Chapter 51: Late Nights Are Meant for Clay Pot Rice…

A week later, Chen Shuojie went abroad.

Bai Yuanzhi finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Although Chen Shuojie was only going abroad for two weeks this time,

Bai Yuanzhi immediately began the process of resigning.

She didn’t directly submit her resignation to Bilanting Hotel—if she did, she would have to pay three months’ salary to Bilanting in reverse, as stipulated in her employment contract.

The method Bai Yuanzhi chose was to get fired for violating Bilanting’s employee regulations.

Although this approach also had drawbacks—she would be reported by Bilanting Hotel to the entire hotel industry, making it impossible for her to establish herself in this field in the future.

But Bai Yuanzhi didn’t care.

She never intended to stay in this industry long-term anyway.

So, which employee regulation was Bai Yuanzhi planning to violate?

She had studied it carefully before,

and finally decided on the simplest one—absenteeism.

Bilanting Hotel was very strict about employee attendance.

For example, when Li Yongzhen didn’t show up for just one day last time, the HR department acted as if it were a major crisis.

Bilanting Hotel had regulations:

Absent for one day, lose the entire month’s attendance bonus.

Absent for two days, lose half a month’s salary.

Absent for three days, immediate dismissal!

So, Bai Yuanzhi simply stopped going to Bilanting Hotel!

On the first day, she went to see her former neighbor from Xingfu Building, Liu Zhengsong, who was a securities broker. With Liu Zhengsong’s help, Bai Yuanzhi smoothly opened an account and transferred her funds into it.

On the second day, she went to see the real estate agent Fourth Uncle, asking him to help mediate. She paid some compensation to the renovation company, got her house keys back, and then went to the Hong Kong City Telecommunications Authority to spend five thousand dollars to activate a phone line… From then on, Bai Yuanzhi was someone with a home and a phone!

Then she started shopping like crazy.

The furniture and appliances in her home were already fully equipped,

so Bai Yuanzhi bought bedding, pots, pans, bowls, rice, flour, seasonings, and the like…

That afternoon, someone from Bilanting called Bai Yuanzhi.

Bai Yuanzhi first called the duty room to ask A Xi and learned that it wasn’t someone she knew looking for her…

She had a good idea.

It was probably someone from HR.

It might even be that Miss Sui!

Bai Yuanzhi called back.

Sure enough, Miss Sui’s voice came through the receiver, “Miss Ah Zhi, good afternoon! I’m sorry to bother you, but I’d like to ask—Miss Ah Zhi hasn’t come to the hotel for two days now. Is there something going on?”

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t try to hide anything and directly told Miss Sui her intentions.

Miss Sui didn’t show the slightest surprise. Instead, she told Bai Yuanzhi, “Miss Ah Zhi, according to what you’re saying, even though today is only your second day of absenteeism, you swapped shifts with a colleague this month without reporting it. If that day also counts as absenteeism, then you’ve already accumulated three days…”

“That’s even better,” Bai Yuanzhi said sincerely.

Miss Sui chuckled on the other end of the line, “In that case, I’ll help you with the procedures, Miss Ah Zhi! You might need to come back to the hotel tomorrow or the day after to return your employee card, duty room key, meal card, and such.”

Bai Yuanzhi happily arranged a time with Miss Sui before ending the call.

After that, Bai Yuanzhi went to the hospital to visit Zhou Sier.

But she ended up missing them.

Sister Cai said Qiao Yusheng had taken Zhou Sier for a walk in the small garden within the hospital.

So Bai Yuanzhi went out to look for them.

And she actually found them!

Zhou Sier had been sunbathing for a while, her cheeks flushed and radiantly beautiful.

Seeing Bai Yuanzhi, Zhou Sier was delighted, “Ah Zhi!”

Bai Yuanzhi was also very happy, “Sister! You can go outside today?”

The two sisters chattered away.

Bai Yuanzhi told her about wanting to take Zhou Sier out of the hospital and have her live together at home.

Zhou Sier was very surprised.

—Actually, she had regained consciousness quite some time ago and had heard Bai Yuanzhi mention buying a house. But Bai Yuanzhi had spoken vaguely, so Zhou Sier didn’t know the details.

However, with Qiao Yusheng present, Zhou Sier couldn’t ask too many questions.

Still, Zhou Sier was very willing to live with her sister after being discharged.

“In my current condition, even if I leave the hospital, it wouldn’t be convenient for me to move back into the Hong Kong University women’s dormitory. So I’ll just go and stay at your place! I just hope I can recover soon and finish the project well. Once things work out in the future, I’ll buy a house too… and we’ll be neighbors!” Zhou Sier said with a laugh.

Bai Yuanzhi nodded repeatedly.

Then—

She stole another glance at Qiao Yusheng.

Qiao Yusheng was gazing at Zhou Sier with infatuation, completely unaware that Bai Yuanzhi was observing him.

Bai Yuanzhi smiled.

Zhou Sier was clever; seeing her sister glance at Qiao Yusheng and then start smiling,

she understood what was going on and could only shoot her sister a shy, reproachful look before laughing as well.

A day later,

Bai Yuanzhi went to the Bilanting Hotel to complete the handover procedures.

She returned her employee ID, meal card, uniform, duty room key, and some tools she usually used;

collected her personal belongings and luggage, then went to the HR department to fill out the “labor contract termination” paperwork.

After finishing all the procedures,

Miss Sui handed Bai Yuanzhi an envelope and said kindly, “Here, this contains your performance bonuses from last month and the month before. Just sign here and take it.”

Bai Yuanzhi was stunned.

What? Last month’s performance bonus?

She could still get that?

Performance bonuses at Bilanting were usually paid one month later.

Bai Yuanzhi had long prepared to give up on two months’ worth of performance bonuses.

Because the amount wasn’t much—

around five hundred in total for two months.

But,

having it was better than not.

“Miss Sui, thank you!” Bai Yuanzhi said sincerely, signing her name.

Then, Bai Yuanzhi asked Miss Sui, “Miss Sui, there’s one more thing I’d like to trouble you with.”

“Please go ahead, Miss Ah Zhi.”

So Bai Yuanzhi explained that she wanted to represent Zhou Sier in negotiating compensation with the Bilanting Hotel’s senior management and asked Miss Sui, “Could you help me inquire about this, Miss Sui?”

Miss Sui agreed immediately, “No problem, Miss Ah Zhi, but please understand, I’m just in HR. At most, I can only relay the message for you. But I promise you, a specialist will contact you in a few days. Just make sure your contact information stays accessible.”

Bai Yuanzhi was very happy, “Thank you, Miss Sui!”

Miss Sui smiled and said, “Miss Ah Zhi, I wish you all the best in the future!”

“Thank you for your kind words, and I wish you all the best too, Miss Sui,” Bai Yuanzhi replied with a smile.

When leaving the Bilanting Hotel,

since she had already mentally prepared for the fact that “two months’ performance bonus would be a little over five hundred,”

Bai Yuanzhi wasn’t particularly excited about it.

She didn’t open the envelope to check its contents, simply stuffing it into her canvas bag before heading off to finish her night school classes, only then returning home.

Yes, Bai Yuanzhi now lived in her own home.

Her small apartment wasn’t large, only about thirty square meters.

But in the land-scarce Hong Kong City,

being able to live alone in a thirty-square-meter room already put her ahead of over ninety percent of people.

Bai Yuanzhi had a bedroom with a window and a desk, the bed being one point two meters wide;

she also had a living room that could fit a two-seater sofa and a coffee table, which also served as her dining table;

she had a separate toilet and bathroom, and a small but well-positioned balcony;

she had even used a cabinet in the living room to partition off a “study,” where she placed a single bed she had bought for six thousand dollars—once covered with thick cushions and pillows, it became a sofa, and there was also a desk here.

This study could temporarily accommodate her eldest sister.

After arriving home, Bai Yuanzhi first used the non-stick pot of her rice cooker to rinse some rice, added some sliced cured sausage, a bit of soy sauce and salt, and started cooking clay pot rice;

she also took out some vegetables bought from the convenience store at the entrance of her residential complex, picked a few, washed them clean, and soaked them in salt water.

Then she went to take a shower.

Her bathroom had a hot water shower!

When she lived in Xingfu Building before, she could only heat water, fill a bucket with hot water, and use a towel dipped in water to wipe herself down;

later, living in the duty room at Bilanting, she could indeed take hot showers, but a tiny cubicle combined the toilet and shower, and it was shared by eight people—to put it bluntly, you didn’t even dare to squat on the toilet for too long, and showers were rushed.

Now it was different.

With her own home, she could take hot showers for as long as she wanted!

She could also fill the bathroom with her favorite shower gel, shampoo, laundry detergent, face masks, moisturizers, and more…

she could even sing loudly while showering!

This feeling was incredibly comfortable.

After her hot shower, Bai Yuanzhi hummed a tune as she stepped out.

By then, the rice cooker had already switched off—the clay pot rice was ready!

The aroma filled the entire room!

Bai Yuanzhi lifted the lid, cracked a raw egg into it, carefully arranged the saltwater-soaked vegetables around the egg, then closed the lid and pressed the cooking button again.

Just then—

her pager beeped.

Someone had left her a message.

Bai Yuanzhi returned the call, and the pager informed her: “Miss Bai, Mr. Chen is asking why you’re not in the duty room. Please leave your phone number; Mr. Chen wants to call you.”

Bai Yuanzhi replied, “Received, thank you!”

Then she promptly hung up the phone, unwilling to leave her home phone number.

Next, she happily went through her skincare routine,

tidied up her canvas bag,

and planned to enjoy a delicious late-night snack while reading.

Bai Yuanzhi discovered the envelope containing her performance bonus.

Thinking about receiving an unexpected sum of money was indeed a happy thought.

So she opened the envelope and shook out the money inside…

Wait!

This—

Looking at the thousand-dollar bills scattered all over the floor,

Bai Yuanzhi was stunned.

What was going on?

Wasn’t her performance bonus only a little over five hundred?

But scattered all over the floor were at least twenty or thirty thousand-yuan bills!!!

Bai Yuanzhi stared blankly for a while before bending down to pick up the cash, along with the pay stub.

The pay stub read:

September Performance Bonus: Two hundred yuan,

October Performance Bonus: Two hundred yuan

November Performance Bonus: One hundred twenty yuan (calculated daily)

Lucky Star Award: Thirty-three thousand yuan exactly,

Bai Yuanzhi stared wide-eyed at the words “Lucky Star Award,” utterly stunned!

So???

What on earth was this Lucky Star Award?

For a moment, Bai Yuanzhi even wondered if Miss Sui was someone arranged by Chen Shuojie.

Otherwise, why would Miss Sui be so kind to her?

First a zodiac award, then a constellation award,

and now a Lucky Star Award…

But Bai Yuanzhi’s intuition told her it wasn’t.

Chen Shuojie was too controlling—he might give her the things, items, or resources she wanted, but he would never give her money.

Because once she had financial freedom, she would no longer be under his control.

Bai Yuanzhi thought about it for a long time but couldn’t figure out why.

But considering she had already resigned from Bilanting,

she might as well keep the money—Bilanting wouldn’t ask for it back anyway.

Bai Yuanzhi tucked the cash away with a clear conscience.

The sudden windfall put her in a cheerful mood.

She no longer felt like reading,

so she brought out the clay pot rice, sat down on the living room sofa, and first took out the phone to call A Yao, asking the operator to leave her phone number and request that A Yao call her back.

Then, she happily dug into the clay pot rice.

Bai Yuanzhi was hungry and craving food but also afraid of gaining weight.

So she hadn’t added any oil to the clay pot rice she cooked,

but the fat from the cured sausage had soaked the rice, making it glisten.

The second round of cooking was shorter, turning the egg on the surface of the clay pot rice into a soft-boiled egg.

With just a gentle stir of the spoon,

this electric rice cooker version of clay pot rice was already delicious.

Bai Yuanzhi squinted her eyes, savoring the delicious food in her mouth.

Two minutes later—

The phone rang.

As soon as Bai Yuanzhi picked up the phone,

A Yao’s pleasant voice came through, “…Sister?”

Bai Yuanzhi’s eyes curved into a smile.