"What's wrong, Captain?"
"What do you mean, what's wrong? The trouble you brought us has come by a dozen times this afternoon, making it impossible for us to sleep," complained Fuzhu.
Before Fuzhu could finish, the captain glared at him and then turned to Ye Chen. "It seems Miss Li has something urgent to discuss with you. You should go check."
"Oh, okay."
Ye Chen didn't even sit down. He turned and walked out. After Ye Chen left, the captain turned to Fuzhu. "What's your problem? What trouble?"
"I'm sorry, Captain, I..."
"Enough. I think she really has something important. Also, try not to use the word 'trouble' again."
The captain, being older, had different thoughts from the younger ones. To be honest, even Ye Chen felt she was troublesome.
Ye Chen arrived at the cleaning department's dormitory and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"Hello, I'm Ye Chen from the security department. I'm here to see Li Zhiyu."
As soon as Ye Chen finished speaking, the door opened, and Li Zhiyu appeared. "Where did you go? I've been looking for you all afternoon."
"Let's talk outside."
This was the women's dormitory, and it was inappropriate for Ye Chen to stay here, even if he didn't enter the room.
Outside, Ye Chen asked, "What did you want to talk about?"
"I want to borrow some money," Li Zhiyu said, slightly embarrassed.
"Borrow money? What for?"
"I can't wear the same clothes every day, can I? And I need toiletries, and... other things..."
"Alright, you don't need to say more," Ye Chen interrupted, knowing what she was going to say.
"Will you lend it to me or not?"
"I can lend it to you, but you need to tell me the truth. What's really going on?"
Li Zhiyu played dumb. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind." Ye Chen turned to leave.
"Wait." Seeing Ye Chen stop, Li Zhiyu looked at him and said, "I'll tell you, but you must promise not to tell anyone or betray me."
"Okay, you have my word."
With Ye Chen's assurance, Li Zhiyu bit her lip and said, "I actually come from an unusual family."
"Yeah, I figured."
Ye Chen wasn't blind. The dress Li Zhiyu was wearing was sold in their mall, costing tens of thousands even as mass-produced items. And her bag was priced over two hundred thousand—definitely not something an ordinary family could afford.
"My family arranged a marriage for me, but I didn't want it."
"Why? Since it's arranged by your family, the conditions must be good, just right for you. Why don't you want it?"
Ye Chen, although from a regular family, often heard about suitable matches from his parents.
"I don't like him. Besides, he's a playboy. We've known each other since we were kids; I know exactly what kind of person he is."
"Uh, so you ran away from home?"
"Exactly. Now you understand why I didn't want you to call the police."
"I get it. If the police were involved, your family would find out immediately, right?"
"Yes."
"If that's the case, why did you go drinking?" Ye Chen couldn't understand why she went to drink instead of hiding.
"Ever heard of being depressed? I just wanted to get drunk and forget all these troubles."
Hearing this, Ye Chen shook his head. "You know that drinking to drown your sorrows only makes things worse."
"I didn't know before, but I do now. My family has cut off my cards, forcing me to go back. So, I might stay here for a while. They would never think to look for me here."
Ye Chen frowned. "But this isn't a long-term solution. You don't have a job. Sure, you can eat without paying, but..."
Li Zhiyu smiled bitterly. "I'll take it one step at a time. There's no other choice now."
"Alright. But aren't you afraid I'll sell you out for a reward? I'm sure your family would pay handsomely to know your whereabouts."
"Would you?" Li Zhiyu stared into Ye Chen's eyes.
Feeling a bit unnerved, Ye Chen quickly shook his head. "No, I wouldn't."
He had only seen such family-arranged marriages on TV and never expected to encounter one in real life. Frankly, he didn't like the idea at all.
So he decided to help her, which didn't require much effort—just keeping her secret. With over two hundred people in the security and cleaning departments, there was always food for her, and the cafeteria staff seemed to like her.
After all, a pretty girl would be well-liked anywhere. Besides, even if the mall found out, Ye Chen could lie a little. Who would go against a girl? Now that he knew her situation, there was nothing more to say.
"Your phone's out of service too?" Ye Chen asked.
"Yes, I turned it off. I was afraid..."
Ye Chen shook his head, took out some money from his pocket, and handed it to her. "This is all I have on me. Use it wisely."