When Shang Zhitao opened her eyes the next day, her entire body was sore. A child raised on the great plains, she had walked mountain paths for half a day, and her body couldn’t handle it. She was still okay, crying out “so tired” a couple of times before managing to get up, but Lu Mi wasn’t so fortunate—she had gotten her period.

Already half-dead from exhaustion, now not a single part of her body felt like it belonged to her. Her period hit her hard, with stomach cramps and nausea. Shang Zhitao was frightened and ran out to find the driver: “We need to take Lu Mi to the county hospital. She’s sick.”

The driver didn’t dare delay and took Lu Mi to the hospital with Shang Zhitao, where she received a pain-relieving injection. Shang Zhitao felt too guilty and sat beside Lu Mi, tears dripping down. This girl, who usually laughed off any grievance, couldn’t stop crying today out of concern for Lu Mi.

“Good grief, are you sending me a funeral gift?” Lu Mi teased her. “Stop crying, this was just bad timing.”

“Why don’t you go back today?” Shang Zhitao wanted Lu Mi to return quickly. This place was too harsh, and Lu Mi had never experienced such hardship. She hadn’t experienced it either, but this was her choice to come, so she had to persevere.

“No way.” Lu Mi glared at her. “You’d better give up on the idea of my going back. I’ll be fine tomorrow. If I leave you here alone, won’t Kitty bully you to death?”

“I won’t let her bully me…”

“Nonsense. I can see you’re too honest; everyone dares to take advantage of you.” Lu Mi sighed. “I want to eat a bowl of hot noodles…”

“I’ll go buy you some!” Seeing that Lu Mi finally had an appetite, Shang Zhitao jumped up and ran off. The county town was better than that small town that didn’t live up to its name. Right next to the hospital was a small food street, bustling with people. Shang Zhitao saw a noodle shop with a long line and good-smelling food, so she called Lu Mi: “You can’t eat spicy food, right…?”

“Nonsense! Get me the spiciest one!”

Shang Zhitao giggled: “Okay.” She queued for a long time, bought two bowls of spicy sour tripe noodles, and also bought some skewers for Lu Mi before returning to the hospital. Lu Mi couldn’t move her right hand because of the IV, so she opened her mouth to Shang Zhitao: “Come on, feed me.” Shang Zhitao obediently fed her one bite at a time.

Lu Mi just liked to see Shang Zhitao’s silly sincerity. These days, girls like Shang Zhitao were rare. She was kind to people, not necessarily offering expensive things, but straightforwardly presenting her own heart.

The two stayed at the hospital until the afternoon. Lu Mi had recovered her energy, so they returned to the mountain.

Everyone’s preparations were ready, just waiting for the actors. When they returned, everyone gathered around to express concern. Lu Mi waved her fair hand: “Had an injection, I’m fine now. When are the actors arriving?”

“Soon.” The director sat next to Lu Mi and asked quietly: “How much budget was approved this time?”

“I don’t know… we’re just here to follow up on execution. Besides, isn’t the client paying?” Lu Mi evaded the director’s question. Lingmei had negotiated an all-inclusive deal for this project; the client had fully authorized Lingmei to handle everything and would only inspect the final product. But before they left, Alex had instructed them not to tell the filming team the truth. With filming teams, they could spend even ten million if you gave it to them.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any information from Lu Mi, the director asked Shang Zhitao, who was standing nearby: “Flora, do you know?”

This time, Shang Zhitao was more careful and learned from Lu Mi: “I don’t know either… the boss just sent me to handle logistics.”

Back and forth, nothing useful was said.

“Not bad, little Taotao,” Lu Mi praised her after the director left. “You learn fast, knowing how to evade these old foxes.”

“You taught me well.”

It was completely dark when the actors arrived. They weren’t famous actors. Lingmei’s commercial this time was a series of stories, connecting products with human nature, going for an emotional appeal. The story being filmed here was about a young man who grew up in the mountains, experienced different aspects of life, and finally returned here. The purpose was to recall older customers.

They started filming the exterior scenes that night. Shang Zhitao had never experienced this kind of work before and found it amusing. Wearing a down jacket, she stood aside watching the bustle. Work was truly varied—some people had to sit in front of computers working overtime every day, while others could hold scripts and recite lines, each with its joys.

Shang Zhitao watched attentively, so much so that she didn’t hear her phone ringing. Only when filming ended in the middle of the night did she see that Alex had called her. She quickly called him back. Alex was on a break during a management meeting and took the call in the conference room.

“Alex, sorry I didn’t hear the phone just now because I was at the filming site.”

“Is Lu Mi okay? Kitty from the creative department just reported during work that Lu Mi was sick.”

“Huh?”

Why would Kitty mention Lu Mi’s illness when reporting work? Shang Zhitao didn’t understand but didn’t think too much about it. So she told Alex about Lu Mi’s situation.

“It’s fine, let her recover properly. Make sure nothing happens to her. Also, the department has an urgent project, and one of you needs to come back to support. You two decide who should return.”

“Alright, Alex.”

Shang Zhitao hung up and said to Lu Mi: “Alex says there’s an urgent project and wants you to go back to support.” Finally, there was an excuse for Lu Mi to go back, which eased her guilt a bit.

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“But what if I’m worried about you?”

“If you don’t go back, we’ll both be in trouble.”

Shang Zhitao saw Lu Mi off early the next morning. Before leaving, Lu Mi instructed her about many things: “You’re from the marketing department managing the budget. You can handle logistics, but they must be polite to you; list all incoming and outgoing items clearly, as finance will check them later.”

Shang Zhitao carefully remembered Lu Mi’s teaching, but she didn’t know how to put on airs yet. She happily did whatever others asked her to do, and in less than a day, she became familiar with the crew. The director thought Shang Zhitao was quite nice, different from other marketing people, so he said to her: “Next time we shoot a commercial, please come again.”

“Sure,” Shang Zhitao agreed, and then went with the driver to the county town with a shopping list. She had become a thorough manual laborer. It turned out that marketing work definitely required good physical strength. Shang Zhitao was grateful for her healthy body and abundant energy; otherwise, she might have died of exhaustion in this mountain.

Driver Liu Wu was specially hired by the company for Luan Nian. He was a retired military man, but since Luan Nian usually drove himself, Liu Wu had little to do and volunteered to come here as a driver. Liu Wu was in his forties with a crew cut and full of vigor. Seeing that Shang Zhitao was always smiling, without a bad temper and not spoiled, he praised her on the road: “Young lady, you’re impressive. A girl doing marketing work, not afraid of hardship or fatigue, and still happy every day—that’s rare.”

“Hehe.” Shang Zhitao laughed: “I don’t know anything, so I need to learn a lot. Purchasing supplies is also learning, right?”

“You have a positive outlook. Isn’t purchasing supplies just buying things?”

“That’s true. This morning I heard Kitty asking if you’re Luke’s driver?”

“Yes, but it’s an idle position. Manager Luan likes to drive himself and only lets me drive when he’s been drinking.”

“Oh, I see.”

Shang Zhitao said “oh” twice, suddenly remembering that when they had been drinking a few days ago, Luan Nian hadn’t asked Liu Wu to drive. She seemed to suddenly understand a bit of how things worked—Luan Nian was avoiding suspicion.

I should also keep my mouth shut and not cause trouble for myself, Shang Zhitao thought. Luan Nian was a very calculating person. Many things you might not understand at the time, but looking back after a while, you could generally understand the twists and turns in his mind.

“Are you familiar with Manager Luan?” Liu Wu suddenly asked her.

“Ah…” Shang Zhitao was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said: “Not at all. We’ve only had two meetings together, and otherwise just pass each other in the company.”

“Are you afraid of him? I heard many female colleagues are afraid of him.”

“Yes!” Shang Zhitao nodded. “He’s terrifying.”

Liu Wu laughed good-naturedly: “Actually, he’s quite nice in private, not so serious. Sometimes when he’s been drinking and I drive him home, he’ll invite me for tea or some fruit. He’ll chat with me—he’s not like what you all see.”

Shang Zhitao wanted to say: That’s because he’s never advised you to resign… but she held back, just grinning.

On her second visit to the county town, she was more familiar with the roads than on her first visit.

The items the crew needed to buy were all sorts of odds and ends—a broken palm-leaf fan, a wooden stool, a polyester shirt, and so on. Many things could no longer be found in big cities, but they could be found in this small county town.

Shang Zhitao suddenly remembered what Luan Nian had said in a meeting about business sinking. How does it sink? Perhaps it meant that the audience was diverse; things no longer used in big cities could be sold in small places. No matter what, there would always be a market.

From one store to another, picking items, bargaining, keeping accounts—these trivial tasks weren’t easy. By the time they had bought everything, it was already five in the afternoon. They quickly ate a bowl of noodles and hurried back. On the bumpy road, Shang Zhitao suddenly regretted eating that bowl of noodles. Just before reaching the town, she asked Liu Wu to stop the car and threw up everything.

It was truly a spiritual practice.

After returning, she checked the inventory list with everyone, and only after confirming there were no problems did she go back to her room. After such a busy day, having thrown up again in the evening, her stomach churning uncomfortably, she took two pills, drank some hot water, and lay back on the bed, opening her computer.

There was no internet, but she could still work on spreadsheets. She filled in the day’s expenditures, working until midnight before finishing.

With Lu Mi gone, she suddenly felt a bit lonely.

Young girls are easily defeated by loneliness. Shang Zhitao had no armor either. In the depth of the night, loneliness drowned her like a flood. She suddenly had a thought: when could she have a home? In a city like Beijing, outside the Fifth Ring Road, or even the Sixth Ring Road, it didn’t matter—just a small house to buy. Would she then no longer be lonely?

It was in the dead of night when, as she slept, she sensed something crawling on her blanket. Half-asleep, she opened her eyes to see a pair of small, bright eyes staring at her in the faint moonlight.

She had never made eye contact with a rat before, and this would be the only time in her life.

Her fingertips and toes instantly went cold, followed by goosebumps spreading densely across her body. Life seemed to stand still, and she even forgot to scream.

The rat reacted before her, disappearing with a swoosh.

Shang Zhitao experienced the first breakdown of her life.

Later, she told this story as a joke to others, saying: “A rat’s eyes are as bright as stars!”