Su Jingyang didn't chase the man anymore. He stood in place with some regret and sighed, thinking that he could've make friends so he wouldn't be too lonely.

A watery bowl of porridge couldn't satisfy Su Jingyang's empty stomach, but it was better than not having anything to eat.

Su Jingyang decided that it would be best to get a job as soon as possible. It'd be even better if it included food and housing, so that all his problems can be solved temporarily. However, after he was rejected by the bosses on the streets, he realized that he was really too naïve!

It's because every time he applied for a job, they asked him for an ID badge. Su Jingyang thought that it must've been something similar to an ID card that proves one's identity, but he was an transverser who used black technology to illegally migrate and fell from the sky. Where could he have such a thing?

After he asked someone else later, he said that his ID card had been lost and but he still wanted to apply. When some bosses saw that he was a duo, some didn't want him, and some asked him if he was married.

Su Jingyang said no, and they all waved at him to go away. Su Jingyang invented a husband1 when other bosses also asked the same question. He said he was a good boy and that he was married. Then, they asked if he had a baby yet. Su Jingyang's ears reddened and he said no, and then he was... driven away.

Su Jingyang's face was full of question marks, he couldn't understand it, so he ran around finding someone to inquire about it before he whole the whole story. It turns out that it was because of a law issued by the Queen of the dynasty. There were working women and duos who gets married and gives birth yearly. These events had corresponding holidays that went into effect at any time. During their holidays, these employee's wages must be paid half the usual amount and they cannot be dismissed for no reason. As a result, most shops simply began to refuse recruiting women and duos for work.2

Wasn't this somewhat similar to what happens in modern society? Su Jingyang personally suffered from this blind discrimination and couldn't help being a little gloomy.

Su Jingyang found a shady corner and squatted down with a melancholic expression. His whole body was dejected, his brows were drooping, and his whole person was sulky.

Life is not easy, life is not easy, life is not easy!

The system came out at this time and sneered.

Su Jingyang knew what it was thinking about, he raised his eyes to the sky, not wanting to pay attention to it. He was at lost for a while, but perseveringly ran to a clothing store to ask and they happened to be hiring.

"Dou?" The steward raised his eyebrows and glanced at him, "Are you married?"

Su Jingyang nodded vigorously, "Has married!"

"Have you given birth?"

Su Jingyang was also very shameless, without any sense of guilt, he replied sonorously: "Has given birth!" No matter what, he had to earn at least two days' of wages before leaving³.

But the steward observed him again and asked, "Did your husband's family agree?"

"Agreed, agreed." Su Jingyang saw that there might be a chance, and became especially positive, he patted his chest and said: "Also I'm still young, everyone agreed that I should go out and make money to subsidize the family!"

The steward seemed to be laughing silently, he retracted his gaze and thought for a while, before saying slowly: "When your identity card can be presented, come here again."

The brilliant smile that Su Jingyang squeezed out gradually faded, and the corners of his mouth twitched twice. He still needed that identity card. What should he do? He didn't know if that thing could be faked...

Su Jingyang didn't want to give up on this opportunity, and was just waiting to come up with a way to fool them. The steward glanced at the person coming in from outside, and immediately greeted him with a smile. Su Jingyang looked back and saw a young man in brocade clothes, with trimmed eyebrows and phoenix eyes. He was a bit handsome, but he walked crookedly and inclined without proper posture.

As soon as he entered, his gaze fell on Su Jingyang, it then swept around, and he finally cocked a corner of his mouth to show a deep smile.

Su Jingyang listened to the manager calling him boss and knew that he was the owner of this shop. Seeing him smiling at himself, Su Jingyang hurriedly returned it with a smile of his own, his eyes sparkling.

In fact, Su Jingyang looked pretty good with his clear eyes, he was shortlisted at the school grass⁴ selection in high school, but because of his large and round eyes, his original handsome face became a bit more bright and childish which was not in line with the girls' taste at the time. Because of his aesthetics, he lost the election at the last moment. The then adolescent Su Jingyang was depressed for two days.

When he laughed, his eyebrows curved and he looked particularly pleasing. The young master kept staring at him, as if he was hiding some treasure⁵. He also began to laugh out loud, as if Su Jingyang said something very funny.

He immediately asked the steward, the steward explained Su Jingyang's situation and the boss immediately made a decision that Su Jingyang didn't have to wait and should go to work directly.

He had already made a decision, so the manager was naturally obedient, Su Jingyang couldn't help the turn of events and started to help in the shop.

The young boss didn't leave, he was sitting at the guest table drinking tea and staring at Su Jingyang who was introducing different clothes to the costumers. Just by judging by his familiarity, you could tell that it was not his first time working.

Su Jingyang couldn't help occasionally groaning because of hunger. He sneaked glances behind him a few times and finally couldn't help but run over and ask the young owner for some of the cakes on the table. Without saying anything, the young master gave him a plate of pastries. Su Jingyang, who was reborn as a starving ghost⁶, was not polite. He stuffed several pieces at also into his mouth and almost choked to death. The young master also kindly handed him tea and then watched him drink it with a bit of enthusiasm.

"My name is Liang Lu, you can call me Young Master Liang."

"Mmm..." Su Jingyang made a vague hum and agreed, and then continued to eat after drinking without paying any attention to Young Master Liang's gaze.

Su Jingyang stayed at the Liangji Garment Shop just like that, helping to sell clothes. Although only lunch was included in the employee benefits, Su Jingyang was already very satisfied. After helping in the shop at day, he went back to sleep at the ruined temple by night. That day, when he had already arranged the hay and was just about to lie down, the system notification sounded coldly and he suddenly realized that five days had already passed.

The mole on the palm of his hand still did not darken.

So... he became the protagonist of other people's spring/wet dream for yet another night.

Su Jingyang's heart was bitter, probably because he felt that in the dream, his partner really was indifferent to him. Unscrupulous, he rushed fiercely after pinning him down, and because of his physical strength stemming from youth, he would not let Su Jingyang go after just once or twice⁷. Even when Su Jingyang tried to force himself to enjoy it and have fun in hardship, he couldn't do it.

Pain was pain, his fucking grandma⁸.

When Su Jingyang arrived at the store the next day, his legs were still trembling and he was limping. Liang Lu was visiting the store again. There were no customers inside. Su Jingyang wiped the counter with a rag in a dispirited state, his face swollen by mosquito bites. Liang Lu ran over to talk to him and expressed his concern.

"Why are you so wilted, you've been bitten by mosquitoes, and your clothes have been crumpled for days. You have no place to live, right?" Liang Lu asked, Su Jingyang looked at him in surprise when he heard the man's words.

He looked dumb and a little funny, Liang Lu bopped his head with his fan, "Come on, don't pretend, I know that what you said before was a lie, but I didn't want to pursue it, is it alright to talk? Did you come here from Rongcheng?"

His fluttering tone didn't sound like questioning, but rather like flirting. The corners of Su Jingyang's mouth twitched and he smiled stiffly. It turned out that he knew from the beginning that Su Jingyang was lying, he avoided his body that was a bit too close and went to wipe the other side of the counter.

The Young Master Liang treated him very well. When he saw that he wore the same clothes every day, he gave him a new set of clothes, and also took the initiative to advance a part of his wages.

Su Jingyang should've been grateful, but he was just increasingly aware that Young Master Liang was paying too much attention to him.

While Su Jingyang thought that his appearance was okay, he had no plans to fall in love while in this world, and understood that he would leave sooner or later.

Su Jingyang didn't directly deny Young Master Liang's theories. He hadn't heard of any Rongcheng, and the system hadn't told him about it.

Liang Lu didn't force him, leaning on the side and shaking his folding fan, he smiled knowingly. "The Lord of Rongcheng just gave an order some time ago and allowed his citizens to marry foreigners. We are close to the borders of Rongcheng. I had also recently noticed that there had been many strange and young faces in this mixture of fish and dragons⁹. You must have come from there."

Su Jingyang was not aware of the Rongcheng he just said, and just continued to be silent and pretended to be mysterious.

Liang Lu finally said to him, "You have no place to live, just live in this store. It just happens that there's a spare room in this store. There used to be someone who slept there. It's a bit narrow, but you are thinner so there should be no problem."

Su Jingyang thought that there would be precedents while sleeping in the store, but there was nothing wrong with it, so he nodded gratefully. The day before yesterday it rained and the temple was leaking. He almost got soaked in rain water all night and was very uncomfortable, he had no money right now and couldn't get sick. Now was just right time to find a shield from the gusts of wind and rain¹⁰.

Just then a customer came inside to choose some clothes, Su Jingyang took this opportunity to stop his chat with Liang Lu and ran to the door to receive the guest. The customer looked around and quickly left. Su Jingyang sent them out and inadvertently saw a familiar figure flashing by outside in the corner of his eyes.

It's him! The man who let him borrow his porridge bowl.

Su Jingyang felt very guilty about what happened that day. He was always thinking of him whenever he was idle. Seeing him this time, his feelings were a bit indescribable, but he had to guard the shop and it would be difficult to chase him, so he just stretched his neck and followed his back, taking a few more glances.

Liang Lu squeezed over, he followed his line of sight, and asked Su Jingyang: "What are you staring at him for?"

Su Jingyang heard him say this, he turned around in surprise and asked him: "Do you know him?"

The corners of Liang Lu's mouth rose, he laughed unclearly and said: "Yes, of course I do. He was quite a big deal back then. Only a few people in this town don't know about him."

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Notes:

1- Changed it so that it made more sense in context

2- For those who does not understand. the shops rejected Su Jingyang because when he gets married (in their mindset, a young unmarried woman/duo won't stay unmarried for long) he'll get paid vacation. And when he has a baby, he'll also get paid vacation. It's simply cheaper to not employ him and just employ someone who's either married and already have enough children, or someone who can't get pregnant in the first place. Although in their defense, a woman/duo might just show up for a while to get regular employment and then immediately get pregnant for the paid vacation and then quit. But then again, rejecting a potential workforce because of something that might not even happen is simply ridiculous. No amount of profit can best a good employee. The problem above has also been happening here in the real world, although you can't fire someone just because they earned a paid vacation, some mean bosses take advantage of baby fatigue to fire employees from their job despite not giving them adequate maternal leave.

3- Take with a pinch of salt

4- Campus male God/Most handsome student (not necessarily) on the campus. It's female ver would be 'School flower', which means Goddess/Most beautiful student on the campus

5- Very not literally, I did the best I could with what i was given. Take with two spoonfuls of salt

6- Demon-like creatures that are the souls of the dead who are inflicted with insatiable hunger

7- Added a bit to make it make more sense

8- Don't ask me what this means because idk either

9- Capable and incapable people

10- Take with five pinches of salt

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PastTimer: Past 2 of chap 3! 😚