Jiang Cheng was awakened by the violent sound of someone kicking her door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The entire door was shaking, dust from the frame fluttering down.
“Jiang Cheng! We know you’re in there! Open up!”
It was a woman’s voice, sharp, domineering, and laced with impatience.
“Who is it…”
Jiang Cheng struggled to climb out of bed, rubbing her eyes, her hair a messy bird’s nest.
She hadn’t fully recovered from last night’s busyness.
After all, having just turned into a girl, it’s normal to not be used to the feeling all at once… right?
“So early in the morning… won’t even let a person sleep…”
The utterly exhausted girl rolled out of bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor. She hissed, then leaned against the wall and shuffled weakly toward the living room.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door was still shaking.
“If you don’t open up, we’ll kick it down!”
“Coming, coming—”
Jiang Cheng dragged out her words, her voice carrying the soft, lazy tone of someone just woken up, like a cat disturbed from its nap.
She shuffled to the door, took a deep breath, and pulled it open.
Three people stood outside.
Leading them was a woman, looking about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with long hair dyed auburn-red draped over her shoulders. She wore a tight leather jacket, black shorts and fishnet stockings underneath, and stomped in a pair of studded boots. Her makeup was heavy, eyeliner winged up, lips painted a dark red, her whole person exuding an “I’m not to be messed with” aura.
Behind her stood two men, both with crew cuts and black suits, burly, their hands clasped in front of them, clearly professional thugs.
The red-haired woman looked Jiang Cheng up and down, her gaze sweeping from the girl’s messy white hair upon waking, to the wrinkled orange hoodie she wore, finally landing on her bare feet.
Noticing the woman’s gaze, the girl’s toes curled in unconsciously.
The gloom in the woman’s eyes seemed to intensify.
Looking closely, it didn’t seem like a creditor’s dissatisfaction with a debtor, but more like…
Jealousy?
“You’re Jiang Cheng?”
“That’s me.”
Jiang Cheng leaned against the doorframe, letting out a small yawn, a tear forming at the corner of her eye.
“Who are you?”
“Playing dumb?”
The red-haired woman sneered, pulling a piece of paper from her bag, shaking it open, and slapping it against Jiang Cheng’s chest.
“Look for yourself.”
Jiang Cheng glanced down.
It was a Debt Collection Notice, clearly stating her name, ID number, and—total debt owed: eight million, three hundred twenty-seven thousand, four hundred yuan.
“You owe our company eight hundred thousand,”
the red-haired woman withdrew her hand, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Today is the interest deadline. Eighty thousand. Hand it over.”
Great, debt collectors.
Jiang Cheng sighed.
The sins of the previous owner, why should I pay for them?
Clearly, I came to this world to enjoy getting close to girls, how could I become a slave to money.
So, where’s the loli sugar mommy? Come and support me already!
“I have the money, I’ll pay you right now.”
The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her.
“You have it? Then show it.”
Jiang Cheng pulled a Bank Card from her pocket—the one the System gave her last night, with one hundred thousand on it.
She handed the card over.
The red-haired woman took it, turned it over a few times, then tsked, holding it between two fingers and waving it in front of Jiang Cheng’s face.
“You messing with me? With your shabby look, you think there’s eighty thousand in this card?”
“Whether there is or not, just swipe it and see.”
“Swipe?”
The red-haired woman threw the card on the floor.
“I’m telling you, I’ve seen plenty of fake cards, you—”
“Pick it up.”
Jiang Cheng’s voice suddenly changed.
Not the soft, lazy tone from before, but lowered, deepened a bit.
But she regretted it immediately after saying it—was that tone too harsh?
Whatever, harsh it is.
The red-haired woman paused, looking into her eyes.
Those sky-blue eyes stared straight at her, expressionless.
The atmosphere froze for a second.
“Fine,” the red-haired woman scoffed, bent down to pick up the card, and handed it to one of the flat-headed men behind her.
“Check it.”
The flat-headed man nodded, pulled out a Portable POS Machine, and swiped it.
Beep—
A string of numbers appeared on the machine’s screen.
The flat-headed man glanced at it, his expression subtly changing. He leaned close to the red-haired woman’s ear and whispered something.
The red-haired woman’s face changed.
“One hundred thousand?”
She turned to look at Jiang Cheng, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
“Where’d you get that kind of money?”
Jiang Cheng felt a secret thrill inside.
—Didn’t expect that, did you! I didn’t either!
But on the surface, she kept that lazy look, shrugging.
“None of your damn business.”
The red-haired woman gritted her teeth, clearly choked. But she quickly regained her domineering smile, stuffing the card into her pocket.
“Fine, I’ll take this eighty thousand. The rest—”
“Give the card back.”
“What?”
“I said, give the card back.”
Jiang Cheng took a small step forward.
“You take the eighty thousand interest. The remaining twenty thousand in the card, give it back to me.”
The red-haired woman’s smile froze, then slowly faded.
“Jiang Cheng, don’t push your luck, I…”
“You what?”
Jiang Cheng, full of sleep-deprived grumpiness, showed her no face, though her tone was still that soft, lazy one, sounding not very threatening.
“I’m warning you, if you try to embezzle my assets, I’m calling the police~”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
The woman’s eyes widened, her tone suddenly rising, but her confidence was clearly lacking.
In this world, police dispatch fees basically started at ten thousand, but their efficiency wasn’t much worse than in Jiang Cheng’s previous life.
The woman clearly didn’t have the ability to stand up to the cops.
The two flat-headed men behind her exchanged a glance but said nothing. They were from the Debt Collection Company, just hired muscle. Since the money was paid, they naturally wouldn’t get involved in matters between clients.
“You—”
The red-haired woman’s face completely changed.
“You motherf—”
“I what?”
Jiang Cheng took another small step forward, looking up at her. The distance between them was less than half a meter.
“I’m telling you, I acknowledge this debt, I won’t short you a cent of interest. But if you dare mess with this—”
She paused, pulling her phone from her pocket, her finger hovering over the call button, looking up at the red-haired woman.
“I’ll call the police right now.”
The hallway was so quiet you could hear the distant hum of the elevator running.
The red-haired woman’s lips moved, wanting to say something, but ultimately nothing came out. She pulled the card from her pocket and angrily threw it into Jiang Cheng’s arms.
“You’re tough.”
She said through gritted teeth.
“But by the end of this month, you need to repay at least five hundred thousand of the principal, or else—”
“Or else what?”
The red-haired woman didn’t answer, turned, and left. The two flat-headed men followed her, their leather shoes making dull thuds on the floor.
After a few steps, the red-haired woman suddenly stopped, looking back at Jiang Cheng.
“Oh, and that money of yours,”
she narrowed her eyes, the corner of her mouth pulling into a meaningful curve.
“I didn’t expect you to earn one hundred thousand in a single day.”
“That’s not a small amount.”
The red-haired woman looked her up and down again, her gaze slowly sliding down from her face, then slowly back up, finally landing on the girl’s delicate face.
“Of course.”
The white-haired girl said smugly,
“You just look at me…”
“One hundred thousand?”
The red-haired woman turned to look at Jiang Cheng, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
“Where’d you get that kind of money?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t speak.
She couldn’t exactly say “the System gave it to me.”
But she was secretly a little proud inside—didn’t expect that, did you! I didn’t either!
“None of your damn business.”
She tried to look aloof when she said it.
But the red-haired woman stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly laughed.
“Couldn’t be… you sold yourself, right?”
Jiang Cheng paused.
Then she looked down at herself—messy white hair, wrinkled hoodie, bare feet.
“…”
She looked up, expressionless, at the red-haired woman.
“You think with my shabby look, I could sell for one hundred thousand?”
The red-haired woman looked at the girl’s face, opened her mouth, but for a moment couldn’t say anything.
The two flat-headed men silently averted their gaze.
The hallway was quiet for three seconds.
“Exactly!”
The red-haired woman cleared her throat dryly.
“With your shabby look, no one would take you even if you paid them!”
Jiang Cheng thought she was just talking tough.
But whatever.
“Card back.”
She held out her hand.
***
“This… by the end of this month you must repay five hundred thousand, or else you’ll be sorry…”
After dryly reciting her lines, the woman lowered her head and quickly walked toward the elevator.
The two flat-headed men followed her, glancing at Jiang Cheng as they passed, but said nothing.
The elevator doors closed.
The hallway fell quiet again.
Jiang Cheng stood in place, staring at the closed elevator doors for a moment.
“What a pain…”
She muttered softly, patted her not-so-small chest, turned, and went back inside, ready to close the door and go back to sleep.
But out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move in the corner of the living room.
Jiang Cheng’s movements halted.
She slowly turned her head.
The living room curtains were drawn, the light was dim. In the corner stood an old half-person-high wardrobe. Next to the wardrobe—
Crouched a little girl.
She looked about eight or nine years old, wearing a faded blue dress, her black hair a mess, her whole body curled into a tiny ball, her hands tightly clutching her knees.
She was trembling.
Jiang Cheng was stunned.
“Huh?”
She tilted her head, thinking she was seeing things from not being fully awake.
But the little girl was still there, trembling as if she had some illness.
“Who are you?”
Jiang Cheng took two steps closer, her voice unconsciously softening.
“Little sister, why are you in my house?”
The little girl didn’t speak, just buried her face in her knees, her body trembling even more.
Jiang Cheng crouched down, meeting her at eye level.
“Don’t be afraid, those bad people are gone.”
The little girl finally slowly raised her head.
Revealing a dirty little face, with big eyes, red-rimmed, tears welling up but stubbornly not falling. Her lips were pressed tightly together, as if desperately holding something back.
She looked at Jiang Cheng, her voice small and hoarse, as if squeezed from the back of her throat:
“Big… big sister…”
Jiang Cheng’s mind buzzed.
“Wait,”
she blinked.
“What did you call me?”
The little girl sniffled, her voice even smaller, almost inaudible:
“I’m… I’m Jiang Xiaotang…”
“Big sister… big sister doesn’t remember me anymore…”