Chapter Fourteen: Transferring Household Registration

While An Jianping was still busy in Jiangcun, An Songyu’s work shift was about to start.

She arrived at the hotel but did not immediately go to Sister Xia. Instead, she first completed the tasks she had at hand and only then took the opportunity during a break to explain her request to Sister Xia.

Wan Lixia didn’t press for details, but she didn’t immediately agree either. After all, scheduling was not just a matter between the two of them. Especially since it was already Sunday, and An Songyu was only now making the request.

Throughout the day, An Songyu kept worrying about this matter. Fortunately, she had already organized her work in the previous days, which allowed her to handle her duties smoothly despite being somewhat distracted.

At dinner, An Songyu quietly confided in her close friend, “Yingying, I plan to go back to school next week. There are some things I need to take care of.”

Yu Yingying was a bit surprised and quickly asked, “Which day next week? Have you already scheduled your leave?”

“I’m not sure yet. I just told Sister Xia today, and I don’t know which day she will give me off,” An Songyu replied, sounding a little troubled.

Yu Yingying sighed, “Then it’s probably hard for us to get the same day off.”

“My day off next week is already fixed—it’s Thursday,” she added.

“That’s not certain!” An Songyu hurried to reassure her friend.

By evening, before the end of the shift, Team Leader Sister Xia announced the schedule for the following week. An Songyu’s day off was scheduled first—right for tomorrow.

Naturally, this arrangement made An Songyu extremely happy.

Before finishing her shift, she quietly thanked Sister Xia.

“You don’t need to thank me!” Wan Lixia waved her hand dismissively but kindly reminded her, “Next time, if you have something like this, you should come to me earlier. Although the schedules are announced on Sunday, they’re usually finalized around Friday.”

“This time, the person originally scheduled for Monday was willing to switch with you.”

“But if it’s something urgent, you can also communicate with your colleagues in advance and then come to me for arrangement.”

She was considerate this time because An Songyu had only recently started her internship and wasn’t familiar with their scheduling system. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to help coordinate.

Hearing this, An Songyu felt even more grateful and promised to remember this for the future—to raise such requests earlier next time.

Wan Lixia was pleased with An Songyu’s understanding and signaled for her to get back to work.

An Songyu had entered the hotel internship not only thanks to a recommendation from the hotel’s financial director but also because she was a genuine university student. For ordinary front desk staff, this made little difference.

But for a junior supervisor like Wan Lixia, it brought a sense of pressure.

Luckily, An Songyu never displayed any arrogance from being a university student or the entitlement of having connections. She was steady and sincere in her work and seemed unlikely to stay long-term at the hotel.

That was why Wan Lixia was willing to put in extra effort to help her this time.

Returning to the front desk, her colleagues immediately noticed An Songyu’s happiness. Taking advantage of a lull in customers, they quietly asked about the situation.

When they learned An Songyu would have tomorrow off as she wished, they were genuinely happy for her.

Strictly speaking, An Songyu wasn’t on the same shift as the others. Because she was studying hotel management and quickly mastered the hotel’s management system, her working hours differed from the front desk’s usual three-shift rotation.

She worked alongside another experienced colleague who handled the front desk system before her arrival. They were divided into early and late shifts.

The early shift ran from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the late shift started at 2 p.m., ending at 10 p.m.

Other colleagues rotated through three shifts: morning from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., afternoon from 4 p.m. to midnight, and overnight.

An Songyu had been interning for nearly a month and had worked both early and late shifts. Combined with the rotating shifts of others, she got along well with most colleagues.

Yu Yingying worked in the pastry section with a different schedule but also finished late.

At 10 p.m., after An Songyu handed over her shift, she hurried to find her friend.

Hearing that An Songyu would be off tomorrow and going back to school, Yu Yingying felt both envious and regretful.

“It’s a pity our days off don’t match. Otherwise, I would go back with you.”

“What’s fun about going back to school now? Most classmates are out interning. You’ll only see teachers and underclassmen!” An Songyu quickly comforted her.

“My business at school tomorrow isn’t too complicated. Is there anything you want me to bring?”

“Whether it’s stuff from the dorm or something to buy in the southern market, just leave it to me!”

Yu Yingying was amused by her friend’s eagerness but realized she didn’t really need anything specific. There were a few specialty foods she craved from the southern market, but they were hard to carry, so she didn’t mention them.

She felt a bit sorry that her friend had no particular desires but understood she was going back for serious matters.

An Songyu gave up trying to persuade her otherwise and decided to handle things as they came. If time permitted, she would prepare what her friend needed.

After all, they had shared meals and lodging for nearly four years and knew each other very well.

That night, An Songyu quietly told An Sanxiang about her day off tomorrow.

An Sanxiang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

She had already inquired about the household registration transfer process today.

For sisters like them, the crucial thing was to have the acceptance documents first before transferring their household registration.

When An Jianping returned today, he had already arranged these documents for the two sisters.

Once their paperwork was settled tomorrow, he could directly register their household when he went back to Jiangcun.

However, An Jianping planned to register more than just the two sisters.

But for now, An Songyu and her sister were unaware of this.

Early the next morning, An Songyu boarded a long-distance bus to the southern city.

The distance between Shuncheng and the southern city was not far.

The bus took only about two hours, and An Songyu soon arrived at the southern city university.

Carrying the acceptance documents from Jiangcun, she first found her homeroom teacher and quickly learned the transfer procedures.

Overall, the process was not complicated.

However, during the procedure, the school officials asked her several questions.

After all, the place where An Songyu was transferring her household registration was neither a work unit nor her original registered address. Instead, it was a rural area outside the city.

This was quite puzzling to the school officials.

An Songyu repeatedly explained that it was her father’s hometown and that this transfer was her father’s wish.

Though the officials still found it hard to understand, they smoothly processed her paperwork.

With the school’s implementation of dual-choice employment and the cancellation of welfare housing allocation, having household registration tied to a work unit was no longer mandatory.

Of course, many students still chose to do so, as most universities were located in favorable cities.

Being registered in a good city was certainly better than transferring back to a rural area like An Songyu’s case.