A life of success begins with being a landlord.

I didn't understand what Sister Li meant, and I was also a little afraid of her: "Sister Li, you go out first, I'll get dressed."

Did you take my virginity in just half a month?

I won't agree, and I don't believe you can do anything to me!

You can't force a cow to drink water if it doesn't want to; you have to be able to hold it down.

Sister Li finally let me go, got up and walked out: "I'm going to the bathroom to take a shower. After I shower, I'll arrange your work..."

"Thank you, Sister Li."

Only then did I start getting dressed and making the bed.

Stepping out of the small bedroom and into the living room, I could only hear the sound of running water.

Turning my head, I saw fog rising from the frosted glass door of the bathroom, and Sister Li's figure was vaguely visible, sometimes clear and sometimes blurry.

I didn't dare to look, so I turned around, poured myself a glass of warm water, and gulped it down.

Having not urinated all night, and having drunk a large glass of water, coupled with the stimulation of the rushing water in the bathroom, I suddenly felt an urge to urinate.

I endured the leg-clamping for ten minutes, while Sister Li was still taking a shower.

"Sister Li, please hurry up..."

I couldn't hold it in any longer, so I stood with my legs together, hunched over, and knocked on the bathroom glass door: "I can't hold it anymore, I need to go to the toilet..."

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Sister Li's voice came through: "I know, just bear with it."

Three minutes later, Sister Li finally came out, with wet hair and a large white towel wrapped around her from the chest down.

I brushed past Sister Li and slipped into the bathroom.

Splash splash splash...

This pee was so satisfying, like the waters of the Mississippi River rushing down.

After urinating, I shivered and noticed that in the plastic basin beside me were Sister Li's discarded clothes, which, mixed with the moisture from the bathroom, emitted an indescribable odor.

"Remember to wash your hands after you pee, and help me blow-dry my hair."

Sister Li called out from the living room.

I washed my hands, walked out of the bathroom, took the hairdryer, and started drying Sister Li's hair.

Sister Li sat on the sofa, and I stood to the side of the sofa.

I had no interest in admiring Sister Li's swan-like neck, or the indescribable glimpse of what lay below...

The hairdryer was buzzing, and so was my head.

During the Chinese New Year, Sister Li returned to her hometown and told me that she worked as a clerk in an electronics factory in Dongguan City and had connections to get me a job there, with a monthly salary of five or six hundred yuan.

But is a two-bedroom apartment, a mobile phone, a 29-inch color TV, a complete set of karaoke audio equipment, and exquisite and gorgeous clothes and expensive cosmetics something a working girl deserves?

No wonder my second uncle warned me that Hu Xiaoli was no ordinary person and told me to be careful.

"Sister Li, where is that electronics factory you mentioned? When will you take me there to work?"

I couldn't help but ask.

"An electronics factory?"

Sister Li turned her head and looked at me with interest: "Working doesn't necessarily mean going to a factory, as long as you make money, right?"

"That's true, but..."

My heart sank. It seemed that Sister Li had lied to me and had no intention of arranging for me to work in the electronics factory at all!

"No buts needed."

Sister Li waved her hand with an air of authority: "This building we live in, with forty-eight apartments, all belong to me. If you work for me, I'll give you a thousand yuan a month, and I'll cover your food, lodging, and everything else. If you work in a factory, you'll only get five hundred yuan a month."

"Is this entire building yours?"

I was taken aback; the hairdryer was hovering over Sister Li's neck.

That's an overstatement.

A 24-year-old girl who has only been working for four or five years, can afford to buy a building?

"Ouch... Wang Yaozu, are you trying to scald me to death?"

Sister Li twisted her waist to avoid the hot air from the hairdryer, and glanced at me sideways: "I asked you to dry my hair, what nonsense are you thinking?"

"I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking anything."

I quickly raised the hairdryer higher to increase the distance between us.

Sister Li leaned back on the sofa, closed her eyes, and enjoyed my service:

"This building has forty-eight apartments. Although they're not mine, I manage and rent them all out. Here, people like me are called landladies..."

Landlady?

I was skeptical: "Then why did you tell me about... an electronics factory during the Chinese New Year?"

"Do you really want to work in an electronics factory? Do you even know what it's like inside?"

Sister Li sighed, took my hand, and sat down on the sofa:

"There are many factories around here, I can arrange one for you. But factories have dust, noise, high temperatures, dangerous machinery and production lines, and toxic fumes from chemicals. Twelve hours a day, five or six hundred yuan a month, and after deducting living expenses, how can you earn any money?"

I nodded slightly.

Look at my hands.

Sister Li held out her right hand to me: "There's a black spot under my thumbnail. That's from when I was in the garment factory, pierced by a steel needle from a sewing machine. Do you know how painful that was?"

I saw the black dot, but I didn't know how to comfort Sister Li.

Sister Li suddenly smiled and said, "I'm managing forty-eight houses all by myself, and I really can't handle it all. You can be my assistant, help me manage these tenants, and collect the rent. You'll earn a thousand dollars a month, which is a million times better than working a regular job."

assistant?

I hesitated before asking, "Do we need to manage the tenants? How do we manage them?"

"Managing tenants is simple; it's just collecting rent and utility bills. You're so smart, you'll learn it in no time..."

Sister Li lit a cigarette and was about to give me a lesson when the mobile phone on the coffee table rang.

Sister Li waved her hand, signaling me to step aside, and then answered the phone.

I consciously retreated to the small bedroom.

Three minutes later, Sister Li came over with the keys:

"A few of my friends invited me for tea, and I'll get my hair done while I'm at it. You stay home, and go to Fatty's Fried Noodles shop downstairs for lunch. Just say you're Hu Xiaoli's brother, it's free. Here's a key to the house, I'll give you one."

I took the keys and nodded blankly.

Sister Li added, "Remember, don't wander off. It's a mess here; fights and stabbings happen all the time. If anything happens, use the landline at home to call my mobile phone."

I nodded.

Sister Li got up and went to the master bedroom to do her hair and makeup.

A dozen minutes later, Sister Li, heavily made up and exuding charm, came out of the house with her mobile phone.

Before leaving, Sister Li suddenly turned around and smiled at me:

"You don't like women like Bobo? How about we find you someone else? There's a young girl in room 604, she's only been here a few days, seventeen or eighteen, so fresh and young, probably still a virgin. I can let her be with you..."

"Sister Li, I don't want to."

I refused outright.

Sister Li shook her head, pursed her lips, and left.

I closed the door, sat on the sofa, and thought of my second uncle's evaluation of Hu Xiaoli.

My second uncle met Hu Xiaoli once.

During the Spring Festival, I went to Hu Xiaogang's home to wish his parents a Happy New Year. Because Hu Xiaogang was in prison, Hu Xiaoli came to my house on behalf of her brother to return the greetings and met with my second uncle.

After only meeting her once, my second uncle told me privately that Hu Xiaoli was not a migrant worker at all.

Behind her is a wealthy man, or several.

My second uncle also said that Hu Xiaoli had given birth to a child, and it was a son.

I didn't believe it at all. I thought my second uncle was talking nonsense and ruining people's reputations.

Besides, even if Hu Xiaoli has a man behind her and has a son, what does it have to do with me?

I went to live with her to earn money.

……

Knock knock knock!

Just as I was reminiscing about my second uncle, there was a knock on the door.

I opened the door: "Who are you looking for?"

There was a girl outside the door, about sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed like a village girl, slightly plump, pure and shy.

She wore a grass-green short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, but the clothes didn't fit well; they were too tight and accentuated her figure.

"I...I'm looking for...the landlord, I'm looking for the landlady...no, I mean the landlady..."

The little girl spoke timidly and incoherently: "I'm from room 604, the apartment I rent... it's the apartment my dad rented..."

604?

I looked the girl up and down, and suddenly remembered what Sister Li had said earlier: there was a young girl in room 604, still a virgin, who was going to be given to me.

Could this be the one right in front of us?

What's so great about Sister Li that she could send me a girl like that?

What exactly does Sister Li do? Is she a good person or a bad one?