"Xinji Grand Restaurant... ah."

Looking at the message Qin Ning sent me, I slumped onto the desk with a helpless sigh. Two straight nights of fancy dinners did sound nice. If this were the old me, I probably would've happily taken the deal.

But the problem was, after what happened last night, I understood now. The current me ate less than a cat. The bigger the meal, the less there was for me to really enjoy.

If anything, I liked that first time Qin Ning treated me more. Just the two of us, ordering a small hot pot...

No, wait. That line of thought was a little dangerous. I quickly shook my head and threw those thoughts away, then looked around the shop.

"All cleaned up? If you're done, we're heading out."

The last step before closing was straightening the shelves and doing some basic cleaning. The main thing was the floor, and with two or three people, it could be done in no time. There were so many people in the shop right now that the seemingly huge cleaning area really didn't take long at all.

"Almost. Just the mopping left," Aili replied. "Boss Xi, can you tell us what the boss is treating us to?"

There was nothing to hide, so I answered directly, "Xinji Grand Restaurant. The one two blocks over."

Just as expected, the girls burst into cheers the moment they heard it.

"Seriously? The benefits are this good?"

"You mean that place where it's over 400 per person?"

"The boss is so generous."

But not everyone was happy.

"A big restaurant... doesn't that mean it'll take forever to eat? I wanted to get home early tonight."

"Emmmm, I already had plans with someone tonight."

Seeing that, I immediately said, "The dinner's voluntary. Besides, it's outside work hours to begin with. If you've got other things tonight, you don't have to come. It's really fine."

Even though I put it as tactfully as I could, only two or three people actually said goodbye and left. A few others stood there hesitating for a while, but in the end, they stayed.

Watching that, I felt a lot of things at once. Company dinners really were hard to handle. For people who didn't like social dinners, they practically counted as overtime.

Sure, you could choose not to go. But then your relationship with your coworkers might suffer, and maybe your boss would end up holding it against you too. So even though the old me didn't like them either, I still went every time with a smile on my face.

That's society for you.

But those were their concerns now, not mine. My identity had already changed from the employee scared of being judged by the boss to the boss herself, so none of that really mattered anymore.

After one final headcount, there were ten people staying. Worth mentioning, all the full-time employees I'd picked were among them.

"Then let's go. The boss already booked seats and is waiting for us."

Leading a whole group of youthful, pretty girls across two streets made for quite a unique sight. Their laughter and chatter never stopped, but I didn't take in a single word.

Because I had something else on my mind.

As I watched the sun slowly sink, and the evening glow burn the shop signs at the street corner red, my mood started to ache too.

Oh, right. No, that wasn't possible anymore... no balls, no ball ache...

Actually, the issue was simple. It just suddenly hit me that the sun was setting, and I was going home with Qin Ning. Finding a place to stay was obviously a good thing, but the problem was—

I hadn't brought any spare clothes.

Including underwear. Panties. Nothing.

The more I walked, the more I wanted to shed two lines of bitter tears. This had all happened way too suddenly. I hadn't prepared at all. I did have a few changes of clothes back in the dorm, but the problem was—how was I supposed to know things would go this smoothly?

Seriously, I couldn't exactly set out in the morning with everything packed just because I wanted to try asking someone if I could stay over, right?

If I'd shown up at Qin Ning's office earlier with a huge bag of clothes like some drifter and said all that—

that wouldn't have been asking anymore. That would've been forcing her hand.

"Sis Xi," Xu Wei softly edged up against my arm and said gently, "what's wrong? Are you unhappy?"

She'd seen the expression on my face, one uglier than crying.

"...It's not that I'm unhappy." I blinked painfully. "I'm lost."

"...Eh?" The little loli looked blank.

She didn't understand the kind of confusion I was feeling right now. First of all, there was no way I could run back to school at this hour to get clothes. It would waste way too much time, unless I just straight-up ditched the employee dinner on the shop's first day.

Was that possible? Of course not. Qin Ning's cold personality made it obvious she wasn't the type who liked interacting with employees. If not for me, she probably wouldn't even have planned this dinner.

In other words, if I didn't attend the dinner, then what did she even need me for?

Second, I could go buy some clothes at the night market or supermarket later. That sounded like a decent temporary fix too. But the problem was—

I had no money.

The other girls working here weren't exactly rich either. I couldn't even find anyone to borrow from. If I wanted to borrow money, I'd have to ask Qin Ning. And that brought me right back to the problem: I was already freeloading at her place, and now I'd also need her to buy me clothes, pants, skirts, underwear, and panties.

"Sis Xi," Xu Wei said softly, "your face is really red."

"...Don't worry about it. Kids wouldn't get it."