Chapter 1375: Zhang Lijuan (21)

"You don't care how I die...?" I asked, feeling a bit confused. "I just want to die right here, and it has nothing to do with you, right? I have enough money for that one bottle of Bai Cao Ku... You..."

"Sis finds it annoying just looking at you." She wiped her hands on her shorts, then picked up a cigarette and lit it. "Looking for work, huh?"

"Not anymore," I said. "I want to die here, so you owe me that Bai Cao Ku."

"You're pretty damn bold, aren't you?" She chuckled lightly, her crow's feet showing at the corners of her eyes. "Hey! If you're not afraid of death, how about coming to work with me? What do you say?"

I glanced at her, finding it oddly amusing that someone was offering me a job when I was set on dying.

"Don't mess with me." I squatted on the ground and looked up at her. "Sis, we're strangers, and I need a lot of money. This isn't something you can fix with wiping tables or sweeping floors..."

"Who the hell doesn't need money?" She shook her head. "I've seen girls like you too many times."

"Is that so..." I lowered my head, feeling utterly defeated.

"From the way I look, you can probably guess what I do, right?" She sighed and said, "If you've done it before, come with me. I'll give you a place to stay, and you can make one or two hundred a day. If you haven't, forget it—we don't bring people into this line. I'll give you ten yuan for a meal, and you can head back home early."

After hearing that, I looked up at her again. She was wearing super short shorts and a low-cut top, but how could she know I'd only been in Sheng Cheng for a few days? Still, I had to admit, the idea of "making one or two hundred a day" completely hooked me.

If I could make one or two hundred a day... that would be three or five thousand a month?

"Sis... what kind of work... pays one or two hundred a day?"

"Are you really clueless or just pretending?" She blew out a smoke ring and shot me an irritated look. "What else could it be? 'Technical worker,' that's what. Have you done it before or not?"

Technical worker... and it pays one or two hundred a day?

"I... of course I've done it!" I stood up from the ground, the hope I'd lost starting to flicker back.

No need to mention that assembling clappers for bronze bells is technical work—I've learned all sorts of electronic skills in the workshop, and I can even handle soldering circuit boards!

"Done it...?" She furrowed her brow and sized me up, seeming doubtful. A few seconds later, she asked softly, "What's your name?"

"I... I'm Tiantian," I said.

"Damn, with a name like that... you really have done it?" She seemed to relax a bit upon hearing "Tiantian." "Alright then... don't die just yet. Come with sis."

So... is it really like that?

Will the name Tiantian bring me good luck?

"In the business, they call me Xiao Ya. Just call me Xiao Ya Sis." She said as she led me out of the labor market, muttering, "Weird day—came to pick up a file and ended up finding a girl."

I followed her to the roadside, where an old van was parked.

"Let's go." She patted me on the shoulder. "There are two other girls in the van. From now on, you three can eat with me. As long as I have food, none of you will go hungry."

She opened the van door, and I peeked inside. In the first row sat a man in black clothes driving, and in the second and third rows were two young women. They all looked at me with curiosity.

Xiao Ya Sis gestured for me to sit in the second row, and she took the passenger seat.

"Xiao Ya Sis..." the driver turned and asked, "Who's this?"

"Picked up a girl—she's in the same line." Xiao Ya Sis sighed after getting in. "This kid was probably trying to quit, but it didn't work out. Couldn't find a job, so she was making a scene about drinking pesticide when I saw her."

"Ah..." The driver shook his head. "Back to square one, huh...? Life's full of surprises..."

"What the hell are you babbling about? Just drive." Xiao Ya Sis said, then turned to look at the three of us girls. "Our team's all set now. I'm Xiao Ya—I used to work for someone in the south, but now that I'm older, I came back to set up my own shop."

Listening to her introduction, the girl behind me spoke up first.

"I'm Xiao Sha, also from the south." She laughed. "I worked at a nightclub for a while, but it was too hard on the body—I had to drink a lot every day, so I left."

I turned to look at her. She had short hair and looked energetic. When she saw me glancing her way, she smiled back.

"Isn't a nightclub good?" the girl next to me said. "I heard from colleagues that if you want to make money, go to a nightclub—sometimes you can earn several hundred in one night."

I looked at the girl beside me. She seemed quiet and had a big backpack, like it was full of books.

"Several hundred is trading your life for it—even during your period, you have to keep drinking like crazy." Xiao Sha shook her head. "And it's not every night you get a big spender. Whether you go with a client or not depends on the manager—it's just a bunch of headaches."

"Ah..." The girl next to me sighed. "That does sound tough... I'm Lan Lan. I used to work at a hair salon, but the pay was too low, and the area was full of migrant workers—the environment was awful."

"You're right." Xiao Sha seemed to relate. "I had a colleague who came from a hair salon. Those places are tough these days."

Their conversation left me completely confused—maybe because I was new to Sheng Cheng, there was a lot I still needed to learn?

"What about you?" Xiao Ya Sis asked me from the rearview mirror. "Tiantian, where did you work before?"

"I... I used to work at the clock factory in my village, assembling stuff, and later at the electronics factory in town, putting together LED displays. I know a bit about electronic tech—I can even do some circuit board soldering."

Xiao Ya Sis looked at me doubtfully through the rearview mirror and then asked, "...So when did you get the name 'Tiantian'?"

I thought for a moment and replied, "Around fourteen, I guess. A fortune-teller said my original name wasn't good, so my parents gave me this nickname."

I've been to plenty of interviews and tried to give a proper rundown of my resume, but after I finished, the van suddenly went dead silent.

Everyone stopped talking—even the driver was staring straight ahead at the road.

I had no idea what I said wrong or if there were some unspoken rules to these introductions, but the quiet was making me uneasy.

Not long after, Xiao Ya Sis turned to the driver: "Stop the car."

"Huh...?"

"Stop the damn car!" she snapped.

The driver jumped and quickly pulled over to the side of the road.

Xiao Ya Sis pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

I had no clue what was going on, but the atmosphere in the van was oppressively heavy.

"Tiantian, get out," Xiao Ya Sis said.

"Huh...?"

"Are you deaf? I said get out." She turned back, her eyes cold as she looked at me.