In a tavern in Vegas's F-4 Block, Yin Shuyao was busy with her work.
She skillfully mixed drinks for guests while sweetly repeating their orders, mentally noting each corresponding bill, and simultaneously keeping an eye out for any'strange individuals' among the customers worth paying attention to.
Meanwhile, her gaze still occasionally swept over the sticky notes, which contained knowledge points she needed to memorize for her coursework.
Notably, there was also a parchment beside her, densely covered with square grids resembling Sudoku, but the numbers inside were replaced by characters similar to Chinese characters, and next to the paper lay an exquisite wooden toy that looked like a lu ban lock.
This was a type of cipher that her cousin, with whom she corresponded, had entrusted her to create.
But even for a relative's request, she could only seize every spare moment, barely squeezing out a bit of time to work on it.
Since entering Gotha University, her busyness had only increased compared to her previous days.
On one hand, after leasing such a large three-story shop from that mysterious gentleman, thanks to her father's unique and highly praised cooking skills, which also catered to the tastes of the vast interstellar public, and her own bartending performances, their family business became increasingly prosperous.
Now, this place was already a well-known 'explore and check-in spot' in the Vegas District.
Although they had hired over a dozen more waiters, for such a large establishment, she remained the only 'front desk manager' handling the accounts.
It wasn't that she didn't want to hire more people, but it was too difficult to find someone in the Middle Hive who could manage such intricate and complex accounts.
On the other hand, as Miss Thei Perlu's female companion, a noble from a renowned naval family on the planet, she had to periodically take time to accompany Miss Peru for entertainment and relaxation.
But the most important reason was that she wanted to advance to the Institute of Economics and Management.
This was also her greatest motivation for choosing to spend time befriending the noble young lady.
In the Imperium of Man, commoners seeking higher opportunities had to curry favor with the powerful to gain even a sliver of leftover opportunity.
For a child from an ordinary Middle Hive citizen family, like her, who attended Plymouth Womens College,
To secure one of the scarce and highly demanding admission slots for commoners to advance, she had to put in hundreds or thousands of times more effort than other noble students.
When she told her father about her aspirations, her father wholeheartedly supported her.
To accumulate the exorbitant tuition fees required for his daughter's admission to the Institute of Economics and Management, which was almost impossible for ordinary civilian families to afford, this consistently hardworking man had been working even harder recently.
And every expense was meticulously calculated, saving wherever possible, fearing any waste.
Under such immense pressure, she began preparing for future advancement as soon as she entered university.
While others were enjoying themselves freely, she had to help with the family business, spend time accompanying Miss Peru to make her happy, and besides that, her life was left with only studying.
But such dedication was worth it—every student who graduated from Plymouth Womens College's Institute of Economics and Management was often one of the most promising professionals in Abyss Port.
They would serve as consultants in the Adeptus Administratum, or be selected as high-ranking technical bureaucrats, or establish their own economic firms, providing various financial management services to vast interstellar mega-corporations.
In all such cases, annual salaries started in the millions, with no upper limit.
It was not uncommon for such miracles as entering the noble class and becoming part of the pinnacle.
Even more, some would be hired by Rogue Trader dynasties or directly marry into wealthy families, serving as mistresses and family asset managers, holding the golden key to an ancient and wealthy family.
"Hey, Xiao Yao." A young man in a red tailcoat pushed open the door and greeted her warmly.
Yin Shuyao turned her head at the sound.
"Cousin Angers?" Her widened black eyes showed surprise as she looked at her mixed-race relative.
This red-clad young man had a head of naturally curly black and gold hair, delicate and defined facial features, and a distinctly mixed-race appearance.
His mother was Yin Shuyao's paternal aunt, meaning the man's sister.
Through a stroke of luck, she had a prosperous marriage, successfully marrying into the Upper Hive, becoming the fifth wife of the contemporary heir to a civilian shipping trade company belonging to the Imperial Fleet, and successfully bore a son.
That was the mixed-race youth named Angers standing before her.
"Angers, is this your cousin's new tavern? It's really big." The few young people who followed him were splendidly dressed, and their every gesture showed they had undergone strict etiquette training.
Their individual styles of dress were distinct, and their expressions and temperaments varied.
Some wore sunny, outgoing smiles, some maintained a polite distance, while others were sullen, seemingly only wanting to sit down and have some drinks.
But without exception, these people were rich and powerful; the clothes they wore were clearly unaffordable for the common class.
Having gone out with Miss Peru more often, Yin Shuyao's eyesight had improved, and she could tell that these clothes all had distinct handmade custom styles, decent and tasteful.
They looked around the simply decorated yet stylish interior of the tavern with slight surprise, seemingly not expecting such a place to exist in the Middle Hive.
"Xiao Yao, are there any seats left? Please arrange a private room for me, thank you." The mixed-race youth behaved with both sentiment and courtesy, as elegant and refined as his appearance and attire, while also maintaining the closeness of blood relatives.
"Yes, Cousin. Why have you come? Who are they?"
"I heard you got into Plymouth Womens College, so I came specifically to congratulate you. I knew you could do it, congratulations."
Then, the youth turned and introduced his friends, saying:
"They are my salon friends from Ravensberg Advanced Academy. We often go out for drinks and writing, discussing current affairs and politics. I just happened to hear that Uncle opened a nice tavern, so I brought them to see it. Anyway, we're going to spend money, wouldn't it be better to spend it with our own relatives?"
"Alright, please wait, Cousin. I'll arrange it for you immediately. Dad, Cousin is here."
"Coming!"
The man casually wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and emerged from the back kitchen. Seeing his younger relatives visiting, he chuckled and greeted them in the family dialect:
"It's Angers. Long time no see. You've grown so tall in a few years. You're a handsome young man now."
"You flatter me, Uncle Yuanshan. I came this time to congratulate Xiao Yao on her admission."
"Thank you, thank you." The man immediately beamed with joy and said heartily:
"Now our family has two top students! Come, Xiao Yao, quickly arrange a private room for your cousin."
"It's arranged. Cousin, please go upstairs, just follow me." Yin Shuyao deftly finished her tasks, stepped out from behind the bar, and personally led the youth upstairs.
"After going to university, have you joined any clubs, Xiao Yao?" The red-clad youth chatted as they walked.
"Not yet, I'm too busy. A lot of my classmates chose clubs they were interested in and joined them recently, but I just haven't been able to find the time."
"If you don't join a club in university, you'll miss out on half the fun."
"Clubs, they're quite new to me. I'll see about it later."
The girl smiled and said, "If it's a math club or a puzzle-solving club, I might be interested. It seems like it wouldn't be bad to join one."
"By the way, I saw you playing with character Sudoku puzzles before. You seemed to say it could be used as a cipher, is that true?"
"Yes, but my current approach still has some imperfections and a lack of uniqueness. I still need to refine it further," Yin Shuyao said, turning to look at the lu ban lock and Sudoku table on the table.
"If you figure it out, you must send it to me in a letter immediately!" Speaking of this, the mixed-race youth's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly.
"But Cousin, I'm not a professional. Are you sure you want to use the encryption cipher I made?" The girl said with a wry smile, reminding the youth.
"It's okay, trust yourself. If you can't do it, no one else in the Citizen Army can," the youth said in a low voice.
He then ended the topic and smilingly gestured for his club friends to follow his cousin upstairs.
The young girl arranged a relatively secluded and quiet corner private room for her cousin and his club members.
She knew that her cousin was one of the behind-the-scenes leaders of the Citizen Army.
Every time he drank too much, he would freely discuss his vision for the future of the planet's populace and political structure.
This was a taboo in the Imperium.
The Guild Alliance did not allow commoners to discuss their actions; once discovered, the Hive City Law Enforcement's suppression team would come to arrest them and take them to a prison called 'Bastille Tower.'
Let alone Citizen Army members like her cousin, who not only spoke out but even planned to take action.
It was said that that prison was full of such political prisoners, and once arrested, they were never seen again.
Although Cousin Angers came from a wealthy family, and his father's company and civilian fleet had frequent trade dealings with the Guild Alliance,
Having eaten and lived with rough Sailors since childhood, he sympathized with the poor, was cynical, and felt great disdain for the Guild Alliance's exploitation of the people.
Yin Shuyao pursed her lips.
Her own relationship with the Citizen Army was not entirely clean either, because she needed a huge amount of tuition fees and also didn't want her father to work too hard.
She privately took on accounting work for the Citizen Army through her cousin and psychologically supported the Citizen Army's protest struggle.
The Guild Alliance's actions were becoming increasingly excessive; they seemed to raise the cost of living without thinking, completely disregarding the lives of the Middle Hive people.
Recently, for some unknown reason, as if possessed, they even once raised the collection line to 45% of the average income.
They claimed that the Imperial war had escalated, and the Adeptus Administratum required them to pay double tithes.
But in the past, under normal tithe payments, the cost of living tax rate was only 13%. How could a double tithe take away nearly half of one's income? From any perspective, it did not conform to the principles of planetary economic taxation she had learned.
[Are the Guild Alliance and the Adeptus Administratum people fools?] She couldn't help but silently complain in her heart.