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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Three
The moment I stepped out of the villa, I heard Father’s furious roar behind me. Ignoring it, I dragged my injured leg step by step toward the front gate. Each step felt like a countdown to my new life.
The night was deep, and the winter night in Jiangcheng was particularly cold. Standing under the streetlight, I first experienced the feeling of being homeless. The world was too vast, so vast that I didn’t know where to go.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated; it was a WeChat message from Mother Zhang. "Miss, I heard you’ve been discharged from the hospital. Where are you now? Do you want to stay at my place for a few days?"
Looking at her concerned message, my eyes began to sting with unshed tears. This elderly woman, who had worked for the Gu Family for fifteen years, was the only one who remembered my birthday. But I couldn’t drag her into my troubles.
"Thank you, Mother Zhang. I’m fine." After replying, I turned off my phone.
I pulled out my wallet, which contained a pitiful five hundred and twenty-eight yuan. This amount wouldn’t even cover a month’s rent. I shook my head with a bitter smile; it seemed that tonight I would have to make do at a 24-hour convenience store.
As I was lost in thought, my phone vibrated again.
A message from an unfamiliar number popped up on WeChat:
"I heard the Gu Family's young lady has been kicked out? How about considering a part-time job at a nightclub? Daily pay, and the salary is pretty good."
I stared at the message for a long time.
In this city that felt both familiar and strange, where could I possibly go?
The fifty thousand in debt loomed over me like a mountain, suffocating me.
"Send me the address."
I replied.
The other party quickly sent me the location.
It was Bar Street, the most bustling area in Jiangcheng, where the lights were bright and the atmosphere intoxicating.
I never imagined I would find myself in such a place one day.
Dragging my weary body, I hopped into a taxi.
"Heading to Bar Street, miss?"
The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "It's not safe to be out alone at this hour."
I forced a smile. "It's fine; I'm going there for work."
"Work?" The driver paused for a moment before understanding. "Oh... just be careful."
The neon lights outside flickered continuously, casting reflections on my pale face.
Once the young lady of the Gu Family, now I was headed to a nightclub.
How ironic fate can be.
Upon arrival, I followed the address to find the nightclub.
The words "Guanhui" glowed eerily in blue against the night sky.
"Are you Gu Churan?"
A heavily made-up woman looked me up and down.
"You’re not bad-looking, but you’re too thin."
"This is my work uniform; go change into this." She handed me a sequined mini skirt. "Remember, drink as much as the guests offer you."
I took the skirt, the glaring gold fabric hurting my eyes. "How is the salary calculated?"
"The base pay is five hundred a day, plus commission." She pinched her cigarette. "Let’s see how it goes tonight."
After changing clothes, I was led to a private room. As soon as I pushed the door open, I froze.
Lin Mo was sitting on the sofa, surrounded by a group of friends.
"Master Lin, your drink." I expressionlessly poured wine for Lin Mo while holding the tray.
The people around him noticed me and smirked ambiguously. "Isn't this the eldest daughter of the Gu Family? How did she end up serving drinks?"
Lin Mo looked up at me, his gaze filled with a contempt I had never seen before.
"She is no longer a young lady; now she is just a drink companion."
I let out a cold laugh.
This man was once my childhood friend who swore to protect me for life.
Unfortunately, now his eyes only hold Chu Yue, that White Lotus.
"Gu Churan, what do you want?"
Lin Mo suddenly grabbed my wrist. "You don’t know, Ruyue is worried sick about you!"
I shook off his hand. "Master Lin, I'm just a drink companion; it's better if you keep your hands to yourself."
"You!" Lin Mo's face turned pale with anger.
He slammed the menu on the table. "XO, you'll drink it all tonight, and I'll give you a hundred thousand."
"What do you think? It's just money, right?"
His friends cheered, "Miss Gu, that's a hundred thousand! Enough to pay off your debts."
I looked at the expensive bottles of alcohol, tears welling up in my eyes.
Those three hundred IOUs, fifty thousand in debt.
A hundred thousand in return; this deal seemed quite tempting.
"Deal."
I picked up the first bottle and tilted my head back to gulp it down.
The strong liquor slid down my throat like swallowing shards of glass.
Lin Mo and his friends erupted in laughter.
"It seems that Miss Gu is really in need of money."
"Drink up, tonight you'll make a fortune."
I kept downing one bottle after another, feeling as if a fire had ignited in my stomach.
In a daze, memories of my past with Lin Mo flooded back to me.
When I was twelve, he promised to protect me forever.
At fifteen, his birthday gift to me was a handmade bracelet.
By seventeen, he said we would get married when we grew up.
But now, he was here, watching me make a fool of myself.
Alongside those people, treating me like a joke.
By the time the fifth bottle went down, the world around me began to spin.
My stomach churned violently, and everything before my eyes blurred.
"Churan, stop drinking!"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out.
It was Dr. Lu Shihan, whom I had met in the hospital.
He rushed over in two strides and snatched the bottle from my hand.
"Your gastric bleeding just healed; do you want to die?"
Lin Mo raised his eyes and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm her attending physician," Lu Shihan replied coldly, casting a disdainful glance at him. "From the emergency department of the public hospital."
The words struck like a slap across Lin Mo's face. It turned out that I really had been in an accident, but none of them had bothered to check at the public hospital.
"Miss Gu is my responsibility; I have an obligation to stop her from doing anything dangerous," Lu Shihan said as he turned to me. "Come with me."
I shook my head. "Doctor Lu, this is a bet between Master Lin and me. I have to see it through."
"A bet?" Lu Shihan scoffed. "Is it worth risking your life for his mere hundred thousand?"
He pulled out a checkbook from his pocket and swiftly wrote down a series of numbers. "Two hundred thousand—enough to cover your IOUs, right?"
The room fell silent. No one expected an ordinary doctor to be so generous.
Lin Mo couldn't sit still any longer. "What gives you the right to interfere in her affairs?"
"Because I care about her," Lu Shihan replied, his voice firm and resolute.
I was taken aback. This man had saved me when I was at my lowest point. Now, he was once again pulling me back from the abyss.
"Gu Churan, you don't owe this family anything."
He held my hand tightly. "I'll go with you to pay off the debt, and then we can leave this place."
Looking into his determined eyes, I suddenly felt the urge to cry.
It turned out that there really were people in this world who were willing to treat me so kindly.
"No need," I pulled my hand away. "I'll handle my own matters."
Lu Shihan was taken aback.
He probably didn't expect me to refuse.
"Over the years, I've accumulated more than just debt."
I smiled at him. "I want to say goodbye to the past in my own way."
With that, I picked up the seventh bottle of wine.
After tonight, I would finally have that hundred thousand yuan.
I wanted to personally take the money and leave this home behind.
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