Chapter 437: A Difficult Job Search

Donna Thorne made up her mind to give it a try, and the supervisor who interviewed her was delighted.

In this line of work, the more beautiful the streamer, the more persuasive the product.

Although Donna Thorne wasn’t a celebrity or from an ethnic minority, her features were simply outstanding. She was bound to look great on camera.

Plus, her skin was flawless, and she wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. He immediately took her to fill out the new-hire paperwork.

He never expected Donna Thorne to fall so short.

No work experience and no diploma were one thing, but she didn’t even have an ID card.

Donna Thorne explained to the supervisor how she’d been scammed by a travel agency and lost all her identification, hoping he would make an exception and give her the job, but he couldn’t agree.

"This is a legitimate studio. We have to sign a contract, and we can’t do that without an ID. How about this: I’ll hold the position for you. Once you get your ID, come back, and I’ll hire you on the spot. Okay?"

In reality, it was just a high-sounding excuse.

In this business, you didn’t just need to be pretty; you had to show your face publicly. If she had done something illegal and it came to light, the company would be in for a world of trouble.

The job fell through, and after running around all day, Donna Thorne was exhausted. She had no choice but to return to her hotel.

Lying alone in the spacious hotel room, she looked at the beautiful furnishings and the scenic view outside her window, but she was too anxious to lie still.

She knew deep down that this life wasn’t hers. She managed to hold out until just after 3 p.m., but in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and called a police officer whose number she had gotten when she reported the crime.

She explained her pitiful situation—she had no money, nothing at all. If she couldn’t get her ID back soon, she wouldn’t even be able to return to her hometown.

Although the police officer sympathized with her, there was nothing he could do.

The case had just been filed yesterday; it was impossible to solve it today. Besides, since the amount involved was so small—only 1,000 yuan—it wasn’t an easy case to resolve.

Most importantly, they were swamped with other cases and simply didn’t have the time to deal with hers at the moment.

He told Donna Thorne to come down to the station. If worse came to worst, he could lend her some money to go back to her hometown and get a replacement ID. He told her not to worry.

How could Donna Thorne not be worried?

She had run away from home after a huge fight with her family, determined to burn her bridges. She had already dragged her luggage downstairs and could still hear her mother yelling for her to go die outside and never come back.

And now, after only one day, she was supposed to go back and ask her for the household registration book? It would be a miracle if her mother didn’t scold and mock her to death.

Donna Thorne didn’t want to go back. ’I’d rather die out here than ever return to that house,’ she thought.

But she couldn’t actually die.

So far, her life hadn’t offered her anything particularly good or worth clinging to, but she was still a person. She didn’t want to just give up and live a pathetic, spineless life.

’I’ll go out and look for work again tomorrow. If I have to, I’ll try some smaller studios. Worst case, I’ll tell them they don’t have to pay for my social insurance or housing fund. I refuse to believe not a single one will want me.’

Just as she was plotting her next move, the hotel phone rang.

Donna Thorne gloomily picked it up. To her surprise, it was the boss from the entertainment studio, the last place she had interviewed at that morning.

Afraid of being harassed, she had only given out the hotel’s number. She never expected him to actually call.

"So? Found a job yet? Are you sure you don’t want to give my place a shot? I’m offering a guaranteed base salary of 5,000 a month! You can ask around, where else are you going to find a deal this good? We’ll start paying you from the very first minute you clock in. Why don’t you just come try it out and see how it goes? If it works, you stay. If not, you can just leave after a little while. What are you afraid of? We’re a legitimate company, registered with the commerce bureau. You’re not afraid I’m gonna eat you, are you?"

The boss was a man in his thirties with an average build and a crew cut. He was rather plain-looking.

He wasn’t wrong. The reason Donna Thorne hadn’t chosen his offer was, for one, she was afraid she wouldn’t be good at being an entertainment streamer. After all, she couldn’t sing or dance, had no talents to speak of, and wasn’t a particularly humorous person.

For another, it was his appearance. He just didn’t have the air of a boss.

She had just been scammed and was scarred by the experience, terrified that this was just another shell company.

But that was what she thought this morning. Now, knowing she wouldn’t be getting her ID back anytime soon and having no other options, she was desperate to earn money. None of those other concerns mattered for the time being.

And so, at 6 p.m., the boss came to pick her up personally, and Donna Thorne returned to the studio.

The studio wasn’t large. The space, spanning an upper and lower floor, had been partitioned into ten small rooms. Each room had a different style, but they all had one thing in common: a beautiful woman with perfectly applied makeup sitting inside.

The boss gave Donna Thorne a quick tour to dispel her doubts.

"It’s work hours right now, so everyone’s busy. When they have a free moment, you can ask them one by one how long they’ve worked here and whether or not we’re a legitimate company. We’re all just here to make money. My goal is money, so why would I be after anything else from you? Just relax. As long as you’re hungry enough for money, our goals are aligned. I’m not your boss, and you’re not my subordinate. We’re partners, okay?"

Since dropping out of school, Donna Thorne had worked many jobs and had even met a few mild-tempered, polite bosses, but this was the first time she had ever heard someone talk like this.

He was treating her like a partner.

She really liked the word "partner."

The boss personally took her to an empty streaming room and taught her the ropes of live streaming, as well as the persona she was to adopt.

Donna Thorne would often browse live streams in her spare time, so she had some familiarity with the basics and caught on quickly.

The boss called someone over to do her makeup and help her change clothes.

Soon, the first live-streaming job of her life began.

Just like every new streamer, Donna Thorne’s channel was empty at first.

Every now and then, someone would stumble upon her stream, drawn in by her beauty, but they would only stay for a moment before leaving without any interaction.

When she had just finished putting on the heavy makeup and changing into the provocative clothes, Donna Thorne had been full of confidence.

She knew that her current look, while gaudy, was also beautiful in a certain way. This was exactly the type some men went for.

If it was just about attracting men with her looks, she was more than confident. She had been harassed by men because of her beauty more times than she could count since she was a little girl.

But after streaming for over an hour, aside from a few teasing comments that scrolled by, she hadn’t received a single donation. She was starting to get discouraged.

’This money really isn’t as easy to make as it looks,’ she thought.

’If all it took was being beautiful and sitting here for men to shower you with money, wouldn’t every pretty woman in the world be rich?’

Bored, Donna Thorne propped her chin on her hand and began to zone out. She decided she would leave after streaming for two hours. She just couldn’t do this.

But right at that moment, a big spender entered her channel with a flurry of rocket gifts.

"Hello, sweetie. Are you new?"

"You’re so beautiful, sweetie."

"You look a little down. Is something bothering you? Want to talk to your big bro about it?"

Across from her, the boss, who had been sitting with her the whole time, saw the screen clearly and immediately sat bolt upright, his energy renewed.