“Why do you care how I die…” I asked somewhat bewilderedly, “I just want to die here right now. It has nothing to do with you, right? My money was just enough to buy that bottle of paraquat… You…”

“Makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at you.” She wiped her hands on her shorts, then picked up a cigarette and lit it. “Looking for work, right?”

“Not anymore.” I said. “I want to die here. You need to compensate me for the paraquat.”

“Quite fucking stubborn, aren’t you.” She chuckled lightly, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes showed themselves. “Hey! If you’re not even afraid of death, how about coming to work with me?”

I glanced at her, feeling it was utterly ridiculous. Right when I wanted to die, someone actually came to find me for work.

“Don’t make fun of me.” I squatted on the ground looking at her. “Miss, we’re neither relatives nor friends. I need a lot of money. This isn’t something that can be solved by wiping tables and sweeping floors…”

“Who the fuck doesn’t need money?” She shook her head. “I’ve seen too many girls like you.”

“Is that so…” I lowered my head disheartened.

“From looking at me, you should know what I do, right?” She sighed and said, “If you’ve done this kind of work before, then come with me. I’ll give you a place to stay. If you haven’t done it before, then forget it. In our line of work, we don’t introduce people into the trade. I’ll give you ten yuan, go eat a meal, and go back to your hometown early.”

After hearing this, I raised my head to look at her again. She was wearing ultra-short shorts and a low-cut top, but she didn’t know I had only been in the provincial capital for a few days. How could I possibly tell what someone’s job was just from their clothing?

But I had to say, I was completely attracted by her mention of “one or two hundred a day.”

If I could make one or two hundred a day… wouldn’t that be three to five thousand a month?

“Miss… what kind of work… can make one or two hundred a day?”

“Are you really clueless or pretending to be clueless?” She blew out a smoke ring and looked at me irritably. “What other kind of work could it be? ‘Technical worker,’ have you done this before or not?”

Technical worker… could make one or two hundred a day?

Needless to say, installing clappers on bronze bells was technical work, and the various electronic skills I learned in the workshop could also be used!

“Done it before…?” She frowned and looked me up and down, as if she didn’t quite believe me. After a few seconds, she asked softly, “What’s your name?”

“I… I’m called Tiantian.” I said.

“Fuck, hearing that name… you really have done this?” When she heard the name “Tiantian,” she was clearly more at ease. “Alright then… then don’t die yet, come with me.”

So… was it really like this?

Would the name “Tiantian” bring me good luck?

“In the trade, I’m called Xiao Ya. Just call me Xiao Ya Jie.” As she spoke, she led me out of the labor market, muttering, “How strange, I came to pick up a file and ended up picking up a girl.”

I followed her all the way to the side of the road, where an old, worn-out van was parked.

“Let’s go.” She patted me. “There are two other girls already in the car. From now on, you three will eat with me. As long as I have a bite to eat, you three won’t go hungry.”

She pulled open the van door. Looking inside, I saw a male driver in black clothes sitting in the first row, and a girl sitting in each of the second and third rows. Everyone cast curious glances at me.

Xiao Ya Jie gestured for me to sit in the second row, and she also took the passenger seat.

“Xiao Ya Jie…” The driver turned his head and asked, “This is?”

“Picked up a girl, also in the same line of work.” After getting in the car, Xiao Ya Jie sighed. “The damn girl was probably trying to quit the trade, but didn’t succeed. Couldn’t find work, and I saw her making a fuss about drinking pesticide inside.”

“Hai…” The driver shook his head. “Going in circles and coming back again…? Life is unpredictable…”

“What the fuck are you babbling about? Just drive.” After Xiao Ya Jie finished speaking, she turned back to look at the three of us girls. “Our team is complete now. I’m Xiao Ya. I used to work for others down south, but now that I’m older, I came back to open my own shop.”

Listening to what sounded like her self-introduction, the girl behind me spoke up next.

“I’m called Xiao Sha, also from the south.” She smiled. “I worked at a nightclub for a while, but felt it was too harmful to my body. I had to drink a lot of alcohol every day, so I left.”

I turned back to look at her. Her hair was short, but she looked very spirited. Seeing me look at her, she smiled at me in return.

“Nightclubs aren’t good?” The girl beside me said. “I heard from colleagues before that if you want to make money, you have to go to nightclubs. Sometimes you can make several hundred in one night.”

I looked at the girl beside me. She looked very demure and carried a very large backpack, as if it were full of books.

“Several hundred is what you exchange your life for. Even during your period, you have to drink yourself to death.” Xiao Sha shook her head. “And it’s not like there are big spenders coming every night. Whether you go out with clients or not isn’t up to you either—you have to listen to the floor manager. Anyway, there’s a pile of annoying things.”

“Ai…” The girl beside me sighed. “That really sounds quite miserable… I’m called Lan Lan. I used to work at a hair salon, but I left because the pay was too low, and the area was full of migrant workers. The work environment wasn’t good.”

“That’s true.” Xiao Sha seemed to resonate with her. “I had a colleague before who also came from a hair salon. Hair salons haven’t been doing well lately.”

Everyone’s conversation gradually left me confused. Perhaps since I had just arrived in the provincial capital, I still had a lot to learn?

“What about you?” Xiao Ya Jie looked at me through the rearview mirror. “Tiantian, where did you work before?”

“I…” I paused. “I… before, I was in charge of assembly work at a watch factory in my village. Later I went to an electronics factory in town, in charge of assembling LED displays. But I actually know a bit about all electronics-related skills. I can even do some circuit board soldering.”

After listening, Xiao Ya Jie looked at me with confusion through the rearview mirror, then asked, “…So when did you take the name ‘Tiantian’?”

I thought for a moment and answered, “Around fourteen years old, I guess. A fortune teller said my real name wasn’t good, so my parents gave me a nickname.”

I had been through quite a few interviews, and I wanted to introduce my resume as much as possible. But unexpectedly, after I finished speaking, the van suddenly became extremely quiet.

Everyone fell silent at this moment. Even the male driver kept his eyes fixed straight ahead as he drove.

I didn’t know what I had said wrong, or if there was some hidden rule about this kind of self-introduction. I really couldn’t grasp the meaning of this quiet atmosphere.

Before long, Xiao Ya Jie turned to the driver. “Stop the car.”

“Hm…?”

“Fucking stop the car!” she shouted.

The driver was startled and quickly braked the van by the roadside.

Xiao Ya Jie pulled out another cigarette and lit it in her mouth.

I didn’t know what was happening. I just felt the atmosphere inside the van was terrifyingly oppressive.

“Tiantian, get the fuck out of the car.” Xiao Ya Jie said.

“Huh…?”

“Are you deaf? I said get the fuck out.” She turned around and looked at me with a pair of ice-cold eyes.