As long as I keep writing.

Principal Qin thought for a moment and said, “Alright, I’ll have someone draw up a contract.”
Zhang Pa waved his hand dismissively. “No need. A gentleman’s agreement will do. Just consider it as hiring a temp at a high price—if I don’t do well, you kick me out; if a student gets into trouble, you kick me out. Anyway, it’s easy to get rid of me, and I’ll take the blame.”
Principal Qin pondered. “Are you just looking to get out of this as soon as possible?”
“Not at all,” Zhang Pa replied. “At the very least, I want a month’s salary. We agreed, pay me after a month, and don’t you dare delay it.”
Principal Qin nodded. “Alright, you start work tomorrow.”
Zhang Pa was equally straightforward, turning to the other teachers. “Okay, see you all. If no one objects, I’m off.”
What an unreliable interview this was—no student numbers confirmed, no salary settled, and yet both sides reached an agreement.
The vice principal couldn’t help but ask, “About your salary expectations…” The numbers discussed earlier were just bargaining; now came the real figure.
“Six thousand at least,” Zhang Pa said. “More is better. Goodbye.” He stood up and left.
With his laid-back air, Mr. Zhang seemed anything but dependable. The vice principal asked, “Is this really going to work?”
“We’ll see after a month,” Principal Qin replied.
The school was not a dictatorship; to bring Zhang Pa in, Principal Qin had discussed it several times with the other administrators. From security guard to homeroom teacher, every post was deliberated over and over.
The vice principal commented, “Shouldn’t Mr. Zhang get a haircut?”
And what was Zhang Pa’s hairstyle like? Picture a balding man who hasn’t cut his hair in a year. The front hung down to his nose, the back splayed out over his collar.
“Leave him be,” said Principal Qin. “Besides, that hairstyle makes him easy to recognize.”
So be it—easy to recognize, your suggestion, your decision. If problems arise, you’ll take responsibility. The other leaders agreed with Principal Qin’s wise decision and left the office.
Just after leaving school, Zhang Pa remembered something and called Principal Qin. “Forget everything else, but I absolutely need a laptop! If you don’t provide one, I’m not doing this.”
Principal Qin agreed readily. As long as Zhang Pa could keep the school’s hot-blooded students in order, what was a laptop compared to that?
Anyone else landing a teaching job at six thousand a month would be thrilled. Not Zhang Pa. His opponents were a group of potentially delinquent youths; keeping them in line… sigh.
He hurried home to finish his work, then went to the conservatory for dance class in the afternoon, followed by dinner together.
Being able to laugh and chat with someone like Liu Xiaomei was a dream for most men. But Zhang Pa felt a certain pressure. As they ate, he wore a pained expression. “Teacher, you’re too intimidating,” he said.
Liu Xiaomei laughed. “That’s nothing. Work hard. I have high hopes for you.”
“What do you see in me?” Zhang Pa asked.
“Everything,” she replied between bites.
“Including becoming your boyfriend?”
“Why not husband?” she countered.
“I don’t have the money to support you,” Zhang Pa said. “You know that.”
“So you only want the benefits, not the responsibility?”
“Rubbish, I especially want to take responsibility. I have to,” Zhang Pa declared at once.
Liu Xiaomei snorted. “Dream on.”
“I’ve got a job now—teaching at 119th Middle School,” he said.
“What will you be teaching?”
“No idea.”
She laughed. “You don’t even know what you’ll teach, and yet you’re a teacher? That’s unique.”
“I really don’t want to go,” Zhang Pa admitted.
“Whether you go or not isn’t important,” Liu Xiaomei said. “What matters is whether you want to.”

Zhang Pa thought for a long while, then said softly, “I want to.”
“That’s enough. No one’s forcing you. If it’s something you want to do, give it your best. I believe in you.” She raised her bottle of water. “To Teacher Zhang.”
Zhang Pa nodded. “Now you’re a teacher, and so am I. How fitting. If the two of us got together, it’d be a match made in heaven.”
She laughed. “That’s not why you became a teacher, is it?”
“Of course not. I’m a man of great ambition and lofty ideals.”
She giggled. “Great man, teachers should mind their appearance. Go get a haircut.”
He shook his head. “I have rules about haircuts.”
“What rules?”
“You have to check the almanac, calculate the stems and branches, balance yin and yang and the five elements—it’s complicated,” he replied, utterly serious.
“Really?”
“No, I’m kidding. You can’t believe everything people say. What if someone tried to trick you?”
“Would you ever trick me?”
“Never. I absolutely wouldn’t.” He was even more earnest.
“But you just lied to me,” she pointed out.
“That doesn’t count, that was a joke. Joking isn’t the same as lying.”
“If you ever deceive me, I’ll never speak to you again,” she said, then asked, “When do you start work?”
“Tomorrow. I’m a special talent—the school’s desperate for someone like me. They begged me to come.”
She smiled. “You know, you have a talent for bragging with a straight face.”
“It’s true! How many junior high teachers do you know who start at six thousand a month?”
“Six thousand? That’s more than I make,” Liu Xiaomei said, laughing. “You treat me to dinner.”
“But I haven’t been paid yet!” Zhang Pa protested, feigning poverty.
“Doesn’t matter. You should still treat.”
He sighed. “But we’ve already spent quite a bit today.”
She surveyed the plates and bowls on the table and nodded. “Yes, quite a bit. I told you not to order peanuts, but you insisted. Now you can’t pay, can you?”
“Right, and the smashed cucumber was a mistake too. You have to understand, peanuts and cucumber without alcohol—it’s almost a crime.”
She put on a solemn face. “You’re right. Tell you what, I’ll pay five yuan, and you cover the remaining twenty.”
“If we must,” Zhang Pa said, playing the part of a man resigned to fate.
Liu Xiaomei called the owner to settle the bill, and it came to twenty-six yuan. Zhang Pa and Liu Xiaomei each pulled out their phones or counted on their fingers. “Seven, seven, four, three, five… Looks like we’re a yuan short,” said Zhang Pa.
Watching Liu Xiaomei’s earnestness, the owner laughed. “Fine, just give me twenty-five.”
Liu Xiaomei handed over the money with a smile. “You’re the best, boss.”
“If you come often, I’ll give you a VIP card. Whatever you eat, half price,” the owner offered.
Zhang Pa looked around at the tiny shop—six small tables at best—and asked, “Even a noodle shop offers VIP cards?”
“Why not? This is a sunrise industry, closely tied to people’s lives. In the future, we’ll seek investment and go public—”
“Brother, you talk bigger than I do,” Zhang Pa said as he and Liu Xiaomei walked out.
“Come again next time, and get your VIP card!” the owner called after them.
“This place is interesting,” Liu Xiaomei said. Then, “Since you found a job, I’ve decided to celebrate. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all,” Zhang Pa replied. “But my wallet’s running dry.”
“No need for you to treat. Let’s eat at my place,” Liu Xiaomei said with a smile.
He was about to agree when he caught a hint of mischief in her smile. “Your place? Not the dormitory?”
“You’re clever,” she exclaimed, laughing.
Zhang Pa hesitated. “You’re not rushing to introduce me to your parents, are you?”
“It’s not me who’s in a hurry. It’s my parents who are eager to meet you.”
“What’s going on here? What did you tell them?”
“I didn’t have to say anything. After your second class with me, someone had already told my parents. Remember that day you walked me home? It was because of that—they asked who you were.”
“So what did you say?”
“I said nothing. What could I possibly say?”
Zhang Pa cleared his throat. “This is such a cliché, just like in TV dramas—the family pushes for marriage, someone finds a fake partner, and then it turns real. It’s not good, and it’s not realistic.”
She smiled. “So, do you want it to turn real?”
“Turn real? Nonsense! We’re already real, aren’t we?” With his new job paying six thousand a month, he convinced himself that he could finally consider a relationship.
“You’re just taking advantage of me again,” Liu Xiaomei laughed.
He grinned. “Always ready.”
She tilted her head and studied him for a while. “Want me to braid your hair?”
He jumped. “Please, I’m not trying to look like a drag queen.”
“A drag what?”
“You’ve never heard of that?”
“Like, pretending to be a queen?”
He thought about it—he’d only learned the term himself last year. “Never mind, you don’t need to know.”
“Do you think I’m terribly ignorant?”
“Nonsense. Some things are better never known.”
She smiled. “You don’t have to try so hard to act serious.”
“I’m not pretending. I’m genuinely serious.”
Laughing and chatting, they strolled back to the dormitory. Along the way, every guy and girl who knew Liu Xiaomei finally had confirmation: the goddess of the conservatory was taken. Looking at the unremarkable long-haired youth—whose only asset, perhaps, was a full head of hair—they wondered how he’d won her heart.
Soon, the conservatory’s online forum was flooded with heartbroken men, all intent on digging up the long-haired boy’s background.
At the foot of the dormitory building, Zhang Pa asked, “Do I really have to meet your parents?”
“Not now, but you will eventually. Just giving you fair warning. And so you don’t embarrass me, you need to keep this teaching job at least until you meet them,” Liu Xiaomei said.
Zhang Pa snapped to attention. “Mission accepted!”
In that moment, he silently thanked Yun Yun for bringing him those two boxes of dumplings. If she hadn’t hesitated and mentioned something else, he wouldn’t have realized that keeping Yun Zheng in line was actually helping an entire family, and he wouldn't have agreed to this teaching gig.
Many times, a good job is the first step toward winning over your future in-laws.