Chapter 45: Cost

As night fell, a vague reflection of the living room appeared on the floor-to-ceiling windows adjacent to the balcony.

Several beams of light from the chandelier illuminated the square table, where the food looked glossy and fresh, steam rising from the dishes.

“Xiao Ji, thanks for helping me report to the Company,” I said, holding my chopsticks and eating the long-awaited delicacies.

Since it was hard to refuse their hospitality, An Zhi and I stayed at the Xiao family home for dinner.

I took this opportunity to thank Xiao Ji.

“It was just a small thing!”

“You mean it was a ‘slip of the tongue,'” Xiao Qingling corrected him.

“Ah, haha, sorry.”

Whenever Aunt Ji was home, it was a day of suffering for Xiao Ji.

Both mother and daughter seemed to have severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and would not allow any misspeaking.

“That’s right! Brother Mingshan, it’s fine for you to just go to work. That woman said she wouldn’t come looking for you. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll go and keep an eye on things for you tomorrow!”

“Yes, she told me that as well,” An Zhi added.

“Uh? Right, okay.”

‘Can I really trust what Su Xixia says? But I truly cannot afford to miss work…’

I decided not to take any more leaves of absence starting tomorrow.

Taking care of An Zhi required money, and I needed to buy her a few sets of clothes she could change into.

At the mention of work, An Zhi leaned a bit closer to me.

After work tomorrow, I would take her to report her ID card as lost and check her Bank Card number while I was at it.

That way, she would have access to her own money.

I lightly stroked her back to ease her mind.

Everyone chatted about things from our University Era until dinner was over and it was time for An Zhi and me to head back.

Xiao Ji walked us downstairs.

Finally able to speak freely, he took a deep breath of the cold winter air.

“Refreshing! These past few days have been miserable. I couldn’t even go out to mess around. I was bored to death!”

He must have been feeling suppressed after his recent conflict with Xu Yinyin, especially since Aunt Ji had returned at the same time…

He really was pathetic.

“Is Senior Schoolmate still talking to you?”

“Talking? Talking my ass!”

He had just blurted out the curse when he shrunk his neck and looked around, then whispered another curse, “Dammit!”

“Since she said she likes you, you should take the initiative. I don’t mind; what happened is in the past.”

I knew it was impossible for Xiao Ji to stop liking Xu Yinyin just because of what happened to me, so I tried to comfort him.

I wasn’t doing it for Xu Yinyin’s sake; I was saying it entirely for Xiao Ji.

“Yes… Yinyin might be reflecting on her actions,” An Zhi added.

“Good luck.”

“Ohhh—!”

Xiao Ji let out a strange cry.

“Thanks, you guys. I’ll give it a try. As for that idiot mastermind behind the scenes, I’ll keep digging for info. Don’t worry!”

That probably wasn’t necessary…

Given Xiao Ji’s methods, it would likely have the opposite effect.

“Alright, just be careful with your words and actions,” I suggested gently.

He walked us all the way to the entrance of the residential area and stood there for a long while before turning back.

I held An Zhi’s hand, no longer caring about Xu Yinyin’s business.

An Zhi was by my side now, and that was the only thing that mattered.

—

Late at night.

“…Is it okay? …It’s become so intense.”

“Don’t worry about it…”

After taking turns showering, An Zhi and I lay “quietly” in bed.

Even though she wasn’t lying directly on top of me like before, I still found it difficult to look away from her.

‘What is she thinking?’

Facing my back, her breath came in hot puffs.

She seemed very embarrassed.

“But… you haven’t been able to sleep for a long time. Should I…”

“It’s fine. I won’t do anything you aren’t ready for.”

‘Work with me, willpower! I’ve already decided to cherish her!’

I lay on my side, and she tried her best not to touch me.

Even so, it wasn’t working very well…

“I’ll help you…”

Feeling her suddenly hug me from behind, goosebumps erupted all over my body.

I didn’t know what she was planning.

“An Zhi, go to sleep.”

“…No. Because… it wasn’t easy for us to be together again. I want to hold you more… I’ll try…”

The sensation of her small hand brushed against my waist as she explored carefully.

I realized that since she had said this much, there was no stopping her.

I would let her do whatever she wanted…

—

Thanks to her, we finally managed to sink into a dreamland together in each other’s arms.

—

Monday morning, my phone rang before the alarm I had set could go off.

I looked at the screen with bleary eyes.

There was a message from Xiao Ji.

After tapping it open, I immediately sat up and started dressing.

An Zhi was awakened by the commotion and hurriedly put on her clothes and a coat.

“What’s wrong?”

She asked.

“Xiao Ji is coming over. He says it’s urgent…”

“Urgent? I see…”

An Zhi sat quietly on the edge of the bed, staring down at the sheets.

Normally, it was impossible for Xiao Ji to send a message this early unless something very serious had happened.

Soon, there was a frantic knocking at the door.

I ran to open it and saw Xiao Ji with messy hair and wide eyes, clutching his chest and panting for breath.

“Big— big trouble! I snuck out— in the early morning— whew— whew—”

“Don’t rush. Take your time. What happened?”

I helped him inside and poured a glass of water for him to drink.

He pulled several envelopes from his clothes and placed them on my desk before gulping down the water.

The envelopes had already been opened.

The recipient was listed as “Zhizhi,” and the mailing address was An Zhi’s former Sucheng University dormitory address, with a backup address of the apartment where I used to live printed below.

This was all information An Zhi had provided before she started her job…

The contents were “Legal Documents.”

My hands trembled as I opened the envelopes and pulled the papers out, stacking them on the desk.

When I saw the words **[Lawyer’s Letter]** printed in large letters on the top sheet, my heart skipped a beat.

Seeing it, An Zhi gripped my hand tightly.

Her fingernails dug into my palm, and cold sweat began to pour from her.

I knew the “price” had finally come due.

“I wanted to sneak out to the bar to mess around and stopped by your apartment to check things out. Then, that Su Xixia woman was standing right at the door. When she saw me, she rushed over and shoved these things into my hands. Look at them; there are several copies…”

I was already reading the text without him needing to tell me.

“To: ‘Zhizhi’ (Real name: An Zhi), Streamer under our MCN institution, UID: …”

“According to the third article of the Livestreaming Contract signed with our Company… you have committed a serious breach of contract…”

This was a lawyer’s letter sent from An Zhi’s subsidiary, Wings Star World.

It was a warning regarding An Zhi’s breach of contract for running away, demanding she contact her manager within one day of receipt.

Checking the information at the bottom, the date was from five days ago.

The warning had already expired.

“There’s more below… Prepare yourselves before you look,” Xiao Ji warned, looking away.

I slowly moved the lawyer’s letter aside.

The title of the next page was **[Notice of Contract Termination]**.

I took a few deep breaths to steady my emotions and read the words.

“…Since Zhizhi (Real name: An Zhi) failed to contact the person in charge as scheduled, this Company, in accordance with the fifth article of the contract… hereby terminates the contract and reserves the right to pursue liability for breach of contract… This letter serves to notify the defaulting party… to cooperate with the breach of contract compensation process…”

I clearly saw a staggering figure written in the sentence quoting the contract terms.

I had to carefully count the number of zeroes to understand the number.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands…

Is it… 500,000?

This number was determined based on An Zhi’s popularity and the revenue she brought to the Company.

My fingers were damp enough to soak through the paper, leaving dark gray marks on the white page.

Even though I knew the number was 500,000, I recounted it several times.

This number…

Was far beyond anything I could afford.

‘How am I supposed to get that much money… What should I do… I need to use my head…’

My fingers slid across the paper.

Beneath the termination notice were other documents.

My eyes swept rapidly over the remaining pages.

I didn’t dare look closely, forced to accept facts I didn’t want to accept.

**[Negotiation Notice]**: “…The breach of contract compensation will be determined based on a baseline of 500,000. If the defaulting party cannot reach an agreement with the corresponding manager within the month, the Company will file a lawsuit in court…”

There were legal terms I had never seen before.

Since I didn’t understand the law, I wasn’t sure what the consequences would be.

Did this mean…

If we didn’t respond by the end of the month, the compensation would be even more than 500,000?

The 500,000 was an amount that absolutely had to be paid…

“Calm down first… Brother Mingshan, I’m not good with words and don’t know what to say. Just stay calm. Don’t do anything rash,” Xiao Ji tried his best to comfort me.

“…I’m sorry.”

I heard An Zhi apologize in a small voice.

I felt her tears landing on the back of my hand and my thigh, growing more frequent.

“I… I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to leave you… Waaa— Mingshan… I don’t want to go… Boohoo… I don’t want to be locked up there again. I’m so scared…”

She sobbed.

At this moment, did I still have the courage to tell her, “Don’t worry, I’m here”?

“…I’m here.”

My entire body wouldn’t stop shaking.

“An Zhi, I’m here…”

I gripped her hand with increasing strength.

Rather than words, my brain was already racing to find ways to scrape together that 500,000.

My mind had already made the decision before my mouth could speak.

Of course I had the courage!

I had promised to protect her…

It was just that my body was still betraying me, trembling with fear and dripping with cold sweat.

This was a responsibility that An Zhi and I had to bear together.

During these past few days together, we had clearly known this was coming, yet we had held onto the lucky hope that the other party wouldn’t pursue us.

We hadn’t wanted to face it.

And this…

Was the “price” of enjoying freedom.