Chapter 6: Working

"Just got up!"

Li Mochen responded casually while quickly walking toward the door.

But just as he was about to open the door, Li Mochen had a sudden thought. He lifted his shirt and bit his finger, then drew some strange blood marks on his chest and abdomen.

—These were relatively simple talismans, mainly used to clear the mind and calm the spirit.

Although Li Mochen believed he had sorted out his inner demons and would not fall into demonic possession as long as he didn't experience major emotional fluctuations, the scene on the bus yesterday still left him shaken.

If he had actually pounced on that woman at the time, it would have been truly embarrassing.

So after completing these talismans, Li Mochen deliberately recalled the appearance of the call girl from yesterday to confirm they were effective before opening the door.

"How rare, A-Mo, you actually got up much later than me today. What were you doing last night? Don't tell me you secretly found a girl?"

As soon as William saw Li Mochen, he started making a fuss again.

But then he paused, looking at Li Mochen with a strange expression: "How strange, it feels like you've become a different person overnight."

Li Mochen felt not a ripple inside. He naturally put on a puzzled look and glanced at a small mirror hanging by the door: "Really? I don't see any change."

William rested his chin on his hand, scrutinizing carefully: "You have changed a bit. You look more cheerful and sunny than before. Damn it, you were already handsome enough."

In his memory, Li Mochen had always been gloomy all day long. Except for William, no one in the neighborhood or at school was willing to be friends with him—though girls were an exception.

Some girls at school seemed to particularly like this melancholic type of guy, so this guy received more than three love letters every month, which once made William so jealous he wanted to die.

"Maybe it's because I had an epiphany last night? You were right, William, people can't stay stuck in the past. What happened has already happened, and there's no going back."

Li Mochen smiled self-deprecatingly, then walked out of the room: "Let's go! Aren't you in a hurry to get to work? Don't you want to get scolded by the supervisor?"

William clearly wanted to say something but held back. In the end, he just shrugged and walked out of the dim, murky apartment with Li Mochen.

Although he was puzzled by Li Mochen's sudden change, he was happy to see it. No one wanted their buddy to be gloomy all day.

...

The place where Li Mochen and William worked was a Cai's Chinese Restaurant a block away from their apartment. Because they looked honest and reliable, worked diligently, and spoke fluent Chinese, they easily found jobs there as waiters on weekends.

They both had work permits issued by the school. Although they asked for slightly higher wages, they were much safer and more reliable than illegal immigrants who had sneaked in.

The key point was Li Mochen and William's Asian heritage—though William looked like a pure black man, he was actually a mix of black and Asian. So when Cai's Chinese Restaurant was hiring, Mr. Cai picked them out at first sight.

After having breakfast together, Li Mochen went to work. At first, he was a bit uncomfortable and clumsy. After all, he had never done this kind of work before; in the Primordial Dome Realm, he had always been pampered, so he was inevitably unfamiliar at the start.

But he was always good at learning. On one hand, he relied on the original owner's memories; on the other, he tried to imitate his colleagues.

In just fifteen minutes, Li Mochen had mastered the job.

"Please follow me. Table 13 is by the window—it currently has the best view."

"What drinks would you like?"

"Miss, here is your bill."

"Here is your credit card. Thank you for your patronage."

"Sir, your Golden Mountain Shark Fin has arrived."

"Here is the Abalone Trio you ordered."

It was just these few phrases, along with being warm, attentive, polite, and smiling brightly.

Perhaps because the food was excellent, Cai's Chinese Restaurant was exceptionally busy. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., it was always full. Especially at noon, a long line of waiting customers formed outside. Fortunately, the restaurant closed temporarily at 2:30, or they would have had to keep working.

While Li Mochen was resting in a corner of the restaurant, William came over angrily.

"Shit! These Southern guys are really hard to deal with—a bunch of racist pigs. This is discrimination, pure discrimination! I've had enough. I swear, once I buy that car, I will never, ever work as a waiter again."

Li Mochen could only give him a sympathetic look. He had noticed earlier that William had gotten into trouble at table 37, been pestered for a long time, and afterward the manager had taken him aside and scolded him.

But from what he understood, it wasn't entirely the customers' fault. William had made a mistake first, spilling food on a customer, and both sides had bad tempers.

Now William looked enviously at Li Mochen's bulging pants pocket.

"A-Mo, how much did you earn today? I saw those customers giving you tips, five gold shields at a time."

At this, the other colleagues also glanced at Li Mochen with complicated expressions.

Li Mochen smiled politely: "About seventy gold shields. I didn't count carefully."

Actually, it was one hundred and twenty gold shields. Some customers were especially generous, giving him tips of ten gold shields or more.

The 'Supreme Void Purple Void Immortal King' rarely lied, but human hearts were complicated. If a few words could avoid unnecessary trouble, he was happy to do so.

Still, Li Mochen's expression was a bit strange. Being tipped and treated like this made him uncomfortable.

But that was how American culture and law worked. This kind of job, similar to a waiter, didn't rely on wages.

In Georgia, the minimum wage for employees who don't receive tips was 10 gold shields per hour, while for tipped employees it was only 2 gold shields.

At Cai's Chinese Restaurant, because the food was famous and there were many customers, the waiters usually had higher incomes. Their fixed hourly wage was only a pitiful 2.5 gold shields, but the tips they earned each day could reach sixty to eighty gold shields.

The generous tips were why Li Mochen gave up resting at home to recover and came to work with William.

Unfortunately, since they were students, they could only work on weekends. So before this, the two had been looking forward to this day for a whole five days.

The original owner was saving money to buy a bottle of 'Yuan Qi Dan' from the East in the black market to help him break through his current martial arts realm; William wanted to buy a car—he had been longing for a pickup truck at a used car dealership for a long time.

Li Mochen also valued this job. It was likely his only source of income besides scholarships and government subsidies in the near future.

If possible, he would have liked to stay home today to try to cultivate his spirit and thoroughly understand his physical condition. If there was extra time, he could also learn about this world through books and newspapers and fully organize the original owner's memories.

But there was no choice. Li Mochen knew from his memories that Cai's Chinese Restaurant was one of the busiest restaurants on Market Street.

In America, the more popular a restaurant, the more tips one could earn. Jobs like this were coveted by many, always one person per spot. Even if the boss paid no salary, many would still flock to it. If he didn't come today, the boss might find someone to replace him tomorrow.