"I'm a little curious, what do you do for a living?"

Faced with Xia Xiaobing's seemingly friendly and ordinary question, Xue Xiaodie frowned and began to ponder—what exactly was the intention of this beautiful older sister who seemed to have ill intentions?

However, the girl thought again and realized that no matter what the other party's intentions were, there was nothing to hide about her profession.

So Xue Xiaodie replied calmly, "I am a professional painter."

Xia Xiaobing: "What type? Realistic, or anime-style?"

Xue Xiaodie: "I'm fine with either, but right now, due to market and company needs, I mainly do thick-painted anime-style paintings."

Xia Xiaobing then said, "You look so young, have you really graduated?"

Xue Xiaodie: "No, I haven't graduated yet, I'm just doing an internship."

Xia Xiaobing nodded, and said thoughtfully, "Then you must be a junior or senior, doing a summer internship?"

Xue Xiaodie nodded.

Xia Xiaobing looked at her, her eyes slightly narrowed. A fleeting glint of light in her phoenix eyes held a profound meaning.

Xue Xiaodie vaguely guessed the other party's subtext—the summer internship from junior to senior year, such a short opportunity, yet she came to the company across the street, clearly, she was deliberately targeting Lu Zhe.

The young woman remained composed and looked directly at the mature woman in front of her, making no attempt to conceal her intentions.

Because she knew very well that even if she wanted to hide her intentions, it would be difficult. This woman, known as 'President Xia,' was completely different from that Miss Tang. Xue Xiaodie was confident that she could secretly carry out her plans right under Miss Tang's nose, but she had absolutely no confidence in deceiving President Xia.

At least for now, we can't fool them anymore.

Fortunately, Xia Xiaobing did not probe or suppress her further. She just smiled and said, "Okay, we have to go back to work. Good luck to you too."

Xue Xiaodie nodded: "Okay, Sister Xia."

Hearing herself being called "sister" by this girl, Xia Xiaobing paused for a second, then smiled seemingly indifferently and turned to look at Lu Zhe.

"Lunch break is over, let's go back to our workstations."

What else could Lu Zhe say? As an employee, he could only obediently reply, "Yes, President Xia."

He followed Xia Xiaobing into the company office.

However, Xue Xiaodie did not go in immediately.

The girl stood there, silently watching the direction in which the two figures disappeared, and took a deep breath.

A sense of crisis, even stronger than before, had already taken shape in her chest.

————

Tang Qi returned to that familiar apartment, and when she closed the door, she used more force than before.

She rushed to the living room, plopped down on the sofa, and instinctively picked up the game controller. But after a couple of seconds, she tossed it aside.

Even if she was a bit oblivious, she knew that now was not the time to play games.

Tang Qi picked up her phone and tried to transfer all the money from her linked bank card into Alipay. Although she wasn't particularly good with money, she remembered that there should be about 30,000 to 40,000 yuan in that card this month.

Alipay's daily transfer limit is 30,000 yuan, so she entered the amount directly and clicked "transfer to account".

But as soon as she made the operation, the system prompted her that her bank card balance was insufficient.

Tang Qi paused for a moment, then changed it to 10,000 yuan.

Insufficient bank card balance.

The girl gritted her teeth and decided to change it to one thousand yuan.

Insufficient bank card balance.

"No way, they didn't even leave me a thousand yuan? Then I... only have a little over ten thousand left? Wait, I should still have some in my WeChat!"

Tang Qi quickly opened WeChat and saw that the wallet amount was 9147 yuan.

In other words, the total amount of money in both Alipay and WeChat is only a little over 20,000 yuan. If they continue to employ Lu Zhe with this amount of money, they will run out of funds before October.

Of course, her father had also said that she wouldn't go hungry; she had a membership card at the restaurant and a student ID card at school. The problem was, she couldn't use that money for anything else, so she couldn't keep a boyfriend!

Tang Qi immediately had a more acute understanding of the severity of the current situation.

Outside the window, the sun shone brightly, but to her, it felt like dark clouds were hanging overhead.

After sitting on the sofa in a daze for a while, Tang Qi dialed someone's cell phone number. That was her bodyguard, Zhan Hao.

As soon as the call connected, Miss Tang asked impatiently, "Has my dad left yet?"

Zhan Hao: "You mean, where to go?"

Tang Qi: "Did he leave by plane?"

Zhan Hao: "No, his plane ticket is for tomorrow."

Tang Qi: "What time tomorrow?"

Zhan Hao: "Why are you asking such detailed questions..."

Tang Qi interrupted impatiently, "Just tell me what time he's boarding the plane tomorrow!"

Zhan Hao sighed, seemed to hesitate for two seconds, and finally said, "Tomorrow afternoon, around five o'clock."

Tang Qi: "Okay, thank you!"

She hung up the phone and was about to dial Lu Zhe's number again, but her finger hovered above the screen, not pressing the button.

It should be working hours now, is it really appropriate to call them?

So Tang Qi opened WeChat and sent him a message: "My dad's problem is solved. He's very busy and will leave tomorrow afternoon. I'll extend your room stay, and you can come back tomorrow night, okay?"

After sending the message, Miss Tang suddenly felt a little uneasy.

She realized that her actions last night, urging Lu Zhe to move out to a hotel, seemed a little excessive, since she hadn't offered any explanation. But she really couldn't explain it. To explain why she was so adamant about not letting him see her father would definitely require explaining her rebirth, which would be far too troublesome.

Besides, in reality, how convincing is it to say "I am a reborn person"? If you don't get laughed at for ten minutes on the spot, then the other person is considered to have good manners.

But since there's no way to explain the reason, won't Lu Zhe get angry?

Tang Qi subconsciously bit her nails, thinking and waiting, feeling increasingly anxious...

Suddenly, Lu Zhe replied.

I rented a place today, so I don't need to move back. Mainly, I feel it's not very convenient for me to stay at your place; it would be difficult to explain to others.

Tang Qi was taken aback for a moment, then immediately asked, "Who do you need to explain this to?"

Lu Zhe: [I'm alright, but you're having trouble explaining things to your dad, right? Although I've never met him, it seems like he's quite strict with you.]

Tang Qi was speechless.

Can she say that her father has always been very lenient, except for today?

Not long after, Lu Zhe threw out another question: "By the way, the apartment I rent isn't far from you, but is my assistant position still available?"

Tang Qi, thinking about the meager 20,000 yuan she had left, gritted her teeth and replied: 【Yes! It's okay if you don't live here, just continue being my assistant!】

The girl stood up, clutching her phone, her teeth clenched.

She was thinking about the little money she had left, just over 20,000 yuan, and there was no way to replenish it...

The girl slapped her thigh: "It's just a monthly salary of ten thousand! I'll take it within two months!"

————