Chapter 19: The First Step of the Long March

Today is the day for formal classes. Public Administration is known as a "jack-of-all-trades" major, and the things studied are all-encompassing, including "Principles of Management," "Western Economics," "Organizational Behavior," "Applied Statistics," and so on.

After all, classes had just begun, and except for Yang Tianxing, everyone was listening very attentively. Even Fu Yiming was holding a newly bought notebook, with glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, earnestly taking notes.

However, two or three days later, everyone gradually became familiar with the rhythm of university classes, and many people's minds relaxed; Yang Tianxing still continued to sleep.

"Brother Yang, why aren't you listening to the lecture?"

Qian Jiale, sitting next to him, saw that Yang Tianxing was either sleeping or drawing during class, so he wanted to remind him to pay attention to his studies.

Yang Tianxing yawned: "I'm getting old; I can't remember anything I study."

In his past life, he had experienced what Fu Yiming was going through. Back then, he had bought a brand-new notebook, and the first and second pages were filled with notes, but starting from the third page, the notes became sloppy, and by the fifth page, it was already completely blank.

"You are a lost cause. Number Two, you should at least listen to the lecture, otherwise, you'll definitely have to ask me to tutor you for the final exam."

Fu Yiming put on the airs of the dormitory leader, taking the opportunity to show off his neat and standardized class notes.

Yang Tianxing curled his lips, thinking that by the time the final exam arrived, Liu Jiaoyue would probably already be his girlfriend; would he need a third-rate tutor like him? However, Yang Tianxing also couldn't stand Fu Yiming's "Pigsy wearing glasses"—the affectation of pretending to be an intellectual—so he poked him from behind and said: "Let's go, let's go to the internet cafe and play CS."

"I'm not going, don't disturb my studies." Fu Yiming refused very firmly.

"Beef rice for lunch, my treat." Yang Tianxing continued.

"It's not about the beef rice; I really want to study." Fu Yiming still stubbornly refused.

"I'll pay for the drinks too."

"Number Two, don't be like this. Our parents sent us to university to let us study..."

"I'll cover the internet fees too."

"Then let's go quickly; if we go late, there won't be any seats left. Old Song, stop putting on an act too. The teacher is already on the fifth page, damn it, and you're still dawdling on the third page."

Qian Jiale saw that this wouldn't do and that he had to keep up, so he whispered: "Second Brother, take me with you."

"No problem. Enter the village quietly, don't fire a shot."

Just like that, several internet-addicted youths began their first time skipping class in university.

Li Ainan didn't like playing games; he poured his feelings into music, so he definitely wouldn't go. Yi Min was essentially a poor student too; he also wanted to go online together, but no one paid him any mind.

Although Yi Min felt that Yang Tianxing was too showy, he really wanted to hang out with Yang Tianxing in his heart, always feeling that they were the "high-end circle." However, he couldn't let go of his sense of superiority as a local from Chang'an, so he became conflicted.

This conflict caused a problem. Just as Yang Tianxing and the others were planning to sneak away, Yi Min suddenly shouted loudly: "Report, Teacher!"

The teacher for this "General Survey" class was a little old man who was almost frightened by this shout. He pushed up his reading glasses and asked: "Student, do you have something to say?"

Yang Tianxing and the four of them were also startled and hurriedly sat back in their original seats. Because "General Survey" was a large lecture class, all three Public Administration classes were held together, so over a hundred people were looking at Yi Min.

Yi Min gave the internet-addicted youths a warning look, then said loudly: "Teacher, you forgot to assign the homework."

Before Yang Tianxing and the others could say anything, the other students were not having it, thinking, is this guy a fool? Who specifically reminds a teacher to assign homework?

Fortunately, the teacher also knew that university students couldn't really get into this kind of class, so he waved his hand and said: "Thank you for the reminder, student. We will mainly focus on self-study after class."

"Old you..." Song Fei sat in his seat and said sullenly.

Yi Min snorted coldly and didn't speak, taking a mobile phone out of his pocket to fiddle with it.

Yang Tianxing smiled; he had long known that Yi Min's family situation was good, so having a mobile phone wasn't a surprise.

But this guy was truly hypocritical; if he wanted to go together, he should have just said so.

Yang Tianxing shook his head helplessly and said: "Old, the more people, the merrier."

Yi Min pretended to hesitate for a moment before reluctantly saying: "Then you guys can't steal my sniper spot."

"Fine, fine, fine, we'll all watch you."

Thus, the entire 312 dormitory, except for the "artist" Li Ainan, set out. The feeling of skipping class for the first time in university was exciting and nervous, unlike in the second year, when skipping class almost became a habit.

However, at the school gate, a security guard stopped them and insisted they sign their names before he would let them pass. Yang Tianxing guessed it was a requirement from some school leader, using this method to intimidate freshmen into not skipping class.

"Just sign it; it's useless anyway."

Yang Tianxing signed his name dashingly and left.

Yi Min was the second to write, but he saw that Yang Tianxing had written "Public Administration Class 2, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Li Ainan." Yi Min raised his head to look at Yang Tianxing's back, cursed "cheapskate" under his breath, and then quickly wrote "Public Administration Class 2, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Liu Lei."

Fu Yiming and Qian Jiale behind them followed suit, and everyone successfully walked out of the main gate. However, before entering the internet cafe, Yang Tianxing let his roommates go in first, saying he had something to do and would be back in a moment.

"So mysterious."

Although the other four felt it was strange, they soon immersed themselves in the world of games.

Yang Tianxing walked out of the internet cafe and tore off a recruitment advertisement at the entrance, which read "Shentong Express is recruiting campus agents." The address on it was near Changning Road, which was very close to Hejiaying. Yang Tianxing walked for a few minutes and arrived.

This was a row of two-story shops facing the street, but in 2002, it was really quite deserted. There was no subway, the foot traffic in the residential area wasn't high, and the spending power of university students was limited, so the business of these street-facing shops was average, far inferior to the shops inside Hejiaying.

Currently, only the Shentong Express Chang'an District branch was open, and there were quite a few couriers at the entrance moving and sorting packages.

"No unified uniforms, rough sorting, insecure storage methods—the current Shentong company is a makeshift operation from top to bottom."

Yang Tianxing thought for a moment, walked over, and handed a cigarette to a courier: "Big brother, is your manager in?"

The courier saw it was a Furongwang; this cigarette was a level higher than the "Frosted Monkey" he usually smoked. He tucked the cigarette behind his ear and pointed the way readily: "Manager Zhang is on the second floor."

Yang Tianxing thanked him and headed straight for the second floor. Along the way, he saw packages placed randomly, and express delivery slips were stuffed messily here and there. This kind of extensive management style just happened to illustrate the overall current state of the express delivery industry.

Pushing open the door to the second-floor office, the scene inside was similar to the outside, only with two extra dusty desks and a water dispenser.

A man in his forties was sitting in a chair, holding a cigarette in one hand and filling out express slips with the other. Seeing Yang Tianxing enter, he just glanced at him and asked: "Who are you looking for?"

"I saw this part-time recruitment ad outside."

Yang Tianxing took out the recruitment information and said.

"Oh."

The man, who was looking down at his writing, took a look and asked nonchalantly: "Which school are you from?"

"Finance Institute."

"Then you're late. Your school already has an agent; you can only work as his subordinate."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he continued to fill out the slips, but he felt that the light wasn't as bright as before. He looked up and found that Yang Tianxing was still at the door.

"Didn't I tell you to go back? Your school already has an agent."

The middle-aged man flicked his cigarette ash and said impatiently.

Yang Tianxing still did not move his feet, looked at the middle-aged man, and said, "I just want to ask one more thing: how can I replace that general agent?"