4: Chapter 4 Meng Yawen

Exiting the familiar office building, Zhao Xiaoshuai, with his backpack slung over his shoulders, gazed at the bustling street, feeling a wave of unprecedented ease wash over him.

"How many years has it been since I last saw the streets at nine in the morning!"

For many office workers, each day is just a shuffle between different concrete cages. Whether the sun is bright or the breeze gentle, they have neither the chance nor the mind to notice.

Zhao Xiaoshuai was no different. Since starting his job, he had always had only one day off per week.

Later, as financial pressures grew heavier, he took on side jobs delivering food or packages after work and occasionally accepted private gigs repairing household appliances.

On the rare Sundays he did rest, he would sleep until noon.

They say time is the fairest of all, but the time truly belonging to him in a day probably amounted to no more than an hour or two.

Thinking about it, in recent years, regardless of the reasons, he had indeed spent less and less time with his girlfriend. It was only natural that he hadn't noticed the changes in her feelings.

But what could he do?

He had to spend more time working for the future of his family, yet he ended up spending less time with his loved ones than with his colleagues, leading to a gradual cooling of affection, ultimately drowning in the trivialities of life.

It was putting the cart before the horse, yet it was also a matter of necessity—this was the helpless reality of the office worker.

But Cheat Dad merely reached out a hand and pulled him into a new world.

"From now on, every minute and every second truly belongs to me!"

"I'm going to live a brand-new life and experience all sorts of things I've never tried before!"

"I'm going to find a hundred women far more outstanding than Chu Ziqing!"

"But first, I need to start with fitness and weight loss."

Yesterday, Chu Ziqing's comment about him being "fat and greasy" had deeply wounded Zhao Xiaoshuai's pride.

After all, back in university, he had been a handsome, sunny, and cheerful young man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have won Chu Ziqing's affection so easily.

If you're ugly, you repay kindness with grass and rings; if you're handsome, you offer yourself in marriage. This principle has remained unchanged since ancient times.

And his plan happened to align perfectly with the system's main quest.

The system's main score is calculated based on five dimensions: reputation, partner, charm, health, and assets.

This generates a wide variety of different tasks to choose from freely. Completing each task increases the score in one or even several dimensions.

He tapped open a task he had seen earlier.

[Quest: Become Thin as a Bolt of Lightning]

[Train your Body Mass Index (BMI) to 20. Upon completion, increases charm and health ratings.]

[Height: 176.5 cm]

[Weight: 93 kg]

[Current BMI: 29.8. Receive stage rewards for every 10% progress.]

"I always thought I was just a bit chubby... I didn't realize it was this serious..."

The person most oblivious to their own changes is always themselves, the one they live with day in and day out. And most people don't have a clear concept of what simple numbers truly represent.

This has led to quite a few misunderstandings about the concept of "slightly overweight" online.

Searching for conveniently located fitness centers, Zhao Xiaoshuai took the bus home, rode his recharged electric scooter, and merged into the flowing river of traffic.

iSport Fitness Center.

"Hello, handsome. Is this your first time here?"

"If you have a membership card, all programs enjoy member prices—it's very cost-effective. We highly recommend you get one."

The girl at the front desk wasn't bad. Her name tag read Shen Liqin.

Her makeup was meticulous, clearly done with effort, barely reaching the edge of a seven out of ten in looks. It was just that the fake smile on her face seemed a bit perfunctory.

"Oh, I mainly want to lose some weight, shape up a bit. About the membership card, let me see your results first."

[Ding! Unlocked unfamiliar character entry: Shen Liqin]

'Luck's not great. No card on the first unlock, but it doesn't matter. Those without ratings are all below six points.'

Shen Liqin wore a subtle expression of "just as I thought." "Handsome, please wait a moment. I'll arrange a coach to introduce our center to you first." She then pressed the call button. "Coach Meng, there's a customer at the front desk. Please assist."

Chen Liqin poured a cup of warm water and invited Zhao Xiaoshuai to sit on the sofa for a bit. He casually picked up the fitness center's brochure and started flipping through it.

During university, Zhao Xiaoshuai had also worked out at the gym near the campus gate. The general approach was pretty much the same, but the scale here was clearly much higher than that old place.

This fitness center had five floors. The basement level had a swimming pool, the first floor was the equipment area, the second floor had some recreational facilities, the third floor hosted yoga, aerobics, spinning classes, etc., and the fourth floor was set up with a combat sports area and a small smoking section.

Just as he was looking down and reading carefully, a pair of perfect long legs clad in yoga pants entered his field of vision.

He looked up instinctively.

This was a tall, beautiful girl who would absolutely qualify as the campus belle even in a university of tens of thousands.

She wore a gray crop-top fitness shirt. Between her perfect waist-to-hip ratio lay a flat, toned abdomen with faint traces of abdominal muscles.

Following the line of the form-fitting fitness shirt upwards, his gaze rose sharply, tracing an arc that seemed ready to burst through the fabric, before landing on her slightly youthful face.

Her face maintained a professional smile with effort. There was a slight sheen of sweat on her cheeks and forehead, no obvious makeup, yet her looks far surpassed the girl at the front desk, giving off a rather natural, unadorned beauty.

"Hello, sir. My name is Meng Yawen. I'm a fitness coach here. Let me give you a tour of our center first. I believe you'll be very satisfied after learning more. This way, please."

"Alright."

[Ding! Unlocked unfamiliar character entry: Meng Yawen (Character Rating: 7.92)]

[Congratulations, Host, on luckily obtaining a multiplier silver card (permanent)]

After a brief self-introduction, Meng Yawen led Zhao Xiaoshuai to press the elevator button for the -1st floor.

"Liqin, why did you introduce a customer to that vixen again? Didn't we agree you'd give more to me?"

As soon as the two entered the elevator, a woman with a face full of jealousy suddenly appeared, leaning next to Shen Liqin and pouting.

Judging by her attire, she was also a fitness coach. Her looks were slightly better than the front desk girl's. Her voice had a somewhat affected, girly tone, and she liked to make cutesy gestures.

"Meimei, you're wronging me. The surveillance at the entrance shows he came on an electric scooter, and there was a small yellow box on the back—looks like a delivery guy."

"Plus, it's working hours now. Most likely, he's unemployed."

"I've seen plenty of customers like this. They're all just momentarily fired up. Once they see the prices, they'll back off. It's all wasted effort."

Meng Yawen was a senior physical education student at a nearby university. This job was her internship, yet she received the treatment of a regular employee.

Although this fitness center wasn't small, given her qualifications, she likely wouldn't renew her contract upon graduation, especially since the way the center's owner looked at her made her very uncomfortable.

However, others didn't see it that way. Many coaches had already banded together, subtly ostracizing her.

Hearing this, Gong Meimei's expression indeed cleared up. "I knew with our relationship, Liqin, you'd definitely help me. Let her busy herself with more of this. Saves her from bewitching all the men out of their senses."

"You don't know, recently several of my customers have had their eyes practically glued to that vixen. They even subtly asked if they could refund the classes they bought. Isn't that infuriating!"

A few other front desk staff and idle coaches gathered around, quickly joining the criticism, vividly speculating about scandalous affairs between Meng Yawen and male customers.

Just then, a slightly plump, balding middle-aged man stepped out of another elevator. His right hand subtly tugged at his suit jacket sleeve, making the Vacheron Constantin on his left wrist visible.

"Well, well, so lively. Meimei's here too. I've been so busy lately, haven't been here in ages. I think I still have over a dozen sessions left?"

Gong Meimei greeted him with an enthusiastic smile.

"Brother Chen, you're finally here! I've kept track; you still have 12 sessions left. By the way, our center has just launched a new high-end course called 'Lifetime Companion.' Brother Chen, how about upgrading?"

"That depends on what kind of 'companion' we're talking about," the man said while reaching for Gong Meimei's hand.

The man was a long-time customer of iSport. His cumulative spending on various facilities had already exceeded sixty thousand, making him a lifetime annual card holder here.

As soon as he arrived, all the chattering, lively women at the front desk began to center their enthusiastic attention around him.