Chapter 68: You Are My Lucky Star

The moment the key turned in the lock, a sweet, sugary fragrance slipped through the crack in the door ahead of him. Carrying two grilled sausages he’d picked up on the way home, Chen Shian pushed open the door. The bright light from the entryway spilled into the living room, and the air was filled with the unique aroma of taro, gently curling around his nose.

It was truly wonderful to have a big sister at home who not only could cook but delighted in making all kinds of desserts and snacks.

Every time he returned to the rented apartment and opened the door, Chen Shian felt as though he were opening a mystery box, guessing what delicious treat Li Wanyin might be preparing that night.

Feimo wasn’t on the sofa at the moment, though the TV was on in the living room. As Chen Shian changed his shoes, he tilted his head to listen and heard sounds coming from the kitchen.

“Wanyin!” he called out.

As soon as he spoke, Li Wanyin, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, poked her head out from the kitchen doorway. Her freshly washed and blown-dry hair fell in soft waves as she leaned sideways.

“You’re back, Shian?”

“Yeah. What are you making tonight?” Chen Shian asked, feigning ignorance, though he sometimes regretted his keen sense of smell for robbing him of a bit of mystery.

“Hehe, why don’t you guess?”

“I smell taro, sago, purple sweet potato... and milk?”

“You have quite the nose!”

He grinned, swapped his shoes for slippers, and wandered into the kitchen. As he had guessed, Li Wanyin was making taro sago dessert, while Feimo had carried over his own bowl and was sitting nearby, waiting to be served.

A large bag of taro, purple sweet potatoes, and regular sweet potatoes sat on the kitchen floor, the open sack revealing dry earth clinging to their skins.

“Did you buy all these taros and sweet potatoes?” Chen Shian squatted for a closer look. The quality was excellent—not the large taros you find at the market, but the small ones commonly grown by rural families. He picked up a few and weighed them in his hand. There’s a knack to choosing taros: with fruit, you go for the heavier ones for more juice; with taros, you pick the lighter ones, as they’re drier and have a fluffier, starchier texture.

“These are great. Did you pick them yourself?”

“No, I didn’t buy them. My mom mailed them to me. I just picked up the package after work. I wasn’t expecting her to send so many—enough to last for ages!”

“Your family grows them themselves?”

“Yes. My mom’s not in the best health, so she works odd jobs at the factory, but she can’t sit still. She tends a little plot, grows some veggies, taros, and sweet potatoes—easy stuff to manage. She harvested a bunch and sent them to me.”

As she spoke, Li Wanyin ladled out two bowls of freshly made taro sago. “Perfect timing. Now you can help me finish them off. No matter how much I like taro, I’d get sick of it eventually if I had to eat it all by myself!”

“Thanks, Wanyin. I’m lucky to have you.” Chen Shian accepted the dessert without hesitation, savoring a spoonful with delight.

“How is it? Too bland? I used less sugar since it’s late.”

“No, it’s just right. The purple and sweet potatoes are sweet on their own. Too much sugar would drown out the natural flavor. Your sense of balance is spot on. You could open a shop with skills like this.”

“Hardly, it’s just a casual thing.”

“Did your mom teach you?”

“No, I learned from videos in college. We pooled money for a rice cooker, and a few of us girls would cook all sorts of things in it.”

“In a rice cooker?”

“Yeah, we weren’t allowed to use induction stoves, so the rice cooker was our only option. I actually experimented with a lot of rice cooker recipes.”

Chen Shian found this amusing. “Impressive. Who cooked most of the time?”

“Hah, I did all the cooking; the whole dorm ate the results!”

“Oh no, I feel like you’re hinting at Feimo and me.”

“Hahaha, no way!”

Honestly, if all her housemates had been as appreciative and helpful as Chen Shian—always quick with praise and willing to help clean up—Li Wanyin wouldn’t have minded being their unpaid little chef.

Though it might seem like Chen Shian enjoyed a sweet surprise every night, his predecessor, the girl who’d shared the apartment before him, hadn’t been so lucky. Li Wanyin had cooked a few times back then, but quickly lost interest.

This young Taoist was different—he offered endless emotional value. She’d never imagined that her ideal roommate would turn out to be a high school junior.

The two of them and the cat sat down at the table together.

Chen Shian took the bag with the two grilled sausages, handed one to Li Wanyin, and placed the other in Feimo’s bowl.

“Wanyin, I bought grilled sausages for you.”

“Aren’t you having one?”

“I already ate mine on the way home.”

“Thanks~!”

Just as Chen Shian never stood on ceremony with her, Li Wanyin never minded taking him up on his offers.

It had been a while since she’d had a grilled sausage, and paired with a bowl of creamy, sweet taro sago, the burst of calories made every cell in her body leap for joy.

Because their work and school schedules were so different, the two of them—though under the same roof—only had about an hour each day to chat and catch up when Chen Shian got home.

She didn’t know how Chen Shian felt, but Li Wanyin herself cherished this hour. It was the most relaxing, carefree time of her day after working so hard.

“Did you see it, Shian? The video your PE teacher took of you yesterday has almost three hundred thousand likes! Don’t tell me people are starting to recognize you on the street?”

“I haven’t really noticed.”

“Only you could be so calm.”

She laughed, scrolling through the comments. The top one read: [That’s our school’s Taoist master. He shattered the backboard just the other day! His skills are unimaginable!]

Beneath it, replies flowed: [I was there, I’m a witness], [I’m the backboard], [I was the basketball, I was terrified].

Li Wanyin found it hilarious and showed the comments to Chen Shian.

“Did you see these? Is it true? Did you really shatter the school’s backboard?”

“...That’s not something to broadcast.”

“What? It’s true?!”

After the initial shock from the class monitor, teachers, and classmates, Li Wanyin found herself belatedly stunned!

She stared at him—so calm, so refined in appearance—yet capable of such explosive power? That group of girlfriends who always joked about high school boys being strong... maybe they were right?!

“How did you do it, Shian? Did you play a lot of basketball up in the mountains?”

“There weren’t any courts up there. Maybe the backboard was just brittle—I didn’t mean to break it.”

“...Impressive.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means awesome.”

So he learned a new word. He’d thought “awesome” was the peak of concise praise, but now there was “impressive” too. With the times, people’s expressions had grown ever more succinct—a single emoji, a “6”, or even just a period could sum up paragraphs.

“Did your PE teacher mention that videos like that can generate income? I think you’re entitled to some of it. Maybe a few thousand yuan or so... I’m not sure, but you could ask.”

Though it didn’t concern her, as someone already in the workforce, she knew how hard it was to earn money and didn’t want Chen Shian to miss out.

“Yeah, Mr. Wan told me. He said he’ll pass the proceeds on to me. Don’t worry, Wanyin.”

“That’s good~ I just thought, since you’re studying here on your own and have expenses, every bit helps.”

He glanced at her. Since his master had left, it had been a long time since he’d felt such genuine, selfless concern.

“How was work today, Wanyin?”

“Not bad~ I brought in three new customers to the store and earned an extra thirty yuan commission.”

“Impressive, Wanyin.”

“Haha, you pick things up fast.” She sighed in relief. “Tomorrow’s Saturday, so I’ll do another day of part-time work and then I’m done. Luckily the weather’s been good—otherwise I couldn’t hand out flyers outdoors.”

“How did your interviews go? You had one this morning, right?” Judging by her light-hearted demeanor, he could already guess the result.

“Yeah, counting yesterday’s, I’ve gotten two offers now~”

“Hm?”

Her answer was even better than he’d expected. “Both interviews went well? So now you get to choose?”

“Exactly.”

Happiness had come so suddenly. Since meeting Chen Shian, everything seemed to be going her way. Not only did she have a great roommate, but she’d also passed two interviews in two days.

Yet with happiness came new headaches—now she had to choose between two offers.

“Congratulations, Wanyin. Have you decided which one to take?”

“Not yet. They both seem good, and the companies are just across the street from each other. The pay is about the same... I really don’t know which to pick.”

“Tell me about them?”

Knowing his status as a high schooler meant he couldn’t offer much advice, she still talked it through with him.

…

Truth be told, Li Wanyin had always had good grades.

It was only in her last year of high school, after a sudden family disaster, that her life’s path was completely changed.

Looking back now, she didn’t know how she’d survived those dark days. Now, all she wanted was to become strong enough, capable enough never to be caught off guard again.

She’d graduated from business management—a field where you “study everything but can do nothing,” making jobs scarce. But in terms of knowledge and adaptability, she was miles ahead of her peers who still had a student’s naivete.

Even so, the barriers of education and the realities of the job market meant she ran into obstacle after obstacle.

It was only much later she learned that many of those jobs were never really hiring; companies posted them as a way to look busy, to seem thriving, with HR chasing interview quotas like sales targets: “How many people did you trick into coming for an interview today?”

But persistence paid off. After sending out countless resumes and attending interview after interview, she finally landed two decent offers for her stage in life.

Both companies were within half an hour’s commute by bus.

One offer was for a product operations specialist at an e-commerce company. The job involved selecting products, pricing, and planning promotions. The position was volatile, with high pressure and clear performance metrics. There was a two-month probation at three thousand yuan a month, rising to thirty-six hundred after passing, with pay heavily tied to performance. Only one day off per week, regular overtime until eight or nine at night, and all-nighters during shopping festivals. But if you performed well, the earnings could be considerable.

The other was for an administrative specialist at a foreign trade company. Duties included managing office affairs, purchasing and maintaining supplies, organizing and archiving documents, handling mail and correspondence, booking meeting rooms, prepping materials, arranging staff training and events—in short, the office’s jack-of-all-trades. The career path was clear, offering insight into the company’s management. One-month probation at thirty-five hundred, rising to between forty-five hundred and six thousand upon confirmation, regular nine-to-six hours, weekends off.

…

Chen Shian, inexperienced in the ways of the world and even less so in the world of work, listened carefully but found himself unable to say which was better. Each had its own advantages and drawbacks.

“Ugh, it’s so hard to decide…”

Seeing Li Wanyin vexed by happiness, Chen Shian smiled.

“Which one are you leaning toward?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it all day. The operations job could pay really well if I do a good job. The admin job is stable, with a clear path, weekends off, and plenty of time for myself after work…”

“What about the companies themselves?”

“The e-commerce one’s a startup. HR says there’s huge room for promotion, but I saw lots of turnover—so many people at the interview. The foreign trade company is more established, bigger, with mature systems. Promotion takes time, maybe three to five years to move up, but if you’re capable, you can rise quickly...”

He’d only wanted to help her sort through her options, but it seemed the more she talked, the harder the decision became.

“So what do you do, Wanyin? Maybe you should just work two jobs.” Chen Shian joked.

“I don’t know! I have a headache!”

She could force her way through difficulties, but when it came to choices, she wavered. This was her first real job—the decision could shape her future. The more she cared, the harder it was to choose.

Suddenly, Li Wanyin’s eyes lit up. She turned to Chen Shian.

“What is it? Have you decided?”

“No! But you can read faces and tell fortunes, right? Why don’t you help me pick—see which job is better for me!”

Chen Shian was taken aback, then burst into laughter. “I can do that, but the outcome might not be what you really want. I think you should take your time and see which job you truly prefer.”

“It’s not about preference—it’s about my whole future!”

“Then don’t worry. No matter what you choose, your future will be prosperous. Your greatest hardship is already behind you—I can guarantee that.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He was utterly serious.

His words held no “logic,” yet somehow filled Li Wanyin with confidence.

“Just make your choice boldly. Life is long, and when you look back, those crossroads that seemed so hard to navigate may all lead to the same destination.”

“Hmm…” Li Wanyin mused.

“In that case, I’ll just draw lots!”

“Well, maybe not quite that random…”

“I don’t care! I’m going to let it go—either choice is justifiable!”

She turned to him again.

“What is it now?”

“Shian, you draw for me. You’re my lucky star—I trust your luck!”

“Huh? Me?”

(Thanks to Twenty-Fourth of Last Month for the 50,000 reward! Generous boss! Wishing you great fortune!)