The Quagmire of Desire: From Gambling Addict and Village Flower to Movie Queen

After lunch, the lecturer led Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling through the corridor to a door at the end of the second floor.

There was no sign on the door, the paint was peeling, and the wood was showing through the peeling paint.

The lecturer knocked on the door twice.

"Come in." A slightly hoarse male voice came from inside.

Pushing open the door, a strong smell of smoke hit me.

The office was small, with an old-fashioned desk. Behind the desk sat a bald, fat man wearing a floral shirt and a thick gold chain around his neck.

The fat man, cigarette dangling from his lips, sized the two up, his gaze lingering on their chests before he grinned: "Did you bring any money?"

Liu Meiling paused for a moment and glanced at the lecturer.

The lecturer nodded to her: "The boss is asking you guys."

Sun Xiaoyan's palms began to sweat.

Liu Meiling spoke up: "I brought it, three thousand."

The fat man frowned and exhaled a puff of smoke: "Three thousand isn't enough. Pay twelve thousand, and you can work both day and night shifts."

"Twelve thousand?" Sun Xiaoyan blurted out.

The fat man glanced at her and said slowly, "Newcomer discount, just pay two thousand eight, the rest can be deducted from your salary after you graduate."

Liu Meiling bit her lip.

The lecturer chimed in, "This is the boss being considerate of you; everyone else pays in full."

Liu Meiling glanced at Sun Xiaoyan, then opened her old bag and took out a wad of cash.

It was all crumpled loose change, counted out one bill at a time.

She counted out two thousand eight and put it on the table.

The fat man shoved the money into the drawer and tossed two cards over: "Employee number. Training starts tomorrow. Work hard, and earning 30,000 a month isn't a dream."

The lecturer led the two out of the office, down the corridor to the first floor, and around to the back of the building.

There is a small hut there.

The moment she pushed open the door, Sun Xiaoyan froze.

There were three iron bunk beds in the room, crammed with six people.

The paint was peeling off the walls, the windows were taped shut, and there were plastic basins and old slippers piled on the floor.

The two girls were already lying on the lower bunk, one with a ponytail and the other with short hair. When they saw the two of them come in, they looked up and sized them up.

"Is this new here?" the girl with the ponytail asked.

The instructor nodded: "You'll stay here during the training period, and then you'll get a single room after you become a full-time employee."

Sun Xiaoyan placed her old schoolbag on the empty bed.

The lecturer turned to leave, but just as he reached the door, the boss suddenly appeared.

"Cellphone." The bald, fat man held out his hand.

Sun Xiaoyan was stunned.

"Company policy dictates that these items will be kept in storage during the training period," the fat man said calmly, but with an unyielding tone. "Don't worry, they'll be returned to you in three days."

Sun Xiaoyan glanced at Liu Meiling.

Liu Meiling hesitated for a second, then took out her phone from her pocket and handed it over.

Sun Xiaoyan also took out her phone, which was still a little warm.

The fat man took the phone, turned around, and left.

The moment the door closed, Sun Xiaoyan felt a sudden emptiness in her heart.

That cell phone was her only way to contact her; it contained Chen Xiaodie's phone number.

It's gone now.

She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the peeling paint on the wall.

The girl with the ponytail is called Xiao Zhao, and she arrived three months ago. The girl with short hair is called Ali, and she has been here for two months.

Both of them are ready to "graduate". Xiao Zhao has already started leading a group on his own, while Ali is still learning how to communicate effectively.

Around 6:30 p.m., a whistle suddenly sounded in the stairwell.

"Gather! Gather! The boss will be giving the lesson himself!"

The people in the small house jumped up from the bed. Xiao Zhao was the first to put on his shoes and run outside, followed closely by Ali.

Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

The hall was full of people again, dozens of people sitting neatly together, even more than in the morning.

On the stage, the bald, fat man had changed into a white shirt, revealing his gold chain.

He stood on the podium, cleared his throat, and began, "Gentlemen, do you know why most people remain poor their entire lives?"

No one spoke.

"Because they're selling their labor," the fat man said, tapping the blackboard. "You earn five thousand a month, your boss earns fifty thousand. Do you know why?"

He paused for a moment: "Because you're selling your time, while your boss is selling his business model."

The fat man drew a triangle on the blackboard, with "Boss" written at the top, "Team Leader" in the middle, and "Member" at the bottom.

"This model is called three-tier distribution."

He turned around, looking into the pairs of eyes below: "Each of you only needs to recruit three people, and each of those three people recruits three more, and each of those nine people recruits three more, for a total of thirty-nine people. Each person pays twelve thousand, so how much is that?"

He smiled and said, "Four hundred and sixty-eight thousand. After deducting all costs, you'll earn over one hundred thousand a month, which is more than enough."

People below started clapping.

Sun Xiaoyan's palms were sweaty.

One hundred thousand yuan is enough for her to buy countless new clothes and eat countless good meals.

She glanced at Liu Meiling.

Liu Meiling kept her head down, scribbling in her notebook, noting down keywords such as "three-tier distribution," "refer three and get one back," and "earn 100,000 a month."

The fat man spoke for over an hour, covering topics from distribution models to team building, and from team building to life planning.

Applause erupted from the audience from time to time, some people shouted slogans, and some banged on the table.

After the meeting, the lecturer called Sun Xiaoyan and Liu Meiling over.

"You two, come with me."

He led the two to a small room at the end of the corridor and handed them two stacks of printed papers, densely covered with names and phone numbers.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll take turns recruiting. Each person needs to recruit three people to break even. Recruit ten people and you'll become a team leader," the instructor said.

Sun Xiaoyan took the stack of papers, flipped through them, and found they were all unfamiliar names.

"I don't know these people," she said.

The lecturer smiled, a very gentle smile: "It doesn't matter if you don't know them. Tell them you're from XX company, introduce them to a good project that pays 30,000 a month, and ask them if they're interested."

"Then how should I say it?" Sun Xiaoyan asked again.

"Here's the script." The instructor pulled out two sheets of paper covered in dense writing. "Just memorize it. Make 100 calls a day, until someone is willing to recruit others."

Sun Xiaoyan glanced at the contents of the paper, which began: "Hello, is this Mr./Ms. XX? I'm Xiao Sun, a customer service representative from XX Wealth Company. I'm calling today to share some good news with you..."

She turned to the second page, which was full of similar phrases.

"But... I really don't know how to say it," Sun Xiaoyan said softly.

The lecturer's face turned cold, and his smile vanished.

"Then practice until you master it." His voice was calm. "This place doesn't tolerate idlers. If you don't produce results, the two thousand eight hundred you paid will be wasted."

After saying that, he left the two of them behind and turned to leave.

Sun Xiaoyan stood there, holding the stack of names, her hands trembling slightly.

Liu Meiling took the list from her hand, flipped through it, and found it to be a bunch of unfamiliar names.

"How do we fight this?" Sun Xiaoyan whispered.

Liu Meiling didn't say anything, she just stared at the list in her hand.

There was an old-fashioned telephone hanging on the wall, with a piece of paper next to it that read: Make at least one hundred phone calls every day.

Sun Xiaoyan looked at the paper and a chill suddenly ran through her.

She didn't know how long she could stay in this godforsaken place, nor whether her rhetoric would actually fool anyone.

But she knew that at seven o'clock the next morning, she had to sit in front of that telephone and make her first call.

The first name on the list was someone called "Aunt Wang," and her phone number was from out of town.

Sun Xiaoyan stared at the name, her fingers pressing against the paper, which felt icy cold.

Liu Meiling slammed the list on the table, her voice a little heavy for the first time: "Fine, let's fight then. We can always find another place."

As soon as he finished speaking, footsteps came from the other end of the corridor, and the lecturer poked his head out: "Work starts at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. Latecomers will be fined."