Due to her leave of absence, Le Wanru had switched from a part-time job to a full-time job.
Since the restaurant she worked at was also a high-end restaurant, her salary was stable.
Her working hours started at seven in the morning and ended at five in the afternoon.
Today, while Wanru was working, she met her friend Thao Mi again, whom she had seen at the restaurant yesterday.
"Oh, Ru, you're still working here?" Thao Mi asked.
Wanru did not answer her, focusing intently on her work.
"What would the esteemed guest like to order?"
"I'd like a VIP combo!"
"Please wait a moment, esteemed guest, your food will be right out!" Wanru was about to turn and go back inside.
"Oh, Ru, I heard you took a leave of absence, is that right?" Thao Mi quickly grabbed her arm and asked.
She frowned, pulling her arm away from Thao Mi's grip. She nodded slightly and said, "That's right!"
"Why? Are you short on money, Ru?"
Wanru's face darkened. She wondered if her current appearance made it so obvious that she was short on money, that everyone seemed to know.
"Is there something you need, Thao Mi? If so, please say it quickly, I have work to do."
She didn't like being pulled into such conversations.
"Ah...! No, it's just that if you're short on money, Ru, I can introduce you to a job.
Because someone at my place just quit, so I'm a bit overwhelmed. If I could get you to work with me, I'd be less stressed."
Thao Mi explained awkwardly.
Wanru looked at Thao Mi's current awkward demeanor and remembered seeing her sneak out of the bar yesterday. She vaguely asked,
"Thao Mi, do you work at a bar?"
Hearing this, Thao Mi's face immediately turned pale. She admitted with difficulty,
"Yes, but I only work as a server.
Because I'm also short on tuition money like you, Ru. The waiter's salary at the bar is higher, so I'm willing to work hard there."
"Aren't you friends with Tra Mi and her group? They're all from wealthy families, so why are you short on money?"
"Their families are rich, but mine isn't. I accidentally got pulled into their group, and I want to leave, but they won't agree.
I'm short on tuition money, so I have to secretly work there, just like you saw yesterday, Ru. But I can work and pay my tuition at the same time, Ru, no need for a leave of absence. Would you like to try?"
Looking at Thao Mi's seemingly sincere expression, Wanru's heart also became uncertain.
She suddenly remembered encountering that madman Lin Kang there yesterday and snapped back to reality.
"No, I don't want to encounter Lin Kang or anyone like him."
Thao Mi immediately shook her head.
"No, Ru, if Lin Kang goes, he only stays on the VIP floor. I work on the regular floor, so I don't encounter people like that. Besides, you can work part-time in the evening, just about 4 hours can earn you a decent amount of money."
"What is your purpose in telling me all this?" Wanru cut straight to the point.
Thao Mi stammered for a long time after hearing this.
"To be honest with you, Ru, if I can get you to work there now, I'll get a referral fee, about 2 or 3 million or so."
Thao Mi smiled naively, completely unaware that she was hiding something.
Thao Mi decided not to say anything more, only taking a piece of paper with her phone number written on it and handing it to Wanru.
"Here's my phone number. You can go check it out first if you want.
Just call me if you're interested."
Le Wanru didn't care. She hastily stuffed the paper into her pocket and left.
Despite Thao Mi's innocent demeanor, she decided not to trust her.
The author had established this character as one of the "bad trio," so she was certainly not to be trusted.
Thao Mi realized that Le Wanru would not easily follow her advice.
Honestly, she didn't want to trick Wan Ru into the trap that Lin Kang had set.
But she herself was burdened with a debt of several hundred million.
Her family was ordinary, with just enough to eat and wear.
However, her older brother's gambling and extravagant lifestyle had left the family in want.
Her parents fell gravely ill from worrying about his debts, so she had no choice but to borrow a large sum of money to care for them.
She also never expected that the person behind her debt was Zhou Lin Kang. She had to work extremely hard to repay the debt, which only grew larger with increasing interest.
Zhou Lin Kang had offered her a ladder to climb down, but only this one time.
If she didn't plan carefully for herself, she would be stuck in this quagmire of debt.
Li Wan Ru looked at the paper with the address and phone number in her hand. "Helling Bar" caught her attention.
She remembered that in the original story, Helling was where the original host seduced the male lead, turning the tables on him with Mei Jin, leading to their official confrontation.
She sighed. This world was truly small.
Her phone rang. Seeing an unfamiliar number, she vaguely answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Ru, where are you?"
"Mei Jin?" She recognized her best friend's voice.
"Yes, it's me. Where are you, Ru? I went to class and didn't see you."
Wan Ru cursed inwardly. She hadn't intended to tell Mei Jin about her leave of absence from school.
"Oh, I'm home, Jin."
"Huh, why? You had a class at the same time as me today, didn't you?"
"Ah... I went home, Jin. I left during the previous class. Is something wrong, Jin?" Wan Ru tried to change the subject.
"Then Minh Jian and I will come to your house to pick you up. Grandpa asked me to invite friends over to play with him. Minh Jian is shy about going alone, so I invited you too. Come with us, okay?"
"You're coming to my house now, Jin?"
"Yes, that's right. Wear a pretty dress!"
With that, Mei Jin hung up, not giving Wan Ru a chance to refuse.
Wan Ru felt a headache coming on. It took about 20 minutes to get home from school, and now it would take about 15 minutes to get home from the restaurant. It seemed fate wanted to expose her lie.