After leaving the office, Rong Xiang smiled brightly at Li Ming. “So, what do you think?”

Li Ming nodded and gave a hum. “Your boss seems nice. But then, I already had that impression before from the things you told me and his messages. Clearly, he cares a lot about your organization and he seems to treat people well. It’s the kind of environment I like.”

Rong Xiang gave a hum as well. “Then I’ll take you to see my co-workers first. Usually, at this time, we’re only getting started and preparing everything for the day. You also know how what we do is always changing day to day depending on what the students need. So, you never really know what’s going to come up and have to prepare for everything.”

Li Ming nodded. From what Rong Xiang had told him before, their organization was tutoring the students coming to them on the matters they didn’t understand at school but also helped the older ones with their applications or finding opportunities for them to better their chances in the job market later on in general.

Sometimes, they would also help out with private matters if the children and teenagers didn’t feel comfortable bringing something up to their families directly. Then, what the employees at the organization needed to do was to just listen and give some advice.

So just as Rong Xiang had said, it really wasn’t possible to plan ahead much. Depending on who came by that day and what was going on in their lives, you had to be ready for many different possibilities and react accordingly. To be honest, it didn’t seem easy.

Li Ming rubbed his head, suddenly feeling a bit worried. “It’s been some years since I finished school. I wasn’t a bad student but I wonder if everything is still fresh enough to be able to help much.”

Rong Xiang chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. For now, you’re only going to follow anyway. Plus, not everything is just theory. You bet we also have students who struggle in the physical department. You can help out more with that!”

Li Ming nodded although he didn’t think that this should be something that was requested much. Most people were able to work on their endurance or speed by themselves as it didn’t require too many explanations and just enough practice. Other subjects were different. But then, maybe he could help more with the older students. “A lot of the volunteers are college students or young professionals, right?” In that case, they shouldn’t have that much experience in the regular job market. Maybe he could give some valuable advice in that regard.

Rong Xiang nodded. “Yes, that’s true. You’ll see in a moment.”

At that time, they had already reached the main room of the building. Actually, the whole place wasn’t very big. There were only three big rooms where the students could get together to help each other out or listen to one of the employees in groups and a few smaller rooms where you could go to discuss private matters one on one or just have a moment to yourself. Anyway, a lot of the children who came to this place didn’t have that opportunity elsewhere.

At this moment, Rong Xiang’s current co-workers were already there. Li Ming took a glance around and spotted five people: The first one was a middle-aged auntie that seemed to be directing everyone else. Just now, she was motioning for two young men to set the tables up differently. The two nodded hurriedly and then got to work as if afraid to anger her or lose too much time.

At the side, a young girl and a woman a few years older than Rong Xiang and Li Ming were sorting through what looked like a few big boxes of books and papers. This should be the study material the organization had accumulated over time and would use to practice with the students.

The two at the side turned around first when they heard somebody come in and the younger woman excitedly waved her hands. “Sister Xiang, you’re here!”

Rong Xiang nodded at her and motioned for Li Ming to follow her over. “Hey, you two! I said I’d bring a friend over to work with us for a bit, right? So, this is Li Ming. Brother Li, these two are Qiao Ya and Shang Ning.”

Li Ming greeted the two women. From the looks of it, they both seemed very open and friendly even at first glance. But then, he probably shouldn’t be surprised. In this kind of job, that might be a prerequisite.

Rong Xiang smiled and took the opportunity to tell both sides a bit more about each other so they’d get along well when working together later. “Sister Qiao just finished school this year and is doing an internship with us to gain some experience. She wants to go and study something in the social sector so we hope she’ll come back afterward as a full-time employee.”

Qiao Ya, the youngest of the four, chuckled. “Sister Xiang is praising me too much.” Turning to Li Ming, she smiled embarrassedly. “It sounds much too well thought-out when she puts it like that. Actually, I had this vague idea of ‘wanting to work with people’ so I looked at what jobs there were and thought helping students might be something for me. I’m not sure though so I finally came to get some experience. I’m not just staying here for the full year though. I’ll be doing a lot of different internships to see what sticks. In the end, it’s all experience, right?”

Li Ming. “It sure is. In this case, we’re not so different. I’m looking into changing careers and also wanted to see if this would be a good fit. You have to give me some recommendations on where else to look if it doesn’t work out!”

Qiao Ya laughed. “Ah, I see why sister Xiang said we’d get along well when you come here. You’re just my type of person.”

Li Ming could only laugh helplessly. If not for the age gap, he really might have misunderstood that. But anyway, she did seem nice, and having someone who shared his reason for coming here also made him feel more at ease. If everyone had been a full-time employee or a long-term volunteer, he might have felt like a scumbag for daring to just try this out as a job like this.