Old Black’s punch was heavy, but it only caused some superficial injuries.

I spent a week at home recovering, and it was fine after that.

In these past few days, I didn’t go to work, nor did I take any leave.

Because I knew, for sure, I’d lose my job.

I’d rejected Manager Mei’s arrangement and had even won her prized employee, Hou Jun’s girlfriend, away from him.

At Tianxiang Bathhouse, there was no longer a place for me.

That morning, just after breakfast, my phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

As soon as I picked up, a woman’s voice came through the line.

“Chu Liu, I suppose you’ve almost recovered from your injury? Shouldn’t you be back to work by now?”

It was Mei Jie’s voice.

I didn’t have her number before.

I didn’t expect her to call me and ask me to return to work.

And I certainly didn’t expect her to know I’d been injured.

“If you don’t show up today, I’ll consider it an absence,” Mei Jie said with a tone that mixed seriousness with some teasing.

“I’ll deduct your salary for this month…”

Normally, taking leave or quitting at a large bathhouse like Tianxiang wouldn’t be a big deal.

There was no need for Mei Jie to personally intervene.

But now, not only did she know, she had even taken the initiative to call me.

That could only mean one thing.

She was paying attention to me.

As for why, it had to do with whether I was a cheater or not.

So, as Mei Jie had instructed, I went to work.

Although it had only been a week, my coworkers started looking at me differently.

None of the colleagues in the male bathing area greeted me.

A couple of them, who were friendly with me, initially wanted to speak.

But when they saw Hou Jun’s cold, hostile gaze in the distance, they held back.

One service worker, Lu Peng, who I was on good terms with, secretly sent me a text.

The message said that basically everyone at Tianxiang knew I’d won Hou Jun’s girlfriend away.

And that Chen Xiaoxue hadn’t returned home that night.

The next day, when she came to work, she broke up with Hou Jun.

Because of that, Hou Jun threatened that anyone who tried to talk to me again would pay.

He also promised he wouldn’t let me off the hook.

I sneered when I read the message.

Chen Xiaoxue definitely didn’t tell Hou Jun that nothing had happened between us.

Of course, she didn’t go back to Hou Jun.

Maybe she went off to another man instead.

That had nothing to do with me.

As for Hou Jun’s threats, I wasn’t concerned in the slightest.

Who was he?

Just a nobody.

My shift today was the day shift, followed by the night shift.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the evening, I was about to head to the cafeteria when a service worker told me that Mei Jie wanted to see me in her office.

I hadn’t seen Mei Jie all day.

I went upstairs and knocked on the door.

When I walked in, I saw Mei Jie standing by her desk, tidying up something.

She seemed to have aged a bit in the week I hadn’t seen her.

Her sharp, almond-shaped eyes were bloodshot.

When she saw me, Mei Jie directly asked,

“I heard you won Hou Jun’s girlfriend away that day?”

I didn’t answer, just tacitly confirming it.

“What did you do after you took her back?”

“Nothing…”

Mei Jie finally looked up at me, a hint of disdain in her eyes.

“You’re not picky, huh? You’ll take any woman.”

“I told you I didn’t do anything. Do you believe me?”

Mei Jie smirked.

“Pfft, believe you? Men’s mouths are just full of lies…”

I didn’t bother explaining.

Whether she believed me or not was none of my concern.

While speaking, Mei Jie placed a pack of cigarettes and a few boxes of tea on the desk.

“Chu Liu, we’ve worked together for a while, so we have some fate. I’ve had a good impression of you. Work hard from now on. These cigarettes and tea, take them. I won’t need them anymore…”

I froze for a moment.

Why was Mei Jie suddenly giving me things?

And the way she spoke sounded like she was saying goodbye.

Even I, cold as I was, couldn’t help but ask,

“Mei Jie, are you resigning? Or switching jobs?”

In the service industry, turnover was high.

A professional manager like Mei Jie was often someone other businesses would try to poach.

Mei Jie smiled.

But her smile held a trace of sadness.

“The boss has been good to me. How could I leave? But I just can’t continue here…”

“Huh?”

I looked at her, confused.

Why would she suddenly not be able to continue?

“This past week, while you were home recovering, I wasn’t really at work either. I’ve been gambling at a small casino. Lost terribly. Ugh, forget it…”

“How much did you lose?”

Mei Jie didn’t answer, but I pressed on.

She sighed bitterly.

“I had 970,000 saved up. On top of that, I borrowed another 2 million at the casino. I can’t pay it back now. They’re coming to take me with them…”

Nearly 3 million!

I gasped in shock.

Although Liu Ye had money, I didn’t.

I didn’t even have 30,000, let alone 3 million.

And Mei Jie had lost all of that in a week.

I was still a little confused, so I asked,

“Isn’t your friend in the casino business? Why would you go gamble somewhere else?”

Mei Jie looked at me.

“Even if you own a restaurant, you don’t eat every meal there, do you?”

That made sense, I guess.

But I still felt that Mei Jie, with her experience, shouldn’t have made such a foolish decision.

“Alright, enough about that. Take the cigarettes and tea. I should go…”

“I’ll see you off!”

We went downstairs together.

In the parking lot, by Mei Jie’s Audi A4, stood two men smoking.

They were both big guys, wearing tight black t-shirts and short-cropped hair.

Their arms were covered in tattoos.

They didn’t look like the friendly type.

As we got closer, Mei Jie handed them the car keys.

“Here are the keys. The registration and the owner’s manual are in the car. You can take the car. But can you give me a few more days to pay the remaining balance?”

One of the men threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his foot.

“Sue Mei, we’re just doing what we were told.

You and the boss agreed to pay back the money in a week. The deadline’s here. If you can’t pay up, I’ll have to take you with me…”

The other man added,

“Yeah, Mei Jie, don’t make this harder for us. We’re just workers too. Besides, you only owe 2 million.

With your looks and figure, if you spend a little time with our boss, make him happy, he might even forget about the debt.”

Mei Jie sighed helplessly.

She had no choice but to go with them.

As she looked back at me, her expression was gloomy.

“Chu Liu, you should go back. If fate allows, we’ll meet again!”

She turned to get in the car, ready to leave with the two men.

“Wait!”

I suddenly spoke up.

The three of them stopped and turned to look at me.

“You’re trying to help Mei Jie pay her debt?”

One of the men looked at me, a trace of mockery in his voice.

“You can’t afford it.”

“If you can’t afford it, what are you calling us for? You want to fight us for her?”

I shook my head and asked them,

“She owes you the money, but it’s not even been a full week yet. Shouldn’t the deadline be after midnight tonight?”

The two men exchanged a glance and then asked,

“What do you mean?”