From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

After she finished speaking, she reached out and unzipped her suitcase.

The suitcase contained very little: just a few changes of clothes, an inexpensive small bag, two pairs of casual shoes, and a few basic daily necessities—that was all.

Looking at her few remaining personal belongings, Su Qing laughed out loud in despair and self-mockery, her laughter filled with helplessness.

"If you really can't take it anymore, you can admit defeat and apologize to your parents..."

Before I could finish speaking, Su Qing immediately interrupted me, her eyes instantly regaining their stubbornness and hardness, her tone resolute.

"impossible!"

"Even if I have to beg on the streets, I will never bow my head and return to the Su family, much less marry Fang Heng!"

Seeing her unwavering determination, I had nothing to say and could only nod slightly.

A gentle evening breeze swept by, and the two fell into a brief silence, the atmosphere quiet yet awkward.

I broke the silence first, asking, "Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

After a brief silence, Su Qing decisively took out her phone and dialed another number.

The call was answered quickly, and this time, because she was close by, I could clearly hear the gentle female voice on the other end.

"Qingqing? What's wrong calling so late?" It was her best friend Leng Shanshan's voice.

"Shanshan, something came up with me. Can I come over to your place tonight?"

"Is it serious? Do you need me to come pick you up?" Leng Shanshan's voice was full of concern.

"I'll talk to you when I get there, this is so annoying."

"Okay, be careful on the road, I'll be waiting for you at home."

"Okay, see you later."

After hanging up the call, Su Qing sniffed her reddened nose, quickly closed the zipper of her suitcase, and pulled the handle with one hand.

I was relieved to know that she had somewhere to go.

The two walked out of the villa area gate. The streetlights cast long shadows of two figures. Su Qing was all alone, dragging her suitcase, looking disheveled.

She turned to look at me, her tone softening slightly: "Could you call me another taxi? I'll pay you back when I have the money."

I didn't say much; she was indeed penniless.

I took out my phone and asked her, "Where's our destination?"

"Lanwan Residential Area, Yanyu Road"

After ordering a car for her, I lit a cigarette and said to her:

"Now that your parents have agreed to go to the Fang family to mediate, Fang Heng shouldn't bother you anymore, so our cooperation can be canceled, right?"

Su Qing gave a cold, dry laugh and said, "Do you think a man as arrogant and stubborn as Fang Heng would listen to orders and back down?"

I frowned. "You mean he'll continue to harass you? And you want me to continue being your shield?"

"He never liked me. He's had a smooth and successful life, never suffered a defeat, but he's just unwilling to accept defeat and insists on conquering me. Unless..."

She paused abruptly halfway through her sentence.

I immediately pressed, "Unless what?"

"Unless I give myself to him and satisfy him, making him feel that he has conquered me, he might give up."

Of course I understand what she meant by giving herself to him.

Fang Heng was never infatuated with Su Qing as a person, but only with her status as the eldest daughter of the Su family and his competitive desire to conquer the arrogant Su Qing—a purely morbid obsession.

I sighed helplessly and said, "But it's no use using me as a shield like this! He won't believe me or say anything, and he'll just target me for trouble. I'm losing more than I gain."

Are you scared?

Su Qing turned to look at me, a provocative smile playing on her lips as she gave a soft snort:

"You were so confident before, daring to go head-to-head with Fang Heng, but it turns out it was all just bluffing?"

I shook my head speechlessly and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of him, it's that I don't want to get involved in your affairs endlessly. Now that your parents are no longer pressuring you to get married, there's no need to keep making me act like this."

I paused, then lowered my voice and muttered something under my breath:

"Besides, you're penniless right now and have no money to give me. Why should I be the sucker for nothing?"

Su Qing pretended not to hear and said to herself, "I don't need you to help me for a lifetime, just for a month."

"You help me fend off Fang Heng's harassment for this month. After this month, no matter what the outcome, the cooperation will be completely null and void."

I wanted to try and negotiate the price, but the car I booked had already arrived at the roadside.

I had to swallow back the refusal that was on the tip of my tongue. I watched Su Qing bend down, pick up her suitcase, get into the car, and watch the car merge into the traffic.

I threw away the cigarette butt in my hand, stomped out the sparks, hailed a taxi, and returned to the West City Express Station.

This afternoon, my cousin and I moved from the hotel to the courier station, and we plan to stay there for the time being.

I'll rent a place when I'm financially better off.

Back at the courier station, I gently pulled open the roller shutter door.

My cousin was still awake; I could still hear his laughter coming from the inner cubicle.

Hearing the door open, my cousin immediately asked, "Yezi, is that you back?"

"It's me," I replied and walked inside.

The inner room was small, only big enough to fit a bunk bed.

My cousin was lying on the top bunk scrolling through his phone, leaving the bottom bunk for me.

A cheap, makeshift wardrobe sat in the corner; the room was poorly furnished, and a sense of destitution was palpable.

But I'm used to it, so there's nothing to complain about.

I grabbed a towel and a washbasin and went to the bathroom to wash up quickly.

"Are you settling in well here?" I asked casually.

My cousin put down his phone and replied casually, "What's there to be unaccustomed to? The house may be small, but it's shelter from the wind and rain and I can sleep there, that's enough. We're used to hard times, we're not picky."

After a two-second pause, my cousin squinted and asked, "By the way, have you started dating someone lately? You're always coming back to the station in the middle of the night. Something's not right."

I was taken aback, then both laughed and cried: "Why did you suddenly think that way?"

"Something's not right with you! You come home so late every day."

I smiled helplessly and said, "No, it's nothing, just some other things. Go to sleep early, don't overthink it."

My cousin didn't press further, and simply turned off the light, saying, "Okay, time for bed."

The room fell into darkness and silence. I lay on the lower bunk of the hard board, wide awake, my mind racing to find a way out.

The top priority right now is to revitalize the express delivery station in the west of the city that we took over.

I tossed and turned for a while, unable to fall asleep, so I got out of bed and tiptoed to the store.

I sat down at the computer and turned it on.

These past few days, following Yang Hao's delivery route, I've already thoroughly familiarized myself with the entire western part of the city.

In addition, industry backend data was retrieved online, and express delivery ledgers of all residential communities, industrial parks, and street shops in the area were integrated.

I systematically analyzed the blind spots in the delivery area, the pain points of customer complaints, and the profit model, and developed a set of rectification and optimization plans.

The western part of the city has many old residential areas, concentrated factories, and scattered individual households.

These issues have always been the weak points of the express delivery industry: slow delivery, many complaints, high costs, and low profits.

This is also the real reason why previous agents have failed to succeed.

Everyone understands the principle, but no one has actually come up with a feasible solution to optimize and rectify the situation.

What I need to do is come up with a feasible solution in a short period of time, instead of blindly looking for clients now.

Over the next few days, I kept optimizing these plans, sitting in front of the computer as soon as I opened my eyes every day, and gathering information in the neighborhood during my free time.

That afternoon, my cousin and Yang Hao returned to the store together.

The two men had grim and solemn expressions, their brows furrowed, and they exuded anxiety and anger.

As soon as my cousin walked in, he rushed to the computer desk and said urgently to me:

"Hey Yezi, what are you still doing sitting in front of the computer?! Something terrible has happened, you know?"