“I’m back.”
Beep beep… The fingerprint verification device sounded with a clear prompt. The anti-theft door, which had a tiny advertisement slip attached to it, slid open soundlessly.
Zhou Jing returned home. A tired expression hung on his handsome face as he carried a tiny cake box in his hand.
The full-body mirror beside the door reflected his appearance. He had simple short hair. He dressed simple yet elegant in a white shirt, black slacks, and leather shoes. He wore the standard interview attire.
He had spent another day interviewing for jobs. As a fresh graduate from a middle-class school with not-so outstanding grades, he could only apply for a spot in the higher education institutes as an independent candidate. For the past three months, besides looking for a job, Zhou Jing had constantly been revising.
(TL Note: I don’t know too much about how China’s education system works, but it seems like they have this option to enroll as an independent candidate of sorts at certain universities between the period of their college examinations to the date their exam scores are released. It seems like these independent candidates are evaluated in other methods as well, and if the school thinks they’re a good fit, they will get preference to be selected for the said university as well as a lowered entry score level.)
The competition for the job market in West Sea City grew more and more intense, and it was not easy to find a job with just a standard education degree. Today, he received a bunch of “go back and wait for news” replies, to the point that his ears were numb.
Zhou Jing, however, did not have much of an intense reaction to their answers, as he was already accustomed to it. After all, getting chosen was as likely as a toad eating the meat of a swan.
After changing into his slippers in one practiced move, Zhou Jing suddenly realized that the house was too quiet.
At this time, his younger siblings would be playing, and his mother would turn up the television when she watched the afternoon dramas. But at this moment, the typically boisterous house was unbelievably silent.
“Is no one home?”
Zhou Jing mumbled to himself as he walked around the cabinet. It was then that he saw his parents and siblings gathered and sitting quietly at the dining table. They were all looking over at him.
There was no food on the simple dining table. The only thing on the table was the withered daffodils in the glass vase swaying gently.
Zhou Jing was caught unawares by this scene.
What’s going on? Is this a family hearing? Are they angry for taking all of lil bro’s pocket money when I played cards with him yesterday?
But if that’s the case, why are my two older brothers who had already moved out back here? It had only been eight days since the last family gathering. Everyone usually only gathers once every one or two months. Surely, they wouldn’t be here for such a small matter…
At this moment, his mother, Zhao Jing, spoke. Her tone sounded the same as usual, but one could faintly hear her voice trembling.
(TL Note: LOL, it’s not a typo, both MC and the mother have the same pronunciation for the ‘jing’ in their names, but it’s a different character.)
“Son, how was your interview today?”
Hearing this, Zhou Jing suppressed the doubts in his heart and shook his head. “Same old, same old. You know that many basic jobs are occupied by mechanics now. I’m just a new graduate without any work experience, so it’s too difficult to find a job.”
“Then… What are your plans?”
I mentioned that a long time ago. Did she forget? Zhou Jing felt a little strange, but he still repeated his thoughts and plans.
“It’s not easy to find a job with just a standard degree. I’ve already applied for a higher education institute, and I want to get a higher education degree. If I can’t find a job during this period, I have to borrow my tuition fees from the family… But don’t worry, I’ll pay it back when I get a job.”
Zhou Jing explained in a low voice as he took off his tie and pulled open his collar. Then, he sat down in the last empty seat on the dining table.
He placed the cake box on the table and pushed it toward his three underage siblings.
“Here, I bought you guys some cake.”
“Wow, thank you, Third Brother!”
“Third Brother is the best!”
“Hey, this is bought with my pocket money! Only I can eat it!”
His three younger brothers and sisters cheered while a discordant voice grumbled amongst them. The trio hurriedly opened the box together and fought over the cake.
Zhou Jing smiled before turning to look at his father, mother, and two older brothers. He found that the four of them had severe expressions on their faces, not at all amused by the current scene.
Hmm, the atmosphere is weird. Why are you all staring at me? Even if I’m quite handsome, don’t keep looking like that…
Zhou Jing couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “Why is everyone gathered here today? Why do you all look like that? Did something happen?”
His father, Zhou Wei’an, let out a long breath from his nose. He spoke out in a low voice, “You’ve seen the news, right? The Joint Government’s newly developed habitable planet has begun a new round of immigration. There weren’t enough applicants this time, so they have started randomly selecting people for forced immigration.”
“…I heard.” Zhou Jing nodded. For some unknown reason, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Zhou Wei’an continued solemnly, “Our family has been selected, and we will have to bear the burden of forced migration to meet the quota… Your future plans need to be changed.”
At his words, Zhou Jing’s expression froze, and his eyes widened slightly.
He finally understood why his family was acting so strangely today.
Forced immigration…
He did not expect something like this to happen to his family.
With the era of interstellar navigation, the dozens of countries that came from their mother planet formed the “Interstellar Joint Government” and became the highest ruling authority of human civilization. They took charge of the development of human civilization and began to expand into interstellar space.
Since the spacecrafts of human civilization cruised through star systems, more and more habitable planets were incorporated into the territory of human civilization.
Humans and leeks had many similarities. Both were endless and could not be weeded out completely, but they both needed to have seeds planted. Every new colonial planet needed a large amount of manpower to develop and reproduce.
Therefore, under the decision of the Interstellar Government, the leeks… no, the humans were migrated and transplanted into various new colonial planets that were found. Hence, the interstellar immigration system was established.
(TL Note: Ah, leeks again… author really loves dem leeks LOL)
One of the proposals was the process of “forced immigration.”
If the voluntary application for interstellar immigration was not within expectations, the countries would then randomly select a suitable candidate from the nearest neighboring planets and implement compulsory immigration. If the selected candidate had a family, the family would discuss among themselves and decide which member would bear the quota of compulsory immigration.
About half a month ago, the planet’s authoritative media broadcasted the relevant news, reporting that the number of active immigrants on this new planet had yet to reach the standard, and the planet he was living on was exactly within the range of the forced immigration.
Zhou Jing didn’t take it to heart at that time because compared to the population of the entire planet, the quota for forced immigration was limited. The chances of “winning” such a lottery were slim, so he thought it had nothing to do with him.