Chapter 17: Hair Clip

The early spring night carried a biting chill, especially in the poorly insulated old slab-style rental building, where the cold made even my toes ache.

Sitting in the chair, I instinctively tightened the cotton coat over my pajamas.

My eyes stayed fixed on the physics PPT on my phone, but my mind kept wandering back to the takeout Yan Dong mentioned in his call.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t figure out what he was up to.

I wasn’t expecting much, but I still forced myself to stay awake, flipping through the physics slides while waiting for the delivery call that finally came.

So, what kind of takeout was so important it had to disturb my night?

“Ivory… princess-edged bow hair clip?”

I had no idea.

That’s what the box said, anyway.

The brand was “ALEXANDER DE PARIS.”

Murmuring the gold-embossed text on the package, I typed the brand name into the search bar of my shopping app.

The clip was easy to find, basically the first result that popped up was exactly what I had in my hand.

A small ivory-white clip shaped like a bow, with a pearl set in the center.

The minimalist design definitely showed a designer’s touch. But the price…

“1100?!”

What the hell?

How could something this tiny, barely bigger than a finger, be worth that much?

And the materials?

It’s not even gold or silver!

Seriously, what the hell is Yan Dong trying to do?

Afraid of damaging it, I carefully placed the clip back into its box, then immediately called Yan Dong.

The moment I heard his lazy “Hello,” I launched into him without hesitation: “What’s the meaning of this?”

Compared to my agitation, Yan Dong sounded ridiculously calm, even amused.

I could practically hear the smug curve of his lips through the phone.

“You mean the hair clip? I saw it while scrolling through a shopping app. Bought it on a whim. It’s just some cheap street-stall stuff.”

Cheap street-stall stuff?

That so-called worthless trinket would take me forty-eight hours of nonstop food delivery to afford.

Meanwhile, all he had to do was tap his phone and slap it in my face.

After all these years working part-time, I’d gotten mostly numb to being looked down on.

But I still couldn’t accept this kind of “generosity” calmly.

So I took a deep breath and, wearing a cold expression, flatly rejected his backhanded apology: “I don’t want the hair clip. And if you’re apologizing for what happened this afternoon, let me be clear, I’m not mad, and I don’t need your apology.”

Yan Dong’s response was just as blunt, so blunt it felt like a command I wasn’t allowed to refuse.

“Take it or don’t, it’s yours now. Just don’t throw it in the trash. Also, the money’s already deducted from your salary. Your contract still has nineteen years and eleven months left. After that, it’ll auto-renew for a few more days.”

“W-What?! You!”

I was completely thrown off by his unilateral decision.

“How can you just, without my consent…”

“Miss Lin.”

He suddenly raised his voice, and I swear the sharp scent of cedar nearly forced its way through the phone.

“Let me remind you, these twenty years, you belong to me. Why would I need your consent to make a decision?”

“Sorry, but we’re just in a standard employer-employee relationship.”

“Oh yeah? Then tell me, what does Clause 8 of the supplementary contract say?”

Clause 8 of the twenty-year contract’s supplementary agreement clearly stated that the term could be flexibly adjusted based on the amount owed, but that clause was obviously meant to let me shorten the contract if I repaid early.

I never imagined he’d use it for the exact opposite!

Last time, he forced me to buy a uniform and tacked on an extra two months of work.

I didn’t make a fuss about it then. After all, it made sense to wear standard attire on the job.

But now I realize, compromise happens once, then a hundred more times.

I clenched my molars so hard I could feel my breath getting short.

But the arrogant voice on the other end stayed just as cool, even letting out a scoff.

“Also, Miss Lin, don’t flatter yourself. Have you ever seen an employer apologize to a servant? That’s it, don’t interrupt my gaming.”

“You…….”

Before I could even finish, Yan Dong hung up.

I stared at his contact photo, gritting my teeth, practically trembling with rage.

I wished I could climb through the internet and hack him to pieces.

Damn it.

Things had already blown over, why pull this shit now?

I hope his ping spikes to 460 in every match he plays.

Angry or not, I had to admit this wasn’t the first time Yan Dong had acted like a deranged lunatic.

There was no point picking a fight over everything, if I did, he’d drive me to an early grave.

“Better think about what to do with this thing.”

My fingertip idly traced the gold-embossed pattern on the paper box as I calculated how to recover the cost of this so-called gift.

Selling it was a given.

The real question was, who would buy it?

Listing it on a secondhand platform felt like a losing game.

People willing to spend that much on a hair clip wouldn’t be browsing used listings.

I’d probably have to slash the price in half just to get a single inquiry.

In that case… what if I resold it to Yan Dong’s sister, Yan Qiuzhi?

Still the same product, but going from factory to consumer in one family, maybe I could double the value?

…

It wasn’t a terrible idea.

I’d ask Qiuzhi about it next time I had the chance.

Staring glumly at the delicate box in my hand, I felt like the road ahead was growing darker and darker.

If Yan Dong kept pulling crap like this on a whim, would I ever be able to pay off the debt before I died?

“Study. Not like I can sleep anyway.”

Sighing in frustration, I turned on the desk lamp, tucked the loose hair behind my ear, and opened my physics textbook.

Somewhere outside, fireworks crackled in the night.

In the final minute of February second, I sat upright in my chair, gently brushing my fingers across the two long red ribbons of the jasmine hair tie, finally coming to rest on the smooth white petals.

“Lose it and I’ll throw you into the moat to feed the fish.”

Yan Dong’s threat from yesterday still echoed in my ears.

But compared to the way he’d just forced things over the phone, the way he’d tied that ribbon in my hair yesterday had been surprisingly gentle.

I really couldn’t figure out what went on in that Young Master Yan’s head.

With a helpless smile, I set the hair tie down on the desk and got up to wash up…