Chapter 156 - Level Two Employee
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
After he finished doing homework with Zhang Liangliang on Sat.u.r.day, Zhang Meimei came back unexpectedly. Zhang Liangliang wanted Shi Lei to eat with her, but she didn’t have a reason. She couldn’t just ask Shi Lei to eat with her and her mother every single time.
Zhang Meimei told Shi Lei that she needed to go to a meeting in Qiong Zhou, which was in the South. Although it was said to be a meeting, it was actually the end of the year holiday with pay. Many companies had benefits like this and the so-called team building was basically travelling. Shi planned to bring Zhang Liangliang with her since Christmas was around that time, too. She didn’t seem to worry about Zhang Liangliang’s studies and requested a few days of absence for her so they could stay at Qiong Zhou for a few days.
“I’m not sure about next Sat.u.r.day yet, but I will definitely keep you updated. If we are not back, I will tell you. Sorry, teacher Shi!” Zhang Meimei was very polite.
Shi Lei smiled and said, “There’s no need to be sorry. You guys going out to play and communicating more are things I’m happy about. I can also relax because I don’t need to bicker with Er’jie.”
Zhang Meimei also smiled while Zhang Liangliang was a bit upset, giving Shi Lei a meaningful look. “Dashu, why don’t you come with us? You don’t have many cla.s.ses in the last year of university and I think that you are free the majority of the time.”
Now that Zhang Liangliang mentioned it, Shi Lei realized that he hadn’t been to cla.s.ses for almost a month. Although they didn’t really care about students in their fourth year, it wasn’t good to skip.
“Nope. I’m a student after all, and I need to go to cla.s.ses.”
“Won’t you go if my mom’s paying for it?” Zhang Liangliang panicked.
Shi Lei waved his hands and said, “Although I don’t have much money, I can afford it if I was going to play somewhere. I even earned about 2,000 yuan from you recently. But I really need to go to cla.s.ses…”
Of course, Zhang Meimei knew that it was impossible for Shi Lei to go with them. It was fine if they went as mother and daughter, but she had colleagues from her office and what would they think of their relationship? Her daughter’s boyfriend? She seemed too young. Her own boyfriend? Even if she hunted for young men, he was a bit too young. Wasn’t that just asking for other people’s criticism?
Zhang Liangliang was just immature as a child.
Hence, Zhang Meimei quickly said, “Teacher Shi hasn’t even graduated yet. After he graduates next year and you make it into a good high school, I’ll take you guys out to play!”
“Remember what you said! You can’t go back on your word!”
“I won’t!” Zhang Meimei smiled as she agreed and Shi Lei took his leave.
He didn’t have any dinner plans tonight, having almost finish spending this week’s money, so he didn’t go find Sun Yiyi.
He ate by himself and found a self service bank, checking with the Scepter about this week’s sum and seeing that he had indeed spent it all. Shi Lei was about to eject the Black Card and return to his apartment when the Scepter asked him to stay.
That was the first time it had done so.
“Don’t be in such a hurry! There are some things I need to tell you!”
Shi Lei blanked out for a second but quickly reacted. “Shouldn’t I be levelling up?”
The Scepter didn’t answer this question but said, “You should probably come again at midnight tonight.”
“Just say it, I’m about to level up,” Shi Lei smiled. “Oh, according to your rules, you can’t say it yet since I haven’t finished my time as a level one employee. Fine, I’ll come back later. But can you tell me if the sum of money would be a million after I level up?”
He thought that the Scepter would ignore him, but it actually answered. “Yes, a million.”
Shi Lei felt strange. The Scepter didn’t seem like its usual self and its style changed dramatically. It seemed to be extra patient and was not in a hurry at all.
“You don’t seem to be in a good mood today!” Shi Lei attempted to tease him.
But the Scepter was the Scepter and it became enraged instantly. “Stupid marmot! I, the n.o.ble Scepter, would never have the so called emotions you lowly humans have! Hurry up and f.u.c.k off!”
Shi Lei jumped, quickly ejected the card, and ran with it. What was wrong with the Scepter today? Was it on its period? He thought.
He enjoyed drinking tea by himself for a while and played extremely low quality MP3 through the professional player and beginner level speakers. Shi Lei picked up the book ‘The Best Fortuneteller” on the Qidian website and thought that life was beautiful.
Seeing that it was almost midnight, Shi Lei put on his jacket calmly and unhurriedly, then ran to the self service bank around the corner and inserted the Black Card into the ATM.
After typing in the pa.s.sword, the galaxy whirlpool appeared and the Scepter gradually came into view. Everything was the same.
Seeing how the Scepter posed itself, Shi Lei smiled. “Hey. h.e.l.lo, n.o.ble Scepter. Are you in a better mood now?”
The Scepter’s voice became calm. Although it still sounded as.e.xual, it was more solemn and respectful.
“Congratulations. Since you’ve successfully completed the quotas and reached the standard for consumptions in the past four weeks, you meet the requirements for leveling up and are now a level two employee!”
The previous words sounded normal, as if the emotionless female machine voice of the ATM had spoken. But when it spoke the last two words, Shi Lei could clearly hear the Scepter clench its teeth.
But that wasn’t the point. The point was…employee?! Didn’t the Scepter previously use a lower level word to look down on Shi Lei? He used to be a hired man, so was it written on the Black Card. This term clearly had a negative connotation since it meant “servant” in English.
But why was it changed to employee now?
Shi Lei wanted to eject the card and check the logo on the bottom right side of the Black Card about whether it had been changed to employee, which was the more accurate translation.
Except he held back his urge to do so and asked, “Employee? Did you have to change the way you addressed me and can no longer insult me with the older term? So you are angry and that’s why you were in such a bad mood this afternoon. After I pointed it out, you got angry. You seem to be in a worse mood when you said the word ‘employee’!”
“Stupid marmot! I told you, a n.o.ble like me would never have the so called emotions you lowly humans have!”
“Then what’s up with your tone of voice right now?” Shi Lei laughed loudly. “If you don’t have emotions, then you wouldn’t be hating my guts. And if you don’t have emotions, then when I picked up the Black Card, no, when you forcefully gave me the Black Card and I entered the pa.s.sword like an idiot, why did you sound like you were so proud of yourself? You were proud for such a long time after that too. Because I didn’t choose to quit during the training period and you successfully tied me to the Black Card. At that time, did you ever imagine that one day I would make you so angry you wouldn’t even have the appet.i.te to eat? Oh wait, you don’t need to eat. But you know what I mean. Anyways, now that I’m an employee, you can’t use the other term to insult me anymore, hahahaha…”
The Scepter didn’t speak. From the screen, the gem at the top of the gold Scepter seemed to be shining extra brightly. This, perhaps, was the fire which could be seen in a human’s eyes when they were angry.
Seeing this, Shi Lei became even happier.
“Let me guess, the so called seniors of mine didn’t know that the term ‘slave’ could be changed and they didn’t know that the term needed to be changed after levelling up. They were, at most, high level slaves, but still slaves in the end. But I, on the other hand, defined my relationship with the Black Card as of employee and employer, so you must change your way of addressing me every time I level up, am I right?”