113. Miss, are you looking for a place to stay?

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Guo Jingyuan stepped off the northbound train and stared at the unfamiliar metropolis before her. Her face held nothing but bewilderment.

It seemed... she had no idea where she was going.

She opened the job-search app on her phone, found the address of the trading company to which she had sent her résumé a few days earlier, then opened a map to confirm the direction.

After finishing her exams, she had sent résumés to more than a dozen companies. Only two had replied, and both were in North City.

Though she was unfamiliar with the place, she did not care which city she was in, so long as she could find work and start earning money as quickly as possible.

While Guo Jingyuan was looking at her phone, a thin, middle-aged woman holding a thick piece of cardboard came over and waved it in front of her.

“Miss, need a room?”

Guo Jingyuan looked up in confusion and found herself staring at the woman’s large yellow teeth.

Right. She had not found a place to stay in North City yet. She had not expected to meet such a warmhearted auntie the moment she got off the train. At least she would not have to drag her luggage all over the city looking for somewhere to stay.

Seeing that her prospective customer was interested, the middle-aged woman continued.

“Miss, our hotel is right near the train station. It’s very convenient, and the price is cheap too—only forty yuan for a night. Why don’t you come and take a look?”

“Only forty?”

Guo Jingyuan’s eyes lit up at once.

Everyone said that prices in North City were high. Before coming, she had secretly made some inquiries. An ordinary hotel cost at least one or two hundred yuan a night, and was usually located somewhere remote. Yet this hotel near the train station charged only forty yuan. What a bargain!

“That’s right, that’s right! We can even help carry your luggage and escort you to the hotel. Our service is very thoughtful!”

Guo Jingyuan immediately nodded gratefully.

“Then I’ll trouble you. Thank you so much!”

Three meters away, Assistant Pan, hiding among the crowd, covered his face in despair.

Miss’s concern had indeed been justified. This Miss Guo was not merely lacking in worldly experience—her experience with society was practically zero.

She was alone and still dared to stay in a hotel that cheap. Without knowing the place or even its name, she had agreed to follow a stranger. Wasn’t she afraid of running into a scammer?

Such a beautiful girl, yet not the slightest trace of caution. Being tricked into the mountains to become some bachelor’s wife would count as good luck. Wasn’t she afraid of waking up one morning to find that even her kidneys were gone?

Seeing that Guo Jingyuan had already pulled along her suitcase and followed the middle-aged woman into a deserted little alley, Assistant Pan hurried after them.

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The middle-aged woman took Guo Jingyuan to a small convenience store, where she registered her identity information. Then a burly man in his fifties came out from inside. He wore a pair of loose, sagging slippers and had a cheap cigarette between his lips.

The man climbed onto the motorcycle parked outside the store and gestured for Guo Jingyuan to sit on the back.

Her guide had changed from a woman to a man, and this time Guo Jingyuan hesitated for a moment.

But the middle-aged woman kept saying, “It’ll take forever if you walk there. You’ll only be wasting time.” Guo Jingyuan glanced at the man’s half-gray hair and, in the end, reservedly climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.

She did not dare hold on to him. Instead, she nervously gripped the small space in front of the seat, glancing anxiously from side to side, unsure whether she was looking for help or trying to memorize the route.

Assistant Pan was practically driven to despair by Guo Jingyuan’s total lack of self-protective awareness.

He ran behind the motorcycle for a long time. Just as he was about to lose sight of them, he finally found another motorcycle in a side alley.

“Lend me your bike. I’ll return it in a little while!”

In his desperation, Assistant Pan flung a bundle of hundred-yuan notes at the owner, who was just about to start his beloved motorcycle. Then he hurriedly mounted it and chased after the older man.

The owner stared blankly at the money in his hands. It took him quite a while to recover.

“With this much money, I could buy two new motorcycles. Did I just run into an idiot?” Carrying the money into his courtyard, he shouted, “Honey, no need to buy groceries tonight! I just picked up a pile of cash. We’re going out for a feast!”

In the alleys of North City, the old man rode through countless lanes before finally stopping beneath a battered old apartment building—just as Guo Jingyuan was becoming so panicked that she could barely remain seated.

“We’re here.”

Guo Jingyuan climbed off the motorcycle with great care.

One decrepit building stood beside another. Across from the building ran a foul-smelling drainage ditch, filled with water of some unknowable color. Strands of blue-black, whisker-like growths swayed back and forth with the current.

Weeds grew thickly along the ditch, and every so often some unidentified object could be seen darting through the undergrowth.

“Didn’t you say the hotel was... very close to the train station?” Guo Jingyuan asked tactfully.

“It isn’t far. Traffic in North City is terrible, so I brought you around through the alleys. It feels like we went a long way, but it’s only five kilometers.”

The old man turned to explain, then waved his hand.

“Our place is right here. Come upstairs.”

After saying this, he turned and walked into the dilapidated building. Guo Jingyuan hesitated, then followed him inside.

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A dusty light bulb hung in the stairwell. Its dim glow made the already filthy building look even more squalid.

The staircase was narrow and steep. Afraid of losing her balance, Guo Jingyuan reached for the handrail, only to get a palmful of rust. Startled, she quickly snatched her hand back.

The old man led her to the third floor. Just as they reached the landing, two children came noisily rushing out of one of the rooms, apparently arguing over some toy.

Guo Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

There were children here, after all. This place probably wasn’t dangerous.

The old man pushed open a room near the stairwell and gestured toward it.

“You can stay here.”

The room was tiny—so tiny that a single bed and an old tea table occupied nearly all the available space.

“The bathroom is shared. It’s next door. There’s a washing machine in the stairwell; five yuan per use. There’s a charging strip beneath the tea table. You can put your luggage behind the door.”

After saying these few words, the old man left, though Guo Jingyuan had no idea whether he was going to receive the next guest or return to mind the shop.

Following his instructions, Guo Jingyuan placed her small suitcase behind the door.

There was a little window in the room. Perhaps because of its orientation, the lighting was poor. It was impossible to tell whether the room was clean or dirty, though with so little furniture, even dirt could not accumulate in too many places.

“I’m only sleeping here at night. Keeping things simple is more convenient anyway,” Guo Jingyuan consoled herself.

It was already getting late when she arrived in North City. She found a broom and rag in the stairwell and gave the room a quick cleaning. Then she placed her toiletries on the tea table, took a shower in the bathroom while no one else was around, shut herself inside the room, and decided not to bother with dinner.

Only then did she discover that her room had no lock.

There was a latch behind the door, but the bolt was missing. All that remained was a cord hanging from the doorframe, attached at the end to a crude plastic door catch that would snap with the slightest tug.

How was anyone supposed to sleep in a place like this?

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