Chapter 18: Without family support, one can only struggle on their own

Ye Nai had never considered the three stable dangerous districts; after all, when she had looked up rental information earlier, she was interested in the low rent near the Plane Channel. Just 2000 yuan could cover the deposit and three months' rent for a small single room with a bathroom—and there was nothing this cheap in the city.

Now that she knew, if one dared to take risks, there were lucrative jobs available on that side, and Ye Nai was truly itching to try them out. When she worked, she was even more motivated.

That day, after finishing work and on the bus back to the city, all the students were chirping about whether to look for other jobs next month or to continue with garbage disposal in another dangerous district.

"It's getting hotter every day, I'm just taking it one day at a time now, I don't know if I can last the whole month."

"Yeah, it's going to be even hotter in July and August, plus wearing protective clothing, it's like death."

"I could go on, but if we shift to another dangerous district, the journey is farther, and spending all that time on the road every day is just not worth it."

"Right, if we keep doing this, we'll have to think about renting a place outside."

"Renting, guys, was last month's income enough to cover the rent?"

"The rent was enough, but there was no money left for food."

"Me too."

"Ah, there's no way to make a living."

"Yeah, when will these rotten days end?"

Ye Nai sat in the last row of the bus; she was the only one left from her class and didn't join in the discussion. After all, the information she was interested in was indeed full of danger. She had a superpower and was willing to take risks, but her classmates were all ordinary people. She couldn't lead them astray. If they really had any ideas, smart people would take the initiative to ask the staff for information; no need for anyone else to say much.

Once back in the city, Ye Nai transferred to a bus to go shopping at the supermarket. She bought soap, detergent, and meat, eggs, and milk. She would rest at home the next day and accompany her father to the hospital with her mother for a checkup to see if the cast could be removed.

She had contributed 250 yuan for living expenses at home in May, which had already been recorded in the family ledger. She would spend from here first, and after that was gone, she would ask her mother for money.

This was the advantage of mobile payments; the accounting was more precise. Anyway, for family shopping and the like, her mother completely stopped worrying about it.

The next morning, the family of three went to the hospital. After the checkup and X-rays, the recovery looked good, and the cast was immediately taken off. They even bought a pair of used crutches, ankle and leg braces, and a brand-new pair of hard-soled athletic shoes, so her father could slowly practice walking at home.

Once home, Ye Nai forcefully carried her father into the bathroom and placed him on a stool. Her mother then thoroughly helped him bathe, especially scrubbing off the thick dirt from his legs, which had been in a cast for over a month.

After the bath, Ye Nai still carried her father, wrapped in a towel, out to the bedroom and laid him on the bed.

The amazing strength shown by the eldest daughter surprised her parents considerably.

"Did you get this strength from hauling trash every day?"

"Yeah, a hundred pounds of trash bags every day, it would be strange not to get stronger after working till now."

Ye Nai rolled up her short sleeves and flexed her arm to show off her biceps.

The muscles were smooth and defined, firm, filled with tremendous power.

This wasn't just built up; it was also nourished daily by the continuous energy feedback from the lovely Fungus. Anyway, after a month, carrying those hundred-pound bags felt much lighter than it did at the beginning.

Her mother, Yu Qing, touched her daughter's muscles incredulously, then followed the muscle down to the upper arm and across the chest and back, discovering that the skin her fingers touched was all firm. It was sturdy muscle built up from pure manual labor.

"With all these muscles, do you still look like a girl?" her mother exclaimed, finding it hard to accept.

"I'm XX chromosomed, how am I not a girl? Does building muscles change chromosomes? If I didn't have these muscles, how would I earn money? Could I find a job in the city? Or are you going to pay for me to take a two-year college skill training class?"

Ye Nai's expression changed rapidly, first innocent and perplexed, then her face lit with joy. Anticipatory eyes moved back and forth across her parents' faces, seemingly waiting for them to nod in agreement to send her back to school.

Upon hearing this, the expressions on her parents' faces were perfectly aligned.

"Oh dear, didn't we agree that if you wanted to continue your studies, you'd earn the money yourself, and we wouldn't oppose it?"

Ye Nai shrugged, "Then why do you despise my muscles? Without these muscles, I couldn't even make money."

If her parents were willing to pay for her to continue studying full-time, she would definitely prefer to study and obtain a professional certificate.

They were not keen, and she didn't press the issue; she already had an idea of what to do next.

"Money, money, money, you only think about money."

"You say that as if you could live without money."

Ye Nai rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

Yu Qing slapped her husband's shoulder in frustration, "Look at your daughter!"

Her husband shook his head helplessly, "She's making her own money now and has become headstrong. We can't control her anymore."

"She's trained herself to look like this, how can we ever set her up for a blind date in the future? How many men would like their wife to be all muscle?"

"What can I do about it? If she doesn't do this job, can you arrange work for her?"

"I'm just a low-level accountant, how could I have that ability? Why don't you arrange a job for your daughter? She bears the surname Ye, not my surname Yu."

"I'm also out of options. My electrical team is lacking people, but we still don't hire women. If my two sons are willing to learn electric work in the future, then I could bring them into the trade."

As the couple talked, it all amounted to helpless gestures and stares. Their modest social status could only assure their own wages and benefits, and nothing more.

At this time, Ye Nai was busy in the kitchen. With her significantly enhanced physical condition, she could hear her parents' conversation in the bedroom loud and clear.

Her heart remained undisturbed.

The next day, she went to work as usual. At the shuttle bus stop, she noticed that even fewer people had come today, only half a bus-full.

"Let me find out, why are there so few people today? What happened yesterday?" Ye Nai casually asked a girl.

"It was extremely hot yesterday. Several people collapsed in the morning alone. We stopped and pulled out at noon. Despite using cooling patches and taking medicine, we couldn't withstand it; it was unbearable, and we were afraid of collapsing ourselves." The other person looked Ye Nai up and down, "I don't think I saw you yesterday. Didn't you come?"

"Right, I had something to take care of at home. So, what's the plan for today? Half a day as well?"

"I don't know, we'll see how the weather goes."

"Okay then."

After arriving at the hazardous area, as soon as they got off the bus, the students were dazzled by the glaring sunlight, unable to open their eyes. As they walked along the long street towards the end, they felt sweat forming on their bodies.

"This is bad, today seems even hotter."

"Should we just work half a day then? Call it quits at noon?"

The students discussed as they walked, gradually coming to an agreement.

As usual, Ye Nai first made a stop at the public toilet to stick a cooling patch inside her clothes, then went through the inspections to enter the shack and put on her protective suit.

Once that airtight suit was on her body, she felt a wave of stuffiness, but thankfully, with the cooling patches and the influence of her superpower, her body adapted soon after. Pushing the handcart, she could carry three bags at a time, running and walking, her efficiency undiminished.