"Just got up!"
André casually responded while quickly walking toward the door.
But just as he was about to open the door, André's mind stirred, and he immediately lifted his shirt while biting his finger, drawing some mysterious blood marks on his chest and abdomen.
These were some relatively simple talismans, mainly serving to calm the mind and spirit.
Although André believed he had sorted out his heart demons and wouldn't face the danger of deviation as long as there were no major emotional fluctuations, yesterday's scene on the bus still left him shaken.
If he had really pounced on that woman, it would have been truly humiliating—
So after completing these few talismans, André deliberately recalled the appearance of yesterday's call girl to confirm they were indeed effective before opening the door.
"How unusual - Mo, you actually got up so much later than me today. What exactly were you doing last night? Don't tell me you secretly found yourself a girl?"
As soon as William saw André's face, he started chattering away on his own.
But then his voice halted, and he looked at André with a strange expression: "How odd - it feels like in just one night of not seeing you, you've become a completely different person."
André felt not even a ripple of emotion inside, naturally putting on a puzzled expression while glancing at a small mirror hanging by the door: "Really? I don't feel like anything's changed."
William held his chin, studying him carefully: "You have indeed changed some - you look much more cheerful and bright than before. Damn it, you were already handsome enough."
In his impression, André always wore a gloomy expression. Except for him, William, no one in this neighborhood or at school was willing to be friends with him - though it must be mentioned that girls were the exception!
Some girls at school seemed to particularly like this type of melancholy boy, so this guy in front of him could receive more than three love letters each month, once making him jealous enough to want to die.
"Maybe it's because I figured things out last night? William, you're right - people can't stay stuck in the past. What's happened has happened, there's no going back."
André smiled in apparent self-mockery, then walked out the door: "Let's go! Aren't you eager to get to work? Hurry up! You don't want to get scolded by the supervisor, do you?"
William was obviously hesitant to speak, but finally just shrugged and left the dim, stuffy apartment together with André.
Though he found André's 'sudden change' strange, he welcomed it. Nobody wanted their buddy to have a gloomy face all day long.
※※※※
The place where André and William worked was Tsai's Chinese Restaurant, one block away from their location. Due to their relatively honest and reliable faces, plus their diligent work and fluent Chinese, they easily found jobs here, working as waiters on weekends.
They both had work permits issued by the school. Though they demanded slightly higher wages, they were much more reliable and safe than those illegal immigrants who had smuggled themselves over.
The key was André and William's Eastern heritage - though William looked like a pure Black man, he was actually mixed Black and Eastern. So when Tsai's Chinese Restaurant was hiring, Mr. Tsai immediately chose them.
After having breakfast together, André and William came here to work. He was initially somewhat unaccustomed, moving clumsily. After all, he had never done this kind of work in his life - in the Original Dome Realm he had basically lived in luxury, so he was inevitably unfamiliar when first starting.
However, he had always been good at learning, relying partly on the original owner's memories and partly trying to imitate his colleagues.
In just fifteen minutes, André had already mastered this profession.
"Please follow me, you two. Look, table thirteen by the window - this currently has the best view—"
"Would you like any beverages?"
"Miss, here's your bill."
"Your credit card, thank you for dining with us."
"Gentlemen, your Golden Mountain shark fin soup is ready."
"Here's the abalone treasure platter you ordered."
It was just these few phrases, maintaining an enthusiastic, thoughtful, polite attitude with a bright smile.
Perhaps due to the excellent taste here, Tsai's Chinese Restaurant was exceptionally busy. From eleven in the morning until two-thirty in the afternoon, it remained at full capacity. Especially around noon, customers waiting outside formed a long line. Fortunately the restaurant closed temporarily at two-thirty, otherwise they would have had to keep working.
Just as André was taking a brief rest in a corner of the restaurant, William came over looking frustrated.
"Shit! Those guys from the South are really difficult - they're all a bunch of racist pigs. This is discrimination, pure discrimination! I'm sick of it, I swear! Once I buy that car, I absolutely will never work as a waiter again."
André could only look at him with sympathy. He had noticed earlier that William had gotten into trouble at table thirty-seven, been pestered for a long time, and afterward was pulled aside by the manager for a scolding.
But from what he understood of the situation, it seemed the customers couldn't be entirely blamed. After all, William had made the first mistake by spilling food on the customers, and then both sides had bad tempers.
At this moment William was also looking enviously at André's bulging pants pocket.
"Mo, how much did you make today? I saw those customers giving you tips - all five gold shields, five gold shields each."
Hearing this, several nearby colleagues also looked at André with complex expressions.
André smiled politely: "About seventy gold shields, I haven't counted carefully."
Actually it was 120 gold shields - several customers had been especially generous, giving him more than ten gold shields in tips.
The 'Divine Sky Limitless Purple Void Immortal King' rarely spoke falsehoods, but human hearts were complex, and if a few words could resolve unnecessary trouble, he was happy to do so.
However, André's expression was still somewhat strange - this feeling of being given charity made him uncomfortable.
But American culture and law were like this - this job similar to a shop assistant didn't rely on wages.
In Georgia, the minimum wage for employees without tips was ten gold shields per hour, while employees with tips only received two gold shields as minimum wage.
At Tsai's Chinese Restaurant where they worked, because the restaurant's cuisine was famous and had many customers, the waiters usually had relatively high incomes. Though their daily fixed hourly wage was only a pitiful 2.5 gold shields, the tips they received here could reach sixty to eighty gold shields per day.
The rich tips here were precisely why André abandoned resting and recovering at home to come work with William.
Unfortunately, since they were students, they could only come to work on weekends. So before this, he and William had been looking forward to this day for five whole days.
The original owner planned to save money to buy a bottle of Eastern 'Yuan Qi Pills' from the black market to help break through his current martial arts realm; William wanted to buy a car - this guy had long coveted a pickup truck at the used car lot.
André also valued this job highly, as it was likely his only source of income besides scholarships and government subsidies in the near future.
If possible, he would have preferred to stay home today trying to recover his soul and thoroughly understand his physical condition. If time permitted, he could also learn about this world through books and newspapers, thoroughly sort through the original owner's memories, and so on.
But there was no choice - from his memories, André learned that Tsai's Chinese Restaurant where they worked was one of the most prosperous restaurants on Market Street.
In America, the more popular a restaurant, the more tips it could generate. Jobs like this were coveted by countless people and were always highly competitive. Even if the boss paid no salary at all, many people would still flock to it. If he didn't come today, tomorrow the boss might find someone to replace him.
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