Sun Li's billiard hall had finally grown successful and gained a solid reputation in Modu. This was his livelihood, so how could he possibly ruin his own financial prospects for the sake of an outsider? Without a second thought, he chose the former.
When Zhao Gang was castrated, Huo Qi did not allow him to use any anesthesia, and the pain caused him to faint several times.
That night, Sun Li's wife wept bitterly, tears streaming down her face like rain as she complained to him:
"Zhao Gang is the only male heir left in our Zhao family. How are my mom and dad supposed to go on living after this? Exactly what kind of relationship does this young girl have with Huo Qi that he's determined to cut off a family's lineage?"
"I heard she's an ex-girlfriend," Sun Li replied indifferently.
"An ex-girlfriend?"
Upon hearing this, the woman froze for a moment, then resumed her crying:
"Why is he sticking his nose into her business if they've already broken up! My poor younger brother, boo-hoo~ what is he going to do now!"
"Never mind whether they've broken up or not—she is, after all, the Crown Prince's woman! Who told your brother he couldn't control himself? How dare he make a move on just anyone! Groping female employees all the time was bad enough—I've put up with him for a long time. Today he brought this entirely upon himself, he deserved to be taken down!"
While the two of them were talking, Sun Li's phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at the name displayed on the screen, and his expression instantly turned nervous as he hurriedly barked at his still-crying wife beside him: "Stop crying over there and get away, I have to take a call!"
His wife was sensible enough to know that this call must be extraordinary, so she quickly fled to the balcony.
Sun Li immediately put on a flattering smile, pressed the answer button deferentially, and spoke in a servile tone:
"Crown Prince, is there anything else you need?"
"That assistant of yours, what's her name..." Huo Qi paused to think. He had no idea what the woman's name actually was; he only remembered that she wore a very pungent perfume.
"She wears super strong perfume—it gave me a headache! Fire her for me! And Le Mei... settle her wages."
"Pay her a hundred times her salary!" Huo Qi deliberately emphasized, "Don't ever let her come to work again."
Sun Li hurriedly bowed and scraped as he replied:
"Yes, yes, yes, everything will be done as you say."
Huo Qi hadn't specified which assistant it was, but Sun Li didn't have time to worry about that. Acting decisively, he fired all the assistants who wore strong perfume, which naturally included Xiangxiang.
At a little past three in the morning, Le Mei had just fallen asleep when her phone suddenly chimed with a notification.
Drowsily, she opened her eyes and picked up her phone to find a transfer message from her boss, Sun Li.
It showed an amount of eighteen thousand yuan, described as compensation for emotional distress, along with a notice that she no longer needed to come to work.
Looking at this transfer of a hundred times her salary, Le Mei felt no particular joy in her heart.
If she had to rely solely on her part-time tutoring job, after deducting rent and living expenses every month, she wouldn't be able to save much money.
Little Strawberry: [Why? Boss, is there something I didn't do well enough?]
Sun Li: [No, no, no! It's just that I'm not worthy of your presence, please look for another job elsewhere.]
Not worthy of her presence?
Le Mei wanted to ask her boss why he would say such a thing. She sent a smiley face over, only to discover that the other party had already blocked her.
Fired in the middle of the night and having lost a job, Le Mei suddenly found herself wide awake.
She got out of bed, found a large portion of fat-juice rice noodles, and got ready to cook them.
The apartment she lived in was a duplex shared-living space, and right as you walked in was a small shared kitchen.
Living upstairs was a mysterious young girl. Strangely enough, ever since Le Mei had moved in, the two of them had never run into each other even once.
When she first rented the place, the landlord had sworn up and down that the other person sharing the apartment was a single young girl, which was the only reason she had felt at ease enough to rent it.A small pot of water came to a boil, and Le Mei dropped a large package of rice noodles into it, adding some greens, meatballs, and a braised egg. Ten minutes later, a steaming, heavily loaded pot of rice noodles was ready.
Living alone, Le Mei had only prepared a single set of bowls and chopsticks. Too lazy to wash dishes, she decided to eat straight from the pot.
Just as she slurped her first bite of noodles, the beep of the electronic door lock sounded outside.
The door slowly opened, and a figure about 175 centimeters tall walked in.
Le Mei looked up and saw that the newcomer had a fluffy, lazy mullet—a unique and bold hairstyle.
With sharp, defined facial features and a handsome profile, the person wore a striking lip ring and a row of delicate cartilage piercings on the right ear, adding a touch of rebellion and fashion.
Dressed in a loose, trendy graphic tee paired with minimalist black pants, one hand tucked into a pocket, the person walked in with an uninhibited, swaggering air.
Le Mei stared for a second, her heart leaping into her throat.
With someone dressed in such avant-garde, gender-ambiguous fashion suddenly walking in in the middle of the night, it was hard not to let one's imagination run wild...
Wasn't she supposed to be a girl? How could this...
"Wow, it smells so good! Can I have a taste?"
Looking at the pot of noodles, the person's eyes lit out. Then, staring at Le Mei, she spoke. Her voice was clear and delicate—a distinctly female voice.
Le Mei's hanging heart finally dropped back down.
"I'll get you a pair of chopsticks!"
Le Mei went to her room to find a disposable cup and some disposable cutlery left over from past takeout deliveries.
"This is all I have. You'll have to make do!" Le Mei handed them over.
"Thanks!"
"My name is Jian Yao. I work at Poison. Drop by sometime, and I'll treat you to a drink."
Working at Poison.
No wonder they hadn't run into each other before. Jian Yao slept during the day while Le Mei went to school, and by the time Le Mei came back, Jian Yao had already gone to work.
The two of them had perfectly missed every opportunity to cross paths.
"Right, I'm Le Mei, studying at Medical University."
"Studying medicine? Medicine is great for girls. You can give me a few acupuncture treatments next time I catch a cold!" Jian Yao joked as she ate a meatball.
"I'm studying traditional Chinese medicine."
"TCM is great! TCM is profound and vast, so you must know all about wellness and health maintenance. Your skin is really well-maintained, not a single flaw."
With that, she reached out and gently pinched Le Mei's cheek.
Jian Yao was tall, and combined with her bold, edgy style, if you didn't hear her voice, she would look entirely like a cool, charismatic handsome guy.
The way she had just pinched her cheek
made Le Mei momentarily mistake her for a handsome man. By the time she reacted, the tips of her ears were tinged with a faint red.
"I'm still just a beginner..." Le Mei's eyelashes fluttered as she spoke.
"I'm full! Thanks for today. Good night, get to sleep early—staying up late is bad for girls!"
"Yeah, good night."
Jian Yao was used to doing things her own way. After saying goodbye to Le Mei, she headed upstairs.
***
With one job gone, Le Mei had to check job-hunting apps every day for a suitable part-time gig.
As it turned out, either the hours didn't match or the location was too far!
After her tutoring session ended, she returned to her apartment, intending to fall back on her old trade: gaming boosting and companion gaming.
The gaming industry was fiercely competitive these days, and some studios had dropped companion rates as low as 100 yuan for three hours.
Boosting was even more ridiculously low, around 5 yuan per star!
This meant that even if she worked herself to the bone playing games for four or five hours straight without losing a single match, she would barely manage to scrape together 150 yuan.
Le Mei casually flipped through the calendar on her phone,
and suddenly discovered something even more distressing than losing her job!
Her period hadn't come yet.
It was already five days late!!