“Damn, I knew it.”
Gu Chen muttered under her breath.
‘He wouldn’t just ask me to deliver an ID card for no reason. He clearly wanted me to do some manual labor.’
‘After all, a son is free labor. Hiring someone would cost money…’
After a few minutes of discussion, they finally completed all the paperwork and officially rented the warehouse.
“Dad, why did you pick this crappy place? It’s too far.”
Gu Chen looked at the warehouse, which was about fifty square meters, unable to hold back her complaint.
Every time she had to come help, she had to ride a bike for an hour.
Her body would be falling apart before she even arrived.
“What crappy place?”
Dad immediately put on a stern face and explained, “This is a prime location I went through a lot of trouble to find. It might look desolate, but the price is cheap—just a few hundred a month. Plus, there are several courier stations nearby. We can have them pick up the packages for shipping right from the door. Up ahead there are restaurants, shops, and housing. It’s a standard urban village.”
“You just want it because it’s cheap.”
After all that talk, that was probably the real point.
Still, the location wasn’t bad.
Once an online order was placed, they had to ship it as soon as possible—no delays. With courier stations nearby, they could come anytime.
Very convenient.
Every day, when orders came in, they could come here to ship them all at once.
That way, costs could be minimized.
Gu Chen had to admit, her dad really did have a good head for business.
Aside from cleaning the warehouse and stocking inventory, he only needed to come here once a day.
Much better than being a workhorse at a regular job.
Of course, that all depended on the business being good.
“Hehe.”
Dad gave a simple-minded laugh, rubbed his hands together, and finally revealed his true intention.
“Xiaochen, the truck will be here soon. I ordered a few hundred boxes. You can help move the goods too, since you’re already here, right?”
“I freaking…”
Gu Chen had guessed that would be the case. She was furious.
She had been exhausted from school all day, and now she had to come be a laborer at night.
Did no one think of her as a girl at times like this?
But she had no choice.
Her dad’s entrepreneurship wasn’t easy, and she understood his principle of saving wherever possible.
Still, she reached out a hand to negotiate.
“Fine. How much for moving fees?”
“Oh, come on. We’re family. Talking about money hurts our relationship, right?”
Dad put his arm around Gu Chen’s shoulders, clearly not wanting to pay.
Otherwise, he would have hired someone to do the moving.
“Then at least give me fifty bucks for food. I haven’t eaten yet. I need to be full to work.”
Gu Chen had been defeated by her dad’s shamelessness.
But she refused to be taken for a fool.
She definitely needed money for food, and she was really hungry.
“Alright, no problem.”
Dad finally agreed and transferred the money over.
It seemed like this was also part of his calculation.
Even though she got the money, she still felt ripped off.
Before the truck arrived, Gu Chen had to go find a restaurant nearby to eat.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have the strength to work.
[Turn right in 200 meters]
Not familiar with the area, she could only mount her phone on the bike’s stand for navigation.
The nearest restaurant was a kilometer away—not far.
By now, it was already dark.
There weren’t even streetlights around, so she had to turn on the headlight and ride forward.
It would probably be even quieter later at night.
Gu Chen felt a tingle down her spine for no reason.
On both sides were farmland and woods.
“Hiss… why does it feel so eerie?”
Just as she was about to drive out of the intersection, an intruder staggered out from the right, hunched over.
Under the light, she could see it was a person, but the way they walked was unsteady.
Combined with the pitch-black night, it was enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat.
“Holy crap!”
“What the hell!”
Gu Chen was also scared out of her wits.
She almost lost control, her scalp tingling.
It felt like the uncanny valley effect—probably because the walking posture was too strange.
Her first thought was a ghost; her second thought was a zombie.
“Ah!!”
In the moment her mind blanked, the bike had already reached that ghostly figure.
Luckily, she reacted quickly and braked in time, avoiding a collision.
But the other person let out a scream and fell straight to the ground.
“It’s a person?”
Gu Chen took deep breaths to calm her nerves.
She mustered her courage and took a look, then let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed to be a woman.
Her snow-white, slender legs were very eye-catching.
Her long blonde hair covered her face, making it impossible to see her features.
“What the heck, are you trying to scam me?!”
Gu Chen immediately looked around warily.
She was afraid that any second a group of people would jump out, accuse her of hitting someone, and demand a hundred thousand or so to let her go…
She thought about just taking off, but the woman was lying across the road.
The only way was to run her over.
Seeing no signs of an ambush, she carefully got off the bike to check.
“Hey? You okay?”
She called out, but the woman still didn’t react.
It was too strange, not knowing if she was dead or alive.
Taking a deep breath, Gu Chen brushed aside her blonde hair.
She was shocked.
“It’s her!?”
Even though she had only seen her once, the woman’s face and body were unforgettable.
Wasn’t this the blonde foreigner who did the cover shoot for their online store?
What the hell?
How did she end up here?
And she was in an unknown state of life or death.
This was really troublesome.
“Hey, wake up. Say something.”
Gu Chen shook her shoulder again, anxious.
She checked for breath.
Luckily, she was still breathing.
But she had no idea what was going on.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to do.
They weren’t exactly close. Maybe call the police?
“Forget it. I owe you one!”
After thinking it over, other options would take too much time.
She decided to take the woman to the hospital first.
If she tried to extort money, she would call Uncle Hat.
Then Gu Chen picked up the blonde girl and placed her on the back of the bike, letting her lie against her back.
She used a tie-down strap to secure them at the waist, in case she fell off later.
Once everything was set, she navigated to the nearest hospital and sped off.
As for her dad, she really couldn’t worry about him.
Half an hour later, Ivy was sent into the emergency room for examination.
The results came out quickly. Nothing serious.
“What? Passed out from hunger?”
Gu Chen couldn’t believe it.
She confirmed again, “Just that? No terminal illness or anything?”
“The patient is very healthy, don’t worry.”
The nurse answered confidently, “It’s purely malnutrition. She fainted from hunger. Just give her a nutritional injection and some glucose, and she’ll be fine.”
“Good.”
On the way here, she had imagined all kinds of possibilities, but never this.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
In this day and age, how could someone still faint from hunger?
But at least she was okay.
Looking at Ivy lying on the hospital bed, her face had regained some color.
Just as she sat down to rest, her dad called, asking why she wasn’t back yet—the truck had arrived.
“I can’t come for now. While I was eating, I saw someone collapsed on the roadside. I took them to the hospital.”
Gu Chen explained.