After Crossing Over, I Marked the Empress

9:30 PM.

The sky was vast, the moon bright, stars sparse.

Moonlight spilled onto the woman holding up a promotional sign, highlighting her beautiful white teeth.

For tonight’s reconnaissance, Shen Han had not only altered her appearance but also changed into generic streetwear – a hoodie and jeans.

Combined with her current earnest expression, she perfectly embodied a night worker hustling for a living!

Zhou Nuoman stared unblinkingly at this ‘heaven-sent’ savior.

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, letting it pool at the corner of her mouth, hoping the other would notice something amiss and call the police.

“We don’t need anyone,” the bodyguard said flatly, dragging Zhou Nuoman away.

Shen Han followed them, clutching her sign and smiling apologetically, “Don’t be in such a rush, boss. That young lady doesn’t look well – look closely, her mouth is bleeding.”

The thug called Xiao Ma shoved Shen Han’s shoulder, glaring fiercely, “Get lost! Mind your own business!”

As he spoke, he snatched the sign from her hands, broke it over his knee, and tossed it aside.

Everyone, including Zhou Nuoman, thought the temp worker wouldn’t dare approach them again.

Unexpectedly, the skinny, down-on-her-luck Alpha had quite a temper.

Shen Han grabbed Xiao Ma’s arm and angrily said, “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you talk civilly? Pay up! Or you’re not going anywhere!”

“Ha! I’m usually the one demanding money. This is new- you motherf-”

Before he could finish, the two were grappling on the ground.

As they fell, there was an unnaturally clear sound of breaking bone.

Immediately after, Xiao Ma began howling like a ghost, his screams echoing down the entire street.

Shen Han stood up, adjusted her glasses, and said innocently, “You all saw it – he attacked first and hurt himself in the fall.”

This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard.

Zhou Nuoman’s eyes brightened, while the bodyguard restraining her was nearly apoplectic with rage.

What a night this was turning out to be!

The car tires had been slashed.

And Xiao Ma, the self-proclaimed “Tiger from the Mountain,” was even more ridiculous – getting injured while trying to beat up a temp worker! It was laughable!

Before the bodyguard could decide how to handle the situation, the other thug had already pulled out a switchblade and lunged at Shen Han.

“Da Wei! Don’t kill anyone!” the bodyguard called out from behind, but Da Wei didn’t slow his attack.

In his mind, the hospital was right there – if the temp worker died, it would just be her bad luck!

However, to Da Wei’s surprise, just as his knife was about to make contact, his wrist was caught in an iron grip.

The seemingly weak temp worker had astonishing strength!

Da Wei felt as if his wrist was caught in a vise, the pain excruciating.

“Clang!”

The knife fell to the ground and was kicked aside by Shen Han.

Da Wei broke out in a cold sweat. He wanted to curse but was in too much pain to speak.

Suddenly, his body was shoved backwards with incredible force.

The speed was so fast he could hear the night wind whistling past his ears.

In his daze, he heard the temp worker’s plaintive voice: “You’re bullying me!”

Da Wei was dizzy and stupefied.

Who the hell was bullying whom here?

Shen Han pushed her human shield straight towards Zhou Nuoman and the bodyguard.

The bodyguard: “???” Holy shit!

Taking advantage of this chaos, Zhou Nuoman forcefully broke free from the bodyguard.

She knew she couldn’t outrun him – the only one who could save her now was the Alpha before her.

Shen Han couldn’t use the same trick to break another thug’s arm.

Even an idiot would realize something was off if she did.

Fortunately, her task now wasn’t to fight these two men.

The target had been rescued; she just needed to get her away from here for the mission to be complete.

After all that commotion, several people on the street had stopped to watch.

The bodyguard was seething with anger, but with so many witnesses, he didn’t dare draw a weapon.

As he stepped menacingly towards Shen Han, he said in a low voice, “Get out of the way! We’ll forget what happened earlier.”

Before Shen Han could respond, Zhou Nuoman, hiding behind her, urgently said, “They’re from a gang – if they take me, I’m dead!”

Shen Han nodded silently, then quickly pulled a handful of coins from her jeans pocket and flung them at the bodyguard and his companion.

After doing this, she turned, bent down, hoisted Zhou Nuoman onto her shoulder, and took off running.

Zhou Nuoman, still reeling from the tense confrontation, suddenly felt dizzy and jostled.

The wind whipped her face, sending her long hair flying in all directions.

In her peripheral vision, the scenery rapidly receded.

At that moment, Zhou Nuoman truly felt like she was moving at the speed of light.

The bodyguard and Da Wei chased after them, cursing all the while, but no matter how fast they ran, they couldn’t catch up to the long-limbed ‘temp worker’ ahead.

The bodyguard was nearly spitting blood in frustration.

Da Wei’s eye socket had been cut by a coin and was bleeding profusely. He could barely see where he was going and soon twisted his ankle.

In that short time, Shen Han had already carried Zhou Nuoman into the hospital.

The bodyguard didn’t dare continue the pursuit. He spat viciously on the ground before turning back.

He had to get the bone-broken Xiao Ma and the howling Da Wei off the street.

If they delayed any longer, the hospital security would come to arrest them!

Shen Han ran all the way to the hospital reception hall and set Zhou Nuoman down on a sofa in the waiting area.

“What am I going to do? Those guys definitely won’t let this go. I won’t be able to work around here tomorrow night!”

Zhou Nuoman, who had just caught her breath, found this statement absurd.

She thought to herself: This person… I don’t know whether to call her brave or cowardly.

She probably doesn’t even realize what a big thing she just did, yet she’s worried about tomorrow’s work.

Thinking of this, Zhou Nuoman suddenly had the idea of employing this Alpha.

However, having just experienced her bodyguard’s betrayal, she didn’t dare immediately place the stranger by her side.

At this moment, the hospital security team hurried over.

Seeing their boss’s disheveled appearance, they were all greatly shocked.

Although not everyone had seen Zhou Nuoman before, they all knew this Beta boss was a beauty who paid great attention to her image.

At just 25, she had already carved out her own territory in the business world. Her family background, looks, figure, and intellect were all top-notch.

It was said that many heirs from wealthy families in the capital wanted to marry her, but this boss was focused solely on her career and had very discerning taste. After meeting a whole circle of suitors, she hadn’t taken a liking to a single one.

As a result, Zhou Nuoman’s reputation in upper-class circles had become even more prominent.

Suitors flocked to her.

Some young masters, having learned who-knows-what tactics, had even tried hanging banners in the hospital to declare their love.

In short, in everyone’s minds, this boss was definitely considered an upper-class socialite.

But now, seeing her messy hair and wrinkled clothes, people couldn’t help but wonder what she had just been through.

Zhou Nuoman, however, wasn’t too concerned about her current disheveled appearance.

She smoothed her messy hair with her hand but didn’t send the security guards to search for the three men who had tried to harm her. She only asked for a phone.

She didn’t even have anyone check the surveillance footage, because she knew clearly the identities, motives, and methods of her attackers. There was nothing to investigate.

How to retaliate was what she needed to consider now.

Waving the security guards back, Zhou Nuoman then turned to Shen Han: “Thank you for saving me just now. By the way, what’s your name?”

Shen Han feigned surprise at the right moment: “I just heard people here calling you boss. So you’re a shareholder of this hospital?”

“My name is Shen Nuan. Actually, you don’t need to thank me. What happened earlier was quite… coincidental.”

Saying this, she then added somewhat embarrassedly, “Um, when I threw those things at them earlier, I lost all the money in my pocket. Could you lend me some?”

Zhou Nuoman’s eyes darkened, her good impression of the other dropping considerably.

Asking for money as soon as she learned of her shareholder status – it would be best not to bring such a person into her employ.

“Of course. How much do you want?” Zhou Nuoman asked calmly.

Her voice was rather soft, neither coquettish nor domineering, giving people a sense of amiability.

Shen Han thought for a moment, then said, “A hundred will do. I’m not in the mood to walk home slowly today. I’ll take a taxi later.”

“Are you coming back here tomorrow? If not, I’ll leave the money for you at the front desk.”

Seemingly surprised that the other only asked for a hundred yuan, Zhou Nuoman was momentarily stunned.

It’s worth noting that even if the other had asked for tens of thousands, she wouldn’t have haggled at all.

Her, Zhou Nuoman’s, favor was quite valuable.

Seeing ‘Shen Nuan’ still waiting for her reply, Zhou Nuoman’s expression softened.

The slight displeasure that had arisen in her heart earlier dissipated like smoke.

She looked up, wanting to see the other’s eyes, but all she saw was a mess of bangs and slightly fogged glasses.

From Zhou Nuoman’s angle, she could only see the eyes behind the lenses narrowed into a line.

Combined with the Alpha’s dark skin tone, the whole person looked like a coffee-colored Tibetan fox.

Zhou Nuoman: “……”

“Don’t you have an e-wallet on your phone? It’s rare to see people carrying cash these days.”

Hearing her question, Shen Han sighed and said, “My phone broke a while back. I didn’t get it fixed – there was no money in it anyway, it’s all tied up in stocks.”

Shen Han hadn’t anticipated encountering Zhou Nuoman’s kidnapping tonight and hadn’t prepared an extra phone, so she could only lie to gloss over this issue.

Otherwise, if she took out her work phone to establish contact with the other, it would be easy to trace back to her real identity.

Zhou Nuoman thought for a moment, then said, “I see you have good skills and strength. I recently took on a new project and happen to need a capable manager. Would you like to give it a try?”

Hearing this, Shen Han was elated inwardly.

But to maintain her ‘broke temp worker’ persona, she sat up slightly straighter and asked, “What’s the compensation like?”

Zhou Nuoman didn’t quote a figure directly, only smiling as she said, “The base salary will definitely be higher than what you’d get painting walls or unclogging drains. As for bonuses, that depends on how well you complete your tasks.”

They chatted about the job for a while and agreed on a meeting time and place for the next morning.

Zhou Nuoman wasn’t in the habit of carrying cash. She borrowed ten thousand yuan from the hospital and handed it to Shen Han before heading upstairs.

Shen Han looked down at the stack of bills in her hand, pulled out two to keep on her, then rolled up the rest, secured it with a rubber band from the front desk, and tucked it into her inner pocket before happily leaving the reception hall.

Watching the tall, thin Alpha’s figure disappear from view, the two receptionists began whispering to each other.

“Hey! What was that all about? I was scared to death.”

“I overheard some of their conversation. It seems that Alpha saved the big boss, and now the boss wants to hire her to watch over some place.”

“Are you sure you heard right? Watching over a place sounds like something a bouncer would do.”

“Ah, you don’t know. Our big boss isn’t an ordinary person. The businesses her family is involved in are really extensive!”