Chapter 30

Wen Yu and Yang Bo went in different directions. With his exceptional eyesight and keen observation, Wen Yu noticed something unusual about Ji Anning even from a few steps away.

He followed her gaze and saw Yang Bo’s figure.

Does Ji Anning know Yang Bo?

Wen Yu calmly walked up to Ji Anning and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ji Anning said, “Nothing. Let’s go.”

They walked side by side out of NL, feeling the night breeze. Unable to resist her curiosity, Ji Anning asked, “Who was the person you were talking to just now?”

Wen Yu replied, “A friend.”

Ji Anning asked, “Are you close?”

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Eld Zw tzydnle yv bla.

Kk Gddkdt qlzv y nbkzz yde iwknjzu nshlale wr, pyukdt, “Tl zssjp psxlobyv qyxkzkya, zkjl R’hl plld bkx psxloblal.”

Ohld kq pbl olal vs zkhl ydsvbla zkql, Kk Gddkdt’p okv yde nwzvkhyvksd nswzed’v nsxryal vs Eld Zw’p.

Eld Zw zssjle yv bla kdiwkpkvkhlzu yde pyke, “Tkp dyxl kp Zydt Js, vbl uswdt xypvla sq Hblduwyd Qaswr. Eblal byhl usw plld bkx?”

Jwpkdlppxld olal dsv nsdpkelale rwczkn qktwalp yde oswze dsv qaliwldvzu yrrlya kd vbl dlop zkjl nlzlcakvklp. Kk Gddkdt nswzed’v nsxl wr okvb y tsse lmnwpl yde nswze sdzu hytwlzu pyu, “R esd’v alxlxcla.”

Eld Zw pyke, “Zsw esd’v alxlxcla, cwv usw qllz vbyv bl zssjp qyxkzkya?”

Kk Gddkdt nswze sdzu pyu, “Tl’p tsse-zssjkdt, ps kv’p byae vs qsatlv yqvla pllkdt bkx.”

Mbyv alxyaj eked’v pswde aktbv.

Wen Yu stopped in his tracks, his smile seeming insincere. “Oh?” Just kissed him at noon and now praising another man’s good looks in the evening?

Although he was smiling, his eyes were filled with a fierce glint, carrying a hint of threat.

Ji Anning was momentarily speechless and said, “You’re more good-looking. Where’s your car?”

This attempt to change the subject was too fake and perfunctory. Wen Yu snorted and led Ji Anning to his black Hummer.

He liked off-road vehicles. In his garage, he only had two sports cars, while the rest were off-road vehicles. Usually, he would drive this Hummer to school. His classmates thought he was showing off his wealth, but in reality, it was the most low-key car among all of his vehicles.

The perception of money, “expensive,” and “cheap” is truly different between wealthy people and ordinary people.

Ji Anning stepped on the pedal and got into the car, closing the door. As she lowered her head to fasten her seatbelt, she heard Wen Yu casually say, “I quit your part-time job at NL.”

Ji Anning raised her head in astonishment.

The car interior was dimly lit.

Wen Yu fearlessly looked at Ji Anning, his gaze even a bit provocative.

He believed that with Ji Anning’s personality, she would probably get angry and might even argue with him because of this. Wen Yu wasn’t afraid of a confrontation; he had even thought about how to taunt her.

But Ji Anning just gazed at him quietly for a moment and then responded with a soft “Okay,” sitting up straight and looking ahead without saying another word.

Is she sulking?

Wen Yu curled up the corner of his mouth and shifted gears to drive.

The car left NL and stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of Bridge South Road. No one spoke, and the cabin was silent.

Wen Yu turned his head, using the dim light of the streetlamp to glance at Ji Anning and noticed that her gaze towards the front of the car was unfocused. She was lost in thought, and he had no idea what she was thinking about.

“I thought you would argue with me,” Wen Yu spoke first.

With his words, he broke the silence in the car, and Ji Anning snapped out of her thoughts. She glanced sideways at Wen Yu.

If it were in their past life, she might have really quarreled with him if he had done something like this. But in their past life, she and Wen Yu weren’t as harmonious and close, and he had never taken the initiative to make decisions for her like this. Of course, he had always disliked her part-time job at NL.

But he couldn’t control her. Because Ji Anning never bowed down to him.

Today, she took the initiative to ask him for help, something that never happened in their past life. This fundamental change in their interaction pattern between the two of them.

“You shouldn’t make decisions for me without asking,” Ji Anning said.

“Heh,” Wen Yu smirked, “Then why are you so quiet?”

Ji Anning remained silent for a moment and sighed, “Because I was actually considering quitting today.”

Wen Yu was a bit surprised.

He thought Ji Anning cared a lot about this job.

And Ji Anning did care. Because this part-time job at NL was the highest-paying one she could find.

So, even though she knew the place wasn’t clean or safe, and sometimes she would face harassment in terms of language or even behavior, she endured it and continued working there.

It was all for the money.

But meeting Zhao Chen today made her realize something. She pondered deeply and sorted out the cause and effect between her past and present lives.

Zhao Chen must have targeted her a long time ago.

In this lifetime, Wen Yu didn’t declare his sovereignty over her so openly, and she didn’t know if Zhao Chen would still be deterred because of that. Compared to the school environment, NL was clearly a more suitable place for him to target her.

NL, after all, was a place full of debauchery and revelry. It wasn’t surprising for things to happen to girls here, and afterwards, people would blame you for why you went to such a place.

Ji Anning understood all of this in her heart.

It’s just that in her past life, she was solely focused on making money, and selling alcohol really earned much more than being a hostess or working as a supermarket promoter. She couldn’t bear to quit this job.

But in this life, she was reborn, and she wanted to make some changes.

Even before Wen Yu arrived, Ji Anning had already thought about resigning from NL. Wen Yu just took the initiative to do it for her.

Compared to Wen Yu’s assertiveness, encountering Yang Bo, the person she had seen in the whirlpool of time, had a greater impact on her.

Who is Yang Bo exactly? What is the relationship between him and Wen Yu? What happened between them? Why did Yang Bo catch Wen Yu for the murder and send him to prison?

Her mind is actually in turmoil right now, and she doesn’t even have the energy to be angry about Wen Yu resigning for her.

Wen Yu has always been an aggressive player. If Ji Anning doesn’t react, he immediately takes it a step further and says, “Quit the coffee shop too.”

That’s a bit too much. Ji Anning composed herself and argued, “The environment at the coffee shop is much better than here. There aren’t random people causing trouble.”

Just as she finished speaking, she remembered the two perverts who took the secret photos last time and added, “Occasionally, there are. But Shu Chen is a good person, and overall, it’s safe.”

“Safety is one thing.” The light turned green, and Wen Yu sneered, accelerating. “But you keep talking about being self-reliant, so find a decent job instead of always going down this erotic route, okay?”

This accusation is quite harsh.

Ji Anning tightly pursed her lips.

“The uniform at the coffee shop isn’t revealing.” She couldn’t argue with NL, so she could only talk about the coffee shop.

Wen Yu snorted through his nostrils. “Revealing or not, can it stop others from having lewd thoughts about you? This kind of cosplay is related to sexual fantasies. Do you think it’s a children’s cartoon? Do you want to know what kind of images appeared in my mind when I first saw you in that outfit?”

Ji Anning didn’t want to know.

She only knew that it must be very vulgar and explicit.

Wen Yu’s words were sharp and hurtful, but they were the truth. Ji Anning understood what he said in her heart.

Whether it’s the mixed crowd at NL or the seemingly warm and cute anime coffee shop, they are both playing with eroticism.

NL doesn’t need to be mentioned. The customers buy alcohol, and they choose based on which girl they find pretty and appealing.

Shu Chen’s anime coffee shop has slightly higher prices than regular coffee shops, but business is still good. Almost all of the customers are male, and they come here to fantasize about the girls dressed as maids.

Similarly, Ji Anning chose Shu Chen’s shop precisely because the wages he offers are higher than other places.

If they don’t offer high wages, why would they make girls wear such embarrassing clothes?

No one is stupid. Everyone knows they’re being fantasized about.

They just don’t talk about it openly.

It’s all for money.

Understanding something in your mind is one thing, but being directly exposed by Wen Yu like this is another.

Ji Anning felt an unprecedented embarrassment.

Was Wen Yu always looking at her like this in her past life?

That’s why he would say those vulgar words to her, expressing his explicit desires.

Ji Anning has experienced life and death, and she silently endured this embarrassment, digesting it alone.

“I can’t quit both jobs at the same time,” she explained to Wen Yu as calmly as possible. “I…”

In her senior year of high school, she understood that passing the college entrance exam was her only way out in life. For the sake of the exam, she stayed at home to study and didn’t work.

The last bit of savings from her and her grandmother’s hard work was almost exhausted. So when she entered university, she was anxious to earn money. She went to many places for job interviews and eventually chose NL and the anime-themed café because they offered the highest income.

Before she could finish her sentence, Wen Yu took out a card from somewhere and held it between his fingers, handing it to her.

“Take it,” Wen Yu said, with one hand on the steering wheel and his eyes fixed ahead.

Ji Anning didn’t reach out her hand, so Wen Yu directly placed the card on her leg and withdrew his hand to hold the steering wheel.

“This is the supplementary card for my credit card. Use it for your daily expenses,” he said.

Ji Anning gritted her teeth. “I can’t spend your money.”

When she invited Shu Chen to dinner, Wen Yu settled the bill. He also had someone deposit one thousand yuan into her meal card. Ji Anning kept track of all these debts in her mind.

Wen Yu didn’t want this “small amount” of money now, but Ji Anning still intended to repay him in the future when she had the chance.

If she quit all her jobs and relied on Wen Yu’s money to live, it would cross her personal limit.

“I checked. You haven’t you applied for a student loan?” Wen Yu asked. “Why not?”

Ji Anning was taken aback. She didn’t expect him to bring this up. She answered, “The school waived my tuition fees. I’m currently working part-time to earn a living. Loans… they still have to be repaid, right? Student loans also have interest.”

Student loans had limited amounts, and Ji Anning believed that as long as she could handle her living expenses, there was no need for a loan.

The deeper reason was that she had a strong aversion to borrowing money.

Her biological father ran away with the house money and savings, leaving her and her grandmother with debts. Those debt collectors harassed them, threatening and taking away anything of value from their home. Some even resorted to violence against her grandma.

There were even people who started to touch Ji Aning, who was half a child but was very beautiful
.
The gaze and actions of adults frightened her.

Her usually restrained grandmother finally exploded, driving those people away with a kitchen knife in hand. Her white hair scattered as she held Ji Anning tightly in her arms. “Ningning, don’t be afraid. You have your grandmother!”

Those shadows ran deep, making Ji Anning afraid of borrowing money and opposed to taking loans.

“This is the supplementary card for my credit card. You can use it directly for expenses,” Wen Yu said. “Don’t be stubborn. Consider it as me lending you money.”

Ji Anning remembered the debt collector who infuriated her grandmother back then, pointing at Ji Anning and saying, “This girl can be used as compensation. It will clear Ji Tairen’s debt.”

Ji Anning didn’t know how much money or credit limit Wen Yu’s card had, but it was definitely enough for her livelihood.

Unable to help herself, she sarcastically and self-deprecatingly said, “Do you want me to repay you with my body?”

The Hummer was leaving the main road and onto the auxiliary road.

Wen Yu turned the steering wheel, causing the wheels to screech against the road surface, and the large black car came to a sudden halt next to the curb.

Wen Yu shifted to park and turned around to stare at Ji Anning.

“Fine, I’m game,” he looked at her with audacious and mocking eyes. “No need to go to a hotel. We can do it right here in the car. The seat can recline, and there are condoms in the car. So, are you up for it or not?”

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Sansukini: There goes her pride again. I don’t wanna judge either one of them. I can see how he sincerely wants to help her financially, but I can also understand her hesitation. But hey, if it’s me, I’ll just accept it. Lol. There’s a old filipino saying, “Masamang tumanggi sa grasya (It’s bad to refuse grace/blessings.)”

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