Chapter 1

“Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Zhao Kaile?”

Under the blazing sun, a thin young man with a single-strap backpack stood beneath the shade of a street tree. With one hand he fanned himself with a flyer, while the other held his phone as he asked with some confusion, “Yes, who is this?”

A sweet female voice came from the other end of the line, speaking politely, “Hello, may I ask if you are still in contact with Mr. Zhao Kaiming?”

Zhao Kaile was taken aback. The name the other party mentioned was his older brother, born to the same parents, only three years apart, with whom he had depended on each other for survival. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked rather guardedly, “Uh, what about it?”

“This is the situation, Mr. Zhao. I am calling on behalf of Bai Xiaoque’s client. This Mr. Zhao Kaiming took out a loan from the Bai Xiaoque platform in 2019, and as of today, it has been overdue for more than nine hundred days.” The female voice spoke at a measured pace, “The principal of his loan was 500,000 yuan, and the current amount due is 1.25 million yuan. The contact name and phone number he provided when applying for the loan were yours, so we are contacting you today to ask whether you can still reach him?”

The other party seemed afraid he would not believe her, and accurately recited some of Zhao Kaiming’s personal private information.

Zhao Kaile’s hand holding the phone began to tremble. “How… how much needs to be paid?!”

The sweet yet cold female voice repeated, “1.25 million.”

“I understand… I’ll contact him first.”

This news was like a thunderbolt from the heavens, instantly blasting Zhao Kaile into a daze. He hung up the phone somewhat incoherently and hurriedly dialed Zhao Kaiming’s number, but there was no answer. On the twelfth attempt, he finally gave up. He squatted under the tree, his whole body cold, his eyes staring blankly at the endless stream of traffic before him, as if some mysterious force had sucked away his soul.

Unable to reach him by phone, and with all other chat apps also showing no contact, Zhao Kaile finally realized that his own brother had not contacted him for one or two months. So he had been hiding from his debts!

Zhao Kaiming!! You beast!!!!!!

Zhao Kaile roared in his heart, on the verge of tears but with no tears left to shed. After nearly half an hour of digesting the news, he barely managed to calm down. He returned to school in a daze, his mind filled with the miserable future of paying off his brother’s debts.

In the four-person dormitory, two of his roommates had gone out running around for interviews just like Zhao Kaile, while the remaining one, whose family owned a company and had no worries about food or clothing, sat playing games. This one got along quite well with Zhao Kaile and was called Li Wenyao.

“Why are you back so early today?” Li Wenyao did not turn his head, asking while flicking his mouse, “How many places did you run to?”

Zhao Kaile took off his shoes and lay flat on his bed without a word, his eyes staring blankly at the underside of the upper bunk, his mind completely blank.

After finishing a round, Li Wenyao turned back and glanced at him, only then sensing that something was off. He pulled his chair over to Zhao Kaile’s bedside and asked with confusion, “What’s wrong, Kaile? Heat stroke? Why is your face so pale?”

Zhao Kaile murmured, “Still alive, can still breathe.”

Li Wenyao was greatly alarmed, “What on earth happened? If you really don’t feel well, I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

“I…” Zhao Kaile was overcome with sorrow, and burst into tears with a wail, “My brother took out online loans and didn’t pay them back for three years. Now he owes them more than a million…”

Li Wenyao was even more shocked, “Damn, more than a million, that’s no small matter. Enough for my dad to buy a watch.”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

Li Wenyao said, “It’s fine, Kaile. I’ll have my dad lend it to you first, no interest. You can pay it back slowly.”

Zhao Kaile’s heart stirred, and he quickly wiped his tears a couple of times, sitting up and looking at him with full hope, “Really, Brother Yao? I, I, I thank you, I really thank you.”

“Wait a moment, I’ll tell my dad.” Li Wenyao stopped his thanks and went to call his father with full confidence.

Zhao Kaile sat on the edge of the bed waiting anxiously, personally witnessing Li Wenyao’s expression change from full confidence to complete confusion, then to playing dumb, and finally to flying into a rage.

“You stingy old man, when I make money later I’ll only give it to my mom!” Li Wenyao hung up the phone in anger, then adjusted his expression, turned back with some apology, and looked at Zhao Kaile, saying in a low voice, “Uh, sorry about that.”

Zhao Kaile quickly said, “No, no, thank you all the same. I can figure something out myself.”

The two of them sat in awkward silence for a while. Then Li Wenyao said, “But I might be able to introduce you to a job with better pay. Do you want to come with me tomorrow?”

Zhao Kaile looked at him hesitantly for a moment. Li Wenyao added, “It’s definitely better than those companies you found running around outside. These days, who doesn’t treat fresh graduates like cabbage to be casually plucked?”

Zhao Kaile nodded, thinking he was right. No matter what, it couldn’t be worse than his current situation.

That night he could not sleep at all. When he got up the next day, the circles under his eyes were dark and green. Li Wenyao fixed his hair a bit, and after getting ready to call a taxi to go out, he was stopped by Zhao Kaile.

“Taking a taxi is too expensive.” Zhao Kaile said with a pained heart, “Let’s take the subway.”

Li Wenyao laughed and cried at the same time, “I’m treating you, can’t I? What can you save with this pocket change? We mainly need to increase income, don’t focus on cutting expenses.”

Zhao Kaile gave in, sat in the back seat and began to catch up on sleep. In his half-asleep state, his ears were filled with the sound of Li Wenyao chatting with the driver. He had not slept long before Li Wenyao woke him up. As soon as he got out of the car and looked up, before his eyes stood a towering high-rise building, and the four large characters that met his eyes were — Qi Hua Entertainment.

“…” Zhao Kaile thought he was still not awake, “Did we come to the wrong place?”

Li Wenyao said, “No, we didn’t come to the wrong place. My cousin said there’s an artist under her who needs a personal assistant. The pay is decent, and she asked if I wanted to try it during the summer vacation since I had nothing to do. I thought you would be suitable.”

Zhao Kaile felt a bit numb. He thought to himself, good heavens, what kind of background does your family have… Wait, personal assistant, isn’t that just a nanny? I majored in Chinese literature, and I’m coming to be someone’s nanny?

Li Wenyao continued, “I think it’s about ten thousand or so a month. Anyway, it’s much better than what you found outside. But this job can only be obtained through personal connections, and you’re my brother, so it’s the same.”

Ten thousand…

Ten thousand?!

Zhao Kaile said, “I’m willing.”

Li Wenyao led him inside, laughing at him, “There’s still an interview. Just you being willing isn’t enough. But there shouldn’t be any major problems. Look at you, you’re usually quite popular with female classmates and female teachers.”

Zhao Kaile was a bit hopeful, “It’s a female artist?”

The two entered the elevator one after another. Li Wenyao pressed the third floor and scoffed, “Male. Keep dreaming.”

Zhao Kaile: “…Oh.”

After getting out of the elevator, there was still some distance to Li Wenyao’s cousin’s office. Along the way, there were many handsome men and beautiful women coming and going, and a few were really familiar faces often seen on television. Zhao Kaile forcefully suppressed his urge to rush up and ask for autographs, following behind Li Wenyao as he walked forward.

“Wait here outside for a bit. I’m going to the bathroom.” Li Wenyao pointed at an office door and said, “If someone opens the door and calls you in later, just go in.”

Zhao Kaile nodded and stood honestly outside the door. He suddenly remembered something and lowered his head to put his phone on silent mode.

“How much longer do we have to wait?” A deep male voice came from the neighboring office, filled with impatience, “I’m going back first. You tell Bai Li yourself.”

A young female voice begged with tears, “Please, Brother Hang, just wait a little longer. Once Sister Li finishes explaining the matters, it’ll be done, ten minutes at most!”

But no matter how she pleaded, the man remained cold and heartless, turning a deaf ear. He walked straight to the door and opened it. As he turned, he had a strange five-second staring contest with Zhao Kaile, who was curiously poking his head out with an expression of curiosity.

The man was at least 1.85 meters tall, with a robust build and medium-length hair that was clearly carefully styled. When he looked at Zhao Kaile, he even needed to lower his head slightly.

Zhao Kaile was stunned, thinking to himself, what a pretentious guy, who wears sunglasses indoors in broad daylight?

Zhan Hang was accustomed to outsiders looking at him with such startled gazes. He stood lazily in place, certain that the other party would come over joyfully to ask for his autograph.

However, ten seconds passed, and nothing happened.

Zhan Hang’s face changed, and he let out an annoyed hum from his nose, turning to leave.

The female assistant hugged his thigh for dear life, “Wuwuwu, Brother Hang, don’t go! Please!”

Zhan Hang said angrily, “Ten minutes ago you said ten minutes! Do you have any reliable words in your mouth?!”

The female assistant sobbed, “I didn’t know it would take this long this time…”

Zhao Kaile watched with his mouth agape, and a faint worry began to rise in his heart about his future assistant life.

Fortunately, during the standoff, the door to Bai Li’s office finally opened. A young man came out with a smile all over his face. At first glance he saw Zhan Hang and hurriedly nodded and bowed to greet him, “Brother Hang, you’re here. Sister Li is waiting for you inside.”

Zhan Hang let out another hum, not even acknowledging him, and pushed the door open to go in himself, leaving the young man to look at his back with a plaintive gaze before turning to leave in dejection. Zhao Kaile’s eyes followed him for a moment, thinking that this person also looked quite familiar, as if he had played a eunuch in some drama.

The female assistant made an expression of thanking the heavens, and before following in, she swept a glance at Zhao Kaile and asked, “Are you Sister Li’s cousin?”

“Oh, no.” Zhao Kaile explained, “I’m his classmate. I’m here to…”

The female assistant, afraid that Zhan Hang would explode again, grabbed him and dragged him into the office, “Alright, stop talking, come in.”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

Li Wenyao, are you planning to finish watching the entire series of Empresses in the Palace in the bathroom?! Come back quickly aaaaaah!

With a slam, the door closed. Zhao Kaile stood in the office with a bewildered face. On the sofa sat Zhan Hang, the sunglasses-wearing man who looked like a grandpa, while behind the desk sat a beautiful woman in her early thirties with long hair this was Li Wenyao’s cousin, Bai Li.

Bai Li smiled at him, “Zhao Kaile?”

Zhao Kaile nodded nervously, “Yes… it’s me.”

When Zhan Hang heard this, he somewhat understood the situation. He took off his sunglasses, his deep eyes looking Zhao Kaile up and down from head to toe with contempt, and then asked Bai Li in a tone of disbelief, “Him?”

Zhao Kaile also understood at this moment. His brain instantly filled with garbled text — I @!¥#@…#&, the first time being an assistant, and it starts at hell difficulty!