After being kicked out of the wealthy family along with her yandere childhood friend

Bai Tao buried her face in his chest, wiping her tears and snot all over his clothes.

Her white undershirt was rubbed raw, leaving a wet, wrinkled stain that looked utterly wretched.

Pei Jin didn't flinch or frown. He simply held her, gently patting her back with one hand, as if soothing a frightened kitten.

After patting him a few times, he seemed to remember something, freed one hand, took out a crumpled banknote from his pocket, and handed it to Bai Tao.

Fifty yuan.

"I went to look for a job this afternoon."

Pei Jin's voice was unhurried, "The boss asked me to try it out first, that's why I'm back late."

He then picked up a plastic bag from the footrest of his electric scooter. Inside were eggs, noodles, a small piece of pork, and two steamed buns, all wrapped in the plastic bag and still steaming.

"Don't cry anymore, okay?" He spoke softly. "I also bought eggs, noodles, and meat."

Bai Tao took the fifty-yuan note and glanced down at it.

The banknote was crumpled, slightly softened by sweat, and the edges were curled up. Looking at the banknote, she suddenly felt a lump in her throat again.

She gradually stopped crying.

He lifted his head from Pei Jin's embrace, his eyes still red, the tip of his nose red too, "So amazing!"

Bai Tao's voice was hoarse from crying, but her tone was full of admiration, "I knew you were the best, Pei Jin! You found a job so quickly!"

Pei Jin looked at her bright eyes, at the teardrop that hadn't been wiped away from the tip of her nose, and at her cheeks that were slightly flushed with joy.

He suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

It wasn't just being moved; it was something more complex, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

His job search in the afternoon was not as easy as Bai Tao had imagined.

He graduated from Guanghua School of Management and had experience in international exchange programs. These were impressive achievements on his resume, but when he stood empty-handed in front of the HR and could not produce any paper proof, those achievements turned into rust.

Large companies have no shortage of talent.

They are the ones who snatch up the best students at the top universities every year during the campus recruitment season. Their resumes are piled up higher than a person. What kind of outstanding talents haven't they seen?

They were unwilling to take the risk of guaranteeing a young person who couldn't produce a diploma; the risk was too high and the return too low, it wasn't worth it.

Small companies look down on him.

The interviewer, with his legs crossed, looked him up and down, a half-smile playing on his lips, clearly thinking he was a fraud.

Moreover, all the small companies are accessible only through connections. No matter what your education or abilities are, they mean nothing in front of my second uncle, who is the boss.

He then remembered the several wealthy second-generation individuals who had contacted him before.

Those people have money in their families, but they themselves are not good enough. They are looked down upon by their elders and cannot hold their heads high in the family.

In the past, they would beg him for investment advice. When Pei Jin was in a good mood, he would offer some pointers, but when he was in a bad mood, he wouldn't even open the door.

Now that Pei Jin has fallen from grace, he's approaching them, offering to guide their investments and help them regain their footing within the family.

He stood at the door of the KTV room, where the lights were dim red, the air was thick with the smell of smoke and alcohol, and the music was so loud it hurt his ears.

The rich kids sat on the sofa, their arms around female escorts, with bottles of liquor and fruit platters on the coffee table in front of them.

When he entered, the private room was quiet for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Can Young Master Pei take out a million from his own pocket?"

The first person to speak crossed his legs, twirling a wine glass in his hand, his smile like a knife. "You think we'd spend that much money to take risks with you?"

"Young Master Pei, you should first earn some money and show some results before talking to us about investment." The second person laughed even more exaggeratedly, his laughter was so loud it was ear-piercing.

The third person stood up, took a wine glass, walked up to Pei Jin, looked him up and down, and his gaze fell on his clothes.

Even though Young Master Pei is down on his luck now, he's still dressed so formally.

"If you were Young Master Pei—oh no, you're just an ordinary person now—and you didn't have any money, you could bark like a dog on the ground a couple of times, then drink all this wine in front of you, and we'd lend you some money, how about that?"

He pointed to the row of spirits on the coffee table.

"I wonder if Pei Jin will be able to pay it back." The man drawled out his words with a smile.

Pei Jin stood at the door of the KTV room, with the pale white lights of the corridor behind him and the dark red, smoke-filled room in front of him.

The laughter of those people exploded in his ears, but he wasn't angry.

"OK,"

Pei Jin's voice wasn't loud, but in the noisy private room, every word was clear: "Then I'll come back to see you bosses after I've achieved some results."

He stood there, backlit, his posture ramrod straight. The eyes of the women in the private room unconsciously drifted over to him, stealing glances at him several times.

As Pei Jin turned and walked out of the private room, the cold air from the corridor hit him, blowing coolly on his face.

The door behind him wasn't closed properly, letting in intermittent laughter and music that echoed down the corridor, as if mocking his folly and unrealistic fantasies.

No one saw the ambition and mockery in Pei Jin's eyes.

They wanted to suppress him and see if he could never recover.

He was determined to withstand the pressure, to stand up, and to show them what self-respect meant and how much face was worth. When he had power and money, he would have more than he ever had before.

As Pei Jin rode his bike back, the night wind billowed his undershirt. He wasn't thinking about the humiliating words he'd heard; he'd forgotten them as soon as he heard them.

He was thinking about white peaches.

She is waiting for him.

She waited for him in the basement.

Pei Jin felt bad not because he was humiliated, but because Bai Tao was still waiting for him. He hadn't found any job, so as he frowned and walked through the alley, he suddenly remembered what he had seen that morning: the advertisement for day laborers posted on the telephone pole.

He went back and found the faded job posting on the utility pole, which had been exposed to the sun.

I work as a construction worker, carrying bricks. I get paid daily, 400 yuan a day.

For more daily pay jobs, please contact xxxxxxxxxxx.

Pei Jin stared at the phone number for two seconds, then took out his phone and dialed it.

The person who answered the phone had a gruff voice and sounded very irritable. He asked Pei Jin's age, but not his education, experience, or whether he could provide any proof. He simply gave him an address.

"Don't be late tomorrow morning at seven."

"Can I go today?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end, probably because they thought this person was a bit odd. But they still gave an address, "Okay, I have another job here, come on over."

Pei Jin turned his bike around and rode towards that address.

The express sorting center is located in a logistics park. It is a huge factory building with a corrugated iron roof. The lights are on, and the roar of the machines is so loud that it hurts your ears.

The conveyor belt keeps turning, and packages go from one end to the other. The sorters stand on both sides of the conveyor belt, bending over, picking up, scanning, and putting down the packages countless times.

Pei Jin worked for three hours.

He was 1.88 meters tall, standing beside the low sorting line, his back bent low. He had to bend down to pick up each package, scan the barcode, and then bend down again to put it in the corresponding basket.

His lower back started to ache.

Even when his gloves wore out, he didn't stop.

Three hours later, the workshop supervisor called him to his office, took out a pile of crumpled money from a drawer, rolled it up, and bound it with a rubber band.

"Good job," the supervisor glanced at him, "Are you coming in tomorrow?"

"Come."

Pei Jin put the money in his pocket and walked out of the logistics park. It was already completely dark outside.

He got on his bike and bought eggs, noodles, and a small piece of pork at a nearby supermarket. After thinking for a moment, he bought two steamed buns from the bun shop at the entrance, put them in a plastic bag, and placed them in the basket of his electric bike.

On his bike ride home, the night wind dried the sweat on his back, but it still felt sticky and uncomfortable.

He rode very fast, not knowing why he was in such a hurry, but he felt that Bai Tao was still waiting for him.

She probably didn't have dinner, he thought.

He belatedly realized that after creating his WeChat account at noon, he hadn't exchanged contact information with Bai Tao at all. For the first time in his life, he felt incredibly stupid.

There are many mosquitoes in summer, and Bai Tao only realized she had been bitten later.

It was red and swollen. She looked down at it, frowned, bent down and scratched it with her hand. A red mark immediately appeared where she scratched it, redder than a mosquito bite.

"Shall we go home?"

Pei Jin's voice came from above. He noticed the red envelope on her leg and frowned slightly.

Bai Tao nodded and slowly stood up from the stone block.

Pei Jin raised his hand slightly, then lowered it again.

He wanted to help her up, but halfway through his outstretched hand he felt it was inappropriate. Their relationship was too ambiguous, so ambiguous that he didn't know what role he should play in helping a girl.

His hand hung in the air for a moment, then he withdrew it.

Bai Tao didn't notice.

After she steadied herself, she patted the dust off her skirt, and the two of them entered the room one after the other.

Bai Tao collapsed onto the sofa as soon as she entered the room, sinking limply into the cushions.

Her legs were draped over the armrests, her arms were spread out at her sides, her hair was spread out on the cushions, her eyes were closed, her mouth was slightly open, and she let out a satisfied sigh.

I'm finally back.

Pei Jin followed behind, bent down, and quietly straightened her shoes, placing the two pairs of shoes side by side by the door, neat and tidy.

"You should eat first," Pei Jin said, standing up. "I bought some steamed buns."

Bai Tao lay on the sofa, her eyes slightly open.

She was too embarrassed to say that she had already eaten, so she sat up.

Pei Jin had already walked over to the floral fabric area.

Bai Tao heard him rummaging through things behind her. "Aren't you going to eat?" Bai Tao asked Hua Bu.

Pei Jin emerged from behind the floral fabric, carrying two changes of clothes in his left hand. As he walked towards the restroom, he said, "You eat first, I want to take a shower first."

The toilet door was closed.

Bai Tao picked up the plastic bag on the coffee table, took out a steamed bun from it. The skin was a little collapsed, but it still looked white and plump.

She took a bite.

Cabbage and pork.

I took a bite, but couldn't find the filling anywhere. The bun skin was very thick. I chewed the white peach filling a couple of times, but it didn't taste like anything. I chewed it a couple more times, but it still didn't taste like anything.

She put the steamed buns on the coffee table, no longer wanting to eat them.

Firstly, because she had already eaten out, and secondly, because it was so late, she needed to control her weight.

"Why--"

Bai Tao sighed as she looked at the toilet door.

Pei Jin turned on the shower, and water sprayed out from the showerhead, splashing onto the floor with a whoosh, creating white water droplets.

Then he was so cold that he shrank back, took half a step back, and his shoulder hit the toilet wall.

"Nobody's boiling water, Pei Jin—" Bai Tao's voice came from outside, muffled through the door.

Pei Jin sighed, "It's okay, I'll just wipe it with a towel."

He turned off the shower, picked up a towel, soaked it, wrung it out, and started wiping his face, shoulders, and arms. Halfway through, he suddenly stopped.

Are you going to take a shower later?

Pei Jin's voice came from the bathroom, mixed with the sound of a towel being wrung out, "I'll boil some water for you."

"Okay, thank you. I'll rinse it off in a bit."

Bai Tao's voice drifted in from outside. I wondered what she was looking at, but she sounded quite happy.

When Pei Jin came out of the restroom, his hair was still half wet, with a few strands hanging down in front of his forehead, which he casually brushed back.

She had changed out of her white undershirt and was now wearing a dark gray short-sleeved shirt with a slightly large neckline that revealed a small section of her collarbone.

She carried a refreshing soapy scent, spreading a thin layer of coolness in the stuffy basement air.

He sat on the stool, took another bun out of the plastic bag, and took a big bite.

Bai Tao stared blankly at the way he ate the steamed bun.

Pei Jin only bought two steamed buns.

Watching Pei Jin devour the steamed bun, Bai Tao suddenly felt the bun in her hand become incredibly heavy.

"Is there enough to eat?" Bai Tao asked.

Pei Jin looked up at her, still chewing on a steamed bun, one cheek puffed out.

"Is one steamed bun enough?" Bai Tao asked softly. "I'll share half with you."

Pei Jin swallowed the bun in his mouth and looked up at her.

He glanced at the steamed bun in Bai Tao's hand; it had been bitten twice and looked like it hadn't been touched much.

He shook his head.

"No need," Pei Jin lowered his head, took another bite of his bun, and mumbled, "I'll buy an extra one tomorrow."

Bai Tao stared at him for two seconds, then stood up and took a bowl from the cupboard. She placed the bowl on the coffee table, broke her steamed bun in half, put one half into the bowl, and handed the other half to Pei Jin.

"I can't finish it."

Pei Jin glanced at the half-eaten bun that had been handed to him and frowned.

Bai Tao was indeed thin, with a small frame and a waist so slender that he felt he could wrap his arm around it.

But it shouldn't be that he can't even finish a single bun. Pei Jin pushed the half-eaten bun back.

"Eat more."

Bai Tao was stunned for a moment.

Then she put on a pitiful expression, lowered her head slightly, and looked up at Pei Jin. "I really can't finish it," her voice was as soft as cotton candy. "I'll break it in half for you. Otherwise, I won't be able to finish it even by tomorrow morning."

Pei Jin looked at her pitiful expression and fell silent.

He felt that Bai Tao was probably trying really hard to eat, but she just couldn't finish.

He sighed and nodded.

Bai Tao immediately stuffed the half-eaten bun into his hand, and Pei Jin finished it in a few bites.

Then he started tidying up the table, tied the garbage bag tightly, made a knot, carried it to the door, opened the door, and put the garbage bag outside.