A Job Much Better Than Washing Feet

The day's classes ended quickly.

When school let out at six, Lin Tian and Xu Yong hurried nonstop to their part-time job.

This tea restaurant called "SWING" was a popular and well-known spot across from the school.

Though it was called a "tea restaurant," it was more like a blend of a Hong Kong-style café and an afternoon tea restaurant. It served everything from roast duck platters to steak pasta, a model fusion of Chinese and Western cuisine. Its artsy decor and retro interior also clearly catered more to young people.

At an average of seventy to eighty yuan per person, it was expensive, but still within an acceptable range. When students wanted to treat themselves to a good meal, they often came here.

Today was the restaurant's anniversary, and the place was bustling.

The moment they arrived, Manager Wang urged Lin Tian and Xu Yong to start work.

"Quick, quick, quick! You two, you're late today!"

"Hurry up. Don't bother changing into your uniforms first. Customers just arrived at tables seven and eight, so go serve them!"

Before he even had time to put down his backpack, Lin Tian grabbed a notepad and swiftly weaved through the crowded aisle.

He arrived at table eight.

"Hello, ladies. What would you like to order?"

Lin Tian switched into work mode in an instant and smiled at the two women in business attire.

"One Swiss Double-Wing Steak Rice, and one..."

One of the women stared intently at the menu as she considered her options.

Her friend beside her gently nudged her with an elbow under the table.

She reminded her in a low voice,

"Hey, hey, look!"

The woman raised her head in confusion. The moment she saw Lin Tian, her eyes lit up.

"Little brother, are you still in school?"

Her friend teased him from the side.

"Yeah."

"You should still be in high school, right? Hey! Are you a student at No. 7 High School next door?"

"Yes."

"You're so handsome. You must have tons of girlfriends at school, right?"

"Haha, you're flattering me, sis."

Lin Tian did not avoid the question. Instead, he flashed a sunny smile.

"Our school doesn't allow dating."

"That makes sense. A good student like you, working hard to support yourself, definitely wouldn't waste time on other things." The woman made no attempt to hide her admiring gaze as she stared straight at Lin Tian's face and kept praising him.

"Ladies, is there anything else you'd like to order?"

Lin Tian did not continue the conversation. At just the right moment, he smoothly steered the topic back.

Only then did the woman realize that she had been so busy chatting that she had not even finished ordering.

She quickly flipped through the menu.

"Another double-cheese pineapple bun, and an egg fried rice."

"Our fried chicken steak is one of the restaurant's specialties. It's only thirty-eight yuan per serving."

"Alright, we'll have one of those too."

"The original-cut sizzling steak is also good. It's only eighty-nine yuan."

"That works too. Add it."

Her friend quickly grabbed her arm, looking horrified. "There are only two of us. We won't be able to finish all that, will we?"

"It's fine, it's fine."

The woman cupped her face in her hands and looked at Lin Tian, her expression blooming like a flower.

"If we can't finish it, we'll leave it for little brother to eat~"

"Let's go with that!"

"Alright."

Lin Tian took the menu and left with a smile.

Just like that, Lin Tian had easily landed a big order.

For him, scenes like this had happened many times before.

With his handsome face, height of over 1.8 meters, and status as a high school student from nearby, he came to work part-time at such an upscale restaurant the moment school ended.

His buffs were fully stacked.

It was hard for people—especially women—not to feel their hearts stir!

Female customers often asked Lin Tian for his WeChat while ordering, but he usually turned them down, saying he was busy with school and did not use social media.

And more often than not, he earned their understanding. They would only sigh, "What a good student!"

They regretted not being born a few years later, so they could have met Lin Tian then.

Lin Tian was more than happy with this arrangement.

What had originally been a job paying thirty yuan an hour was raised to forty yuan an hour by even the notoriously stingy Manager Wang, all because of Lin Tian's outstanding performance.

Among the high school students working part-time at the restaurant, Lin Tian earned the highest wage.

Sure enough, having a handsome face made every line of work much easier.

No matter what, it was better than washing feet.

Whenever that came up, Xu Yong could only turn red-eyed with envy.

They worked the same number of hours, yet Lin Tian could earn dozens more yuan!

Damn it!

The busiest hour—the dinner rush—soon passed.

Lin Tian and Xu Yong finally had a brief moment to rest, leaning against the wall.

Lin Tian idly scanned the restaurant when he suddenly noticed that the two women at the table he had just served had propped their phones up on the table and were waving their hands at the camera.

It looked like they were forming ninja hand signs.

Out of curiosity, Lin Tian nudged Xu Yong beside him.

"What are they doing?"

"Huh?"

Xu Yong glanced over in that direction and immediately had the answer.

"Isn't that obviously filming a Douyin video? It's probably that super popular hand dance recently!"

"Filming Douyin?"

"Yeah!" Xu Yong seemed to remember something. "Oh right, I forgot you don't like scrolling Douyin."

"Douyin is a universal app now! Qingzhou has been building itself into an influencer city these past two years. If you walk around town normally, you'll see those slutty chicks filming Douyin videos everywhere."

"Those two women aren't much. Their figures aren't good, so all they can do is crank up the beauty filter, show their upper bodies, and mess around with hand gestures. Anyone who really had what it took would already be dancing!"

"Who knows how many people who could only make a living washing feet before have found online employment through that thing."

"..."

Listening to Xu Yong's unbearably crude and disgusting remarks, Lin Tian stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Does Douyin have people making music videos, though? Like playing instruments?"

Lin Tian suddenly thought of it.

He only knew that Bilibili had plenty of such videos.

But he really did not know much about short-video platforms like Douyin.

"Of course! There are tons of them!"

The moment the topic came up, Xu Yong got excited.

"For example, there's this pianist who only shows her lower body in every video, always filmed from above, with the camera aimed right at her boobs! Damn, she's the sluttiest of the slutty chicks! Not watching her for one day builds virtue; not watching her for two days builds double virtue!"

"..."

If Lin Tian had guessed correctly, that person had an account on Bilibili too.

Still, he did not think she was that exaggerated.

Maybe people who browsed Tieba saw things differently from ordinary people.

But speaking of pianos—

Lin Tian suddenly noticed something.

The piano on the platform in the middle of the restaurant, usually surrounded by fake flowers as decoration, had had the cloth covering it removed.

"Why is that open?"

Lin Tian pointed at the piano on the platform and asked Xu Yong beside him.

"You mean the piano?"

"It's the anniversary today. Isn't it normal for it to be uncovered?"

Xu Yong said,

"Maybe they don't want to spend money hiring a pianist, so they're letting customers who can play come up and perform themselves. You know how stingy that idiot manager is."

Lin Tian stared fixedly at the piano, lost in thought.

"What's wrong?"

Apparently noticing something strange in Lin Tian's gaze, Xu Yong turned his head and looked at him in confusion.

Then he looked at the piano on the platform.

Soon, a humorous expression appeared on his face as he laughed.

"Wait, you don't want to go up there and play, do you?"

Lin Tian said nothing. He only kept staring at the piano.

This time, Xu Yong's expression turned horrified.

"Hey, hey! You can't be serious, right?! Don't disgust me. You didn't watch some online video like 'Simple Yet Pretentious Piano Piece—Super Easy Fingering Tutorial' and decide to try it up there, did you?"

"You can't trust those videos!"

Lin Tian ignored Xu Yong.

Instead, he passed through the bustling aisle and walked straight toward the piano.