Chapter 1: Unemployment
received three certificates in one day.Li Qingning is still wearing those black-rimmed glasses and has thick bangs covering her eyebrows.Li Qingning saw that Jiang Yang's expression was wrong. Sitting...Paralle universes.
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Kyoto, Heian-bashi Station.
Exiting from the Jinhe Station of the metro, turn left and walk for a while to reach Baisha Village, the holy land of Beipiao (migrant workers in Beijing). Most of the houses here have been converted into apartments, boxy and sturdy like coffins, squeezing one Beipiao after another into these lives where they can't see the sky.
This stretch of road was 1,895 steps long, and Jiang Yang found every step incredibly difficult.
He lost his job.
It's only natural to be unemployed.
Before he traveled, he was just starting high school. After he traveled, he was already in his third year of college, studying civil engineering, which he didn't like. After graduating, he became a copywriter and worked on operating the social media accounts for a travel website. He managed everything from copywriting to planning, posting twelve articles every day. After three months of hard work, he finally got promoted, and then it was overtime, overtime, overtime. He worked overtime for a month straight, and his wife hadn't touched him in a month.
Today the company still fired him on the grounds of incompetence.
I've worked here for a total of four months.
Jiang Yang remembered how he had vowed to give Li Qingning happiness in front of her. Now, all he could do was let out a long sigh.
Making money is too hard.
He drew on his experiences before crossing over, coming up with quite a few ideas. But these ideas either had alternatives or lacked funding, platforms, and capabilities. Later, he thought to himself that since he liked watching movies, he might as well write a few scripts for big-budget Naruto fan films and see if luck was on his side.
Alas, before his time travel, he was just a high school student. He wasn't professional and couldn't transcribe or memorize every frame and line of dialogue. He could only rely on the memories from watching it one or two times to write. Even if he submitted his work, it would be lost without a trace. After marriage, he inadvertently encountered plot points similar to those in film and television dramas in his life. Some fragments of memory became clearer.
Jiang Yang lives on the second floor of Xincheng Apartments.
He went up the dimly lit stairs and met Wang Gang in the hallway, who was looking for Jiang Yang.
Wang Gang was Jiang Yang's high school classmate in this world.
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He had a birthday today, so I asked Jiang Yang to go downstairs for barbecue.
Jiang Yang responded with a sound, returned to the room, and put down the cardboard box. Li Qingning hadn't come back yet, so he put things away and texted Li Qingning that Wang Gang had invited them to dinner before going out.
The barbecue stall is just downstairs from the apartment building.
Including Jiang Yang, there were five people sitting around the barbecue stall: four men and one woman. They were all high school classmates. Wang Gang and the female classmate were a couple; they had gotten together in high school.
At the dinner table, Jiang Yang told them that he quit his job today.
He didn't have the face to say it was resignation.
"Quit without notice."
Wang Gang gave Jiang Yang a thumbs up, "That was brave!"
They came from a rundown county town, with only vocational school or junior college degrees. They always had to accept whatever jobs were available, never the other way around. They took on undesirable work, just to make ends meet.
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Jiang Yang smiled bitterly.
They drank a lot of beer, and after paying the bill, they went to a KTV in the village to sing. Jiang Yang didn't like to sing, and singing didn't like him either. The songs that came out of his mouth were as if his tongue had turned the lyrics green, and the melody seemed to be fighting with his tongue - it was terribly off-key.
Of course, there are no songs that Jiang Yang sings here either.
This is a parallel world, those who understand understand. No explanation needed, just bravely say no.
Mid-song, Li Qingning arrived.
Li Qingning is three years older than Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang had just crossed over, and not long after, the Music Academy next door was celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. Many star graduates would return to perform. Jiang Yang's classmates wanted to see the stars and dragged him to scale the wall into the Music Academy. As they strolled around campus, Jiang Yang saw Li Qingning following him all the way.
She carried a large cello, wore simple clothes, had big black-framed glasses, and sported an outlandish fringe that covered her eyebrows.
Li Qingning said she fell in love with Jiang Yang at first sight and wanted his contact information.
This was the first time Jiang Yang had been pursued by a girl. He gave his contact information to this voluptuous older sister without much thought.
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After that, Li Qingning frequently appeared in the life of Jiangyang University.
She asked Jiang Yang to go hiking, watch movies, attend concerts, eat in the cafeteria with her, read books in the library, and explore the school's small grove. When Jiang Yang graduated, Li Qingning showed him her household registration book at the school gate. Jiang Yang received three certificates in one day.
Li Qingning is still wearing those black-rimmed glasses and has thick bangs covering her eyebrows.
Li Qingning saw that Jiang Yang's expression was wrong. Sitting beside him, just about to speak, a song came into his mind: "Reject Huang, reject gambling, reject drugs..."
Li Qingning's face flashed with a strange expression, and she couldn't help but poke Jiang Yang with her finger.
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She's such a little man!
She leaned in and whispered, "What's wrong"
Li Qingning had a faint, elegant fragrance that was both soothing and heartwarming. When she spoke, her voice was soft and gentle, like a warm breeze brushing past your ear.
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"I'm unemployed."
Jiang Yang was full of apologies, "I'm sorry."
Li Qingning smiled. She thought something had happened. This man was unaware that he was in a treasure mountain. She couldn't help but reach out and mess up the hairstyle he had carefully combed into an adult-like shape, "It's okay, I'll take care of you."
"Good, good."
Jiang Yang, for a moment, gave up struggling and wanted to live off someone else. The adult world was too difficult.
Li Qingning frowned. Before, Jiang Yang was a typical male chauvinist who rarely said such things. It seemed this time had hit him hard.
She felt sorry for him.
"Oh."
A female classmate called out to Li Qingning, "Qingning, stop showing off your affection and come sing."
She passed the phone to him.
It happened to play a song called "I Love You Here," sung by an artist named Li Yu. A music video appeared on the screen, featuring a stunningly beautiful woman sitting at a piano. With each key she pressed, it was like a pebble falling into water, creating ripples of music. "I love you here. In the dark pine forest, the wind frees itself... Day after day, chasing each other... I love you here, while the horizon hides you in vain..."
As soon as Li Qingning spoke, the entire private room fell silent.
> Jiang Yang was astonished.
This was Li Qingning's first time coming to a KTV with them, and the first time she had sung. Her voice was just like the original singer.
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Her voice was melodious, even better than the original singer. It wasn't just the difference between a recording and a live performance. Li Qingning was immersed in singing, and Jiang Yang had never seen her so focused. Her emotions rose and fell with the melody, telling a story that drew the audience into a moment of shared time.
A song has come to an end.
"Wow!"
The female student led the applause, "Ning Jie sang so well."
She said that Li Qingning not only looked like Li Yu, but also sang even more like Li Yu.
Li Qingning smiled modestly.
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Jiang Yang saw the sparkle in her eyes, and he liked it. He reached out and took her hand.
She turned back to look at Jiang Yang while singing, giving him a slight smile that was captivating.
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Li Qingning sang a few more songs afterward, singing very beautifully, which attracted the attention of everyone outside the private room. People would frequently peek in from time to time. During the breaks between songs, Li Qingning was lost in the melodies, unable to extricate herself for a long time. Her eyes were filled with memories and longing. When she finally looked up and saw the commotion she had caused, she handed the microphone to her female classmate, allowing them to have fun there, and went out with Jiang Yang to get some fresh air.
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Please provide me with the text you would like me to translate. I'm ready when you are!
It was already midnight, and there were far fewer people on the street. The air felt cool and carried a haze of dust. These past few years had been particularly bad for smog in Kyoto. Li Qingning wore a mask and, walking back along the dimly lit streets, she linked arms with Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang said, "You sing so beautifully."
"Do you like it"
"Like, you just shut them all down."
Wang Gang and his friends' birthday tradition is to eat and sing. Jiang Yang, despite having a terrible voice, wanted to belt out a few tunes but was chased off stage by everyone. He usually just watched from the sidelines, but now it seems Jiang Yang has turned the tables.
Li Qingning hugged him tightly, this little man was so adorable.
They waited for the traffic light at the intersection. On this side of the street was Baisha Village, and across the street was a high-end apartment complex. The thousands of lights in the complex had nothing to do with them. Jiang Yang couldn't afford to buy a house here, let alone rent one.
Jiang Yang thought about his unemployment again.
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For a fleeting moment, he wanted to escape this city. But he had a family now; it wasn't as simple as just leaving.
Green light.
Li Qingning pulled him along, and they crossed the street, turning towards Baisha Village. There were quite a few people in the village, many of them overtime workers just getting off the last train from the subway, grabbing something to eat outside.
Jiang Yang used to come home this late before, now looking at their tired appearances, he felt a tinge of envy.
Back in the apartment, turned on the TV and turned up the volume.
The sound insulation in this apartment is terrible. When doing errands, you have to turn the TV volume up. The TV was playing a music variety show, and suddenly a middle-aged music critic stood up: “I apologize here today. I apologize to the king. Although your albums are not as good as each other, at least you're trying to break through yourself.”
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“I also want to apologize to Li Yu. I criticized her last album, calling it like stale food served to fool people. But that was food made by a Michelin chef that went bad! I never expected that after she left, someone would bring me dog feces to comment on. It disgusts me, it truly does!”
He stormed off with his earphones on, leaving a stunned silence.
Li Qingning was taken aback.
Jiang Yang asked her what was wrong.
Li Qingning shook her head.
>s between songs, Li Qingning was lost in the melodies, unable to extricate herself for a long time. Her eyes were filled with memories and longing. When she finally looked up and saw the commotion she...