Chapter 27: Director Liang, About My Dog’s Police Dog Position...

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Director Liang, About My Dog’s Police Dog Position...

Chen Xiuyun hadn’t been working here long, but she had already heard the rumors about Teacher Zhang.

It wasn’t that she liked gossiping behind people’s backs; those stories had simply found their way to her ears. Supposedly, the woman was a notoriously snobby little princess who had made a fool of herself on several occasions. She was basically an internet horror story brought to life. There were even students who had publicly called her out and blasted her on social media.

Chen Xiuyun had almost no interaction with her, and she never expected Liu Wei to have this kind of connection with Teacher Zhang.

Although Chen Jingle’s circumstances weren’t exactly stellar, they weren’t so bad that she would push him into such a massive pitfall. If she actually set him up with someone like that, she feared she would never have the face to return to her family’s home again.

"Doesn’t the school organize regular mixers for young teachers?" Chen Xiuyun asked in return.

"Sigh, we’re a normal university," Liu Wei replied. "There are already very few male teachers here. If you exclude the married ones, the ones in relationships, and the ones with truly terrible prospects, you could probably count the eligible bachelors on two hands. And how many female teachers are there? If you hesitate for even two seconds, someone else will snatch them up first."

"Let’s just forget it. Jingle is a very opinionated person. When the elders in the family pressured him to find someone before, he shot them down several times. I definitely don’t want to touch that raw nerve," Chen Xiuyun decisively declined.

"Alright then, sorry to bother you."

Hearing her say this, Liu Wei could only drop the matter.

After ending the conversation, Chen Xiuyun secretly shook her head. Thanks to certain people, the reputation of female teachers had taken a sheer nosedive over the past two years, and even the reputation of women as a whole was crumbling. If she hadn’t been smart and acted decisively, dragging things out until this age would have likely left her with no choice but to go on blind dates too.

She thought, "If I’m really going to set Chen Jingle up with someone, I at least need to vet them thoroughly. I can’t just go about it so casually."

Did Liu Wei think she was an idiot?

Three days later.

Over on Chen Jingle’s end, his afternoon classes proceeded as scheduled. He first continued his morning study of the general outline of national history, having now reached the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Even with the system’s help allowing him to read quickly, it was still no easy task. History was simply too vast. It was the sum of all human past, so boundless that it was difficult for an ordinary person to leave even the slightest mark on it. Anyone who managed to leave a name behind undoubtedly possessed extraordinary qualities. Even Wang Lun, who was often joked about for having gotten a massive free ride in history, had once served as a County Magistrate. In ancient times, that position was known as a Magistrate, holding the power of life and death over tens of thousands of people.

Chen Jingle was currently only reading the general outline of history, not yet delving into further research, but the sheer complexity of it was already making his head throb. No wonder people said grad school was a punishment for slackers. Even for liberal arts students, once they actually got into a postgraduate program and had to read literature until they wanted to throw up every day, it was quite the torture.

"I really brought this on myself. Wouldn’t it be better to just honestly slack off and run out the clock?!"

Chen Jingle sighed. After an hour of this, his entire head felt bloated and heavy. It seemed the knowledge had indeed been stuffed into his brain, and stuffed to the brim at that.

[Great job, baby! Learning task successfully completed. Reward: removal of one scar on the shoulder.]

Fortunately, the system’s timely reward notification made him feel a little better.

For his practical class, he prepared to make some food as usual. Cooking meals in the morning and making desserts in the afternoon had been his schedule for the past two days. He was afraid of making too much and wasting it, and besides, he was not a fan of eating leftovers. As for the desserts, he didn’t need to worry. With that little piglet Chen Qiyun around, there was rarely anything left over.

"I forgot to buy ingredients. I won’t be able to make the mango pomelo sago today, so I’ll just have to throw together a simple mung bean and kelp soup."

Only then did Chen Jingle realize that he had far too few ingredients at home. He could easily stock up on ingredients with a long shelf life, as they would always come in handy eventually. Now that he had to cook every day, the amount of ingredients he’d go through in a month would definitely not be small. Furthermore, he was learning new things every day. It would be too much of a waste to just learn without having the chance to put it into practice.

As for the mung bean and kelp soup... some people might ask who in their right mind would put kelp in a sweet soup. Well, that was exactly how they made it in Chen Jingle’s hometown. Paired with mung beans, its heat-relieving effects were top-notch.

Of course, it was very difficult to completely change the texture of kelp, so Chen Jingle focused more of his efforts on the mung beans. As long as the cooked mung bean soup provided a smooth, slushy texture after being chilled, that would be enough.

When Chen Qiyun returned from school, her first stop was Chen Jingle’s place.

"Brother Le, what are we eating today?"

"Mung bean and kelp soup."

"Huh? Something so simple today?"

"Are you complaining? Then don’t eat it."

"No complaints, no complaints at all! How could I possibly complain? I love everything Brother Le makes," Chen Qiyun instantly switched to a smiling face.

Chen Jingle mocked her without holding back, "Heh, look at that two-faced expression!"

Chen Qiyun kept the smile on her face, but secretly gnashed her teeth in her heart. She thought, "Damn it, how dare he look down on me like this! Just wait until you’re old and gray—see if I don’t throw away your walking stick!"

She had to remember that she held a massive advantage when it came to age!

In the afternoon.

Chen Jingle planned to finish reading the general outline of history in one fell swoop, so he adjusted his third period—the free activity class—to continue his reading. Halfway through the class, he received a message from Liang City.

Liang City: "It’s done!!!"

Chen Jingle was confused. "What’s done?"

"It’s finalized! I can transfer back to the urban district!"

At this moment, Liang City was thrilling with excitement. He had just received the notice, and after immediately telling his family, he wanted to share the news with Chen Jingle.

Oh~

Chen Jingle suddenly understood. "Congratulations! You’ve finally made it back. Which department?"

Liang City: "The Market Supervision Bureau. They’re technically my superior liaison department. Plus, it’s the finance section, which perfectly matches my major. It should be a lot easier than working in the rural township."

More importantly, by returning to the municipal bureau, getting promoted to a level-four principal role would be far easier than in the township. Staying in the township meant his career path was practically dead-ended.

"That sounds like a pretty good position. Looks like I’ll have to call you Director Liang from now on!" Chen Jingle teased. He only had a rough understanding of the functions of various departments, but he knew that a position managing money would come with excellent benefits.

"Don’t start with that." Liang City acted humble, but in reality, he could barely suppress the grin forming at the corners of his mouth.

Although there was nothing wrong with staying in the township, the municipal bureau represented a much greater Sea of Freedom for him.

Chen Jingle joked, "Director Liang, what do you think about getting my dog an official police K-9 position..."

"Talk to me when your dog grows to four meters tall."

"You’re making things too difficult, Director Liang. What kind of dog is four meters tall?"

"..."

After joking around for a bit, Liang City turned serious. "Down to business. I originally wanted to treat you to a meal this weekend, but Teacher Zhong said we shouldn’t eat out since we’re like family. She’ll cook this weekend, and we can just eat at my place. What do you say?"

Chen Jingle didn’t hesitate. "I’m extremely honored. What else could I say?"

"Alright then. Just come over around noon on Saturday, right at lunchtime. Give me a call when you arrive, and I’ll come down to get you."

"Yes, Director Liang. Understood, Director Liang."

"Get lost!"

"..."

As an old friend of Liang City, Chen Jingle was genuinely happy in his heart to see him finally get promoted.

He thought to himself, "If I’m going over as a guest, I need to prepare a gift."

There was absolutely no reason to visit someone’s home empty-handed. Fortunately, there were still two days until Saturday, giving him some time to prepare.