Just escaped the wolf's den, only to enter the tiger's lair.

In the distant northern city, Jingyuan Guo saw the status update sent by Ruowen Chen and fell into deep thought.

She had been in the northern city for over a week, but finding a job hadn’t been going smoothly. She couldn’t stay on at Jinmu Trading, and after just three days at MOMO Entertainment, an accident occurred.

She had applied for a waitress position and did serve trays at the front desk for two days, earning two hundred yuan. However, before she could rejoice, on the third night shift, the supervisor suddenly asked her to deliver several bottles of alcohol to a private room.

At first, Jingyuan didn’t think much of it; after all, delivering drinks wasn’t much different from serving plates—just one was in the private room, the other at the front desk.

But as soon as she delivered the bottle inside, the guests invited her to drink with them. When Jingyuan politely declined, they tried to restrain her and force her to drink. Fortunately, a neighbor who lived with her in a shabby old building and also worked at the club heard her cries and rushed in to stop them.

The guests then flew into a rage, and the supervisor finally came clean with Jingyuan.

“This position will inevitably involve ‘entertaining’ guests sooner or later. Not just entertaining, but even worse things might be expected. You’re working at a club—don’t you know about these unspoken rules?”

Only then did Jingyuan realize what kind of place she had entered.

Panicked, she immediately resigned. The supervisor didn’t protest but counted the damages caused by the angry guests that day and deducted three hundred yuan from her wages, letting her go.

So not only did she earn no money, but she ended up losing a hundred yuan.

Counting her bank balance, Jingyuan knew she couldn’t go on like this. She contacted Early Dawn Retail, a company she had interviewed with before, thinking that no matter if the job meant going down into sewers, as long as she earned money, it would be fine.

But the day before starting, she learned that Ruowen Chen also needed help. After all, Chen’s situation was far more important than her job hunt. After some thought, Jingyuan sent a message.

“Do you need me to come back and help?”

A reply came quickly.

“No, you’re not suited for this.”

Jingyuan wanted to argue, but another message arrived.

“We’ve already found enough people, really no need.”

She could only reply, “Alright then.”

The next morning, Jingyuan set out to join the new company.

The address given by Early Dawn Retail was different from the one on the interview day. The office was near a furniture mall outside the Third Ring Road, supposedly to cut costs since downtown rent was expensive. Jingyuan checked the map and took a bus there.

The furniture mall was even farther than she had expected. She spent three hours on the bus, anxiously calling the company leader several times to apologize and warn she might be late.

Fortunately, the leader was understanding, telling her not to rush and to be safe on the road.

Jingyuan was deeply moved.

Since the company hadn’t provided a precise location, she found herself unable to locate it after arriving at the furniture mall. Reluctantly, she called again.

“Manager, hello, I’ve arrived at the furniture mall but can’t find the company’s sign. Could you please tell me the exact location?”

A warm female voice answered.

“You’re already there? Okay, the company is a bit tricky to find. I’ll have a colleague come pick you up. Please wait where you are.”

“Oh, I don’t want to trouble anyone…”

“No trouble at all, just wait.”

Jingyuan felt the colleagues at this new company were really kind. She thought to herself she should have come here first instead of the two unreliable places.

Indeed, what was said in interviews didn’t always reflect reality. Some companies sounded harsh during interviews, making people uncomfortable, but after passing their tests, she found the atmosphere was actually very good.

Jingyuan felt she had learned something new.

Because the female manager warned the location would be hard to find, Jingyuan prepared to wait a while. But after more than half an hour, no one had come.

Growing anxious, she called the company again.

This time, no one answered.

“Could it be they’ve already filled all the positions and don’t need new hires?” Jingyuan worried.

Having struggled so much to find this new job, what would she do if she lost it now?

About ten meters away, two men exchanged a glance and hesitated.

“This girl’s so upset she’s about to cry. Should we go over and help?”

The shorter one spoke.

“Well… maybe not yet. We haven’t scouted the area fully. What if someone’s following her?”

“Unlikely. She looks so useless…”

“Don’t judge by appearances. Be careful not to be fooled by her looks. If anything goes wrong and we get implicated, how can we prosper? What about the years our parents have cared for us?”

At this, the shorter man’s expression changed.

“Yes, we must be vigilant. We can’t let anyone interfere with our path to wealth.”

Half an hour later, Jingyuan couldn’t stand it anymore and called the company again.

“Hello,” a voice finally answered.

“Manager, hello, this is Jingyuan Guo here to start work…”

“Oh, Xiao Guo, sorry about that. We had an emergency meeting just now and just got out. Please wait a little longer; I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking maybe the company hadn’t abandoned her after all; they had just been in a meeting.

After waiting another half hour, two men finally approached and greeted her.

“Are you Jingyuan Guo?”

Jingyuan nodded with joy. After waiting for an hour and a half, nearly noon, the people had finally arrived!

“We’re here to pick you up. Come with us.”

The shorter man waved and led the way. Without hesitation, Jingyuan followed. The other man followed quietly a step behind. Both men kept a close watch over her.

They took the unsuspecting Jingyuan into a van, locked the doors and windows, and sat silently beside her.

The van slowly drove out of the city. At first, Jingyuan didn’t feel anything unusual, but as the vehicle veered further off course, panic welled up inside her.

“Is the company far from here?”

The tall man didn’t respond. The shorter one hesitated but finally answered.

“Not far. We’re almost there. By the way, did you bring toiletries?”

“Toiletries?” Jingyuan was taken aback.

“Our company provides accommodation. You can stay there starting today. Didn’t anyone tell you before you came?”

“No, no one told me!”

The company had never mentioned lodging. If she had known, she could have canceled her rental near the train station, which cost forty yuan a day—such a waste!

“I… I won’t stay at the company on my first day. I’ll go back, cancel my lease, and come back tomorrow.”

The shorter man’s smile faded.

“The company’s so far from downtown. If you go back today, can you still make it to work on time tomorrow? Don’t you want to be late again?”

Jingyuan bit her lip in shame.

She realized she mustn’t be late again; she’d have to postpone canceling her rental until the weekend.

But even if she didn’t return, the rent would still be due—forty yuan a day, two hundred yuan a week.

It was such a painful expense…