Chen Jianguo took his phone to the window and called his daughter twice, but no one answered.
Thinking that Chen Yan was asleep, he sent her a message first, telling her that they had the money and that she should stop working at Huangting.
A few minutes later, Chen Jianguo’s phone rang.
But the caller wasn’t Chen Yan. It was an unfamiliar number.
“Hello, who is this?”
A man’s voice came from the other end.
“You’re Chen Yan’s father, right?”
Chen Jianguo frowned.
“I am. What do you want with her?”
“I’m Manager Wang from Huangting. I heard your family is planning to repay the eighty thousand yuan Chen Yan took in advance.”
“How did you know? I just sent that message to my daughter’s phone.”
“The phones our company gives its employees are work phones with remote monitoring. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it, so let’s just talk about the money.”
“That’s right. We can repay it today. Once it’s paid, she won’t be working at Huangting anymore.”
There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a soft chuckle.
“Uncle, I think you’ve misunderstood something.”
“Eight thousand—”
“Eighty thousand yuan is only the amount she took in advance from Huangting. To avoid paying interest, she signed a one-year sales quota agreement for alcoholic beverages, and she still has four months left. She can’t just quit whenever she feels like it. Besides, we spent quite a bit training her and providing her uniforms.”
Chen Jianguo’s expression darkened little by little.
“It’s all written clearly in the contract. If she really wants to leave, she’ll have to pay the resignation penalty. Adding everything together, you’ll need to prepare a total of two hundred and sixty thousand yuan. If you can come up with that much, you can come to Huangting tomorrow to complete the formalities.”
After the call ended, Chen Jianguo gripped his phone, his expression growing uglier by the second.
“Two hundred and sixty thousand…”
Zhou Lan sat beside the hospital bed, stunned.
The family had already accumulated a mountain of debt to pay for Chen Xuan’s treatment. The two hundred thousand yuan the Qin family had just sent them had barely reached their hands, and now Huangting was demanding another two hundred and sixty thousand.
Even if they used every penny of that money, they would still be short by sixty thousand yuan.
“Yanyan only took eighty thousand yuan. What right do they have to demand two hundred and sixty thousand?” Chen Jianguo’s hands trembled with anger. “Can training fees, uniform fees, and a resignation penalty really be worth a hundred and eighty thousand?”
“Dad, give me the phone.”
Chen Xuan took the phone and called the number back from the call log.
Manager Wang answered quickly.
“What? Have you got the money ready?”
“I’m Chen Yan’s brother.”
There was a brief pause on the other end.
“So you’re the brother who just woke up. Congratulations. You were bedridden for ten years and still managed to wake up. The Chen family really is lucky.”
“Chen Yan took eighty thousand yuan from Huangting, and we can repay that amount. As for the training fees, uniform fees, and resignation penalty you mentioned, prepare the original contract. We’ll look it over first. If everything is in order, we’ll pay you.”
“You want to see it just because you say so?”
“If you want the money, put the documents on the table. Otherwise, we can examine them in the police station’s mediation room.”
Manager Wang laughed. “Fine. Tomorrow at noon, twelve o’clock, in the Huangting manager’s office. I’ll prepare the contract, but let me warn you in advance: not a single yuan can be deducted from the two hundred and sixty thousand.”
“Yanyan won’t be going to work tonight.”
“The contract is still in effect, so she’s still an employee of Huangting. Whether she comes or not isn’t up to you.”
“She has the right to personal freedom. That isn’t up to you either.”
The other end of the line fell silent.
Manager Wang’s voice turned colder.
“You’ve only just woken up, but you’ve got quite the temper. Try figuring out how to get out of that hospital bed before sticking your nose into your sister’s affairs.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Chen Xuan hung up without wasting another word on him.
Huangting had dared to turn eighty thousand yuan into two hundred and sixty thousand. Clearly, they had no intention of acting reasonably. In that case, Chen Xuan wasn’t foolish enough to drag his still-weak body out of bed and walk straight into their trap.
First, he had to make sure his sister was safe. Then he needed to restore his strength as quickly as possible.
“Keep calling Yanyan,” Chen Xuan said. “Once you get through, tell her not to go back to Huangting tonight or stay in the employee dormitory.”
Chen Jianguo called his daughter again.
This time, the phone rang for a long while before someone finally answered.
“Dad?”
Chen Yan’s voice carried a sleepy note.
Hearing his daughter’s voice, Chen Jianguo visibly relaxed.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the employee dormitory. I just fell asleep. What happened?”
“We were going to pay the eighty thousand yuan to get you out of Huangting, but then Manager Wang called and said you’d have to pay two hundred and sixty thousand to resign.”
There was a moment of silence on the phone.
“What? I only took eighty thousand yuan in advance.”
“Did you know about the other charges?”
“No. At the time, the manager only asked me to sign an agreement for an advance on my wages. He said that as long as I worked for a full year, I wouldn’t have to pay any interest. He never mentioned training fees or a resignation penalty.”
Chen Xuan took the phone.
“Yanyan, it’s me.”
“Brother?”
“Do you have the contract you signed back then?”
“No. The manager said the contract had to remain at Huangting. I only signed my name and pressed my fingerprint on the last page.”
“When you signed it, had all the terms already been filled in?”
Chen Yan thought carefully.
“When I joined, they did give me a very simple contract. The manager said it was just the hotel’s standard set of rules, and that as long as I didn’t quit without authorization, I wouldn’t violate any of the terms. He told me to sign it directly.”
“I glanced through it at the time. Most of the clauses were about the consequences of quitting without authorization. I was planning to work there for a long time, so I didn’t pay much attention and signed it.”
That was enough to explain the situation.
The two hundred and sixty thousand yuan Huangting was demanding had most likely been hidden in those terms from the beginning.
“How did they give you the eighty thousand yuan?” Chen Xuan asked again.
“By bank transfer.”
“Keep the transfer records and chat history safe. Don’t delete anything. Don’t stay in the employee dormitory tonight. Find a hotel far away from Huangting and stay there. Come to the hospital tomorrow morning to see me.”
“Brother, don’t worry about my problems. It’s really nothing serious. You’ve only just woken up, and your body hasn’t recovered yet. There are still so many things that need money. I can handle this.”
“I’ve already found a way to make money. I’m your brother, so just listen to me.”
“What way?”
Chen Yan’s curiosity was piqued.
Chen Xuan immediately had their parents tell her about how he had helped the Qin family.
At first, Chen Yan didn’t believe them. It wasn’t until she saw the screenshot showing the two hundred thousand yuan in their mother’s account that she finally accepted it.
Given their current circumstances, no one would have given them that much money—not even as a loan.
“But the people at Huangting aren’t easy to deal with.” Although she believed that her brother now had a way to make money, it still wouldn’t be easy for her to leave simply because she had signed a contract and wanted out before completing the full term.
“That’s why I’ll handle it. Didn’t I tell you that I saved an important person? If necessary, he’ll help us.” Chen Xuan’s tone was calm. “Get a good night’s sleep. I’ll take care of everything tomorrow.”
Hearing the name of Hundred Herb Hall, Chen Yan felt somewhat reassured. After hesitating for a while, she finally agreed.
After ending the call, Chen Xuan picked up the business card Qin Zhenghai had left behind.
He had only said those things to reassure his sister. He had no intention of asking the Qin family to intervene on his behalf. A favor used too quickly would lose its value.
However, he could use the Qin family to learn more about Huangting’s background.
In the cultivation world, barging into someone else’s territory without making any preparations usually meant placing your life in their hands. Chen Xuan had survived all the way from a mine slave to the Primordial Spirit Realm—not through cultivation alone.
The call connected, and Qin Zhenghai’s voice quickly came through.
“Mr. Chen, how can I help you?”
“I’d like to ask about a place called Huangting in Jiangzhou.”
“Huangting?”
There was a hint of surprise in Qin Zhenghai’s voice.
“Does Mr. Chen have some sort of conflict with them?”
“My younger sister works there. She took an advance of eighty thousand yuan from her wages. Now that she wants to quit, Huangting is demanding two hundred and sixty thousand.”
“Are they really doing this? Two hundred and sixty thousand is nothing to me. I’ll go negotiate with them right away.”
“No need. I’ll deal with it myself tomorrow at noon. I’m only calling to ask Mr. Qin for some information about Huangting.”
Qin Zhenghai was somewhat surprised. He had assumed Chen Xuan was asking him to pay the money.
“The nominal owner of Huangting is Zhao Tianxiong. He’s been running entertainment venues in Jiangzhou for more than a decade. He has connections on both sides of the law and employs quite a few thugs. The hotel manager is Wang Hai, Zhao Tianxiong’s brother-in-law. He’s the one who mainly oversees Huangting.”