A Lovely Girl Turning into a Rat

“Wake up, baby. It’s time to get up. You have to go to work this morning.” Luo Nan gently pinched the sleeping woman’s nose.

Dong Ci turned over in bed. “Please! I want to sleep for another minute, just one minute,” she begged in a soft and adorable tone, as if she were a spoiled child begging for a candy.

Then she turned her face to the wall. Her silk nightdress was pulled loose, revealing her smooth, delicate back which was dotted with several pimples. The weather was hot and she suffered from excessive internal heat. With those pimples, she was more like an ordinary, charming woman.

Luo Nan removed Dong Ci’s shoulder-straps and held her from behind with a mischievous smile on his face. “Since you don’t want to get up, we can do something to fight down your desire to sleep…”

Dong Ci was still sleeping soundly, seemly unaware of his big hands over her bosom, and her breathing was even and calm.

Luo Nan let go of her and sat down on the sofa. “Okay. You can go on sleeping. Alas! Those poor guests are still waiting for you.”

Just as the words fell from his lips, Dong Ci sat up and looked out of the window with a drowsy look. The room was tinged yellow by brilliant sunshine streaming in through the window. She stretched herself and licked her rosy lips, her slender waist swaying alluringly. “It’s really a fine day,” she said.

Luo Nan looked up at her and said teasingly, “Yesterday you told me that you wanted to get up at six o’clock this morning. So I tried to wake you up at six but you slept like the dead and didn’t hear me. At seven o’clock I tried again, but you said that today is Sunday. At eight o’clock, I tried once more but you told me that you wanted to sleep for another minute. And now it’s half past eight…”

Dong Ci screamed, “Ah! It’s half past eight?! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

She began to dress herself frantically. Her forehead was oozing sweat and she felt hot as if she was in a scorching oven. “It’s so hot today,” she complained.

Luo Nan went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Dong Ci sat on the toilet and emptied the bowels while making herself up. When she finished her make-up, Luo Nan got the breakfast ready for her. On the table were milk, salted vegetables, doughnuts, and a water bottle filled with icy water. “Come and have breakfast,” he said in a soft voice.

Dong Ci picked up the water bottle and her handbag, stood in front of the mirror and sprayed her fluffy hair with gel water. Then she applied some gentian violet solution to a bruise on her elbow which was caused by the fierce sex last night. She had a doughnut in her mouth and said in a vague voice, “Honey, I’m late. I’ve got to rush. See you tonight.”

With that she planted a kiss on his cheek. He caught a whiff of bread.

Luo Nan wanted her to drink some milk, so he picked up a glass of milk and rushed to the door, but Dong Ci had raced away out of sight. She even forgot to take her mobile phone, which was off and lying next to the pillow quietly. Standing on the balcony, Luo Nan slowly drank the milk, looked down at Dong Ci’s receding figure and shook his head, and then sighed with profound resignation, “I must have been indebted to her in the previous life.”

‘If Dong Ci hadn’t insisted on working for another half a year, she would have married me. If she was my legal wife, she could be free to wake up whenever she wanted. If she felt bored, she could go shopping or play mahjong with ladies living in quadrangle dwellings. She even could keep a puppy as pet and hire a servant to do all the cooking and cleaning. Why did Dong Ci insist on working for another half a year? For money? But she would rather take a taxi than let me drive her to the company. I have been her boyfriend for half a year, but I still know little about her real self,’ he thought to himself. Then he phoned his driver, “Hello. Please come and pick me up.”

Dong Ci liked her job and enjoyed working with people. Her work was to serve different guests every day. Her ultimate aim was to satisfy the guests and milk money from them. Her manager often praised her, “You are really the most outstanding guide in our company. You are beautiful and likable. I hope you won’t get married too early.”

Her colleagues liked her too, because Dong Ci was generous. Every time she got a handsome reward, she invited her colleagues to dinner. Gradually, she established good interpersonal relationships with them and few people in the company talked behind her back. So, she always took the title of the most outstanding guide.

When a woman was famous, she became arrogant.

The moment Dong Ci got into the tourist bus, all the tourists in it exploded with the rage that had simmered for a few hours.

The driver Xia Yan had been Dong Ci’s partner for a long time and got used to her being late. But in order to placate the tourists, he had to pretend to be annoyed and scold her, “Why are you so late? The guests have waited for you for two and a half hours. I called you several times but couldn’t get through.”

A middle-aged woman in a dress lifted her hand and shouted, “Refund my money, or I will complain to your superiors.”

Hearing this all the tourists began to censure her, “You are a guide. How could you be so late? Do you really take your job seriously?”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Your boss must have been crazy to employ you. You will drag down the reputation of your tourist agency.”

“You have wasted our time. We need some compensation.”

“We’ve been waiting for so long. What are you going to do with our losses?”

…

Dong Ci looked up and down the middle-aged woman in a dress, and then came up to her and said, “Do you want a refund?”

The woman glanced at Dong Ci and answered, “Yes. You are more than two hours late. So, you have to compensate me.”

Dong Ci said, “Here’s 500 yuan. Now you can get off the bus.”

All the people in the tourist bus quietened. The woman with 500 Yuan in her hand was at a loss what to do.

“Sorry, everybody.” Dong Ci rolled up her sleeve, showing the wound on her elbow, and in a choked voice she continued, “I was robbed at my doorstep last night. I lost my wallet, ID card and mobile phone. That’s why the driver couldn’t get through to me this morning.”

The tourists sighed sympathetically and gazed at her injured elbow.

“Although I was injured, I have no intention of taking the day off. But now I feel guilty and irresponsible because I have kept you waiting. You can complain to my superiors. But I hope you all take extra security precautions when you go out in the evening.” Her voice trembled, seemingly on the verge of tears.

The middle-aged woman handed the money to Dong Ci and said, “Alas! Poor girl! Forget it. It’s nice of you to come. You don’t need to compensate me. Come on, let’s start our tour!”

Dong Ci took the money, turned on the loudspeaker and said with a smile, “Hello, everyone! Welcome to this sightseeing tour. I’m the guide from Starlight International Travel Agency. My name is Dong Ci. We all know Dong Yong, the husband of Seventh Fairy. My surname is the same as his. In China, ‘Ci’ means ‘porcelains’. China is famous for the porcelains. Don’t you think my name is full of Chinese characteristics? Now let’s start a strong ethnic style tour!”

All the people in the tour bus applauded. An elderly couple looked at each other and said in chorus, “The girl has a nice voice.”

As Xia Yan drove, he thought to himself, “She managed to placate the angry tourists again. What a capable guide she is!”

Dong Ci’s face lit up with a triumphant smile.