You two are the cash cows that Master Luo holds in the palm of his hand.
Ever since customers started sending in commendation banners, Luo Hou’s dilapidated foot-washing parlor, which was on the brink of closure, has miraculously revived like an old tree blooming anew. Every day, the number of customers lining up for foot washes has increased more than tenfold compared to before. As soon as night falls, all the technicians at Yelaixiang are kept so busy they barely touch the ground, with Tao Tao being the busiest of them all.
Uncertain of how many days it had been since she started massaging people’s feet, Tao Tao shuttled daily between the dormitory and the foot-washing room, her mind in a daze, living so mechanically that she almost forgot the date.
Two in the morning.
She was performing the final foot massage for the customer in front of her when Ting Ting pushed the door open: “Sister Tao Tao, are you done?”
Tao Tao cried out in frustration: “No! Don’t rush me!”
Ting Ting quickly waved her hands: “No, no, I’m not rushing you. I just wanted to confirm. There are still twelve customers waiting in line outside.”
Tao Tao asked: “Are there lines at other rooms?”
“Except for Brother Lin Quan’s room, which has two customers left, no one else has any.”
The foot-washing parlor would close in half an hour, yet Tao Tao still had over ten customers waiting at her door. She sighed helplessly: “Can’t they go to other technicians? Isn’t it exhausting to wait in line so late at night!”
Ting Ting replied: “…I said the same thing, but they insisted your technique is the best and refused to go anywhere else. I couldn’t persuade them.”
Tao Tao said weakly: “Got it, I’ll be done soon.”
Since business picked up, she hadn’t slept before five in the morning. She felt that the people of Shencheng had incredible stamina and were particularly focused on wellness; otherwise, there wouldn’t be people lining up until dawn just to have their feet washed by her.
As Ting Ting was about to leave, Tao Tao stopped her and asked: “What roles is Lin Quan playing today?”
Ting Ting glanced at the list: “Brother Lin Quan took seven orders tonight. Although it’s far less than Sister Tao Tao, it’s still quite impressive. He could easily compete for Yelaixiang’s star employee next month. Let me see… Tonight, the wealthy ladies requested him to play the roles of a cold and handsome prince, a sunny sports student, a refined and wicked degenerate… and one gentle and loyal dog who has protected the young lady for years.”
Tao Tao: “…”
“He only has seven orders, so why is he still working this late?”
“Brother Lin Quan follows a high-end service line. Each session takes an hour, but the pay is higher. You two are the cash cows that Master Luo holds in the palm of his hand.”
An hour per session, plus role-playing—no wonder Lin Quan returned to the dorm every night looking sickly and pale.
As Tao Tao washed feet, she thought to herself that Luo Hou was nothing but a wicked capitalist. He only gave ten yuan commission per pair of feet washed, and after working tirelessly all month, the money she earned was barely enough.
She finished the current order and pushed the door open: “Customer number seventy-five, you may come in.”
A young girl put down her phone and rushed over: “That’s me, that’s me! It’s finally my turn!”
Many customers came to Tao Tao for foot massages, especially female customers. Tao Tao changed to a fresh towel, efficiently closed the door, and welcomed the next customer.
As soon as the door closed, the customers waiting outside began whispering among themselves.
“I’m so sleepy.”
“Are you sleepy too?”
“Of course. Usually, I’d be asleep by two in the morning. If it weren’t for the money, I’d be crazy to go out for a foot massage in the middle of the night.”
“Whoever it was that was so generous must have a few screws loose. A foot massage only costs a hundred bucks, and on Meituan it’s just eighty-eight. Yet they actually spent a thousand to hire us as shills!”
“Exactly…”
…
At three in the morning, Tao Tao dragged her exhausted body out of the foot massage parlor. Just as she was about to head back to rest, she noticed a light still on in Lin Quan’s room.
Out of curiosity and a bit of mischief, she peeked through the crack in the door. Inside, she saw a female client sitting on the sofa with her feet soaking in a basin, but Lin Quan wasn’t helping her with the massage. Instead, he was sitting in a nearby armchair, pretending to doze off.
Tao Tao thought to herself, Is this how Lin Quan slacks off during work? She’d have to report him to Luo Hou later!
The moment this thought crossed her mind, Lin Quan opened his eyes and stood up. He crouched in front of the foot basin, reached in to test the water temperature, and asked, “Is it too hot?”
The warm yellow light fell on his silver-framed glasses, casting a beautiful shadow across the bridge of his nose.
He was handsome and refined, his every move gentle and impeccable.
The female client was flustered. “N-no, it’s not too hot.”
“Next, I’ll select an essential oil for your massage. If you feel any discomfort, please let me know right away.”
“O-okay.”
Is this the dynamic between a young lady and her loyal dog? Tao Tao found it utterly boring, yet she couldn’t help but keep watching.
Logically, after a month at Yelaixiang and having served so many clients, Lin Quan should have been quite skilled by now. But he seemed clumsy and inexperienced, much like how she had been on her first day practicing on foot models. Tao Tao thought the client must be uncomfortable, but Lin Quan’s calm expression and elegant movements made it hard not to doubt oneself—maybe it wasn’t that he was bad at it, but that her own tolerance was lacking.
The client remained silent the entire time.
Tao Tao stayed for a while longer before leaving. Lin Quan stood up and walked to the sink, rolled up his sleeves, and washed his hands three times with soap.
“Let’s go,” he said to the woman behind him.
Upon hearing this, the woman stood up mechanically, picked up her bag, and walked toward the door.
Tao Tao had been pushing herself to the limit lately and didn’t feel like moving once she returned to her room.
Three days ago, she had told Luo Hou she was too tired to take on any more clients. Of course, Luo Hou wouldn’t let her stop working—not only because she brought in money, but also because with clients lining up for her foot massages, the other kids could spend more time cultivating their spiritual veins. To placate her, he had even splurged on a flat-screen TV for the room, meant for the entertainment of Tao Tao and Lin Quan, his two cash cows.
Tao Tao lay on her bed and turned on the TV. The astronomy channel was airing a documentary about exploring the universe.
The star map glittered brilliantly as a deep male voice asked, “What truly lies at the end of the universe?”
Tao Tao looked up and, under the bright ceiling light, saw the “Outstanding Foot Masseuse” badge Luo Hou had given her hanging on the wall. She thought sadly to herself: Could the end of the universe possibly be foot massages?
During the day, she had to learn foot massage techniques; at night, she had to serve clients with foot massages; and even in her dreams, it was all about foot massages.
Whether her eyes were open or closed, countless feet—white or black, large or small—floated through her mind.
Last night, she even dreamed she had traveled back in time and become Sun Wukong. Because she was bad at foot massages, the Buddha had pinned her under the Five-Toed Mountain. She looked up, drinking rainwater and eating grass, but her position was so low that all she could see were the pairs of feet of passersby…
In short, Tao Tao was on the verge of a breakdown.
She could no longer recall how she had so confidently made that promise to Jin Youchen a month ago. Now, consumed by regret, she even began to entertain the thought of betraying her own will and becoming the young master’s child bride. Once she became the young mistress, she probably wouldn’t have to massage feet anymore, right? Maybe people would even line up to massage her feet instead…
Her mind was filled with thoughts of feet. Clutching her head, she rolled around on the bed, wailing miserably, “Ah, living is so exhausting—I might as well just die—”
Lin Quan happened to push the door open at that moment. “What are you doing?”
In front of him, Tao Tao had always been cold and sharp-tongued—a spicy girl should act like one. She quickly scrambled up from the bed, hugged her legs, and pretended to watch TV as if nothing had happened. “Nothing. You’re back late today.”
“Did I disturb your rest?”
“No.”
Tao Tao turned off the TV and lay flat on the bed. Lin Quan switched off the light.
In a way, he was an easy roommate to get along with. No matter how late Tao Tao returned or how much noise she made, he never said a word. On the other hand, if he came back late, he would never wake her up. As soon as she indicated she was going to sleep, he would immediately turn off the light.
Tao Tao wasn’t asleep. Through the gap along the edge of the bed, she could see a faint glow from the upper bunk.
She had given Lin Quan the phone Jin Youchen had gifted her. Every night, he would spend a long time looking at it before sleeping, though she had no idea what he was watching. Sometimes, when Tao Tao woke up in the middle of the night, he was still watching. Strangely enough, ever since sharing a room with him, her sleep had improved significantly, and she hadn’t had any nightmares.
“Aren’t you sleeping yet?”
“Is the light bothering you?”
“No, it’s almost four in the morning. We have to get up for class tomorrow. Aren’t you tired?”
“I don’t need much sleep.”
Tao Tao let out an “oh.” Suddenly, Lin Quan called out to her, “Tao Tao, could you top up some credit for my phone? I’ll pay you back next month.”
Tao Tao’s internal alarm bells went off. After all, her money was earned foot by foot through massages, and she couldn’t lend it out easily. She asked, “Didn’t we just get paid? Tingting said you even asked Luo Hou for an advance in the middle of the month. How could you have spent it all so quickly? I never see you spending money normally.”
Lin Quan didn’t respond.
Tao Tao climbed up and stood on the ladder of the bunk bed. Lin Quan was lying on his back, watching an anime on his phone screen.
Seeing Tao Tao leaning over the edge of the bed, staring intently at him, he turned his head and said, “Qiangzi mentioned that the SIM card in this phone was specially set up for you by that young master. If I’m using it, I should get a new one. I asked him to help me apply for a new card. Watching these costs money, and I didn’t expect my salary to run out so quickly.”
Finally, Tao Tao understood what he had been doing in bed every night.
—Watching anime on his phone.
Lin Quan said earnestly, “The story is stuck at a cliffhanger. It’s a bit frustrating.”
“How could watching anime cost so much money?”
Li Sanjiu used to have an old phone too. There was no Wi-Fi or good signal in the mountains, so he would rely on painfully slow 3G to watch movies about fighting Japanese soldiers. Although Tao Tao wasn’t very familiar with these things, she knew Li Sanjiu well—even if watching movies on a phone cost money, it wouldn’t be that much. Otherwise, given the old man’s stingy nature, he would never have been willing to spend it.
She took the phone and examined it. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in her head. “Did Qiangzi not get you a data plan?”
Another lightbulb flashed. “You didn’t ask Luo Hou for the Wi-Fi password here, did you?”
The lightbulb above her head flickered once more: “You actually kept your 5G on for a whole month just to watch anime!”
Lin Quan looked bewildered: “What?”
Just as Tao Tao was about to explain, her watch suddenly rang. At this hour, she thought it might be Jin Youchen, but upon checking, it was an unfamiliar number.
She answered, and a girl’s voice came from the other end: “Tao Tao…”
It took Tao Tao a moment to recall who it was, and then she heard Xue Rong’s trembling voice say: “Tao Tao, save me—”
Author’s Note:
Updates for the next two days will also be posted after midnight on the respective days. The update schedule has been a bit irregular lately, but it should return to normal in a few days.
Comments on V-chapters these days will receive red packets~ To avoid confusion, they’ll be saved and sent together on the 22nd. I won’t forget~