Chapter 3 Did you go and sell yourself?
After eating and drinking his fill, Song Xu felt a bit better. He glanced at Chen Yan and Xiao Heng and said, "You two have relaxed enough after finishing your college entrance exams. Don't stay here with me all the time. If you're too free, go intern at your family's company."
"Brother Xu, we came here to hide because we were afraid of being dragged into the company by our families and forced to work like slaves." Shen Yan said with a mournful face.
"Yeah, Brother Xu, you know how tough high school is. Yanzi and I practically got wrinkles from all that trying to get into Jiangbei University," Xiao Heng said, trying to sound pitiful.
Song Xu remained unmoved. "I don't find it difficult at all. If it weren't for your family's financial support, with your scores, you two wouldn't even have been able to get into Jiangbei University."
Shen Yan and Xiao Heng fell silent. How many people could be as strong as Song Xu? He easily scored 700 points in the college entrance examination, took over the family business in his freshman year of college, and is now the general manager.
He's only a year older than them, and he used to climb trees with them, skip school, and fight with them when they were kids. Now it seems like he's a generation older than them.
After wiping the water stains in the bathroom, Lin Xi came out. She glanced at the rest of the bedroom, which was quite clean, so it seemed she didn't need to do anything else.
Besides, that guy called Brother Xu only let her clean the bathroom.
As Lin Xi passed by the desk, she was drawn to a photograph of two men and a woman.
One of the men was the owner of the room, and the other man was also tall and handsome, but looked older. A beautiful girl stood between the two men, smiling brightly.
However, none of that was the main point. Lin Xi's attention was on the background behind them, which was the main gate of Jiangbei University.
She was admitted to Jiangbei University this year, and will be starting her studies there in a month.
This guy called Xu must be her senior. Thinking of this, she felt much more at ease and took out her phone to let her best friend know she was safe.
After leaving Song Xu's room, she spent nearly three hours thoroughly cleaning the room.
She didn't rest for a minute during that time, only thinking about finishing quickly and leaving as soon as possible.
Song Xu went back to her room early, and Shen Yan and Xiao Heng, fearing that Lin Xi would feel uncomfortable, tried their best not to appear in front of her.
Finally finished, Lin Xi rubbed her aching back, packed up her tool bag, and knocked on Chen Yan and Xiao Heng's door.
"Mr. Shen, I've finished everything. Would you like to check it?" Lin Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Shen Yan walked out of the room and glanced around casually. He had seen how hard Lin Xi was working. "That's good. I'll give you your wages."
"How about we add each other as friends? I can contact you directly if I need anything in the future," Shen Yan asked, taking out his phone.
Lin Xi had no objection. She showed her QR code, and Chen Yan scanned it, and the two became friends.
Lin Xi put her phone away. "The time is four hours and forty minutes. You can calculate it as four and a half hours. The total is 2250 yuan."
Shen Yan transferred 2,500 yuan to Lin Xi directly. He raised his wrist to check the time; it was almost 1 a.m. He felt a little guilty. "It's too late. It's too dangerous for a girl like you to walk alone at night. Why don't you stay here for the night and leave tomorrow morning?"
He pointed to the empty room next to them, "That guest room is available."
"This isn't a good idea!" Lin Xi hesitated. If she left now, she could only stay in a nearby hotel. Going back to the shantytown at this time was too dangerous.
It's quite difficult to find a cheap hotel around here; even the most basic one costs two or three hundred yuan, and Lin Xi is worried about the money.
“It’s okay, just tidy up when you leave,” Xiao Heng said, coming out of the room. “Don’t worry, we’re not bad people. You can lock the door from the inside when you sleep.”
Lin Xi was tempted. "Thank you then. I'll leave at dawn tomorrow."
The next morning, Lin Xi quietly left after making breakfast.
She felt uncomfortable because she had overcharged them by 250 yuan and they had stayed overnight, so she got up an hour earlier to make them some breakfast.
Lin Xi rode a shared bicycle home. Her house was a tenement building, more than forty years old, which used to be a factory's staff quarters.
She parked her bicycle in the parking area outside the yard, picked up her tool bag, and walked home.
Upon reaching the second floor, a figure blocked Lin Xi's path.
The stench of sweat hit her face, and Lin Xi took two steps back. She recognized the man in front of her as Li Sheng, who lived on the second floor.
Li Sheng was a few years older than her. Ever since she started puberty, the way this man looked at her had been strange, making Lin Xi feel nauseous.
"Get out of the way!" Lin Xi snapped, his face grim.
Li Sheng gave a contemptuous smile. "You didn't come back last night. Where did you go?"
"What's it to you?" Lin Xi swung her tool bag, trying to shove Li Sheng aside. "Get out of the way."
Li Sheng dodged the tool bag, grabbed Lin Xi's arm, and said in a low voice, "I know where you went, Brilliant City Apartments. You went in last night and haven't come out. Did you go to sell yourself?"
"Are you crazy?!" Lin Xi cursed at him. "Let go of me right now, or I'll call for help."
“If you dare to shout, I’ll let everyone in this yard know you’ve become a prostitute,” Li Sheng said, his foul mouth close to Lin Xi’s ear. “If you sleep with me, I can keep this a secret for you.”
"Sleep with your mother!" Lin Xi raised her hand and slapped Li Sheng across the face, then shouted for help, "Help! Fire!"
The biggest fear in this tenement building is a fire; once it starts, no one in the family can escape.
Lin Xi's shout alerted the residents on the second floor, including Li Sheng's parents and Lin Xi's grandmother.
"Where is the fire?"
When Li Sheng saw someone coming out, he released Lin Xi.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Xi ran to her own home and stood next to her grandmother. "Grandma, the fire didn't start. It was Li Sheng who molested me."
When Grandma Lin saw the red handprints on Lin Xi's arm, her expression changed. She went back into the house, grabbed a broom, and started hitting Li Sheng.
"You dared to bully Xixi," Grandma Lin scolded as she hit her. "You think I'm easy to bully because I'm old? Today I'm going to beat you to death, you little lecher."
Li Sheng's parents shielded him, blocking Grandma Lin's broom. "Aunt Lin, this must be a misunderstanding. How could Xiao Sheng bully Xi Xi? They're childhood sweethearts who grew up together."
"Pah!" Grandma Lin spat. "Who said he was her childhood sweetheart? He's a bad boy who doesn't learn good things. Don't insult our Xixi."
“Lin Xi is the one who’s not learning good things,” Li Sheng said, rubbing his shoulder which was sore from being hit by Grandma Lin. “She doesn’t come home at night. She sleeps with men to earn money. She’s a shameless prostitute!”
As soon as Li Sheng said this, everyone watching the spectacle looked at Lin Xi in surprise.
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