"Thank you!" Su Ming was overwhelmed with excitement.

With the joy of surviving a disaster and a beautiful vision for the future, he left the Industrial Zone. Following Su Yu's directions, he arrived under the overpass in the town center.

Under the bridge, people came and went, the lighting was dim, and the walls and pillars were plastered with various small, unsightly ads. Su Ming was bending his head, struggling to find a phone number for certificate services among a pile of ads for "pipe cleaning" and "specialized STD treatment," when suddenly a sweet voice came from beside him.

"Hey handsome, are you alone?"

Su Ming looked up to see a woman in a red spaghetti strap dress leaning against the bridge pier, winking at him. The woman was about thirty, dressed provocatively, with heavy makeup, and a voluptuous figure, smiling and waving at him.

Su Ming was taken aback, thinking this must be what Su Yu referred to as a "solicitor." Curiously, he walked over.

The alluring woman smiled even more broadly as he approached, blinking at Su Ming and swaying her hips, "Shall we go?"

Su Ming thought it was the place to get the certificate, so he directly asked, "How much for a certificate?"

The woman misunderstood, thinking he was asking "how much for a service," and extended three fair fingers, speaking in a coquettish voice, "Thirty."

Su Ming thought for a moment, Su Yu said it could be done for twenty. He tentatively bargained, "Twenty, is that okay?"

"Deal!" The woman laughed heartily, grabbing Su Ming's arm and pulling him into a nearby alley in the urban village without further ado.

Following the alluring woman, Su Ming navigated through the winding, dim, and damp alleys, eventually entering a dimly lit small room. The room contained only a worn bamboo bed and a stool, with a strange smell of cheap perfume mixed with mold in the air.

Su Ming looked around curiously, pondering how secretive this fake certificate business was. Unexpectedly, the woman locked the door with a click, turned around, and without a word, stripped off her tight dress, lying naked on the bamboo bed, calling to him, "Come on!"

"Ah... this..." Su Ming was dumbfounded on the spot.

He had never even properly held a girl's hand before, let alone seen such a scene! A living, naked woman lay right in front of him. Her pale body, though slightly plump, had a full chest and a relatively slender waist, appearing particularly stimulating under the dim light. His heart pounded wildly, and his cheeks burned hot.

Although this woman didn't have as good a figure as his cousin-in-law, Su Ming, who had never seen a woman's true form, couldn't help but feel a bit excited at seeing a woman in her "Emperor's New Clothes" for the first time.

The alluring woman, seeing Su Ming standing there dumbfounded, urged impatiently, "Hurry up! Stop dawdling, I still have business to do!"

Only then did Su Ming snap out of it, realizing the situation, and stammered awkwardly, "Big... big sister, I... I'm here for a certificate..."

"What certificate!" The woman got agitated, sitting up from the bed and shouting at Su Ming, "Take care of me first, then we'll talk! Come on, twenty is twenty!"

Saying this, she got off the bed and reached to unbuckle Su Ming's belt.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Su Ming was startled, brushing her hand away as if shocked, and turned to pull the door.

With a bang, he hastily opened the door.

Seeing her business slipping away, the woman chased to the door without even putting on clothes, watching Su Ming already running down the stairs, she stood with her hands on her hips, cursing at the stairway entrance, "Damn you! You useless fool, pretending to be decent!"

Su Ming dared not linger, fleeing out of the alley, feeling as if his heart was about to leap out of his throat.

The city is full of tricks, he almost got fooled today!

He ran back to the overpass where he had seen the certificate ad earlier. The afternoon sun slanted down, casting long shadows of the bridge piers. Panting, he carefully searched the pillar plastered with various "unsightly" ads and finally found the phone number for the "certificate" service.

The public phone booth was right at the bridgehead. Su Ming fished out a few coins, inserted them, and with trembling fingers dialed the number.

"Beep... beep..."

It connected. Su Ming's heart was in his throat.

"Hello?" The person answering was a man, with a hoarse voice and a thick local accent.

Su Ming's tense heart relaxed a bit. It was a man, so it shouldn't be a solicitation! He lowered his voice and explained he wanted to get a high school diploma.

"Under the overpass, right? Wait there, someone will come to find you." The other party was concise and hung up after speaking.

Ten minutes later, a middle-aged woman in her forties appeared under the overpass. She was slightly plump, wearing a floral shirt and black pants, carrying a cloth bag, scanning the surroundings vigilantly before approaching Su Ming and asking softly, "Here for the certificate?"

"Yes!" Su Ming nodded.

The woman gestured, "Follow me."

Su Ming stood still, still haunted by the earlier incident. Hesitantly, he asked softly, "Big sister, you're not a solicitor, are you?"

"What?" The woman was taken aback, then her face changed color, her voice rising several octaves, "You bastard, who are you calling a solicitor? Make yourself clear!"

Su Ming hurriedly waved his hands to explain, "No, no, big sister, you misunderstood! I mean... earlier I found a woman who said she could get a certificate, but she took me to a room and then... then stripped, scaring me into running out. So I just..."

The woman's anger gradually turned to amusement after hearing this. She sized up Su Ming, chuckling, "Oh, the woman stripped, and you two really didn't do anything?"

Su Ming's face turned beet red, "No! I'm here for a certificate!"

"Tsk tsk." The woman laughed even more, leaning closer, her eyes teasing, "Young man, have you never had a girlfriend?"

"Big sister, can we not talk about this..." Su Ming's ears burned, eager to end this awkward conversation, "Aren't you here for the certificate? Let's talk about the certificate, okay?"

Seeing his embarrassed look, the woman finally stopped joking. She cleared her throat and said seriously, "For the certificate, you need to pay a ten yuan deposit first, and give me a one-inch black and white photo."

"Photo?" Su Ming was puzzled, "I don't have a photo."

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"Then go take one." The woman pointed across the street, "There's a photo studio over there, if you get it done urgently, it's ten yuan, and you'll have the photo in half an hour. Once you have the photo, call me again." She gave him a number.

Su Ming had no choice but to comply. He felt the remaining cash in his pocket, feeling a pinch, but thinking about needing the certificate for a job, he gritted his teeth and headed to the photo studio.

Half an hour later, Su Ming returned to the overpass with a black and white photo still smelling of ink, and dialed the number again. The woman appeared quickly, took the photo, examined it, and nodded, "Okay, two days later at this time, same place, cash on delivery. It's thirty in total, so you need to give another twenty, don't forget."

"Two days, that's too slow, can it be done today?" Su Ming worriedly asked, "I need it tomorrow!"

"The fastest today would be by evening, but that would cost an extra twenty yuan. You need to give me another ten yuan deposit, and pay the remaining twenty when you get the certificate."

"What, another twenty, that's too much." Su Ming pleaded, "Can it be a bit less?"