At ten in the evening, Qiao Xiaoxiao carried her bag and entered the office, looking utterly exhausted.
At this hour, her colleagues had already left, leaving the pitiful Qiao, who hadn't even had dinner.
She tossed her briefcase onto her desk and grabbed a cup of water from the dispenser. Munching on a piece of bread, she switched on her computer.
"Can't they let a person live?" Qiao Xiaoxiao roared at her computer screen. Her beautiful eyes, from endless nights of work, had acquired dark circles and sunk deeply into their sockets.
Qiao Xiaoxiao, 28 years old this year, had joined the company three years ago. She hadn't earned money, or a boyfriend, and had turned into an unmarried, overlooked woman of her late twenties.
The company initially had three customs clearance staff. One resigned, the other was pregnant. That left all their work in the hands of Qiao Xiaoxiao.
Right now, it's the peak season. A pile of imports, exports, and outsourcing projects needed declarations, and new contracts had been signed.
Thinking about the new contract registration procedures she had to process at Customs tomorrow, and the pile of unfinished settlement vouchers, made Qiao Xiaoxiao want to bang her head against a wall.
Qiao Xiaoxiao truly had her hands full. She gritted her teeth and cursed the big boss. After cursing, she had to work overtime to print the declaration data for the next day.
By the time she had finished her work, an hour had passed. Glancing at her watch, it was almost midnight - her curfew, just like Cinderella's.
After locking the office door, she walked to the elevator. Pressing the down button, Qiao Xiaoxiao leaned against the wall and dozed off.
A "ding" sound rang out — the elevator doors opened.
"Hi, baby, are you coming in?" someone shouted.
Qiao Xiaoxiao looked up and saw a man. He looked handsome and beaming. Gratefully, she stepped into the elevator and politely said, "Thank you."
She began to size up the man in front of her — it was midnight, and he was wearing a goose-yellow shirt, leopard-print pants, and shoes that looked like a crocodile’s back.
He was oddly dressed, and his hair was somewhat long, with one eye being overshadowed by his hair — an edgy look.
Wait a minute, could he be a perverted predator? She had often heard from her female colleagues to be wary of peculiar men in the dead of night.
While Qiao Xiaoxiao was observing this man, he suddenly spoke, “Baby, you seem tired. Let me take you for some relaxation.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao was startled and quickly declined, “Thank you for your invitation, but I am exhausted. I would like to go home and rest.”
The man was toying with his car keys and said, “Maybe I can give you a lift, I doubt there are any vehicles available at this hour.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at him with some disgust. Does he always do this? Encountering a strange woman in the elevator, then offering to help her relax and drive her home?
“I don’t intend to take a ride. I plan on running back,” Qiao Xiaoxiao laughed. She spoke the truth; her dormitory was not far from here. It was only about a half-hour walk.
The elevator doors opened once again with a “Ding” sound. Outside the building was an ostentatious Lamborghini which was as yellow as the man’s shirt.
Qiao Xiaoxiao laughed, she guessed right; the car must be his.
As she had assumed, this car was indeed his. He approached the car and looked back at Qiao Xiaoxiao, asking, “Baby, are you sure you don’t need a ride?”
Smiling, Qiao Xiaoxiao replied, “No need, thank you.”
He also smiled, a very charming smile. The wind blew, making his long hair flutter. This time, Qiao Xiaoxiao could clearly see his face.
He had big eyes, a lofty nose, and very sexy lips. His features didn’t quite look Chinese, maybe he was of mixed race.
Noticing Qiao Xiaoxiao staring at him, he chuckled, “I heard there's been a perverted killer around here recently, who targets single females, abducts them, then rapes and slaughters them again and again. Are you sure you don't want me to drive you home?”