Chapter 420

Upon hearing the words "heterodox paths" from Qu Jing, Luo Jun's brow furrowed instantly. It must be known that he was the very person who first proposed the methodology for heterodox paths, only to be attacked by everyone in unison.

Luo Jun snorted coldly, quite displeased, his gaze sharpening as he looked at the camera: "What kind of heterodox path methods?"

Qu Jing explained unhurriedly: "It's like this. Haven't I been chatting with Youyou on WeChat for some time recently?"

"I've discovered that Youyou is a person who is easily changed and influenced by her surrounding environment."

Qu Jing's words instantly piqued Qin Huai's interest, and he sat up straight: "How so?"

"If we were to just give Youyou money or a house as Mr. Luo suggested earlier, that certainly wouldn't work. Youyou herself is a Three-Legged Golden Toad; her love for money is an instinct almost carved into her bones. Before we are clear on the exact reason why Youyou failed her tribulation, rashly giving her money would likely accelerate her failure. I have also talked to Youyou about this; she quite hopes for a windfall of wealth, to become rich overnight, and to lie flat for the rest of her life."

Qin Huai really wanted to retort, *Look at how you put it—who wouldn't hope for a windfall, to become rich overnight, and to lie flat completely? * The words were just on the tip of his tongue when Qin Huai suddenly realized: *Oh, there are several people in this group who don't have such thoughts. No, wait, there's no one else in this group besides him. *

"Her goals are clear, but not entirely clear. She is willing to work overtime because she wants a promotion and a raise. She loves working overtime because there is overtime pay for working at the Cloud Cafeteria now, and she wants to earn more money to change houses, ideally to one day be able to rent a house in the Cloud Residential Complex."

"She never goes out when she's resting, staying home to play on her phone, watch TV dramas, and follow variety shows, because this way of leisure and entertainment costs no money. She never pays for VIP memberships on major apps, only watching pirated content; she never orders takeout because takeout has a premium; she only buys clothes from street stalls, only drinks the free beverages at the shop, and if her electric scooter can be charged at the cafeteria, she absolutely won't go home to charge it."

"Every time she comes to work, she brings her phone, tablet, power bank, and electric fan to fully charge them in the cafeteria before going home. She uses the cafeteria's Wi-Fi to download TV dramas and variety shows because she doesn't have Wi-Fi at home. Every day, she brings two of the largest water bottles, and before getting off work, she fills them with herbal tea to take away, even if the herbal tea was brewed by Auntie Zhao."

"Youyou even told me that she hopes to cancel the four days of monthly leave. She doesn't have money to go out and play during those four days of rest, and instead, she has to spend her own money to eat. She hopes that every time she is resting, she can receive a call in the morning asking her to work overtime at the cafeteria, and incidentally telling her there is double or triple pay."

"She fleeces the cafeteria like this because she wants to save her money for the places she wants to spend it. For example, a higher-end residential complex, transportation facilities that are convenient in one go, a feast at a high-end restaurant that she might not even be willing to eat at even if she gritted her teeth, or travel to places she doesn't even know where to go yet. Youyou told me that her current phone, tablet, computer, and rent were all saved from these places."

Qin Huai:...

Although An Youyou's spirit of saving money is moving, as An Youyou's boss, Qin Huai didn't know what to say for a moment regarding this behavior of his employee frantically fleecing him.

*No, wait, An Youyou can even drink the herbal tea brewed by Ms. Zhao Rong, and can even bring two bottles home every day. *

*You should have said so earlier! If you had said so earlier, I would have let her drink all of last year's Seven-Flavor Dampness-Removing Tea. If two of the largest water bottles weren't enough to hold it, Qin Luo has more there, guaranteed to let An Youyou take it all home. *

Qin Huai opened his mouth to interrupt Qu Jing: "I roughly understand what you want to say, but isn't this the fundamental reason why An Youyou works hard and struggles? Why did you just say that An Youyou's goals are actually not clear?"

"Because Youyou needs very clear goals to drive her to do something. For example, her most urgent goal right now is to move into the Cloud Residential Complex, but even the cheapest house in the Cloud Residential Complex costs 11,000 a month in rent. With Youyou's current salary, even if she doesn't eat or drink, works overtime every day, and has no days off all month, it would be very difficult to afford such rent."

"Under normal circumstances, Youyou's goal now should be to work hard to improve her culinary skills, get a promotion and a raise, break away from the work of a helper, and become a chopping chef or a pastry chef."

"But Youyou didn't choose this; she didn't even think in this direction because no one told her, or no one guided her. She enjoys the feeling of being the boss. Right now, she is the head of the helpers, and all the helpers have to listen to her arrangements. If she leaves the status of a helper and becomes a pastry chef, she would be the pastry chef with the lowest status in the Cloud Cafeteria."

"She is a person who is easily led astray by her environment. With such a love for money, she was able to work for so many years in the shop back home with only 200 yuan of pocket money a month, precisely because she is easily swayed by her current environment. If it weren't for the fact that Youyou loves money too much, she couldn't have suddenly made up her mind to leave home and come to Shancheng to work like a headless fly without figuring out the situation at all."

Qin Huai understood a little of what Qu Jing wanted to express.

"You mean that the Cloud Cafeteria gave An Youyou a very good working environment, but my previous urging for her to get a promotion and a raise, making her the head of the helpers, bound her in a certain sense. All of An Youyou's related memories are main quests, which are very difficult to complete and take too long. If we want to push her to awaken quickly without completing the quests, we need to let her change to an environment where she isn't bound."

Qu Jing nodded heavily: "That is exactly what I mean. Youyou's essence is actually very simple and pure. The residual memories of the spirit beast didn't affect her too much. This simplicity of hers makes her very logically self-consistent. Youyou told me that sometimes she dreams at night that she is begging or working, and after waking up, she feels that she is reminding herself to earn more money."

"When I was in my middle life, the residual memories made me crazy and mentally unstable. But Youyou's residual memories only made her desire for money exceptionally strong. Although we still don't know what Youyou's obsession is, it is definitely related to money. Letting her rely on her own efforts to get a promotion and a raise, and earning more money to satisfy her obsession, is safer and more reliable than what Mr. Luo said about giving her money directly."

Qu Jing didn't even forget to disparage Luo Jun's previous heterodox path at the end.

Luo Jun kept a straight face and didn't say a word. One could only say that it is indeed true that the words of one who is about to die are good; Bifang doesn't have much time left, and his temper has also improved.

Chen Huihong felt that Qu Jing's analysis was very reasonable and praised her highly. Her voice became much more enthusiastic, rising by a full eight degrees: "Jingjing, you're something! You've chatted out so many things without making a sound. I always thought that you chatting with Youyou on WeChat every day was just purely wanting to show concern for her, just like how I showed concern for you before, letting her not think about committing suicide."

Qu Jing smiled shyly sometimes: "I was just holding the mentality of giving it a try. Youyou is different from me; she is still much more normal compared to me. And Youyou's mentality is very healthy. In this life, she will likely not commit suicide, only die naturally or die by accident."

Chen Huihong clicked her tongue in wonder: "That Three-Legged Golden Toad really has something. It's very rare for a spirit beast that lived in a muddled state in its middle life not to commit suicide."

"Actually, not everyone commits suicide. Sister Hong, look at Mr. Gong and Grandpa Wang; I think their mental states are very good."

"That's not necessarily true. The mental state in the middle life comes in waves; you never know when you might suddenly not be able to think straight and just go die."

Shi Dadan, who had been silently eating takeout, suddenly joined the group chat, picked up the takeout box, took a sip of the powder soup, and said seriously: "Indeed, as long as you want to die, you can die at any time. When I was in my first life, I died very readily."

Qin Huai:...

*Alright, stop talking. The internet is not a place outside the law. Although everyone is not human, at least say something that humans would say. *

Qin Huai turned the phone back, raised his hand to indicate he wanted to interrupt this wonderful conversation.

"So, our top priority now is to change An Youyou to an environment where she can be motivated, won't be addicted to being the boss, and yet craves being the boss, right?"

Luo Jun looked at the camera with the eyes of someone looking at a fool, his face full of *Are you alright? Don't tell me you've been made stupid by making egg tarts these past few days. *

Shi Dadan slowly drank two more sips of soup, looked up at Qin Huai, and reminded him: "I think Dr. Qu means that she wants you, Xiao Qin, to open your mouth and transfer An Youyou to Zhi Wei Ju to be an apprentice."