That afternoon, I took a nap, since changing clothes and putting on makeup would take some time. I left school around two-thirty.

When I arrived at the Rabbit House café, I found that there were almost twice as many people as yesterday. Maybe it was because today was Friday. Or maybe because the weather had cleared up.

The first-floor lobby was completely packed. Even the café upstairs was filled with the rich aroma of coffee.

On top of that, quite a few customers who had eaten their fill were interacting with the kittens in the corners. They waved cat teasers, offered cat treats, and played with the various little cats.

Under the sunlight streaming through the windows, I could vaguely see countless strands of cat fur drifting through the air.

“**, **, look over here!”

“Meow meow meow! Hey, why aren’t you meowing?”

These customers reminded me of a piece of cat trivia I couldn’t remember where I’d seen.

Apparently, after a family gets a cat, most of the “meows” in the house actually come from the humans. The cats themselves meow very, very rarely.

They say that when a house cat meows, it’s either hungry and asking for food, or its litter box is full and needs cleaning.

Or it’s run into some kind of trouble. Maybe you stepped on its tail. Maybe it climbed somewhere too high and couldn’t get down.

And then there’s the other possibility…

Spring has arrived.

Under normal circumstances, though, most cats aren’t fond of meowing.

“Xiaoxue, you’re here early today?”

I had just walked upstairs with the small bag containing my Rem cosplay outfit when the café manager, Lin Ruilong, spotted me.

He was a handsome, rich young man with an excellent appearance. With a cheeky grin, he joked, “Do I need to pay extra?”

“If you feel like you’re getting a bargain, I don’t mind.”

I gestured at the bag in my hand. “I’m going to the bathroom to change.”

“All right. Go ahead.”

Lin Ruilong turned around and glanced at the clock behind him.

“We’ve got quite a few orders today. The delivery riders can’t keep up. I’m guessing several orders will be late. Keke is brushing the cats over there. How about you come deliver the food with me later?”

Deliver the food?

This man…

Yesterday, he rented a girlfriend to work as a waitress. Today, he planned to turn her into a delivery girl?

“Got it.”

Although I was constantly roasting Boss Lin in my heart, I still maintained the calm, perfect-girlfriend act on the surface.

“I’ll be as quick as I can.”

I entered the bathroom with practiced ease, locked the door, and checked the surroundings. After confirming there were no cameras or anything suspicious, I took off my clothes and opened the bag.

Hmm…

Maybe the costume hadn’t had enough time to dry. The lavender scent of laundry detergent still clung quite strongly to the Rem outfit.

I slipped on the maid dress. Bathed in its faint fragrance, I suddenly felt a little troubled.

Once I had more money, perhaps I should ask Wang Lei to sell me another identical outfit.

Otherwise, if it rained for three or four days straight someday, clothes like this would be a pain to dry.

After changing my clothes, socks, and shoes, and finishing my makeup, I walked out of the bathroom at two fifty.

The manager had already said that this wasn’t cosplay, so I didn’t need to wear a wig or colored contacts.

That made changing much faster today. Basically, I only had to put on the dress and tie the sleeves, then put on the thigh-highs and little leather shoes.

At first glance, dressed in a maid outfit, I looked a little like a long-haired version of Rem.

“That was pretty quick.”

When I came out, I saw that a young man dressed like a bartender had joined Lin Ruilong behind the counter.

Lin Ruilong opened the little gate in the bar. “Four orders are already late, and no rider dares accept them. We’ll have to deliver them ourselves.”

“We’ll deliver them ourselves?”

I didn’t quite understand what he meant. “But I don’t have a car.”

“I’ll drive. You’re coming with me.”

Lin Ruilong gestured at the car keys in his hand. His voice was full of apology.

“I’m really sorry. We’re seriously short-staffed. If the orders get any later, those four customers will probably leave us bad reviews.”

“You’re a cute girl. If you deliver the food personally, it should ease some of their resentment.”

Wow…

Boss Lin, you were pretty blunt about it.

I immediately understood what the manager had in mind.

Usually, customers were already annoyed when a delivery arrived late. The longer the delay, the greater their resentment became.

At that point, any delivery rider willing to accept the order would be a complete sucker. The chances of getting a bad review were too high.

So the restaurant had no choice but to send someone.

But the order was already late. No matter how quickly the restaurant delivered it, the customer’s frustration wouldn’t simply vanish.

In the end, the one suffering might still be the restaurant.

However, if the delivery person was a pretty, adorable young woman, there was a chance she could defuse the customer’s anger.

That would reduce the odds of receiving a bad review.

I had to admit, Lin Ruilong really knew how to use people.

The situation reminded me of an LPL match where both teams were evenly matched. One side sent out its most useless support to get sacrificed, trading that death for victory in the team fight.

Then again, this seemed a little dangerous for me.

I’d be alone in a car with an adult man. Then I’d be going alone to customers’ homes.

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t sound particularly safe.

“Quite adorable, huh…”

After hesitating for a moment, I ultimately chose to trust Lin Ruilong for now.

“Are we leaving?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

As he spoke, Lin Ruilong seemed to realize something. He added, “If you’re worried, you can call a classmate. Or livestream the whole trip.”

“No need. Let’s go.”

I blinked and deliberately spoke in a playful tone.

“I trust you.”

I trust your money.

At that moment, I remembered the investigation I had conducted on Lin Ruilong.

By now, I had practically made it a habit. Before dealing with any boss, I would investigate their background and identity as thoroughly as possible.

Like Wang Lei, Lin Ruilong was also a rich second-generation heir from Vanilla City.

Compared to Wang Lei, though, Lin Ruilong was theoretically much richer.

No matter how wealthy Wang Lei’s father was, he was still only the owner of a clothing factory.

Lin Ruilong’s family, on the other hand, was involved in real estate.

The two families’ fortunes were on completely different levels.

“Sure. Once this is done, I’ll give you a five-star review.”

Lin Ruilong brought me to the entrance of the kitchen on the first floor. He went inside and came back carrying several large bags.

Then he placed four delicately packaged boxes into my arms.

“Hold these by the entrance for a moment. I’ll bring the car around.”

“All right.”

Dressed in my maid outfit, I carried the hot boxes marked with the words “Rabbit House Express” toward the entrance.

A large crowd of customers watched me cross the first floor.

“Good luck, Xiaoxue!”

The little maid Lan Yueke was holding a tray. When she saw me, she waved and called out with a grin, “The Rabbit House’s good-review rate this month depends on you!”

“I can’t promise they’ll give us good reviews.”

“It’s fine. You’re so cute, Xiaoxue. Nobody will have the heart to give you a bad review.”

“What if they have girlfriends?”

“Then steal their girlfriends!”

“…”

I walked out of the café and obediently stood in the passage by the entrance, holding the delivery boxes.

About five minutes later, a pleasant engine sound approached.

A black-rose-colored sports car stopped in front of me.

“Get in.”

The car door slowly opened in a way I had never seen before. Lin Ruilong leaned out from inside.

“Put the deliveries in the trunk first. Then sit in the passenger seat and fasten your seat belt.”

“Oh…”

I walked to the trunk and placed the boxes inside.

This… was a sports car?

As I closed the trunk, I carefully glanced over the vehicle’s design.

I didn’t know much about cars. Still, I’d picked up some knowledge from movies here and there.

The engine sounded like the one from earlier. The streamlined body also looked incredibly expensive.

This had to be a sports car, right?

“This is the first customer’s phone. He sent a voice message earlier, but I haven’t opened it. Listen and see what he said.”

After I sat in the passenger seat and fastened my seat belt, Lin Ruilong handed me a wide-screen phone.

The screen showed a conversation with someone.

“My address is correct. Please deliver the food as soon as possible.”

“My address is correct. Please deliver the food as soon as possible.”

“Where is everyone? Has nobody accepted the order?”

“When is my fried chicken arriving?”

“(▶||| 5")”

I tapped the voice message.

A man’s voice came through.

“Does your shop even want to do business? If you don’t deliver it soon, I’m giving you a bad review!”

As soon as he heard that, Lin Ruilong started the engine.

“Tell him the food is already on the way. It’ll arrive within ten minutes at most.”

“All right.”

I brought up the keyboard and quickly typed a message.

“We’re very sorry. During the peak dining period, we didn’t have enough delivery riders. We’re already on our way with your order. Please wait another ten minutes.”

“Still waiting?”

The reply came quickly.

“I’ve already been waiting forty minutes! Is this delivery happening or not?”

“We’re truly sorry for giving you such a poor dining experience.”

I hurriedly typed another message.

“To express our apologies, our boss is personally delivering your order. Please wait patiently for ten minutes.”

“The boss is delivering it?”

“No way. I don’t believe your boss would come. You must be a delivery rider. I know how this works.”

“Hurry up and get over here! I’m starving to death! Seriously, ordering delivery shouldn’t take this much fuss. You can’t even do your actual job properly. You might as well go haul bricks.”

“I’ve got a buddy who needs workers. How about you come work for him? Five thousand yuan a month.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll wait another ten minutes. Any later, and it’s a bad review.”

“I remember that one bad review costs you two hundred yuan, right? Delivery riders in Vanilla City don’t make much, do they?”

“Two hundred yuan probably isn’t a small amount for you. Hurry up, got it?”

Looking at the long string of replies on the big screen, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Boss.”

I turned around and looked at Lin Ruilong, who was focusing on the road.

“This customer seems really unhappy. But he reluctantly agreed to wait ten minutes.”

“Then it’s fine. I’ll try to drive faster.”

Lin Ruilong tested the air vent beside him with his hand.

“Is this temperature all right?”

“Mm.”

I hesitated, but I still couldn’t hold back my question.

“Is this car very expensive?”

“It’s a Pagani. Limited to a worldwide production run.”

Lin Ruilong looked completely calm.

“I usually drive an electric car and rarely take this one out. I don’t know why, but we had too many orders today, so I’m using it to deliver food.”

“I see…”

I took a small, deep breath.

“Can you tell me how much it cost when you bought it?”

“Forty million for the bare car.”

Lin Ruilong spoke as casually as if he were discussing the price of apples at a roadside stall.

“With taxes, around fifty million. That was the price a year ago. I’m not sure what it costs now.”