Chapter 135: Own Flesh and Blood

Because Zhao Ziqiu was the type of breathtaking beauty who was too conspicuous and easily attracted unwanted attention, Li Mu decided to take her somewhere relatively safe to grab a bite, such as McDonald's.

There was a McDonald's on the road between Yanda and Renmin University. Li Mu drove the car to the front, parked it within the lines, and walked inside with Zhao Ziqiu.

After asking Zhao Ziqiu what she wanted to eat, Li Mu let her find a seat while he went to the counter to place the order. He stood in front of the counter and said "Hello" to the staff member who was turned away, busy preparing an order. When the person turned around, Li Mu was taken aback.

It was Hu Zhengdao.

Seeing that it was Li Mu, Hu Zhengdao did not seem unnatural at all. After a moment of surprise, he smiled slightly and said, "When did you get back, Third Brother?"

Li Mu thought to himself that Hu Zhengdao had come to work at McDonald's, so he smiled and said, "I arrived this morning. I heard from Lao Liu that you were working a part-time job, but I didn't expect it to be here."

Hu Zhengdao glanced at his colleagues not far away and whispered, "It's not bad here. I can come over for three or four hours every night. For students, it's 2.6 yuan an hour."

In 2001, 2.6 yuan an hour was likely right at Beijing's minimum wage. It seemed that for enterprises like McDonald's, part-time wages were generally set at the local minimum, sometimes even lower. Moreover, this kind of work was not easy; it was very tiring.

For a college student like Hu Zhengdao, attending classes all day and then coming here for three or four hours at night, he would earn at most ten yuan a day. It was a raw deal.

Yet, Li Mu could not see any dissatisfaction on Hu Zhengdao's face. In fact, when he mentioned the figure, there was a simple, satisfied smile on his face.

This student from Northern Shaanxi had never imagined that he could earn ten yuan a day in Beijing by working four hours. This was much higher than the income level back home. Furthermore, he felt that from now on, he could support himself through his part-time job at McDonald's without needing living expenses from his family.

Li Mu felt a pang of sadness and became even more determined to get his "3321" project launched as soon as possible.

Hu Zhengdao then asked Li Mu, "Did you come by yourself? What would you like to eat?"

Li Mu replied, "I'm with Zhao Ziqiu; I just picked her up from the airport."

Hu Zhengdao asked in surprise, "Oh? Are you two together?"

Li Mu waved his hand. "No, don't go gossiping to your girlfriend. She's a bit shy."

Hu Zhengdao retorted, "If you know she's shy, why don't you hurry up and make it official?"

Just then, the restaurant manager asked Hu Zhengdao in a stern tone, "Hu Zhengdao, is this customer your friend?"

Before Hu Zhengdao could explain, Li Mu said, "A customer, just asking about the menu." Then, he lowered his voice and said to Hu Zhengdao, "Just take my order first, we'll talk later tonight."

After ordering, while waiting for the food, Li Mu asked, "Does Wang Yanan know you're working here?"

"She knows," Hu Zhengdao said with a frank expression. "I mainly want to earn some money to buy a cheap mobile phone so I can keep in touch with her. Other couples text each other every day, but we can only call from the dorm phone. I always feel I'm letting her down."

Li Mu smiled slightly. "I understand."

...

Li Mu accompanied Zhao Ziqiu through her meal and then took her back to school. Although Zhao Ziqiu had subtly hinted that she had nothing to do back at the dorm, expressing her desire to spend more time with him, Li Mu made an excuse about needing to return the car and meeting a fellow countryman who needed his help.

Zhao Ziqiu returned to Yanda feeling a bit dejected. Afterward, Li Mu didn't bother returning the car but drove straight back to Yucheng Garden. The project planning for 3321 had him restless.

Yucheng Garden was Li Mu's little world. When immersed in it, he felt as if the only things in the world were himself, his computer, and the internet. This feeling gave him an extraordinary sense of satisfaction and relaxation. However, around 9:30 PM, the whole city seemed to boil over at that very moment.

Li Mu pushed open the window and discovered that crowds had gathered on the street, beating drums and gongs. There were more and more people, and even the sound of firecrackers could be heard. Gazing into the distance, fireworks were launching into the sky everywhere. He felt a bit puzzled—today was the last day of the holiday, so logically, people should be feeling down. Why were they so excited?

Li Yawei sent a group text to the three people in the dorm who had mobile phones: "Have you guys watched TV? The national team has qualified for the World Cup!"

Li Mu suddenly remembered: Oh, right! Tonight, at the Wulihe Stadium in the Northeast, the Chinese national football team defeated Oman and qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time.

Thinking about it, it was quite disappointing. One point three billion people cheered them on as they entered the World Cup, only for them to return home dejectedly after losing all three games and conceding nine goals under the world's spotlight. It was truly a rollercoaster of emotions for the Chinese people.

In his previous life, Li Mu, who was a college student in Jinling, had been very excited, joining the parades and cheering with his classmates to celebrate the national team's first trip to the World Cup. But in this life, Li Mu couldn't muster any enthusiasm. That night, Li Mu was perhaps the only Chinese football fan who felt no excitement at all.

...

The next day, classes resumed. Li Mu was distracted all day, his mind filled with the 3321 student tutor project. At lunch, he happened to run into Dou Xueli, a fellow Haizhou native he had met at a gathering before the holiday. They exchanged greetings and naturally sat down to eat together.

With 3321 on his mind, Li Mu asked, "Xueli, have you ever thought about doing a part-time job?"

Dou Xueli blurted out, "Of course I have! My family only gives me 300 yuan a month for living expenses, and it's not enough. Last night, a few guys in the dorm had dinner, and each person spent several dozen yuan. At this rate, it would be lucky if 300 yuan lasted half a month. Prices in Beijing are high, and even surfing the web costs two or three yuan an hour."

Dou Xueli then asked, "Are you thinking of doing a part-time job, too?"

Li Mu nodded vaguely and asked, "Have you thought about what you want to do?"

Dou Xueli said, "Part-time jobs off-campus are too hard, and on-campus jobs can be a bit embarrassing, so I was thinking of looking for middle school students nearby who need tutoring. I'm planning to write a small advertisement and post it in the nearby residential compounds."

Li Mu nodded and asked curiously, "Does our school offer work-study jobs?"

Dou Xueli told him, "Yes, the Student Union has a 'Student Aid' program, started by a vice president. Most of the usual affairs are handled by Wu Shuai, the senior from our hometown gathering. Yesterday, he posted on the 'Yishaochi' forum saying that 'Student Aid' has a batch of on-campus work-study positions available and that interested students can apply with him."

Li Mu asked, "Is 'Student Aid' run by the Student Union? Where do they get the positions?"

Dou Xueli laughed, "I'm not too sure. Maybe they applied for them from the faculty. For example, the Qiuzhen Building needs three assistants to organize documents and files, and the Educational Technology Building needs a few assistants, as well as the library and the archive room. These positions are all managed by Wu Shuai now."

Dou Xueli added, "The wages for school positions are very low, and since everyone is a student, you're always running into each other, so not many people want to go. Generally, only students from poor families apply. Like you said, we're not exactly poor; we just don't have enough spending money, so it's not worth working inside the school."

Li Mu smiled slightly. "That makes sense. Let's leave the opportunities for the students who really need them."

Although Li Mu wasn't interested in on-campus work-study, what Dou Xueli said reflected the reality of many college students who were arrogant yet lacked substance and were overly concerned with appearances. They had the desire to work part-time, but they found on-campus jobs embarrassing and off-campus jobs too tiring, eventually leading to nothing. Overall, the potential for the college student part-time market was there, but there was no good method to activate this soil.

After the last class at five in the afternoon, Li Mu strolled around Zhongguancun and visited the mobile phone malls. He found that he couldn't get interested in any of the phones currently available. There were no color screens, let alone cameras, and smart phones were a pipe dream. After looking around and realizing he really didn't like the look of the Motorola 998+, he ended up spending nearly 3,000 yuan on an Ericsson T39 that had just been released.

It was the world's first mobile phone with built-in Bluetooth. Even though Bluetooth was currently useless, and even though it supported GPRS and had a built-in WAP browser—and Li Mu had no intention of surfing the web on his phone—he was still willing to be the "sucker" and bought it readily.

He just wanted a better phone than the 8250, which would give him a valid reason to hand down the 8250, which he had used for less than three months, to Hu Zhengdao.

On the way back, Li Mu swapped his SIM card into the new phone and called Li Yawei to ask if he was with Hu Zhengdao.

Li Yawei said, "The two of us couples are meeting for dinner at a Guilin Rice Noodle place at the South Gate of Yanda. We just left the dorm. Li Mu, do you want to come?"

When Li Yawei mentioned "two couples," Li Mu knew it was Li Yawei and Han Xiaoxiao, along with Hu Zhengdao and Wang Yanan. They often hung out together in private, so he smiled and said, "I'm not going to be a third wheel. Tell Zhengdao to wait for me in the dorm for a few minutes; I have something to talk to him about."

"Alright."

Back at the dorm, only Hu Zhengdao, who was tidying up, was there. Li Mu asked, "Zhengdao, where are the others?"

Hu Zhengdao said, "Yawei was afraid his girlfriend would be worried, so he went ahead. The others went to the cafeteria. By the way, Yawei said you had something to talk to me about?"

Li Mu nodded, pulled the 8250 (with the SIM card removed) from his pocket, and handed it to Hu Zhengdao. "I bought a new phone, and this one is idle. You can take it."

Hu Zhengdao looked at the 8250 in surprise and said, "Isn't this still brand new?"

Li Mu took out the new Ericsson T39 and said, "I just couldn't help myself and switched to one with a few more features."

Hu Zhengdao didn't know how well-off Li Mu was, but seeing him switch out a brand-new phone so casually left him too stunned to react.

Thinking about how he had told Li Mu he wanted to buy a phone just last night, and how Li Mu had bought a new one today just to hand the old one down to him, Hu Zhengdao felt as if Li Mu had done all this just for him.

However, as the saying goes, one should not accept a reward without merit. Hu Zhengdao felt embarrassed to take the phone directly. He had looked into the 8250; a new one cost over a thousand, and a decent second-hand one would still be six or seven hundred—that was three months of his living expenses.

Seeing Hu Zhengdao decline, Li Mu said, "We're brothers; why are you acting so awkward over such a small thing? If you don't use it, it's just going to sit there. I'm just lending it to you, not giving it to you."

Hu Zhengdao was hesitant. A man from the Northwest should be straightforward, but in this matter, he couldn't bring himself to nod.

However, seeing that Li Mu was starting to get annoyed at his hesitation, Hu Zhengdao felt embarrassed. After thinking it over, he said to Li Mu, "Third Brother, how about you sell it to me? It's just that I'm not that well-off right now, so I'll pay you back in installments."

Li Mu slapped the table, looking somewhat dissatisfied. "Is it really necessary to be so formal between brothers? The phone is idle right now. If you want to use it, take it. If not, I'll give it to Liu Nian later. But Liu Nian doesn't have much use for a phone, not like you—you have a girlfriend. Girls nowadays love to chat on the phone and send endless texts. Do you have the heart to let your Wang Yanan lie in bed without receiving a single text from you?"

Hu Zhengdao's face turned red. Li Mu's words hit the mark, and these words finally made him abandon his hesitation. He nodded gratefully, "Then, thank you, Li Mu."

Li Mu pushed him out of the dorm door and said, "You can buy a SIM card at any phone booth; just pick one up on your way."