Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After feeding Ranran dinner, I took my laptop and found an empty stairwell.

I opened my banking app to check my balance again and again.

2,925.67 yuan.

I opened my contacts and scrolled through the names from top to bottom.

Back and forth, over and over, I scrolled aimlessly.

I remembered the day I checked my exam scores eight years ago. I had been so happy; my score was twenty points higher than I had estimated.

I had spent the day wandering the streets with the only hundred yuan I had on me. In the end, I bought three burgers for fourteen yuan each.

However, when I got home, I found the door wide open. The place was a wreck. Everything had been smashed to pieces; not even a single floor tile remained intact.

That day, clutching those cold burgers and fifty-eight yuan in cash, I sat in the stairwell outside my front door for three hours, lost in a daze.

Just like I was now.

Since my freshman year of college, I had worked non-stop to earn money.

When I wasn’t in class, I was either at a part-time job or on my way to one.

Aside from my basic living expenses, I sent every cent I earned back to my sister.

During my senior year, I opened an online shop.

I studied computer science for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

As long as it paid, I took any job-writing code, cleaning hard drives, installing software.

To take care of Ranran, I hadn’t taken a steady job since graduation. My online shop barely brought in enough to cover our daily lives and her medical bills.

Until last year, when Ranran suddenly relapsed. Just a few days in the ICU had wiped out all my savings.

Ranran was still in the resuscitation room, waiting for surgery.

That night, I reached out to everyone in my contact list: classmates I’d only spoken a few words to, clients I was relatively familiar with, and even the biological mother who had abandoned me…

I managed to borrow sixty thousand yuan and another hundred and fifty thousand from Lu Feizhi.

Two hundred and ten thousand in total. It took me an entire year of hard work to pay it all back.

And this time, I needed four hundred thousand…

My phone suddenly rang.

It was an unknown number from Nancheng.

Without hesitation, I hung up and blocked it.

Fortunately, Lu Feizhi seemed to be tied up with something lately.

He hadn’t called again.

Finally, I pulled that business card out of my bag.

“Manager Zhang, I agree to your terms.”

I kept my voice low.

“The information you want will be sent to your computer before dawn tomorrow.

“But-I want eight hundred thousand yuan, paid in full upfront.”

After hanging up, I stared into space for a while.

Just as I packed up my things and prepared to leave, I turned around.

Gu Cong was standing at the entrance of the stairwell, watching me silently.