17 – The 2D Heroine Who Walked Out of the Manga
A week of classes had finally ended, and the weekend had arrived at last.
Ruan Tiantian received a call from home, asking her to come back for dinner.
She didn’t believe for a second that her stepmother, An Meirong, had any good intentions in inviting her back for a meal.
In her previous life, it was An Meirong who had persuaded her father to replace Ruan Han’s heart with hers.
They had even smuggled her to an illegal private hospital overseas to perform the surgery.
They truly had no regard for the law, daring to do something like that.
After being reborn, she had seen the true faces of that family clearly and would no longer foolishly hope for any affection from them.
Ruan Tiantian held her phone in her hand, glancing at the balances in her WeChat and Alipay accounts.
She only had 30,000 yuan left.
She was extremely poor now. Thankfully, her tuition could still be covered by a loan, but she had to earn her living expenses herself.
She stuffed her phone into the pocket of her jeans and walked toward the school gate.
In the early morning, there were very few people on campus. Only a handful of individuals were scattered along the main road, and since it was the weekend, most chose to stay in their dormitories and sleep in.
But life didn’t allow Ruan Tiantian to stop. She had to find a part-time job as soon as possible.
She had found a part-time position at a cat café online, located in the commercial street near the school. It was very close, so she could squeeze in time to work there when she didn’t have classes.
Ruan Tiantian arrived at the entrance of the cat café. She looked up and saw a large sign that read, “Maid Cat Café.”
She pushed aside the curtain and walked in, causing the wind chimes hanging on the door to jingle softly.
The sound was pleasant and soothing.
As soon as she entered, she saw several girls around her age, dressed in maid uniforms, standing behind the counter.
Ruan Tiantian politely asked, “Hello, may I ask where the manager is? I’m here for an interview.”
A round-faced girl glanced at her and then called out to a boy sitting in the corner.
“Manager Piao, the girl here for the interview today has arrived.”
Following the round-faced girl’s gaze, Ruan Tiantian saw a boy sitting in the corner, a laptop open on the table in front of him.
Hearing his name, Manager Piao looked up and saw Ruan Tiantian standing by the counter.
The girl was dressed simply in a white T-shirt, with denim shorts tucked beneath it, revealing a pair of fair and slender legs.
Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and her eyes were round and bright, giving her the appearance of a beautiful manga character.
Piao Li’s eyes instantly lit up. It was the first time he had seen such a stunning girl.
She looked like a two-dimensional heroine who had stepped right out of a manga.
Piao Li walked over and nodded slightly at Ruan Tiantian in greeting.
“Hello, I’m the manager of this shop. My name is Piao Li.”
Ruan Tiantian also introduced herself politely. “Hello, Manager. My name is Ruan Tiantian.”
“Although this is a cat café, it’s also a maid-themed cat café, so you’ll need to wear a uniform maid outfit while working. Is that acceptable to you?”
The work uniform was a maid outfit, but it was a proper and decent one, unlike the revealing outfits worn by some online influencers.
Ruan Tiantian nodded. “I can accept that.”
“Great. We pay daily, calculated by the hour. Do you have time today?”
“I have time.”
Piao Li turned to the round-faced girl from earlier and said,
“Qingzi, take Tiantian to get her uniform and explain the general work duties to her.”
Qingzi replied, “Okay.”
Then Ruan Tiantian went with Qingzi to the staff lounge, where they entered another room.
This was the area for female staff to rest and change clothes, equipped with full-length mirrors and makeup mirrors. The decor had a distinctly girlish style—clearly a space meant for girls.
Qingzi glanced at Ruan Tiantian’s figure—slender and petite—and fetched an S-sized maid uniform from the wardrobe for her.
“Our work here isn’t too complicated. We’re mainly responsible for taking orders and serving customers their drinks and snacks. We don’t have to prepare any of the food or beverages ourselves.”
Ruan Tiantian took the maid uniform from Qingzi. The tasks indeed sounded simple and straightforward.
“This cat café seems quite large. I noticed there’s a courtyard in the back.”
“Yes, this is probably the biggest cat café in all of City B. It has three floors in total, and this little Western-style building is the owner’s own property.”
“Thank you. I’ll go change now.”
She then took the uniform into a changing cubicle, drew the curtain, and began putting on the café’s standard attire.
The maid outfit was black and white, with a skirt that wasn’t too short—it fell just above the knees—and a white lace-trimmed apron tied around the waist.
She also wore a white headband in a maid-style design.
After changing, she pulled back the curtain and checked herself in the mirror.
The maid uniform suited her perfectly, making her look sweet and well-behaved. Combined with her naturally manga-like, youthful face, she looked even more like a heroine who had stepped right out of an anime.
Qingzi stood beside her, eyes scanning her up and down, and sighed in admiration, “Tiantian, you’re so cute and delicate.”
Ruan Tiantian turned around and gave her a friendly smile.
“Shall I start working now?”
“Yes, I’ll take you.”
Qingzi led her out of the room. “I’ll show you how to take orders.”
The two girls stood behind the counter, each with an order-taking device in hand. Ruan Tiantian was quick to learn—after just one glance at Qingzi’s demonstration, she understood how to operate the device.
Then, she officially began her shift.
Just then, a few more customers walked in. Ruan Tiantian put on her professional smile.
Her smile was sweet, and before she could clearly see who had entered, she called out warmly,
“Welcome to Maid Cat Café.”
Her voice was sweet but not in an exaggerated or forced way—it felt natural and pleasant.
Shen Xiuyu had just lifted the entrance curtain when he heard a familiar voice, soft and sweet.
Having been called home early in the morning by his mother, he was still feeling a bit weary. Hearing Ruan Tiantian’s voice, he almost thought he was imagining things.
He looked up and saw Ruan Tiantian standing behind the counter, dressed in a maid uniform and smiling sweetly toward the entrance.
When Ruan Tiantian saw that the person who had entered was Shen Xiuyu, her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Shen Xiuyu cleared his throat, stood in front of the counter, and looked up at the menu on display.
He asked, “What are some particularly good drinks here?”
Ruan Tiantian replied, “All the drinks in our café are quite good.”
Shen Xiuyu shifted his gaze from the menu to the girl’s face. “What do you like to drink?”
“I like them all.”
As soon as Jiang Xizi entered, she saw Shen Xiuyu talking to Ruan Tiantian and frowned.
Why is today so unlucky? Even stepping out the door, I run into this damn Tiantian.
She strode over, wearing a smile and speaking in a deliberately sweet tone, “Brother Xiuyu, haven’t you finished buying coffee yet?”
After saying this, she shot a provocative glance at Ruan Tiantian.