Hiring Tang Wulin

Seeing Li Ang nod and agree so readily, Xie Xie's eyes flickered. Then he took out his Soul Guidance Communicator and sent a message.

Less than two minutes later, a boy walked in from the side. Li Ang looked over at him.

The boy was carrying a huge basin of food, one that looked even bigger than a person's face.

He held the basin in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. Looking at Xie Xie, he seemed a little lost, confusion in his eyes.

Looking at the handsome little boy before him, who was as pretty as a porcelain doll, Li Ang glanced at Xie Xie.

"Tang Wulin, didn't you say you were short on money?"

"This is a friend of mine. You should know him—he's Li Ang. He wants to pay you to clean his room and bring him meals and things like that."

Xie Xie said it casually. It was basically just running errands.

A lot of students couldn't accept that sort of work. Their families didn't need the money, and besides, they thought of themselves as genius youngsters and all that.

Tang Wulin, however, didn't have any such qualms.

At the moment, he was desperately short of money.

Whether it was the century-old spirit medicine he'd awakened or any of the other expenses he had, he was badly in need of cash.

Sure enough, as soon as Xie Xie said that, Tang Wulin looked straight at Li Ang, a questioning look in his eyes.

"I do need you to bring me meals. Lunch is fine, since I won't need it very often, but I'll need someone to bring me dinner."

"I need you to bring me dinner every night. Sometimes I might also ask you to run errands for me, like buying something to eat or drink."

Li Ang spoke casually. As he talked, he glanced at Tang Wulin.

"You can name your price. If you think it's fair, we'll go with it."

Li Ang said it offhandedly. Tang Wulin's eyes widened for a moment, then he studied Li Ang carefully, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Bringing meals wasn't a big deal, and it wasn't much of a walk.

The cafeteria was a good ten minutes or so from the dorm building, but that was nothing to him.

As for bringing snacks and things like that, he didn't think it would take up much of his time either.

Besides, Xie Xie had introduced him to this job. Xie Xie was practically his first friend here.

"Uh, Brother Li Ang, how about this?"

"You can give me 500 Federal Credits a month, or 300 would be fine too. Then I can take care of those things for you."

Tang Wulin lowered his head slightly as he spoke, wondering whether he'd asked for too much.

But Li Ang was a little stunned by what Tang Wulin had said.

Three hundred or five hundred—he'd barely given it a thought. His bottom line had been three thousand.

After all, once he parted ways with the other three, Ming Yue wasn't going to transfer that 3,000 to them, was she? He might as well give the money to the next person who ran errands for him.

Still, seeing Tang Wulin with his head lowered, twisting his sleeves, and wearing clothes that were in tatters, Li Ang fell silent for a moment. He neither liked nor disliked this protagonist in particular.

"I'll give you 4,000 Federal Credits a month."

"All you have to do is take care of the things I ask you to do."

"Now, give me your card number."

Li Ang looked at Tang Wulin. Four thousand Federal Credits was nothing to him.

After all, he got hundreds of thousands of Federal Credits in spending money every month.

What's more, Grade A meals here weren't cheap either. A single one cost over 1,000 Federal Credits, so 4,000 wasn't a particularly large sum.

But as soon as Tang Wulin heard Li Ang, his expression brightened.

Four thousand Federal Credits might not mean much to Li Ang, but to Tang Wulin, it was a substantial lifeline.

The average person here earned only around 1,000 to 1,500 Federal Credits a month.

A monthly salary of 4,000 Federal Credits counted as high pay among the working class.

It was no small amount, especially since Tang Wulin also received a student subsidy.

On top of that, he could earn some money through Forging. Otherwise, at this stage, he might not even have been able to pay his tuition.

He still hadn't paid back the money he'd borrowed from Xie Xie, either.

"Isn't that a little too much?"

"Fine, it's settled. Don't waste my time."

"Give me your card number now. I'll pay you this month's wages, and in return you'll bring me dinner at night and clean my dorm room."

After Li Ang finished speaking, he stuffed the last two mouthfuls of food into his mouth and slowly got to his feet.

Tang Wulin froze for a moment. He didn't have any paper or a pen, so Xie Xie handed him a pen, and only then did he write down his card number.

Li Ang glanced at the number, took a photo of it with his phone, and sent it straight to Ming Yue through his Soul Guidance Communicator.

When he saw that 4,000 had arrived in his bank account in less than three minutes, Tang Wulin's eyes lit up.

Li Ang had no intention of staying. He was still studying mecha design and didn't much want to get involved in this sort of thing, so he headed back to the dorm with Xie Xie.

Back in his single dorm room, Li Ang looked at the much more spacious bed. Now that it had been replaced with a soft, full-sized bed, he began to question himself.

"Man, I really have too much time on my hands."

"I could've stayed in a single room like this, with a soft bed and my own space. Why did I have to go back to an ordinary dorm just to experience life with roommates?"

Li Ang let out a sigh as he said it. Suddenly, he felt like an idiot.

He had a perfectly nice place to stay here, yet he'd insisted on going back to a crummy dorm, just so he could get into a clash with a few people and throw a punch or two.

The afternoon classes flew by. They didn't have many classes here to begin with.

Especially in first year, they finished their basic lessons and got out early.

This time, Tang Wulin followed behind the two of them, looking unusually nervous.

"Brother Li Ang, do you want me to bring you dinner?"

"What would you like to eat? I can pick it up for you."

As Tang Wulin spoke, he looked at Li Ang. Li Ang was just about to nod when Xie Xie stopped them both.

"I know a great place."

"There's a Beef Pot Shop nearby."

"Why don't we go have beef pot? I haven't been there in ages."

Xie Xie paused as he spoke.

Ever since his mother passed away, he'd hardly ever gone back to that Beef Pot Shop.

Now that he was at Eastsea Academy, the place was close by. He could make a trip there.

"Come on, let's go. The beef pot there tastes amazing. I guarantee you'll love it once you try it."

Xie Xie looked at Li Ang, his tone earnest.

Li Ang fell silent for a moment and worked out how much time it would take. He'd probably have to spend about an hour on the trip.

But he knew of the Beef Pot Shop. In the original timeline, its food had been described as exceptionally good.

He was curious about the place, too. The Beef Pot Shop had quite a legendary reputation.

"Then let's go. It shouldn't take too much time, and it'll be nice to eat there. I've never tried beef pot before."