"Maybe." Mom suddenly understood. "It's good to find a job anyway, just staying at home like this isn't a solution." As she spoke, Mom sighed at the TV, "I still don't know if I'll be able to pass the national exam next year."

Back to the bedroom.

Alan Cooper tore off the interview address from the promotional flyer, folded it twice and carefully put it into his wallet. He looked up at the few interview prep books on his desk, muttered a few prayers under his breath, clenched his fist tightly—finally, the day had come. Fourth place? A bit lower than expected. Looks like there really are a lot of people applying for National Security this year!

Alan Cooper, oh Alan Cooper!

You absolutely have to pass!!

Chapter 12 [Trouble!]

The day of the interview.

Alan Cooper was afraid that his mother and Aunt Xuan's expectations would put too much pressure on him, and also worried about causing them emotional ups and downs, so he never dared to tell them about the interview. After having a bowl of porridge in the morning to fill his stomach, Alan Cooper secretly slipped his exam admission ticket and ID into his pocket, left the house, took the bus, and headed alone to the "battlefield."

Baiyun Era Building.

The 22nd floor was lined with a row of medium-sized offices, each door with a sign: Earthquake Bureau, Customs, and so on. After asking a passing staff member, Alan Cooper followed her pointing finger all the way to the end, and finally found Room 2216 in an inconspicuous corner. There was no Personnel Bureau or Political Department sign on it, just an A4 sheet with "Waiting Room" written in the center of the door.

The door was wide open, and the smell of smoke drifted out.

He checked his watch—still more than ten minutes before nine. Alan Cooper nervously clenched his fist and knocked on the door frame.

"Come in." It was a man's rough voice.

"Hello, I'm Alan Cooper, here for the interview today."

"Oh, let me see your documents."

Behind the desk sat two middle-aged men in casual clothes, one about forty-five, tall, the other about fifty, short. After confirming Alan Cooper's admission ticket, they waved for him to sit down. Outside the desk, there was only one empty chair, facing the two men, and it was a bit lower than theirs. After sitting upright, Alan Cooper only felt his nerves tighten even more, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

Soon, a middle-aged woman walked in from outside, nodded to the tall and short men, and sat behind the desk.

"It's about time." The tall man took out a stack of documents, "Shall we begin?"

Alan Cooper stiffly replied with a word: "...Okay."

No wonder he was nervous. He had thought that with his written test scores in the aptitude and essay exams, he could get into the top three among this year's National Security applicants. But on the phone that day, he learned from someone in the Political Department that he was ranked fourth. That meant he was the fourth to be interviewed, and if he slipped up on any question, it was very possible for the fifth or sixth place to overtake him and take his spot.

This time, the National Security Bureau only had four openings.

One wrong step, and everything would be lost. Right now, Alan Cooper was facing the biggest challenge of his life!

The three interviewers exchanged glances. In the end, the tall man cleared his throat and asked seriously, "What are your thoughts on this year's stock market?"

Here it comes!

Alan Cooper's mind started racing. He had traded stocks before, played around with his mom when the family still had money, so he knew a thing or two. Plus, he often heard about market trends on the news. There were many angles Alan Cooper could answer from, but just as he was about to speak, he remembered something Grandpa Hu had told him: never underestimate any question—each one has a deeper meaning.

That was close—he almost started analyzing the market trends.

What they wanted to assess probably wasn't whether you could play the stock market, but something else.

Alan Cooper steadied himself and began, "The market performed well in the first half of the year, showing a steady upward trend. I think this is both a good and a bad thing. From an economics perspective..." He transitioned from the stock market to an analysis of the national economy. This was all knowledge he had crammed in the past half month, just in time to be useful. Uh, of course, it wasn't particularly outstanding—after all, it was just copied from the books—but at least it was proper and shouldn't have any mistakes.

Better to play it safe. As long as he could hold onto fourth place, this civil service job was his.

"...Okay, I'm done." Two minutes later, Alan Cooper let out a long breath.

The tall man looked at him. "That's all?"

Alan Cooper was stunned. "...That's all." What does that mean? Did I answer wrong?

The tall man said nothing more. Together with the short man and the middle-aged woman, he scribbled something on the table, probably comments. Then the tall man flipped through the files in his hand and said indifferently, "If you were a civil servant and grassroots units often gave you a lot of feedback online, what would you do?"