Black's punch may be heavy, but it's nothing more than a superficial injury.
I stayed at home for a week and then recovered.
I didn't go to work or ask for leave during these days.
Because I was certain that I had lost the job.
I rejected Manager Su Mei's arrangement and won the girlfriend of Hou Jun, Su Mei's favorite.
Tianxiang Bathhouse is no longer a place where I can stand.
One morning, right after I finished breakfast,
my phone suddenly rang, displaying an unknown number.
As soon as I answered, I heard a woman's voice on the other end.
"Chu Liu, have you recovered from your injuries? Shouldn't you come to work today?"
It was Su Meimei's voice.
I didn't have her number before.
I never expected that she would call me and ask me to come to work.
What's more, she even knew that I was injured.
"If you don't come today, I will mark you as absent without leave. I'll deduct your entire month's salary..."
Su Mei's tone carried a hint of jest.
Normally, for service staff like us, taking leave or even resigning
is a trivial matter in such a large bathhouse like Tianxiang.
It doesn't require Meimei personally inquiring about it.
But now, not only does she know, but she also took the initiative to call me.
It can only mean one thing.
She's paying attention to me.
As for the reason, it must be related to whether or not I am a swindler.
Following Meimei's instructions, I went to work.
Although it had only been a week, my colleagues looked at me with a hint of strangeness.
Moreover, none of the male colleagues in the men's bathing area greeted me.
There were two colleagues who used to get along well with me and wanted to talk to me.
However, when they saw Hou Jun's sinister gaze not far away, they held back.
There was a service staff named Lü Peng who had a good relationship with me. He secretly sent me a text message.
The gist of it was that almost everyone in Tianxiang knew that I had won over Hou Jun's girlfriend, and Chen Xiaoxue hadn't returned for a night.
The next day at work, Chen Xiaoxue broke up with Hou Jun.
As a result, Hou Jun threatened that if anyone dared to interact with me, he would deal with them.
And he also said that he would definitely not let me off easily.
Reading the text message, I smirked coldly in my heart.
Chen Xiaoxue definitely didn't tell Hou Jun that nothing happened between us.
Of course, she didn't go back to see Hou Jun.
Maybe she found another man to be with.
It has nothing to do with me at all.
As for what Hou Jun said about wanting to deal with me, I didn't take it seriously.
Him? Just a small, insignificant character.
Today, I had a shift that lasted the whole day and night.
In the evening, I was getting ready to go to the cafeteria to eat.
A waiter told me that Meijie wanted me to go to her office.
I hadn't seen Meijie all day.
I went upstairs and knocked on the door.
As soon as I entered, I saw Meijie at her desk, organizing something.
After not seeing each other for a week, Meijie seemed a lot more haggard.
Her beautiful eyes were bloodshot.
When she saw me coming in, Meijie directly asked, "I heard that you took away Hou Jun's girlfriend?"
I didn't say anything, which was as good as admitting it.
"What did you do after taking her away?"
"Nothing..."
Meijie finally looked up at me and said somewhat disdainfully, "You're not picky, sleeping with any woman that comes your way!"
"Do you believe me if I say I didn't do anything?"
Meijie sneered.
"Hmph, I'd be a fool to believe you! A man's words are just deceiving ghosts..."
I didn't bother explaining.
Whether she believed it or not was irrelevant to me.
While speaking, Meijie placed four Zhonghua cigarettes and several boxes of tea on the table.
"On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, we worked together for a while, which can be considered fate. I have a good impression of you, so do well in the future. Take these cigarettes and tea. I don't need them anymore..."
Hmm?
I was slightly taken aback.
Why did Meijie suddenly give me things out of the blue?
And her tone sounded like a farewell.
Even if I was indifferent, I couldn't help but ask, "Meijie, are you resigning? Or are you changing jobs?"
The service industry has a high turnover of personnel.
Professionals like Su Meijie are often targeted and poached by many competitors.
Mei Jie smiled.
But in that smile, there was a hint of sadness.
"The boss has been good to me, how could I possibly switch jobs? It's just that I can't continue like this anymore..."
Hmm?
I looked at Mei Jie with confusion.
Why would she suddenly be unable to continue?
"You were resting at home this week, and in fact, I didn't come to work much either. I've been gambling at a small casino all week and lost miserably. Ah, never mind..."
"How much did you lose?"
Mei Jie didn't say, but I still asked.
Mei Jie sighed with a touch of resentment.
"I had 970,000 yuan in personal savings! In addition, I borrowed 2 million yuan from the casino. Now I can't pay it back, so I have no choice but to go with them..."
Nearly 3 million yuan!
I gasped in shock.
Although Liu Ye is rich, I am not.
Forget about 3 million yuan.
I don't even have 30,000 yuan.
And Mei Jie lost all of that in just a week.
But I was still a bit puzzled, so I asked again:
"Isn't your friend running a casino? Why did you go to another place to gamble?"
Mei Jie looked up at me.
"Even if you have your own restaurant, you can't eat every meal there, right?"
That makes sense.
But I still felt that with Mei Jie's experience, she shouldn't have made such a foolish decision.
"Alright, let's not talk about it. Take the cigarettes and tea with you. I have to go..."
"I'll walk you out!"
I walked downstairs with Mei Jie.
In the parking lot, next to Mei Jie's A4, stood two men smoking.
Both of them were well-built, wearing tight black short-sleeved shirts and had shaved heads.
Their arms were covered in dragon and tiger tattoos.
They didn't look like good people.
When we approached, Mei Jie handed over the car keys.
"Here are the keys, the registration and documents are in the car. You can take the car, but can you give me a few more days for the remaining money?"
One of the men flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it with his foot.
"Su Mei, we're just following orders. You and the boss agreed to repay the money in a week, and that time has come. If we can't get the money back, I'll have to take you back with me..."
The other person chimed in, "Yeah, Sumei, don't make it difficult for us. We're just working for a living. Besides, you don't owe much, just two million. With your looks and figure, spend some time with our boss and make him happy. Can he still ask you to repay the money then?"
Sumei sighed helplessly.
With no other options left, Sumei had no choice but to go along with them.
She turned back and glanced at me, her expression filled with sadness.
"Chuli, you should go back. We may meet again if fate allows," she said sorrowfully.
As she was about to get into the car and leave with the two individuals, I suddenly spoke up.
"Wait a minute!"
All three of them simultaneously stopped and turned to look at me.
"Brother, are you trying to help Sumei repay her debt?" one of the men asked, his tone laced with mockery.
"She can't repay it!"
"If she can't repay it, why are you calling us? Do you want to snatch her away?"
I shook my head and looked at the two men, questioning them in return.
"She owes you money, but it seems like it hasn't been a full week yet. It should be past midnight tonight to complete a full week."
The two men exchanged glances and then asked me, "What do you mean?"
(End of chapter)