“What… what’s going on…” I looked at Xiao Ya Jie in confusion. “Did I say something wrong…?”

“You didn’t say anything wrong.” Xiao Ya Jie turned her head away and stopped looking at me. “But this isn’t a car you should be sitting in. Get lost.”

I looked in confusion at Lan Lan beside me and Xiao Sha behind me. Unexpectedly, they just turned their heads to look out the windows, with absolutely no intention of speaking up for me.

“I don’t understand…” I said to Xiao Ya Jie. “Miss… didn’t you just say you could give me work? That I could make one or two hundred a day… What do you mean by telling me to get lost now?”

The male driver seemed to understand what the situation was now, and turned to look at Xiao Ya Jie. “Jie… didn’t you say that in our line of work…”

“Is it your place to speak?! Does your fucking sister need you to lecture her?” Xiao Ya Jie looked quite angry, but still suppressed her rage to say to me, “You, get out of the car. Go find some other kind of work. Don’t be an eyesore here.”

After saying this, she looked at the driver again. “Xiao Long, give her twenty yuan and tell her to get lost.”

I was completely confused by her sudden change in attitude.

Why did things like this always happen in my life?

When I hadn’t done anything myself, things would suddenly take a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn.

This woman had stopped me from committing suicide, brought me into the car, promised I wouldn’t go hungry, but just from hearing my self-introduction, she was now telling me to get lost.

While I was hesitating, Xiao Sha behind me reached out her hand and placed it on my shoulder.

I turned back to look at her. I had thought she was going to plead on my behalf, but unexpectedly, she shook her head at me and said, “Tiantian, listen to Xiao Ya Jie. Go. This isn’t a car you should be on.”

The feeling was strange. I stared into Xiao Sha’s eyes. Although she was telling me to leave, I didn’t sense any malice in her gaze.

The driver also turned around and handed me two ten-yuan bills. “Here, go on.”

I didn’t want to continue on in such a muddled way anymore. I wanted to know the reason.

“What, are you fucking staying in my car now?” Xiao Ya Jie looked at me again through the rearview mirror. “Do I need to kowtow to you before you’ll leave?”

“Tell me why.” I said. “Why did you want me to come just now, but now you want me to leave?”

“You fucking…” Xiao Ya Jie turned around and looked at me with a face full of anger. “Now you’re reasoning with me? Earlier, looking at your eyes, you damn girl, I thought you were the same kind of person as us. I asked you if you knew what a ‘technical worker’ was, and you said you did. You know shit about it! Taking a name like ‘Tiantian’ to trick me—you almost fooled me, you know!”

I was still listening in complete bewilderment, something about me tricking her and her tricking me.

“Lucky I fucking discovered it early.” Xiao Ya Jie continued. “Otherwise, when we got to the place and you were crying and wailing that you’d been tricked, I couldn’t bear such a huge sin! If you’re not in this trade, then leave early. I won’t bring someone like you into this line of work. Your fucking sister still wants to accumulate moral virtue. Your sister wants to have kids with assholes.”

“I think I’m starting to understand.” I nodded. “So we had different understandings of ‘technical worker.’ That’s fine, I learn things quickly.”

“Ai…” Lan Lan beside me also spoke up at this moment. “Tiantian, you’re not the same kind of person as us. You should still leave. Go live a good life…”

Live a good life?

That phrase was too absurd. Where in this world was there a good life waiting for me to live?

If Xiao Ya Jie hadn’t stopped me earlier, my life would have already ended.

“I still can’t leave.” I said. “Xiao Ya Jie, what exactly are you hiring people to do? Why can’t I do it?”

“Fuck…” Xiao Ya Jie cursed through gritted teeth. “This is the first time I’ve seen a girl like you. You want to know? Then I’ll tell you, and after you hear it, you get the fuck out. We’re fucking selling ourselves, you know? If you followed me to the place in a daze, do you know what a huge sin you’d be making me commit?”

“Selling… yourselves?”

“It’s taking money to sleep with people. Don’t you understand?!” Xiao Ya Jie roared angrily.

“I thought it was something else…” After hearing this, I laughed lightly, and my tense body also relaxed. “Like this… I can make one or two hundred every day?”

“What…?” Xiao Ya Jie looked at me with furrowed brows.

“Xiao Ya Jie, you already saw…” I smiled bitterly. “Would someone who was prepared to exchange death for money… disdain work that exchanges the body for money?”

“Tiantian…” Lan Lan beside me turned to look at me. “Listen to my advice. As long as you have any other path, don’t enter this trade. We want to get out but can’t. Who would voluntarily jump in?”

“That’s right.” Xiao Sha behind me also said. “You don’t know how many disgusting people we have to face every day. And once people from your hometown find out, you’ll have tongues wagging about you for a lifetime. All kinds of filthy words like ‘slut’ and ‘lowly’ spreading everywhere…”

“More than just wagging tongues?” Xiao Ya Jie interjected. “You damn girl, people like us can’t even call the police station. When something happens, even the public security won’t help us.”

After listening, I looked around at them expressionlessly.

“Is that… all?”

“‘All’?!” Xiao Ya Jie looked at me as if looking at a lunatic. “What do you mean ‘all’?”

“The life I lived before was also like this, but I couldn’t make one or two hundred every day.”

Under my deeper resume introduction, the cabin became even quieter.

Whether it was Xiao Sha, Lan Lan, or Xiao Ya Jie, after hearing what I said, they all fell silent again.

The entire van seemed to have its own walls, separating the several of us from the entire noisy world.

“Since I have to suffer these hardships anyway, why not let me earn more money?” I asked again.

After hearing what I said, Xiao Ya Jie turned her body back around and looked at the scenery in front of the car. I didn’t know what she was thinking.

Lan Lan and Xiao Sha also stopped trying to persuade me, just looking out the windows.

A few seconds later, Xiao Ya Jie spoke up and asked, “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.” I said.

“What happened to you before?” she asked again.

“Jie…” I stared at her eyes through the rearview mirror. “The work here doesn’t even need real names. Do you still need to know about the suffering I endured before?”

“Fucking say it or don’t.” She turned her head to look out the side window, then said in a very small voice, “In a bit when we get to the shop, you can see for yourself. If you feel the situation isn’t right, then leave. I don’t want to harm you.”

“Thank you, Jie.”

“Thank you my ass.” She shook her head. “Xiao Long, drive.”

That day, Xiao Ya Jie took us three girls to have a full meal.

I had never eaten such fragrant and delicious pao mo. Holding the large bowl, I drank every last drop of soup until it was completely clean.