Although she had jokingly said before, "I really hope some rich person would throw stacks of cash at my face," this was the first time Han Yanyan had ever been treated like this. Inside, she cursed silently but maintained a blank expression, tucking two bundles of cash into her vest pockets—those were the only pockets she had for storing things.
Then she said, "Thank you, President Yao."
Yao Chen nodded, "You deserve it."
After speaking, he exhaled a puff of smoke. In her previous life, Miss Han had also smoked, but at this moment, Han Yanyan found herself very sensitive to second-hand smoke. She choked a little, coughing a few times.
A brand new world, a brand new body.
Yao Chen's sharp eyes scrutinized Han Yanyan under the dim lights, and he asked, "I was a bit rushed earlier and didn't ask you; how did you know?"
Han Yanyan raised her gaze to meet the target of her mission in this world. He had a completely different face, yet his presence was just as powerful. What left Han Yanyan trembling with uncertainty was the familiarity she felt when he pinned her to the sofa while putting on an act.
It wasn't merely acting; Yao Chen was serious. If the police had been a bit slower, Han Yanyan thought that Yao Chen might have truly taken her then.
At that moment, she had alerted Yao Chen about the police. He glanced at her, not uttering a single unnecessary word, and trusted her immediately. He quickly moved the traders and the goods, pulling her into his embrace, tearing open his collar, and said to her, "Cooperate with me, and you won't be mistreated."
At that time, Han Yanyan had been mentally prepared for anything that might happen. Yao Chen pinned her down, ripping her clothes, genuinely getting intimate with her. He was experienced, quickly finding her sensitive areas. When he touched her in pleasurable places, Han Yanyan instinctively responded, and they found a fitting rhythm between them.
Suddenly, the realization hit her, and goosebumps spread over her skin.
She thought she must have been sweating coldly back then.
As time went on, in the dance of love between men and women, they leave remnants of habits on each other's bodies. With a completely different face, a completely different man, yet when Yao Chen tangled with her, he gave her a strange sense of familiarity.
Ding Yao!
In that moment, her mind seemed to explode. Just then, the police barged in, and Yao Chen released her. At that time, she had still been unaware of how pale she looked.
It was only when she was taken to the interrogation room that, through the repeated persuasion from the female police officer, she slowly regained her composure.
Now, as she looked at Yao Chen, she mused whether Ding Yao had also switched bodies. If Yao Chen were Ding Yao, would he have recognized her back then? Just as she had recognized him through the familiar touchings of their bodies.
While their eyes met, thoughts surged in Han Yanyan's mind. But Yao Chen showed no signs of disturbance; he simply squinted slightly, waiting for her answer.
This girl looked at him in a peculiar way. Her dark eyes, glossy like lacquer, were too deep, making her youthful face seem overly mature. However, a girl who would work at such a place at night likely had poor financial conditions, making her somewhat precocious compared to her peers, which seemed reasonable. Moreover, this girl was bold enough to give him a heads-up in such a situation and acted convincingly.
"I happened to overhear," Han Yanyan said, not dodging his gaze, but staring directly at Yao Chen. "I was feeling a bit unwell and wanted to rest in the prep room. I moved a stool and sat in the corner, hidden behind some shelves. So, when that female officer came in, she didn't see me. She thought there was no one around and used her communication device to contact the police outside. I heard everything."
It made sense, and she played it up, establishing her character as someone ready for action.
Yao Chen found it amusing. Because Han Yanyan had a rather respectable appearance, one would instinctively think she was the type to report a found penny to the police or call for help when spotting a thief. But instead, she chose to inform him.
"Because I need money," Han Yanyan answered his question.
Yao Chen nodded, "How long have you been working at Jin Hao?"
"Two months," Han Yanyan replied, "a classmate introduced me, saying tips come quicker than tutoring."
A female university student.
Yao Chen was familiar with this group. He owned several financial companies that specialized in scams, and many female students fell victim to them regularly. Among the workers at Jin Hao, they had not only undergraduates but even graduate students. His brothers belonged to a low-education group, and these men were often keen on sleeping with younger women whose education surpassed their own. It granted them immense satisfaction and boosted their confidence. Female university students were particularly appealing to them.
Yao Chen regarded Han Yanyan once more. In that enclosed room, his mind had not been on her; he had been focused on the door's sounds, worrying whether his business partners had left on time and whether the goods had been safely moved.
But now, as he scanned Han Yanyan's graceful neck and enticing legs, he recalled that for just a few fleeting seconds before the police barged in, this girl's soft body had felt oddly compatible with him.
"Are you really in need of money?" he asked her.
Han Yanyan lowered her eyes, "There’s a patient at home..."
"Working as a hostess pays better than being a waitress," Yao Chen said, taking a puff of his cigarette, "With your looks, I can promote you and ensure you become popular."
Han Yanyan lifted her gaze to meet his, biting her lip, silent.
Yao Chen continued to observe her beautiful face, asking, "You don’t want to?"
Han Yanyan replied with a firm, "No."
"Then why not follow me?" Yao Chen suggested, "It would save you from all this hardship."
He first put forth the worst condition, then presented a slightly better option. For someone being forced to choose, the latter seemed far more acceptable. Han Yanyan clenched her hand hidden in her sleeve, feelings of familiar emotions swirling back into her mind.
She almost called out a name, biting her lip to snap herself back to reality, softly rejecting him, "I’m sorry, President Yao, I have a boyfriend."
Yao Chen scoffed lightly, slightly lifting his chin in indifference, then asked, "Where do you live? I’ll take you back."
Han Yanyan said, "I need to return to the club; all my things are still there."
Yao Chen then pressed the intercom in the car, instructing the driver ahead, "Back to Jin Hao."
Han Yanyan got out of the car at the entrance of Jin Hao, thanked Yao Chen, returned his suit jacket, and dashed into the club.
Jin Hao had been inconvenienced by the police earlier, and for now, it was closed for the night. The staff had yet to disperse, and the lead worker pulled Han Yanyan aside for a quick conversation.
She said, "I just went in to deliver drinks and happened to catch the commotion."
After changing clothes and grabbing her bag, she took a taxi home. When she reached her place and opened her wallet to pay the fare, she found only a few thin bills. Her wallet wasn’t anything fancy, just an average student’s faux leather, the kind you could buy at any thrift market.
It was said that moving from luxury to frugality was tough; Han Yanyan suddenly found herself as a working girl in a club, having fallen from the heights of the rich Han family, and the disparity was overwhelming. She felt quite out of place.
As she reached her doorstep and fumbled for her keys, she almost tripped over a box in the dark. Someone turned on the lights from the inner room, and she saw several large boxes scattered on the floor.
A man’s voice called out, "You’re back? Why didn't you answer your phone?" Just then, a young man in pajamas stepped out from the inner room.
He was handsome, with a clear and delicate complexion. This was the boyfriend of "waitress Han Yanyan," the one she had mentioned to Yao Chen before. At this moment, memories and feelings about him activated in her mind, becoming all too real and vivid.
Han Yanyan felt her pockets, just remembering she had forgotten to find her phone in room 812. "My phone fell. There was a mess at work, and I just completely forgot to look for it." She paused and asked, "Is everything all set?"
Her boyfriend replied with a curt "Mm," saying, "Your mom couldn’t reach you and called me."
"What did she say?" Han Yanyan asked.
Her boyfriend hesitated before responding, "She said she urgently needed money."
Han Yanyan asked, "Did you give her any?"
The boyfriend replied, "No. You told me not to. I told her I'd let you call her back when you got home."
Han Yanyan nodded, "Got it."
She removed her bag and hung her coat on a rack.
Her boyfriend sensed something was off. This had happened more than once; every time Han Yanyan's mother tried to "borrow" money from him, Han Yanyan would be anxious, ashamed, and angry. But today, Han Yanyan seemed particularly calm, differing greatly from her usual self.
He finally asked, "What happened at work?"
Han Yanyan replied, "I’m not sure. A bunch of police officers arrived and took us to the station."
Her boyfriend frowned, "Did you go with them?"
Han Yanyan slightly nodded, saying, "It had nothing to do with me. They asked a couple of questions and let me go."
The boyfriend frowned even harder but held his tongue, not pressing further on that topic. Instead, he asked, "Aren't you going to call your mom back?"
Glancing at the wall clock, Han Yanyan said, "It's too late, maybe tomorrow. I’m going to take a shower."
The boyfriend stood alone in the cramped living room, staring at the several boxes that were neatly packed, lost in thought.
After Han Yanyan finished her shower and dried her hair, she climbed into bed. Her boyfriend was already lying down, facing away from her. As Han Yanyan snuggled under the covers, she inevitably bumped into his body. He didn’t stir, but Han Yanyan could hear his breathing; she knew he wasn’t asleep.
"What time tomorrow? I’ll set an alarm to see you off," she inquired.
The boy shifted slightly, wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her neck.
This boy had received an offer from a foreign university and had already secured his visa; in half a month, he would be leaving. During this last month, he wanted to return home to spend time with his parents. He had already finished packing, planning to head home the next day.
Han Yanyan gently patted her boyfriend's back while sorting through the information in her mind.
"Waitress Han Yanyan" was still a junior in college, with both parents alive and a younger brother a few years her junior. Originally, they were an ordinary family, her father worked a regular job while her mother had been a housewife since early retirement. Living in a small city meant their living expenses were low, allowing them to get by adequately.
But who would know that her younger brother, still in high school, had sold one of his kidneys to buy a new phone after being lured online?
In theory, people can live healthily with just one kidney, but there’s an old saying, "When it rains, it pours." That remaining kidney had flared up with complications, leaving him reliant on dialysis. Insurance only covered part of the costs, and the family had to fork out thousands each month on top of that. Her brother, who had never been keen on studying, took the chance to drop out of school and stay home instead.
Besides supporting his medical expenses, the parents constantly gave him supplements. They had also stopped covering Han Yanyan’s tuition and living expenses, forcing her to work harder to send money home.
Not only that, but since learning about Han Yanyan's boyfriend, they had also tried borrowing money from him several times. At first, he had lent them some without understanding the situation, but he eventually noticed something was off and brought it up with Han Yanyan.
Han Yanyan felt a mix of embarrassment and anger when she heard this, and she repaid her boyfriend for the money he lent out.
This boy was handsome and gentle, and for "waitress Han Yanyan," he was perhaps the greatest thing she wanted to hold onto in her youth, but he was going to study abroad.
The breakup, while amicable, left "waitress Han Yanyan" feeling somewhat resentful deep down.
Yet, the real Han Yanyan felt none of that.
This boy was merely a young man without independent financial means, from an average middle-class family; he simply could not bear the weight of the Han family's burden. The true Han Yanyan, having separated from this identity, looked at the situation through a third-person perspective. To her, such a peaceful split was indeed the best outcome for the two young people.
She found it exasperating that "waitress Han Yanyan" was a copy of Bai Yue from her previous life; both were born into families that prioritized sons over daughters, and both had to bear the financial burden of their families. The tragedy of this "Han Yanyan" was even double in strength. Their biggest commonality was that they were both buns—entangled in the ties of blood and family.
But this "Han Yanyan" was slightly stronger than Bai Yue; she didn’t expect anyone to save her. She bit her lip and worked multiple jobs at a young age to support herself.
Yet, doing this alone was not enough. No matter how much she could endure or how hard she worked, if she couldn’t seek mental salvation, she would remain trapped in this fate for life.
Such reflections arose in Han Yanyan's heart. Just then, her boyfriend raised himself, kissed her cheek, and pressed his lips to hers.