"Then write me up for absenteeism."
Two minutes later, Li Shi hung up the call with an indifferent tone, his female boss's overbearing way of speaking irked him.
He was in a hurry to sell his gold and had no time to argue with her.
Even if the company didn't go under, he had decided to quit anyway.
He used the new "travel service" function in WeChat, ordering a ride to the east gate of the provincial People's Hospital. The car arrived quickly, but just as he was getting in, Li Gui Ming sent a message asking: "Has Wei Shu Fen called you? Her face looks annoyed, you didn't offend her, did you?"
The Wei Shu Fen he mentioned was their direct supervisor, department head Wei Shu Lan.
After Li Shi confirmed his phone number and destination with the driver, he replied with a text message: "She…"
Originally, he typed a few sentences to complain, but after thinking it over, he deleted them and changed it to: "No, I'm leaving today. Next time, I'll treat you to The Way of the Earth."
"Really?"
"Never mind, if one family member is full, the whole family isn't hungry. Let me treat you instead. I newly registered as a member. How about we go there tomorrow night?"
Li Shi was taken aback for a moment, then replied after a couple of seconds, "Sure."
They exchanged a few more words and then ended the conversation.
The journey would take more than twenty minutes, so Li Shi used his mobile browser to search for an online first year Chinese textbook. After searching for a while, he finally found a complete scanned copy in a personal article by a blogger called "Normal Alliance". He quickly saved it and began to study seriously from the first lesson.
"The Prelude to Spring. Tan Zhou…"
High school Chinese was deeper than what he studied in junior high. Although he had learned it all before, to get the study effect, he still studied following the "study tips" and "unit study tasks" behind the text.
Because he knew what benefits his study could bring, Li Shi was extremely focused and his study was very effective. Before he knew it, he'd arrived at the back of the east gate of the People's Hospital.
After he got out of the car, Li Shi walked a short distance to the Ding Wang Tai Jewelry Identification Center located nearby. He didn't go in but headed for a small road nearby. After walking a few dozen meters, he arrived at the entrance of a prosperous gold shop.
Qi Xiang Gold Store. A few years ago, he had sold a 20g gold bar left by his father here.
He observed from a distance before entering.
When there were no customers inside, Li Shi entered. The boss was at the counter.
"Boss, do you buy gold here?"
"Yes, you want to sell gold, right? Do you have it with you?"
"I do, at what price are you buying?"
"Eight Yuan less per gram than the gold price."
Li Shi took the gold bar out of his backpack.
"Oh, such a big bar. How heavy is it?"
"One kilogram."
"Let me weigh it…"
The boss took the gold bar and placed it on the electronic scale next to the counter. The weight was spot on: 1000.00g.
"Exactly one kilogram. You're sure you want to sell it, right? I need to do some tests first, okay?"
"Okay." Li Shi responded steadily.
This gold shop was quite powerful. Twenty minutes later, the transaction was smoothly completed. The last time Li Shi came to sell, the boss asked to see his ID card. This time, he didn't even check his ID card and directly accepted the gold.
The gold price was 405.9 Yuan per gram, and the buy-back price was 397.9 Yuan per gram. In the end, they transferred 397,900 Yuan to him.
Li Shi confirmed the receipt of the money on the ICBC app, then left the shop and calmly continued walking towards the People's Hospital. After entering the hospital from the east gate, he casually wandered around and then exited from the west gate, hailing a taxi.
Once in the car, he told the driver his destination, then pulled out his phone and logged into the bank app again.
Available balance: 399,889.60 Yuan.
He muttered to himself, "units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, that's right, it's definitely over thirty-nine thousand!"
Looking at the long string of digits, had it not been for the taxi driver in front, he would have definitely burst into laughter.
He counted again, feeling satisfied.
He wanted to transfer money to his mother right away.
However, thinking that his mother would definitely call him after she received the bank transfer message, he held back and decided to wait until he got home to transfer the money.
He opened Alipay, transferred twenty thousand into his account, then applied to repay his student loan in advance.
After completing the operation, he just needed to wait until the 20th for the system to automatically deduct the money.
Li Shi let out a long sigh of relief, then opened the reminder message sent by ICBC, looked at the numbers on it, exited with a smile on his face, opened the favorites in his browser, and continued reviewing first year Chinese.
"If I can advance from a beginner to proficient in Chinese, I can get an attribute point each time!"
This was a huge motivation for studying.
Upon reaching the Qin Yuan Resettlement Community, he scanned the code to pay just before getting out of the car. His phone lagged for a moment, reminding him of his plan to get a new phone.
Li Shi checked the time, it wasn't even eleven o'clock yet. He transferred fifty thousand to his mother first, not transferring more in one shot. They would take care of the remaining debts at home with these fifty thousand first.
There was plenty of time.
After the transfer, he quickly opened the JD.com app. He found three phones he had previously added to the shopping cart and, after a moment of hesitation, he finally chose the black Honor 70 with a 12GB+512GB configuration. The total payment was 3099 Yuan, and since he ordered before 11:10, it would be delivered that afternoon.
Looking at the successful payment order, Li Shi felt real — he did have money.
The feeling of being able to buy whatever he wanted because he had money was bewitching, very bewitching.
Although he only spent a little over three thousand, and it might not be as much as one breakfast for some tycoons or rich second generations, he still stood there savoring the feeling before he continued walking home.
"I don't need to compare with others, just compare with myself. As long as I keep learning, I will have more and more money in the future, more money every month, and more money every year!"
"Also, my body will become stronger and stronger every year!"
When he returned home, his mother hadn't called yet. He checked the transfer progress, which showed that it had been completed, so he called her.
The phone rang five times before it was answered.
"Stone, why are you calling at this time? I'm knitting shoe pads with your second aunt!" Zhou Xiao Cui, Li's mother, spoke energetically from the other end.
When his mother was seriously ill that year, they spent all their savings. Fortunately, the operation was very successful, and she recovered very well. However, Li Shi didn't let her do heavy physical work like farming anymore. But she couldn't stay idle and knowing that there were debts to be paid at home, she raised a few pigs and helped her sisters-in-law in the village knit shoe pads to earn some income.
"Mom, I recently got a big bonus from my project. I just transferred fifty thousand to you. Can you check if you've received it?"
...
When talking to seniors, sometimes you have to coax them and tell white lies.
After talking for over ten minutes, Li Shi hung up the call, feeling relaxed like a ton of weight had been lifted, he "collapsed" on the bed, not wanting to move a single finger.
He laid down for a full half hour before he got up, opened his computer, and continued to study with a whole new mindset!
The next Wealth Attribute Point and Physical Attribute Point were beckoning him.