Chapter 5 Cruel

That night, a sudden heavy rain washed away all the filth in the city.

The end seemed like something that didn't need to be mentioned again.

Shirley quickly packed and moved out of the First-class mansion.

Lucas hadn't returned here for several days, and Shirley's moving was supervised by the butler.

The butler, who was usually polite and attentive, made Shirley realize what it really meant to turn hostile.

Nothing valuable was allowed to be taken.

Bags, jewelry, clothes.

Shirley couldn't figure out what kind of deep grudge she might have had with the butler, as they were both working for capitalists, so why make things difficult for each other? When she looked at his fake smile, his attitude towards "lower-class people," she realized that the polite and attentive persona she thought she had seen might have been an illusion.

Abby specially drove over in a van to pick up Shirley. When she saw Shirley standing next to only one lonely suitcase, she was shocked.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah."

Shirley responded weakly.

Abby, "Damn."

Shirley, "Let's go."

Last year, Abby finally ended her shared living situation in Beijing and rented a one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts. The location was a bit remote, but at least it was her own cozy little nest.

Shirley had nowhere to go, so she had to crash at Abby's place.

For dinner, they ordered takeout stir-fried dishes.

Abby ordered several dishes to welcome her friend, but clearly, once the food was opened, neither of them was in the mood to eat.

Abby poked at her rice with chopsticks, "In the end, this matter... it's also partly my responsibility."

If it hadn't been for her constantly asking Shirley on WhatsApp that night whether Lucas had broken up with her, whether he had broken up, and whether the rich woman was hungry and looking for a sugar daddy, Lucas would never have seen her name and clicked into the conversation. If Lucas hadn't clicked into it, those chat records and the online diary would never have been discovered.

Shirley didn't feel this matter had anything to do with Abby.

After going through all of this, she seemed to suddenly see the reality and just thought it was probably fate.

That night, Lucas probably did want to break up with her and part on good terms, but it seemed like fate couldn't bear the thought of a man who was already very rich losing even a little, so it arranged for Lucas, who never looked at her phone, to see her phone at the last minute.

She had been spoiled from birth, so why was it that even at this moment, she was still the one favored by fate?

Life was unfair.

"I don't mind if you stay here," Abby said, looking at Shirley's face, which seemed dead inside. "But do you have any plans for the future?"

After all these years, no matter how much they'd been through, how many times they'd been in bed, to throw Shirley out like this without a penny was ruthless. Abby felt that Lucas was really heartless.

Sure enough, men born in such a class, who seemed polite and courteous on the outside, were actually not kind at all.

Shirley put a piece of green pepper into her mouth.

She slowly chewed, feeling the taste of the pepper, "I'll take a look and look for a job."

...

Abby's work at the magazine kept her busy, leaving early and coming back late every day.

Shirley never expected that she would fail to become a rich woman's sugar baby and instead end up being supported by her good friend.

So, with no income, she had to stay at Abby's place and do housework and cook, embracing the role of being supported.

At first, Abby didn't feel much about supporting her friend, but when she came home from overtime every night and saw her usually messy house spotless and tidy, with fresh flowers on the table, and a pot of food simmering on the stove, and Shirley in an apron, hair tied up, cooking her supper, Abby felt her heart skip a beat. She suddenly understood why some men work so hard-they want to marry someone like this.

Who wouldn't want to marry someone like this?

During the day, they tidy up your house, do laundry, and cook meals for you. At night, you can cuddle with someone soft and fragrant in bed. It's like living the dream.

Abby couldn't help but get angry when she thought about how Lucas had enjoyed this life for five years and was still unsatisfied.

Shirley cooked some dumplings she had made earlier that day for Abby, who had worked late.

Then, Shirley served herself some as well, and the two sat at the small dining table. Shirley noticed that Abby seemed to be looking at her with a strange expression.

Shirley raised an eyebrow, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Abby, holding her bowl, said seriously, "Shirley, how about you don't look for a job anymore?"

"I'm willing to support you for the rest of your life."

"I'm willing to work overtime until I die, be scolded by the editor, and be driven crazy by the client."

Shirley, "..."

"Eat up," she said, shoving a dumpling into Abby's mouth.

Although Shirley was supposed to look for a job, it was difficult to find one in recent years.

Especially with her major, which was known for having limited job prospects.

Shirley had been sending out resumes for over half a month, but nothing came up. She felt bad staying at her friend's place all the time without contributing.

Then, while holding her computer, she sighed and finally opened a website.

It was an internal website that provided a third-party communication platform for models and businesses. The website had changed a lot over the past five years, with an upgraded app and mini-program, but the main content hadn't changed much. Only certified models and business agents, photographers, and others could log in and post their profiles, schedules, and photos to get jobs, while businesses and photographers could also post needs to find suitable models.

Shirley logged in to her old account with her phone. Even after five years, her account was still there, and the profile picture was from five years ago.

Shirley couldn't believe that, after everything, she had returned to her old career.

She had started working as a part-time model when she was in college, doing flat modeling. Although the competition was fierce, a pretty girl with a good body had a certain advantage in the industry.

Back then, she took photos for online stores, earning three hundred per session. If she was lucky, a business or photographer would book her for a full day, paying her eight hundred to a thousand, and she could earn about ten thousand a month, or even twenty thousand on a good month.

For most people, it was a pretty good income. If she stuck with it and was lucky, she could earn more.

Shirley laughed bitterly when she saw the outdated backend interface.

Sure enough, when a person tries to take shortcuts, the result is often not worth the cost.

But Shirley knew she shouldn't romanticize the path she didn't take just because she missed it.

This industry wasn't that easy.

The circle full of beautiful girls was often chaotic and full of scams. If you let your guard down, you could easily fall for financial or sexual scams. Even if you were lucky enough to be discerning and not fall for scams, you often had to deal with rude or exploitative businesses, and harassment was a regular occurrence.

Shirley remembered that the reason she had approached Lucas in the first place, apart from wanting to secure a large sum of alimony, was because a bald man with a small company had been harassing her. After she exposed him, he offered her fifteen thousand a month, trying to make her his sugar baby.

Back then, that bald man had offered fifteen thousand a month...

Shirley recalled Lucas's words, "Dream on," when she had asked for five million.

The price for taking shortcuts was that after failure, there wasn't even labor law to protect you.

Mutual destruction was only a fantasy. In reality, she probably couldn't even enter the gates of Noble, let alone the William family's gates... the gates she never even entered when she was his girlfriend.

Shirley quickly shook her head, telling herself not to think about it anymore.

The more she thought about it, the easier it was to get a heart attack.

She had once felt sorry for girls who were scammed by swindlers, thinking she was too smart to fall for it. Who would have thought that, in the end, she had fallen for the biggest scam.

If she told someone about it, they'd probably laugh and say she was the classic example of what not to do.

The only thing that could comfort her now was that at least her face and figure were still intact. She didn't smoke, didn't drink, had good habits, and kept her temperament well. At least she hadn't lost her capital.

Restarting her old career wasn't too difficult.

Abby had a camera and tripod at home. Shirley took a few new modeling photos, from front, side, half-body to full-body shots, and then added two lifestyle photos as supplements, with a footer including her height, measurements, and shoe size.

After preparing her personal information, she did some light photo editing and posted her profile. Five years ago, she used to earn three hundred per job, but now, due to the market downturn and increased competition, the price had dropped to two hundred and eighty.

...

Noble Building.

Liam stood at the door of the CEO's office.

Lucas, who had been buried in work lately, seemed to be doing everything to numb himself, whether it was staying at the company overnight or moving to another private apartment far from the First-class mansion. In the beginning, there had been some problems with high-level reports, and he had even hit a few snags.

But Liam knew that all of this wasn't because Lucas was too busy to handle it. It was more likely because of some issues he had been dealing with in other areas, trying to use high-intensity work to numb himself.

Lucas had originally been preparing everything in sequence, but he didn't expect that all the transferees had the same name. Huge transfer agreements and checks that only needed one more signature to be finalized were suddenly put on hold.

And then everything was shredded.

Liam knew that something had happened between the President William and Miss Shirley.

At least the breakup wasn't a pleasant one.

Liam adjusted his suit and gently knocked on the CEO's office door.

The person inside, "Come in."

When Lucas saw Liam enter, he realized that after more than half a month, his shock and anger had finally calmed down. All the work had helped numb him, and time had gradually softened his mood.

He knew Shirley had moved out of the First-class mansion, but there were still some things Lucas wanted to know. Or, rather, he wanted to completely clear things up.

Why had Shirley mentioned "three months," "ex-girlfriend," and "eight-digit sum" so often in her chats with friends?

His intuition told him this was likely the origin of the whole mess.

Lucas asked Liam to check it out.

Liam, standing respectfully in front of the young and proud man in the office chair, lowered his head slightly.

"Did you find out?" Lucas asked.

Liam, looking at the floor, finally revealed a somewhat complicated expression, "It should be clear now."

In B city, there was more than one William family. However, compared to the William family that controlled Noble, another William family, though still wealthy, was far less influential. The younger son of that family had studied abroad in the US, but he was known for being a playboy, changing girlfriends frequently, and rumor had it he had once gotten a small model pregnant.

When the small model insisted on keeping the baby, the family had to step in, giving her a large sum of money to end things.

The story of that model taking the money and leaving the industry spread quickly. It was well-known that the younger son of the William family changed girlfriends like clothes, and each breakup came with a hefty settlement.

And based on the timeline, that incident with the small model and the William family's younger son coincided with the time when Lucas was an exchange student at C University five years ago...

Liam rubbed his nose, and everything was pretty much said.

At this point, Lucas finally understood everything.