Xia Chen's breath hitched as the young girl finished speaking. A kaleidoscope of expressions flashed across his face before finally settling into pure astonishment—he had never expected Shi Yao to be so direct.
Yet, upon second thought, the girl's very first impression on him had been that of an obedient, sensible soul who utterly detested being a burden to others.
And now, for her to actually utter such words to him showed just how utterly helpless Shi Yao must be feeling at this moment, or perhaps how completely and unconditionally she had come to trust him.
Seeing that Xia Chen remained silent, Shi Yao's ingrained sense of inferiority instantly led her to assume that he must find her too much of a bother and therefore wanted nothing to do with her.
This thought came crashing over the girl's mind like a tidal wave, making her want to retreat, but the glimmer of hope buried deep within her heart still gave her the courage to fight for one last chance.
Clasping her little hands together, the young girl spoke in a frail, timid voice:
"Brother Xia Chen, I'm very obedient. I can go sell skewers, I can take on part-time jobs, and all the money I earn will be yours. I—I'll only eat one meal a day. If you think that's still too much, I won't eat at all. At night, you can just let me sleep on the floor, or even outside the door. Anything is fine, really."
Looking at the rambling Shi Yao, Xia Chen felt a slight quiver in his heart.
What the hell kind of fostering was this? This sounded more like treatment reserved for a slave.
This was the twenty-first century, and Xia Chen had no desire to be a slave driver; yet, the thought of abandoning the pitiful girl right before his eyes was something he simply couldn't bring himself to do.
"Whatever. Anyway, I don't have a car loan, a mortgage, or a girlfriend loan. I might as well go all the way with this good deed. If funds get tight, the worst I can do is swallow my pride and borrow two or three hundred thousand from my older sister to tide things over. That should be fine."
With this thought, Xia Chen's psychological burden instantly lifted by a considerable margin.
He looked at the nervous Shi Yao and said with a serious expression, "Shi Yao, until you find a new family, you'll be living with me from now on."
"What? Brother Xia Chen, do you mean that I can, can..."
Shi Yao covered her mouth, the shock on her face blossoming like fireworks across her entire countenance.
"What, you don't want to anymore?" Xia Chen teased, raising an eyebrow at her.
"No, I want to! I want to very much! I promise I'll be a good girl every day from now on and never make you angry."
The young girl danced with joy, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. The untouchable dream she had dreamed just a few days ago had actually come true today.
"I really am the happiest person in the world," Shi Yao chanted silently to herself as she wept.
"All right, stop crying, or you'll turn into a little crybaby."
Xia Chen gently patted her back in reassurance.
Shi Yao nodded obediently, squeezing a smile through her tears. "Okay, I won't cry. Don't be angry, Brother Xia Chen."
"Mm, I'm not angry. By the way, are you hungry?"
Xia Chen remembered that the two of them hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
"I'm not hungry. Brother Xia Chen, you should go take care of your business, don't worry about me."
Seeing that Xia Chen was willing to take her in, Shi Yao was extremely sensible and tried her best not to be a burden.
"All right. If you get hungry, you can tell the nurse outside; they'll prepare some nutritional porridge for you," Xia Chen nodded and reminded her.
"I know. Go ahead and do your work, Brother Xia Chen."
Shi Yao blinked and smiled softly.
"There's no need to rush. I can still stay here with you a little longer."
Xia Chen indeed had an interview scheduled for that afternoon, but finding it rather amusing that the little girl was more anxious about it than he was, he decided to stay.
After chatting a bit more, Shi Yao finally succumbed to drowsiness and fell asleep shortly after resting her head on the bed.
"Youth is wonderful—drop your head and you're out cold," Xia Chen muttered with a helpless smile as he looked at the "little frog" sprawled across the bed.
What he didn't know was that for someone with psychological trauma like Shi Yao, it was only in an environment of extreme comfort that she could fall asleep peacefully.
And in Shi Yao's eyes, the core condition for creating that environment was Xia Chen.
He was her best sleeping pill.
In the afternoon, Xia Chen arrived at an art design company for an interview.
He himself wasn't actually interested in art as a major; he had only decided to test the waters after hearing that the boss here placed great emphasis on cultivating young talent.
Xia Chen had assumed this interview would be somewhat more normal than his previous ones, but the interviewer's very first sentence directly shattered his defenses.
"Sir, can you accept unpaid overtime?"
The interviewer's matter-of-fact tone instantly made veins bulge on Xia Chen's forehead.
"Can the company accept labor arbitration?"
He forced these words out through gritted teeth, barely suppressing the urge to throw punches.
The interviewer shook his head. "Of course not."
"Then why should I work unpaid overtime? I'm a human being, not some ox or horse you keep," Xia Chen retorted.
He couldn't fathom how the boss of this company managed to sleep at night. Didn't their conscience hurt, or had the tempers of today's youth simply become too docile?
"Sir, unpaid overtime is the company's test for young talent. As a youth of the new era, if you can't even endure this little hardship, how will you ever be qualified for a senior management position in the future? Don't you agree?"
Faced with Xia Chen's retort, the interviewer remained entirely unfazed and full of smooth justifications.
Seeing the other party resorting to twisting logic, Xia Chen—who possessed a naturally rebellious streak—wasn't about to let it slide. He answered casually, "Well, by your logic, our boss must have endured plenty of hardships himself, right? How about this: pull out a video of your boss working unpaid overtime and let everyone here have a look, what do you say?"
"Yeah, this gentleman is right! Let's see it!"
"Mm, I think so too."
Xia Chen's remark instantly rallied the surrounding crowd.
Realizing the situation was getting slightly out of hand, the interviewer tried to brush Xia Chen off and get rid of him.
"Sir, your current mindset and outlook make things very difficult for us."
Xia Chen sneered. "Difficult"? What did that really mean except that they wanted him to get lost right this instant? Unfortunately for them, he certainly wasn't the kind of person to swallow a loss quietly.
Right in front of everyone present, he tore up the company's recruitment brochure, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
Then, fixing the interviewer with an indifferent gaze, he said, "Difficult? Then don't do it at all!"
"Sir, you!"
The interviewer sprang up from his chair, his face turning pale with fury. He naturally knew that Xia Chen was intentionally damaging the company's image, yet he found himself completely powerless to stop him.
With that, Xia Chen strode away amidst the astonished gazes of the surrounding job seekers.
As soon as he stepped out of the company, his very first move was to call Cheng Ruo, since it was Cheng Ruo who had recommended this place to him.
"Brother Chen, how did it go? I told you it was a sure thing, right? Can you start working tomorrow?"
The moment the call connected, Cheng Ruo's confident voice rang out; he assumed Xia Chen had aced the interview.
"Start my ass! Damn it, I thought you were setting up a big play, but it turns out you just took a massive crap—and a runny one at that, goddammit!"
Xia Chen unloaded all his remaining fury directly onto Cheng Ruo.
Sensing that Xia Chen was in the middle of a rant, Cheng Ruo tried to soothe him. "No way, right? With your academic background, Brother Chen, getting into that company should have been a walk in the park."
"It wasn't a walk in the park—anyone who's graduated from college can get in."
"Since that's the case, then Brother Chen..."
"Can you accept unpaid overtime?"
"Of course not, I'm not an idiot!"
"Good, great answer. Next time, don't answer like that."
"Huh?"
Cheng Ruo: ???