Chapter 6: Who loves me? Who?

Zheng Yang hadn’t expected herself to be so hung up on those words.

— “Someone will love you.”

‘I’m being so melodramatic, and more importantly, it’s useless!’

Given her current body, the person who would love her would most likely be a man…

‘How disgusting…’

As nauseating as the thought was, she couldn’t help but wonder who it would be.

Since the omnipotent Lili had said it, she figured it must be true love — not something superficial, perfunctory, or a fleeting three-minute whim.

So, who was it?

A-Zi?

Manager Wang? ‘Ugh, please no!’

It couldn’t be Zheng Shiqiang, could it…

‘No, no, no, what am I thinking? It’s probably someone I’ll meet in the future.’

‘I hope it’s a cute girl…’

But then, it was impossible for her to marry a girl and have children now…

Zheng Yang gave herself a light slap.

‘Don’t think about it, don’t think about it! This is so pathetic!’

She didn’t have to work in the morning.

After searching her rented room for a long time, Zheng Yang couldn’t find a single outfit that provided decent coverage.

She was forced to head out in a short skirt to a cheap sports brand store and buy a well-fitting tracksuit.

In reality, her savings weren’t that small.

However, because she was a Black Household, A-Zi told her that even her SIM card and bank card were under Manager Wang’s name.

Since everything belonged to Manager Wang, she didn’t feel like the money truly belonged to her, so she tried to spend as little as possible.

When she tried the clothes on, the young girl in the mirror looked charming and full of youthful vitality.

She looked like a completely different person compared to when she was working as a hostess.

She stared at the mirror for a long while, moving her legs, adjusting her arms, and spinning around…

She was beautiful.

This girl was exactly her type.

Unfortunately, she was the girl now.

The shop owner was generous with his praise for Zheng Yang’s outfit and figure.

Zheng Yang knew the owner said that to everyone, but she still… felt good?

She wanted to slap herself again.

‘How can you be so pathetic! You’re a 38-year-old man!’

But Lili had told her that she needed to let go of some of her dignity.

Besides, no one in this world knew she was a 38-year-old man.

Her duplicate was currently fulfilling his family and social responsibilities for him.

Why did she have to strictly adhere to a sense of dignity that no one knew or acknowledged?

No, she couldn’t give up.

She felt that dignity was closely linked to memory.

To give up dignity was to give up memory and history.

What was the difference between a person without memory or history and a walking corpse?

Furthermore, she was reluctant to give up the skills she had cultivated over many years: her professional abilities, her problem-solving skills, and even her ability to navigate social drinking sessions and flatter leaders.

She didn’t want the 38 years of her life to be for nothing.

To put it another way, she didn’t want to die.

If she gave up on herself, then the real Zheng Yang would truly be dead.

Zheng Yang walked out of the sportswear store carrying her shopping bag and pulled out the pink-cased phone, which now had an extra crack in it — courtesy of Zheng Shiqiang’s kick.

The girl’s reflection appeared in the screen again.

Zheng Yang sighed and said, “Yangyang, if you weren’t a Black Household, you’d probably be a high school student right now, right? At most a college student. But how do I solve this Black Household issue?”

As it happened, Zheng Yang’s company had once done charitable work to resolve the residency status of children who were Black Households, and Zheng Yang had been one of the coordinators.

Back then, the primary method required the parents of the undocumented child to testify.

If there were no parents, relatives could testify.

But for someone like her current female self, Zheng Yangyang, who was completely alone with no relatives or kin to be found, it was much more troublesome.

‘Lili, you really know how to set difficult challenges for people…’

But no matter how many difficulties there were, Zheng Yang had to admit that the phrase “someone will love you” was the motivation that kept her going.

Or rather, love is the motivation for living.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yang gave a self-mocking laugh.

‘Lili, you aren’t just humoring me, are you? I have to hand it to you… you know my weaknesses.’

Even a lie could provide hope, couldn’t it?

Just as Zheng Yang finally managed to muster a bit of optimism, she soon realized she had been naive once again.

Around 4:00 or 5:00 PM, while Zheng Yang was sleeping in her rented room, a call from Manager Wang woke her up.

“Yangyang, Mr. Zheng will be here in 20 minutes. Get yourself ready.”

Only then did Zheng Yang realize that she should have bought a dress or something less revealing to deal with customers.

She really hadn’t taken this “work” seriously.

As for why she hadn’t resigned, it was because quitting would require her to pay a 200,000 breach of contract fee.

Furthermore, she was a Black Household; no one would help her seek justice…

“Brother Wang, I… Can I wear a tracksuit to meet Mr. Zheng?” Zheng Yang asked tentatively.

Manager Wang made a hissing sound over the phone.

“Wear a short skirt. Be obedient, be a good girl. Oh, by the way, Mr. Zheng had someone deliver your gifts early. There are two boxes. One is clearly a phone, and the other has no writing on it. It’s about the size of a palm; looks like a necklace or a bracelet. You’ve really landed a big one!”

Zheng Yang gave a hollow laugh.

He was the one who kicked and cracked her phone, so it was only right that he replaced it.

But as for the necklace or bracelet…

‘It couldn’t be that the person Lili said would love me is actually him, could it!’

He had just beaten her yesterday, and today he was showing up with gifts to express his love? Although he did say something like “I like you” at the end, that clearly wasn’t love…

What was he playing at? The “push and pull” routine?

Zheng Yang didn’t feel happy; she was caught between laughter and tears.

‘Lili, do you really think I’m the kind of person who could accept love from a man like this?’

A true gold-digger might be able to, but for her, it was impossible!

Zheng Yang calculated how to reject Mr. Zheng’s “love” while changing her clothes, worrying whether he would fly into a rage upon being rejected.

However, when she finally met him, she realized she had been overthinking things.

Inside the private room, Zheng Yang bowed and smiled formally.

“Mr. Zheng, you’ve arrived.”

Zheng Shiqiang looked a bit surprised.

“Oh? A day has passed and little Yangyang seems to be in a much better mood. How is your body? Are the injuries serious?”

“It’s nothing major. But if Mr. Zheng still requires that kind of service from me today, I’m afraid I’ll just end up with new injuries.”

Zheng Shiqiang laughed loudly.

“No, no. I was a bit excessive yesterday. I apologize to you.”

Zheng Yang blinked, unable to believe her ears.

This man actually apologized to her?

This caught her completely off guard.

Honestly, for many years, what Zheng Yang had been most proficient at was apologizing to others.

Regardless of whether it was her fault or not, people rarely apologized to her.

Consequently, she almost didn’t know how to face someone else’s apology.

She could only give a textbook response.

“It’s okay, Mr. Zheng. It really is fine.”

Zheng Shiqiang brought over the phone box and handed it to her.

“This is the latest OPPO model. Girls like using OPPO. I saw you were using a pink one, so I picked out a pink one for you.”

Zheng Yang refused repeatedly, but since she couldn’t push it away, she eventually had to thank him.

However, she felt no joy.

Besides, the color she actually liked was black.

When Zheng Shiqiang brought over the box that Manager Wang had called a “necklace or bracelet,” Zheng Yang stood her ground.

“This is too expensive. I can’t take it!”

Zheng Shiqiang smiled.

“This isn’t expensive.”

As he spoke, he opened the box.

Zheng Yang stared, her mind buzzing as she froze in place.

Inside, it wasn’t a bracelet or a necklace.

It was a collar.

A solid black, one-piece leather collar, complete with a small silver bell the size of a fingernail.

If it hadn’t been meant for her, she might have thought the bell was cute.

But now, the cuter it looked, the more humiliated Zheng Yang felt.