Chapter 68: The Care from Seniors
By the time I returned to my bedroom, it was already very late.
I didn’t even have time to take a proper shower and just lay down on the bed, still carrying a faint scent of incense, and fell asleep right away.
When I opened my eyes again, it was almost noon.
“Ah~u~”
I let out a long yawn and squeezed out a glistening little pearl with my eyes closed.
“Is it already this late?”
I picked up my phone on the bedside table to check the time; it was already past nine, almost ten.
At this time, the bakery should be entering its slacking-off time, right?
Even though I had slept through this long, I still felt a bit tired, but after washing up, I felt much more awake.
I changed into a new dress and took a quick shower; today was going to be another full of energy day!
Although it seemed that I promised Sister Bai last night to go for a flying license exam, I was too sleepy at the time to remember what I said.
Since Sister Bai wasn’t in such a hurry to find me, it wouldn’t interfere with my ability to earn some money now.
Yesterday, I witnessed what it meant to spend money like water; just a simple experience of meditation drained nearly all my savings.
And that was under the condition that I succeeded; most people probably wouldn’t succeed on their first try. Just thinking about the expenses during this period makes me feel pained.
So I need to work harder to earn money!
When I originally had no concept of money, I thought working part-time at the bakery was pretty good, but as soon as I got involved in the extraordinary, I found that my money wasn’t enough.
That’s really giving me a headache.
Walking down the street, I looked at the messages I sent to the seniors yesterday; they should know that I might be a bit late today.
I didn’t pay attention yesterday, and now I see that my message was sent early yesterday morning, and they replied, but sadly I didn’t see it. It seems like the seniors are also faithful night owls.
Too bad my biological clock hasn’t adapted to this nightlife yet; I experienced it yesterday and ended up sleeping until now.
Even now, I still feel a bit drowsy.
Moreover, I didn’t tell the seniors why I would be late today, so I should explain it to them well, since it was about my first meditation; they shouldn’t have any issues with that.
But thinking of this made my stomach growl; I wonder if they’re still serving bread at this hour. Even something simple would be nice, although I think I should skip on the seniors’ dark cuisine.
Upon arriving at the store, as expected, there weren’t many customers.
“Senior, I’m here~” I pushed open the glass door and politely said.
Since I wasn’t here, the one busy outside was Ying Shiqian.
But I didn’t see Tang Yihan; she must be back trying to improve the new dessert again, right?
I hope she doesn’t come up with any more dark cuisine.
“Oh~ Xiao Han~ It was so tough for me without you here in the morning.”
Seeing me come in, Ying Shiqian rushed over as if we hadn’t seen each other in ages.
“Eh? It hasn’t been long, has it? Surely you can’t be serious?”
“Of course it has! That Tang Yihan, she recreated that horrible thing from yesterday, saying she modified some auxiliary ingredients, but it tasted even worse than yesterday!” Ying Shiqian seemed to have found a vent to complain to me.
I felt a bit embarrassed; after all, I couldn’t help her with her grievances.
“What horrible thing? How did my masterpiece turn into that in your mouth?”
At this moment, a figure came from the back, it was Tang Yihan, who came out to see what was happening outside.
“Xiao Han is here too. I saw the message you sent last night; did something happen?”
“Ah… nothing much, I just tried meditation yesterday, and it delayed me a bit. My biological clock isn’t adjusted yet, so I’ve been catching up on sleep in the morning,” I quickly explained.
“Meditation, huh? That indeed consumes a lot of energy. How does it feel? Does it seem hard to get into? No worries, every new student goes through this; just take your time.”
After hearing my explanation, Tang Yihan seemed to understand and spoke to me in a comforting tone.
“Right, I said I would look for books on meditation and ceremonies. Better to believe than to not believe, right? Preparing more is never wrong,” Ying Shiqian chimed in at that time.
“Thank you for your concern, seniors. I do feel a bit lost; meditation is truly something that relies on insight,” I said, going along with the flow, since my improvised behavior made me question whether it counted as meditation, and I didn’t know others’ experiences of meditation either.
However, even with different methods, the objective was achieved, so there wasn’t really any problem; just like I am now.
As I spoke, I arrived at the locker room to check in and change.
The enjoyable part-time work time has arrived!
No… it should be slacking-off time.
“Xiao Han~ I’m here to chat with you again~ Didn’t you say yesterday that you were going to try meditation? As a member of our bakery, I, as your senior, naturally need to take care of you, so this is my extra stock from yesterday. Think of it as a gift~”
At this moment, Ying Shiqian had deviated from her usual slacking-off attitude and came directly to me. But thinking about it, there wasn’t much to do here, and if they wanted to chat, besides me, she had no other choice.
Moreover, she was holding a very exquisite box, and with that “long-awaited” expression, it felt like she was showing me some kind of treasure.
Looking at the box, it was very familiar; I was so familiar with it that I could not be more familiar—it was the box containing the incense from the aromatherapy shop yesterday!
Only it was considerably larger than the one I bought.
“A gift? Are you giving this to me, Senior?” I watched as she placed the box on the counter and pushed it toward me.
“Yeah~ these are all high-quality incense, not many, but it’s my heartfelt intention~ Don’t think about refusing it.”
Ying Shiqian grabbed my hand and, in my surprised gaze, stuffed the box into my palm.
“But just receiving something from you for no reason seems too…” I hesitantly said. After all, I had seen the price of incense, and this box was much larger than the one I bought yesterday; it should be worth several hundred, right?
“No worries, consider it an investment for you to start meditation early!”
“I know about your good intentions…” I listened to what she said, then opened the box of incense. The incense inside was packaged quite well; just the quantity alone was at least several times more than the portion I bought yesterday!
The incense here was at least worth over a thousand!
I probably haven’t earned that much money in the bakery yet?
“Then you must accept it~” Ying Shiqian insisted, stubbornly unaware of my awkward expressions.
“But I can already meditate.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I can already meditate, otherwise why would I stay up so late yesterday?” I looked at Ying Shiqian’s face that shifted from disbelief to confusion and then to shock, finally resembling a young girl whose feelings were toyed with—it was really amusing!
Cough… um! I misspoke; it was really too awkward!
So from the start, I had no intention of hiding this fact; after all, if you have this talent but don’t show it, how would others know you’re a genius?
In my shallow understanding, the extraordinary world is like this; within a system of order, only by proving one’s own value can one obtain more resources, touch more permissions, and explore the unknown.
