Chapter 13: Chapter 13 Hitting a Wall
Chapter Thirteen
After leaving the southern bus station of Niu Y County, Long Xiaoshan took his sister Long Xiaoling for a stroll around the streets.
Niu Y County was actually quite ordinary; the tallest building in town was just over a dozen stories high, and the cars that drove on the streets were all cheap ones worth just tens of thousands of yuan. It couldn't compare to Yanjing, where Xiaoshan had gone for his university studies, let alone to the average city.
However, Long Xiaoling was very happy, her black eyes looking around curiously, finding everything new and interesting.
Long Xiaoshan saw this and felt a pang of heartache for her.
His sister had lived a life too hard, unaware of so much, and he determined that he must ensure a better life for her in the future. It was often said that girls should be raised in wealth, otherwise, without any exposure to the world, they could easily be duped when they ventured outside.
Since they started out late in the morning, it soon became noon as they wandered.
Xiaoshan had wanted to treat his sister to some nice food, but being penniless after just getting out of prison, he could only share some corn cakes that they had brought from home with little Ling.
Long Xiaoshan decided to head to the job market.
Long Xiaoling said, "Brother, you go to the job market. I'll call Sister Fangfang and go see her."
Xiaoshan thought about it; Xiaoling was underage and wouldn't find any summer jobs at the job market. He had met Fangfang before—she had come to play at their house. She was Xiaoling's elementary school classmate who had dropped out of school, a year older than Xiaoling, and a blonde-haired girl.
"Okay, go ahead and call," Xiaoshan found a public phone for her.
Clutching a piece of paper, Xiaoling dialed a number, spoke a few words, and hurriedly hung up the phone, worried about the cost. "Brother, Sister Fangfang said she's not far away and will be here soon."
"Mhm," Xiaoshan replied but didn't rush to leave.
Waiting with Xiaoling by the side of the road, about twenty minutes later, a fashionably dressed girl rode up on a small moped and called out, "little Ling."
Xiaoling looked at the girl a few times before hesitantly calling out, "Sister Fangfang?"
"It's me, how could you not recognize me?" Fangfang got off her bike, enthusiastically taking Xiaoling's hand.
"Sister Fangfang, I couldn't even recognize you," said Xiaoling, somewhat shyly.
A strong scent of perfume wafted over.
Xiaoshan slightly furrowed his brow, looking at the girl. He remembered Fangfang as a simple country lass, but now she had dyed red hair, black nail polish, thick makeup, and wore a low-cut tank top that revealed a bit of cleavage.
However, he also knew that the way women dressed up in the city was definitely different from the countryside.
Even more revealing attire existed in the big cities.
So, he didn't think much of it.
"Sister Fangfang, this is my brother," Xiaoling quickly introduced Xiaoshan.
"Your brother, wasn't he in prison?" Fangfang blurted out with a big laugh, looking at Xiaoshan, who had a shaved head, and then joked, "Yo, it really is Brother Xiaoshan, you've changed so much, I couldn't even recognize you."
Xiaoshan asked, "Fangfang, where do you work?"
"Oh, I work at the Grand Tycoon Hotel, I'm a supervisor there," Fangfang said with a bit of pride while looking at Xiaoshan.
Back when Xiaoshan was known far and wide as Wenqu Star, Fangfang had quite admired him. But since Xiaoshan went to prison and she had broadened her horizons in the county, she knew that being a college graduate wasn't all that, and no amount of education could compare to money, let alone for a convict on reform through labor.
Seeing Xiaoshan's clothes, Fangfang pointed to the huge letters CK on her tank top and said, "little Ling, look at this T-shirt of mine, I bought it at the best mall in the county, spent more than six hundred on it."
"So expensive." Long Xiaoling exclaimed in shock, "More than six hundred for just this vest, that's enough to buy a piglet."
"Haha," Fang Fang seemed to find Long Xiaoling's analogy amusing and laughed out loud, "Wait until Sister Fangfang takes you to work at the hotel, you'll be able to afford it in two months."
"I don't need clothes, I need to earn tuition," Long Xiaoling was incredibly moved.
"Either way, come on, follow me."
Fang Fang took Long Xiaoling by the hand and hopped onto her little scooter.
"Little Ling, I'll come find you later," Long Xiaoshan said as he saw Long Xiaoling already seated on Fang Fang's scooter. He felt Fang Fang was a bit ostentatious, but it wasn't right to say anything in front of her, so he just cautioned her.
"Okay, brother, then you go to the talent market quickly," Long Xiaoling waved her hand.
Long Xiaoshan nodded and watched as Fang Fang rode off with Long Xiaoling into the stream of traffic.
He also hurriedly asked for directions to the talent market from passersby and quickly headed in that direction. Long Xiaoshan only brought his high school diploma this time, since after being imprisoned, naturally he couldn't attend university. However, Long Xiaoshan didn't fall behind on his knowledge in prison.
He was naturally smart and studious, and after practicing the Longevity Art, his brain became even sharper, with a very strong memory. While in prison, after he became the boss, he managed to get books and self-study many university courses. He was adept in English, German, and Japanese. When it came to academic level, he was confident he wasn't any worse than graduates from prestigious universities; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to discuss "The Wealth of Nations" with Shen Yuerong.
He arrived at the Niu Y County talent market.
Although it was just a small town's talent market, it was bustling, especially since it was Saturday. There was a job fair happening, so it was noisy and boisterous. Outside, there were many large posters, which were job advertisements and promotions from various companies and enterprises.
Long Xiaoshan squeezed into the market with difficulty. Inside, the market was divided into blocks, and at each block, there were tables set up by various enterprises and companies. The HR recruiters sat behind the tables, scrutinizing the job applicants and conducting simple interviews.
This was Long Xiaoshan's first job-seeking experience, and he felt inexplicably nervous.
But after making a few rounds, he was somewhat dumbfounded. Since it was his first time, he didn't know to prepare and noticed other job-seekers all had thick resumes, while all he brought was his high school diploma.
Seeing those job-seekers with their resumes, finding the relevant companies, handing out a copy of their resumes, and then passionately selling themselves, Long Xiaoshan decided he should also try to market himself; otherwise, he had no idea how long he would have to wait.
Seeing a foreign trade company looking for someone good with English, Long Xiaoshan seized the opportunity and pushed through to the table, saying, "Miss, hello, I would like to apply."
A girl with freckles doing the recruitment asked, "Where's your resume? Let's have a look at that first."
"Uhh... I didn't bring a resume," Long Xiaoshan hesitated to say.
"No resume!" The girl was surprised as she looked at Long Xiaoshan and said, "Well, you brought your diploma at least, right? Which school did you graduate from?"
Long Xiaoshan handed over his high school diploma somewhat helplessly. The girl took it, looked at it, and her expression darkened as she said, "Are you here to mess around? What are you doing with a high school diploma?"
"It's like this, beauty, actually my English self-study is quite good. Don't just look at the fact that I didn't graduate from university, but I am definitely capable of doing some foreign trade work, and I also know German and Japanese..."
"Stop, stop!"
Before Long Xiaoshan could finish speaking, the girl with freckles interrupted him, looking at him mockingly, "Sorry, our small company really can't afford such a high-class talent like you. Why don't you go over there and take a look? That area over there is more suitable for talents like you."
Following the direction the girl pointed, Long Xiaoshan looked over with an ugly expression; that area was for hiring laborers, security guards, and gatekeepers.
Long Xiaoshan wasn't looking down on these jobs, but he indeed needed to find a better job to quickly help his family pay off their debts.
"Go on, next,"
The freckled girl dismissed him. Long Xiaoshan wanted to say more, but he was already squeezed out by other job-seekers.