"I'm sorry for bothering you." Xiang Wan offered a deep bow, her face impassive. The one thing Lin Tiantian couldn't stand was the way Xiang Wan always carried herself with such reserve. *A damn murderer, and she still puts on airs.* "What's that look on your face? Does apologizing to me feel like such a hardship?" she sneered. "Believe me, if I'm not happy, you won't even be a cleaner for much longer." "Lin Tiantian, you've gone too far!" Zhou Miao yelled. Lin Tiantian ignored her completely, her eyes still fixed on Xiang Wan. "I'm talking to you. Are you mute or something? Say a goddamn word." "I'm sorry for bothering you." Xiang Wan bowed again, this time more deeply, the fine strands of her short hair falling to conceal her eyes. Her voice remained unnervingly calm. Lin Tiantian's petty torments were nothing compared to what she had faced in prison. Lin Tiantian had wanted to see her get angry, but faced with this total lack of resistance, she felt the frustrating powerlessness of landing a punch on a bale of cotton. She shot Xiang Wan one last hateful glare before rolling over and going back to her phone. Xiang Wan took her medicine and lay down, but the pain in her stomach was so intense that she didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning. The next day, her face was frighteningly pale. Zhou Miao offered to call in sick for her, but Xiang Wan refused. With He Hanchuan’s orders hanging over her, the supervisor would never grant her the time off. She took her medicine and, in a groggy haze, went to sign in with the supervisor. "You're a full minute late!" The supervisor’s finger was practically poking her in the face. "You can forget about this month's paycheck!" "I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling well today. It won't happen again." Xiang Wan kept her head down, her oversized work uniform making her seem small and fragile. In reality, at five-foot-seven, she wasn't petite in the slightest. She was just thin—so thin it looked unhealthy. A few more cleaners arrived, unsurprised to see her being scolded. They simply signed in, laughing and chatting among themselves. "Next time? You think you'll get a next time?" The supervisor completely ignored the other cleaners who had also been late. "In all my years on the job, I've never seen an employee with such a terrible attitude!" Xiang Wan kept her head bowed. "I'm sorry." "Don't you 'sorry' me. If 'sorry' solved anything, we wouldn't need cops, would we?" the supervisor spat, flecks of saliva hitting her face. "I don't care who you used to be. You're a cleaner here now, and that means you do what I say!" Xiang Wan wiped the spittle from her face. "Understood." "Since you were one minute late, you can clean an extra floor. You'll handle the fourth and fifth floors. I'll be checking your work," the supervisor said. Each floor of the Dreamscape Club had nearly sixteen private rooms. Cleaning the floors, walls, and restrooms of all of them was normally a job for two people. For the past few days, Xiang Wan had been cleaning an entire floor by herself, which was already pushing her to her physical limit. Now she was being given another. She bit down hard on her lip, her jaw tight and her back ramrod straight. A furious heat surged through her, threatening to burst from her chest. "What's that? You have a problem with it?" the supervisor's voice rose sharply. The hand hidden inside her sleeve clenched into a tight fist, but her voice was steady. "No." "Good. Not that it would matter if you did!" The supervisor glanced at the time. "Now get to work. What are you standing there gawking for? You want me to get your tools for you?" A few employees passing by broke into jeering laughter. Head down, Xiang Wan went to the supply closet, gathered her cleaning tools, and headed upstairs to start. "Wan," two of the older cleaning ladies came over. One of them asked hesitantly, "You have the fifth floor now, too?" Xiang Wan nodded. "The fourth and fifth floors... all by yourself?" the other woman asked. "Yeah." Xiang Wan managed a faint smile. "You two go take a break. I can handle it here." The two women exchanged a look, and one of them sighed. "Cleaning two floors by yourself... you'll work yourself to death and still not finish! If you've got a problem with the supervisor, you should just find a job somewhere else. A young, pretty girl like you won't have trouble finding work." Xiang Wan just shook her head. If she could leave, she would have been gone long ago. "Oh, this child..." one of them murmured, before the other pulled her away. Xiang Wan picked up her mop and continued her work. Suddenly, a pair of polished leather shoes entered her line of sight. "Excuse me, would you mind lifting your foot? Thank you." The shoes didn't move. She looked up and met the amber eyes of Jiang Qifeng. "Welcome. Please mind the wet floor." Holding her mop, Xiang Wan stepped aside, not letting her gaze linger on him for even a second. Jiang Qifeng stared down at her, a fire churning in the depths of his eyes. Xiang Wan paid him no further mind, simply moving around him with her mop to continue cleaning the floor.