Chapter 9: Vying for Favor

  The quilt was slowly lifted, and Yan Jia's beautiful ketone body slowly appeared in front of Gao Yuan. Suddenly, Gao Yuan pulled the quilt open with a swoop, and his whole body leaned onto Yan Jia's just as he was about to make his move, the doorbell rang, and at the same time, Tan Xiaohui's cheerful voice came from outside the door: "Brother, hurry up and open the door!"

  Gao Yuan was about to go crazy, he thought: "This Tan Xiaohui, didn't come early or late, but came at this time!" Under the helpless situation, he pretended to be calm and called out "Wait a minute", then hastily put on his clothes with Yan Jia, tidied up the bed, and finally opened the door.

  "Master brother, listen to me, I really didn't expect things would turn out like this!" As soon as the door opened, Tan Xiaohui couldn't help but start talking. Gao Yuan said: "Master sister, can we talk about it later? I have a guest." Tan Xiaohui said: "You're deceiving me again? I don't believe you!" With a twist of her body, she walked in.

  Gao Yuan couldn't stop her in time, Tan Xiaohui had already exchanged greetings with Yan Jia. Seeing Yan Jia, Tan Xiaohui was startled: "So there really are guests, I won't disturb you!" After saying that, she turned around to leave, but Yan Jia stopped her: "Little sister has come, so sit for a while longer."

  Tan Xiaohui sat down on the stool, and Yan Jia said: "You call Gao Yuan 'brother'?" Tan Xiaohui said: "Yes, I'm also from South Central University of Finance and Economics, what about you?" Yan Jia said: "I'm in the same class as Gao Yuan, with the same supervisor, how about you?" Tan Xiaohui said: "So you're my senior sister! I really didn't expect that you're a graduate student too, I thought you were around my age! By the way, let me introduce myself, my name is Tan Xiaohui, and I'm just an undergraduate."

  Yan Jia smiled happily and said, "Sister is really good at talking, how do you know Gao Yuan?" Tan Xiaohui said, "We just met this afternoon, we both came for an interview and happened to meet. Thanks to Brother's help, my interview this afternoon went really smoothly." Yan Jia asked, "What did he help you with?"

  Tan Xiaohui said: "My senior helped me modify my self-introduction, you don't know, when I finished saying that modified self-introduction, all the leaders praised me one after another, especially an old man - no, he's not that old, just his hair is already gray, but he looks very spirited, probably almost fifty years old."

  Tan Xiaohui seemed to realize that she was a bit too excited, so she calmed down and continued: "Bai Tou Shu is really a generous person. As soon as I finished introducing myself, he loudly applauded and said that their unit lacked girls like me. He asked why they always recruited ugly girls every year, wondering if everyone had aesthetic problems. He praised me for being talented and beautiful, saying that I must be recruited and assigned to his office after joining the company!"

  Gaoyuan said: "Congratulations, Shimei, you've caught the eye of Uncle! I reckon he's at least a department head!" Tan Xiaohui was both delighted and annoyed: "Look what you're saying, it sounds like we're matchmaking or something!" Yan Jia said: "Shimei is so clever and lovely, pretty and charming, even if it weren't Uncle, Gaoyuan might also fall for her." Gaoyuan reminded her: "Jiajia, you're off topic." Then he asked Tan Xiaohui again: "What happened next?"

  Tan Xiaohui said: "Later, they started asking me questions. One of them was indeed about cash flow, and another question I couldn't answer. The old man with white hair next to me was so anxious that he kept giving me hints, but I still couldn't say it. He blamed the person who asked the question for intentionally making things difficult for me and even quarreled with him on the spot, which made the other person leave in anger."

  Tan Xiaohui was overjoyed and swallowed a mouthful of saliva: "Later on, it was that white-haired old man who personally asked me questions, all of which were very easy things. It seemed like he was afraid I wouldn't be able to answer them. He's really domineering, occupying the entire final interview time by himself, not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. Finally, after my interview ended and I left, he followed me out and asked for my phone number, saying that he would definitely try his best to admit me and notify me as soon as possible if I was accepted."

  Gao Yuan said: "It seems that you really met a big nobleman, he is so arrogant, it means he has some discourse power, and he supports you like this, it seems that you are basically not a problem to pass the exam!" Yan Jia was somewhat skeptical: "He is at most just a department head, he can't be bigger than the bureau chief, right? Who does he want to take in? What is the bureau chief for? So I think we should not be too optimistic, otherwise it's likely to be overjoyed and then tragic!"

  After hearing Yan Jia's words, Tan Xiaohui suddenly felt down. Gao Yuan said: "Sister, everything has passed, let's just wait for the result!" After finishing, he looked at the time and it was already 6 o'clock in the afternoon, so he said to the two girls: "It's getting late, I'll invite you to dinner." Tan Xiaohui clapped her hands and cheered, Yan Jia asked: "Where are we going to eat?" Gao Yuan said: "Two days ago, I saw a Changsha rice noodle shop in a small alley, the taste is not bad, how about going there?"

  Gao Yuan chose that place because they only served noodles, and ordering dishes was not an option. He had already calculated the cost: three people, one bowl of noodles each, at most 30 yuan. Even so, he felt a pang of pain in his heart. However, his suggestion was met with opposition from Yan Jia: "What's good about noodles? I know there's a Fu Jin Da restaurant not far from here that serves great abalone, let's go eat there instead."

  Gao Yuan was stunned, thinking to himself: "Just hearing the name is a place that burns money, and they also want to eat abalone. Jiajia, don't you know I'm a poor guy? Later on, don't get us two pawned off because I couldn't pay the bill!" However, since Yan Jia had already spoken, Gao Yuan could only grit his teeth and go along with it.

  As they entered the grand hall, Gao Yuan thought he could just find a seat anywhere, but Yan Jia asked, "Isn't it too noisy in the main hall? Is there a private room?" The waiter said there was only one private room for ten people and that there was a minimum consumption limit. Gao Yuan asked how much, and the waiter replied that the minimum was 3,600 yuan. Gao Yuan almost jumped up when he heard this, thinking to himself, "Jia Jia, can't you just let me off the hook this once? I wouldn't spend that much in an entire semester!"

  "But let's just go there," said Yan Jia. Tan Xiao Hui pulled Gao Yuan's hand and whispered, "Brother, do you have that much money? Why don't we just go to the street and eat something casual?"

  Yan Jia heard her muttering and smiled slightly: "Far brother, I haven't eaten abalone here for a long time!"

  Gao Yuan pretended to be calm, coughed and raised his head, puffed out his chest, and said in an extremely generous tone: "Brother, please! I have nothing, I'm so poor that all I have left is money, let's go!"

  At that moment, Gao Yuan wanted to show a happy smile, but Tan Xiaohui saw that his smile looked more painful than crying. At that moment, Gao Yuan's heart ached, as if a pig had been slaughtered with a knife! At that moment, Gao Yuan once again felt: Money! How important it is!

  But Yan Jia, Yan Jia she, she actually smiled!

  Only when she is pampered will a girl show such a smile!