Chapter 6

Every Day, For a Few Stinky Coins, My Heart Almost Stops

She never expected that, when faced with a company that refused to pay, she would have to treat her job like a murder mystery game just to survive.

On the fourth day after leaving Rongcheng Grand Hotel, Hu Xiu lay in bed, eyes open, thinking about Qin Shaoyi. She closed her eyes, and Qin Shaoyi was still there.

Every time she left the Rongcheng Grand Hotel, it was like this. Hu Xiu would be dizzy for a while, constantly replaying Qin Shaoyi’s actions, his gaze, afraid she would forget his face, the mint candy scent he exhaled. It was different from the mint candies she always kept with her. She’d often stop by convenience stores to browse, and her bedside was filled with mint candies. When she popped one into her mouth, the flavor would spread, and she’d start reminiscing. The cool scent of mint lingered at the edges of her lips and teeth. The slightest bit of closeness, and it felt almost like kissing Qin Shaoyi.

She kept sucking on the candies, feeling her body chill as her mind wandered. She realized she couldn’t continue like this.

Though Qin Shaoyi was handsome, she couldn’t lose her mind over him. Her bank card only had 2,500 yuan left, just enough for this month’s rent. She absolutely couldn’t go out and play anymore.

Fortunately, she was still living at Xu Jingdong’s place, a forty-minute drive away, in a house that often lost power. Thinking back to when she lived in the city, this amount of money could have gotten her kicked out by the landlord.

And yet, she had already lived in this cold-in-winter, cool-in-summer place for a year. Most of the time, she just stared blankly at the ceiling.

The 365 days of being a homebody was a life Hu Xiu had never experienced before. From elementary school to her master’s graduation and then into her job, her life had always been packed, with no breaks. During holidays, she’d take extra classes or practice piano, in university she worked hard to learn foreign languages, with top scores in the BEC Advanced exam and English exams, and during her postgraduate years, she translated for conferences and passed the CATTI exam with the highest level. She was almost a heartless exam machine.

Endless practice was a gift of muscle memory from her father. If she felt tired, she just had to push herself a little harder.

But after being called off from her engagement, she spent three whole months distracted. She didn’t pass the probation at her new company, and after moving to the suburbs, the most she did was lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, in a daze.

She watched the changing weather, the rain and snow, and her routine was shattered by the sudden work demands, becoming irregular. She spent an average of eight hours a day on her phone. After scrolling through Weibo, Douyin, and WeChat Moments, she felt like the rubber band inside her had stretched out of shape and finally snapped. The guilt became distorted, and she wanted to bury herself under the covers and just give up—lying flat was too comfortable!

But now, she couldn’t lie down anymore. She had to get her freelance payments back, break the lease in the suburbs, and find a proper translation job, preferably as an interpreter.

If she could get into a stable company, she could have fixed funds to visit Qin Shaoyi.

With a steady income, even doing translation could save up tens of thousands. Forget about seeing him twice a month, she could afford to meet him twice a week.

Moreover, this part-time job, which Zhao Xiaorou and Li Ai had scolded her for many times, constantly deducted wages, ignored payment requests, and only settled payments twice a year, had been delayed for six months. Just yesterday, they called her to go to the office for a meeting with the client.

Zhao Xiaorou had said many times that she was treated like a soft persimmon to be squeezed. Hu Xiu had secretly tried to quit several times.

But she was always tricked back by the accounts department, thinking that being nice would bring in money.

Now, sitting on the bed, she became more and more angry. She swore to herself that if she didn’t get the money back today, she would never see Qin Shaoyi again.

Love was motivating, and though she had once thought about lying flat and being financially irresponsible, now Hu Xiu jumped out of bed with determination, as though preparing to marry Qin Shaoyi.

To look like a fashionable copywriter, Hu Xiu dug out her Dior lipstick set from years ago, took out an electric screwdriver, drilled four holes, and threaded a leather strap through them. She ended up with a DIY Dior bag.

Once she put it on, she felt a little sad. The bag could only hold lipsticks and tissues. She couldn’t even fit an umbrella inside, let alone a computer. The four holes she drilled were clumsy, and after filing the edges, they were even rougher.

When she had money, why hadn’t she thought of buying a good bag? She had once thought materialism consumed humanity.

After thinking it over, Hu Xiu dug out an old canvas bag, threw her computer inside, and headed out.

Sweating through the morning rush hour, she arrived at Taolin Road at 10:30 AM. She wrote ATL copy for an advertising company called Enlighten, in the beauty group. The client she was working with was a cosmetics group with four or five lines in the Enlighten brand.

Her job was originally easy—just writing quarterly copy for the Tmall store. But gradually, as the market shifted, it became focused on live streaming. The word count kept growing, but she still wrote four to five pieces a month, earning 4,000 yuan a month.

The reason they used freelancers wasn’t because the company lacked copywriters, but because no one wanted to take the job.

As long as a copywriter was in the beauty group, they would be tortured every day. Hiring part-timers was a way to reduce the number of client hassles.

It was common for the advertising industry to delay payments, but dragging things out to the point of exhaustion could make even the working class rise up in protest.

Hu Xiu silently vowed to herself not to soften her heart. She would definitely quit. She would no longer be tricked by sweet words.

With money, she could go to the murder mystery game and find Qin Shaoyi. A psychologist charged by the hour, and seeing Qin Shaoyi cost 150 yuan an hour. If she went home and got high for half a month, it was worth it!

Tracy, holding coffee, walked into the meeting room and greeted her weakly: “Sorry, Hu Xiu, today we have a lot to write and revise. If we call, it might be a barrage, so we’ll do the revisions in person. The client’s direct feedback will be better than us passing it back and forth.”

“No problem…”

“Money... Today, the finance team didn’t come in. They’re probably off doing renovations. Kai Zi, has Xiaowen been in today?”

“No, she’s supervising a new house.”

The designer smiled at Tracy: “Xiaowen is a partner, so after counting the money, she can just go home and do renovations. I woke up at 4 AM and the first message I saw was a rent reminder.”

Hu Xiu muttered to herself: I haven’t even paid rent yet.

The meeting went on, and she had to deal with these drama queens, playing Tai Chi, all while unable to lose her temper.

The client list was as follows: Mian, the top seller with an “E” starting, only dealt with copy after 7 PM with the second party, because of meetings during the day; O, focusing on natural affordable products, but the copy had to look more expensive than the pricing; the male grooming line L was the most laid-back, with minimal revisions as long as there were no violations of advertising laws; the hardest to deal with was the beauty line B, which required the most adjustments for each quarterly update, sometimes needing changes even at midnight, asking for revisions again and again, even though the products were the same, expecting the words to be rewritten every time.

Compared to the constantly changing accounts (client executors), no one in the client side ever left. Hu Xiu didn’t like this job, but she did have a lot of respect for the dedicated girls—young, able to handle pressure, and never backing down from minor injuries.

She still remembered the double eleven rush in 2017 when her phone was bombarded with calls. Someone in the background was shouting, “How can you take leave now? My grandmother is in Longhua Funeral Home, and I haven’t left yet. How can they be so irresponsible?”

Tracy was the beauty group’s female warrior at Enlighten, always efficient and focused on client pressures, working hard to achieve results. During busy seasons, she barely slept. The only downside was that she liked to delay payments and play the blame game.

The client’s call came in, asking for new copy that reflected the product tone, effects, and promotional efforts, with each similar product from the same brand needing a different style in the copy.

In truth, Hu Xiu knew that live streamers hardly ever looked at scripts. But as a copywriter, she was at the bottom of the food chain, serving influencers by simply following instructions and doing as told.

The client’s call came in, their voice muffled as if applying a face mask: “Let’s go through this quickly. Let’s start with the foundation. This season’s focus is on a sheer finish, and our product promotes skincare. But as summer is coming, we still need to emphasize the lightweight feel. The line below needs to explain that it lacks a summer vibe. The competitors in the market are many, and we need to capture the market this summer.”

They also wanted the action in parentheses written in the script: reminding the host to test the foundation, with the product showing clearly in the shot.

While talking, the phone signal suddenly cut out. As she waited for the signal to reconnect, fragments of the client’s voice broke through, with the client lowering their voice, “This copywriting is so terrible, it’s like it was written with feet. The brief doesn’t even make sense, it’s awful! Honestly, it’s not me being picky, this is just too bad!

I might as well do it myself. Our entire team depends on us, how is it that every copy is this bad? After the meeting, I’m going to tell Tracy to change this copy.”

Once the signal cleared up, the voice on the other end returned to its polite tone, as if nothing had happened, “Where were we? Let’s talk about eyeshadow and brushes now.”

The demands passed on to the copywriters and designers are usually filtered, so hearing them this directly made everyone in the room exchange looks, silently feeling embarrassed for Hu Xiu.

Tracy remained silent, glancing at Hu Xiu as if agreeing with the client — it was her usual tactic. After every copy submission, she would always say a few words: “Why does it always need to be changed?”

“Really disappointing!” she’d say, followed by, “Come on, I trust you the most, you’re my most reliable copywriter,” effectively pushing any demands for payment back into Hu Xiu’s mouth.

The familiar feeling of being bullied by clients came back. Normally, Hu Xiu would shut down mentally, feeling embarrassed. But this time, her expression didn’t change as she silently repeated to herself, “Qin Shaoyi, Qin Shaoyi. If I get through this last meeting, I can meet Qin Shaoyi.”

Just imagining Qin Shaoyi’s face was enough to make her shiver, and his voice echoed in her ears like a divine sound.

As Hu Xiu thought about it, goosebumps spread up her arms. After an hour of revisions, while others were resting, she was in the meeting room, her fingers clacking away on the keyboard.

Advertising copywriting itself is a game of patchwork, requiring little soul. Hu Xiu realized this when she worked as a translator; short written pieces are like puzzles—just keep a clear mind, understand the client’s needs, and write it down.

The three designers across from her were having lunch, talking about how their love lives weren’t going well. Their only recent joy was getting paid and buying bags.

Meanwhile, Tracy’s standard excuse to Hu Xiu was, “We haven’t even paid the salaries yet, Hu Xiu, please wait a bit longer.” Incredible, she didn’t even blink when lying.

As the girl whose love life was not going well walked out to throw away the trash, the other two secretly discussed, “She actually broke up, but doesn’t want to admit it, afraid we’ll find out her rich boyfriend dumped her. She’s actually broke and lives with her mom in an old house in Hongkou. She can’t afford a house; it’s pretty sad.”

Hu Xiu hadn’t expected that, in the world of young women’s comparisons, having someone to love is a kind of security.

Noticing Hu Xiu’s gaze, they pretended to be quiet as they left the meeting room. “Tracy is going crazy from the lack of help.”

“But she got promoted, didn’t she? Now she’s officially an AM, all the budget is on her head, and she’s keeping it all for herself.”

Hu Xiu remembered everything in her heart.

The revisions lasted until 4 PM. Hu Xiu had only had one cup of coffee, and her blood pressure was rising.

Tracy was too busy to even notice Hu Xiu, grabbing her bag and preparing to attend another client meeting.

Hu Xiu blocked her at her desk, “Tracy, I’m not taking this freelance job anymore. Please settle the payment quickly, I urgently need the money.”

Tracy grew a bit serious, “You’re here for the payment?”

“Yes...”

“Our financial system is closed now, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

“But isn’t it 5 PM? It’s only 4:20 now, there’s still time.”

After a few seconds of silence, Tracy seemed troubled, “Hu Xiu, I’m not making you wait on purpose. The Q2 client payments are slow, and the finance team isn’t full-time. I’m struggling too.”

She softened her tone, “If you back out after hearing a couple of client complaints, it’s not worth it. How about you help me for another three months? Once the double 11 is done, I’ll pay you all together and ask the boss for a raise for you.”

But Hu Xiu’s mind seemed to click, like a strategy from a murder mystery game. She walked up to Tracy and looked her straight in the eye, her voice full of sadness, “I know you’re struggling, but if I wait any longer, I won’t even be able to pay my rent.

Look at my canvas bag, the corners are worn out. I only have one month’s salary left in my account.

I’m probably the poorest freelancer in this ad company, right? Freelancers don’t have contracts, but we need trust to keep working, right?

If you pay today, we can keep working together, but if not, I can’t continue.”

Standing there, Tracy closed her laptop. “I’ll call finance. But promise me, you’ll help me with double 11 after.”

“Of course...”

Hu Xiu didn’t rush to leave. After submitting the copy, she waited at Tracy’s desk until she saw the payment of 24,000 yuan deposited into her account. Calmly, she left the office with Tracy, taking the elevator down together.

Watching Tracy get into a taxi, Hu Xiu left a message, “Sorry, Tracy, I’m done. I hope you find the right copywriters for double 11. I’m going back to my old profession to do translation. Being your freelancer just doesn’t pay well.”

To deal with a scoundrel, you have to be a scoundrel too. Hu Xiu never imagined that this trick was something she learned from playing a murder mystery game.

After sending the message and blocking Tracy, Hu Xiu rushed to the subway, heading to the train station—Qin Shaoyi, here I come!

She would soon be moving back to the city to seriously look for a job, and once she settled, she’d be dating you in Rongcheng every week—

Damn it, spending the whole day negotiating for a few lousy bucks, I feel like my heart might stop!