Chapter 297: She Never Relies on Others to Live
It was a long, rainy day. The sky and earth looked the same, grey and gloomy.
To avoid any unnecessary trouble, Lin Yibai’s family decided not to go back to their second uncle's house this year. Plus, Xia Changyu had already returned to his own home.
Suddenly, everything felt quiet and empty. A bit lonely.
On New Year’s Eve, her parents gave her quite a bit of money to buy fireworks to play with. They were mainly worried she’d stay at home alone all day and feel bored.
Lin Yibai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’m not a little kid anymore, you know?”
Since her mom didn’t need to cook a big New Year’s Eve dinner this year, she had free time and said, “What about your high school classmates? You could go out and meet them, have some fun.”
Lin Yibai shrugged. “Please, high school friends are the easiest to lose touch with, okay? They say most high school friendships slowly fade away and never come back. And who even goes out to hang out on New Year’s Eve?”
Her mom suddenly looked worried and said quietly, “Then how about your boyfriend, Changyu? You should really put more heart into that. I think he’s a good guy.”
Lin Yibai nodded, “Yeah, he really is.”
Then her mom added, “Our family might not be rich, but when you two get married, you can clean up that apartment we saved for your wedding and ask him to move in.”
Lin Yibai smiled awkwardly, “Mom… do you really think Changyu would come live and work in our little town?”
Her mom slapped her forehead and muttered, “Ah, I forgot about that. But still, it’s the same idea. If you two settle down in Fucheng and need money, that apartment is yours to decide what to do with.”
Lin Yibai asked, “You mean I can sell it?”
Her mom sighed, “Yeah, sell it and use the money for a down payment on a place in Fucheng. It should be enough.”
How should she tell her mom that Xia Changyu’s family is actually really rich?
Even now, in her parents’ minds, Xia Changyu was just a young guy starting his own business, someone who might make money quickly, but also could lose it just as fast.
Oh well, she was too lazy to explain.
If they really ended up getting married… then her parents would find out in time.
Later, when the Spring Festival Gala started, she watched it with her parents for a while.
Then she went back to her room to rest.
This New Year felt like it was missing something, but at least it was peaceful.
On the first day of the new year, she visited relatives.
On the second day, they had guests.
On the third and fourth, they made offerings to the ancestors.
As time went by, Lin Yibai started thinking about when she should return to Fucheng.
On the seventh day of the new year, she bought her train ticket.
“Mom, Dad, I’m leaving now.”
Her mom looked a little sad, but still urged her to go. “Alright, alright, hurry up! If life in Fucheng ever gets too hard, come home. And if you run out of money, remember to call us.”
At that moment, Lin Yibai realized she was no longer the carefree college student she used to be.
Now, it was the last semester of her year. Most of her classmates had already found jobs.
As for her… she had failed the national civil service exam.
Deep down, she couldn’t relax and just study for the next one.
To put it simply, while preparing for the provincial exam, she also needed to find a job.
This wasn’t like the job hunting season last fall.
Looking at all the job listings on her phone, Lin Yibai whispered to herself. “It’s still early in the year. Companies are short on staff right now, so I can still pick something that I kind of like.”
That was also why she left home so early.
Just because she became a girl didn’t mean life would suddenly be easy and stress-free.
After returning to Fucheng, she took advantage of the rare sunshine to wash and hang up her damp bedding.
The next day, she officially began her job search.
If you’re only somewhat interested in a job and still thinking about it, just send your resume online and see what happens.
But if you're very interested and really want the job.
Don’t hesitate! Lin Yibai took her resume and went straight to the company’s HR department.
After going through a few choices, Lin Yibai finally picked a position she wanted.
During the interview, the HR staff asked the usual question, “Why did you choose the Human Resources position in our company?”
Lin Yibai answered confidently, “The salary is within a range I can accept, and I’m also really interested in this type of work. If you give me a chance, maybe we’ll soon be coworkers!”
HR asked another question, “What’s your advantage compared to other applicants?”
Lin Yibai replied, “My advantage is that I came to apply earlier than most others. With a few days of training, I believe I’ll have the skills needed to help you compete with other companies.”
The HR person smiled and said, “You’re very confident!”
Lin Yibai quickly replied, “At least when it comes to speaking, I have no problem expressing myself. After all, if someone in HR is too shy to talk during interviews, that would be a real problem, right?”
HR nodded and said, “You did a good job. We’ll seriously consider you.”
Lin Yibai smiled and thanked them, “I also hope I’ll get the chance to work at your company!”
The HR person paused for a moment and asked, “Wait, did you apply to other companies too?”
Lin Yibai replied honestly, “After comparing several options, your company has the best balance between salary and benefits.”
In other words, it had the best value for her, but it wasn’t necessarily the best in every way.
The company was quite satisfied with Lin Yibai. And because it was the start of the year, they were short on workers.
So they didn’t wait long.
That evening, while Lin Yibai was heading to interview at another company, she got a phone call saying she had passed the interview.
The HR person asked, “When can you start working?”
Lin Yibai replied, “Tomorrow.”
Everything went very smoothly.
In less than five days, she had already completed all the paperwork and officially started her job.
Looking for work when companies really need people usually gives good results.
Around the 13th or 14th day of the New Year, Xia Changyu finally came back to Fucheng too.
It was 8 or 9 PM when he arrived, covered in road dust and carrying lots of bags and boxes to the apartment.
Creak~
The door opened. A warm light filled the room.
Under the soft yellow light of the desk lamp, Lin Yibai was wearing an white pajama set. Her long hair was tied up neatly with a clip behind her head.
Seeing her like this made Xia Changyu’s heart feel warm, that kind of happy feeling when you see someone you love.
“Baiyi, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Oh? You’re back? Why didn’t you let me know first?” Lin Yibai looked up, surprised.
She had thought Xia Changyu would stay home with his parents until at least the 15th day of the new year!
She got up to help him carry the bags inside, mostly food and New Year’s goods.
Then she poured him a cup of tea.
After that, she sat back down and said, “I just finished writing today’s work notes. I still need to go over some civil service exam review questions later.”
Xia Changyu didn’t quite understand why she took a job. After all, he could support her financially.
And the job she found was in Human Resources, with a salary of just over 3,000 yuan. To him, it didn’t seem worth it. He thought she’d be better off focusing fully on exam prep.
But Lin Yibai had her own reasons. She explained, “I’m feeling a bit more confident about the civil service exam now. If I make it to the interview round... I mean, doing a job related to HR might actually help me in some ways.”
That’s when Xia Changyu realized something. This girl in front of him, she had never really changed.
She might take a short break sometimes, but she would never live her life depending on someone else.