Chapter 13: The Incompetent Woman Who Can’t Work.
“Civil engineering is a great major. It’s one of our school’s signature programs. The dorm conditions in the whole school are the best for your civil engineering college, second only to our international college.”
Hearing that the barbecue stall owner was actually a senior from civil engineering, Tang Yingjie immediately continued the conversation.
Alice sat beside them, resting her small hand on her cheek, quietly watching the two men chat.
The Hero was an enthusiastic and talkative person.
Everyone knew that among the subjugation team, the one best at chatting and communicating was the Hero himself.
Unlike his other teammates who acted coldly toward strangers, he always liked to strike up conversations. Even if the other person’s attitude was very cold, he would still enjoy it tirelessly. Because of his enthusiastic attitude, the team was often dragged into unnecessary troubles.
But no one could really blame him for it.
Because every time, he could perfectly resolve those unnecessary troubles and even gain quite a lot of unexpected rewards — such as lost semi-divine artifacts, large amounts of treasure, potions with miraculous effects, some lost forbidden spells, and even intelligence about the Demon King.
Over time, everyone got used to it.
The Hero himself called this behavior “opening side quests.”
Thus, on the way to the subjugation, they completed side quests all along the road, accumulating a large amount of useful intelligence, wealth, and equipment.
These things greatly strengthened the subjugation team’s power and reduced the difficulty of defeating the Demon King.
At the same time, they made the Hero’s reputation very high among the common people.
Originally, Alice thought he only considered these so-called side quests to gain extra rewards when fighting against the Demon King.
She really didn’t expect that he was such a talkative person in his own world too.
“It’s a good major, but the work is too hard. After I graduated, I joined the company of my senior. I only lasted two years before I quit and ran away. The construction site really isn’t something ordinary people can endure.”
The boss sighed.
He sprinkled cumin and chili powder on the lamb skewers Tang Yingjie had ordered.
“It’s good to even have a job. We art majors have a hard time finding work after graduation. It feels like we’re already hovering on the edge of unemployment before we even graduate.”
Tang Yingjie responded with a face full of melancholy.
“What are you talking about?”
Alice saw Tang Yingjie’s expression suddenly become somewhat gloomy, so she asked curiously.
“Oh, we’re talking about our studies and future jobs.”
Tang Yingjie explained to Alice.
“Oh, you and the boss both look unhappy?”
“Ah, is it that obvious?”
Tang Yingjie touched his face.
“Yes. The boss even started sighing.”
Alice nodded seriously. Although she couldn’t understand Chinese, she could guess from the tone of their conversation that the two were probably not talking about anything happy.
“Because it really is hard to be happy. My major in this world isn’t easy to find a job with. If I can’t find a good job after graduation, I’ll have to go home and lie flat.”
“Isn’t that good?”
Alice asked, somewhat puzzled.
“My parents will lecture me.”
Tang Yingjie explained with some distress.
“And people in this world will look down on you if you don’t work.”
“Ah, that does sound like it would make it hard to be happy.”
Alice’s expression also began to show some worry.
“Then can I find a suitable job in this world? I only know magic. How about I specialize in repairing or managing your world’s lightning magic?”
“？”
Seeing Alice start worrying too and hearing her idea about wanting to work, he subconsciously began imagining Alice using magic to generate electricity in a power plant…
Hahaha, pulling power lines.jpg
“That kind of job isn’t something ordinary people can get into.”
Managing electricity would probably mean working for the power company or the power bureau. Those are either state-owned enterprises or public institutions with civil service status.
Alice was a black household with no ID or passport. Getting in would probably be impossible.
However, if Alice was willing to demonstrate magic in front of the country, she might be able to get a position in some secret research unit.
The boss saw that Tang Yingjie and Alice had started chatting and stopped disturbing the young couple. He fanned the grill vigorously and soon brought over the grilled skewers on a stainless steel plate covered with a plastic bag.
“The skewers are ready. The grilled eggplant and fried banana will take a little longer. They’ll be done soon.”
The boss placed the plate piled high with skewers on the table and hurriedly went back to grill the eggplant and fried banana.
Alice had long been tempted by the aroma of this food called “skewers.”
Smelling the fragrant scent of the grilled skewers, she eagerly picked up one, but hesitated before eating it and handed it to Tang Yingjie first.
“Do you want it? You eat first.”
Tang Yingjie helplessly declined her kindness with a wry smile. This girl was even being polite with him. He took a skewer for himself and started eating the spicy one.
“Tang, the food in your world is really delicious. No wonder you’re so good at cooking.”
After eating for a while, the boss brought over the grilled eggplant and fried banana one after another. Tang Yingjie also ordered a portion of fried rice noodles, and the two of them shared it.
Feeling the fragrant grilled meat and the steaming aroma of the fried noodles, Alice, whose mouth was covered in oil, couldn’t help but praise,
“That’s for sure.”
In fact, one thing he never dared to do in the other world was admit that the food there was truly awful.
Almost all dishes only had a salty taste and severely lacked spices. The meats also lacked proper marination. It tasted as bad as raw meat sprinkled with salt and quickly seared over fire.
That terrible food environment forced him to recall his family recipes and search for suitable seasonings in that world as much as possible.
After three years of effort, the dishes he made barely reached an “edible” standard.
But for the other team members, he was almost worshipped as a god-tier chef of the other world.
He didn’t keep those recipes secret either. On the journey of subjugation, he generously taught them to the villagers and restaurant chefs who had helped them along the way.
In the eyes of ordinary people in that world, publicly sharing recipes was indeed a big plus. This behavior was also one of the foundations that established his reputation among the common folk.
After the two of them devoured the food at the barbecue stall like a whirlwind, the full Alice began worrying again about her survival in this world.
In this world, non-workers were looked down upon. If she couldn’t find a job, wouldn’t it be very difficult for her to marry Tang Yingjie?
She was just an incompetent woman with no ability to work…
She absolutely didn’t want that!
“Um… can I ask why people in this world look down on those who don’t work?”
Alice thought for a moment and finally asked her question with some hesitation.