EAY Chapter 35

Picking Someone Up

Picking Someone Up

35

“You’re looking for a new part-time job?” Meng Nan asked, surprised, when he heard Shi Ran’s words. “Don’t you already have one? Why are you looking for another?”

“The business at the shop isn’t doing well. The boss said I only need to go once a week.” Shi Ran’s part-time job was at a very small advertising company. He was supposedly an assistant, but he had to do cleaning and reception work, which was quite challenging. Originally, they had agreed on three hours a day, but recently there had been no orders. The boss and the only two other employees were very idle, and he was only kept on for one day a week because he was diligent and sweet-talking.

However, Shi Ran felt that if things continued like this, even the one day a week wouldn’t last.

Meng Nan had already started interviewing for various part-time jobs near the school online before the semester started. As soon as he arrived at school, he actively cultivated relationships with older students. Many students were working to support themselves, and he quickly integrated into that circle and obtained a lot of information.

Shi Ran asked Meng Nan for help and treated him to a meal in the cafeteria. After understanding the situation, Meng Nan nodded. “What kind of job are you looking for?”

Shi Ran hesitated and said, “Um, is there anything with a higher hourly wage?”

“Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone wants to find a job that pays more.” Meng Nan smiled and leaned in. “However, my abilities are limited. I can’t get you a job that pays a lot and requires little work through connections. The ones I know that have higher hourly wages are much more tiring, and most people can’t last long. Even I can only stick with them for two months at most…”

“I only need it for one month!” Shi Ran said quickly, his eyes shining. “Actually, I want to save up to buy something.”

Meng Nan didn’t ask any further questions and only said, “That’s good. I’m relieved you’re doing it short-term, otherwise it’ll be too tiring and you’ll put the cart before the horse. Like me, I’ve been feeling that way recently, so I plan to reduce one or two of my part-time jobs when the end-of-term scholarship comes down.”

“Right, right. Anyway, once we graduate, we won’t be able to avoid working even if we want to.” Shi Ran took a sip of his drink and suddenly remembered something, leaning forward. “So, does that mean you can occasionally join our weekend gatherings in the future?”

The dormitory’s weekend gatherings were Li Tianyi’s idea. This rich young master loved to eat and have fun, and he claimed it was to increase the dormitory’s cohesion, so he made everyone in the dormitory go out for a meal every weekend. In order to get Meng Nan to participate, he accommodated his schedule several times, but they still couldn’t make it happen.

Meng Nan joked, “Young Master Li only picks small, cheap restaurants and roadside stalls for the gatherings so as not to hurt the wallets of us poor people too much. I’d feel too bad for him if I didn’t make time.”

The next day, Shi Ran’s part-time job was finalized. Because he would be returning late, he said something in the dormitory group chat, hoping that his good roommates would remember to leave the door open for him. Li Tianyi didn’t care as long as it didn’t interfere with his dinner parties. Qi Ye, on the other hand, couldn’t help but worry when he saw that Shi Ran wouldn’t be back until so late.

When Shi Ran returned to the dormitory, Qi Ye immediately said to him, “I’ll pick you up then.”

Shi Ran waved his hand. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’m not a child. It’s not like I can’t even find my way around the school at night.”

“It’s dangerous at night.” Qi Ye insisted.

Shi Ran couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re still worried about me with my skills? It’s you who’s not safe alone at night.”

Qi Ye didn’t say anything else, but when Shi Ran finished his first day of part-time work, he still saw Qi Ye waiting outside the store.

He was very tall, wearing a black hoodie and jeans, and standing there with one hand in his pocket like a model. Shi Ran noticed that the customers going in and out were secretly discussing him.

Shi Ran sighed helplessly, put his messenger bag on, and went up and poked him in the back.

Qi Ye smiled when he saw him. “You’re done?” He looked at the time. “It took me a little time to find the place today. I can come earlier tomorrow.”

“Why would you come earlier to pick me up? No, you don’t need to come at all.” Shi Ran pointed to the front. “Look, the bus stop is so close. Just take it directly to the school gate. What are you worried about?”

Qi Ye said, “There aren’t any direct buses at this time. You have to transfer.”

“Really?” Shi Ran didn’t notice that. He went to the bus stop and saw that it was true. The direct bus had already stopped running.

Qi Ye said, “I wasn’t very accurate. It’s not a transfer, it’s a transfer to walking. You take this bus, and then you have to walk back the remaining three stops.”

“Oh my god, I didn’t even consider this problem.” Shi Ran grabbed his hair. “Fortunately, three stops isn’t too far.”

“Actually, it’s a bit far.” Qi Ye said, “There’s another problem. By the time you walk back, the dormitory will be closed.”

Shi Ran lowered his head in disappointment. “A series of bad effects. I have to knock on the dorm auntie’s door.”

Qi Ye said, “It’s okay, I told Li Tianyi and the others. They’ll leave the window open for us.”

The so-called window was the window opposite the sink in the laundry room on the first floor. Outside the window was a small patch of grass, and at the end of the grass was the dormitory’s low wall.

This was a valuable spot left to them by the previous senior students. The dorm auntie naturally knew about this place and would close the window tightly before getting off work, but at this time, as long as there was an insider, it wouldn’t be a problem.

The university was much more free than high school, and there were fewer classes. There was more time for the students, but everyone wasn’t very interested in this special channel, and it was only used in special circumstances.

If it were in high school, the window railings would have been trampled to pieces.

“Qi Ye, you’re my savior!” Shi Ran hugged the person in front of him. “What would I do without you? I’d still be wandering outside in the middle of the night. You just said you were looking for a place. Did you walk through it all for me? How are you so good!”

Qi Ye was always defenseless against Shi Ran’s sudden enthusiasm. No matter how many times it happened, he would panic and forget what he wanted to say. He was as stiff as a log.

Shi Ran quickly let go of him, because he clearly smelled the barbecue smell on himself, the smoky smell, and the mixed smell of various foods. He had been in the restaurant for so long, and the smells had already penetrated his clothes. It was really unpleasant.

In contrast, Qi Ye only smelled of nice-smelling laundry detergent.

“Ah ha, I have to go back and take a shower now.” Shi Ran took a step away a little awkwardly and scratched his head. They all said that hair was the most likely to absorb smells. Wouldn’t his whole head smell like barbecue? How annoying.

“The bus is here.” Qi Ye said calmly.

After getting on the bus, Shi Ran was still hesitating whether to sit with Qi Ye or not, but Qi Ye had already taken a seat next to him as a matter of course. The carriage was empty with only the two of them as passengers. Shi Ran quickly opened the window, afraid of fumigating him.

But Qi Ye said, “Aren’t you cold?”

Shi Ran smiled sheepishly. “Hot, I’m hot.”

Qi Ye looked at his red face and believed him. He thought of what he wanted to ask earlier, “Why did you find such a late part-time job this time?”

Shi Ran winked at him. “More money.”

The barbecue restaurant where Shi Ran worked had high requirements for its waiters. In addition to helping customers grill the meat throughout the entire process, the most important thing was that the service awareness had to be particularly considerate. According to Shi Ran’s grandpa’s crude way of putting it, it was almost like feeding the food into the customers’ mouths.

Plus, because of the time slot, the corresponding salary was much higher.

“Will you be doing it for a long time?” Qi Ye asked.

“No, just a short-term job for a month.” Shi Ran said mysteriously, “I’m a little short on money recently.”

“Then I—” Qi Ye subconsciously wanted to say he’d give him money, but he had made this mistake once before, which made Shi Ran angry. This time he didn’t dare to be so reckless.

Sure enough, as soon as he started to say it, he saw Shi Ran looking at him with that contemptuous look, which scared Qi Ye into saying nothing.

The window was open and it was a bit cold. Shi Ran wrapped his coat tighter, hesitating whether to close it or not. No, no, the smell was still too strong. Sitting like this, he could clearly smell the “smoky” smell on himself.

Shi Ran thought it was better to sit separately from Qi Ye, so he wouldn’t be cold or worry about fumigating others. Just as he was about to move his feet, a large hand quickly closed the window.

Qi Ye shrugged. “I was freezing to death. Aren’t you cold?”

Shi Ran said, “I’m cold, but I smell bad.”

“I don’t smell anything.” Qi Ye said, “Maybe my rhinitis is acting up.”

Shi Ran said helplessly, “You don’t need to be so considerate.”

“Really, I used to sneeze easily when it got cold. At first, I thought it was a cold, but later I found out it was rhinitis.” As he said that, Qi Ye actually sneezed.

“Great.” Shi Ran was almost blown numb. “Not that it’s great that you have rhinitis, but it’s great that you can’t smell my smell. That’s really great.”

“It was just that you were overthinking it. You—” When Shi Ran took out his phone to check the time, Qi Ye suddenly noticed several small blisters on the back of his hand. He grabbed it and looked at it more carefully. “You burned yourself?”

“Yeah, it was the smoking chimney above the barbecue. I accidentally touched it.” Shi Ran didn’t care.

“You have to pop the blisters when you get back and put some medicine on it. Be careful not to touch it.” Qi Ye carefully put his hand back and looked pained.

“Your expression makes it seem like my hand is broken.”

“This job is really hard.” Qi Ye looked at him. “You’re really amazing. You only got burned this much. If it were me, I would have burned both my hands.”

“You don’t need to belittle yourself so much. You’re the one who insisted on doing farm work in the countryside for two months. I couldn’t do that.” Shi Ran was worried when he heard the first half of what he said, thinking that Qi Ye didn’t want him to continue working, but he didn’t expect him to praise himself so much.

After successfully passing through the window and returning to the dormitory, the two good roommates were still awake. Li Tianyi was playing games and Meng Nan was reading a book. Shi Ran greeted them and immediately dived into the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out of the shower, Qi Ye was already waiting for him with a needle and ointment.

Shi Ran obediently moved a stool and sat next to him. Meng Nan finished reading his book and got up to go to the bathroom. He stopped and took a look. “What’s wrong? Did Shi Ran burn himself?”

Seeing the needle in Qi Ye’s hand, he said, “Don’t pop the blisters if they’re very small. Just put some ointment on them. If you break them, it’ll hurt when you get water on them, and you have to prevent infection or something.”

Qi Ye saw that he seemed very experienced and silently put the needle aside. Shi Ran also breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m quite afraid of needles.”

“Shi-ge, you’re actually afraid of needles?” Li Tianyi on the upper bunk heard and mumbled, staring at the screen and giggling. “You’re afraid of needles like a child. I’m not afraid.”

“Bullshit, when you got blisters on the soles of your feet during military training, you howled like a pig when I helped you pop them.” Meng Nan unceremoniously exposed him before going to pee.

Li Tianyi made a face at him and turned over to continue playing games.

Shi Ran honestly said, “I think these small needles are more scary than those big knives. The wound doesn’t bleed, but it hurts a lot.”

Qi Ye quickly put the needle in the drawer.

“You really don’t need to pick me up tomorrow. I’ve already memorized the route. Just remember to leave the window open for me.” Shi Ran said sincerely, “Don’t delay your business.”

Qi Ye then said, “Then I’ll go when I have nothing to do.”