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

Pei Jin woke up very early in the morning.

He glanced at his phone; it was 5:42, a few minutes earlier than his alarm.

He was too hasty.

Bai Tao was woken up by the sound of him washing up in the bathroom. She rubbed her eyes, her hair a complete mess.

Pei Jin heard her sigh and glanced at her from the bathroom doorway.

Bai Tao had just buried her head under the blanket, her voice muffled and weak, carrying a sleepy feeling of not having fully woken up.

"Why did you wake up so early?"

Pei Jin, who had originally planned to text her to tell her he was going to work, stood at the door, put on his shoes, and held his car keys in his hand.

"I'm going to work. Breakfast is in the pot. Remember to order takeout for lunch."

"Okay~"

A soft, limp response came from under the covers, the last syllable drawn out, as if the person wasn't fully awake and was just responding out of habit.

As soon as the door closed, Bai Tao suddenly opened her eyes.

She sat up, and the blanket slipped off her shoulders.

Why are you going to work already? Your injury hasn't healed yet!

She chased after him, wearing pajamas, a blanket, and slippers.

Pei Jin was nowhere to be seen; the corridor was empty.

She ran back, picked up her phone, found Pei Jin's number, and dialed it.

Pei Jin was riding his bicycle, and the wind was so strong that it was impossible to hear him speak.

"What's wrong?"

He had just stepped out when he was surprised that Bai Tao would call him for something.

Did she fall off the sofa again?

A slightly anxious voice came from the other end of the line, speaking faster than usual.

"Are you ready, Pei Jin? Go to work!"

The wind was too strong, and he couldn't hear Bai Tao's words. Pei Jin stopped the car by the roadside and braced himself with one foot on the ground.

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Then send me your work address, I'm afraid something might happen to you again."

What she really meant was, "Can you please stop doing such a dangerous job?"

But if Pei Jin stops doing this, she won't be able to help him find someone better.

Moreover, given Pei Jin's abilities, he certainly wouldn't have done this if he had a better option.

Pei Jin said "Okay" and hung up the phone.

She waited for about twenty minutes before her phone vibrated.

Pei Jin sent a location, without saying much.

She opened the map, searched for the location, and found that it wasn't very close to where she lived; it would take about thirty minutes by electric scooter.

Pei Jin went out to work before his injury had even healed; he's really pushing himself too hard.

I don't know if they provide meals here.

Pei Jin's injuries haven't healed yet, so he can't eat anything too greasy.

She heard that in such places, in order to give workers the strength to work, lunches were always heavy on meat, oil, sugar, and salt.

Don't worry about what kind of oil they use, there's plenty anyway.

She thought about it and realized that he probably couldn't eat much of those dishes, and eating too much would make his stomach uncomfortable.

Thinking back, Pei Jin had been taking care of her all these days, without stopping for a single day.

She planned to buy some light food and send it to Pei Jin at noon, so that at least he could have a comfortable meal.

While you're at it, check on his injuries. If they haven't healed yet, let him come back.

Bai Tao opened WeChat and found 78 friend requests in the new friends section.

She went through several in chronological order.

While approving applications, I also created groups and added notes for each friend who approved.

Some people sent her messages as soon as they became friends, and she replied to each one. In the end, she selected five simple illustrations from netizens and planned to finish them today.

Two other netizens had more complex game character redraws. After agreeing to deliver the orders in three days, I received a 50 yuan deposit from each of them.

After finishing all that, Bai Tao glanced at the time; it was already ten o'clock.

She searched for nearby fast food restaurants and found that the nearest one was right next to Jiajiayue.

She calculated the time; it would take about fifty minutes to get there by taxi after buying her things.

With enough time to spare, she opened her makeup bag, intending to apply a very light makeup.

I applied only a thin layer of foundation and chose a nude pink lipstick that was close to my natural lip color. I applied one layer and then blotted it off.

After finishing her makeup, she turned around and put on a mask and hat, pulling the brim down so that only her beautiful eyes were visible.

Then, I took the basement key and went out in the 30-degree heat.

Bai Tao regretted it as soon as she stepped out the door.

The sun was too strong. She sighed. She had been in the basement for too long and hadn't been exposed to such intense sunlight.

Fortunately, she hadn't told Pei Jin that she was going to see him, so she could just sneak back without going herself.

She hesitated for a moment, about to turn around and walk back, when she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned around, and there was He Fan.

She had a U-shaped pillow hanging around her neck and looked extremely sleepy.

He was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, with the brim pulled low, revealing only his half-closed eyes.

The moment he saw Bai Tao, he slowed down.

The two people stood a few steps apart. "Hello."

Bai Tao raised her hand to greet him first.

He Fan nodded, tilted the U-shaped pillow up slightly, and muffled his voice behind his mask.

"What a coincidence."

He glanced at Bai Tao. "Where's your boyfriend?"

Bai Tao was stunned for a moment.

She opened her mouth, intending to say that he wasn't her boyfriend, that they just lived together.

But if she says he's not her boyfriend, then it's really strange that she's living in a basement with a man she has no relationship with.

She paused for a moment, her voice slightly muffled.

"Oh, I... he went to work, I'm going to bring him lunch."

As she finished speaking, her gaze unconsciously drifted to the side.

He Fan nodded.

"Okay, do you need me to escort you? I'm going to find He Yilong."

I just got home from get off work, took a shower, and couldn't sleep at home, so I planned to go to his office to take a nap.

Bai Tao thought about it and said, "That's great."

She had originally planned not to deliver food to Pei Jin.

"Okay, then I won't be polite. Just drop me off at the entrance of the complex, and I'll go buy food across the street."

As she spoke, she quickened her pace and sat down behind He Fan's electric scooter, pressing herself firmly against the back of the seat with a sense of propriety.

When they arrived at the entrance of the residential area, He Fan stopped the car. She jumped out, turned around, and said goodbye to him.

He Fan waved his hand, and the electric scooter turned a corner and drove off along the roadside.

Bai Tao jogged into the fast food restaurant.

The store was air-conditioned, and she felt so comfortable that she didn't want to go anymore.

She stood in front of the counter, intending to buy only a bag of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and a bowl of plain porridge.

But considering that Pei Jinqian's work involves physical labor, he might not get enough to eat.

After thinking for a moment, she added another serving of sweet and sour pork and another serving of braised eggplant, filling the takeout bag to the brim.

Pei Jin worked in a large courtyard.

The gate to the courtyard was wide open, and a faded sign stood at the entrance, bearing the name of the logistics park.

She stood at the door and looked inside, seeing rows of gray factory buildings and some parked trucks.

Three or five men were squatting in the courtyard, having come out to use the toilet and take a smoke break. They were wearing matching work uniforms; some were squatting, and some were leaning against the wall.

As soon as they saw Bai Tao get out of the car, they all craned their necks to look, and their eyes fell on her without prior arrangement.

Bai Tao lowered her head, pretending to be a passerby.

She glanced at her phone; it was only 11:20, and Pei Jin wouldn't get off work for another ten minutes.

She wanted to rest for a while under the two big sycamore trees at the entrance of the courtyard, but the area under the trees was already full of stalls selling lunch.

Several tricycles were parked side by side, selling jianbing guozi (Chinese crepes), roujiamo (Chinese hamburgers), boxed lunches, and fried noodles, with steam still rising from the stoves on them.

Only those who bought food from the stalls could sit and rest at the few small tables under the tree.

Bai Tao glanced at the small tables, then at the fast food bag in her hand, and after thinking about it, she still felt a little embarrassed to squeeze in.

She could only find a spot by a wall and stand directly in the sun.

The brim of her hat couldn't block the light shining from the side, and a small patch of skin on the back of her neck was already starting to feel hot.

11: 30.

People gradually emerged from the workshop and walked towards the main gate.

They were wearing the same work clothes as the people from before. Some were taking off their gloves as they walked, putting their arms around each other's shoulders, while others were rubbing their shoulders as they walked.

Bai Tao mustered her courage and stood in the middle of the gate, watching the people coming and going, but she didn't see Pei Jin.

She waited a while longer, glanced at her phone, and saw it was 11:37.

Why haven't they come out yet after all this time?

She picked up her phone and made two more calls, but no one answered.

She was getting a little anxious.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, I looked around in all directions.

People around her noticed that she was waiting for someone.

Several middle-aged men gathered together at noon, squatting by the roadside to eat boxed lunches. They were wearing the same work clothes, some holding stainless steel lunch boxes, and others using plastic bags as padding.

One of them, who looked the oldest, was holding a bowl of rice. Seeing Bai Tao pacing back and forth in the middle of the road, he called out to her.

"oi, who are you looking for?"

Bai Tao turned her head to look at them and realized they were all staring at her, and that they were talking to her.

She felt like she was about to faint; she was sunburnt and her forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

She was embarrassed to let them know who she was looking for, but she didn't want to keep standing there like an idiot.

So he took two steps in that direction, bent down, and said in a very soft voice, "I'm looking for Pei Jin."

Those guys work on the assembly line every day, the machines are so noisy they can't hear properly, and they usually have to shout to talk. They really didn't hear what Bai Tao was saying for a while.

The man squatting at the front picked up a piece of food, put it in his mouth, swallowed, and then, imitating Bai Tao, leaned forward slightly, his voice becoming much louder.

"Who are you looking for?"

Bai Tao took two more steps towards them, bending even lower, "Pei Jin! I'm looking for Pei Jin!"

The man on the other end still couldn't hear clearly.

He frowned, turned his head to the side, as if trying to decipher what those two words meant.

"Huh? What do you mean, 'near' or 'not near'?"

He glanced back at his companions, his eyes asking if they had heard him clearly.

His companion behind him lightly punched him and whispered something.

"Who talks about being close or not? Are you deaf?"

Bai Tao was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and spoke very loudly.

"I'm looking for Pei Jin!"

Then the man turned around with a look of sudden realization. He smiled, revealing a row of teeth stained yellow from smoking.

"Oh, but we're just doing the work, how are we supposed to know everyone's name?"

He gestured to the side with his chopsticks.

"Look at the people next to me, I don't even know their names now."

Bai Tao tightened her grip on the bag, glaring fiercely at the steamed buns and sweet and sour pork in her hands.

I'm so angry! I don't even know what it's called, and they asked me for ages!

I really want to snap back and say, "You don't even know what it's called, why are you asking?" But I'm afraid of getting beaten up, sob sob sob.

I want to cry... I miss Tao so much...

She took a deep breath and was about to turn and walk away when the man who had just punched her friend pointed to a row of factory buildings on the east side of the compound.

"There's a bunch of people over there, they're the ones moving goods, and we're the ones unloading and packing. They usually eat at that little door over there."

"The person you're looking for might be over there. Go and take a look."

Bai Tao nodded quickly, she was so excited, finally someone had shown her the way.

"Okay, thank you."

She carried the bag and walked towards the east side of the courtyard.

She squeezed past several large trucks and around several tall steel frames piled up in the corner and covered with tarpaulins.

The alley on the east side of the gate was much narrower than the one on the main gate, and the walls on both sides were crowded with people.

Bai Tao frowned. Unlike the previous gate where there were trees and open spaces, this place was a narrow alley with vendors crammed on both sides. It was so crowded that she had to squeeze through sideways to move forward.

Fortunately, some of the owners selling boxed lunches were middle-aged women; otherwise, if they were all men, she wouldn't have dared to go in.

Carrying her bag, she walked past one worker after another who was squatting in the corner eating with their faces to the wall, but she couldn't find Pei Jin.

Did he not come to work today?

Just as she was about to turn back, a voice came from behind her.

The man originally intended to pat the white peach with his hand, but he pulled his hand back halfway through, afraid that the dust on his hand would get on the white peach.

Then, remembering that the young girl was easily embarrassed, he stopped behind her and called out,

"Hey, you're the wife of that young man who got hit, right?"

Bai Tao was startled by the sudden sound and turned around to see an ordinary-looking face.

Her heart skipped a beat at first, then quickly returned to its normal position.

"Ah, yes, that's me,"

She quickly turned around, looking at the man with a hint of surprise.

"I've come to bring him food. Have you seen him?"

Old Zhang pointed behind Bai Tao, his arm looping around her side, pointing deeper into the alley.

"It should be next to an electric vehicle stall over there. Just walk straight ahead and you'll see it."

Bai Tao nodded, her voice filled with gratitude.

"Okay, thank you."

"It's no big deal."

Old Zhang waved his hand, watching Bai Tao's back as she weaved through the crowd searching for Pei Jin.

Suddenly, I felt my eyes start to sting.

Pei Jin is a capable and reliable young man who doesn't slack off and has also found a good wife.

Unlike him, who had four or five wives when he was at his peak, but after he fell on hard times, not a single one of them was willing to stay with him.

It's easy to share happiness, but difficult to share hardship.

Bai Tao walked along this road until she got a little annoyed. The alley was much longer than it looked, winding and twisting, as if there was no end in sight.

Finally, I saw a stall that repairs electric vehicles.

A repair stall made from a tricycle, its cargo bed filled with tools and parts, with tires and wires scattered around the stall.

She looked closely and saw Pei Jin wearing the white old man's undershirt she had bought, with his work clothes draped over his shoulders, squatting on a roadside stone.

He was holding two fried dough sticks and an egg, and he was eating them with some difficulty, probably because he was choking.

He put down his phone, opened the mineral water bottle next to him, tilted his head back and took a sip, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Then he put down the water bottle and took another bite of the fried dough stick.