Summer of 2003, the heat was almost mad. Under the fiery red sun, the ground seemed to be on fire, emitting wisps of heat that looked like neither clouds nor fog.

At this moment, the job market in Jiangzhou City, Jiangnan Province, was as hot as a midsummer day. Nearly 10,000 square meters of recruitment space was crowded with job seekers. It was a sea of people, and from a distance, all that could be seen were heads, heads, and more heads, with a constant stream of people continuing to pour in from the entrance.

Summer Yunjie, holding a job application letter in his hand and a shoulder bag on his back, glanced at the seemingly endless sea of people. A wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he shook his head as he walked toward the exit.

Since the expansion of university enrollment in 1999, university graduates, once regarded as the elites, had become as undervalued as currency, and the job market became more and more competitive. This year, the first batch of expanded university students had entered the job market, exposing the tough employment situation. The issue of university graduates finding jobs had become one of the most talked-about social problems.

Summer Yunjie was not a university graduate. He was just a secondary school graduate, which made his situation even more difficult compared to university graduates.

Once outside the recruitment hall, the air became refreshing. Summer Yunjie let out a long breath, then turned his head to look at a recruitment booth near the entrance. A sign stood there, listing the number of positions available, the positions themselves, and the requirements. The first requirement was "a diploma from a regular university with at least a junior college degree."

Most of the nearly a thousand recruitment booths at the fair had this requirement.

Looking at the first requirement, Summer Yunjie felt those words were especially glaring and his heart sank because he was just a secondary school graduate. This simple line of text had set up a high barrier, ruthlessly blocking him from even attempting to enter the job market.

The entire morning, Summer Yunjie only managed to submit three job applications. It wasn't that he didn't want to apply to more places, but as soon as they saw his secondary school diploma, they wouldn't even consider his application.

After leaving the job fair, Summer Yunjie looked up at the scorching sun above and then touched his pocket, which only contained a hundred yuan. A fleeting thought crossed his mind to use his skills in witchcraft to make a quick buck, but as soon as the thought appeared, he quickly extinguished it.

"Looks like I'll have to go back to the construction site and move some bricks again," Summer Yunjie thought helplessly.

Although he didn't want to return to the dusty construction site with its loud machinery, he didn't want to disappoint his late master, an old witch.

With a sense of helplessness in his heart, Summer Yunjie walked quickly towards the northern part of the city, where large-scale construction and development were underway. When he first arrived in Jiangzhou, he had once spent some time in this area, unable to find a job. He was familiar with the area and knew a few foremen, so it would be easy to find a job moving bricks there, as long as he was strong enough.

Although Summer Yunjie's education was poor, his strength was exceptional!

At noon, the burning sun scorched the earth, and the streets were almost deserted. People walked quickly, seemingly afraid that slowing down would cause them to be roasted by the sun.

As Summer Yunjie walked, he spotted a young woman coming towards him, holding a bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other.

The woman was wearing a cropped floral T-shirt and blue denim skirt, with two long, shapely legs and a slim waist that gleamed with a healthy, youthful glow in the dazzling sunlight.

"An elegant lady, a noble companion," Summer Yunjie, twenty years old, was at an age full of desire for the opposite sex. When he saw the woman, dressed so cool and attractively, he couldn't help but take a second glance. However, before he could look any longer, a motorcycle suddenly sped up behind the woman. As the motorcycle passed by, the rider reached out and grabbed the bag the woman had hanging on her arm.

The woman was jerked off balance, almost falling to the ground, but her reflexes were quick. She immediately started shouting, "Someone's stealing my bag!" while chasing after the thief.

However, the woman was wearing mid-heeled crystal sandals, and after running only a few steps, she let out a yelp and fell to the ground as she twisted her ankle. The thief, having snatched the bag, rode off quickly. By the time the woman fell, the thief was already tens of meters away, and the pedestrians, startled by the speed of the motorcycle, didn't dare to stop him.

The woman sat on the ground, watching helplessly as the thief sped away. Knowing her strength was limited and that it was impossible to hit the thief with a shoe, she still grabbed her crystal sandal in frustration and hurled it toward the departing motorcycle.

Unexpectedly, just as the woman threw her crystal sandal, the motorcycle in the distance suddenly swerved and crashed to the ground, with the thief getting pinned under it.

"Seriously? Did I actually hit him?" The woman widened her eyes, incredulous. After all, the distance was at least forty or fifty meters!

Just as the woman was in disbelief, Summer Yunjie leisurely walked over, first picking up the shoulder bag he had casually thrown earlier, dusting it off, and then picking up the woman's bag. He crouched down and, without hesitation, reached into the thief's pocket and pulled out a wallet.

"Seriously, is this all there is?" Summer Yunjie flipped open the wallet to reveal only fifty yuan. He rolled his eyes and muttered to himself.

He had originally planned to take advantage of the situation and make a quick profit, but to his surprise, the thief, although riding a motorcycle, was carrying less money than he, an unemployed drifter.

Nevertheless, "a mosquito is still meat," and fifty yuan was a "considerable sum" for him at the moment. So, although he rolled his eyes, Summer Yunjie acted decisively and without hesitation.

After all, this guy was foolish enough to rob in front of him!

The thief, who was now robbed of his own loot, was feeling a mix of frustration and embarrassment. He could only imagine crying in his heart, thinking, "If I had more cash in my pocket, would I be risking my neck for this petty crime?"

The thief, realizing that his fake gold necklace had been seen through, was stunned. He certainly knew the necklace was fake, but he hadn't expected this young man to see right through it so easily.

Seeing the thief's dazed expression, Summer Yunjie sneered inwardly, thinking, "I may not be a top expert, but I do know a bit about fortune-telling, feng shui, and witchcraft. If I can't even tell the difference between real gold and brass, then all those years of training would have been wasted. Too bad, my cultivation level isn't high enough, and my master worried that if I used witchcraft to gain wealth and power, I might lose control of my heart and go astray. Otherwise, I wouldn't need to go through all this hassle of finding a job—I'd have already become rich."

With this thought in mind, Summer Yunjie felt a bit stifled and irritated. He picked up the job application materials again and gave the thief a light tap on the head. "Next time, if I catch you stealing again, you won't be so lucky."

After saying this, Summer Yunjie straightened up and turned to walk toward the woman who had been robbed, while the thief, seeing this, hastily got up and rode away on his motorcycle.

At this point, the woman had gotten up from the ground and was bending over to pick up the crystal sandal she had thrown earlier. As she bent down, her ample chest stretched her neckline.

But soon, the woman had picked up her crystal sandals, slipped them on, and stood up straight. Summer Yunjie, seeing this, secretly sighed in relief, though he also felt a slight sense of loss.

The woman, noticing Summer Yunjie approaching with her bag in hand, couldn't help but feel a little excited. After putting on her sandals, she immediately took a step toward him, forgetting that her ankle was still injured. When she was barefoot, the pain was more tolerable, but now, with the heels of the crystal sandals, the strain was different. As soon as she took a big step, a sharp pain shot through her left foot, making her gasp in pain and fall right back onto the ground.

When the woman had fallen earlier, Summer Yunjie hadn't paid much attention, as he was focused on the thief. But now, as she sat on the ground close to him, her legs spread apart, revealing a sight he couldn't ignore.

Just one glance made Summer Yunjie, a young man who had just graduated from school, feel his pulse quicken.

"Are you done staring? Help me up," the woman's voice suddenly rang out, a little annoyed.

Summer Yunjie jumped in surprise, realizing that the woman had caught him staring. She was now looking at him with a slightly reproachful expression.

Embarrassed, Summer Yunjie quickly cleared his throat, extending his hand to help her up. "Are you alright? Do you need me to check your ankle?"

"Still haven't had enough?" The woman, standing with his help, gave him a quick glare. "You really think you can just stare at me?"

However, thieves and robbers were most afraid of being caught red-handed in broad daylight. With the thief trapped under the motorcycle, he didn't dare get angry at Summer Yunjie. As he watched Summer Yunjie take the money from his wallet with a displeased look, the thief grabbed his gold necklace and, with a sad face, pleaded, "Brother, I still have a gold necklace here, it weighs about two liang, it's worth something. Please, don't call the police! I promise I won't do this again. I've got a family to feed, and this life has forced me into this!"

"Enough! Two liang of brass is worth nothing!" Summer Yunjie didn't intend to report him to the police but was annoyed that the thief tried to deceive him with a fake gold necklace. He tapped the thief's head with the job application materials in his hand, feeling irritated.