2: Chapter 2 Tofu Beauty

Early the next morning, at the Vegetable Market.

Zhao Jian got up before dawn and walked a kilometer here just to buy a piece of tofu to Cook at home.

He did this every day.

"Proprietress, a piece of tofu, five yuan's worth."

The proprietress was known as the Tofu Beauty in the market; she was beautiful and very welcoming.

Every time Zhao Jian came, she would cut an extra two taels for him.

Unfortunately today, the Tofu Beauty was on the phone. He could vaguely hear her ordering raw materials for making tofu.

Her eyebrows twitched slightly as she said to Zhao Jian:

"The knife is on the board, cut as much as you want yourself."

This wasn't rare; he picked up the knife, skillfully cut two fist-sized pieces of tofu, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and tossed them onto the scale.

Not a bit more, not a bit less—exactly five yuan.

While he was scanning the code to transfer the money, the Tofu Beauty put away her phone, came over, and added another large piece for him.

"You usually buy two yuan's worth; why are you willing to buy so much today?"

Zhao Jian nodded with a smile, "I need to eat more to have the strength for my job interviews."

Back at his rented room, he took off his somewhat wrinkled suit.

He poured the tofu into a bowl.

This two-story building in the Urban Village was divided into eleven rooms, with no private bathrooms or kitchens.

But it was cheap enough, with a monthly rent of only 200 yuan.

Tofu with scallions, but without the scallions, plus a leftover steamed bun from last night.

That was breakfast sorted.

It was only then that Zhao Jian remembered he had gone to bed too early last night; he was already asleep when the intel refreshed.

He didn't even know what today's intel was yet.

Suddenly, a light screen appeared before his eyes.

[Today's Intel (Blue): The Tofu Beauty at the Chengxi District Vegetable Market has ordered a large quantity of soybeans,]

[But what she doesn't know is that her supplier, Zhenpin Grain and Oil Shop, is passing off inferior goods as high quality by mixing sand into the soybeans. Some tofu stalls have already been cheated.]

Zhao Jian frowned as he looked at today's intel.

It didn't seem to have anything to do with making money?

The Tofu Beauty was famous for her delicious tofu at the Chengxi Vegetable Market; he'd heard her reputation had been around for two or three years.

If the raw materials were mixed with sand, even the best skill would be useless.

However, as far as Zhao Jian knew, she only set up her stall for half an hour each in the morning and evening.

She sold a fixed amount of three boards of tofu every day and left as soon as they were sold.

She was probably already gone by now.

"Never mind, I'll go remind her this evening."

Her reputation being ruined was a small matter; not being able to eat her tofu was the real problem.

As for whether she should change suppliers, whether she'd paid a deposit, or whether she could recover her losses...

...that wasn't his concern.

Since today's intel wouldn't earn him any cash, Zhao Jian, now full, put his wrinkled suit back on and headed out to continue his job hunt.

He couldn't understand why, in a city as unremarkable as Xiong City, it was so hard to find a job suited to his degree.

He hit a wall at several companies in a row; they were either hiring for phone sales or the workplace was in the Capital.

There were even agencies pretending to be direct recruiters who wanted him to pay a 500-yuan deposit before he could start.

By noon, Zhao Jian came out of the last company, which had required him to photocopy his resume downstairs.

Coincidentally, the Zhenpin Grain and Oil Shop was nearby.

He walked to the destination.

It was a store mainly selling grains and rapeseed oil; the storefront wasn't large and was filled with shelves.

There was only one narrow aisle.

Zhao Jian saw a recruitment notice posted at the door: Sales Clerk / 2,800 a month. Probation period 800.

"Buying something?" The Shop Owner was a middle-aged man.

Dark and thin, but his eyes gleamed with shrewdness.

Seeing Zhao Jian standing outside, he walked over with a smile to attend to him.

He didn't know if it was because of his preconceived notions, but Zhao Jian felt like there was a knife hidden in the man's smile.

"I'm here for the job. Are you still hiring?"

Hearing it was an applicant, the Shop Owner stopped smiling.

"Yes. Three-month probation, 800 salary, lunch included, social security is on you."

Zhao Jian felt this wasn't legal, but he couldn't remember which law it violated.

"Can I try it out first? To see if I can do the work." Zhao Jian didn't actually want the job; he was just using it as a cover to get inside.

To check the quality of the soybeans in the shop.

The Shop Owner readily agreed; no point in turning down free labor.

So, Zhao Jian was assigned to organize the shelves.

On the shelves were rice and flour sold in bulk.

Jars were lined up; he had to see which ones were noticeably low and refill them from the full bags of grain behind, according to the labels.

The work wasn't tiring, just time-consuming.

"There are still plenty of soybeans, no need to add more," the Shop Owner called out casually as he saw Zhao Jian pause in front of the soybean jar.

"It's fine, I'll add a bit to all of them."

Passing through the narrow aisle, the very back was filled with grain stacked to the ceiling, all in woven bags.

There were numbers sprayed on them in red paint; he found the soybeans according to the corresponding number.

He opened one of the bags.

"Hiss!" Zhao Jian was shocked.

He had expected the quality of the soybeans to be poor, and the system had warned him that this shop's soybeans were mixed with sand.

But seeing the massive amount of sand and soil inside, he still couldn't help but be startled.

This was clearly sand mixed with soybeans!

"Finished yet? What are you doing?" The Shop Owner seemed to realize something and approached as he asked.

No need to panic.

"This stuff is too heavy, I can't lift it!"

Hearing that it was just a lack of strength, the Shop Owner's pace slowed significantly.

"Boss, I can't do this job. If I had this kind of strength, I'd go do express delivery sorting."

He pointed at the bulging woven bags on the floor.

The image of modern youth being unable to endure hardship was deeply ingrained in the minds of the middle-aged and elderly.

Even though Zhao Jian was 1.8 meters tall and certainly no weakling.

The Shop Owner still believed him.

"Fine, young people nowadays aren't like we were back then; they can't take even a bit of hardship."

Leaving the Zhenpin Grain and Oil Shop, Zhao Jian's face was grim.

He hated sand mixed into food the most!

Because when he was in college, he ate at the school cafeteria for nearly four years.

He would often find grit and stones that shouldn't be in the food!

The worst time was when he chipped a small piece of his front tooth.

At the time, he thought he had teeth of steel and had crushed the stone.

Until he felt the gap in his front tooth with his hand.

He would remember this for the rest of his life, and he got even angrier whenever his tongue unconsciously licked that gap!

He visited a few more companies in the afternoon.

It was the same old story: phone customer service, sales. It seemed like the whole city was selling things.

But who was producing them?

He had studied Computer Science with a focus on Animation Design; the Capital and Magic City had strict degree requirements, not considering anyone below a Project 211 university.

He had thought the requirements in Xiong City would be a bit lower.

...

At 5:00 PM, the last interview of the day ended.

With a parched throat, he walked out of the interview office.

A pretty female clerk met him and handed him a bottle of water.

"Here, drink this. Did the interview go well?"

This was the first time a beautiful girl had given him a gift: Does she like me?

Like hell she does.

Zhao Jian took the water and shook his head.

The interviewing manager was very satisfied with his degree and his image.

He just wasn't satisfied with the position and kept trying to persuade him to go into sales.

But he knew himself; his eloquence wasn't up to par, and not everyone could be good at sales.

"It's okay, your image and vibe are so manly; you'll definitely find a job you're happy with. Unlike me, I might be getting fired."

The female clerk was a bit of a chatterbox.

Having drunk her water, he listened to her story.

"The investor likes home-cooked food. He's coming tomorrow at noon to talk about financing. The general manager wants each of us to make a dish. It has to be something the investor likes. If the investor doesn't eat someone's dish, that person has to pack their bags and leave."

"But we're not Cooks!"