As it was so elegantly put on the internet – poverty is the original sin, the source of all troubles. Yan Shuyu wasn’t able to resolve the issues at their sources, so after much consideration, she finally came to the painful conclusion that she would have to give up the idea of changing schools for her son as well.

But, she still needed to move, that was her very last stubbornness.

Worst case scenario, they wouldn’t move too far away. Just some distance between themselves and Hotel Dorsett and Zhou’s headquarters would be sufficient.

I’m such a genius and no issues could bring me down, thought Yan Shuyu happily to herself and she wasn’t distressed anymore. She went home with a spring in her steps and immediately picked up her phone and dialed the landlords’ number.

The landlords were a middle-aged couple. According to the novel’s introduction, they have cozy jobs and a lot of free time, so instead of using a management company, they handled all the rental processes themselves. The fact that they handled all these matters in person gave Yan Shuyu some wiggle room – if they used a management company, she wouldn’t even know who she could talk to.

Yan Shuyu was quite lucky today. After the call had gone through, it was the landlord, the more lenient of the two, who picked up the phone. After her changes-at-the-job-I-have-no-choice spiel, Uncle Landlord smiled and said, “Xiao Yan, normally under your circumstances, it’d be considered a breach of contract and we could keep all of the deposit, but we know that it wasn’t easy to be a single mother, so if you insist that the apartment and the furniture were all in good shape, we can consider refunding you the deposit….”

Then, Uncle Landlord suddenly switched the topic to a different angle and said, “But I suggest you to really think this through. We can refund you the deposit, but not the 6-month’s rent that you have paid in advance.”

And all that happened just when Yan Shuyu thought that the landlord was such a great guy. She was dumbfounded hearing his words, “I paid 6 months in advance?”

“Yeah,” Uncle Landlord couldn’t help but chuckle, “We signed a contract. How could you forget that?”

Ah, she had wrongfully accused the original owner – instant son’s kindergarten cost over $20,000, 6-month’s rent plus deposit probably cost another ten of thousands of dollars. It was amazing that the original owner had any money left at all. Putting her hand over her chest, Yan Shuyu was amazed. After a little while, she explained awkwardly, “Yeah, it has been crazy busy at work. I was a little absent-minded.”

“It’s quite alright,” smiled the landlord heartily. “If you can figure something out on the other end, I think it’s best for you to stay the entire 6 months. If you still want to leave then, we can talk about the deposit. As you have already paid 6-months up front, it wouldn’t be in your best interest to move now.”

Poverty stunts ambitions, Yan Shuyu had no choice but to accept the landlord’s suggestion and agreed with him despite her heartache, “I guess you are right. When push comes to shove, I guess I will just have to look for a different job.”

Alright, so she couldn’t move to a different city, or switch her instant son to a different school. Now she couldn’t even meet her bare minimum goal of moving to a different place. As much as she was an optimist, Yan Shuyu couldn’t help but started wondering if she was just a useless piece of garbage once she was away from her parents and her ex-boyfriend.

The landlord, naturally, couldn’t feel her despair through the phone and continued to chuckle, “There are a ton of work in this city and Xiao Yan, you are so pretty. It won’t be difficult for you to change jobs!”

The shameless Yan Shuyu didn’t have any immunity toward anyone who praised about her looks in front of her. Every time she heard it, it brought a big smile on her instantly, as was right now. As soon as she heard the landlord’s word, she was revitalized right away and not despairing anymore. Happily, she nodded and said, “That’s what I am thinking too, it's so easy to just change jobs!”

After she was done bemoaning, she didn’t forget to thank the landlord genuinely, “Thank you so much, Uncle Ye.”

Yan Shuyu couldn’t help but sighed after she ended the call.. Now that she couldn’t even move, things were a little sticky – she didn’t need to go in front of the male lead and his father to remind them of her existent, but she couldn’t stop them from looking for her. After all, she was the one who had successfully bedded CEO Zhou for the original owner, multiple times at that. If he has a problem with that, she was the one in the wrong. After all, it was all about equality between the two genders nowadays, one could go to prison for r*ping a man too!

Grant, Yan Shuyu trust that no matter how disgruntled Zhou Qinhe was, he most certainly would not sue her for r*pe. With his social status, squishing her would be easier than squishing an ant. So if she wanted peaceful days in the future, she couldn’t just run off like this; but at least to understand the current situation first. If everything was alright, she’d bail. Otherwise, she needed to figure out someway to apply some first aid.

Here came the next problem – the original owner had been working at this new place for just two months and didn’t have any close friends. She was just colleagues with everyone else, how could she approach just any coworkers with something like she had advertently bedded the big boss?

All said and done, Yan Shuyu was still quite embarrassed about what had happened, so after staring at her cell phone for a while, she finally phoned the Human Resource Department with the reason that she was quitting.

Her reasoning was very simple – if the big boss was enraged by what had happened last night and decided to find the little staff who had deflowered him no matter what, Human Resource would definitely had heard something about it. Based on the principle of “better safe than sorry”, they would not let her quit at this moment in time. Contrarily, if the boss hadn’t said a word, there was no reason for Human Resource to try to stop a small staff like her from putting in her resignation. Hotel Dorsett has no shortage of talents.

Further, thought Yan Shuyu, it’d be great if the big boss didn’t care about it at all. She quit on her own accord, perhaps he’d even think that it was a great decision on her part and that would be that. And they’d never have to see each other again.

That way, it really wouldn’t matter if she moved or not moved.

Backed up by such an optimistic thought, Yan Shuyu dialed the number of Human Resource. Manager Xu was the one who picked up the phone, a slightly older, married, and mild-temperament lady. Yan Shuyu was very straightforward. She pulled her reasoning out of nowhere, “Manager Xu, I am so sorry, my son was very sick and needed my attention 24/7. I don’t think I will be able to juggle between my work and my son, can you let me quit on the spot?”

“Quitting on the spot is against our company policies. We required one-month’s notice when you quit.”

Even though the original owner didn’t make a point of telling everyone about her personal situation, she didn’t make a point in hiding that fact that she was a single mother either. Manager Xu, being the Human Resource manager, naturally had a pretty good idea about each employee’s situation. Which was why, after she had declined Yan Shuyu’s requested, brought up a more feasible suggestion, “Is your son really sick? How about this, if you really can’t juggle between the two, why don’t you take some time off first to take care of your son and put in your one-month’s notice after you return?”

That was, of course, a very sound suggestion on Manager Xu’s part. But after hearing it, Yan Shuyu panicked, thinking that her worst-case scenario had come true.

So she tried even harder to look for excuses, “I know I can take time off as well, but my kid has low immunity; when he gets sick, it was always back and forth, and that makes it difficult to say how much time off I’d need. Plus it would be troublesome for those at the workplace. Plus, I have been there for two months now, and I am starting to realize that it wasn’t the right job for me. Having to work night shift in particular requires me to leave my child at home by himself, and I get worried. Now that he is sick, I think I will just take this opportunity to resign.”

It actually wasn’t a big deal if Yan Shuyu didn’t want to work the night shift, she should just switch with her other colleagues and rolled off her responsibilities with the big boss. Except that Manager Xu was the Human Resource manager, not the Guest Service manager, so it wasn’t appropriate for her to make that suggestion. Plus, she was a mother herself, so she thought she could relate to how worried Yan Shuyu was of her child. So after some hesitation, she said, “Well, I can approve it if you insist on resigning, but without going through the proper process, we will deduct a part of your salary, are you okay with that?”

Yan Shuyu had forgotten all about that till Manager Xu brought it up, the original owner hadn’t received her pay for this current month yet – Hotel Dorsett asked for high qualifications, so their pay was also significantly higher than that of their peers. It is now the end of the month, and the original owner had just become a full time permanent employee this month. Her base pay was already $5,800; throwing in all sorts of supplements for meals and housing and also bonuses and overtime for taking care of the big boss, it might come up to be $7,000 - $8,000.

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

She’s rich!! Yan Shuyu did some calculations quickly and was super happy with the outcome. But she immediately remembered what Manager Xu had just said, “Manager Xu, how much will you be deducting from my pay?

“Fifty percent per our policy.”

“Fif…. Fifty percent?” Yan Shuyu felt that she was having a hard time breathing.

Manager Xu smiled and said, “That’s why I suggested for you to take some time off first, then put in your resignation properly after you have returned.”

The money-loving Yan Shuyu had to struggle for quite a bit but the rational side of her finally won out. From what Manager Xu had said, she needed to give one-month’s notice; meaning that she’d be parading in front of the male lead’s father for another month – she was trying to avoid the big boss as much as possible in order to avoid her fate as a cannon fodder. She didn’t think that half a month’s salary was worth the risk.

Finally, and painfully, Yan Shuyu made up her mind, “I think I should just quit right now. Thank you, Manager Xu.”

“No problem.”

“Would I still need to inform Manager Chen from my end?”

Manager Xu said kindly, “I am about to go into a meeting with her. I’ll just let her know. You go take care of your kid.”

Yan Shuyu felt much better now. Human Resource Department might be far away and had no idea what happened last night, but her immediate supervisor probably had a pretty good idea. She was happy she could avoid the embarrassment of interacting with her again. She thanked Manager Xu genuinely and asked immediately, “Oh right, Manager Xu, when will I get paid?”

“Same as everyone else. Accounting department would deposit it on the 15th.”

Just two more weeks to go. She had accepted to take a 50% cut, what’s another few days on top of that? Happily, Yan Shuyu ended her conversation with Manager Xu.

The first day after her transmigration and she had run into all sorts of obstacles everywhere she went. Now she had finally completely the big project of resigning from her job, she felt that she has finally recovered some of her self-confident and was about to start her new life full of confidence.

Naturally, Yan Shuyu, the one who had just regained her self-confidence, gave no thought to CEO Zhou. At this time of the day, he would normally be found either at his office or the conference room at the headquarters leading a meeting was. But today, he hadn’t even left the hotel room yet and was still undressed except for a bathrobe - the one that Yan Shuyu had clawed off the night before. The bathrobe was hanging loosely on his body while he sat sluggishly on the couch with his laptop.

Two of Zhou Qinghe’s elites employees were standing behind him. They stood there expressionlessly and looking straight ahead, but were secretly dissing their boss to themselves. Their boss was watching the security tape for the fifth time. What was so special about this security tape that was worth their boss, who’d control the ups and downs of upward of millions of dollars, to slack on his work and watch repeatedly?