I started as a spirited young man, and the system made me a male god.

Around 6 p.m., in a photography studio of a small company that mainly sells online women's clothing in a creative park in the west of the city.

The huge softbox has been turned off, and several sample garments that were just photographed are still hanging on the clothes rack in front of the backdrop.

The air still carried the faint scent of hairspray and the slightly burnt smell of prolonged lighting equipment.

Shen Shaoting changed back into her sweatshirt and denim shorts, sat in front of the makeup mirror, and carefully wiped off the heavy makeup on her face with a makeup remover pad.

Her tired but still bright eyes were reflected in the mirror, and the cursive English tattoos on her hands and right calf were clearly visible under the cold white lights of the studio.

The door to the dressing room was pushed open, and a young woman in a loose black dress and thin-rimmed glasses, who was in charge of today's shooting handover, walked in with little expression on her face.

"Shaoting, you've worked hard. The photos turned out great today, with a high success rate." She said, taking out her phone and fiddling with it a few times.

Shen Shaoting's phone immediately vibrated, and the screen lit up with a transfer notification—800 yuan.

She stopped wiping her face, turned to look at the woman, and frowned: "Sister Jin, didn't we agree on eight sets a day, totaling 1200? This... isn't there a mistake?"

Sister Jin pushed up her glasses and smiled, "Hehe, about that. Well, our contract template actually has an additional clause: if a model has obviously exposed tattoos that affect the final image and require post-production retouching, the fee will be adjusted accordingly based on the difficulty of the retouching. These two tattoos of yours today..."

She gestured towards Shen Shaoting's arms and legs, "Although most of the clothes cover it, there are still a few shots of short-sleeved shirts and skirts that need technical processing to ensure the footage is clean. This cost will be deducted from the model fee. The 800 is the actual amount after tax. If there are no problems, could you confirm receipt of payment?"

Shen Shaoting looked at Sister Jin's businesslike face, then looked down at the tattoo on her arm.

She knew the other party was talking nonsense; they hadn't even mentioned the "contract template with additional clauses" before she accepted the job.

It's simply because she's an independent model, not under an agency contract, making her easy to manipulate.

Removing that tiny bit of tattoo is no big deal for a professional retoucher. I've worked with several companies before and never encountered this problem. This is clearly just an excuse to lower the price.

A surge of anger rose to my throat.

She wanted to directly confront him, asking, "Why didn't you say so before?", and question, "Can photo editing really remove 400 yuan?", and even wanted to transfer the 800 yuan back and curse, "I don't care."

But she just took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger in her heart, and pinched the cotton pad soaked in makeup remover with her fingers.

Fine, eight hundred it is.

Having money is better than nothing, at least it's more than what I used to earn as a bar atmosphere host.

She wants to save more money now than ever before.

It's not about being greedy for material things, but about wanting to have more "confidence".

The days spent living in 801 with Chen Fei and Sister Jingyi were incredibly warm, but they also made her secretly determined not to just be the one being taken care of and protected.

Chen Fei is building his career, and new girls are getting closer to him, so Shen Shaoting also needs to have something of her own to be proud of.

Every time she saw her account balance increase, even if it was only a few hundred yuan, she felt that she was one step closer to becoming the person who could "justifiably treat Chen Fei to a big meal" and "help him when he needs it".

This feeling of walking side by side with her partner makes her happier than any amount of money she earns.

"...Alright then." Shen Shaoting finally nodded, forcing a slightly stiff smile. "Thank you, Sister Jin. I'll contact you again if there's any suitable work next time."

Seeing that she was so "sensible", Sister Jin's smile became more sincere: "No problem, you have a good sense of the camera. If there are new products that need to be filmed, I'll ask you first."

Shen Shaoting didn't say anything. After quickly removing her makeup, she packed her things, picked up her bag, and walked out of the clothing company, which had a somewhat artistic decor but was actually quite calculating.

As darkness fell, streetlights illuminated the creative park, and some fast-food restaurants began to bustle with activity.

Shen Shaoting rubbed her sore shoulders, neck, and calves. In this sweltering heat, she had been standing for most of the day, constantly changing positions while wearing ill-fitting high heels, and her body felt like it was falling apart.

My heels are probably blistered; every step I take is painful.

Whose fault is it? she thought to herself with a self-deprecating smile.

I blame myself for being inexperienced; I didn't ask clearly before taking the job, and I didn't write down the price in black and white.

Learn from your mistakes; be careful not to repeat them next time.

Instead of taking the bus, she went to a roadside roast meat shop and ordered her favorite poached chicken rice and a large bottle of iced tea.

Chen Fei talked to Jiang Che about something that evening, and Sister Jingyi still had to shoot night scenes, so she was too lazy to go back and cook. If she cooked too much, she wouldn't be able to finish it, and if she cooked too little, she wouldn't be able to cook enough.

The moment the piping hot poached chicken rice was served, my phone started buzzing.

It wasn't a phone call, it was a WeChat friend request.

Upon opening the message, it felt like a thorn in my eye: "Tingting, this is your mother. Your Aunt Liu saw your photos on WeChat Moments and said you're doing quite well now. Things are tough at home lately, and your brother is now a college student and said he wants to go on a trip this weekend..."

Shen Shaoting stared at the words, her chopsticks holding the poached chicken hanging in mid-air.

Spread a small patch of ginger and scallion sauce on the rice.

She showed little expression and approved the application.

Almost instantly, a video call request popped up.

Shen Shaoting answered the call, placed the phone next to the iced tea, pointed the camera at the food in front of her, and then continued eating with her head down.

"Tingting? Eating out? That's nice." The mother's face appeared on the screen, with the familiar old sofa in the background. She tried to smile, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were very obvious.

"Mmm." Shen Shaoting took a bite of rice and chewed.

"Um... Aunt Liu said those clothes photos you posted on your WeChat Moments are really nice. You must be making a good living doing this now, right?" The mother's voice was tentative. "Your younger brother is in college now, and he's bored on weekends and wants to travel, but your dad and I only earn so little... you know..."

Shen Shaoting slowed her chewing. She swallowed her food, looked up at the screen.

The mother's eyes flickered on the screen, filled with pleading and unease.

Shen Shaoting suddenly felt that the food in her mouth had lost its flavor.

"Mom," she began, her voice calm, so calm it felt unfamiliar even to herself, "when I first dropped out of school to work, I had a bad cold, a fever that reached almost 40 degrees Celsius. I was lying alone in my rented room, and I called you to ask if you could lend me 500 yuan to go to the hospital for an IV drip. What did you say?"

The mother's smile froze on her face.

Shen Shaoting repeated, word by word, "You said, 'You're so young, a cold is nothing, just drink some hot water and sweat it out, why go to the hospital, it's a waste of money.' You also said, 'We won't need you to worry about us anymore, our younger brother can take care of us in our old age. Figure it out yourself, whether you work or borrow money, don't ask the family for anything.'"

She paused, looking at the embarrassed expression on her mother's face and the silhouette of her father turning his head away in the background, before continuing, "You said that, didn't you? Mom, am I remembering wrong?"

"Why...why are you bringing up these old stories now!" The mother's voice shrieked, filled with anger and embarrassment. "Don't you know what the family's situation was like back then? Now you're able to earn money, aren't you?"

Helping your family, helping your brother, isn't that what you should do? Once your brother recovers, will he forget about you, his older sister?

"No need," Shen Shaoting interrupted her, shaking her head. "My affairs are none of your concern. And I can't help you with yours either."

I didn't even go to university, let alone travel, let alone give my brother travel expenses? You're dreaming! Also, stop trying to find out about me through Aunt Liu or Aunt Zhang; I'm blocking you all right now!

After she finished speaking, she hung up the video call without waiting for her mother to say anything more.

She was so angry that her fingers were trembling, but she quickly found several WeChat accounts and chose to block them.

After doing all this, she stared at the now-darkened phone screen for several seconds.

Then, I picked up my chopsticks again, grabbed a piece of the delicious poached chicken that I never get tired of, stuffed it into my mouth, and chewed it vigorously.

Her eyes felt hot and swollen, but she blinked hard to force back the soreness.

She unlocked her phone while eating, her finger habitually swiping to the photo album and opening the saved photos.

It was filled with photos of her, Chen Fei, and Lin Jingyi: playfully fighting in the living room of apartment 801, shopping together at the supermarket and filling their car with snacks, and a photo she secretly took of Chen Fei's handsome face while he was asleep...

Looking at Chen Fei's smile in the photo, whether helpless or indulgent, and at Jing Yi's figure, the cold hole in Shen Shaoting's heart was slowly filled with warm memories.

Thankfully, I still have them, and this happy little family.

Shen Shaoting sniffed and finished the rest of her rice and iced tea in one go.

Tonight I can spend time with Jingyi and Chen Fei again. The little bit of anger I suffered today is nothing!

As I paid the bill and walked out of the casual dining restaurant, a night breeze blew, and the feeling of weakness mixed with the dull pain in my heart came over me again.

She stood by the roadside, ready to hail a taxi home, take a hot shower, and enjoy the tenderness of the evening.

My phone suddenly rang again.

This time it was an incoming call, and the name "Meng Sixian" appeared on the screen.

Shen Shaoting was somewhat surprised. She knew that Meng Sixian had been very busy lately, so they hadn't been in touch for a while.

She answered the phone, puzzled: "Feed? Sister Sixian?"

The voice coming from the other end of the phone made Shen Shaoting tense up instantly.

The background is deafeningly loud music, the sounds of people playing drinking games, and laughter.

Meng Sixian's voice was mixed in, sounding somewhat flustered:

"Shao-Shao-Ting, could you come pick me up now? My company is having a team-building event at a karaoke bar, and some of my male colleagues keep trying to get me drunk. It wouldn't be good for me to just go home, so I was hoping you could come and pick me up..."

Shen Shaoting's brows furrowed into a tight knot, and a surge of hot blood rushed to her head.

Team building activities involving excessive drinking? Karaoke? What kind of disgusting company culture is this? It's utterly repulsive!

"Address! Send me your location right now!" Shen Shaoting spoke rapidly, her voice firm and decisive. She had already rushed to the middle of the road, frantically waving to stop cars. "Just hold on, I'll be there soon!"

A taxi braked suddenly in front of her.

Shen Shaoting opened the car door and jumped in, practically shouting the address of the KTV Meng Sixian had just sent her: "Driver, quick! To this place!"

The taxi engine let out a low growl and suddenly plunged into the traffic.

Shen Shaoting gripped her phone tightly, staring at the rapidly receding lights outside the window. Her eyes were sharp as knives, and her previous grievances and exhaustion were replaced by a fiercer protectiveness and anger.

Don't panic.

She said to herself.

She had the courage to rush over alone, but she had never been involved in company team building before. What if she went over and escalated the conflict?

Shen Shaoting barely hesitated before swiping through her contacts and finding the designated name—Chen Fei.

The call was dialed, and the busy tone lasted only one ring before it was answered.