Chapter 44: You Should Be a Sailor

"Miss, why are you suddenly thinking about things like this?"

"My roommate and I were chatting about these topics."

Song Jianian answered with absolute candor.

"You know what? Chen Yuan's monthly living allowance is two thousand yuan, while mine is ten thousand. Plus, you often give me extra on top of that. Compared to him, I'm just living in the lap of luxury."

"A girl's expenses are naturally supposed to be a bit higher than a boy's. Two thousand yuan a month is indeed a bit too little for a girl."

"But spending over ten thousand a month is truly a bit wasteful."

"So you want to try out what it feels like to live on five hundred yuan for an entire week?"

"Mm-hmm."

Uncle Zhang thought about it for a moment and decided not to dissuade her further.

Rather than living in extravagance and waste, practicing thrift and diligence was always a better path.

"You can give it a try."

Uncle Zhang did not say much more. As the family driver, some things were best left at a passing remark.

At that moment, Chen Yuan arrived.

"Uncle Zhang."

"Xiao Yuan."

Uncle Zhang greeted him with a smile and checked the time.

"Miss, the time is about right. We should get going."

"Okay."

Uncle Zhang picked up the items and loaded them into the car parked outside.

Looking at the things Song Jianian had bought, he couldn't help but feel that goods differed vastly upon comparison, and people even more so; buying all these extra things was completely unnecessary.

Following the navigation, he drove the car to Wang Shoucheng's residence.

Uncle Zhang helped carry the items up to the elevator entrance.

"Uncle Zhang, we don't know how long dinner will take, so you don't need to wait around here. We'll find our own way back after we eat."

"That's fine, Miss. I'll be heading off then."

"Okay."

Uncle Zhang drove away. Usually, no matter how late it was, he would always wait for Song Jianian, but today he had other business to attend to and needed to make a trip to the airport first.

However, he felt completely at ease leaving because Chen Yuan was by her side.

A boy who advised the young lady to be thrifty and diligent should, relatively speaking, be quite reliable.

At the elevator lobby, Chen Yuan called Old Wang, summoned the elevator, and the two of them went up together.

The door was opened by Wang Shoucheng, who was dressed in a tank top and shorts—the quintessential attire of a middle-aged man.

"Professor Wang."

"Hello, Professor Wang."

"I just invited you over for a casual meal, who told you to buy all these things?"

Wang Shoucheng welcomed them inside.

When it came to offering sacks of rice, it was a polite dance of polite refusals and eventual acceptances, but Wang Shoucheng genuinely had no intention of keeping these high-end gifts, nor did he want them bringing things just for a simple meal.

Yet, Chen Yuan's actions truly showed him a side that stood out from the rest.

Unlike other students, he was relatively more mature in worldly sophistication and social etiquette.

It was very likely something he had learned from his family, unconsciously influenced over time.

"We didn't buy anything much," Chen Yuan said with a smile.

"Is your student here?"

A voice drifted from the kitchen, and a woman wearing an apron walked out behind Wang Shoucheng.

The woman's long hair was pinned up at the back, and she wore red pajamas and lounge pants, giving off a strong domestic and cozy vibe.

Chen Yuan's immediate thought was that the professor's wife must have committed a murder in her past life, and after Old Wang discovered her secret, she had no choice but to marry him.

"His name is Chen Yuan, he's my student, and this is his girlfriend, her name is..."

"Mistress, my name is Song Jianian, and I'm majoring in Finance at the School of Economics and Management," Song Jianian said obediently.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Come on in, dinner will be ready in just a minute."

"Thank you for having us, Mistress."

Song Jianian's sweet tongue was as smooth as honey. Once inside, she took a seat on the living room sofa with the utmost modesty and ladylike grace.

In the living room, Old Wang's daughter, Wang Yutong, was playing with her toys, and Chen Yuan handed her the doll he had bought.

"Thank you, Uncle..."

Wang Yutong said in a sweet, childish voice.

"You're welcome. Go ahead and play."

"Uncle, can you play with me?"

"Alright, Uncle will keep you company."

Since the child took the initiative to invite him to play, Chen Yuan attributed it to the hundred-percent affinity passive ability with human cubs finally kicking in.

Otherwise, purely based on appearances, Song Jianian was undoubtedly the more likable one.

"You two keep her company for a bit; I'll go help your mistress with the cooking."

Wang Shoucheng didn't treat the two as outsiders and left the child in Chen Yuan's care before heading to the kitchen.

The two of them sat down on the floor mat. Song Jianian, suffering from a mild case of social anxiety and lacking any experience with children, could only hold a small toy and awkwardly amuse the toddler.

Chen Yuan looked around the room, hoping to find other toys to keep the child entertained.

True to his reputation as an inveterate academic workaholic, Old Wang didn't have many toys lying around; instead, Chen Yuan managed to unearth a toddler's English vocabulary book.

What an absolute grinding machine. The child was only three years old and he was already subjecting her to this.

"Uncle, can you teach me how to read the words?"

"Of course."

Chen Yuan had scored 89 on his high school English exam—not particularly high, but more than enough to handle English words in a picture book.

It should be things like *apple*, *air*, *ant*, and so on...

However, upon opening the English picture book, Chen Yuan furrowed his brow.

*Autochthonous*.

What on earth is this?

Even if it wasn't *apple* or *air*, throwing in something like *abandon* would at least be somewhat reasonable.

Old Wang, you really are inhuman.

Tossing the English picture book aside, he picked up a Chinese language book instead. This time it was much easier; he recognized every single character.

After playing with the child for a little while, dinner was served. The mistress placed the child into a highchair, put a small bowl of rice and vegetables in front of her along with a tiny bib, allowing her to eat on her own—though the process was admittedly a bit messy.

Wang Shoucheng cracked open a bottle of beer for Chen Yuan, which deeply made Chen Yuan realize the difference between a university counselor and a high school teacher.

They could interact much more like friends.

"The financial aid grants have all been distributed down. Did you apply for one?"

"I didn't bother competing for that kind of thing. Although I'm not wealthy, buying meals isn't an issue for me."

"I know the situation in your class; nobody is in extreme destitution, but there's no harm in you applying. When the time comes, I'll review it myself, and if there are no major issues, I'll approve it for you. It's free money anyway."

"Got it."

That was what he said out of politeness, but whether he actually did it was an entirely different matter.

"I heard you didn't even wait for the evening self-study sessions this week because you joined the student union."

Chen Yuan nodded. "I went in just to see what it's all about. It's the participation that counts."

"Joining the student union does have its perks; it's a place that builds character and trains your abilities. If you become the student union president in the future, you can write it on your resume. When facing a pile of resumes with similar qualifications, having this extra item might just become your competitive edge."

"I'm from this university. If I want to stay on as a counselor after graduation, do I stand a chance?"

Before the National Day holiday, this had been Chen Yuan's genuine thought. Although the salary wasn't high, it had the advantage of stability, plus some covert perks. No matter how he looked at it, it was a fairly decent job.

But now that he had a system, that was a whole different story.

"Being a counselor isn't all that interesting. I'm even thinking of quitting sometimes to switch to another career where I might make a bit more money."

"I heard that being a sailor pays quite a lot."

"The husband of our next-door neighbor is a sailor. He does make a lot of money, but the only drawback is that he has to drift around on the ocean and can't come home often. Plus, I get seasick."

"A few days ago, I saw on the news that the American space station is hiring, the requirements aren't that strict, the pay is high, and they don't look at nationality."

"If you're going anywhere, you should go to our own country's space program. What's the deal with going to America?"

That was true in principle, but the problem was that our country's astronauts actually came back safely.

***

*Special thanks to book friends [Heavy Rain Tonight] and [Shushu183] for their coin tips.*