Chapter 3

The next day was a rare day off, and I slept a little later than usual.

When I got up, I saw Jiang Haozhi picking disdainfully through the takeout breakfast on the table.

Disgust was written all over his face.

I took a look. It was all inexpensive, tasty breakfast food.

Of course, to a rich young master, it was probably barely better than dog food.

But the identity he had assumed in front of me was that of an ordinary delivery worker.

Ordering breakfast at those prices was exactly what he should have done.

I looked at him and asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

Jiang Haozhi said, “Why does all of it taste so awful? Forget it. I’ll make some noodles.”

But when he went into the kitchen, he found that the gas cylinder was empty and the stove wouldn’t light.

Jiang Haozhi’s face darkened. With no other choice, he did the heavy lifting and replaced the cylinder on an empty stomach.

Then he discovered there were too few eggs and noodles left to make a meal for two.

Resigned to his fate, he ran downstairs, bought a huge load of groceries at the supermarket, and lugged them home.

Exhausted and hungry, he leaned against the doorway to rest with a sour look on his face.

I felt like laughing but pretended not to notice.

Yet when he opened the refrigerator and saw the unfinished piece of cake, his expression softened. Without a word, he went into the kitchen to cook noodles.

I had no desire to sample the young master’s cooking, so I ate the breakfast he had ordered.

He picked listlessly at his noodles while looking down at his phone.

My phone suddenly vibrated again and again.

When I unlocked it, I saw a series of money transfers from him.

“Xiaohe, well… I actually make decent money delivering food, but I just waste it when I keep it myself.”

“You might as well hold on to it. Buy whatever you want. Don’t save it for me.”

When he saw that I wanted to refuse, he hurried on.

“Just take it. Look at you—you’re so pretty and so sweet. If I don’t treat you better and you get upset and dump me one day, I won’t even have a shoulder to cry on.”

After picking through his food, he ate half a bowl of noodles and sat at the table watching me organize my cleaning kit.

“Where are you going?”

I pinned back the loose hair across my forehead. “To clean someone’s house.”

Jiang Haozhi paused with his noodles halfway to his mouth and stared at my face for several seconds.

“You’re not going to rest? Why go out to work when I just gave you money?”

“You’re so pretty. What if you run into some pervert and get hurt?”

I said, “I can’t help it. The job was booked in advance.”

He had nothing to say to that and could only walk me to the door.

I hadn’t expected the world to be so full of coincidences.

The client randomly assigned to me by the platform was none other than Jiang Haozhi’s friend.

He clearly remembered me too.

He froze when he saw me, then gave me an inscrutable smile.

But he said nothing. He told me to get to work and sat down on the couch to play with his phone.

After a while, the door opened and a furious girl stormed in.

She glanced at my apron and mask, then ignored me and walked up to him.

“What the hell is this, Shi Keyan?”

She pulled out her phone and thrust it in front of the young man named Shi Keyan.

“You were at the bar playing games? Who’s this woman?”

Apparently, the two of them were dating.

But Shi Keyan clearly didn’t care much about her.

He couldn’t even be bothered to placate her and snapped back impatiently.

The girl was so furious that she broke up with him on the spot, then pointed a finger in his face and cursed him for ages.

When she finished, she grabbed her bag, turned, and left.

Shi Keyan’s face was thunderous.

He probably felt he had been humiliated in front of me.

After smoking two cigarettes, he suddenly rose and came over to me.

“What’s your name?”

My hands paused. Without looking up, I said, “Qiao Xiaohe.”

“Oh, Qiao Xiaohe. You don’t remember me? You stained my clothes while you were waiting tables that day.”

I raised my head and looked at him. “Hello. I remember you.”

“But that day, you didn’t notice me coming in. You suddenly started fooling around with the friend beside you and bumped into me. That’s why I stained your clothes.”

He nodded with a half smile.

“Ah, right. Don’t be nervous. I’m not an unreasonable man.”

“You look like you need money. How about I give you a chance to make a little extra?”

With that, he kicked over the trash can at his feet.

Fruit peels, scraps of paper, plastic wrappers, cigarette butts, and shards from a broken drinking glass spilled out together.

“Clean it up, and I’ll transfer fifty thousand yuan to you—but no gloves.”

I nodded. “All right.”

Then I took off my gloves and carefully began picking up the broken glass before me.

He stood in front of me and took a picture.

He was probably sending it to Jiang Haozhi so they could laugh at me together.

I found him ridiculous.

He seemed to think this was enough to insult my dignity and humiliate me.

I wanted to tell him that he had it wrong. My dignity did not lie here.

To me, refusing to take responsibility and failing to repay money owed to relatives was undignified.

Drifting through life in a daze without planning for my future was undignified.

Refusing honest, hard-earned money and giving in to temptation to work at a nightclub was undignified.

Fifty thousand yuan to clean up his garbage was a willing, fair, and legal bargain between us.

So I calmly cleaned the floor for him.

After a while, though, my heart suddenly began racing and my ears started ringing.

I hadn’t rested well the night before, either, and found it hard to concentrate.

When I had almost finished, I accidentally cut my finger on a shard from a broken bottle.

I was about to get up and find a bandage in my kit when someone began pounding on Shi Keyan’s front door.

Shi Keyan went to open it.

It was Jiang Haozhi.

Shi Keyan froze. He was about to speak when Jiang Haozhi shot him a warning glare.

Realizing what was happening, he played along. “Who the fuck are you?”

Jiang Haozhi shoved past him. “None of your business. I—”

His voice stopped abruptly.

Because after I braced myself against the wall and stood, everything before me went black, and I could no longer make out their voices.

At last, the world became quiet and dark.