"Right, add me on WeChat. It'll make things easier if anything comes up," Zhang Ting said. "I'll scan your code."
Su Yi opened WeChat and asked, "How do I do that?"
"..." Zhang Ting froze outright. Staring at his phone, she asked, "You're... not about to tell me you've never used WeChat before, are you?"
Su Yi nodded earnestly. "Today's my first day using a phone. I haven't figured it all out yet."
Zhang Ting was speechless for a long time.
"You... didn't really just come out of the mountains, did you?"
Su Yi nodded again. "Teach me how to use it."
This time, Zhang Ting had to concede. She couldn't imagine which remote mountain forest Su Yi had come from. After all, these days, even children a few years old could use phones proficiently, and even chat on WeChat.
After some demonstrations and explanations, Su Yi finally understood how to use WeChat.
Zhang Ting taught him very patiently, then asked in passing, "Are you out of money?"
Su Yi made no attempt to hide it. "I haven't a penny to my name."
"No way!" Zhang Ting could hardly believe it. With Su Yi's bearing, her first thought upon seeing him had been that he might be some rich young master out experiencing ordinary life. But now she believed it: this man had definitely come from the mountains.
That was good, too. People from the mountains were simple, dependable, and honest, and wouldn't entertain all sorts of stray thoughts.
"I'll give you a two-thousand-yuan advance on your wages. You earned quite a bit in commissions tonight, too." With that, Zhang Ting transferred him two thousand yuan and taught him how to accept and spend the money. "A grown man certainly can't go around without any money on him. But it's best not to spend recklessly, either. If you run into any difficulties from now on, tell Sister Ting."
Su Yi had a fairly good impression of Zhang Ting. At least so far, she had been very loyal and generous.
He was also beginning to believe that if anything happened to Lin Yiyun, Zhang Ting would definitely step forward to help.
Business at the Sober Bar was very good. Although Su Yi's performance that day had stunned many people, in reality, more people were preoccupied with the drinks on their tables and the girls in front of them, so there actually weren't that many who truly noticed him.
Although Su Yi was busy all night, he still kept an eye on Lin Yiyun from time to time.
Like the brothels of old, places like this had dragons and snakes mingling together. With Lin Yiyun's looks, she should, by rights, have been an easy target for harassment in such a venue.
In reality, though, the customers did little more than make a few verbal remarks. Even those who wanted to invite Lin Yiyun for a drink weren't too embarrassed after being turned down, and generally just smiled and let it go.
Su Yi also noticed that the customers might have been behaving themselves because a woman was there that night, keeping them company and smoothing things over.
It wasn't until half past three in the morning that the customers in the bar gradually began to thin out, and Zhang Ting called Su Yi and Lin Yiyun over.
Apart from those who were busy and certain employees who had left with customers, Zhang Ting called everyone remaining into a private room.
It was something of a wrap-up meeting for the day: who had performed well, who hadn't done certain things well that day and needed to pay attention.
Zhang Ting specifically had Su Yi and Lin Yiyun introduce themselves, but only offered Su Yi a mild word of praise, saying that he had done fairly well that day, without praising him excessively.
After dismissing the meeting, Zhang Ting stopped only Su Yi and said mildly, "Su Yi, you've only just started today. A newcomer who stands out too much can easily become a target. Keep a slightly lower profile from now on. When it's time to be drunk, be drunk."
Even if a thousand cups couldn't get you drunk, you still had to be drunk when the time called for it.
Zhang Ting thought Su Yi was young and hot-blooded and didn't know where to draw the line in some matters. Little did she know that he was already an old fox who had grown cunning over many years. He understood all those principles, but whether he wanted to keep a high profile or a low one depended on his mood.
There was nothing else to do that night, so Zhang Ting let Su Yi and the others whose shifts were over leave.
Su Yi changed back into his own clothes and made no particular effort to get close to Lin Yiyun. But when he walked out of the bar's front door, all he saw was her receding figure as she rode away on her electric scooter.
He walked the streets for over an hour. As the morning sun began to rise, he made a circuit of all of Qingzhou City and saw many things. In the end, he also learned to take a taxi to school and to pay with his phone.
At the school gates, Su Yi found a small stall and ordered soy milk and fried dough sticks. After eating, he entered the school. When he reached the entrance to the men's dormitory, he noticed quite a few people sneaking looks at him, their gazes somewhat strange.
Su Yi went to the door of Room 306 and knocked. The door soon opened.
The dorm's trio stood at the door, staring blankly at Su Yi.
"Brother Su, you're back?"
The speaker was Wang Junlin, the youth who had struck up a conversation with Su Yi in the corridor the day before.
Su Yi nodded with a slight smile. "I'm back."
Wang Junlin chuckled and said, "Brother Su, we've already made your bed for you."
What Su Yi had done yesterday was unprecedented, and there most likely wouldn't be anyone who could repeat it.
What sort of status did Yu Xinghe have at school? Yesterday, Su Yi had thoroughly put Yu Xinghe in his place, and dealt with everyone Yu Xinghe had called over as well.
"Brother, let's formally introduce ourselves," Wang Junlin said. "My name is Wang Junlin. You can call me Xiao Wang or Little Lin."
"Brother Su, I'm Jiang Biao. Just call me Biaozi. Have you had breakfast? Shall I go get you some?" another roommate chimed in.
"No need. I ate outside the school gates." Su Yi had expected this sort of attitude from them. No matter the era, people revered the strong. Wang Junlin and the others had probably been bullied plenty at school, yet yesterday, Su Yi had taught that bunch of "young masters" and "tyrants" a lesson. When ordinary people like Wang Junlin and the others saw him again, their attitude was naturally different.
Inside the dorm, another fat young man who weighed over two hundred jin said, "Brother, my name is Yang Hui. You can call me Xiaopang or Xiao Hui."
Judging by their introductions, Su Yi's future standing in the dorm was settled.
Su Yi had already walked over to his bed. There had originally been an empty bed in the dorm, but now its bedding was neatly arranged. He didn't know whether they had tidied it or Yu Xinghe's group had.
"My name is Su Yi. I'll be counting on you three to look after me from now on." Su Yi had chosen to live in the dorm precisely because he wanted more contact with people, so he could learn more things.
At least, that was the case for now.
"You're too polite, Brother Su. How about we go for a drink at noon?" Wang Junlin chuckled, genuinely treating Su Yi with courtesy.
"Sure." Su Yi paused, then asked, "When are we going to the classroom?"
"Right now! We have a general course in a bit." Wang Junlin raised his wrist to look at his watch and said, "It's about time already. Let's hurry."
Su Yi really had never attended a class before, so for now he could only follow the group to the classroom.
On the way, he spotted Lin Yiyun, and Lin Yiyun saw him too.