Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 575 Lily's Changes (Part 2)
One week later, in the evening.

A_PARTY, the large terrace on the third floor.

Lily, dressed in a black, form-fitting cheongsam, high heels, and with her long hair flowing over her shoulders, stood on the edge of the terrace, her hands resting on the railing, looking down at the bustling crowd and traffic at the entrance of the KTV below.

The night breeze lifted the hem of her skirt and stroked her long hair, obscuring the expression on her face.

"I heard that Xiaoling is back at the shop. She's been back for two days now."

A weak voice rang out, sounding sad and disappointed. The person who came was Lily's little follower and Xiaoling's good friend, Xueyi.

She has a tough life. Her parents are farmers and can barely make enough to eat. In addition, her younger brother, who just got into university this year, is also struggling. She is truly supporting the whole family on her own.

Such people are extremely rare in the world of pleasure-seeking and extravagant spending. Just like now, Lily's friends have all scattered, but she still chooses to stay by Lily's side.

Xueyi is a college student, but she never reveals which school she attends. Even when someone mocks her to her face, calling it deception, she remains calm and always speaks gently.

But then again, aren't there plenty of scams in the entertainment industry?
They're all a bunch of blatant liars.

When Xueyi was interviewing at the company, her mother, Lily, who was in charge of hiring, said with regret: "You've studied so much, you should be doing something serious, working for a big company or factory and using your intelligence, instead of being here selling your smiles like those uneducated people."

As he spoke, not far away, another table was being used to interview women. The examiners and the women being interviewed were rolling up their sleeves and enthusiastically playing rock-paper-scissors and rolling dice.

Xueyi, a recent college graduate entering the workforce, glanced to the side with a mature look and frankly said, "How can I support my whole family if I'm doing something legitimate?"

Time flies, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Lily, leaning against the balcony railing and reminiscing about the past, softly hummed in agreement and chuckled, "Some people would laugh themselves awake in their sleep."

"Sister Lily must be Sister Wang, right? But with Xiaoling's figure and looks, she'd probably be a top courtesan if she went to Sister Wang's place," Xueyi thought to herself, her tone still sad, and she mimicked Lily's "Mmm."

Lily lowered her head. She had thought she would feel bad for the 150,000 yuan she had given to Xiaoling a few days ago, which was obviously a waste of money. But she was surprised to find herself feeling unusually calm.

"Do you know why Xiaoling came back?" Lily's tone was frighteningly calm, and she was startled as soon as she said it.

Actually, this kind of question shouldn't be asked. After working in nightclubs for so many years, you've seen a lot of people and things, why are you still so naive?

Xiaoling took the money and left, but returned a few days later. When she came back, she didn't dare to come to see her. When she went to work, she kept going in and out through the back door. Anyone with eyes could see that she had completely gone into prostitution.

She was running away from Lily, who had always protected her.

Xueyi unconsciously whispered, "Xiaoling said her boyfriend owes gambling debts and can only rely on her to work to pay them off, otherwise her boyfriend will definitely be killed."

As she spoke, Xueyi suddenly remembered that the person standing in front of her was Sister Lily, who had always treated Xiaoling like a younger sister. She immediately changed her tone and cursed, "Hey, if you follow Wang Sanba, you'll be turned into a puff princess sooner or later."

Lily curled the corners of her lips into a smile, waved to Xueyi with her back turned, and the other girl silently left.

Lily didn't know whether her boyfriend was dead or not, but she knew that after this incident, her heart was dead.

When she first brought Xiaoling, who came from her hometown, to the shop, Xiaoling was a little girl who wouldn't even make a slightly crude joke. But she never expected that she would turn out like this in such a short time.

Yes, after getting used to making quick money in such a glamorous place, how could anyone possibly calm down and have the patience to run a small shop and earn a few dollars through hard work?

Think back to when Xiaoling asked her for money just because she was planning to buy a new iPhone for her boyfriend. She should have been wary back then.

But she couldn't get over it, after all, Xiao Yang's dismissal was because of her. Who would have thought that just revealing information about the police sweeping oranges would lead to being fired? Wasn't that how the manager always handled things? Let's settle the score with 150,000 yuan.

Lily patted her cheeks, cheered herself up, stopped thinking about the past, and started planning for her future.

There are no beauties under our command right now, and it will take a long time to recruit young girls to stabilize the team. It's unknown how many more years it will take to make up for the depleted savings.

At her age, it's even more impossible for a contestant to start over as a non-professional performer.

“Actually, nothing is impossible.” Lily smiled sadly. She had seen many women who made money in nightclubs and then spent it all. “Save some money, move on to another place. Life goes on.”

Or maybe we should go back to our hometown.

I still have 150,000 yuan left in my bank account. That's enough to open a small shop and make a living in my hometown, a third-tier county.

"Jingle Bell!"

"Mom, there's something I wanted to tell you."

"Yes, I want to go back to my hometown and open a shop, then I won't come out anymore."

Lily received a phone call from her mother back home. She said her younger brother's girlfriend of several years had proposed marriage during a visit to their father.

Getting married requires buying a house, but the family doesn't have the money, so they need her to contribute 300,000 yuan.

I'll just keep this last 300,000 yuan and never ask her for money again.

Of course, she absolutely cannot come back.

The mother made a solemn vow.

"Now that you're back, how much money can this little shop make? How will your brother find a wife? How will the whole family survive?"

Lily led Xueyi downstairs to the administrative office floor. She told Xueyi to wait outside while she knocked on the door and went into the manager's office.

A man with slicked-back hair and wearing a black suit sat behind a desk, tapping lightly on a calculator. Anyone could tell he was in an extremely pleasant mood.

“Lily?”

The man with the slicked-back hair put down the calculator in his hand, looked up at Lily who had just entered with some surprise, and in an instant, his expression turned extremely serious.

"Lily, what are you doing in here?"

The man with the slicked-back hair, surnamed Li, had been with the owner of A_PARTY for many years and was considered part of their core management team. In his thirties, he was about 1.9 meters tall, a height not commonly seen in Dongzhou. His round face, coupled with his slicked-back hair and black-rimmed glasses that obscured most of his sharp eyes, created a rather mismatched appearance.

He got up and led Lily to sit down on the sofa.

"Manager Li, as you know, I don't have many girls on hand right now, so I'd like to borrow some from you to tide me over. I'll split the commission with the lending madam. In the meantime, I'll also try to recruit more people from outside as soon as possible," Lily said bluntly.

Manager Li's face darkened, and he said unhappily, "How many times have I told you? We don't have any young ladies in our company! We are a legally operating chain KTV. Where am I supposed to get young ladies to lend you? If you need more staff, just borrow some from other madams temporarily. Why are you coming to me?"

(End of this chapter)