My skill tree increases every day.

"I'm gone."

The bell rang, and Lin Yu grabbed his schoolbag and stood up: "I'll take you home first. Also, I've taken my bike; I have a shift at the shop later."

Liu Zhiyuan was taken aback: "Huh? Go now? Aren't you going to have lunch?"

"Going there during mealtimes allows you to get a free boxed lunch from the boss."

"No, you're just leaving me like this?"

"Anyway, you don't usually go out. You stay awake during the day and don't sleep at night. When you don't have classes, you just lie in bed until dark, and you're too lazy to even eat lunch."

"But I have class today!"

Ignoring Liu Zhiyuan's cries of pain, Lin Yu left Liu Zhiyuan downstairs at the apartment building.

Squinting in the somewhat glaring midday sun, he turned the well-worn key to his electric scooter and drove off towards the convenience store where Lin Yu worked, a few blocks away.

Turning the corner, the familiar sign for a 24-hour convenience store came into view. The store wasn't large, but it was well-stocked; although it was called a convenience store, it was actually more like a small supermarket.

The boss, Aunt Wang, was a straightforward middle-aged woman who had always been kind to students like Lin Yu who worked hard to support themselves.

After parking the car, I pushed open the glass door, and the wind chimes on the lintel tinkled crisply.

"Hey, Xiao Lin." Aunt Wang, who was tidying up the cigarette cabinet behind the counter, looked up with a hearty smile. "Here to freeload again, huh? I told you, I shouldn't have paid for your meal before."

Lin Yu wasn't embarrassed and smiled, "Aunt Wang is wise. I came early so I could do more work for you."

"Don't give me that," Aunt Wang said with a laugh, "Finish eating and get back to work."

"Okay, thank you, Aunt Wang." Lin Yu felt a warmth in his heart. Although Aunt Wang said that, she still prepared a portion for him every time.

He responded and walked familiarly toward the rest area at the back.

In the cramped break room, Chen Shuyan sat at a small table, eating her boxed lunch in small bites. She was wearing the convenience store's dark blue uniform, her hair tied in a low ponytail at the back of her head, with a few stray hairs falling beside her fair and pretty face.

Because of the university town's unique human resource advantage, Aunt Wang's shop employs local, affordable university students. Lin Yu once calculated that Aunt Wang, this unscrupulous capitalist, actually saved one or two thousand yuan a month by hiring university students compared to hiring two regular employees!

This may be one of the reasons why Aunt Wang is willing to provide meals for these part-time students.

Although Chen Shuyan and Lin Yu did not go to the same university, they had been working together at Aunt Wang's place for some time and were quite familiar with each other, often chatting while slacking off.

Upon seeing Lin Yu enter, Chen Shuyan nodded slightly and smiled in greeting.

After briefly greeting Chen Shuyan, Lin Yu sat down to focus on his meal. Aunt Wang's cooking was as delicious as ever; the stewed potatoes and pork ribs smelled wonderful, and the stir-fried vegetables were refreshing and tasty. He ate quickly, but his movements were not rough.

While Lin Yu was quickly finishing his meal, he looked up and saw the girl in front of him, and his gaze was unconsciously drawn to her.

How come I never noticed this before? Lin Yu thought subconsciously.

Her fingers are so beautiful; none of the necklaces around Teacher Marry's neck are as pretty as hers.

The moment this thought flashed through Lin Yu's mind, he was startled and immediately looked away guiltily.

Damn it! What am I thinking?

Lin Yu felt that he must be tainted by the memory from that morning, constantly thinking about these random things. Whether it was Liu Zhiyuan's skull or Chen Shuyan's fingers.

Eager to try.

Chen Shuyan, sitting opposite Lin Yu, was completely unaware of his thoughts. After finishing the last bite of her food, she put down her chopsticks and began to clean up the neatly arranged lunchbox in front of her, her movements still unhurried and unhurried.

A small, fair hand waved in front of him, making Lin Yu's heart flutter.

Lin Yu quickly swallowed the last mouthful of rice, stood up abruptly, and threw the empty lunchbox into the trash can, as if throwing away those inappropriate thoughts from just now.

"I'm done eating, I'm going back to work now." Lin Yu said, then lifted the curtain and left the rest room.

Chen Shuyan looked at the falling curtain, a faint hint of doubt flashing in her eyes.

strangeness.

She remembered it clearly; it was just a few days ago, also after lunch. At that time, Lin Yu was slowly packing up his lunchbox while earnestly arguing with Aunt Wang:

"It's best not to do heavy work immediately half an hour after a meal, as it's bad for your stomach and can easily harm your health."

Is there something urgent?

Chen Shuyan lowered her eyelashes and continued to pack her lunchbox at a leisurely pace.

At this moment, a batch of brand-new goods was waiting for Lin Yu's arrival in the warehouse.

Lin Yu took a deep breath, put on his work gloves, and began to move the heavy cardboard boxes.

Lin Yu and Chen Shuyan applied for the cashier job around the same time, so how come now he's the one struggling to move boxes while Chen Shuyan is leisurely sitting behind the counter?

Lin Yu still remembers what Aunt Wang said back then:

"If you, a grown man, won't do it, are you expecting a young girl to do it?"

Lin Yu was shocked by Aunt Wang's skill in subtly changing the subject.

Chen Shuyan was indeed a quiet beauty. Her long, smooth black hair was tied into a lively high ponytail. Her features were delicate and beautiful. What was most unforgettable were her dazzling amber eyes, and her skin was so fair that it seemed to glow.

Having such a beautiful cashier can certainly significantly increase sales.

But Lin Yu still wanted to say: Aunt Wang, you can fire Chen Shuyan and hire a loader so I, Lin Yu, can sit comfortably behind the counter and collect payments. Is that not possible?

Am I, Lin Yu, really that unattractive?

Of course, in the end, Lin Yu still couldn't bring himself to say those words. They were too embarrassing to say, even for Lin Yu. Part of the reason was that Lin Yu was afraid Aunt Wang would fire him and hire someone else willing to move things if she heard them.

For this part-time job with flexible hours and the option to get free meals, I'll just move boxes.

Lin Yu had tried to get involved in the more relaxed and easy-to-slack-off tutoring industry, but unfortunately this was a university town with a small permanent population, and the GDP relied entirely on these college students.

Tutoring jobs, which are easy and respectable, are already scarce in the area. Adding to this, there's Wudong University, a nationally renowned 985 university, nearby. Rumor has it that all the tutoring resources in the area are controlled by a shady agency within Wudong University. As a result, the already limited tutoring jobs are naturally snapped up by top students.

After all, it's a university named directly after the province, unlike local universities like Qingzhou University of Technology which use the city name and have to add a suffix.

Compared to those top students, Lin Yu, who came from a non-elite university and barely entered a first-tier university, really had no competitive edge whatsoever.

Damn it! Why does such a good university admit so many people?

Fortunately, Lin Yu's job was to organize and inventory the goods in the warehouse and put them on the shelves, not to load and unload trucks. He was just a little short of living expenses, not to that extent, and he would never do that kind of hard work.

Resigned to his fate, Lin Yu began placing bottles of beverages on the shelf, his movements highly skilled.

Occasionally, his gaze would drift towards the cashier. Chen Shuyan was standing there, quietly looking at her phone. Because it was lunchtime, the restaurant was nearly empty, making it feel exceptionally relaxed.

Compared to the physical labor Lin Yu was doing, Chen Shuyan's place was practically a quiet resort.

Damn it! This is blatant sexism!

As soon as I remember a way to make money easily, I'll fire Aunt Wang!

Aunt Wang's shop wasn't very big, and Lin Yu was quick and efficient, so he worked quite fast. Just after 2 p.m., the shelves were already full of goods.

Lin Yu stacked the last case of bottled water in the corner, straightened up, and let out a long sigh of relief.

He walked to the freezer, opened the glass door, and was immediately hit by a blast of cold air. Lin Yu took a bottle of Baishui Mountain beer, unscrewed the cap, and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

This is one of the perks of working for Aunt Wang; after finishing my work, I can still drink a bottle or two of water without any problem.

As a result, Lin Yu now finds even drinking Nongfu Spring water irritating his throat.

"Xiao Lin," Aunt Wang poked her head out from the small office at the back, "check the new batch of biscuits that arrived in the warehouse later and give me the inventory list."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Lin Yu replied, placed the remaining half bottle of water on the cashier's counter, and turned to walk towards the back warehouse.

As Chen Shuyan passed the counter, she picked up her phone, seemingly to check some information. Her finger slid across the screen, and the phone tilted slightly with the movement.

In that instant, Lin Yu's gaze caught it—

The gray-white color in the bottom right corner of the phone case stands out against the black background.

That ornament.

Grayish-white, about the size of a knuckle, tied to the phone case's lanyard hole with a thin string, it was currently looping around Chen Shuyan's palm and hanging below her wrist.

Although there was only one, and it was inconspicuous, it was undoubtedly the same thing that was on Teacher Marry's chest.

Lin Yu was very puzzled.

No? Why do I keep running into these things today?