Chapter 8: A Ten-Million-Yuan Contract Termination Fee

After investigating, Ling Xiaoli was disappointed.

It wasn’t that she had gained absolutely nothing, but her findings were indeed pitifully few.

The photo album contained nothing but staged photos that were obviously taken for work—food, scenery, and daily life. The person in the pictures wore brilliant smiles, but aside from those, not a single photo looked as though the original owner had taken it voluntarily.

Apart from the preinstalled apps, the phone only had WeChat, Weibo, Taowu, Zhifubao, Ele.me, Maoya Livestream, and two match-three games.

The account logged into the livestreaming app was the original owner’s work account. All the information on it was public, without the slightest trace of anything private.

Other than Weibo and the games, none of the apps showed any signs of use.

The match-three games, however, had reached fairly high levels, proving that the original owner played them often.

If this was the original owner’s only phone, then judging from its usage alone, Ling Xiaoli felt an inexplicable sense of suffocation.

Weibo was the only place where she found anything useful.

This Weibo account was a private one, not her work account. She did not follow anyone, nor had she ever commented on anyone’s posts. There were, however, a dozen or so scattered followers, along with one post the original owner had made the previous day. Its comment settings were restricted to herself.

—If Birds Dive Deep into the Sea: “How can sorrow be dispelled? Only by drinking Du Kang’s wine. Hahahahahaha…”

There were no older posts.

There was only this one.

…

Original owner, what kind of situation were you in, exactly?

…

Although she was already exhausted to the point of collapse, Ling Xiaoli still forced herself to search through the small “junk-filled” apartment.

She soon found the contract, crumpled into a ball inside the bedside table.

Too lazy to read it line by line, Ling Xiaoli flipped directly to the section concerning the termination penalty.

Then everything went black before her eyes.

Her mind was filled with one glaring number—

Ten million yuan!

Ten million yuan!

This wasn’t money.

This was her life!

Even two Ling Xiaolis combined couldn’t come up with ten million yuan!

Trembling, Ling Xiaoli opened the various payment apps on her phone and checked her savings.

What?!

The original owner was rich!

She actually had more than three million yuan!

Three million yuan would have been enough for her to live as a freeloader for the rest of her life in the real world!

But…

She was still seven million short of the termination fee.

Could Keke really gather seven million yuan?

Ling Xiaoli felt that the outlook was bleak. She didn’t even know whether the termination fee could be paid in installments.

She quickly opened the browser and searched:

“Can a contract termination fee be paid in installments?”

“Will I go to jail if I don’t pay a termination fee?”

“What should I do if I want to breach a contract but don’t want to pay the termination fee?”

Hmm…

At least she wouldn’t go to jail, and her life wouldn’t be in danger.

But refusing to pay a major company’s termination fee would obviously cause enormous problems.

In the original story, after the original owner’s career had flopped, this Maoya Company had signed the female lead and gradually promoted her to the status of a heavenly queen.

Although the female lead eventually terminated her contract with the company and developed her career independently, Maoya Company was still doing perfectly well by the end of the story.

Tsk.

What a headache!

For now, Ling Xiaoli could only wait for news.

If her friend was truly capable enough to gather seven million yuan, then everything would be easy to resolve.

If she couldn’t gather enough, Ling Xiaoli would simply drag things out for the time being.

In any case, she was determined to terminate this contract!

At worst, she would be blacklisted by the entertainment industry or something. She could always put on a new identity and make a comeback later!

After dealing with everything she could, Ling Xiaoli finally couldn’t hold out any longer.

She turned off all the lights in the apartment and returned to the bedroom.

The curtains had not been drawn, and the gentle moonlight streamed into the room. Under its bright glow, the bedroom looked much better than the living room.

At least there wasn’t as much trash.

It was still extremely messy, though.

But Ling Xiaoli had no energy to clean it up now. She located the bed, pushed aside a few pieces of clothing, and collapsed onto it, stretching out flat.

She was so tired that she didn’t even want to move a single finger.

Yesterday, she had worked all day and had been rushed to the hospital from overwork before her shift had even ended. Immediately afterward, she had transmigrated.

The original owner’s body, meanwhile, had endured both a severe hangover and a performance.

From mind to body, the fact that Ling Xiaoli had managed to hold on until now was proof of her extraordinary perseverance.

Unfortunately, she did not get to rest for long.

Two or three minutes later, her phone vibrated again.

Ling Xiaoli sighed, picked it up, and discovered a message from Keke.

—Keke: Time is a little tight, so I managed to gather fifty million yuan for you. Is that enough? [Nervous meme]

Ling Xiaoli: ???