Some girls at school seemed to have a particular fondness for this melancholic type of boy, so the guy in front of him would receive more than three love letters every month, which once made him so jealous he wanted to die.

“Maybe it’s because I figured things out last night? William, you’re right—people can’t stay stuck in the past. What’s happened has already happened, and there’s no going back.”

Ethan Thompson gave a self-mocking smile, then walked out the door: “Let’s go! Aren’t you in a hurry to get to work? Why aren’t you moving? Don’t you want to avoid getting scolded by the supervisor?”

William clearly wanted to say something but stopped himself. In the end, he just shrugged and left the dim, murky apartment together with Ethan Thompson.

Although he found Ethan Thompson’s “sudden change” strange, he was happy to see it. After all, no one wants their buddy to walk around with a gloomy face all day.

……

The place where Ethan Thompson and the others worked was a Cai’s Chinese Restaurant, just a block away from where they lived. Thanks to their honest and reliable faces, their diligence, and their fluent Chinese, it was easy for them to land the job, working as waiters on weekends.

They both had work permits issued by the school. Although their wages were a bit higher than average, they were much more reliable and safer than those illegal immigrants who had snuck in.

The key was the Eastern heritage of both Ethan Thompson and William—even though William looked like a pure Black man, he was actually of mixed Black and Eastern descent. So when Mr. Cai was hiring, he picked them out right away.

After having breakfast together, Ethan Thompson and William headed to work. At first, he was a bit unaccustomed and clumsy. After all, he had never done this kind of work before; back in the Original Dome Realm, he had always lived a life of privilege, so it was inevitable that he’d be a bit awkward at first.

But he had always been a quick learner. On one hand, he relied on the original host’s memories; on the other, he tried to imitate his coworkers.

In just fifteen minutes, Ethan Thompson had already mastered the job.

“This way, please. Look, table thirteen by the window—this is the best view right now—”

“May I ask what drinks you’d like?”

“Miss, here’s your bill.”

“Here’s your credit card, thank you for coming.”

“Gentlemen, your Jinshan shark fin soup is here.”

“This is the abalone three treasures you ordered.”

It was nothing more than these few lines, and as long as he was enthusiastic, attentive, polite, and smiled brightly, that was enough.

Perhaps because of the excellent flavors here, Cai’s Chinese Restaurant was especially busy. From eleven in the morning until two thirty in the afternoon, it was always full. Especially at noon, there would be a long line of customers waiting outside. Fortunately, the restaurant closed at two thirty for a break, or else they’d have to keep working nonstop.

While Ethan Thompson was taking a short break in a corner of the restaurant, William stormed over, fuming.

“Shit! These guys from the South are really a pain, a bunch of racist pigs. This is discrimination, pure discrimination! I’ve had enough, I swear! Once I buy that car, I’ll never, ever work as a waiter again.”

Ethan Thompson could only give him a sympathetic look. He had noticed earlier that William had gotten into a dispute at table thirty-seven, was hassled for a long time, and then got pulled aside by the manager for a scolding.

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

At this moment, William looked enviously at Ethan Thompson’s bulging pants pocket.

“Ethan, how much did you make today? I saw those customers giving you tips—five gold shields, five gold shields each time.”

At this, several coworkers nearby also glanced at Ethan Thompson with complicated expressions.

Ethan Thompson smiled politely. “About seventy gold shields, I didn’t count carefully.”

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

The ‘Divine Celestial King of Purple Void, Supreme of Shenxiao’ rarely lied, but people are complicated; if a few words could avoid unnecessary trouble, he was happy to do so.

Still, Ethan Thompson’s expression was a bit odd. The feeling of being tipped and rewarded like this made him a little uncomfortable.

But that’s just how the culture and laws are in America. This kind of job, similar to a busboy, doesn’t rely on wages.

In Georgia, the minimum wage for employees without tips is ten gold shields per hour, but for those who get tips, it’s only two gold shields.

At this Cai’s Chinese Restaurant, because the food was famous and there were lots of customers, the waiters usually earned quite a lot. Their fixed hourly wage was a measly 2.5 gold shields, but the tips they made in a day could reach sixty to eighty gold shields.

It was precisely these generous tips that made Ethan Thompson give up resting at home and come to work with William.

Unfortunately, since they were students, they could only work on weekends. So before this, he and William had been looking forward to this day for a full five days.