The Female Teacher Who Fights Back

Chapter 20: The Flamboyant Peacock 3

Once the “red alert” had passed, Hua Quqin leaned lazily against the wall with his hands crossed behind his head. He lowered his voice and asked seemingly casually, “Little Ji-Ji, what do you think of ‘her’? It seems Grandpa Shuo holds her in high regard, even saying you might not be her match!”. It wasn’t hard to hear the teasing tone in his voice; both of them knew exactly who “she” referred to.

Ou Wenji didn’t flare up at her cousin’s nickname this time; instead, her brows locked in a deep furrow. “Grandpa Shuo didn’t lie. If ‘she’ went all out, I’m afraid the outcome would be truly hard to predict”.

“Eh, to think there’s actually someone you’re so wary of.” Hua Quqin feigned surprise, though a flash of keen interest crossed his light-brown eyes.

“Instead of wasting time chatting here, you’d be better off going to the Student Union office to approve a few more documents,” Ou Wenji retorted before turning back into the Kendo Club to continue her training. To be able to dodge her sneak attack and judge her intentions in that split second—perhaps “she” was even more troublesome than she thought.

Meanwhile, Wu Lang finally managed to shake off the “human repeater” Li Hao. As she walked along the campus’s asphalt roads and watched the willow leaves swaying in the wind, her mood felt inexplicably light.

However, while her spirit was uplifted, her basic physical needs remained unfulfilled. Her stomach protested frequently at being neglected. Wu Lang, who hadn’t even eaten breakfast, patted her empty pockets and began calculating the shortest route and time back to Liuyun Street.

As she walked distractedly, her peripheral vision caught a job advertisement on the bulletin board. She stopped to ask nearby students for directions, then changed course toward the student cafeteria a hundred meters away.

Stepping inside, she found that the Sheng Tian Academy cafeteria was indeed worlds apart from the roadside stalls she usually frequented. Lifelike murals and bas-reliefs, chrome decorations emitting a warm glow, and streamlined service counters—all of it made Wu Lang feel as though she were at a noble feast on the other side of the ocean.

Compared to the heavy European-style decor, the Chinese cuisine section tucked in a corner looked somewhat out of place. Because of this, Wu Lang was able to quickly find her interview location.

“Excuse me, are you looking for a temporary dishwasher here?”.

At that moment, only a middle-aged woman in her forties was busy in the back kitchen of the Chinese section. Hearing someone speak, she hurriedly put down her work. “Young lady, are you here to apply?”.

Wu Lang nodded.

“Young lady, washing dishes is very dirty and exhausting,” the woman said, noting Wu Lang’s fair hands and doubting she was suited for heavy labor.

“I used to work in a noodle shop specifically as a dishwasher.” Wu Lang, who had been working odd jobs since she was ten, knew well that everything required work experience.

“I’m the person in charge here; everyone calls me Auntie Lin. The cafeteria has fixed business hours, and you only need to work four hours a day, but accordingly, the wages won’t be very high”. Nowadays, most of the younger generation were only children, and no one could bear to let their “precious gems” serve others, so despite jobs being hard to find, the service industry was actually quite short-handed. Because of this, Auntie Lin looked at the girl before her—who was willing to earn money through her own labor—with a new level of respect.

“Wu Lang, twenty-four years old, no illnesses. The wages don’t matter, as long as you provide three meals a day”. It has to be said, Wu Lang’s requirements were truly as low as they could get.