A short while later, a man wearing a floral shirt came out and immediately smiled when he saw Hu Ruixue: "Sister Ruixue, what brings you to my little shop today?"

"Wang Xiaosan, does your brother know you're doing this kind of business?" Hu Ruixue glanced at him and then looked away, as if afraid of offending her eyes.

Wang Xiaosan's smile remained unchanged. "Are you misunderstanding something? My karaoke bar is a legitimate business; I never do anything illegal."

"Then tell me what's going on?" Hu Ruixue raised her chin and pointed at Li Shuyu.

He glanced at Li Shuyu, then beckoned to the woman beside him to come over and ask her what was going on.

The woman whispered something in his ear, and he looked up and smiled, "It's all a misunderstanding. This girl was introduced by her roommate. She said she explained it very clearly to her, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to give her the contract to sign."

"But the contract I signed back then is completely different from the contract you showed me later." Li Shuyu held her mother's hand tightly. Whether she could escape this hellhole depended on this.

"Is that so?" Wang Xiaosan turned to look at the woman.

"Impossible! There's only one contract, and you only signed one word. How could it become another contract? I'll go get the contract and show it to you." With that, the woman ran inside and soon came out with two contracts. "Boss, take a look. This is the contract she signed that day. Because it needs to be filed, her copy hasn't been given to her yet."

Wang Xiaosan opened the contract, glanced at it, then swung it and hit the woman on the head. "Open your eyes and look! She only signed a temporary worker contract?"

The woman hurriedly took the contract, glanced at it, and her face turned pale. She said in a panic, "Several people have signed contracts recently, and I might have mixed them up. I'm sorry, boss, it's all my mistake."

Li Shuyu looked around, frowning. Could it really be a mistake?

Hu Ruixue and Shu Yan on the other side knew very well that Wang Xiaosan and this woman were clearly putting on an act for them. However, the most important thing now was to take the person away. A direct confrontation would not do Li Shuyu any good.

"You can even make this mistake, Wang Xiaosan, your subordinates are no good!" Hu Ruixue snorted.

“Yes, you’re right.” Wang Xiaosan turned and glared at the woman. “You don’t need to come to work anymore.” Then, turning to Hu Ruixue with a smile, he said, “Do you know this girl? How about we make her the supervisor?”

Hu Ruixue didn't reply. She took the contract from his hand and glanced at it. It stated that the hourly wage was ten yuan, and the employee had to work 20 hours a week. If they couldn't, they would be paid 8 yuan. They also had to give one month's notice before resigning. It was a very standard contract.

"What do you say? Do you still want to work here?" Hu Ruixue handed both contracts to Li Shuyu.

Li Shuyu hurriedly shook her head. She dared not work here anymore. She was already grateful to be able to leave this time.

“Although it was my subordinates who made the mistake, it’s also my fault as the boss. If you continue working here, I’ll make you a supervisor with a monthly salary of three thousand, not including commission. If you don’t want to continue working here, I’ll have someone settle your wages immediately, at three times the normal rate.” Wang Xiaosan was being so polite to Li Shuyu because of Hu Ruixue.

"I'm not going, I'm not going." Li Shuyu immediately shook her head.

Wang Xiaosan instructed his assistant to immediately settle Li Shuyu's wages. During the summer vacation, she worked the full shift, which was seven hours a day. The salary for a regular employee was a base salary of 500 plus commission. However, Li Shuyu was paid as a temporary worker for a total of twelve days, which was three times the normal wage, amounting to 2520. Wang Xiaosan directly had someone pay her 3000.

"Too many." Li Shuyu shook her head, preparing to take out a few bills to return to Wang Xiaosan.

"Consider the extra amount as an apology," Wang Xiaosan said with a smile. These few hundred yuan were nothing to him.

"Take it." Hu Ruixue told Li Shuyu to accept it. In the end, Wang Xiaosan was so easy to talk to because of the Hu family. The two families were quite familiar with each other, and Wang Xiaosan's older brother was friends with Hu Ruiyang. "Your older brother is pursuing a career in politics, so don't hold him back."

"No way, I really do business honestly, it's all a misunderstanding." Wang Xiaosan looked like he had been wronged.

"That would be best." Hu Ruixue snorted lightly. "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

Li Shuyu had changed back into her own clothes and followed closely behind her aunt.

"Thank you so much for today." Shu Yan knew that without Hu Ruixue, things wouldn't have ended so simply.

"Why are you being so polite with me?" Hu Ruixue frowned. "I'll bring this up with Uncle Wang. Let's not talk about this anymore, I have things to do at home, I'll be going now."

"Miss Hu, I have nothing to thank you for, but I'll kowtow to you. You are our savior." The eldest aunt suddenly knelt down to kowtow to Hu Ruixue.

"What are you doing? You don't need to do this. I came here today because of Shuyan. If you want to thank someone, thank her." Hu Ruixue had someone pull her aunt up, glanced at Li Shuyu who had her head down, and left with her entourage.

Shu Yan glanced at the sky. "We can save the thanks for later. It's getting late. Let's get some sleep at home tonight and buy train tickets to go back tomorrow morning."

The aunt nodded. It was getting late, and she was afraid that train tickets would be sold out.

After working for so long, the group hadn't even had dinner. Fang Zeyu packed up some food from the restaurant and brought it back. His aunt and her daughter ate a few bites and then went back to their room.

Shu Yan listened for a moment, but heard nothing. She turned back and whispered to Fang Zeyu, "Won't something happen?"

"Don't worry, what could possibly happen between a mother and daughter?" Fang Zeyu put a piece of food on Shu Yan's plate. "Eat more."

Inside the room, the aunt looked at her daughter, who kept her head down, and instead of hitting or scolding her, she felt mostly self-reproach.

"You've been sensible since you were little. You helped me cook and do laundry when you were young, and you even worked in the fields with me. You finally got into university, and the tuition was scraped together from all sides. I thought the allowance I gave you was enough, but when I got here, I realized that the allowance wasn't even enough to eat. You didn't complain once, you earned your own living expenses, and you even earned your tuition during summer and winter vacations. It broke my heart to see you like this, so I thought I'd find you a job so you wouldn't have to work so hard. Luckily, I found a good employer. I eat and live well here, and the salary is high. This salary is enough to pay your tuition and living expenses. The boss even often gives you clothes. Logically, our life should be getting better and better, but why did you... Xiaoyu! You can't be envious of other people making money so quickly. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If it weren't for the boss's help this time, what would you have done? What would I have done?"

"Mom... I was wrong... I couldn't resist the temptation. I just... I saw my roommates taking hundreds of dollars at a time, and I thought, I'll just go for one winter break, and I'll have enough for next semester's tuition. The money you saved could even replace the roof tiles at home. I really didn't know it would turn out like this."

The daughter cried her heart out, and the mother was no better off, tears streaming down her face. Because she knew her daughter was sensible, the aunt couldn't bear to scold her.

The next day, when the mother and daughter came to say goodbye to Shuyan, their eyes were swollen.

Shu Yan didn't expose them, and packed a lot of New Year's goods for them to take back.

“I gave you so much last time I went back, and we didn’t even finish eating it all! I can’t take any more,” the aunt said, declining repeatedly.

"Anyway, I can't finish it all, so take it and go back to celebrate the New Year with your daughter." Shu Yan even had someone take them to the train station.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, my aunt, who had only been away for two days, returned again, looking much better.

"Did Xiaoyu go back to school?" Shuyan asked.

"Yes." Auntie said gratefully, "If it weren't for your help this time, Xiaoyu would really be finished."

It's not a big deal for a student to work part-time; people might even praise her for being sensible. But working in a karaoke bar is a different story. It doesn't look good on her, and she might even be expelled from school. Most importantly, if Xiaoyu gets too deeply involved and really becomes a prostitute…

Back at school, Li Shuyu met her roommate who had introduced her to the job, and her whole body trembled slightly.

"We lived in the same dorm for two years, and you lied to me like this? How can you live with yourself?"

"Conscience? Li Shuyu, use your brain. 100-plus a day, what kind of job can pay that much? And did I ask you to go? You begged me to take you there." Her roommate looked at Li Shuyu, her eyes flashing with jealousy. "It's a real shame you're not continuing. 100-200 a day, at least 3,000 a month, 40,000 a year, 120,000 in three years. How many years would it take to earn 120,000?"

"Shut up. This isn't entirely your fault; I also bear some responsibility. If I hadn't succumbed to temptation, I wouldn't have gone to work there with you. Chen Mei, I won't tell anyone about your affairs. From now on... let's not see each other again."

Watching Li Shuyu slam the door and leave, leaving Chen Mei alone in the dormitory, she stared blankly out the window.

…………

Shu Yan's birthday is on the tenth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar. Shu Yan only found out because Shu Li told her. The original owner of this body didn't even remember her own birthday, so Shu Yan couldn't possibly know. She thought her birthday was on her ID card.

"Isn't it May 15th?" This is Shu Yan's birthdate on her ID card, which Fang Zeyu remembered after seeing it last time.

"My second sister said my lunar birthday is the tenth day of the fourth month, but I had forgotten it myself." The original owner of this body had never celebrated her birthday since she was a child, so it was normal that she didn't remember it.

"It's not too late to know now." Fang Zeyu held Shu Yan's hand, his heart warming slightly. "I'll celebrate your birthday every year from now on."

"Okay!" Shu Yan tilted her head and agreed with a smile.

When Fang Zeyu arrived at the company, he pulled Mao Weiping aside and whispered, "What would be a good birthday gift?"

"President Shu's birthday is coming up? Send her flowers and jewelry! Or you could just propose. Decorate a really romantic place beforehand, then kneel down on one knee and propose. Once she's moved, she'll say yes immediately." Mao Weiping clapped his hands, increasingly pleased with his idea. "How about right in front of the building? Let everyone witness your love, what do you think?"

Fang Zeyu glared at him. "Not good at all."