Mai Qi rubbed her head in confusion, “But my mother always said that I’m not that bright, useless, uneducated…”
“Okay, stop! My headache is coming!” I stopped her. I looked at Mai Qi and sighed. “In any case, what do you want to do after graduation?”
Mia Qi shook her head. “We’ll cross that bridge when it arrives.”
I was stumped again. I pointed at Lu Yan’s empty bed. “Lu Yan has been preparing for the bench test since she stepped into the university grounds. On top of that, she needed to work part-time. Thankfully she is not here today or else she will be as annoyed as I am by your cavalier attitude.”
Mai Qi hit me. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’re not the same as Lu Yan, do you need to send in resumes to find work after graduation? Will Professor Jing Tian agree? Will your little uncle agree? What is it that you are trying to say? Will you be more direct? If not I’m going to leave already!”
I sighed and uttered weakly, “Actually I wanted to ask you if you want to get a part-time job to accumulate some work experience before you graduate but I don’t think you would agree to it. After all, you don’t need something like that!”
Mai Qi’s eyes glowed and she grabbed my arm. “What? Really? Nanxing, what part-time job? Is it the one you and Jing Ni were working on? I knew you two were not just playing games! I want to join, I need to join. You have to let me join! I will work for free!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Spoken like a true princess.” Before she could hit me again, I surrendered. “Okay, let’s stop fooling around and get down to business.” I updated Mai Qi on what Jing Ni and I had been doing. “Jing Ni is away and so I have to do everything myself. I am getting stretched thin so if you can aid me…”
“I will! I’ll give you all the support you need!” Mai Qi interrupted me. I felt comforted looking into her shining eyes.
“Nanxing, will you let me work for you in the future? I mean, after graduation. I don’t want to go back to the capital and be manipulated anymore!” Mai Qi said with determination.
“Won’t your family come after me?” I asked.
Mai Qi thought about it seriously, “My dad and big brother won’t. My mother… well, I can’t really say.”
I rolled my eyes. “I am risking my life to give you a job? In that case, you better do a good job!” I handed the documents to her and said in mock seriousness, “You have to finish reading all these before you can sleep!”
“Yes, boss!” Mai Qi twirled around holding the documents like a kid at the candy store.
Mai Qi was different when she was working. She showed me what a high-IQ person was really like. Jing Ni and I were already very good. After all, we had managed to get into M University only after a year of intensive tuition. However, Mai Qi was a monster.
With Mai Qi’s help, I completed Gu Nian’s case one week ahead of schedule. I asked Gu Nian to meet and I decided to bring Mai Qi along. However, Mai Qi said, “Nanxing, don’t let others know that I am working with you. My identity is very sensitive, there’s no telling how it’ll affect you. Just let me stay in the background.”
I agreed because she had a point.
Gu Nian asked me to meet him at the Cantonese food restaurant. When I walked in, he had the waiter serve the food. After a half day of class, I was indeed hungry.
I placed the documents before Gu Nian and added a USB. “The soft copies are all here, this is for free.”
Gu Nian smiled at me. “Nanxing, you’ve surprised me again.”
I ladled a bowl of soup for myself. “I’ll dig in first if you don’t mind.”
I expected him to look through the files but he put them all away and instead served me some vegetables. “Thank you for your hard work.”
I nodded, “Yes, the work was hard but thankfully I didn’t fail you!” I said bluntly.
Gu Nian looked at me with a gentle gaze. “Nanxing, you’re the cutest girl I’ve ever met.”
I smiled nonchalantly. “I think that’s because you haven’t met that many girls in your life.”
Gu Nian smiled. “No. I am sure that no matter how many girls I have met and would meet, you will always be the cutest and the most special one.”
