At the start, I had to choose one of four options, and I immediately picked the Brahmin from the cou

Silent all night.

When Su Wan and Manman woke up, Li Xiao was already gone.

The blackout curtains completely blocked out the sunlight, and the air was filled with a sweet, decadent scent of stale alcohol mixed with perfume.

On the three-meter-wide bed, the bedding was in disarray, pillows were scattered haphazardly on the floor, and a bath towel was draped forlornly on the armrest of the chaise longue at the foot of the bed, long since crushed beyond recognition.

Manman was the first to wake up.

She groaned softly on the pillow, instinctively reaching out her arm to the side. Instead of the expected firm chest, her fingertips touched soft, delicate skin. Half-asleep, Manman touched it a couple more times; the feel was off—this waist was too slender.

Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was Su Wan's sleeping face so close to mine.

Su Wan is still asleep.

She lay curled up on her side on the edge of the bed, her long, black hair spread out unrestrained on the pillow. She was not sleeping soundly; the blanket was only pulled up to her chest, revealing a section of her slender, fair collarbone. Below her collarbone, one could still faintly see a few light red marks left from the previous night.

These are all proof of the love we shared last night.

Manman rubbed her sore waist, which felt like it was about to fall apart, and secretly marveled. It's good to be young. I've always heard of oxen that get tired, but not fields that get over-plowed. I never expected that yesterday it was the other way around.

The three of them had been up all night, yet Li Xiao was still able to get up so early.

Manman shifted her gaze from Su Wan and looked around the extremely luxurious bedroom.

The room was quiet, with only the central air conditioning diligently blowing a gentle breeze; there was no trace of Li Xiao to be seen.

She sat up, ignoring the exposed skin, and habitually turned her head to look at the bedside table not far away.

For a free-spirited and unrestrained young master like Li Xiao, the rewards would definitely be substantial. After all, how much can you earn by drinking with someone? The lion's share is in the rewards on the second floor.

Otherwise, Su Wan wouldn't have been pleading with Li Xiao in the corridor, hoping to take her along.

Sure enough, under the brass lamp on the bedside table, there were two bulging brown paper envelopes.

Manman's eyes lit up, and ignoring her aching body, she leaned forward and grabbed the envelope.

The envelope had her and Su Wan's names casually written on it with a black marker. She couldn't wait to squeeze the thick envelope with her name on it.

Manman pulled out the thick stack of banknotes from the envelope, and with a gentle flick of her fingertips, the brand-new hundred-yuan bills, carrying the scent of ink, rustled past.

Five bundles in total, a full fifty thousand yuan!

Each bundle was neatly sealed with a white bank-issued seal, which also bore the red stamp of the China Construction Bank, and the date was yesterday.

To be fair, compared to mobile phone transfers, the visual impact of tangible paper money far surpasses that of a mere string of numbers.

Fifty thousand yuan! What does that mean? In a small place like Jiangyang County, an ordinary worker might not be able to save that much money even after working for one or two years.

The so-called high-end business meetings she used to take in the city only cost her three to five thousand yuan at most, and she had to drink and smile while being groped by a group of greasy middle-aged men. Sometimes, the men were so disgusting that she couldn't even bring herself to eat them.

Although she was exhausted last night, Li Xiao was young, handsome, and generous. If she could have more of these kinds of sugar daddies, she would be laughing in her dreams.

Just then, the noise of Manman getting up woke up Su Wan, who was standing next to her.

Su Wan's eyelashes trembled, and then she slowly opened her eyes.

What came into view was an unfamiliar ceiling, and next to her was Manman, who was holding up five bundles of banknotes and grinning from ear to ear.

She paused for two seconds, then memories of last night flooded back like a tidal wave: vodka, the silhouette on the frosted glass, those half-smiling eyes, and those 18+ scenes that made her want to bury her face in the pillow just thinking about them…

She subconsciously reached out to touch the bed beside her. The blankets were empty, with only a trace of lingering warmth stubbornly clinging to the silk sheets.

"Who are you looking for? They're long gone. Young masters of this caliber don't bother with that breakfast thing."

Manman chuckled softly, interrupting Su Wan's glances around.

She tossed another manila envelope with Su Wan's name on it in front of her. "Here, take a look at your reward."

Su Wan bit her lower lip, reached out, and took the heavy envelope. When she poured out the equally brand-new, surprisingly thick 50,000 yuan in cash, a complex and involuntary look of shock flashed across her usually innocent eyes.

She looked at the stack of banknotes over and over again. Fifty thousand yuan—for a female college student from an ordinary family, the impact of this sum of money was simply too great.

It was powerful enough to instantly crush the last shred of shame and feigned arrogance in her heart into dust.

She recalled how she used to have to scrimp and save for half a year just to buy a luxury handbag worth a few thousand yuan, even having to hand out flyers under the scorching sun and endure people's bad tempers. But now, after just one night of indulgence, 50,000 yuan in real money had just floated down in front of her without warning.

"Stop looking, it can't be fake."

Manman walked naked to the minibar, unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and took two gulps. She glanced back at Su Wan, who was still staring blankly at the banknotes, and a knowing smile, the kind only someone with experience could have, appeared on her lips.

She pulled a wet wipe from the bar counter, wiping her smudged eye makeup from the night before, and said slowly, "What, do you think this money is too hot to handle? Do you think taking it will make you a prostitute?"

Su Wan's fingertips trembled slightly as Su Wan's thoughts were exposed, but she remained silent.

"We're all seasoned foxes, so let's not play these ghost stories here. Yesterday in the hallway and on the bed, the way you leaned against Brother Li was no less intense than mine."

Su Wan's face flushed bright red instantly, as if her last shred of modesty had been stripped away in public. She raised her head, her lips trembling slightly, wanting to retort and say that she was different from him, but the words just wouldn't come out.

Aren't they the same?

She recalled last night in the corridor, kneeling and begging Li Xiao for forgiveness; she recalled on that big bed, alcohol burning away her reason, how she awkwardly yet earnestly catered to that man's every glance and every movement.

Those images were like a red-hot branding iron, burning her with nowhere to hide.

Manman raised an eyebrow in satisfaction as she watched her disheveled appearance after being exposed.

Instead of pressing her advantage, she bent down to pick up Su Wan's scattered underwear from the sofa and casually tossed it in front of her. Her tone softened slightly, a rare occurrence for her. "Don't think about those things anymore. In this world, people laugh at poverty but not prostitution. It's better for everyone to keep tonight's events to themselves."

After saying that, Manman ignored her and turned to walk into the bathroom, leaving Su Wan alone. She sat naked in the middle of the messy bed, facing the pile of banknotes and the chaos, and fell into a long silence.