INS Chapter 1

William James once said, our civilization is built on top of huge slaughterhouses.

 

Tao Ling thought of this quote at an inappropriate time during the autumn.

The office was too noisy, filled with the ringing of phones. Calls came in as soon as another one ended, and there was still the endless flow of various students and teachers coming in to ask questions.

 

Today was the retake of the exam for the provincial university’s graduate studies. The written test began at 10 a.m., and students needed to hand in a testing fee of 300 yuan before then. However, the campus website malfunctioned again, and the information of a dozen students couldn’t be found.

 

They had considered the problem of online payment failure, so the school had notified those with the issue ahead of time to bring their cards. Now, students were flocking to the office like a swarm of bees.

 

Fuck this school, fuck this job, fuck this autumn.

Tao Ling pushed up his glasses, sat in front of the computer, and asked professionally, “Applicant number, name, and college of your undergraduate studies. Go.”

 

After checking the list of missing payments, the backend of the system finally spat out the information it swallowed. The financial teacher then called again, saying something about how online payments were still the priority. Tao Ling had no choice but to give up his computer and let the students come over one by one to login and pay.

The area was noisy for half an hour before finally quieting down. Just when he thought he could finally take a break, he turned his head to find a short-haired girl still standing in place.

“What?” Tao Ling asked.

 

Sudden frustration swirled in his heart, but Tao Ling didn’t notice his emotions at all, and the tone he spoke in wasn’t very good. The startled girl flinched and looked at him with her large, blinking eyes.

“Teacher, my information is still missing.” She said quietly.

 

Tao Ling’s heart softened, but he was a little embarrassed to immediately let go of his cold demeanor, so he said in a semi-harsh tone, “Login again.”

He got up to make way for the student, then pushed the chair to motion for her to sit. But the girl didn’t dare to move, only bending down at the waist to retry her login attempt. She logged in again and again, but the interface still remained blank.

 

Tao Ling was looking at the interface when the nearby academic affairs teacher came over: “Take a look, Teacher Tao. There’s still one left.”

The girl carefully raised her hand: “Teacher, it’s me. I can’t find the information interface…”

 

Tao Ling took the list from the hands of the academics teacher, glanced at the girl, then finally said with a sigh, “It’s not a problem, there’s half an hour until the written test. You should go to the classroom first. This is the system’s fault, not yours. The fee isn’t important, don’t let it affect your exam.”

The girl nodded hurriedly. She was so calm just earlier, but now she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Tao Ling waved his hand at her, “Go ahead. Do your best.”

 

The office finally quieted down. Tao Ling called the Information Department, then sank into his chair, speechless.

Another teacher saw his dazed appearance, then said with a smile, “Working with students is difficult. You’re new here, but you’ll get used to it after a while. Though every year, these two months would be busier than usual.”

 

“Thank you, Teacher Zhang.” Tao Ling replied with a sound, then rolled up his sleeves, opening the form he worked on earlier.

 

After graduation, it took tremendous effort to remain in school. According to the provincial university’s rules, all students who want to stay must first go through an administrative post. Who would’ve thought that after going through grueling efforts to obtain a Ph.D. in religion, he would end up squandering time as a student worker?

Fuck this job.

 

The morning ended bumpily. In the afternoon, the Information Department finally responded. Tao Ling took the card reader to the Literature Department’s teaching and research section to find the girl.

As he walked through the long hallway, many of the students who were waiting for the exam watched him. Tao Ling felt that he looked like a beggar, but nevertheless, his steps brought about wind as he walked.

He actually looked really cool in the onlookers’ eyes, but Tao Ling knew himself the best. In fact, his behavior was more akin to that of running away in defeat.

However, he remained expressionless, changing his confusion into a posture that radiated coldness.

 

Finally finding the girl with the missing information from the morning and watching her swipe her card, Tao Ling made a check on the list. After entering it on the computer later, the work for today would be officially finished.

He walked around to the end of the corridor behind the Religious Department, and, seeing no one around, Tao Ling let out a long sigh of relief.

 

The administrative building of the School of Liberal Arts was close to the west gate, and the window beside Tao Ling faced a main road. He looked up and saw that a new flower shop had opened on the corner of the street.

There used to be a duck neck seller there, and Tao Ling passed by there every day when he went home. He often couldn’t help but want to buy it, but he couldn’t eat spicy food. The end result was that, without exception, he would feel dizzy after just two bites.

But he always happily repeated the process of buying duck necks.

 

After the duck neck store closed down, the storefront was under renovation for a long time. Tao Ling had been speculating about what kind of store would be there, but after just a single weekend of inattention, the store had actually opened.

It seemed that his previous attention was unnecessary.

Fortunately, a flower shop was very good. Even if he couldn’t help but bring home a bouquet of flowers every day, at least the pollen wouldn’t make him sweat a headful from the spiciness.

 

Tao Ling lowered his eyes and made up his mind to go and buy flowers from the new shop later.

Even though he was originally going to the cemetery today.

Deep in thought, he reflexively twisted the platinum ring on the middle finger of his left hand.

 

The window was open, and a sudden gust of wind came from the distance, rattling the stack of papers in his hand as it was blown. Tao Ling tightly grabbed the edge of the papers and turned to return to the office.

Fuck autumn.

 

When it was time to get off work, he packed his things and left the school. After crossing the intersection and walking onto the sidewalk, Tao Ling directly arrived at the flower store.

There was a row of small wooden steps in front of the store. On the steps were lined flower arrangement buckets, a row of roses, a row of daisies, a row of daisies, and another row of daisies. Daisies of various colors and types.

 

Tao Ling inwardly let out a sigh of relief, thinking that this store went really well with the cemetery. It would make things a lot easier in the future.

 

“Boss!” He picked up a bunch that were light green in color and shouted.

No one answered.

 

After waiting for two seconds, Tao Ling finally turned his attention away from the flowers and looked up. He saw a man standing in the store with his back to him.

The man was tall, wearing a black shirt and jeans underneath, with the hem tucked into the waistband of his trousers. He seemed capable but not rigid, revealing a perfectly wide back and narrow waist, as well as a pair of long legs.

 

Tao Ling frowned and shouted again, “Boss!”

The man stood next to a handful of hydrangeas, still with his head lowered. Tao Ling didn’t know what he was doing.

After a moment of silence, Tao Ling shouted again: “Boss!”

The man still didn’t look back.

 

Tao Ling’s anger suddenly rose, wondering how he could be this arrogant in doing business. Before he could question him, a girl ran into the store from the street and poked the boss on the shoulder with her index finger.

Are you deaf?

Tao Ling tilted his head and looked impatiently.

 

The man finally turned his head. From Tao Ling’s angle, he could see his profile. The curve was perfect. He didn’t look very old, like a teen who had just graduated from college.

The girl gestured to the boy a few times, then pointed at Tao Ling.

 

The boy followed the girl’s direction and looked over.

The moment he saw that face clearly, Tao Ling paused for breath.

 

Too handsome.

Even though he sported an unruly crew cut that cost ten yuan on an old street, it still couldn’t hide the rich details between the eyebrows.

 

Tao Ling’s face was calm, but inwardly, he was a little dazed.

The girl pointed at him again. The boy looked at him for a long time, then moved his eyes downward to the daisy in Tao Ling’s hand.

“Eighty in total!” the girl said loudly while gesturing the numbers to him, and after gesturing, she began to take out her phone.

 

Tao Ling was stunned.

There was an electric scooter parked not far away. He had just seen it. The front of the car’s pedals were filled with daisies. This girl probably came to get flowers.

 

After a while, the girl came out after paying and smiled at Tao Ling before leaving.

Tao Ling nodded politely, still holding the handful of light green daisies in his hand. He raised his eyes, and met the flower shop owner’s gaze.

 

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TL: Hello! This novel was one of my favorites on NU, but unfortunately, the previous translator stopped their work halfway through the novel and the links all became dead links. It’d be a shame to let this novel remain unfinished so here I am. Thank you for reading, and feel free to let me know of any errors! ^^