Chapter 7: Job Hunting

Su Ran didn't pay too much attention to this little incident that took place in front of the bar.

After she had returned home, Su Ran pulled out her cellphone and broke the 10-minute recording into 10 separate files and sent them to a few different studios separately. She also packaged them up together and sent them to Shengding Entertainment's public email.

Shengding Entertainment was the biggest entertainment company right now and also the company of Lu Boyang, the second male lead.

In the original novel, this evildoer second male lead, with his playboyish front was actually a faithful person. He had attracted his fair share of fans amongst the readers.

At the end of the novel, the female lead must end up with the male lead. As for Lu Boyang, he smiled and congratulated the female lead. He never got married.

Even though some readers felt that they have spotted some sweetness in a conversation between the second male lead and the female lead's 16-year-old daughter, Su Ran believed they were more like interaction between an uncle and his niece.

Su Ran would feel very odd if there was anything beyond that. After all, the age gap between the two is quite noticeable.

Back to where we were.

Shengding started out as the second male lead's toy company. Later on, probably because female lead had got together with male lead, and he had lost the love of his life, he had dedicated all his energy in his business and brought his company to the top of its industry.

There were a couple reasons why Su Ran had picked Shengding: 1) as one of the second male lead's fans, she naturally has a warm and fuzzy feeling toward his company; and 2) according to the forums that she has visited, Shengding was the most generous in the industry when it came to paying creators for their products.

A year or so ago, Shengding had paid as much as $50 million to purchase a book's IP.

Su Ran did not spend too much time on the webpage after she sent out her package.

For a big company like Shengding, their public account probably received more emails a day than certain complain hotlines. She'd be lucky if her email was even read and definitely wouldn't hear back from them any time soon.

Ergo, Su Ran still needed to take care of her most immediate need right now.

After the original owner had completely ruined her own reputation and was banished from her family, she had lost contact with all her not-so-real friends in the past. On top of that, due to the nature of her "career", she didn't have much of a social life. The only social app that she has was a WeChat that she browsed from time to time.

Using the original owner's cellphone number, Su Ran registered for accounts with a few common social apps as well as a few more trustworthy-looking forums and informational sites. She responded to a few hiring ads and also left her own work experience and contact information.

Su Ran received her first WeChat friend's request shortly.

Confirmation message: Are you applying for a position as a piano instructor?

Su Ran clicked on "Accept".

[Crazy Zhou]: Hi, I saw your message in the forum. Are you looking for piano lesson gigs?

[su]: That's me.

[Crazy Zhou]: Are you local in City Bei?

[su]: Yes.

[Crazy Zhou]: Have you passed level 8 in your piano competency?

Ugh….

She had joined many competitions and played plenty of performances. The only thing she didn't have was piano competency examinations.

[su]: What are the songs required for level 8 competency?

[Crazy Zhou]: Something along the line of Czemy, Mendelssohn, etc.

[su]: What about level 10?

[Crazy Zhou]: Etude in F minor, Sonata in B major quartet…

[su] That's not a problem.

[Crazy Zhou]: Really?

[Crazy Zhou]: That's awesome!

[Crazy Zhou]: I have a part time job teaching piano lessons at someone's house on Saturdays and Sundays, two hours a day. Something came up and I won't be able to go for a while so I need someone to go for me. Don't worry, they will pay you directly.

[su]: When do I start?

[Crazy Zhou]: Can you start this Saturday?

[su]: Sure.

Now that she had quit her job, she has truly become a jobless bum.

[Crazy Zhou]: Okay. Send me a copy of your ID card. I'll send over the time and location to you in a little bit.

Crazy Zhou responded quickly after Su Ran had sent over a photo of her ID.

[Crazy Zhou]: What a pretty young sister.

[Crazy Zhou]: Time is Saturday from 9 AM – 11AM and Sunday from 1 PM – 3 PM.

[Crazy Zhou]: Dongshan Court Unit A-17.

[Crazy Zhou]: That's their address.

Su Ran looked at the address sent over by Crazy Zhou.

WTF!

She had just swore to never step foot at that arena again. How was it possible that the first part-time gig she got was over at Dongshan Court?

Dongshan Court Unit A-16. That was the number that was carved into the original owner's mind. She might forget her own birthday but not this string of numbers.

That was the address of the Song's, the male lead's family.

As for Unit A-17, it would be right across from the male lead's house.

Can she decline now? Can she backpedal?

[su]: That place is a bit far from me. I'm afraid I won't be able to get there on time. Perhaps you should look for someone else.

[Crazy Zhou]: /surprised.

[Crazy Zhou]: Please don't! I've already posted the ad for over a day. You are the best candidate so far. It's so late now. I don't think I will be able to get any more responses. I am leaving tomorrow and won't be able to find anyone else. /bawls.

[Crazy Zhou]: Plus I have already told my student that I will find them a replacement.

[Crazy Zhou]: If it's too far, you can take a taxi. The pay is really good, $200/hour. You can circle the entire City Bei and still have money left over.

[Crazy Zhou]: Plus it's an easy gig; very, very easy. Really. Just go. You will see what I mean by that when you get there!

"Easy" was an understatement. If her boyfriend hadn't suddenly proposed to her and produced two plane tickets for destination wedding, she'd never give up an easy gig that pays so much.

Although she wasn't sure why that family would hire some second-year student from a musical school as a tutor.

That was Su Ran's question as well.

Anyone who could afford to live in Dongshan Court must be extremely wealthy. They'd at least hire someone of expert level, if not international level, when looking for any sort of tutors.

Even the original owner had a musician from Vienna to tutor her when she was still at the Su's.

Wasn't that family a bit sloppy on their hiring?

In the original owner's memory, nobody was living in the unit across from the male lead.

She wondered if some other nouveau riche had moved in there after the original owner had phased out.

[Crazy Zhou]: Little sister.

[Crazy Zhou]: Little sister.

[Crazy Zhou]: Pretty please. I have waited two years for my boyfriend to propose. /pitiful look.

[su]: Alright.

When the original owner was banished by the Su's, she was barely 15~16 years old and hadn't even graduated high school, let alone a college degree. She wouldn't be able to get any jobs with that qualifications.

As for Su Ran herself, she had spent the last two years doing nothing but creating her own music. She had become practically useless in all areas because of her faithful little assistant's attentive care.

Yet, the most pragmatic problem right now was, if she didn't have income soon, she just might starve to death at home and became the first physical and mentally healthy adult who starved to death at home.

[Crazy Zhou]: Really?

[su]: Yes, I will go at the times that you've sent to me.

Thinking about it a bit, Su Ran sent over one more text "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptial".

[Crazy Zhou]: Thank you. /cute.

"Perhaps they have already forgotten all about this female supporting cannon fodder already," said Su Ran to herself after she had wrapped up her WeChat conversation. She looked into the mirror as though she was trying to prove something to herself.

In the mirror, there was a highly recognizable face. Even someone who had only met her once would be able to remember her, let alone all the crazy things that she had done to the male and female led when "Su Ran" the female supporting character was still in play.

"Aye…" Su Ran sighed and couldn't help but comfort herself by saying, "Perhaps I won't unluckily run into the male and female leads."

As the protagonist of a novel, Song Zeyu was a busy man. If he has any free time, he'd probably spend them with the female lead for some mushy moments. Perhaps, he wouldn't happen to run into this phased-out female supporting character.

What were the male and female leads doing at this point in the novel?

Su Ran thought about it and was perplexed.

The novel stopped after the female lead gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, and was accepted by the Song's. In the extra chapters, there were mentions of the Song's, how mighty the twin brother and sister were, how the female lead worked every angle that she has and became the Housemistress of the Song's, and even implied the future of the second male lead. Almost everything was mentioned, but there was very little about the relationship between the male and female leads.

Many of the readers complained that there just weren't enough sweetness and that they were about to have low blood sugar.

While she was pondering, Su Ran was startled by her cellphone ringer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, can I please speak with Ms. Su Ran?"

"This is she." Su Ran looked equally baffled after replying to the question.

The original owner's phone was mainly used to arrange work from Hong-jie. Now that she has quit, who else would try to reach her on this phone?

"Wait, let me talk first. I can't afford to buy a house, or a plot in a cemetery, or to take out a loan. I have no money for any kind of investment. I don't accept any request to leave positive reviews online. I don't have any relatives who can be hurt and lying in the hospital right now. I don't have any missing elderly relatives. I don't need to check my kid's grades…. Alright, what is it? Go ahead."

"Ahem. I am glad you are aware that there are many scam artists out there, but I am not one of them. I am calling from Nanping Police Station."

Police station?

Hearing those three words, Su Ran's first reaction wasn't whether that was true, but what kind of illegal activities had the original owner committed without her knowing?!

"Um, what seems to be the matter?" Su Ran's chin was tense as she asked slowly.

Sure, she owed the loan sharks' money, but surely they wouldn't call the cops on her.

Was the original owner's "work" illegal?

"Su Han is your son?"

"Oh, yes." Su Ran hadn't caught on right away when she heard her instant son's name.

"Su Han got into some dispute and is over at our station right now. As he is still a minor, we will need his guardian to come over here right now."

Very few people knew about Su Ran's son. Even his birth certificate and his household register were done by the police worrying that "Su Ran" would turn around and throw away her son somewhere else.

So, she didn't need to worry that this call was not legitimate.

"Okay, I will be right over."

Su Ran didn't ask over the phone how Su Han ended up at the police station.

Of course, she wouldn't be surprised.

As the future twisted villain, naturally there would be many incidents that slowly turned him into the villain that he was going to become. Nothing wrong with that.

Except that, according to the novel, Su Han might be a bit cold and he had encountered some other individuals at work, but all in all, he was still a very nice kid.

And, she definitely turned around the major event that led him to become a villain yesterday.