For the entire morning self-study period, I stayed in the office next to the classroom and did counseling with that Doctor Lu, just like the counselor asked.

“Have you been feeling lonely lately? Or sad for no reason?”

“No. My mom and grandma are both super nice to me, and the girls in my dorm are really cute too. I think I’m pretty happy.”

“Hm? But based on the information we’ve gathered, you seemed to have been... somewhat dissatisfied with your standard of living before. But your eyes are telling me you’re not lying.”

“These past few days have really been full for me.”

“...”

When the class bell rang and I walked out of the office with Doctor Lu, I noticed he looked much more confused than when he’d gone in.

“This child’s case is rather rare. It’s also possible her brain developed a stress response after experiencing a life-threatening situation...”

In the hallway, Doctor Lu found the counselor, who had already been waiting there for quite a while.

“She shouldn’t have any major psychological issues now. She also passed the depression screening.”

“If you’re still worried, then for the next few months, it’d be best to communicate with her more and guide her properly. Or have her do another targeted counseling session in three months.”

“Oh, okay, okay, okay... Thank you, doctor.”

“You’re welcome.”

After watching the doctor leave, the counselor walked over to me. “Student Bi Xinxue, can I add you on WeChat?”

I took out my phone. “Sure.”

Gao Yu, counselor for the School of Information Engineering at Vanilla Vocational College, was around 1.8 meters tall. He wore glasses and had that thin, lanky look.

This counselor had a nickname: “Cake.” The boys gave it to him on the very first day of school. By the end of that same day, almost all the boys in the entire School of Information Engineering had accepted it. The reason was simple. He looked incredibly similar to a League of Legends streamer called “Ani Cake Shop.”

Those guys even came up with signature catchphrases for him:

“How are you even a fake student?”

“If you don’t believe me, look up. Heaven spares no one.”

“It doesn’t matter what major I manage. They’re all free-range anyway.”

His surname was Gao, he always spoke in an unhurried way, he looked like that streamer, and he had the right vibe too. Very quickly, Counselor Gao Yu became an idol among the boys in class.

Worth mentioning, E-commerce was also part of the School of Information Engineering, so Jiang Yuqing, Zhang Qi, and the others in my dorm also had Gao Yu as their counselor.

“By the way, that part-time companion job you’ve been doing lately... is it hard?”

After scanning my QR code and adding me as a friend, the counselor thought for a moment. “I know a little about your family situation. If you really want to do work-study, I can apply to the school for you. The library’s short on a few librarians lately. It’s from 7 to 10 every evening, and it’s about 300 yuan a month.”

Three hours a day. Ninety hours a month. Three hundred yuan?

That came out to... three yuan an hour?

“Ah... thank you, teacher, but I don’t really care that much about money. I just want to meet more people, get more contact with the outside world, and become a little more cheerful.”

Hearing that, I quickly added, “And our dorm’s been working on that little convenience shop lately too, so I probably wouldn’t have time for a librarian-type job...”

Actually, the convenience shop’s monthly income wasn’t that high either. But it had one big advantage: it was easy, and it was flexible.

After observing for the past two days, I’d already gotten a basic understanding of how Jiang Yuqing and the others ran that little shop.

To put it simply, they were “making money off acquaintances.”

Compared to the boys’ side, girls visiting each other’s dorms was extremely common. Girls in the same major would often drop by each other’s rooms to mess around, chat about makeup and skincare, or talk about what new shop had opened and whether they should go eat there together sometime. Even girls from different majors could end up becoming friends because of mixed dorm arrangements and things like that.

If I had to put it bluntly, there were a whole lot of “surface-level friends” and “surface besties” on the girls’ side, and a lot of them were pretty calculating too. Boys were different. From what I remembered, if a guy liked you, he liked you. If he didn’t get along with someone, he wouldn’t go out of his way to mess with him. Not bothering each other was best. And if things really got bad, they’d just fight it out. There usually wasn’t any grudge left by the next day.

In that kind of environment, opening a little shop in the girls’ dorms meant the shop’s name spread almost instantly. A huge number of girls who were too lazy to run downstairs would just come to our room to buy snacks and drinks.

When she had free time, Jiang Yuqing would load the goods onto a detachable little cart, bring the shelves downstairs, and open the shop right at the bottom of the dorm building. If they were too busy, they’d just put the snacks and the payment QR code outside the dorm door. Whoever wanted something could come in, pick it out themselves, and scan to pay. After all, everyone basically knew each other.

I could already see it. Later on, this business model would probably evolve into the kind of business where you made money lying down.

All we’d need to do was keep the dorm door open every day. People could take whatever they wanted. We wouldn’t even need to act as clerks. We could just lie there and wait for the money.

“That makes sense. It’s good to meet more people. I heard from Jiang Yuqing that your little shop’s doing pretty well.”

The counselor looked thoughtful. “You have my phone number, right?”

“I do.”

“Then let’s leave it at that for now. Since there’s nothing else, make sure to work hard in your studies too. Your mother works very hard to support the family. When you graduate in the future, find a better job and let your mother have it easier. That’ll count as repaying her for raising you all these years.”

“Mhm, teacher, I’ll work hard.”

“Go on, then.”

“Goodbye, teacher!”

After saying goodbye to the counselor, I walked over to Chen Xiaorui, who had already been waiting by the classroom door for several minutes. “Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Xiaoxue, I spent morning study looking into that Hualimao thing.”

The moment she saw me come over, Chen Xiaorui pulled me into her arms, then mysteriously took out her phone. “Help me look at this. Do I just sign the contract right here?”

“You really are going to do this?”

My head instantly started to ache. I glanced at the contract page on her screen. “Yeah, this is it. This is the Gold contract.”

Compared to the Platinum contract, Hualimao’s Gold contract was much freer and much easier.

On Hualimao, getting a Platinum contract required passing a certain assessment and review.

That assessment was kind of like a driver’s license test. To put it simply, they gave you some basic “training,” then had you answer questions online. Your score had to be above 90.

They called it “training,” but honestly, as long as a girl had decent emotional intelligence and a normal sense of right and wrong, getting above 90 on the later quiz wasn’t hard even without attending.

As long as you didn’t hate men, didn’t randomly go on feminist crusades, and didn’t keep picking the suicidal options, you were basically fine.

For example, something like this—

“A wealthy client has booked your entire day, including dinnertime. During the meal, as a rental girlfriend, how should you conduct yourself?”

A. The boss is paying. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so obviously order the most expensive things possible.

B. Maintain basic manners and etiquette during the meal, and thank the boss afterward.

C. Suggest the boss skip dinner and just eat me instead.

D. Call friends and family and invite them over to eat too. The more people, the livelier.

There were around fifty questions like that, all multiple choice. Getting 90 wasn’t hard.

The truly difficult part of the Platinum contract was the “review” afterward.

They reviewed your looks, your figure, and your voice.

I remembered that when I signed, a Hualimao staff member specifically sent me a video call request. They had me turn off my phone’s beauty filter, stand farther away so they could check my height and stuff, and even made me sing several songs.

If I wasn’t mistaken, girls who weren’t pretty enough, had poor figures, or didn’t have nice voices couldn’t pass that “review.” The highest they could get was Gold.

To put it bluntly... the Platinum contract was all about your face.

If you weren’t pretty, no contract.

“So that means I just sign my name here?”

Outside the classroom, Chen Xiaorui pointed at the e-contract on her phone. “There’s no trap in this, right?”

“Not with the Gold contract. This one’s basically just a declaration saying you’re a temporary employee of the company, and they’ll help handle your taxes and stuff.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Xiaorui, are you really going to do this?”

Hualimao’s Gold contract didn’t come with the 300 yuan incentive bonus, and there were very few recommendation opportunities. Basically, they just left you to fend for yourself. Whether any client picked you was mostly up to luck.

As for Chen Xiaorui’s qualifications... I didn’t really know how to describe them.

She wasn’t exactly pretty. At most, because she was a girl, you could maybe call her “cute.” Her face was round, soft-looking, and a little chubby. Her voice was just an ordinary girlish voice too.

And her slightly chubby figure meant she couldn’t go out like me in JK uniforms, sailor outfits, or maid dresses to fish for “otaku shut-ins.” Her body type was awkward. She wasn’t slim, and her legs weren’t thin, but she also wasn’t fat enough to be exaggerated.

If Chen Xiaorui had a super lively, cheerful personality, knew every meme, almost never got mad, and bounced around like a little deer every day like some happy little sunshine, then even with a bad figure, if she wore cute clothes and little dresses, boys would probably still be easily won over by that energetic personality and think her soft, chubby look was adorable.

But unfortunately, Chen Xiaorui wasn’t that type.

So far, I hadn’t found any standout trait in Xiaorui that would easily attract boys. And... she was also biased against boys who played games.

Under those circumstances, I felt like being a rental girlfriend would put her in a very passive position.

“I want to try it. I want to experience how hard your work is, Xiaoxue.”

“What about your boyfriend?”

For a moment, I didn’t know how to persuade her. “I feel like for something like this, you should still ask your boyfriend what he thinks... assuming you still care about him.”

“Uh...”

Maybe she also felt it was a bit inappropriate to do this while having a boyfriend. After thinking for a while, Chen Xiaorui exited the contract page. “Okay. I’ll go ask A-Qing and see what he thinks.”

After saying that, the girl took my hand. “Xiaoxue, come with me, okay?”

“I...”

I felt a little awkward. “Wouldn’t it be inappropriate for me to go? This should be between you two.”

“But I feel like you’ve dealt with so many clients, Xiaoxue. You should be way better at talking.”

Chen Xiaorui looked at me pitifully. “Come on. I’ll treat you to lunch after, okay?”

“Fine then. At noon, I want that clay pot rice from the new place on the second floor. Beef pot with Chinese sausage.”

I brushed a few strands of hair off the girl’s shoulder.

“And I think there’s a very high chance your boyfriend’s going to object...”