The Silly Fox Goes Down The Mountain And Gets A Happily Ever After With The Chief Eunuch - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Searching, Searching, Searching for a Job

The “night pearls” along the roadside were bright, but unlike real deep-sea night pearls, they wouldn’t stay lit forever; after a certain time, they would automatically turn off.

Nining Qiyan knew these night pearls were called “streetlights,” and they relied on electricity to operate.

Everything in the human world was magical and beyond a monster’s imagination.

Nining Qiyan went to open a bank account and get a SIM card.

He now had one thousand yuan. Originally, that drunkard had refused to pay up when he sobered up, but after Bai Tu received a call from the police station and had a huge, justified argument with the man, he managed to secure the one thousand yuan for him.

Bai Tu took him to buy a second-hand phone, which cost him 800 yuan.

Including the phone plan and some monthly package, he was back to being a pauper again, though he didn’t have much money to begin with.

Nining Qiyan looked with wonder at the colorful pictures on the screen. “How magical.”

Bai Tu helped him insert the SIM card, walked him through the operations to save contacts and set up WeChat, downloaded a few common apps, and then handed the used phone to Nining Qiyan.

“You know how to use a phone, right?”

Nining Qiyan hesitated for a moment and nodded. “If there are words, I can read them, so I should be able to use it.”

Bai Tu said, “As long as you can use it, that’s fine. Having a phone makes things more convenient; we can let each other know in advance next time we meet.”

Today, Bai Tu had waited at the entrance of Fuxin Residential Complex for over an hour just to catch a fox coming out for food.

In ancient times, there was a farmer who waited by a tree for a hare; today, there was a White Rabbit waiting by a building for a fox.

Bai Tu checked the time. “It’s almost 1:00 AM… You only gnawed on a steamed bun this morning; you must be starving, right?”

Nining Qiyan: “Mm, I’m starving.”

His stomach had growled once while he was getting his phone plan, but Bai Tu had been in the restroom at the time and hadn’t heard it.

Bai Tu swiped across the screen. “What do you want to eat? Meat? I’ll buy a group discount voucher; it’s cheaper.”

Nining Qiyan wasn’t picky. “Anything is fine.”

“Then let’s go eat self-service mini-hotpot.” Bai Tu ordered two tickets and smiled. “I like eating vegetables.”

The buffet restaurant was in a shopping mall, filled with all kinds of meat and vegetable dishes. He and Bai Tu each took a small hotpot, and after selecting their soup bases, they charged toward two different sections—one only grabbing meat, the other only grabbing vegetables. Placed on the table, it was a complete contrast.

Seeing the three or four plates of blood-red meat in front of Nining Qiyan, Bai Tu asked while putting vegetables into his pot: “There shouldn’t be any rabbit meat here, right?”

Nining Qiyan paused, unsure. “I don’t think so. I didn’t see any.”

Bai Tu breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I hate it when people eat rabbit. Rabbits are so cute; how can people eat rabbits?”

So it’s fine to eat pigs, cows, sheep, and fish. Anyway, I’m not a pig, cow, sheep, or fish.

Hearing this, Nining Qiyan sat up straight. “I don’t like eating rabbits either.”

Bai Tu blew him a flying kiss. “I just adore carnivores like you.”

After the meal, Nining Qiyan transferred his share of the bill to Bai Tu.

Everyone had it tough; he wouldn’t take advantage of others on purpose.

Bai Tu saw that he was stubborn, so he had no choice but to accept the WeChat transfer.

Nining Qiyan still had to go to the Yongfeng Hotel for an interview, so the two parted ways at the mall entrance.

The Yongfeng Hotel was quite famous in this area, located on the most prosperous commercial street in Mingjiu City.

As soon as he arrived at the entrance, Nining Qiyan encountered the second monster he had seen since coming down the mountain.

He could smell immediately that the young receptionist was a peacock monster.

Perhaps because most male peacocks had vibrant feathers, almost every male peacock transformed into a stunning, beautiful human form.

The peacock monster also discovered Nining Qiyan’s identity as a fox. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Here for a job interview?”

Half of the monsters who came to Yongfeng Hotel were looking for work, and the other half were here to eat.

The peacock expertly dialed the telephone. “Hey, Doggy, someone’s here for an interview. Come take over… Hmm, I’m busy right now. Sigh, I’m on guard duty… Alright, tell him to go up right now.”

Presumably, he had chatted for a few moments, pausing periodically, so Nining Qiyan stood by quietly. Fortunately, they didn’t talk for long. Soon, the brilliant-looking peacock pointed to the elevator. “Go to the third floor. Fourth room on the left after you get out.”

Nining Qiyan: “Okay, thank you.”

“Third floor. Arriving.”

One had to say it was a grand hotel; even the elevator made announcements. When that electronic female voice came out, Nining Qiyan’s hair stood on end.

Nining Qiyan knew his left from his right. The first thing taught in the “Monster’s Guide to Human Integration” provided by the Bureau was “left and right,” followed by “east, west, south, and north.” He had learned them very quickly.

“1… 2… 3… 4… Oh, this is the one.”

Nining Qiyan knocked twice on the door with his index finger. “Hello, I’m here for an interview.”

The door was thrown open. What greeted him was a white cloth piece nearly plastered against his face; the buttons were stretched to the limit by the muscles beneath, and a glimpse of wheat-colored skin could be seen through the gap.

Nining Qiyan: …The shopkeeper sister seemed to be right. I might, perhaps, be a little bit short.

Silently sighing in his heart, he resigned himself to looking up, gave a polite smile, and said, “Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Nining Qiyan.”

The man stepped aside to make space. “Hello, my name is Huang Muquan. Just call me by my full name.”

Nining Qiyan replied: “Hello, Huang Muquan.”

“You’re a fox, right? I could smell it the moment you came in.” Huang Muquan sat down in his office chair, leaned back, and gestured with his head toward the chair in front of him: “Don’t be nervous, sit.”

After Nining Qiyan sat down, he asked, “What position do you want?”

Nining Qiyan hadn’t considered that yet. After all, he had only just bought a phone today and didn’t know much about the different roles.

Suddenly, a sentence he had seen when checking the job information earlier echoed in his mind, and he blurted out: “I am a brick; I’ll go wherever I’m needed.”

Huang Muquan: ? Quite trendy.

He studied Nining Qiyan’s face and found that this kid was the type who could easily please the elders. It would be even better if he had a sweeter tongue.

“Can you handle customer reception?” he said. “Like that peacock at the front entrance.”

Nining Qiyan blinked. “Yes.”

They hit it off instantly. Huang Muquan pulled open a drawer and fished a contract out of a pile of papers.

Huang Muquan: “Do you have any requirements? If so, bring them up. Once you sign, there’s no changing it.”

Nining Qiyan took the contract and read it word by word.

Monthly salary: 3000… 4 days of paid leave per month… 8 hours a day…

Did Nining Qiyan have any requirements? He was more than satisfied.

3,000 a month meant 100 a day, which could buy 20 chicken legs.

He had always been good at math.

But only simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

The hotel couldn’t be completely biased toward monsters just because of the Bureau’s last rule. Huang Muquan specifically pointed out a few points: “Yongfeng is friendly to monsters, but if a monster exposes their identity while working or commits acts harmful to humans—including verbal insults—we will fire them.”

Nining Qiyan nodded to show he understood.

He took the pen and wrote his name stroke by stroke. When Huang Muquan saw it, he noted it was written quite neatly, but it had taken ten seconds just to write three characters.

“So that’s the ‘Qi’ (祺) you use. I thought it was the ‘Qi’ (其) from ‘actually.’ I couldn’t tell your parents were cultured monsters.”

Huang Muquan clicked his tongue in wonder, unlike himself. His name “Mu” (木 – tree/wood) was because he loved picking up tree branches to play with since he was a kid, and “Quan” (全 – complete) was easier to understand—it was a homophone for “Quan” (犬 – dog).

The signed contract was shoved back into the drawer. Huang Muquan stood up, straightened his shirt sleeves, and pulled on a black vest that had been draped over the office chair. “Let’s go. I’ll show you around the hotel.”

“The first floor is where we receive guests. The lobby is filled with tables. That’s the public space where everyone eats separately… though occasionally we have guests who book the entire floor for wedding banquets or baby showers.

“You’ll usually be on the first floor. Luo Haitang—that peacock you saw—will teach you what to do. Peacocks like naming themselves after flowers.

“There’s nothing to see on the third floor; that’s just where we handle administrative tasks.” Huang Muquan led Nining Qiyan straight to the second-floor private rooms.

The second floor was much more elegant, with wooden railings and a large lake outside. The lotus leaves on the water remained emerald green despite the winter, and there were even a few pink lotus flowers.

“There can be lotus flowers in winter?”

Huang Muquan looked over and said bluntly: “Fake.”

Nining Qiyan noticed a few black swans on the lake. Huang Muquan saw them too, squinted at them, and said, “Those six black swans are monsters too. They have it much easier. They get 3,000 yuan too, but all they have to do is turn into their original forms and swim around here to play.”

Huang Muquan laughed shortly. “But they suffer in winter. They have to swim for a whole day without being allowed to get on shore. I wonder if their feet get cold.”

Nining Qiyan looked at the noble and elegant poses of the black swans. Who would have guessed the bitterness behind the scenes?

Nining Qiyan shivered empathically.

Good thing I’m a fox and don’t know how to swim.

They didn’t run into anyone on the way; it probably wasn’t dining hour. Huang Muquan went to logistics and got two sets of staff uniforms, identical to the one he was wearing.

Nining Qiyan touched the thin fabric, was silent for a moment, and asked sincerely: “Won’t this be a bit cold?”

Huang Muquan smiled slightly and pulled… a heat patch from inside his unassuming vest.

“Secret weapon.”

Huang Muquan squeezed the heat patch and enunciated clearly, then tossed it to Nining Qiyan. “It’s yours. It still has 5 hours of heat left.”

Nining Qiyan: …Thank you so much.

But when he stuck the heat patch inside his clothes, it didn’t take long before he asked: “Do you have any more heat patches?”

Huang Muquan took off his vest and turned it inside out: “How many do you want?”

Nining Qiyan: “Can I choose to have new ones?”

Huang Muquan: “Ah, alright.”

Nining Qiyan: …Why do you look so disappointed?

Huang Muquan put his vest back on. “Heat patches are free. Whenever you need them, just ask logistics in advance.”

Free? The boss is really good to monsters; he’s afraid his employees will be cold.

The black swans swimming in the lake: Huh? Why don’t you look up and look at me?

One thing people in modern society must do after meeting is to add each other on WeChat.

After Nining Qiyan added Huang Muquan on WeChat, he added Luo Haitang from the first floor as well.

He looked at the pitiful three people on his WeChat list and smiled with satisfaction.

While adding contacts, he accidentally caught a glimpse of Huang Muquan’s list; it filled the entire screen and required scrolling to reach the bottom.

“You’ll have a lot of WeChat contacts later on, too.”

That was what Huang Muquan had said with a smile at the time.

Nining Qiyan felt sure he would, but it would probably take a good while.

Tomorrow was his official start date. Having successfully landed the job today, he decided to reward himself with five chicken legs.

Although the interview had no difficulty, it was something worth celebrating nonetheless.