0001 Graduating into Unemployment

Summer vacation, 2024.

Having just finished his junior year, Li Zhiyan sat in his rented apartment anxiously waiting for companies to respond to his job applications. He began to suspect he was losing his mind.

Before his eyes appeared numerous clear words and vivid images.

“In ten seconds, Xu Qianqian—the one who treats you like a fool to accompany her grocery shopping and pay the bill—will call you, asking you to cover the expenses for her friend’s gathering. She already has a boyfriend today.”

“Buy this stack of scratch-off lottery tickets at the lottery shop on the east side; you can earn five hundred yuan.”

“Xu Qianqian owes one hundred thousand yuan in online loans.”

“Xu Qianqian’s beautiful mother, Shen Hongmei, will get drunk at a social event tonight and collapse on a bench in Qingfeng Park, risking being taken advantage of.”

Li Zhiyan pinched himself, pain confirming he was not dreaming.

“I haven’t eaten any Yunnan mushrooms either…”

Ten seconds later, his phone screen lit up. Having kept it on silent and rarely answering calls, he nonetheless saw an incoming call from his female classmate, Xu Qianqian.

Once, he and Xu Qianqian had a flirtatious relationship, having collaborated extensively on assignments. Just as Li Zhiyan thought he could win her over, she suddenly distanced herself. When he tried to cut ties, she drew close again. They often went shopping together, with her always making him pay for purchases worth over a hundred yuan.

He had once been lost in her false tenderness, but gradually sobered up and severed all contact. Now, unexpectedly, she was calling him again.

Could the messages he saw be true?

“Hello, Li Zhiyan, come to South Beauty outside the school.”

“There are many classmates waiting for you.”

“Room 888.”

“All right, I’m coming.”

Li Zhiyan was curious to see if she really intended to make a fool of him and have him pay the bill.

Walking there, his heart stirred with a flicker of hope. If the information was true, his bleak future of endless internships and unemployment might turn around.

When they first met in freshman year, his dorm mates were all ambitious, speaking of bright futures. He thought they were all pretending and joined in the boasting when bored. In the end, only he had been pretending.

Of his three roommates, one secured a job at the Tobacco Bureau, another carefree and unstudious, returned home after junior year to inherit the family’s herd of several hundred yaks, and the third, fond of wearing women’s clothes, became a small internet celebrity, cruising around in a Mercedes C right after leaving school.

Now, he was the only one left struggling to find a job.

Supported by his family, Li Zhiyan rented a shared apartment. With no job yet and only two thousand yuan left in his account, he pondered how he would survive. Thoughts of returning to his provincial hometown stirred within him.

Yet now, his life seemed poised for a turning point.

The information before him remained vivid, appearing or disappearing with his will.

Arriving outside South Beauty, he saw a voluptuous middle-aged woman step out, dressed in a cheongsam, sheer nude stockings, and Valentino heels.

Though wearing sunglasses that hid her eyes, her fair skin, alluring red lips, and elegantly raised nose were exquisite—enough to mark her as a beauty even if her eyes were less striking.

Her tall, slender yet curvaceous legs, high bosom, and slightly full figure held Li Zhiyan’s gaze captive.

Could this woman be Xu Qianqian’s mother?

Though already forty-two, Shen Hongmei was still irresistibly charming, quickening Li Zhiyan’s heartbeat.

He suddenly thought, maybe an age gap of twenty-two years wasn’t impossible after all.

His mindset had been too narrow before; mature women were certainly as captivating as young girls.

“Don’t call me again! If you’re desperate for a woman, go home to your mother!”

“I have no interest in you!” Shen Hongmei snapped and hung up.

“Mrs. Shen,” Li Zhiyan greeted. In school, Shen Hongmei often drove Xu Qianqian to class in her Audi A6, sparking classmates’ envy.

She softened, smiling gently.

“Zhiyan, Qianqian and her boyfriend are inside the private room. You should go in.”

After greeting him, Shen Hongmei left in her Audi A6.

Li Zhiyan felt a sinking feeling. The messages seemed true.

Still, he walked inside, eager to witness Xu Qianqian’s act.

Upon entering, a slick, heavily made-up man approached.

“Boss Li is here!” the man announced.

His name was Liu Jinxin, a very uncouth effeminate fellow. He often mocked classmates’ flaws in class, thinking himself witty.

For example, he loudly teased a short boy wearing elevator shoes in front of female classmates: “You’re wearing heels outside and inside.”

“Just kidding.”

He even humiliated a freckled girl in front of the boy she liked: “Your freckles won’t be covered by foundation, and you’ll pass them on to your children.”

“Just joking.”

He also advocated squatting while urinating, claiming standing was unhygienic and that squatting was gentlemanly.

Because Li Zhiyan once took a ride-share, Liu nicknamed him “Boss Li” to mock him endlessly.

Every day, he called Li Zhiyan a toad wanting to eat the swan meat that was Xu Qianqian.

Looking at where Liu and Xu sat together, Li Zhiyan realized this effeminate man was Xu Qianqian’s boyfriend.

Seeing Li Zhiyan enter, Xu Qianqian rose, clutching a Hermès litchi-pattern bag.

“Li Zhiyan, you’re here! Sit down and eat; the classmates are all waiting.”

“Later, you can pay the bill.”

“I’ll send you a payment link.”

Li Zhiyan glanced at the table, filled with unfamiliar classmates and leftover food—only a half-eaten plate of scrambled eggs remained, alongside a nearly finished bottle of orange juice.

Seeing the disdainful look and tone from Xu Qianqian, his anger surged and erupted.

“You finished eating and want me to pay?”

“Yeah, aren’t we good friends? You paid last time when we shopped.”

She sent the payment link via WeChat as if it were natural.

Li Zhiyan saw the total: over two thousand yuan.

“Am I your father? You expect me to pay for this pile of leftovers?”

His words made Xu Qianqian’s face flush.

“How dare you speak to me like that!”

Liu Jinxin stepped forward, towering at 1.9 meters, his presence oppressive.

But Li Zhiyan knew Liu injected hormones to lighten his skin and had no real strength.

“You unrefined bastard who thinks being rude is humor. I’ve tolerated you too long!”

“You’re like a eunuch, neither man nor woman.”

“You squat to pee, don’t you?”

“And you, Xu Qianqian!”

“When you had no boyfriend, I could understand you making me pay.”

“Back then, you still had some bait; now you have none.”

“Now you just rob outright!”

“Playing those Joy Beans games made you hallucinate?”

“The club’s masseuses have more professional ethics than you!”

“At least they work; you rob and act high and mighty!”

“Want me to pay? Don’t you have money?”

Li Zhiyan’s furious retorts made Xu Qianqian’s face turn even redder.

“Who doesn’t have money to pay?”

“Fine, you pay. And the 1,223 yuan I spent on you at the supermarket before—transfer that to me too!”

“Carrying around a Hermès bag, you can’t be so broke not to have this money!”

Others at the table began to look at Xu Qianqian oddly.

“Fine, I’ll pay!” she snapped and opened her online loan app.

“I’ll have my mom transfer the money now!”

“You poor loser chasing me—you’ll never afford four dishes in your life!”

“When you graduate, I’ll see you’re still a poor loser!”

In truth, Xu Qianqian’s mother gave her 5,000 yuan monthly allowance—a large sum for a college student.

But insatiable, Xu wanted everything, only the best.

She flirted with many male classmates to have them spend on her and habitually borrowed online loans.

Now, she owed over 100,000 yuan, with monthly interest of 2,500 yuan.

“The money’s transferred!”

“I’m paying now! Li Zhiyan, remember this!”

“Don’t ever think of being my friend again!”

She blocked him on WeChat right before his eyes.

Li Zhiyan looked at the 1,223 yuan transfer notification, accepted it, and smiled.

“You really think you’re a goddess from above.”

“Being your friend? What a joke.”

“And you, rude eunuch.”

“Move aside.”

Liu Jinxin instinctively stepped back, a little afraid. Skilled with makeup but hopeless in a fight.

As Li Zhiyan left South Beauty, a sudden clarity struck him.

He glanced at the message about Xu Qianqian’s mother:

“Shen Hongmei will get drunk tonight and lie down on a bench…”

The thought lingered sharply in his mind.