Chapter 1: I’m Not the Protagonist
The room was terrifyingly silent.
It was just a single room, barely a dozen square meters. The space was cramped; a bed and a desk alone made it feel crowded. On the desk sat a bowl of freshly made instant noodles, chopsticks resting neatly across the center. Steam rose from the just-prepared meal.
The occupant of this space, even if not desperately poor, was certainly not wealthy. Anyone with real money wouldn’t put up with living in a place like this.
Outside, a relentless knocking echoed, accompanied by a heavy, woman’s voice, devoid of any friendliness. Her tone was aggressive and demanding.
“Girl, you’re two months behind on rent! You need to pay up today. I know you’re in a tough spot, but you can’t just not pay. I have to live too, you know. Hey, if you’re in there, open the door, Yu!”
The landlady’s voice from beyond the door was like a horn from hell, sending chills down one’s spine.
A slender, blonde girl crouched by the wall, covering her ears, trying her best to ignore the landlady’s voice. She huddled, pretending not to hear.
Of course, the girl knew it was wrong to be in debt. Did she not know rent was due? She was just having some… difficulties.
“Yu Linna! I let you stay here because you were all alone, but if you keep dragging your feet on the rent, I swear I’ll kick you out, you hear me!”
The girl kept her ears covered, ignoring it all.
She crouched in the corner, hugging herself, ignoring the landlady’s voice. If she responded now, she’d be finished. With her current resources, there was absolutely no way she could produce the rent money.
She didn’t know how long she waited. Perhaps the landlady had tired herself out shouting. The voice gradually faded, until finally, it was completely gone. Maybe the landlady had left.
The blonde girl slowly stood up, her legs nearly numb from crouching for so long. She returned to her desk. The instant noodles from earlier were no longer steaming; they were cold. But for this impoverished girl, those noodles were her lifeline. Not eating meant starving. She didn’t care about the temperature; she quickly sat down and started eating. The noodles were cold, but the gnawing emptiness in her stomach was growing stronger.
After finishing the bowl, the hunger pangs remained, though they were less intense than before.
“Sigh…”
So hungry…
The girl’s stomach wasn’t satisfied at all. She wanted more.
If only one bowl of instant noodles could fill her up. But she couldn’t complain. Having even one bowl was already pretty good. After eating, she went to her drawer and took out her wallet. Opening it, she saw only 500 yuan left. This amount was nowhere near enough to cover all the rent she owed. Even if she paid half, the remaining money wouldn’t last her through the month.
She turned, looking at herself in the mirror, and picked up a comb.
Golden hair cascaded down, a hair clip holding back the ends. Her pale, delicate face looked like you could take a bite out of it. Her blue eyes held a weary look, the weariness of someone burdened by life. The girl’s complexion was sallow, not very healthy, and her body wasn’t particularly well-developed. She looked like a middle school student, even though she was already in her final year of high school.
Yu Linna put down the comb, tidied her hair, and found a simple outfit in her wardrobe to change into. Today was another difficult day, but she had to get through it.
Actually, Yu Linna was originally male. Correctly speaking, she was male in her previous life, but her male identity tragically ended when she was ten years old. She couldn’t remember exactly what happened. She vaguely recalled drowning in a river while swimming when she was still a boy, and then she was reborn in this world. Because of the accident in her childhood, her memories were hazy, and she couldn’t remember much of her past.
Regarding her previous life, she only remembered drowning while swimming at the age of ten, along with some scattered fragments.
Also, the memories of the first part of her 17 years in this life were also unclear. She couldn’t remember anything before the age of 5 or 6. According to the adults, her brain had suffered a severe injury, and she had lost many memories. There was nothing that could be done.
The greatest stroke of luck was that her name in this world, her memory of it, remained. She hadn’t lost it.
Yu Linna. That was her name in this life.
She had originally thought that after being reborn, she would arrive in a world like those in novels, a world of superpower battles or a city filled with martial arts masters. But the reality was that this was just an ordinary world. There were no so-called superpowers, no monsters, only the unchanging reality.
Because this was a real world, not a fantasy world, the girl had to face reality. For example, right now, if she didn’t find a job, she would really have to sleep on the streets.
Closing the door and locking it, Yu Linna tiptoed out, afraid of running into the landlady. As soon as she left the apartment complex, she breathed a sigh of relief. More than anything, she feared rent collection. She had no money left. Even if she offered her panties, she couldn’t pay the rent.
Yu Linna pulled her jacket tighter around herself and set out alone. First, she had to go to the tutoring center to teach. Of course, not to learn, but to teach others.
Forced by her circumstances, she was currently juggling several part-time jobs, constantly rushing around. And as a high school student preparing for the college entrance exams, she was under double the pressure.
“Sister Qing, sorry I’m late.”
“Why are you so late! Get in there! The little brats are waiting impatiently. Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
Zhou Xiaoqing was a young woman in her twenties who had opened her own tutoring center, taking in young children for tutoring. She had met Yu Linna by chance some time ago. Seeing her difficulties and recognizing her abilities, she hired her to teach at the center. However, since Yu Linna was still a student, she couldn’t work full-time, and her salary was naturally reduced.
But having a stable job was already good enough.
Yu Linna found a rubber band and tied her hair into a ponytail before entering the classroom to teach the children. She had learned art from someone before, so she was quite comfortable with drawing, and teaching children wasn’t difficult.
“Sister Linlin! You’re late!”
“Cough… call me Teacher.”
“You’re late!”
“…Let’s start class.”
With a trace of embarrassment, Yu Linna wanted to ignore them, but the children wouldn’t let her off the hook.
She put on a stern face, trying to intimidate the little rascals, but these kids were rascals, and they weren’t afraid of her at all. These little brats probably saw that she was the youngest among the teachers at the tutoring center, and quite young at that, so they weren’t afraid of her and did whatever they wanted. Plus, Yu Linna was only part-time, not an official teacher, so she had no authority to discipline them.
“Alright, everyone, get your pencils and erasers ready. Today, we’re going to draw our moms and dads. Draw your moms and dads as you see them, and then hand them in to me.”
“Sister Linlin, Sister Linlin, when will you come next time?!”
“Let’s focus on class, be good!”
These kids weren’t listening at all! She had told them it was time for class, and they were still messing around with her. Where was her authority?!
Yu Linna tried to put on a stern face, pretending to be angry. She knew that usually, when she made this face in her own class, practically no one dared to come within three feet of her.
But she miscalculated. These little brats weren’t afraid at all.
“When you come next time, can you draw us a picture? You drew a picture just for Lili last time, it’s so unfair! We want one too!”
“Yeah, we want one too!”
“Me too!”
“No talking, focus on class!”
Seriously…
Yu Linna had a headache. What should she do with a class full of brats…?
Even though she wasn’t an official teacher, just a part-timer, it was still tiring. If it weren’t for that pathetically small salary, she wouldn’t want to deal with these kids.
Besides, she was already two months behind on rent. If she didn’t start working, she really would be sleeping on the streets.
Fortunately, the weekend curriculum wasn’t difficult, it was relatively easy, and Yu Linna could rest during the breaks between classes. Just in time, Zhou Xiaoqing wanted to talk to her.
“Linna, come here for a moment.”
“What is it, Sister Qing?”
Yu Linna had a lot of respect for this boss of hers. After all, she was the one who had given her a job opportunity. Otherwise, she would have starved to death on the streets.
“I know you’ve moved up to your senior year, and you don’t have much time to come here lately. But I’m short-staffed, so please come a bit more.”
“Sister Qing, that’s a bit difficult… I have two other part-time jobs to do, I really can’t find the time…”
Yu Linna smiled apologetically, trying to smooth things over.
“But…”
“The little devils are calling for me, Sister Qing, I have to go, bye~”
Yu Linna ran away as if escaping. She didn’t want to get into any more trouble right now. If she couldn’t refuse and ended up offending someone, it wouldn’t be worth it. Zhou Xiaoqing was her boss, after all. If she really gave her an order, could she really avoid it?
“You little punk!”
Zhou Xiaoqing, seeing her escape, couldn’t help but mutter a curse.
Yu Linna could only silently apologize in her heart. Sorry, it’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s that I don’t have time. Anyway, right now, Yu Linna was completely focused on money. She wouldn’t do anything that was tiring and unrewarding, especially if it didn’t pay.
She just opened the classroom door and went in, and then a blackboard eraser fell from above, hitting her in the face. The powdery taste, and the feeling of being covered in it, was truly sour and refreshing.
“Hahaha, Sister Linlin got hit!”
Yu Linna picked up the blackboard eraser, touching her face. She was this close to crushing the eraser in her hand.
“You little brats!!!”
“Run away!!!”
The little rascals scattered like a swarm of bees. An angry girl was a terrifying thing.
The impoverished girl was still very unlucky today, but it wasn’t exactly sad. Yu Linna’s motto was to find joy in hardship.
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