Chapter 1

Dongguan, Train Station.
Cao Yang carried his luggage out, watching the busy traffic and endless stream of people, lost in thought.

He walked over to a newsstand, pulled out a slip of paper, and dialed the number written on it.

“Hello…” A pleasant voice came from the other end, sounding a little drowsy, maybe just woken up.

“Yanzi, it’s me, Cao Yang. I’ve arrived in Dongguan.”

“Mhm… got it. Wait for me, I’ll come pick you up soon.”

The call ended. Cao Yang checked the time—it was three in the afternoon. Why was Yanzi still sleeping? Could it be that she worked the night shift at a factory?

Under the blazing summer sun, the heat in Dongguan was unbearable. Cao Yang found a shaded spot to sit down and quietly wait for Li Yan to pick him up.

Li Yan was his neighbor back home, an older sister figure, beautiful and once his childhood goddess.

She had come to Dongguan to work two years ago, sending back thousands of yuan every year. In the village, she was praised as someone truly successful.

Li Yan’s mother was close friends with Cao Yang’s mother, so she suggested that Cao Yang go to Dongguan and rely on Li Yan—earn a few thousand yuan a year and bring it home.

At first, Li Yan refused, saying her factory didn’t hire men.
But her mother promised on her behalf, saying if her factory wouldn’t take him, she could help him find another one.

…

About an hour later, Cao Yang saw a tall, fair-skinned beauty walking toward him, wearing a white dress and crystal high heels.

“Yanzi!” Cao Yang waved at her, thinking to himself that she looked even more beautiful than before.

Li Yan came over and frowned immediately at the sight of his shabby canvas luggage bag.

“Haven’t seen you in two years and you’ve grown taller, but you still look so rustic.” She measured the height difference between them with her hand—he was now a whole head taller than her.

“Come on, get in the car.” Li Yan hailed a taxi.

The two of them sat in the back. A whiff of her perfume filled the space, making Cao Yang take a few extra breaths without realizing.

Looking at her again, her white dress was beautiful, but thin. Up close, he could faintly see the outline of her black underwear beneath.

“I heard you caused some trouble back home?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Cao Yang nodded, admitting quietly.

“Now that you’re out here, just focus on making money. Don’t get into fights and violence again—earning money is what matters.”

“Mm.” Cao Yang nodded, listening carefully.

“Since your mom sent you to me, I have to take responsibility for you. But you need to listen to me. If you don’t, I won’t bother looking after you!”

“Mm,” he nodded again.

“How much money did your mom give you when you left home?”

“Two hundred yuan, all borrowed from others.” Cao Yang answered honestly.

“Where is it?”

“In my bag.”

“Give it to me.” Without hesitation, Li Yan reached into his pocket and pulled out 125 yuan.

Cao Yang felt uneasy. Who takes someone’s money the moment they meet?

“When you’re out here, you need money for everything—standing, sitting, moving. I’m keeping it safe for you so you don’t waste it. You’re okay with that, right?”

“No.” He shook his head, though in his heart he was full of objections. But since he still needed her help to find a job, he kept quiet.

They were neighbors, and their mothers were close friends. Surely, she wouldn’t harm him.

…

The taxi stopped at the entrance of an urban village in Chang’an. Li Yan paid the fare and led him inside.

They went up to the third floor of a small building. She opened the door to a two-bedroom apartment.

But this kind of two-bedroom apartment in Dongguan was nothing like the usual ones—tiny. Two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom—all together no more than forty square meters.

“Yanzi, you live here?” Cao Yang asked curiously. Didn’t factory workers usually stay in dorms? Why rent a place?

“Don’t worry about that.” Li Yan didn’t answer directly.

She grabbed a blanket from her room, handed it to him, and pointed at the sofa. “A friend of mine said their electronics factory is hiring. I’ll take you there tomorrow. Tonight, just make do on the sofa.”

Cao Yang nodded, then pointed at the other bedroom. “But isn’t there another room?”

“That’s someone else’s.”

“This weather is unbearable—you sweat for two hours after being outside for five minutes.” Li Yan grumbled, then went to shower.

Through the frosted glass door, Cao Yang could vaguely see the outline of her figure.
He swallowed hard and forced himself to look away.

A while later, Li Yan came out again, now dressed in a black silk nightdress.

“Do you want to shower? Shampoo and everything’s inside.”

Cao Yang nodded, but his eyes lingered on her chest.

“If you keep staring, I’ll dig your eyes out!” Li Yan covered her chest, warning him.

Like a thief caught red-handed, Cao Yang dropped his head and hurried into the bathroom without a word.

Stripping off his sweaty clothes, his body reacted instinctively. At his age, even a swimsuit poster could trigger him—let alone the real woman, his childhood goddess.

Cold water finally cooled him down. With foam in his hair, suddenly—bang! the door swung open.

“Damn! Who are you?!”

Cao Yang opened his eyes and saw a young woman staring wide-eyed at his lower body in shock.

Embarrassed to death, he quickly covered himself with both hands.

“Hey, hey, hey… he’s a younger brother from my hometown,” Li Yan rushed out of her room when she heard the commotion.

She pulled the girl away, but not before sneaking a quick glance at Cao Yang. Since he was covering up, she didn’t actually see anything.

After the chaos, Cao Yang rinsed off quickly, dressed, and came out.

“Let me introduce you—this is Zhou Qing, my colleague and roommate. Just call her Sister Qing.”

“And this is my little brother from back home, Cao Yang. You can call him Xiao Cao or Xiao Yang.”

“Hello, Sister Qing,” Cao Yang greeted with a smile.

Zhou Qing nodded, half-smiling, her eyes darting around mischievously.

“Alright, enough staring. Let’s go eat, we have work.” Li Yan pulled Zhou Qing toward the door.

“Yanzi, I haven’t eaten either,” Cao Yang reminded them.

“Go get yourself some fried rice noodles.”

“But I don’t have any money!”

Li Yan suddenly remembered she had taken all his cash.

“Fine, come along then. We’ll eat together.”

The three of them went downstairs to a busy clay pot porridge food stall.

It was packed with customers.

Two shirtless men with dragon-and-tiger tattoos on their arms spotted Li Yan and waved at her.

Li Yan and Zhou Qing walked over quickly, clearly familiar with them.

“Who’s this?” one of the men asked, pointing at Cao Yang.

“This is my little brother from back home. He’s here to work—I’ll get him into a factory tomorrow,” Li Yan replied.

Then the four of them started eating barbecue. Apart from Li Yan occasionally telling Cao Yang to eat more, nobody really paid him much attention.