"Shi Nan! Explain yourself! What happened?" Zhao Xiaoya stood to the side with her arms crossed, her tone full of accusation.
Shi Nan sighed, "I met him while I was working part-time. His name is Wan Qing. He's only been coming to the Marriott recently, so he's a new face. I've never seen him before."
At first, we couldn't figure out his temperament or what kind of person he was. But just by looking at his appearance, this man was tall and strong, and looked like someone you wouldn't mess with. So we were very careful, afraid of upsetting him.
However, we later discovered that he was not quite what we expected. The man was dressed expensively, generous, and gave extra-large tips. Most importantly, he had a very good temper and often joked with everyone. Therefore, all the waiters were eager to go to his private room.
Of course, I was no exception. I used a little trick to get his attention, and I easily became his personal waitress in his private room. Every time he came, he would specifically ask me to go there. After a while, I started to consider him a friend. I never expected him to try to touch me inappropriately. I didn't want to be taken advantage of, so I ran away.
As she spoke, Shi Nan irritably smoothed her long hair.
"What part-time job? What kind of private room tip? What kind of part-time job are you doing?" Zhao Xiaoya glared at her.
“It’s… Marriott,” Shi Nan said.
Zhao Xiaoya looked incredulous. "Marriott? That top-tier club?" Shi Nan nodded.
"You...you've really chosen to degenerate!" Zhao Xiaoya angrily rebuked.
"You're not thinking of going to a place like that to snag a rich husband, are you? Are you stupid? Do you think everyone can rise to the top and become a phoenix? Do you think you can succeed by going to places where rich people gather? Look at the kind of people you've messed with now."
"I didn't expect him to find this place either," Shi Nan said with some guilt.
"Stop talking, quickly think of a solution," Qiu Mang said.
The knocking on the door continued, and the two calmed down.
"Open the door! My darling Shi Nan, I love you! Why did you run away without a word? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Wan Qing's voice echoed through the corridor, attracting many people to peek out.
A woman around forty years old opened the door. She leaned against the wall with one hand on the doorframe and the other on the wall, muttering under her breath, "Shi Nan? Isn't that the girl who dresses so provocatively every day? I knew it! Always wearing heavy makeup, her lips redder than a monkey's butt, always out early and back late—what kind of decent person could she be? Tsk tsk tsk..."
"Keep your voice down! Don't let anyone hear. This innocent girl's reputation will be ruined sooner or later because of your slander." Her husband lowered his voice and pulled her arm to stop her.
The woman glared at her husband and scoffed, "Don't think I don't know you like her too. I saw it all the other day. That young woman was carrying several packages. She's perfectly capable of doing anything herself, yet you insisted on helping her. Do you think I'm blind?"
"You're absolutely unreasonable!" the man said, pointing at his wife, his anger barely contained.
Although their voices were not loud, they were exceptionally clear in the quiet night, prompting many neighbors to display complex expressions.
Wan Qing hadn't drunk much, but he keenly sensed everyone's emotions. People always tend to believe things are true rather than false.
He knew his plan was half successful, so he continued shouting at the top of his lungs, "Don't worry, I can give you that much tip in the private room, if you come with me, I'll only give you more money."
The forty-year-old woman's face lit up with delight, as if she had discovered something amazing. She raised her hand and slapped her husband's shoulder hard. "Did you hear me? Did you hear me? Tips! What did you say about working in a private room and having to tip?"
The woman raised her chin, looking at her husband triumphantly, as if to prove that what she had just said was true.
Seeing the eagerness in the eyes of the onlookers, Wan Qing became even more energized. He shook his slightly swollen arm and continued banging on the door.
"Shi Nan, don't be afraid. My wife knows about us, but it's okay. She had nothing when she married me. She's living a good life now because of me. I'll divorce her and pay her a sum of money. She won't say anything. Don't worry, you won't be a mistress forever!"
Inside the room, Shi Nan's face contorted with rage. She raised her hand and slammed the door against the back of the door, making a loud noise, but she felt no pain at all.
"You're talking nonsense! What mistress? We've never been together. If you keep spreading these rumors, I'm calling the police!"
The neighbors of the entire building had gathered in the hallway at some point, and upon hearing the conversation between the two, they all began to whisper among themselves.
The forty-year-old woman who had just been arguing with her husband was now standing in the crowd, exaggerating some of Shi Nan's "indecent behavior" to the people next to her.
Everyone looked at Wan Qing, who was drunk, and then fantasized about the flirtatious mistress inside the door, their faces showing a look of disdain.
"Let's call the police!" Qiu Mang said.
Shi Nan hesitated for two seconds, then nodded, "Okay!"
After saying that, he took out his phone to call 110, but found that there was no sound outside the door.
Zhao Xiaoya peered through the peephole, but the person was gone. She asked in confusion, "Gone?"
Qiu Mang seemed to have thought of something, ran to the balcony and looked out, and sure enough, she saw the man fleeing in a panic.
Before anyone knew it, Shi Nan and Zhao Xiaoya were standing beside them, and they too had seen that hurried figure.
"Should we call the police again?" Qiu Mang asked the two of them.
“I don’t think it’s necessary. They’ve already run away,” Shi Nan said.
Zhao Xiaoya took a deep breath and patted her chest. "My husband works the night shift, and it was just a few of us girls at home. It was really scary, but thankfully everything is alright."
Two seconds later, she looked at Shi Nan again and said earnestly, "You'd better not go to that Marriott. You should know that rich people won't be interested in people like us. At most, they'll play around with you, and once they get tired of you, they'll throw you away like trash. Why bother? Can't you find a decent man like me and settle down?"
Shi Nan looked at Zhao Xiaoya, who at this moment resembled Tang Sanzang trying to persuade Sun Wukong to turn back.
But Zhao Xiaoya had no idea that not everyone wanted a life like their parents', a life that seemed predictable from beginning to end. She felt that people could live different lives over several decades, and why should everyone have to walk the same path?
"Xiaoya, Qiu Mang and I are just waiters at Marriott. We want to earn more money, it's not what you think," Shi Nan explained patiently.
"What? Qiu Mang goes to places like that too? She's your cousin, can't you teach her something better?" Zhao Xiaoya asked incredulously.
“Sister Xiaoya, she’s just a regular waitress, it’s not that serious,” Qiu Mang said.
Zhao Xiaoya waved her hand, "Alright, alright, I won't say anymore. I think you've all gone mad, how can you say such things? Such a huge dye vat, and you actually tell me you're untainted by the mud, who would believe that? Shi Nan, look at the situation today, now everyone knows you're a mistress, how are you going to get married in the future?"
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