They All Say I've Met a Ghost

9

Biking ten kilometers in the middle of the night was somewhat tiring. I slept past ten o'clock. I checked my phone and saw a message from Principal Zhang, and a missed call from my college roommate.

Principal Zhang's message: Your next class will be at 12 am three days from now. I will send you the class topic and location one day in advance. Spend these days preparing for the class. Your salary will not be deducted. Additionally, I heard that you ruined your clothes yesterday. I will refund expenses for you at the end of the month and every month after.

This message put a stop to all my questions. After thinking about it for a long time, I only sent back the word "OK."

The training institute was irregular, the class schedule was inhuman, the students were unfriendly, the coworkers played with chainsaws and slept in the bathroom; none of that was a problem. The important points were that the hours were short, the salary was high, rooming was included, and there was no need to clock in.

If I always taught from 12:00 to 2:00 at night, I could have a part-time job during the day.

Principal Zhang was such a kind and considerate lady. It was a pity that she was abroad. If she returned to China in the future, I had to treat her to a good meal and thank her for taking care of me.

After replying to Principal Zhang's message, I called back my college roommate.

"Hello," said my roommate Xia Jin’s voice over the phone, "is it Shen Jianguo?"

"It's me. I haven't changed my number," I replied.

Xia Jin exchanged greetings with me. Then he said, "Our mall is putting together a promotion this weekend. We need to recruit some temporary staff. Do you have time on the weekend? Do you want to earn extra money?"

"Of course," I agreed at once.

"OK, 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, XX Mall. Two days in total. There may be work until midnight both days."

I considered the following days. Today was Friday, and the next class was on Monday. There was no conflict in time, so I could say, "No problem."

Xia Jin had been my roommate when I was an undergraduate. He studied human resource management. After graduation, he didn’t take the postgraduate entrance examination, but went straight to work. Three years later, when I graduated from graduate school, we was already an HR manager at a large shopping mall. He worked very hard, but his annual salary was very good.

Over the past few years, every time he needed to hire temporary staff, he would come to me. He knew that I needed money and would help me earn some extra. After all these years I was used to it and had become a skilled worker, as well as accumulating experience .

Having determined that I would have some extra income this weekend and knowing that Principal Zhang would pay for my clothes, I felt very pleased. I ran out of my room to wash up.

As usual, my two roommates weren't in their rooms. The arrangement of Liu Sishun's bedroom was exactly the same as yesterday, while Li Yuanyuan's room had gained a toilet. The wig that had been tossed on the bed before was now inside the toilet.

I really didn't understand Li Yuanyuan's attachment to the toilet. Why would a girl have such a strange fetish? Had Principal Zhang really not considered recruiting a psychologist?

In fact, I wanted to talk with Li Yuanyuan about this issue. Of course, I respected everyone's preferences. Just like my love of money, sitting on the toilet was a common hobby. As long as it wasn't a psychological problem, there was nothing else to say.

Unfortunately, that night I fell asleep too early and didn’t get to see my two colleagues, who were busy working in the daytime and could only be seen late at night.