【08】The harder you work, the luckier you get. This is the privilege of those who are chosen by fate.
Should we say this junior works hard, plays harder, or strictly adheres to the principle of early morning C and late evening A? According to their intelligence, she had just broken up with a date at a bar the previous night and then went out to a nightclub at 10 o'clock, so she wouldn't be home before midnight. Yet, she showed up at the coffee shop before 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, clutching her laptop and a thick reading list, and sat by the window to study. Seeing her energetic after just a few sips of coffee, her delicate face, even the light makeup was flawlessly applied, Liang Zhiyao, who had been asleep at 10:30 and still felt a little sleepy three hours after waking up, couldn't help but lament the energy gap between people. By her third year at this prestigious university, she had long since discarded stereotypes: the club-loving playboy might be a top student with a near-perfect GPA, or the seemingly spoiled rich kid juggling several interesting side hustles. She always knew there would always be people with a better starting point than her, but she marveled at how those born with a silver spoon in their mouth could still work harder than the average person. When discussing this with Ye Xin, she took a slightly different view: "It's better to say that the harder you work, the luckier you get. This is a privilege granted to those born under heaven." Her sardonic advice made sense: "Don't you think it's precisely because a silver spoon guarantees both effort and reward that these people are so diligent and hardworking? Compared to ordinary people who constantly have to brainwash themselves into believing 'God rewards hard work' and then feel lost in the face of reality, the path ahead for them is quite clear, right? If success were certain, everyone would work hard." While Ye Xin understood this well, she unexpectedly adopted a more relaxed approach. Her family was better off than Liang Zhiyao's before the tragedy, but compared to her biological brother, as a girl, despite being equally intelligent, she never received much in the way of family expectations or encouragement. "Even if I work my ass off to the heavens, I'll never be as honorable as my ancestors in their eyes. It's better to follow my heart and live comfortably," she said. Fortunately, Ye Xin's affluent family background and stunning beauty were enough for her to enjoy many pleasures in life. She wasn't obsessed with achieving more than just personal accomplishments, or becoming the perfect hexagonal warrior. She vaguely felt that Thea was a bit like Ye Xin from a parallel world. While equally beautiful, her personality was far from her roommate's obedient, portraying a different, more independent-minded possibility. The flow of orders in the restaurant paused for a moment, and Liang Zhiyao's long-lost thoughts were interrupted by a burst of noise. They...
Should we say that this junior works hard and plays harder, or that she strictly adheres to the life principle of C in the morning and A in the evening?
According to their information, she had just had a date at a bar last night and ended up breaking up on bad terms, and then went to a nightclub at 10 o'clock. She would not be home before the early morning, but she showed up in the coffee shop on time before 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, holding a computer and a thick reading book, and sat by the window to start studying.
Seeing that the other person was full of energy even though she had only taken a few sips of coffee, and even the light makeup on her delicate face was flawless, Liang Zhiyao, who fell asleep at 10:30 and still felt a little sleepy three hours after getting up, couldn't help but sigh at the energy gap between people.
By her third year at this prestigious school, she had actually long since discarded stereotypes: the nightclub lover might actually be a top student with a near-perfect GPA, while there might also be the seemingly spoiled rich second-generation who was trying several interesting side jobs at the same time.
She has always understood that there will always be people with a higher starting point than herself, but she marvels at the fact that they are born with a silver spoon in their mouths yet can still work harder than ordinary people.
When discussing this with Ye Xin, she expressed a slightly different view: "It's better to say that the harder you work, the luckier you get. This is a privilege enjoyed by those who are chosen by fate."
Her toxic chicken soup for the soul also makes sense: "Don't you think it's precisely because the silver spoon provides a guarantee of both effort and reward that these people are able to work so hard? Compared to ordinary people who have to constantly brainwash themselves into believing 'God rewards hard work' and then feel lost in the face of reality, the path ahead for them is quite clear. If success were certain, everyone would work hard."
Although Ye Xin was well aware of this, she unexpectedly adopted the "lay flat" approach. Her family was better off than Liang Zhiyao's before the tragedy, but compared to her biological brother, as a girl, she had never been given much expectation or encouragement by her family, even though she was equally smart.
"No matter how hard I try to go to heaven, I'm still not as good as Yaozu in their hearts. It's better to follow my heart and live comfortably." This is what she said.
Fortunately, Ye Xin's good family background and stunning beauty are enough for her to enjoy many pleasures in life. She herself is not obsessed with adding icing on the cake in terms of personal achievements and has to become a perfect hexagonal warrior.
She vaguely felt that Thea was a bit like Ye Xin in a parallel world. Although she was equally beautiful, her personality was far from that of her roommate, a good girl. She portrayed another possibility of being more independent.
The flow of orders in the store was interrupted for a while, and Liang Zhiyao's long-wandering thoughts were interrupted by a burst of noise.
Their cafe was usually quiet and popular with students studying on their own, but it was only a little after ten in the morning when a table of unexpected guests arrived. A few boys were gathered playing a party game like UNO, laughing and making loud noises, even exchanging a few curse words.
The quiet coffee shop instantly turned into a noisy board game room, and the few customers sitting in the shop all showed unhappy expressions.
Thea was sitting next to them. She took off her headphones and walked over, frowning as she asked them to turn up the volume, but she only received a perfunctory response. One of them even asked for her number, and the boys around her cheered her on, making her even more proud.
There were only two employees in the store at that time. Liang Zhiyao glanced at the American girl who had worked longer than her next to the coffee machine. The other party shrugged helplessly, indicating that she didn't want to meddle in other people's business.
There was no other way, so she had to chew this hard bone on her own.
As a local and a non-native speaker, four white men and a minority Asian woman, a customer and a part-time waiter, this was probably the most unequal power negotiation she had ever experienced.
Fortunately, these two years of cultural immersion were not in vain - when facing this type of white man with average quality and arrogance, being too friendly usually has no good results. It is not as effective as having a stern face and getting angry.
Liang Zhiyao recalled the sarcastic tone in American TV series and used all his life's knowledge to make himself appear tough and bad-tempered. He launched into a barrage of attacks, asking them to either keep quiet or go somewhere else to play.
The other party was still a freshman, and although their manners were poor and they outnumbered them, they were embarrassed by the staff's dissuasion and left with their drinks. Before leaving, they even had the decency to grab the straw wrapper on the table and throw it into the trash can.
She breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to see Thea looking at her with a smile on her face.
The other party said shockingly: "Senior Zhiyao, I love you to death."
Liang Zhiyao was stunned for a moment: "Hey, do you know me?"
She had seen her in the crowd maybe twice before, but it wasn't until yesterday at the bar that she put Thea's name and face together, and it was from Ye Xin's description that she knew her. She didn't remember any previous interactions between the two of them.
The other person smiled and explained, "It's a one-sided acquaintance—I also took the general education course you were a teaching assistant for. Every time I look at the ments for grading homework, your name appears in the system."
"Oh, I see." It's normal that she didn't pay attention to the class with one or two hundred people.
"I haven't been to this store for a long time. I didn't know you were working part-time here. I wanted to strike up a conversation with you when I was ordering just now, but there were people waiting in line behind me, so I had to give up," she stuck out her tongue. "I didn't expect to be able to strike up a conversation now."
The schoolgirl in front of me was smiling brightly and full of energy, showing no trace of the gloom or dissatisfaction from the breakup of her date the night before.
Liang Zhiyao even started to doubt whether she had recognized the wrong person - maybe the lighting in the bar was too dim and she mistook someone who looked like her?
However, the other party quickly dispelled her doubts.
"I'm Thea, my Chinese name is Liu Siyan," she introduced herself and took out her phone naturally. "Want to add me on WeChat? I love to pick up beautiful women everywhere."
Perhaps because of the preconceived notion of "cool sister Poseidon" as Ye Xin called her, Liang Zhiyao thought that she was a cold and aloof person. Who knew she would be so outgoing and friendly? It took him a long time to recover.
She was stunned for a few seconds before jokingly saying, "Okay, but the TAs are anonymous when they review essays in the system. Even if you add me on WeChat, I can't give you a high score."
Liu Siyan laughed heartily. "Then we should agree on a super uncommon word, one that no normal person would use. The next time you see this code in an article, you'll know it was written by me."
Just like that, in just one weekend, we went from having no connection to becoming WeChat friends of the "male and female Poseidon". I don't know whether I should sigh that fate is wonderful or that the world is changing so quickly.
Liu Siyan was probably the most outgoing of all the international students she had met, and this impression was soon confirmed in practice - just the next day after adding her on WeChat, she suddenly sent an invitation that seemed a bit abrupt to Liang Zhiyao.
"It's my birthday on Saturday, so I'm planning to have a Potluck party at home, where we can all have a meal and sing karaoke together. Any seniors interested in joining us? ^-^"
At the end, it was accompanied by a cute cat emoticon with two big words written on it: "Looking forward to it."
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