my mom sent it to me. I just picked it up after get off work. I didn't expect her to send so much, it'll last us a long time~"

"Did Sister Wanyin grow them herself?"

"Yes, my mom isn't in good health. She usually works as a laborer in the factory, but she can't stay idle. She grows vegetables, taro, and sweet potatoes in the field, which are easy to take care of. She harvested a lot and sent them to me."

As Li Wanyin spoke, she ladled out two bowls of freshly made taro sago pudding. "Perfect timing! Now that you're here to help finish it off, otherwise, even though I love taro, I'd get tired of it after a while!"

"Sister Xie Wanyin, I'm benefiting from your generosity again."

Chen Shi'an accepted the sweet soup Li Wanyin offered without hesitation and happily slurped up a mouthful.

"How is it? Is it too bland? Don't drink anything too sweet at night, so I added less sugar."

"No, it's just right. The main reason is that the purple and sweet potatoes inside are very sweet. Adding too much sugar would just mask the original sweetness. Sister Wanyin is very good at seasoning. She could open a shop with this skill."

"No, it's just something I made casually."

Did your aunt teach you that?

"No, I learned it by watching videos when I was in college. We bought a rice cooker together and a few of us girls would often cook things with it."

"Cooking things in a rice cooker?"

"Yes, I can't use an induction cooker, I can only use a low-power rice cooker. I've even researched a lot of rice cooker recipes."

Chen Shi'an found it amusing, "That's amazing! Who cooks the most?"

"Haha, I cooked all the cooking myself, but we ate it all together in the dorm!"

"Oh no, I feel like Sister Wanyin is targeting me and Fei Mo."

Haha, no way!

To be honest, if all her roommates were like Chen Shi'an, who knew how to compliment others and help clean up after meals, Li Wanyin wouldn't mind being a free cook.

Don't be fooled by the sweet soup surprise Chen Shi'an gets every night when he comes home. In fact, the girl who shared an apartment with Li Wanyin before him didn't get this treatment. Li Wanyin cooked it a few times, but... she didn't find it interesting.

The little Taoist priest is so much better; he provides so much emotional value. Li Wanyin never imagined that her ideal roommate would actually be a high school sophomore boy.

The two people and the cat sat down together at the dining table.

Chen Shi'an picked up the two sausages from the bag on the table, handed one to Li Wanyin, and put the other into Fei Mo's cat bowl.

"Sister Wanyin, I bought some grilled sausages, please have some."

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I ate on my way back."

"Thank you!"

Just as Chen Shi'an was not polite to her, Li Wanyin was not polite to him either.

She hadn't had grilled sausage in a long time. This fragrant grilled starch sausage, paired with a bowl of sweet and glutinous taro sago pudding, created an explosion of calories that made every cell in her body leap with joy.

Because of their different work and school hours, the siblings, though living under the same roof, only have about an hour each day when Chen Shi'an comes home to chat and see each other.

She didn't know what Chen Shi'an was thinking, but Li Wanyin cherished this short hour of conversation. It was the most relaxing hour she had after a long day of hard work.

"Shi'an, have you seen it? The video your PE teacher filmed of you yesterday has almost 300,000 likes now! You won't be recognized by everyone on the street, will you?"

"I didn't pay attention to that."

"Only you can stay so calm."

Li Wanyin laughed, then checked the comments section. The most popular comment was: "[This is our school's Taoist master. The other day, he slammed his dunk on the school's backboard! His Taoist skills are unimaginable!]"
Then a whole bunch of comments below said things like, "[I was there, I was a spectator][I can vouch for you, I was the backboard][I was the basketball, I was terrified]"
Li Wanyin found it amusing and funny, so she moved her phone to show Chen Shi'an.

"Shi'an, did you see the comments? Are they telling the truth? You really shattered the school backboard with your dunk?"

"...This matter should not be publicized."

"Huh?...Really?!"

After Xiao Zhi, the class monitor, and all the teachers and classmates were still in shock, Li Wanyin was surprised too!
She stared wide-eyed at Chen Shi'an, who was slowly sipping his sugar water. She even reached out and pinched his arm through his school uniform sleeve. She couldn't believe that someone who looked so gentle and refined could have such terrifying explosive power!

Those horny girls in the group always make lewd comments about how strong high school students are, turns out they really are?!
"How did you do that! Shi'an, do you often play basketball in the mountains?"

"There are no basketballs up in the mountains. Maybe the backboard was just a bit flimsy. I thought it was pretty sturdy, and I didn't control my strength."

"...6."

"What does 6 mean?"

"It means impressive."

Chen Shi'an learned a new word. He thought that "awesome" was already the pinnacle of the art of language conciseness, but he never expected there to be such a word as "6".

It must be said that with the development of the times, people's ways of expressing emotions have become more and more concise and clear. Often, when they don't know how to describe a long passage, an emoji, a "6", or even a period can solve the problem...

"Hey Shi'an, did your PE teacher tell you that video views generate revenue? Hmm... I think you're entitled to a share of that revenue. You could talk to your teacher about it, but I don't really know much about it. I heard it might be a few thousand yuan..."

Although this profit was unrelated to Li Wanyin herself, as someone who had just graduated and was already working, she knew how difficult it was to earn money, and she didn't want Chen Shi'an to suffer a loss, so she subtly reminded him. "Yes, Teacher Wan mentioned it to me. He said that the subsequent profits would be transferred to me, so don't worry, Sister Wanyin."

"That's good~ I was mainly thinking that you're studying here all by yourself, and you'll need to spend money in many places, so we should try to save money wherever possible."

Chen Shi'an looked up at her. Since his master left, he hadn't felt such care from a family member, without any regard for his own interests.

"How was work today, Sister Wanyin?"

"It's okay~ I brought three more customers into the store today, and earned an extra thirty yuan in commission."

"6, Sister Wanyin."

"Haha, you learn so fast."

Li Wanyin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'll go to my part-time job again tomorrow, Saturday, and then the work will be over. Luckily, the weather has been good these past few days, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hand out flyers outdoors."

"How did Wanyin's interview go? Did she have one this morning too?" Looking at the relaxed expression on the girl's face, Chen Shi'an had already guessed the result.

"Yeah, including the one I interviewed with yesterday, I've received two job offers now!"

"Ok?"

The result Li Wanyin gave was even better than Chen Shi'an had expected. He asked in surprise, "You passed both interviews? Now, is it Wanyin's turn to choose a job?"

"Hmph, yeah."

Little happiness came so suddenly. It seemed that after meeting Chen Shi'an, everything went smoothly for her. Not only did she find a satisfactory roommate, but she also passed two consecutive interviews.

Small happiness brings small troubles. Now, Li Wanyin is not worried about finding a job, but about which of the two offers to choose.

"Congratulations, Sister Wanyin! Have you decided which job you want to choose?"

"I'm not sure yet. I feel like both jobs are fine, they seem pretty much the same. The two companies are just across the street from each other, and the salaries are about the same. Hmm... I don't really know which one to choose."

"tell me the story?"

Although she knew that Chen Shi'an's high school student status meant he couldn't offer her any advice, Li Wanyin still talked to him earnestly.

……

In fact, Li Wanyin's academic performance has always been quite good.

However, a sudden and huge change in her family during her senior year of high school completely altered the trajectory of her life.

Looking back now, Li Wanyin doesn't know how she got through those dark days. Now, she just wants to become strong enough to cope with risks so that such a thing will never happen again.

Although she graduated from a major like business administration, which seems to offer "everything you can learn and do" but is particularly difficult to find employment in, she is far superior to many of her peers who are still student-like after graduation, both in terms of professional knowledge and her "cleverness".

However, the educational requirements and the current job market have repeatedly caused her to run into obstacles when seeking employment.

It wasn't until much later that she realized it wasn't that the company didn't want her, but that they hadn't actually intended to hire anyone for those positions. It was just a cost-free way for the company to put on a show and appear prosperous. Even the HR's performance evaluation was the same as the sales staff's—how many people they could get for interviews that day.

Fortunately, hard work pays off. After submitting countless resumes and interviewing with numerous companies, she finally received two offers that were considered quite good at this stage.

Neither company is far from home; the commute takes about half an hour by bus.

One of the jobs is as a product operations specialist at an e-commerce company. The daily work mainly involves product selection, pricing, and promotional planning. The position has high turnover, high work pressure, and is clearly performance-based. There is a two-month probation period, and you can only become a full-time employee after meeting the performance targets. The salary during the probation period is 3,000 yuan per month, and after becoming a full-time employee, it is 3,600 yuan per month. The salary is mainly linked to performance. There is only one day off per week, and you usually work overtime until 8 or 9 pm. During shopping festivals, working all night is common. However, if you do well, the salary can be quite considerable.

The other job is as an administrative specialist in a foreign trade company. The daily work involves managing internal affairs, such as office maintenance, purchasing and managing office supplies, organizing, filing and storing documents and materials, receiving and sending various emails and letters, booking meeting rooms and preparing materials, and organizing company employee training, team building and annual meetings, etc. It's basically an office errand boy, but the career advancement path is very clear and it's very helpful to understand the management and operation of the entire company. There is a one-month probation period with a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan. After becoming a full-time employee, the salary can be set at 4,500 to 6,000 yuan depending on the performance evaluation. The work hours are from 9 am to 6 pm with weekends off.

……

Chen Shi'an was not very worldly and had no understanding of these various jobs. After listening to Li Wanyin's explanation, he didn't know which job to choose, as each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

"Ugh, this is so hard to choose..."

Seeing Li Wanyin troubled by happiness, Chen Shi'an smiled.

"So, which job does Sister Wanyin prefer?"

"Hmm, I don't know. I've been thinking about it all day. Operations specialist seems like a good option; if you do well, you can earn a lot of money. Administrative specialist is also good; the salary is stable, the promotion path is clear, and there are weekends off! I heard from HR that there isn't much overtime, so you can have more time to do your own things after get off work..."

What are those two companies like?

"The e-commerce company seems to be a startup. The HR said there are great opportunities for promotion, but I noticed their staff turnover is quite high... There were so many people interviewing; the foreign trade company seems to have been around for a long time, it's a pretty big company, and the organizational structure and systems are very mature, but promotions depend on time. To go from specialist to supervisor, it would probably take three to five years. However, it seems that foreign companies have a strong corporate culture, so if you're very capable, it's not impossible to get promoted quickly..."

Chen Shi'an originally wanted to help her sort out her thoughts and make a choice, but he didn't expect that the more Li Wanyin talked, the more difficult it became for her to choose.

"What should we do then, Sister Wanyin? Why don't you take on two jobs?" Chen Shi'an joked.

"I don't know, this gives me a headache!"

When faced with difficulties, Li Wanyin can grit her teeth and get through them. However, when faced with choices, she seems to be in a dilemma. After all, this is her first job, and this choice may change the direction of her future life. The more she cares, the harder it is to make a decision.

Suddenly, Li Wanyin's eyes lit up! She turned to look at Chen Shi'an.

"...What's wrong? Which job have you decided on, Sister Wanyin?"

"No! Shi'an, aren't you good at face reading and fortune telling? Why don't you help me calculate which job I should choose!"

Chen Shi'an paused for a moment, then couldn't help but chuckle and said, "It's possible, but the result might not be the one that Sister Wanyin truly likes. In my opinion, Sister Wanyin should calm down and think it over carefully to see which one she prefers more."

"It's not about whether I like it or not, it's about my future!"

"Then Sister Wanyin can rest assured. No matter what you choose, your future will be filled with wealth and prosperity. The biggest setback in your life is over. I can guarantee that to you."

"Really?"

"real."

Chen Shi'an was very serious.

His words clearly made no sense, but for some reason, they gave Li Wanyin immense confidence.

"Sister Wanyin can boldly make her own choices. Life is a long journey. When you look back in the future, those crossroads that once made you hesitate may all lead to the same destination in the end."

"Um……"

Li Wanyin pondered—

"In that case, let's just decide by drawing lots!"

"...There's no need to be so casual."

"Whatever! I'm starting! There are always reasons to choose!"

Li Wanyin turned to look at Chen Shi'an again.

"……What's wrong?"

"Shi'an, come and draw for me! You're my lucky star, I believe in your luck!"

"Huh? I'll smoke?"

(Thank you for the 50,000 reward on the 24th of last month! Boss, you're so generous! May you make a fortune!)
(End of this chapter)