Gao Wu: I'll enjoy the benefits, but you'll bear the side effects.

Hou Youcai's face finally revealed that long-lost and smug expression. This smugness did not only stem from his upcoming ability to carry out his revenge to his heart's content, but also from the fact that his master had granted his request.

This undoubtedly brought a glimmer of hope and a turning point to his seemingly hopeless path of revenge.

He seemed to already see the other side of victory beckoning to him, secretly planning that as long as he dealt with Sister Wen, this stumbling block, he could then take the opportunity to deal with that little brat who made him grit his teeth.

At that time, all the troubles and obstacles will disappear, and everything will return to normal.

And he can finally vent his anger and regain his dignity and control.

Thinking this way, Hou Youcai became increasingly smug and arrogant, his face resembling that of a cat that had just stolen some fish, full of arrogance and self-importance.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the city, Gao Jie was lying lazily in bed, but inexplicably felt his eyelids twitching incessantly, as if an invisible little hand was gently pulling at his nerves.

This ominous premonition haunted him, making him feel as if something momentous was about to crash down upon him like a surging tide, and he was completely unprepared, left only to watch helplessly as his unknown fate unfolded.

During this tumultuous experience, Gao Jie seemed to have undergone a spiritual trial.

When he first arrived here, he was full of passion and impulsiveness, acting only on instinct. But now, as time quietly flows by, his heart has been transformed without him even realizing it, as if carefully sculpted by the hand of time. Calmness and composure have gradually replaced his former impetuousness and recklessness.

He began to deeply realize that life is like a long journey full of unknowns and challenges. The trajectory of fate has already been secretly laid out, and the hardships and trials that are meant to come, no matter how you try to escape, you will never be able to completely get rid of them.

They are like the Sword of Damocles, hanging high in the sky, gleaming with cold light. Drawn by the threads of fate, they will sooner or later fall with a chilling light, piercing you when you are unprepared.

He often pondered to himself if he could use his keen insight, intelligence, and abilities to cleverly anticipate the opportunities before hardship strikes and successfully circumvent those difficulties and troubles.

However, reality is often cruel and cold, and not all crises can be resolved so easily.

A chill runs through him when he imagines the worst possible scenarios.

If one day we are truly in dire straits and all our escape routes are ruthlessly cut off, then the predicament before us will be like a towering mountain.

It completely destroyed his spiritual world, leaving him to struggle in endless darkness and despair until he was completely overwhelmed by the surging tide of despair, sinking into the abyss of his soul, unable to extricate himself.

Whenever these thoughts surged into his mind like a tide, Gao Jie would feel a deep sense of exhaustion and powerlessness.

He slowly raised his hand and shook his head helplessly, the gesture seemingly carrying a silent sigh at the capriciousness of fate.

Trying to use this simple action to dispel all the complicated thoughts that are tangled up in your mind, like a strong wind trying to blow away the dark clouds and restore a clear blue sky to your heart.

Then, he straightened his spine slightly, gently stretched his arms, and did a long yawn. The stretching motion seemed to be a gentle conversation with his tense body and tired nerves, trying to soothe the muscles that had become stiff from overthinking, relax the nerve fibers that were as taut as bowstrings, and temporarily relieve himself from the suffocating mental pressure.

At this moment, he was like a lone boat that had been adrift in a storm for a long time, longing for a moment of peaceful harbor.

He had absolutely no interest or energy to deal with the outside world's disturbances and complicated matters.

He only hoped that his mind could become like a tranquil lake, stopping the ceaseless ripples of his thoughts, and briefly immersing himself in this rare tranquility, forgetting all his troubles and worries, even if only for a brief moment, as if he had found a spring in a barren desert to nourish his parched and weary soul.

Just as he was immersed in this moment of tranquility and emptiness, bursts of cheerful laughter from Huang Xu's side, like a clear bird song, broke the silence.

The laughter seemed to possess a peculiar magic, instantly attracting Gao Jie's attention and pulling him out of his inner world.

A sense of curiosity and doubt welled up in his heart, like a kitten attracted by something mysterious, and he couldn't help but ask.

"What are you looking at, kid?"

It wasn't until he went closer to investigate that he discovered Huang Xu was intently watching a live stream on his phone screen.

On the live stream, a rather sweet-looking girl was energetically performing an extremely bizarre and exaggerated dance. This dance style contrasted sharply with her sweet appearance, and could even be described as a "destructive" display of her self-image.

In today's rapidly developing internet age, such attention-grabbing and traffic-generating tactics are commonplace, and Gao Jie is no longer surprised by them. In his view, as long as these streamers can attract enough traffic, they can reap a steady stream of profits, and whether it will damage their own image does not seem to be their primary concern.

Gao Jie stretched lazily again, then slowly got up, ready to do something.

Although he is staying here temporarily, he always maintains an independent attitude towards life and feels that he cannot rely on others for everything.

Looking around, he noticed that there were no dedicated cleaning staff in the area; it was usually Sister Wen's men who were responsible for cleaning.

However, those guys were all lazybones and hated doing such tedious physical work. They would often put off cleaning until the event was about to start and they had no choice but to hurriedly and perfunctorily clean up.

At that moment, Gao Jie took the initiative to pick up cleaning tools and began to carefully clean the surrounding area.

When he was a child, his father, Gao Zhanlin, always taught him by example to always keep his surroundings clean and tidy, because only by living in such a comfortable and pleasant environment can one grow up healthily in body and mind.

Gao Jie always kept this sentence in mind and regarded it as his guiding principle.

But only now, when he has truly left the protection of his parents and faced all the trivialities of life on his own, has he deeply realized just how difficult and challenging it is to put this statement into practice.

The venue is quite spacious, about 1,500 to 1,600 square meters. It would take a considerable amount of time to thoroughly clean such a large space.

Holding cleaning tools, Gao Jie meticulously swept every corner of the venue, fine beads of sweat gradually appearing on his forehead.

Just then, Huang Xu noticed Gao Jie working hard alone and quickly went over to him.

"What's wrong with you, kid? You don't even let me know when you're working. Don't worry, now that I'm here, I won't just stand by and do nothing. I'll definitely help you out."

Huang Xu spoke with great enthusiasm, but then his tone shifted, and a hint of worry appeared in his eyes.

"By the way, there's something I've always been curious about. Do you think it's safe around here with Sister Wen? What if some shady characters suddenly barge in and cause trouble for us?"

Seeing Huang Xu's slightly nervous appearance, Gao Jie was speechless. He stopped what he was doing and patiently explained to him.

"Let me tell you the truth, this place is Sister Wen's territory, and Sister Wen has the powerful Qin family backing her up. Now you understand, right? Generally speaking, people who dare to cause trouble here are either Qin family's mortal enemies, with a deep-seated hatred that they're determined to fight to the death; or they're arrogant fools who don't know their own limitations and dare to try to destroy the Qin family. Otherwise, who would have the guts to come here and cause trouble?"

Gao Jie was fully aware of the stakes involved. After explaining the situation, he decided not to dwell on it any longer and instead focused his attention on other matters.

He rubbed his chin slightly, a thoughtful look in his eyes, as he began to plan out the various scenarios that might happen next.

However, before he could even sort things out, a crucial question suddenly flashed through his mind like lightning: would Hou Youcai really settle down and stop causing them trouble?

This question, like a mystery, lingered in his mind, leaving him completely baffled.

Despite not being able to figure it out, Gao Jie and Huang Xu still had a discussion about the topic, each expressing their own opinions, but they were still unable to reach a definite conclusion.

Just as they were talking, Huang Muran happened to walk over.

She saw Gao Jie and Huang Xu cleaning up, and it looked like they had almost finished. She scratched her face awkwardly and said something.

"If you've done all the work, what am I supposed to do? We're just staying here for free, so I certainly won't slack off on my responsibilities. Since that's the case, I can't just sit around doing nothing."

Hearing this, Gao Jie shook his head slightly, pointed to a pile of vegetables not far away, and said.

"Go help pick some vegetables. About ten people eat here every day, so it's quite a workload. If you can cook, that would be even better; it would be a huge help. If you can't cook, you can still help pick and wash the vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Huang Muran's eyes lit up, and he was quite satisfied with the work arrangement.

Because she happens to be good at cooking, she is naturally adept at tasks such as washing and preparing vegetables.

On the contrary, if you ask her to tidy up the room or organize things, that's a real headache. She'll avoid it if she can, and is extremely unwilling to do those tedious and troublesome tasks.

Now that the task has been handed over to him, Huang Muran seemed quite happy. After picking the vegetables, he prepared to cook them. Before long, a fragrant aroma wafted out.

Meanwhile, Sister Wen devoted herself wholeheartedly to the preparations for the boxing match.

The boxing schedule is packed, requiring careful selection and arrangement of different boxers each day.

This is no easy task; it requires a great deal of time and effort, from assessing the boxers' abilities and planning the match schedule to setting up the venue and organizing the audience.

Every step must be meticulously executed to ensure the boxing match proceeds smoothly and achieves the desired results.

After finally finishing up, Sister Wen was about to go downstairs to take a look around and check on the situation in the venue.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the stairwell, he saw Gao Jie, Huang Xu, and Huang Muran, three young men, enthusiastically helping him with his work.

Some of them were diligently sweeping the floor, while others were carefully wiping the tables and chairs; everyone was working very hard.

Seeing this, Sister Wen felt a surge of warmth in her heart, and a relieved smile appeared on her face. She quickly and warmly greeted the three of them.

"Oh dear, I really didn't expect the three of you to be so sensible and polite. But you're being too formal, you're spoiling my men and making them lazier and lazier. You all need to remember this: from now on, if I don't ask you to do something, you don't have to do it so proactively, okay? If anyone has any complaints or opinions about what I'm saying, let them come to me directly. I want to see what they have to say. Otherwise, I don't care what they're up to."

Sister Wen said with a smile, her eyes revealing a hint of concern and care.

"Also, there's something else I need to tell you. Since you're here, don't treat yourselves as outsiders. You're my friends, and you're my family. So you really don't need to be so polite. Of course, if you insist on working, I can't let you work for free. I'll pay you a salary, 2000 Alliance Coins a month, how about that?"

Upon hearing the salary amount, Huang Xu immediately frowned, his face showing obvious displeasure.

After all, he came from a fairly good family and had lived a relatively affluent life since childhood. Naturally, he looked down on this mere 2000 Alliance Coins, feeling that the amount of money was too little and not worth his labor at all.

However, Gao Jie was well aware of Wen Jie's difficulties.

He had learned a lot about the place during his time there and knew that although it seemed to be operating normally on the surface, its business was not doing well and it was facing many difficulties and pressures. It was already quite difficult for them to come up with a few thousand yuan to pay their wages.

Therefore, Gao Jie agreed on their behalf before Huang Xu could object.

Seeing that Gao Jie agreed so readily, Sister Wen nodded in satisfaction, smiled, and turned to leave.

Huang Xu looked at Gao Jie with a puzzled expression and asked him with a face full of doubt.

"What are you doing? How could you agree on our behalf? I don't want to work here aimlessly like this. Besides, I just want to do something truly meaningful, something that allows me to use my value, instead of just sitting here all day earning that pitiful 2000 Alliance Coins. What's the point of that?"

Huang Muran found Huang Xu's complaints somewhat amusing and couldn't help but speak up.

"You, that's enough. Don't always think of things so badly. Don't you realize that Sister Wen is already being very kind by taking us in? Why are you making such a fuss? Let me tell you, say what you should say, and don't say what you shouldn't say. Don't complicate things that are simple, and don't cause trouble for yourself and everyone else. Do you understand? Now stop complaining and get ready to call everyone over for dinner."

Gao Jie agreed with Huang Muran's words and told Huang Xu to set the table while he went to find Sister Wen.

Because he still had some things he wanted to discuss with Sister Wen.

However, just as he was about to push open the door to Sister Wen's office, he vaguely heard some slight noises coming from inside.

He was slightly taken aback, but out of politeness, he gently knocked on the door.

Then a voice came from inside...