Chapter 22: Looking for a Job or Staying Home as a Nanny

"Mom," Ye Nai whispered.

"Yeah, what is it, speak up," her mother replied.

"I just wanted to ask how you'll be arranging your bedroom, and do we have any empty boxes to pack your clothes in?"

"Why should I arrange my bedroom? What are you up to?"

"Oh, dad said the grandparents are coming to stay, he's giving them your bedroom and said you'll sleep in the living room with me."

"Bullshit! He wouldn't dare!" her mom, Yu Qing, inevitably roared over the phone.

"He already agreed, he spent the morning messing up the living room, currently clearing out space."

"When are your grandparents coming?"

"Not sure, probably in the next few days. That's why we need to hurry and tidy up."

"You don't move anything, wait for me to get off work."

"Okay, mom, bye,"

Ye Nai came out of the bathroom and went into her brothers' room; the atmosphere at home was off, with her siblings huddled in this small bedroom, pretending to do homework.

"Listen, don't make a peep if mom and dad argue. If they decide to make you move out of your room for the grandparents, would you be willing?"

Ye Nai whispered a reminder, pleased to see her two brothers frantically shaking their heads.

"If it does fall on you, just tell them the bed only has a bunk up top, and it's hard enough for the grandparents to climb up daily—should an accident happen, you can't take responsibility. Say change the bed or nothing. Got it?"

"Got it." Her brothers immediately nodded, lowering their voices like their sister, "Changing the beds costs money. The best solution is either sleeping in mom and dad's room, sleeping in the living room, or not coming at all, given our home's conditions."

"Right, that's the spirit. If they ask you to clear out your room, demand a bed change. If they really do spend the money, then let it be. No one listens to us at home anyway."

Ye Nai looked up at her brothers' room, a small space with two loft beds, desks underneath, and a wardrobe, leaving just a narrow corridor. With their everyday stuff, if they indeed ended up changing the bed, it would require a major upheaval.

"Dad's leg injury hasn't fully healed; he can barely walk without a cane. If he's the one who has to clear your room, don't lift a finger—he wouldn't be able to, always all talk and no action."

"Mm-hmm," her brothers nodded, smiling broadly.

"You guys focus on your homework in here. You've been on holiday for a few days; how many words have you written for your summer homework? I'm going out for a bit, will bring you back something exciting when I return," Ye Nai said as she patted their heads, resuming a normal volume.

"Sis, I want an ice pop," her little sister tugged at Ye Nai's hand; the brothers' eyes lit up, joining in the coaxing, "Sis, we want some too."

"What flavor? Cream or plain ice?"

"Cream with a crunchy shell,"

"Okay, but I'm checking your homework when I get back; you must catch up to yesterday's,"

"Okay,"

After making sure her siblings were settled, Ye Nai walked into the living room, ignoring her dad, and headed out after changing her shoes.

She ended up wandering around all afternoon. After weighing her options, especially considering her plans to work in a dangerous area, she bought a rugged dual-sim phone for six thousand at a branded store.

A brick-like rugged phone is easy to understand: large battery, strong endurance, powerful chip, large RAM, large storage, water and rain resistant, and if necessary, can be used as a brick to greet someone's head.

Dual-network refers not only to normal network coverage in urban and rural areas but also to the use of mobile phones inside Plane Channels.

This is a unique demonstration of Dahua Country's global leadership in infrastructure capabilities. Even though the country has been devastated, it still retains a portion of its strength. Since there's no way to forcibly close the Plane Channels, they switched strategies, constructing infrastructure like hardened road surfaces and network base stations inside.

After losing most of its farmland and factories, there are few high-end factories today, which is why these phones are produced in small quantities and are expensive.

If you don't buy a dual-network phone, you need to prepare two phones: one that can use a city SIM card and another that can use a Plane Channel SIM card.

Ye Nai didn't want two smartphones. She bought this one right away, took a stroll to the telecom company, got a Secret Realm-specific card, inserted it into her new phone on the spot, and borrowed the store's free Wi-Fi to download and install the Awakener Center APP. She began a general knowledge class.

A class lasts for several tens of minutes. Ye Nai was pressed for time, so she quickly watched it at triple speed. She remembered nothing else, only the words "change household registration." She rewound and took a closer look. It turns out that to facilitate the nationwide movement of Awakeners, one can transfer one's personal household registration to the Awakener Center's collective household, utilizing an electronic file system. In the future, no matter which city you go to, you only need to register online, which also makes it easier for the country to manage.

Ye Nai quietly noted this down, put away her phone, and left.

She hadn't touched her student-style feature phone yet. She hadn't left home and still needed to keep up appearances.

Then, as usual, she went to the supermarket to shop. On her way back, she stopped at the convenience store outside the community to get the popsicles her younger siblings wanted.

Just as she opened the door to her home, she heard her parents arguing in the master bedroom.

Her younger siblings were sitting in the living room. Hearing the door open, they came up to her, took the things from Ye Nai's hands, and cheered at the sight of the popsicles, quickly putting them in the fridge.

Ye Nai didn't ask about her parents' argument, and quietly went to the kitchen to wash her hands and make dinner.

She still didn't feel like cooking, so she blanched the vegetables for a cold dish, chopped up some lean meat for a meat sauce, and cooked a large pot of rice noodles—soup noodles, spicy noodles, whatever flavor you wanted.

Lunch was noodles, and dinner was rice noodles, and her younger siblings had no complaints. The meat was cut small, and the sauce was simmered until smooth, very flavorful. Ye Nai also fried an egg for each family member.

Ye Nai called her parents to dinner. The couple had not yet reached an agreement and came out with stony faces.

Her mother had no objections to eating noodles, but her father looked incredibly sullen.

"Noodles at noon, rice noodles at night. Can't you cook a proper meal, make a proper dish?" her father said as he slammed his chopsticks down.

"If you don't eat, just go away. Why do you have so many opinions when you're just waiting to eat?" her mother glared back.

Her father couldn't retort against his wife, so he turned his anger towards his elder daughter.

"You too. You don't want to cook, don't you know to buy some ready-made dishes?"

"Do ready-made dishes cost nothing? I'm already stressed from not finding a job, and you're still ordering dishes. Have you given me any money?" Ye Nai immediately talked back sharply, not indulging him at all.

"Can't you find a job just because you're incompetent? How come others can find jobs?"

"Who are 'others'? You name names! I'll go and ask them how they found jobs."

Her father was stumped. He had just made a casual remark, not really knowing who those who had found jobs were.

"Finding a job is indeed quite hard this year," her mother, still relatively calm, said. "I heard from my colleague that job positions in the city are full. They're also arranging for their children to look for jobs elsewhere."

"I heard many classmates saying at graduation that they were preparing to find jobs elsewhere, too."

Ye Nai naturally took her phone out, opened up her photos, and showed her mother.

"This is job recruitment information I captured at the job market; roles that purely require physical effort only recruit males. All female positions require certifications."