Chapter 48 Starting a New Life: I can no longer live the life of an ordinary person...
Three months later.
The bright sunlight shone through the lush green trees.
The sweltering summer air permeated the air.
Just as everything began suddenly, everything also ended suddenly.
Before I could even react, everything suddenly changed.
After being shot through the chest and abdomen by arrows, I suddenly returned to real life.
It felt like I had slept for a very long time. When I woke up, I realized that I had been unconscious for quite some time.
That day, I was hit on the head with a brick by a mental patient who had sneaked out while the nurses were not paying attention. I immediately lost consciousness and was rushed to a general hospital for emergency treatment after being discovered.
The parents were devastated, and the family of the mentally ill patient subsequently filed a lawsuit. After the first trial, the guardian of the mentally ill patient was ordered to pay all medical expenses, and the hospital was also ordered to pay a portion of the costs due to negligence. Neither party appealed.
I was discharged from the hospital soon after waking up and began to live a normal life, returning to school to continue my studies.
I rented a small single room off-campus.
I'm unlikely to adapt to the lively dormitory life again, nor do I want to have heart-to-heart talks with people my own age.
In addition, I had previously retired due to illness, which was also due to mental health issues. Even with a hospital certificate of recovery, the school still required me to live with my guardian.
But I'm still grateful to the school—it's good enough that they didn't expel me.
Time flies, and I'm already a senior in college.
My cousin, who now lives in the United States, never talks about her past madness over the male protagonist in the novel, and I rarely contact her either. I haven't gone back to that hospital for a follow-up appointment—I'm a little afraid something might happen again.
After graduating from university, I went around looking for jobs with my resume and diploma, but I kept running into walls.
Without excellent internship experience, not graduating from a 985 or 211 university, and not studying a popular major, it's difficult for me to find a satisfactory job.
My Bachelor of Arts degree is practically a poison pill when it comes to finding a job. This kind of major is like a jack-of-all-trades; you can apply it to anything, but it's not specialized enough.
I had no choice but to bite the bullet and head north or south.
Under the scorching sun, I squeezed onto the Beijing subway during the morning rush hour, riding the Batong Line, Line 1, and Line 5, being desperately pushed into the crowded carriages by the throngs of people.
This is the life of an ordinary person: no castle, no guards, no floor-to-ceiling windows, and certainly no sweet prince to have dinner with.
I walked through Jianguomen, Dongzhimen, and Xizhimen, and also went to Wangjing, Shangdi, and Haidian Huangzhuang, and participated in several interviews, but either they didn't like me, or I didn't like them.
Three months later, I returned home disappointed.
After resting at home for half a month, I went to Shanghai again.
Shanghai is a busy and bustling city. The subway during rush hour is still hard to get used to, and even driving can be as congested as in Beijing.
I submitted my resume to several companies and attended a few interviews, but all of them ended up disappearing without a trace.
Perhaps failure is the norm in life, and success is "abnormal"—just accept it.
Finally, I got tired and applied for a waiter position at a coffee shop on Huaihai Road with my high school diploma in hand, just because it provided meals and accommodation and I could occasionally take a walk along the Huangpu River.
I also like this coffee shop; it has a very artsy and sophisticated atmosphere, which is exactly the kind of ambiance I like.
I originally thought I could work there for a year, but I ended up resigning in less than six months.
No matter how beautiful the river view or how rich the artistic atmosphere, it can't compare to being unhappy at work.
I had difficulty finding common ground with my colleagues, and coupled with disagreements with my boss, I resigned and returned home after six months.
When I got home, I decided to use all my savings to travel abroad.
"I plan to do what some travel enthusiasts do: work for a while in each country I visit, earn enough money to travel to the next country, and then continue my journey," I told my parents.
Mom and Dad were stunned.
"Why don't you take the postgraduate entrance exam? You can find a good job after graduation," Dad said.
"Why don't we look for a job in this city for a while longer? We're sure to find something suitable," Mom said.
I shook my head. To be honest, I had already received offers from two decent companies while I was in Beijing, but the commute there scared me away, so I moved to Shanghai. While the commute in Shanghai is similar to Beijing's, I could find jobs without commuting, but I didn't stay in those jobs long. More importantly, none of the jobs I applied for or actually did were things I truly enjoyed. I find it hard to imagine spending half my life with them.
After considering it for a week, my parents finally agreed to my idea.
I cried then, crying that I didn't deserve such good parents.
The night before I left, my mother tentatively asked me if I could change my mind, and I shook my head.
"Why are you going through all this trouble?" my mother suddenly asked me.
I was speechless.
My mother doesn't understand why, after experiencing this journey to another world, I feel suffocated whenever I think about going to work, coming home, meeting friends, and possibly going on blind dates, getting married, and having children in the future.
I prefer an adventurous, unknown, and colorful life.
My round-the-world trip began in the nearest country – Thailand.
This was my first time having my own passport, my first time going through airport security, my first time on a plane, my first time eating airplane food, and my first time dragging my suitcase through a long transfer corridor.
These "first times" gave me a feeling of finally being free.
A year has passed in the blink of an eye. I've mainly stayed in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. I've worked illegally in restaurants, as a waitress in a laundromat, sold various tourist products on the beach, and also worked as a temporary tour guide and escort. Although the salary wasn't high, it was enough to cover my rent and meals.
I've almost forgotten about those things in that other world.
At the end of the year, I planned to move to the United States and posted this message on Weibo.
I often post my travel photos, experiences, and travel guides on Weibo, and I've gradually gained quite a few followers.
A notification popped up, indicating an incoming private message. I clicked on it casually, and "Castle Maid" immediately came into view.
"Long time no see. How have you been? I'm sorry I disappeared; I was so scared that I had to leave. If you come to America, could you come visit me at Yale?"
I stared at her ID, lost in thought for a long time.
Suddenly my phone rang; it was my cousin, whom I hadn't been in touch with for a long time.
I pressed the answer button: "Hi, Luna."
"Lanna, if you come to America, can you come and see me?" Luna's cousin asked.
"No... I really want to." I hesitated.
"Are you scared? I'm scared too, but only by facing our fears can we start living again."
"I'll think about it."
I hung up the phone and collapsed onto the bed. God, should I not have gone to America?
But I went anyway two months later. I didn't want to cancel my American art trip because of these two people; I still wanted to visit art galleries and museums of all sizes across the United States.
But instead of meeting my cousin, I met the castle maid at a café next to Yale.
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Author's Note: One more chapter today!
—Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 16:48:05 on December 15, 2020 and 14:12:39 on December 16, 2020!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: there is one plus-size men's pants available;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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