“Huo Yan, did you forget something?”
“Hmm?” The man’s voice was slightly hoarse.
“If you don’t leave soon, you’ll be late.” Miss Jiang turned to look at the clock on the wall. “You’ll get docked pay for being late, and then you won’t be able to buy a mattress. Do you want me to keep sleeping on that hard bed with you tonight?”
Huo Yan froze.
His gaze lingered on Miss Jiang’s reddening ears, and his Adam’s apple bobbed twice.
“Baby, are you that worried about my paycheck?”
“Obviously. If I’m not worried about your paycheck, what am I supposed to worry about?” Miss Jiang turned her face away, forcing herself to sound indignant. “If you get docked pay, who’s going to buy me a new dress this month?”
Huo Yan chuckled.
The sound rumbled from his chest, passing through the thin fabric and tingling against Miss Jiang’s palm.
“Fine. For Baby’s new dress, I’ll head out right now.”
He straightened, his fingertips brushing lightly over Miss Jiang’s cheek.
The warmth was fleeting, the touch faintly rough with calluses.
By the time Miss Jiang came to her senses, Huo Yan was already at the door.
He glanced back at her.
“Baby, wait for me at home.”
The door clicked shut.
His steady footsteps faded down the hallway.
Miss Jiang collapsed onto the battered folding sofa and let out a long breath.
She raised a hand to touch her cheek.
It was still burning.
Damn it.
She’d almost been bewitched by that man’s looks and his sex appeal.
Miss Jiang slapped her cheeks firmly.
Stay calm.
She had to stay calm.
The most important thing now was staying alive, not getting lost in a handsome man!
In the original novel, Huo Yan would meet the fated heroine at a charity gala three months from now. They would fall in love at first sight, and their passion would ignite like thunder and lightning.
And Jiang Li had to save enough money to run away before then.
Otherwise, once the heroine appeared, the fate of a troublesome ex-girlfriend like her would be absolutely miserable.
No, she needed money!
She sprang up from the sofa and started rummaging through everything.
The bedside table, drawers, wardrobe—even the shoeboxes under the bed.
She turned every possible hiding place upside down.
Ten minutes later, the pitiful results of her search lay on the battered coffee table.
Two red bills, three coins, and five maxed-out credit cards.
What a nightmare of a start!
How had the original host even managed to survive until now?
Jiang Li picked up one of the credit cards. It had a limit of five thousand, with four thousand nine hundred already spent.
The others were even worse—all over their limits.
Altogether, she was more than thirty thousand in debt.
Feeling utterly defeated, Miss Jiang tossed the cards back onto the table.
There was no way to live like this.
She looked around.
In the cramped rental, there was nothing of value besides a few cheap dresses from street stalls.
The refrigerator was secondhand, the washing machine had been broken for six months, and the TV was an old, bulky model so heavy that even a scrap dealer wouldn’t want it.
The only things she might be able to turn into cash were…
Miss Jiang’s gaze slowly settled on the dresses.
They were all no-name brands, but at least she’d hardly worn them.
She picked up her phone and opened a secondhand marketplace app.
She searched for the going price of similar items.
Good grief. Five yuan apiece.
Even bundled together, they’d fetch three or four hundred at most.
Even a mosquito’s leg was meat. It was better than just sitting around waiting to die.
Miss Jiang snapped photos and uploaded the dresses one after another.
As soon as she posted the last item, her phone buzzed.
Someone had sent an inquiry.
[Buyer: Hey, are these all brand-new?]
Miss Jiang’s fingers flew across the screen.
[Miss Jiang: Brand-new. I took the tags off and tried them on once. My ex-boyfriend gave them to me, and now they just annoy me.]
[Buyer: Could you lower the price? I’ll take them all.]
Jiang Li’s eyes lit up.
All of them?
That was over three hundred yuan—a fortune!
[Jiang Li: If you’re taking everything, I’ll round it down to 300.]
[Buyer: Deal! Can I come pick them up now? I’m nearby. Send me the address.]
Nearby?
Was that normal?
Could this person be some kind of pervert?
What if they did something indecent with her dresses?
No, no.
She couldn’t go through with this sale.
[Your savings card ending in 8888 received an interbank transfer of 500.00 yuan. Balance: 500.00 yuan.]
Jiang Li stared at the text notification on her phone.
Five hundred?
Who’d been foolish enough to send her money?
She opened the message details.
Sender: Huo Yan.
Note: Baby’s pocket money.
Jiang Li stared at the words, and a sudden, complicated ache welled up inside her.
That idiot…
He worked himself to exhaustion all day and only earned three hundred.
This five hundred must have taken him nearly two days to make.
Jiang Li tossed her phone onto the bed and sprawled out, arms and legs stretched wide.
She stared at the yellowing crack in the ceiling, her thoughts a tangled mess.
In the original novel, Huo Yan had indeed indulged the original host in everything, giving her his whole heart.
But that was because the original host was good at playing her cards.
And now…
Jiang Li closed her eyes.
Forget it. There was no point thinking about it. She had to survive first.
She got back up and opened WeChat.
She scrolled straight to the bottom and found the group labeled “Fat Sheep Waiting to Be Slaughtered.”
Inside were more than a dozen neatly arranged contact notes.
They were all the suckers the original host had cast her net over in the past.
Wasn’t this just like hustling old men for money?
Before transmigrating into the novel, Jiang Li had been a perfectly respectable college girl. She’d never done anything like this…
Jiang Li opened the chats one by one and studied them.
[Fat Sheep No. 1: Are you free tonight, babe? Big Brother will take you to dinner.]
[Original host: I’m busy. My boyfriend keeps a close eye on me.]
[Fat Sheep No. 1: How about another day?]
[Original host: We’ll see how I feel~]
Jiang Li rolled her eyes.
The original host really was an old hand at playing hard to get.
She kept scrolling.
[Fat Sheep No. 2: Lili, I bought you that necklace we talked about last time. When can you come out and see me?]
[Original host: Necklace? What necklace? I have a bad memory.]
[Fat Sheep No. 2: The one you said you liked! It cost more than twenty thousand.]
[Original host: Oh, I remember now. But I don’t really want it anymore. You can return it.]
This…
She was a pure master of psychological manipulation.
Jiang Li closed the chat and swiped quickly through the screen.
Out of all these men, whose pockets were easiest to pick without getting herself into a mess?
Her gaze finally stopped on one contact.
[Fat Sheep No. 6: Xu Chaoyang]
Jiang Li opened the chat.
The latest message was from three days ago.
[Xu Chaoyang: Lili, my birthday is next Thursday. Can you come?]
[Original host: We’ll see.]
[Xu Chaoyang: You have to come! I’ve prepared a special gift for you.]
[Original host: What gift?]
[Xu Chaoyang: You’ll find out then. It’s definitely something you want.]
Jiang Li narrowed her eyes.
From the sound of it, he was planning to spend big.
She checked the calendar.
Thursday—two days from now.
Perfect timing.
Jiang Li’s fingers tapped quickly across the screen.
[Jiang Li: Big Brother Chaoyang, I’ll be there. Wait for me.]
She hit send.
He replied instantly.
[Xu Chaoyang: Really?! That’s great! I’ll buy you anything you want!]
[Jiang Li: I’ll tell you then. It’s a secret for now.]
[Xu Chaoyang: Okay, okay! I’ll be waiting for you!]
Jiang Li briskly closed the chat.
Done.
She’d keep this fish on the line for now, then go “stock up” when the time came and plug that thirty-thousand-yuan hole.
She tossed her phone aside and stared at the ceiling again.
But she couldn’t help picturing Huo Yan once more.
Jiang Li rolled over and buried her burning face in the pillow.