Just as Wang Lei had said, his good buddy Liang Zhiming still hadn’t completely emerged from the shadow of his breakup.

On Friday evening, I received Liang Zhiming’s rental request—

【Renter: Liang Zhiming (VIP 2)】

【Profile: Male; 22 years old; Scorpio; 173 cm tall; 60 kg; doesn’t smoke; doesn’t drink; hobbies include watching anime; a hardcore shut-in; university student; native of Vanilla City, Guiyuan Province.】

I noticed that his age had changed from twenty-one to twenty-two.

Considering that he was a Scorpio, whose birthday fell between October 24 and November 22, it wasn’t hard to guess that his twenty-second birthday had just passed. It might even have been only a couple of days ago.

【Message from Liang Zhiming: You don’t need to wear a cosplay outfit this time. Just dress a little cuter.】

Cuter?

I stared blankly at the message for a long while. For a moment, I couldn’t understand what exactly Liang Zhiming meant by “a little cuter.”

Still, he had rented me from nine in the morning until nine at night on Saturday. Twelve whole hours for six hundred yuan. He could definitely be considered a big client.

So I checked some more private websites for popular fan art of Rem’s casual clothes. After finishing my shift at the café that night, I went to a nearby clothing store and picked out a slightly cuter sky-blue T-shirt and a pair of slightly thicker white thigh-high stockings.

Tomorrow, I planned to pair them with hot pants and those Lolita Meruru round-toed flats.

In that illustration, Rem was wearing a similar T-shirt printed with the male lead’s face, along with hot pants and white stockings.

The artist hadn’t drawn her shoes. But logically speaking, round-toed shoes with bows made a girl look more youthful and adorable. They also matched the anime aesthetic better.

I figured that outfit shouldn’t cause any problems.

Besides…whether someone looked cute theoretically had little to do with their clothes.

If they were ugly and had a bad figure, people would still dislike them even in a JK uniform. If they were pretty, everyone would think they were cute even in a tacky old school uniform.

“I’m going out for the whole day today. Don’t miss me, wifey Xiaorui.”

On Saturday morning, I got up and finished exercising on the track. Then I went to the school cafeteria and ordered meat porridge and soy milk.

After that, I brought several steamed buns back to the dorm for Chen Xiaorui.

“Tch. You’re my wife. You were meowing like a cat last night.”

Chen Xiaorui had gotten up earlier than on any previous Sunday. She was curled up under the covers in her pajamas, playing on her phone.

“Leave the food there. I’m going to farm a few artifact domains first. Lately, all the gold drops are either maid-fan favorites or Barbara exclusives. I’m about to throw up.”

What kind of nonsense was she talking about?

Had she become obsessed with games like Ye Qing?

Come to think of it, I finally understood why a guy like Ye Qing and a girl like Chen Xiaorui could become a couple.

They’d grown up in the same courtyard, so their childhood-friend relationship had laid down a solid emotional foundation. Ye Qing himself was the more dominant type, while Chen Xiaorui was rather feminine.

She loved making a fuss and acting spoiled, but Ye Qing had money and knew how to make more of it.

Earlier, I’d seen them arguing so fiercely that I thought they were really about to break up. Who could’ve guessed that Ye Qing would turn around and install a mobile game for Chen Xiaorui?

Then he started paying for her every week.

Now, Chen Xiaorui had become completely addicted. Not only had she realized how fun games were, but she’d also become utterly obedient to her boyfriend.

After all, he was helping her spend money on the game every week.

Even more cleverly, Chen Xiaorui had once tried to make money on her own. She’d accompanied a boss and been humiliated by him.

That taught her how hard it was to make money out in society. It also made her understand how difficult it was for her boyfriend to earn money every month and spend it on her.

If I hadn’t had no proof, I would’ve seriously suspected that the boss who had harassed Chen Xiaorui during that date had been arranged by Ye Qing.

His goal would’ve been to teach Chen Xiaorui that money was hard-earned, and that a good man was one in a million.

I guessed that was how they’d handled their conflicts in the past, too.

“Games are good for the brain in moderation, but gaming too much is bad for your health…”

I walked over to the bathroom and took off my sportswear.

Mmm… It really felt wonderful now that my period was over.

Wearing only my underwear, I flashed a V-sign at myself in the mirror.

At last, I didn’t need to wear another thick layer inside my soft panties.

I thought about how I’d spent the past few days clutching a hot-water bottle and lying in bed with stomach pains, unable to do anything.

And in another month, I’d have to go through it all over again.

A wave of grievance welled up inside me.

Being a girl and having periods was way too miserable…

Having to lie down all day was bad enough. Not being able to eat whatever I wanted was bad enough, too.

Even while lying down, I always felt as if I might leak from the side at any moment. At its worst, I had to visit the bathroom and change my sanitary pad every two or three hours.

Dizziness. Headaches. Stomachaches. Bloating. Feeling mentally hazy…

It honestly felt as if my entire existence was devoted to serving this “monthly auntie.”

Now that my period had ended, I felt completely refreshed. Everything looked more pleasing to the eye.

Fortunately, this period had been easier than any period in Bi Xinxue’s memories.

At least it hadn’t hurt as much.

It seemed exercise really did help with this sort of thing.

But speaking of which, why did I feel as if my breasts had gotten a little bigger again?

Was it just my imagination?

I reached out and cupped the two rabbits on my chest.

Higher estrogen during a period could cause breast swelling and pain. It was normal for these two little vixens to grow temporarily.

But after the period ended, they should’ve quickly returned to normal.

So why…?

I’d only bought this bra recently, yet it was already feeling tight again.

Forget it. If they got bigger, I’d just keep changing into larger bras.

Facing the mirror, I styled my hair into twin lolita ponytails similar to Noelle’s hairstyle from *Heaven’s Memo Pad*. Then I began doing my makeup and getting dressed.

Yep. T-shirt, hot pants, then white thigh-high stockings.

Just like before, the stockings had elastic bands around the edges to keep them from sliding down.

And perhaps because a girl’s thighs were softer, when I released my hand, clear indentations appeared where the hot pants and stockings squeezed the absolute territory between them.

“I’m heading out!”

I picked up the shoulder bag I’d packed the night before and said goodbye to the girls in the dorm.

“Xiaoxue, hang in there!”

“Good luck, Xiaoxue!”

After leaving the dorm, I walked toward the station outside the school. As usual, I took out my phone and dealt with my WeChat messages.

Then I opened QQ, ready to reject the meaningless friend requests.

“Hello. Do you accept commercial partnerships?”

A strange corporate QQ account caught my attention.

“What kind of commercial partnership? Please explain.”

After accepting the friend request, I sent them a message while I was already on the bus.

“Here’s the situation. We saw your photos online and think you have great potential. We’d like to confirm something first. You’re Bi Xinxue herself, correct?”

The other side replied quickly.

“Yes.”

“Our partnership plan is as follows…”

The “corporate QQ” account then sent me a huge pile of messages.

Right then, the bus I’d been waiting for arrived. I boarded, found a random seat, and began reading the messages carefully.

Well, damn…

After reading everything, I was hit with a strong sense that something huge had happened.

The reason was simple. This corporate QQ’s so-called “partnership plan” involved me joining their “company,” becoming a “partner,” and receiving a salary based on commissions.

They divided their “partners” into three levels.

For the first level, I would manage my own Weibo account and various social media accounts online. I’d post daily photos to attract followers.

Once I had attracted enough fans, I could have them activate VIP memberships and buy even more “oh wow” photos of me.

They claimed that this level alone could earn me at least one hundred thousand yuan a month.

The second level was even more outrageous.

I would sign directly with their company, and their professional photographers would take even more “oh wow” photos.

The terms also stated that there was a possibility of taking photos with “no clothes on.” They emphasized that this meant dedicating oneself to “art.”

The monthly income for this partnership level was highlighted in bold type: no less than three hundred thousand yuan.

There wasn’t much to say about the third level.

It felt like outright selling.

Selling photos, and selling one’s body, too.

The price started at over five hundred thousand yuan a month.

I thought of a very fitting term:

A gravure girl.

Hundreds of thousands, even over a million yuan every month!

The first level alone paid one hundred thousand yuan a month. That was 1.2 million a year.

In two years, I could afford an apartment.

And supposedly, that level wasn’t illegal, since everything stayed just on the edge. Nothing was exposed, so it didn’t count as pornography.

The only problem was that the reputation wasn’t very good.

How many university graduates could earn one hundred thousand yuan a month after graduation?

Even if my reputation suffered, I could work for three or four years, become a rich woman, quit, and find an honest man to settle down with.

That would be a life straight out of a cheat code.

But I refused.

After reading the messages from the corporate QQ account, I immediately blacklisted them.

Society might not have much else, but it certainly had plenty of temptations and traps.

I was short on money, but as a person… I still needed a bottom line.

I knew what should be done and what shouldn’t.

First, be a decent person. Then, do your work.

“By the way, I might still need over thirty minutes to get there.”

After blocking that corporate QQ account, I found Liang Zhiming on WeChat and sent him a message.

“Big brother, why are we going all the way to New West District this time?”

I’d looked up Liang Zhiming’s school before. It was an ordinary, obscure university in Central District, near Shuiming District.

As far as both he and I were concerned, New West District was extremely remote.

If I remembered correctly, the area was filled with medicinal-plant gardens. It was the “Silicon Valley” of medical students.

Many high-tech zones there were workplaces for intellectuals involved in manufacturing medical equipment and scientific instruments.

Unless ordinary people were especially interested in medicine, or loved primitive forests and nature, they rarely went to New West District for a date.

Vanilla City was huge. There were plenty of places to go on a date, like the zoo or the aquarium.

If all else failed, we could even go play by the sea.

So why insist on going to New West District, which had only recently begun development and still had immature facilities and transportation?

“I want to walk around the medicinal-plant garden there with you and clear my head.”

Not long afterward, Liang Zhiming sent me another reply.

“Today’s my birthday. I want to spend it with you.”