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

It was almost eleven o'clock, and Pei Jin was still looking at his phone.

The conveyor belt kept spinning in front of him, and his movements were more practiced than yesterday, but he still couldn't help but take out his phone to check it.

Seeing Pei Jin's absent-minded look, the foreman next to him started teasing him, wearing the same blue work clothes as Pei Jin.

"What's wrong, bro? You seem distracted all morning."

The conveyor belt was so noisy that he practically shouted into Pei Jin's ear.

Pei Jin turned off his phone screen and put it in his pocket, then bent down and grabbed a large sack on the conveyor belt, the contents of which were unknown.

He lifted it with force; it was very heavy, probably weighing about two hundred pounds. Pei Jin's waist was pulled down, and he leaned to the side.

The person next to him naturally stretched out both hands, one in front and one behind, to support the bottom of the sack. Using the strength of his waist and abdomen, he swung it up with a swift and clean motion.

Everyone here is like this; when they encounter something they can't move, or when someone nearby is carrying something too big, they will unconsciously lend a hand.

Pei Jin wiped the sweat from his forehead with his wrist. His work clothes were soaked with sweat and clung to his back, outlining the shape of his shoulder blades.

"It's alright, thank you."

Pei Jin's voice was mostly drowned out by the roar of the conveyor belt; Old Zhou had to get close to hear it clearly.

"Oh, I understand."

Old Zhou chuckled, wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes. "You're young, aren't you? Did you have a fight with your partner?"

Pei Jin was stunned for a moment.

His hand froze in mid-air, almost missing the next package.

The package slipped past his hand and was caught by Old Zhou behind him.

"Not a partner."

Old Zhou smiled and didn't continue the conversation. He put the package he had grabbed aside, dusted off his hands, and changed the subject.

"Work less, don't exert yourself too much. We pay based on time, so it's the same whether you work a lot or a little."

He pointed to the neatly stacked pile of goods in front of Pei Jin, which was taller than the others.

"You're new to this, so you don't feel anything yet. But once you've been doing it for a while, your back will be ruined."

Old Zhou patted his lower back.

"My back hurts because I overworked myself when I was young. Now it hurts as soon as it rains, more accurately than the weather forecast."

Pei Jin nodded, smiled, and said nothing.

He doesn't plan to go back at noon today.

It takes more than 20 minutes to bike from here to the basement, so it takes almost an hour round trip.

That's enough for him to grab something to eat near the door, rest for a bit, and then continue cooking in the afternoon.

But then he suddenly realized that he didn't have Bai Tao's contact information.

I went to bed right after dinner last night and forgot about it again.

The note had a number on it, but Bai Tao neither added him nor called him.

As Pei Jin sorted through the packages, he thought about how she was fast asleep when he left, curled up on the sofa, her rose-red nightgown crumpled up like a rumpled flower.

At 11:30, the conveyor belt stopped.

The person in charge, wearing a gray work uniform and a whistle around his neck, stood in the middle of the factory and shouted.

"Dinner's ready! Everyone go out to eat! Don't stay here!"

Many of these people who come to do express delivery sorting are desperate individuals who have failed in their startups or gone bankrupt, owing banks millions of dollars.

A few years ago, some people worked non-stop without rest or food in order to earn more money, and eventually collapsed on the assembly line and never got up again.

The family members caused a scene for a long time, and the company had to pay a large sum of money in compensation.

From then on, the boss set a rule that everyone had to take a one-hour break at noon, and all the machines had to be shut down; no one was allowed to work secretly.

It's not that I feel sorry for the person, it's that I'm afraid that if something happens again, I won't be able to afford to pay for it.

Pei Jin took off his gloves. The inside of the gloves was soaked with sweat, damp and uncomfortable against his skin.

He draped his gloves over the edge of the counter, walked to the sink, and turned on the tap. The water was cold. After washing his hands, he took out his phone from his pocket. There were no missed calls.

Pei Jin stared at the empty call log screen for two seconds, then put the phone back in his pocket and changed his clothes in the locker room.

He wasn't planning to go home at noon.

But now, he has decided to go back.

Bai Tao still didn't call him.

He wasn't afraid of her hitting him; he was afraid of her not hitting him.

She waited until evening, hungry, hoping to have dinner with him, until he returned home.

Didn't she sit at the entrance of the community and cry yesterday?

What about today?

Will she be waiting for him at the entrance of the residential complex again?

Will she cry again and ask why you only came back now?

Pei Jin didn't want to make her cry anymore.

Bai Tao remained immersed in her creative work.

She lowered her head, held a pen, and scribbled on the tablet, completely forgetting the time.

First, outline the shape, then lay down the base color, and finally refine the facial features.

She painted herself, with peach blossom eyes and a high nose bridge. The light from the side fell on her face, making it half bright and half dark.

She hadn't painted a picture with this much focus in a long time; her touch and speed had returned somewhat.

Although it's still not as good as in college, at least I won't get so frustrated that I want to throw my pen away because of a crooked stroke anymore.

Only after finishing the last shadow did Bai Tao raise her head and rub her lower back.

My lower back is a little sore because I was hunched over on the sofa while drawing, and my posture wasn't quite right; I looked like a folded shrimp.

She glanced at the time in the upper right corner of her phone.

11:30.

Pei Jin hasn't returned yet.

Bai Tao paused for a moment, then quickly pulled out the sticky notes from the table.

She dialed the number, and after two rings, the call was answered.

"Feed? White peaches?"

Pei Jin's voice came from the other end of the line. The surroundings were a bit noisy, but Bai Tao's heart inexplicably skipped a beat.

She cleared her throat, making her voice sound natural and casual.

"Yes, it's me."

Her voice was sweet, carrying the good mood of someone who had just finished painting.

Are you coming back for dinner?

Just as Pei Jin was about to ride his bike home, Bai Tao called. He glanced around.

At the entrance of the express delivery station, groups of two or three workers bought lunch and squatted under the shade of a tree to eat.

Some people bought meat buns and boxed lunches, while others bought two steamed buns and were eating them with a scallion.

Another person bought a bottle of ice-cold beer, bit off the cap with his teeth, took a big gulp, and then sighed contentedly.

Pei Jin hesitated for a moment.

"I'm not going back."

Pei Jin's voice was very soft.

"Can you eat it yourself?"

When he finished speaking, his gaze fell on the handlebars of the electric scooter. She probably wouldn't want to walk so far in the scorching sun, only to come back two shades darker from just one trip.

He hesitated whether to buy something to take back to her.

"Okay, then I'll go to the supermarket across the street and buy some food later."

Bai Tao's voice came from the other end, sounding very relaxed.

Pei Jin felt a little relieved.

Okay. Remember to bring your keys.

"Okay~"

Bai Tao dragged out the last syllable, as if laughing at his rambling.

The phone call ended, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved slightly.

Passersby gave him a wink.

A young man of similar age was wearing the same blue work uniform, his collar wide open, revealing a section of his sun-reddened neck.

He had just come out of the locker room with a bottle of mineral water and two steamed buns in his hand when he saw Pei Jin smiling at his phone screen and couldn't help but speak up.

"A tough guy with a soft heart, bro."

Pei Jin put his phone back in his pocket, the smile on his lips not yet completely gone.

He glanced at the man, neither denying nor admitting it, but simply smiled.

"Give me two steamed buns."

Pei Jin walked up to the auntie selling steamed buns at the door.

The steamers were stacked high, and white steam billowed out from the gaps in the steamer baskets, carrying the aroma of dough and meat filling, appearing somewhat hazy in the midday sun.

Auntie lifted the top layer of the steamer lid, revealing plump white buns squeezed together, steaming hot.

She took two, put them in a plastic bag, and handed them over.

Bai Tao hung up the phone and rolled over on the sofa.

The sofa springs made a muffled thud.

She held her phone, opened the food delivery app, and saw colorful pictures of various shops on the homepage: fried chicken, milk tea, spicy hot pot. She closed the app after flipping through a few pages.

Ordering takeout is so expensive.

A single meal set meal costs over thirty yuan, and with delivery and packaging fees, it easily exceeds forty yuan.

Forty yuan is enough to buy dozens of kilograms of bok choy, or enough eggs and noodles for several days.

She has no income now, and Pei Jin's meager earnings aren't even enough to support himself. She can no longer eat whatever she wants without batting an eye, just like before.

Bai Tao put her phone on the coffee table, sat up from the sofa, put on her shoes, mask and hat, and grabbed an umbrella.

The supermarket at the entrance of the residential area is not big, but it has a fairly complete selection of goods.

Bai Tao pushed a shopping cart around. Watermelon, on special offer, 99 cents a pound.

She picked out a round one that made a crisp sound when slapped and put it in her shopping cart.

Then he took a few buckets of instant noodles from the shelf next to him, stacked them together, and arranged them neatly next to the watermelon.

When she came out after paying, the plastic bag was a bit heavy, so she carried it with both hands and had to switch hands every few steps.

When they returned to the basement, Bai Tao put the watermelon on the coffee table and the instant noodles under the bed.

Bai Tao squatted in front of the coffee table, her hands on her feet and her chin resting on her knees, staring at the round watermelon on the coffee table for a long time.

She really wanted to eat chilled watermelon.

It's ice-cold, emitting cold air when you cut it open, and the first bite is so sweet it makes your teeth ache, with juice dripping down your chin—that kind of chilled watermelon.

But this small basement doesn't have a refrigerator.

Even if she bought it, she wouldn't know where to put it.

Bai Tao suddenly remembered that when she went to the countryside to visit her grandmother, the nanny drew a bucket of spring water from the well, and the water was so cold that it could freeze a person's hands red.

Put the watermelon and a few peaches into a bucket and soak them in spring water.

When you take it out in the evening, cut it open, and bite into it, the coolness travels from your teeth all the way to the top of your head; it tastes even better than something taken out of the refrigerator.

Bai Tao stood up, walked into the bathroom, and found a white plastic bucket left by the previous tenant. She had washed it when she moved in and had kept it unused in the corner of the bathroom ever since.

The bucket reached about calf height. She carried the bucket to the sink, turned on the tap, and the water gushed in, filling the bucket to the brim. The water was cool and refreshing.

Bai Tao carefully lifted the watermelon from the coffee table and placed it into the bucket.

The watermelon sank, and the water level rose, almost overflowing the rim of the bucket. Bai Tao squatted beside it and watched for a while.

She boiled another kettle of water, pulled out a bucket of braised beef noodles from under the bed, tore open the packaging, and poured the boiling water over the noodles.

I curled up on the sofa with my tablet.

The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, casting some glare on the tablet screen.

Bai Tao changed her perspective, opened the drawing software, and re-examined the self-portrait she had spent the morning working on.

The proportions of the facial features could be adjusted further, and the curve of the corners of the mouth could be softened.

Finally, she added her own watermark, a small, semi-transparent peach, placed in the lower right corner of the image, almost invisible unless you look closely.

Exit Bai Tao, export the painting, and save it.

Then I opened Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Weibo, and registered a new account on each platform.

The profile picture was a screenshot of that self-portrait. She thought about her nickname for a long time and finally typed four words in the input box: "I miss Tao so much."

I really want to escape.

Bai Tao stared at those four words for two seconds, her lips curved slightly, and then she clicked "confirm".

The account is created, but the homepage is empty, with only an avatar and a brief description.

Bai Tao posted the self-portrait with a simple caption: "New artist, please take care of me."

The screen spun around and displayed "sent successfully".

She refreshed the page; the page view count was 1. She clicked it herself.

Bai Tao waited for an entire afternoon.

I refresh the page every ten minutes or so. Each time I refresh, my heart skips a beat and then calms down.

The number of views on that book and that blog was pitifully low; by evening, there were still only 12 views.

Ten of them were selected by her own order, and the other two were probably bots pushed by the system.

Douyin's traffic is slightly better, with over a hundred views, but there are only three likes, one of which was liked by herself.

The twelve views were all hers.

Bai Tao stared at the number for a moment, then expressionlessly closed the book and opened the accounts of several top artists.

On other people's homepages, every post has hundreds or thousands of likes, and the comment section is full of fans urging them to update.

She flipped through the pages for a while, studying the way people painted, their composition, colors, and styles. Then she opened her notes app and carefully wrote down a few keywords.

Finally, she decided to start creating fan art for several anime characters tomorrow.

I'll ride the wave of popularity first, and once the account is established, I'll slowly start creating my own original content.

Bai Tao looked at Pei Jin's phone number on the table, added Pei Jin's new WeChat account, black profile picture, and username "J".

She sent a friend request.

Pei Jin accepted her friend request an hour later.

Bai Tao was playing on her phone at the time, so she found a cute cat peeking out of the window emoji and sent it to her.

Pei Jin replied instantly with a question mark (?).

Bai Tao rolled her eyes speechlessly.

She stared at the question mark for two seconds, imagining Pei Jin typing that symbol expressionlessly on the other end of the phone, and suddenly found it a little funny.

What should we eat tonight?

After posting, she put her phone on the coffee table and opened Douyin (TikTok).

She froze as soon as the screen lit up.

In the Douyin message bar, there are 99+ likes and 23 comments, and they keep popping up.

Bai Tao's heart started racing, and her fingers trembled slightly as she opened the comments section.

There weren't many comments, but they were all praising her looks. No one praised her paintings; everyone was praising her face.

Who is this beautiful woman? Please tag me!

[Who is this blogger? She's so beautiful, I've never seen her before.]

White peaches flipped downwards one by one, and the corners of her mouth turned up higher and higher.

She clicked on the comment, "[Who is this blogger? So beautiful, I've never seen her before]", and typed a reply below.

Thank you, baby, it's me!

She added a small, shy emoticon, then swiped down and started scrolling through Douyin, but her mind wasn't on it at all.

My mind is racing with ideas for what to post tomorrow, what characters to create for fan art, what captions to use, and when to post it to generate the most buzz.