Chapter 1: Unemployment after graduation

8:35 am, Beijing University men's dormitory building.

The dusty Qing Bai stood at the door of the dilapidated dormitory, holding a few small plastic bags that were still steaming. He took a step back expressionlessly, raised his eyes, which were slightly dark due to staying up too late, and confirmed again - it was indeed Dormitory 444.

It just changed from a minimalist Chinese university style to a Syrian war style.

"Brother Qing! My dear brother! My dear Brother Qing! You're finally back! The brothers are so hungry~~~~" The mountain of clothes behind the door shook violently, and a nimble little fat boy emerged. He had a cute smile on his face, but his hands were not at all reserved. He took the plastic bag from Qing Bai's hand with familiarity, "Oh, when I think about not being able to eat the pig food carefully prepared by the aunties in the second cafeteria anymore, I can't help but eat two more buns!"

Those who were crawling under the bed or climbing up the bed frame came over immediately after hearing the sound.

"Thank you, Brother Qing!"

"Brother Qing, be a good man and live a peaceful life!"

Then there was a lively scene of hungry pigs fighting for food.

The cafeteria aunt would be pleased to see this, while the pig farmer would be silent.

"Brother Qing, have you eaten?" After swallowing two buns, Qi Xiaopang finally remembered to care about his dear brother Qing.

"Yeah." Qing Bai carefully walked over the mess on the floor and placed the remaining plastic bag on the only remaining quiet place in the entire dormitory - his desk. There were still two steamed buns left in the plastic bag.

"What are you doing? Tearing down the dormitories?"

Qi Xiaopang sighed as he pinched a bun. "Moving, Brother Qing, didn't you see the notice? The school has issued an ultimatum. All of us graduates, whether we've found a new job or not, have to pack up and move out before 6 p.m. today. No trash left behind, no wall plaster taken away!"

Birds of a feather flock together. The other two dramatic roommates also started to jeer at the top of their lungs: "Wow, wow, with our teacher away, a child without a mother is like a weed! You, you bastard, didn't act like this when you begged me to come to study here! You wouldn't even give me half a day!"

"What they said was, 'School is my home, happiness for you and me!' But the tea got cold before he even left!"

“…”

In reality, the school had been gradually and meticulously notifying students to pack their bags and move out a month or two earlier. Many, already securing internships and jobs, had already left their academic academies and happily ventured into the world of work. However, a few students in Dormitory 444 were unusual, determined to exploit the school's resources until the very last moment, hoarding water, food, and games, becoming the dorm's "stubborn residents."

Qing Bai didn't join his roommates in their complaints about the school. He waited until they finished before speaking: "I saw the notice, but I didn't expect you to clean it up so...thoroughly."

The internet-famous wallpaper I'd installed four years ago had long faded. Half of it still hung steadfastly on the wall, while the other half, now covered in footprints, lay languidly on the floor, revealing a mottled surface where years of wear and tear intertwined with the contrasting mildew and water stains. The floor was strewn with all manner of shoes, good, bad, dirty, clean, wanted, and discarded. The chairs were piled high with clothes from every season. As for the desk, it was overwhelmed by a miscellany of finds unearthed from who knows where. The hoarding instinct ingrained in the DNA of the Chinese people has bred a hidden gem within this ten-square-meter dorm, a level so profound that even the renowned poet Liu would have deleted his "Humble Dwelling On" overnight.

The roommates were calm: "Don't be ridiculous, Brother Qing, you don't live in the dormitory often, so you don't understand. We are already a pride in the men's dormitory for not having a little pet with a family in the dormitory!"

Qing Bai was silent, and some not-so-pleasant images emerged in his mind.

After finally finishing his buns, Fat Qi burped contentedly. "Alas, there's nothing we can do about it. My friends' families are all out of town, and we don't plan to stay here after graduation. Instead of running around, we might as well stay in the dorm comfortably until the last day."

"I've already bought my ticket. After the graduation ceremony, I'll head straight to the station with my luggage!"

"But Brother Qing is still the best. He went straight from a part-time job to a full-time job during his four years at university. He got the job and didn't delay his studies at all. Even though it's not a good job, he got the job right after graduation, and he even provides food and accommodation. Brother Qing is awesome!"

Hearing this, Qing Bai paused as he pushed away the debris and said in a flat tone, "The job is over."

That sentence plunged the dormitory into silence. The three people, unintentionally stepping on the landmine, looked at each other, their gazes complicated like a ball of wool, torn between curiosity and gossip.

In the end, it was Fat Qi, who was closer to Qing Bai, who spoke first: "Ah, if it's over, it's over. If the old doesn't go, the new won't come! Goodbye, bye. The next one will be better! It's their loss to miss out on a top-notch student like Brother Qing who is both theoretical and practical!"

With Qi Xiaopang taking the lead, the other two roommates followed suit: "That's right, if I can't stay here, I'll find another place to stay!"

"Also... even though we're talking about science and promoting new trends, working in a place like that for a long time still leaves you feeling a bit... " Fat Qi stared at him, and the roommate swallowed the word "unlucky" that was on the tip of his tongue, giving a stiff, flattering laugh. "Haha, hahahaha, what I meant was that Qing Bai would definitely find a better job!"

“That’s right!”

The roommate was very nervous, but the person whose job was originally scheduled to be cancelled didn't react at all. He was as calm as if he had just missed an insignificant elective class that wouldn't be attended by name. It was hard to figure out who fired whom.

Qi Xiaopang suddenly remembered something important: "Where's your luggage?"

The job fell through, and the unfortunate company's promise of providing food and accommodation was naturally also lost. Although Qingbai has never had much, a little bit of money is still money.

Qing Bai: "It's temporarily stored with the dormitory aunt."

During graduation season, luggage can only be taken out but not brought in, and the dog school is afraid of being smuggled out.

After confirming that his brother Qing was okay, Fatty Qi quickly changed the subject: "Brother Qing, you missed out on not going back to school a few days ago! The student union organized a graduation flea market to help us get rid of old things that are inconvenient to take away. You can sell anything and there are buyers for everything. You can find a lot of good things!"

Qing Bai looked around the dormitory filled with old things and asked, "You didn't deal with them?"

"He's the one being dealt with! Everyone else is there to deal with old stuff, but he's the one picking up trash!" The other two roommates complained, "Why else do you think our dorm is so messy?"

"I want everything and I don't want to throw anything away. I can pick up things better than my 70-year-old grandmother!"

Qi Xiaopang was very unconvinced: "What do you know! You know nothing! These are all good things! They are not garbage!"

The two roommates rolled their eyes and continued to pack their things.

Qi Xiaopang tried to get his brother Qing's approval, and he accurately took out a storage box from the pile of miscellaneous items. When he opened the lid, he revealed a box full of bottles and jars, some of which were even unopened.

"Brother Qing, look!" Qi Xiaopang's eyes sparkled, and he was as enthusiastic as a salesperson trying to hit year-end sales targets. "These are all the most popular big-name cosmetics! They're so expensive in the store! So many—and I only spent this much!"

Qi Xiaopang stretched out two chubby fingers and kept shaking them in front of Qing Bai.

Qing Bai suppressed his sleepiness and pushed away Qi Xiaopang's pretentious fingers. In a tired and hoarse voice, he asked a soul-searching question: "Do you know how to use it?"

Qi Xiaopang choked and was speechless for a moment.

Seeing Qi Xiaopang being punished, the two roommates laughed happily, one gloating over the other: "It doesn't matter whether it's used or not, what matters is that our Xiaopang has shared the worries of his goddess~"

"We really don't understand anything. This isn't garbage at all. It's clearly Xiaopang's sincere heart."

Fat Qi tried to hold back his anger in the joyful atmosphere, but in the end, he couldn't help it and threw away his shame and attacked boldly: "Brother Qing, weren't you learning makeup a while ago? Can you do it for me?"

After saying that, he gave a provocative smile to his two smiling roommates. A real man is never afraid of putting on makeup!

Qing Bai was somewhat helpless: "I didn't learn makeup, I learned..."

"It's all the same, all the same!" Qi Xiaopang immediately did what he said. He stuffed a box of cosmetics that he couldn't even name or use into Qing Bai's hands. He sat down and stretched his face, ready to put on makeup. "I'm alive, so I don't need you to disinfect and massage me. It also saves me the wire glue and disinfectant soap!"

"..." Is this the problem? Qing Bai sighed helplessly while holding the box.

Since the people who were made up didn't mind, what else could he say?

but……

"Lie down on the bed. I'm not used to this angle."

"..." Qi Xiaopang was a little panicked. He lay on the bed with a rather uneasy expression and weakly warned, "Brother Qing, you... please take it easy. You still have to attend the graduation ceremony later. Our class has a new feature. I heard that some beautiful students will give flowers on their own. I want to collect a few more bouquets..."

"Don't move, I've only put makeup on people who are lying down." Qing Bai looked cold, and wrote as if possessed by god.

Qi Xiaopang became even more panicked.

…

Facts have proven that Qing Bai did have some real skills in almost turning his part-time job into his full-time job during his four years at university. Although the tools were not handy, the process was different, and people exhaled and moved occasionally, he still completed the task perfectly - without any fancy tricks, he just covered up the dark circles and acne marks left by staying up late to play games, and simply evened out the skin tone, and the result was a white, tender and plump glutinous rice ball that looked very peaceful and refreshed.

There is no way. After all, the foundation is there. No matter how superb Qing Bai's skills are, he can't turn the glutinous rice balls into noodles.

Fortunately, Tangyuan Benyuan didn't mind, and was even overjoyed. He looked at himself in the mirror happily and boasted about himself, which made the other two straight male roommates who had never seen the world also eager to try.

So at the graduation ceremony, dormitory 444 successfully stood out among the group of simple and acne-prone male college students. Their four-year college life reached its peak on this last day.

In Qi Xiaopang's words: One quarter is his brother's natural beauty, and the remaining three quarters are all thanks to his brother's miraculous healing...

After the excitement, the triumphant Qi Xiaopang found Qing Bai, who was drowsy and surrounded by bouquets of flowers.

When the crowd dispersed, he finally asked out loud the worry that had been weighing on his heart: "Brother Qing, what's going on with your work?"

Qing Bai, who was huddled in the corner of the auditorium, slowly raised his eyes. The half of his face exposed under the light looked like a magnolia with its buds gathered in the night, white and quiet.

"It's nothing, I just scattered the ashes in the furnace and sent the leader to jail." He said softly.