Chapter 24: Moving into the Hotel to Start a New Life

Her mom came home from work and saw the living room, then continued arguing.

Ye Nai watched indifferently, feeling that the outcome with her grandparents living there wouldn't change. If her mom was really angry, she should have just kicked her dad out of the house. Just arguing without taking action, no matter how fierce, was insincere.

Moreover, their bickering didn't affect their appetite for dinner at all.

Late at night, when the entire family was sound asleep and sleeping in the kitchen, Ye Nai silently got up, organized the items she had bought for the house during the day, then opened the box under the dining table, which contained her clothes, books, and miscellaneous items. She packed everything into "Space", and then went back to sleep.

Woken by her alarm early in the morning, earlier than usual, Ye Nai swiftly made her bed, brushed her teeth, washed her face, then put her toothbrush and towel into "Space". She made breakfast, collected the clothes that had dried on the balcony, carefully checked that no personal items were left at home, put on her shoes, placed the house keys on the shoe rack, and left.

Her parents and younger siblings woke up at their usual time. Initially, no one noticed that the eldest daughter was missing and assumed she had gone to the market early. Yu Qing had breakfast and went to work, even thinking that Ye Nai had forgotten to take her keys when he saw them on the shoe rack.

The men left at home made do with steamed buns for lunch. In the evening when his wife returned home and couldn't find any of the eldest daughter's belongings, the family realized that Ye Nai had left home and had taken all her possessions with her.

That morning, after Ye Nai made breakfast and left, street vendors were just starting to set up their breakfast stalls. She bought and ate along the way, purchasing extra servings of delicious items to store in "Space".

In this way, she ate and walked until she reached the only technical college in town. The timing was perfect to pay and sign up for a beginner's computer class. The course was half-day sessions spread over two weeks, or it could be completed in one week if attended full time.

Ye Nai naturally chose one week.

She paid and started the class immediately. In the computer lab, she spent the morning learning what a computer is, how the drives in the computer are partitioned, how to rename a drive, how to select an input method, and how those who couldn't type could enter a typing program to learn.

After class, she checked into a nearby motel. Since elementary school, when she began sleeping in the living room, it was finally a return to a normal bed.

It was truly comfortable.

Looking around, she imagined what a rented room would be like.

She wanted to rent a small single room like the standard rooms in the motel, perfectly sized with a private bathroom. Even if it only had a squat toilet with no hot water, it would be okay as long as she was allowed to use an induction cooker to heat water. Mainly, it was a place all to herself, quiet with no one else coming and going.

Sitting on the bed in her room, she first took out the SIM card from her student card phone and installed it into her dual-network, rugged phone, setting the small phone aside.

Then she opened the online courses on her phone and looked up the process to change her household registration. It was very simple; she found the portal to change registration, submitted an application first, took a photo of her household registration page and uploaded it to the system. After waiting for approval, she could then go to the police station to hand in her registration page. With a few operations in the registry system, she could then see her collective household electronic file in her personal backend.

Ye Nai immediately took a photo, uploaded her application to change registration, ordered takeout for lunch, took a nap, and then continued with her class in the afternoon.

After the afternoon class, she resolved dinner on the street and began online shopping when she returned to the motel.

The afternoon computer class was about how to shop online. Following step-by-step guidance, Ye Nai created accounts on several mainstream online shopping platforms and installed the corresponding apps on her phone.

She hadn't had time to meticulously explore the products of interest during class, but now she had no reservations. With money in hand, she spent the night indulging in shopping.

She planned to stay here for a week, which was just enough time to gather a batch of deliveries.

Just as she was about to start browsing on her phone, her mom called. At that moment, her family had searched the entire house, confirming that Ye Nai had left.

"Just gave you money the day before yesterday, and you're leaving today?"

"Yeah, left."

"Where are you now?"

"In a motel."

"Which motel?"

"A motel in Zone 2, checking it out, see if I can stay here, if not, I'll keep looking." Ye Nai bluffed as if she knew what she was talking about.

"What do you mean? You're just moving trash, where can't you do that? Why so picky?"

"The old folks band together to form gangs now, of course, I have to be careful. Why should I stick around where I'm not welcomed? Do you think I was born servile?"

Her mom went silent for a moment then changed the subject when she spoke again.

"You were leaving and you didn't even tell us, we thought you had disappeared."

"Whatever I do, you have something to say. You gave me the money, I left, what's there to be dissatisfied about? Do you really enjoy seeing me sleeping in the kitchen every day? Am I really your child? Do you despise me that much? You won't be happy until I jump off a building in front of you? If I do jump, I'll make sure to push you all off first, and I won't let anyone survive."

"Ye Nai!" Her mom yelled, shocked over the phone.

"I'm tired after a whole day, speak if you have business, otherwise, I'm hanging up."

"Alright, fine, just be careful out there on your own," she replied.

Her mom quickly hung up, and just before the line went dead, Ye Nai heard the faint sounds of her parents arguing in the background.

Ye Nai switched back to the online shopping page, continuing to shop with focus, not caring at all about how her parents' argument turned out, even if they fought it out violently, it wasn't her concern.

She first bought a few large storage boxes, mainly to store bedding for all seasons. With her 2000 cubic meters of space, she also had to prepare for shelving, and of course, she intended to use the 10 meters of height.

She decided to buy the shelves locally, but while browsing the shopping app, she found some sturdy pipe garment racks. After visiting several stores, she compared prices and bought the largest size available in six racks, four for each season's clothing, and two for work clothes. Clothes worn for garbage disposal were definitely not to be hung with regular daily wear.

She also wanted to visit the furniture market to buy a few drawer cabinets, useful for storing smaller garments or miscellaneous items. Once she rented a place, setting up the racks and cabinets would be easy, making moving a breeze.

The next morning, while in class, she received a notification that her household registration transfer was approved, reminding her to complete the rest of the process at the police station responsible for her domicile within a week.

Luckily she finished class early, Ye Nai took a taxi to the police station. There, she presented her household page, Awakening Badge, and the personal backend on her phone. In just a few minutes, the rest of the procedures were completed, her household page was stamped and taken back, her address was transferred to the collective household of the Awakener Center, just awaiting their final review and acceptance.

After completing this significant task, Ye Nai felt much lighter. During that week, she stayed in the small motel. Aside from going to classes, she went nowhere else; she relied entirely on food delivery, and the parcels she received were numerous.

The front desk had known she was an Awakener the first time they saw how the boxes on the floor vanished with a mere touch of her hand, and they turned a blind eye to everything she did. Seeing her going to the community college every day, they guessed she was there for a short-term course and didn't want to meddle, abandoned any thoughts of small talk or building a relationship.