114. She is simply foolish.

“Oh, it’s just a door lock, it’s not like it’s unusable.”

After the middle-aged woman returned, Guo Jingyuan reported the problem with her room to her, but the woman appeared completely unconcerned. She even took the cotton string attached to the latch and demonstrated how it worked.

“Look, you just insert the plug into this hole, and the door locks. It’s very convenient!”

“But… what do I do when I go out?”

“Oh dear, someone’s always home here twenty-four hours a day. No one will come in to take your things, so what’s there to worry about?”

“But…”

“Young lady, forty yuan a night for a motel room is already quite good for our conditions. If you want a fancy place, you’d have to go to a big hotel, and that costs at least three hundred yuan per night!”

Three hundred yuan.

Guo Jingyuan silently repeated the number to herself and fell silent.

She didn’t have much money left and needed to save enough living expenses for a month until her new company started paying her salary. She had to scrimp and save…

Downstairs in the old, shabby building, Assistant Pan was leaning against a small sapling, observing the inside situation while making a phone call.

His suit and shirt were dirtied and scratched by the rough bark, with several tears.

“…So I borrowed a motorcycle to follow here. This is just a family-run motel, the conditions are really terrible. Also, it’s hard to see what’s going on inside, and I don’t know how Miss Guo is doing right now.”

Hearing Assistant Pan’s report, Chen Ruowen was momentarily furious.

She knew Guo Jingyuan was short on money.

A minor without family support or income, facing four years of university tuition and living expenses—how could she not be short on money?

But... why wouldn’t she borrow from her?!

In the past six months, Guo Jingyuan had hardly eaten lunch at the Chen household. She still needed to buy the most basic clothes, daily necessities, study materials, and the train ticket to Beicheng.

She even forced her to buy an expensive set of clothes.

Guo Jingyuan had the two thousand yuan Chen had lent her, but what could two thousand yuan really do?

She had a friend with endless money beside her, yet she chose to endure hardship just to save a little on lodging?

If she just asked, it would be a simple matter for Chen Ruowen to lend her some money for tuition or even arrange an easy, well-paying internship for her with just a word.

But she insisted on coming north to work on her own!

And living in such a shabby, dilapidated motel!

“Actually, Miss Guo has it pretty tough…” Assistant Pan cautiously defended Guo Jingyuan as he heard no response over the phone.

“She has no father or mother, only one friend left. Maybe she’s afraid of asking for help too often and being disliked by that friend, so she’d rather suffer herself than risk misunderstanding or resentment from the only friend she has…”

A cold snort came from the other end of the call.

“You really think she’s thinking like that?”

“Of course. There’s no other reason to explain Miss Guo’s behavior.”

“Who says there’s no reason?” Chen Ruowen snorted again. “She’s just stupid.”

Assistant Pan kept silent.

That remark was absolutely not something he could respond to.

Everyone knew his lady was the classic type who said one thing but meant another. Chen Ruowen could call Guo Jingyuan stupid, but if anyone else dared to agree, they would face her wrath.

Sure enough, after scolding her, Chen Ruowen continued.

“Find two trustworthy people to take turns watching over her. Then find a place nearby for her to stay. I don’t think that landlord couple are good people. If she ends up losing all her valuables just to save a few hundred yuan on rent, then let her cry! Also, send someone to follow her to the interviews over the next two days. I don’t think the companies she’s applying to are reliable. But don’t interfere—wait until she’s desperate before arranging a job for her.”

Miss Ruowen was really thoughtful toward Miss Guo...

Assistant Pan couldn’t help but sigh.

Twin Star had their own personnel in Beicheng. Following Chen Ruowen’s instructions, Assistant Pan found three people to help. One posed as a visitor to sneak into the old, shabby building where Guo Jingyuan was staying; the others rented rooms in nearby dilapidated buildings.

After witnessing firsthand the poor living conditions of the area, Assistant Pan was utterly impressed by Guo Jingyuan’s courage to live alone in such an unregulated motel.

This kind of slum hidden within a big city was a place even he hadn’t visited for a long time.

Assistant Pan didn’t dare send photos of the room to Chen Ruowen. He only told the three people to keep an eye on Guo Jingyuan’s movements and then bought a telescope.

He swore to himself he would never use the telescope to look inside her room—only to watch outside.

Guo Jingyuan’s first night in Beicheng was extremely uneasy. Footsteps echoed faintly along the corridor, voices from the next room spoke in an unfamiliar accent, children’s cries and shouts occasionally broke out...

And the door panels trembled softly at every gust of wind.

Even though she moved the only coffee table in her room against the door to brace it, she woke up several times throughout the night. She then curled up carefully beneath the thin sheet, holding her breath to listen for any sounds outside the door.

The next morning, Guo Jingyuan still felt a chill as she left because the door couldn’t be locked from the inside.

Fortunately, the most valuable thing she had was her phone; the two sets of summer clothes she brought cost only about a hundred yuan total, so she wasn’t too worried about thieves.

“Assistant Pan, Miss Guo has left,” Xiao Yan, responsible for close protection, updated the temporary group chat.

“Xiao Zhou, Xiao Zheng, take turns tailing her,” Assistant Pan ordered.

Focused on the map, Guo Jingyuan didn’t notice the two tails behind her. She queued to pay the fare at the nearest bus stop and squeezed onto the bus, heading toward the Jinmu Trading Company that had sent her the interview message.

The position she was applying for was an office clerk. The job ad didn’t specify much about the tasks, only requiring applicants to be proficient with office documents, typing, and common communication software, with at least a high school diploma.

The salary was 3,000 yuan a month, nine to six, with meals and accommodation included.

This was the ideal job in Guo Jingyuan’s eyes.

Jinmu Trading was located on the edge of Beicheng’s Third Ring Road, occupying an office in a peeling, outdated building. Guo Jingyuan went into room 607, as indicated in the ad.

“Hello, my name is Guo Jingyuan. I received a call to interview for the clerk position the day before yesterday…”

She began her self-introduction using the script she found online, but was interrupted by the receptionist almost immediately.

“Please register according to the format used by previous applicants.”

The receptionist tossed her a worn-out notebook.

The opened page was filled with various handwritten application details. Guo Jingyuan checked carefully and filled in her name, phone number, and ID number following the format.

After the receptionist glanced over the notebook, she led Guo Jingyuan to a young woman dressed very formally.

“Sister Xiaoming, here’s a candidate for the interview.”