The moment Shu Xian and Zhang Ren arrived in the library to have their time in, the other student assistants who were also doing their time in beside the Office of the Chief Librarian as they waited for their turn, looked at Shu Xian, knowing that she is a new student assistant in the department.
With a small nod, Shu Xian smiled at everyone and greeted them, the other student assistants smiling at her, the others, not smiling at her.
"Good afternoon," Shu Xian said sweetly and warmly, "My name's Shu Xian. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Shu Xian," the others said, Shu Xian, not understanding why the other student assistants seem cold towards her.
With that, she just didn't pay attention to it as she leaned in closer to Zhang Ren, asking him a question.
"Why are some people giving me the cold stares," she asked, Zhang Ren, letting out a small chuckle as he shook his head then answered her question.
"I'll tell you later."
After the others did their time in and only Zhang Ren and Shu Xian are left as the others went to their respective library stations, Zhang Ren did his time in first, teaching Shu Xian how to do this.
"Time in is pretty simple," he started, showing her the log book. "Since our computer station for the time in is being updated by the ICT department, we have to manually do it by writing our name, writing our specific time in—there's a wall clock above us, and then, putting our signature beside it."
"Alright."
Shu Xian then wrote her name below Zhang Ren's, looking at the time and saw that it was 12:55 PM and put it on the log book, then signed beside it afterwards.
"Good! Now let's go to our section!"
The moment Shu Xian and Zhang Ren entered the help desk, there were two student assistants inside, stretching as they both gave Shu Xian and Zhang Ren a smile.
There was one boy and one girl, Shu Xian already understanding that they are the morning shifters of their library station.
"Finally," the girl exclaimed, stretching at the same time. "We're about to have our time out in five minutes!" she added, Zhang Ren, raising a brow at her.
"Yan Yan, don't tell me you have already finished a lot of tasks in the morning. The desk seems clean," Zhang Ren commented, this time, the male student assistant, letting out a soft chuckle since they are inside the library.
"Sorry… Yan Yan and I already fixed the index cards for the card catalogue. Nothing is left," he said, Zhang Ren's eyes widening in surprise as he saw the four small drawers of the card catalogue on their desk, obviously fixed.
"Zhong Li… you and Yan Yan already did this for six hours!?"
Zhong Li and Yan Yan both shrugged their shoulders, making Zhang Ren narrow his eyes at them.
"You guys didn't really leave anything for us."
Yan Yan giggled, "That's not true!"
Yan Yan then opened the computer and then opened a folder, showing him an unfinished document and beside the computer units were color green bound books, making Yan Yan slap the hard cover once as she gave him the instructions.
"These are the new theses from the last semester to be forwarded to the Thesis and Dissertation library later this week. You know the drill—type in the abstract of each thesis and make sure you check what you've already finished in the list on top of that pile."
"Yes, encoding duties!" Zhang Ren said excitedly, his eyes twinkling in stars as Zhong Li playfully rolled his eyes at him.
"We're not heartless duty members. We know you like encoding so we gave you something to do in the afternoon," he added, this time, Shu Xian, clearing her throat to get their attention.
"Sorry, the name's Shu Xian," she introduced herself, their eyes on her now as she spoke. "What am I going to do if Zhang Ren has something to do right now?"
With that, Yan Yan smiled at her, getting something from the desk as she extended her hand to give something to Shu Xian. When Shu Xian saw what it was, she widened her eyes, slightly surprise, not expecting to have a nametag on the first day of her duty.
"Here! Your nametag! I did it a while ago, too! Welcome to our section! The name's Yan Yan," she welcomed her with a wink, Shu Xian, smiling at her as she nodded, remembering who she was.
"Yes. You were the one who introduced me to Miss Wang Fang yesterday morning when I visited. Nice to meet you formally!"
"Hmph…"
With Zhong Li suddenly harrumphing, Shu Xian's eyes landed on him, the guy already crossing his arms in front of his chest as he looked at her, a little bit condescending—the atmosphere around them a little chilly.
"There is a tradition to test new student assistants," he started, already standing up from his chair the moment he saw that it was already 1 PM, time for their time out. "New student assistants are to do cleaning duties first—to see if he or she is capable and can do it since most people are picky when it comes to tasks."
Zhong Li then couldn't help but look at Shu Xian up and down, letting out a small scoff as he rolled his eyes at her as well.
"I could see that you are the kind of student assistant who is not used to chores—looking at how pretty you are."
Hearing this, Shu Xian honestly felt offended. With her not wanting to be seen this way, she arched a brow at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest as well, surprising Zhong Li with how courageous she is as no one dared to speak back to him when he is this way.
"Don't judge a book by its cover—you should know that saying well. Anyway, I'll take it as a compliment."
Shu Xian started, giving him a wink as well as this made Zhong Li feel a little bit uncomfortable, no woman winking at him and this is the first time.
"Thanks for seeing me as a pretty woman, Zhong Li. Nice to meet you."
With that, Shu Xian met her other fellow student assistants in their library section, Yan Yan and Zhong Li, unsure if she is going to be close to them or not.