Chapter 343: Internship
Early the next morning, Su Peng woke up in the second bedroom.
He hadn’t slept well last night. He kept thinking about wanting to warm An Han’s feet, but she showed him no mercy. When it was time to sleep, she went straight into her bedroom and locked the door. No matter how he tried to coax her, she wouldn’t open it.
Because of that, his mind was full of images of An Han’s body, and he didn’t fall asleep until around two in the morning.
Stretching lazily, Su Peng sat up and stared blankly out the window, letting out a heavy sigh.
Yesterday he got carried away, barbecue for lunch, grilled food for dinner… he spent over 200 yuan on food in just one day. Now, thinking about it made him want to chop off the hand that ordered it.
And today was Monday, meaning he would be busy again at noon and evening delivering food for his part-time job.
If possible, he also wanted a proper job. But as a third-year student, this semester had the most classes. Even delivering food, he already had to leave class 30 minutes early every day just to finish the work.
“Making money is so hard…”
Muttering, Su Peng walked out of the room. The little over one thousand yuan he still had made him feel very unsafe, like he could go broke and starve to death at any moment. His wallet had never been this empty in his entire life.
It was still early, and the apartment was quiet. After washing up, he sat on the sofa and lazily played with his phone. He hadn’t checked it all night, and now he had several messages from relatives.
He frowned and complained to himself, “Why does everything have to be spread around…”
Those aunts and older female cousins had taken turns messaging him, trying to “talk sense” into him, asking him to go home, apologize, give in, and obediently follow the plan to study abroad. All of them used the same tone, “It’s for your own good.”
He skimmed the messages and didn’t bother replying. Instead, he tossed his phone onto the sofa. After a week, it was clear his parents had run out of patience and were now using relatives to pressure him.
Feeling annoyed, Su Peng even started thinking about getting a new SIM card to avoid being constantly called and lectured.
While he was lost in thought, the alarm rang inside the master bedroom.
A moment later, An Han walked out rubbing her right eye, still half-asleep.
She was wearing a thin white shirt as sleepwear. The fabric was so light that he could faintly see the color of her skin through it. The shirt covered her hips, and below that she wore loose long pants, though they couldn’t hide her small, cute curves.
Still groggy, she walked barefoot with soft, weak steps. Her eyes were watery with leftover sleepiness. Without thinking, she reached into her collar to scratch her shoulder, unintentionally revealing a large patch of fair skin.
The moment he saw his girlfriend, Su Peng’s mood instantly improved.
If only she wore the shirt like a dress with bare legs underneath, that would be even better… but shorts or leggings were also nice.
“You’re up so early?” Noticing him on the sofa, An Han stretched, yawned, and asked, “What are we eating for breakfast?”
“I’ll go downstairs and buy it for you.”
“I don’t want steamed buns anymore, I’m tired of them…” She wiped the tears from the corner of her eye and mumbled softly, “I want dim sum.”
“You watched another food video, didn’t you?”
At that, she perked up immediately. “Cantonese dim sum! Shrimp dumplings, chicken feet, ribs… I’ve never tried any of it.”
Su Peng had eaten Cantonese dim sum a few times when he was in Guangdong, and it left a good impression on him.
The problem was… there was none sold nearby. And even if there was, he couldn’t afford it right now.
“I’ll take you to eat it another day. There’s a pretty good dim sum place in the city center.”
Seeing her cute, slightly flushed face, Su Peng agreed without hesitation.
“Okay!”
An Han’s smile was especially sweet, and the two little dimples almost melted Su Peng’s heart.
But after she walked into the bathroom, Su Peng’s face drooped again.
“Crap… I don’t have money…”
While riding his bike to school, Su Peng noticed that after getting his promise about dim sum, An Han seemed to be in a very good mood today. She wasn’t cold and distant like yesterday, she kept sticking close to him. This made his mind start wandering again.
“Um, An Han…” While they were eating breakfast in the cafeteria, Su Peng lowered his voice and quietly asked, “What about the… compensation?”
But the moment she heard that word, An Han’s face froze. Her expression cooled, she turned her head away, and ignored him.
She could still act normal in daily life, and helping him with small things was fine. But she definitely couldn’t let Su Peng have any chance to “go further.” Last time, his affection had increased because she helped him with her hand for the first time.
Seeing her suddenly become cold, Su Peng was stunned for a few seconds. He scratched his head, sighed, and went back to playing with his phone.
It was all the future father-in-law’s fault! He must have filled An Han’s head with traditional ideas. Now she wasn’t being warm or active with him anymore!
An Han secretly observed Su Peng’s expression. Seeing no signs of anger, she quietly let out a small breath of relief.
Lowering his affection level would make things safer for her, but if his affection dropped just because of something so small, then she would have to consider whether Su Peng only liked her body.
System, system, what will happen when the affection reaches 110?
She asked in her heart, but the useless system didn’t answer. She was already used to this trash system’s behavior, but she still cursed its whole family in her mind every time.
“Counselor!”
Suddenly, Su Peng stood up and waved his arm toward Ren Chi, who had just walked into the cafeteria.
An Han was startled so much that she almost shoved her pork breakfast patty into her own nose.
Ren Chi looked at the two of them from afar, hands in his pockets, walking over slowly. “What’s up?”
“Counselor, if I find an internship, can I take time off from school?”
Seeing this young couple already gave Ren Chi a headache. After all, they knew about his hobby of cross-dressing.
But when he heard the question, his lazy look disappeared instantly. His eyes widened and he showed the authority of a counselor.
“The school does NOT allow third-year students to go do internships! You’re still a student, studying is your main job!”
Su Peng wasn’t close to him, so after being scolded he could only give a silly smile and try to brush it off.
“I was just asking casually.”
“Brother Ren, but what if someone already finished learning everything and skips class all the time but still passes the exams?” An Han leaned forward, joining in the fun.
“That’s your own business! I can’t drag you to class every day!”
“Oh, so it means as long as we don’t fail a class~”
Ren Chi glared at her without saying anything.
“Brother Ren~ this patty is tasty! Try some!”
Ren Chi quickly looked around, then sat opposite them and lowered his voice.
“I’m at a key period before getting my full-time position, don’t cause trouble for me! You two skip class all the time, aren't you the experts? Why ask me?”
Su Peng sighed helplessly. “I’ve never skipped a class.”
Since he entered university, he had always been an honest and careful student. He didn’t even feel comfortable asking for leave, much less skipping class.
“I don’t have much experience either. At most, I ask someone to answer roll call for me, but I never skip class.”
Ren Chi believed Su Peng’s words, but as for An Han, her words were pure self-deception.
He was really just waiting for An Han, Su Peng, and the others who knew his cross-dressing secret to graduate soon, so he could finally work peacefully as a proper counselor in this school.