Got Tricked!

After finally reaching level 3 in music skills, Xia Yu couldn't wait to apply for a job at the coffee shop on the corner. However, today was Thursday, and he still had classes to attend.

It took a while for today's courses to be completed, but the class leader kept everyone together afterward.

"Next week is the cultural festival, so we must decide on our class program today. I have six proposals in my hands. I'll read them out and then we'll vote." The class leader began reading with the project plan in hand.

The six proposals were: a maid cafe, a male waiter cafe, an after-school tutoring class, breakup experience, wall-slapping experience, and a jump rope competition.

The maid cafe and male waiter cafe were the only popular ones, and the others were there just to make up the numbers. The after-school tutoring class was a plan Xia Yu wrote randomly to deal with students asking him to sign for the maid cafe and male waiter cafe.

Knowing that the classmates were only interested in the plan titles and not in the content, the class leader read them quickly, and in three minutes, the voting began.

To prevent outside influences, the voting used anonymous slips of paper. Two minutes later, the class leader collected the slips and counted them with the help of the literature and art committee member.

After about ten seconds, Xia Yu saw the class leader's face turn odd.

The class leader coughed twice, and then began to announce the votes.

"Maid cafe, twelve votes."

Xia Yu thought: There are forty people in the class, twelve votes are a bit less. Is male waiter cafe the winner?

"Male waiter cafe, twelve votes."

It was also twelve votes? A draw would be difficult to handle. How could the other four proposals, designed for padding, get sixteen votes?

The class leader continued:

"Breakup experience, one vote."

"Wall-slapping experience, one vote."

"Jump rope competition, one vote."

At this point, Xia Yu and the other classmates panicked. The other four proposals had sixteen votes, but three of them only had one vote. It meant that the last one had thirteen votes?

And the last project was…

"After-school tutoring class, thirteen votes."

"Well, our class program is now determined to be the after-school tutoring class."

The students began to wail:

"No way! I just didn't want to vote for the maid or the male waiter, so I randomly picked one!"

"Same here, who would vote for after-school tutoring? I just voted for fun!"

"I just wanted to support Xia Yu!"

"It's all over now."

Everyone in the class looked at Xia Yu.

"Should we vote again?" Xia Yu tried to correct the timeline.

"No need, after all, maids and male servants are quite boring, not as interesting as a tutoring class."

"We can give those guys a scare!"

"..."

Watching his inexplicably excited classmates, Xia Yu rubbed his forehead.

As long as they were happy.

The matter had come to an end, and he stood up, left the classroom, and headed for the coffee shop at the street corner.

There was already someone at the convenience store to replace Xia Yu, and the manager asked him to come and collect his salary on Sunday, so he was now free.

He took the subway to the next stop and walked for five more minutes to reach his destination. The coffee shop was in the middle of the street.

Looking at the six characters on the sign, "Street Corner Coffee Shop," Xia Yu walked in.

"Welcome, how many people?" a female student dressed in a servant's uniform approached Xia Yu.

"I'm here to apply for a job," Xia Yu said.

"Huh?" The girl was surprised, "but we're only short of piano masters."

Seeing that Xia Yu was a high school student, she thought he was interested in the job of a servant.

"Then I didn't make a mistake." Xia Yu was not at all surprised by the girl's doubt. If he wasn't doubted, it would be abnormal.

"I'm sorry, the manager is in the back, I'll take you there." The girl led Xia Yu to the break room inside the coffee shop.

A young man was sitting in a chair playing on his phone.

After a brief explanation between the girl and the young man, she left, leaving Xia Yu and the man alone in the room.

The young man took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked suspiciously at Xia Yu. "I should make it clear in advance that I don't care about certificates here. I am also a piano player myself, and what I care about is practical skills, okay?"

"Sure." Xia Yu nodded.

"So, what level is your certificate?" the young man asked.

"None," Xia Yu said.

"Huh?" the young man widened his eyes.

"Didn't you say you don't care about certificates?" Xia Yu didn't have time to take exams, but fortunately, the young man had dug a hole for him in advance.

"Well, I don't care if I don't care, but you shouldn't have none..." The young man sighed, extinguished his cigarette, and said, "Never mind. There's a piano outside, you go and play it."

Xia Yu walked through the hall and sat at the piano.

The customers in the hall also looked at the new piano teacher.

At this point, the young manager regretted a bit. Nowadays, who learns piano without a certificate? Certificates are the purpose of those guys learning piano.

The high school student in front of him - could it be that he had learned a little piano in music class and thought he could use it to find a job now?

There were quite a few acquaintances in the shop, and if he were to play a couple of wrong notes, he would lose face!

However, it was too late to stop now as the young man had already pressed the first note.

An elegant melody echoed through the hall.

The young man who had stood up, sat down again; this series of melodies had already proven Xia Yu's skills.

Which piece was this?

The wind from the cold valley? The autumn of Reed Name? The treasure carp of the lake?

After listening carefully for a while, the young man opened his mouth in astonishment.

He slapped his thigh:

Damn, it's the Pope's dance maiden!

Among the guests in the hall, a few knowledgeable ones were also astonished, but most of the guests just thought it sounded pleasant, so Xia Yu didn't notice anything wrong.

By the time he finished playing, he put down his hand, somewhat dissatisfied. This was his first time playing the piano using his own body, and some of his movements were stiff. Moreover, this piano didn't have as good a tone as the one in An Siyao's home.

Turning his head, Xia Yu wanted to ask if he could try again, but he saw the young man's face already close to his own.

Immediately, Xia Yu distanced himself from the young man and was just about to ask what was wrong when the young man took his hand.

"Please, stay in my coffee shop." The young man's gaze was sincere.

Xia Yu, who received affirmation, was very pleased, but this marriage proposal-like scene made him feel awkward.

Withdrawing his hand, Xia Yu and the young man went to the break room to discuss hiring issues.

He first told the young man about his schooling situation, and the young man thought for a moment and said:

"From Monday to Friday, work from 3 pm to 5:30 pm; on Saturdays, work from 1 pm to 5:30 pm, with a one-hour break in between; and rest on Sundays."

"Okay, what about the salary?" Xia Yu asked the core question.

"Well, as you know, this is just a small coffee house, so our salary is definitely not as high as that of a big café." The young man said, somewhat embarrassed.

Xia Yu nodded in understanding and lowered his expectation from 4,000 yuan a month to 3,000 yuan.

The young man gave a cost estimate: "So it would be about 8,000 yuan a month."

"How much?" Xia Yu was astonished.

"8,000 is a bit low, but it's only temporary. With you here, I can elevate the style of the café and easily make money from the petty bourgeoisie. With more money coming in, I'll raise your salary." The young man shared his vision for the future with Xia Yu.

Xia Yu fell silent, feeling that something was wrong: "I'm not complaining about the low pay, didn't your recruitment information outside say 'salary negotiable, about 3,000 to 5,000 yuan'? How did it increase so much?"

After hearing Xia Yu's words, the young man was stunned.

He scratched his head and asked Xia Yu, "Let me ask, what do you think your current skill level is?"

"The most difficult piece I can play is the Pope's Dancer, which is a common piece in coffee shops, right?"

Xia Yu was slowly realizing that the reason he thought this way was because he had asked An Siyao before, and the coffee shop An Siyao frequented...

Sure enough, the young man replied, "The Pope's Dancer is indeed a commonly prepared piece, but it's a staple in larger coffee shops, and it's usually only the first and second parts."

"So what are the regular pieces you play in these smaller coffee shops?" Xia Yu asked.

"Gu Da practice pieces, as well as some modern ones, such as Autumn of Weiming, and so on."

"..."

Realizing, he had been misled by An Siyao.

Thinking about his eight-hour, high-intensity piano practice days, Xia Yu felt a sense of bitterness.