The crowd gradually dispersed.
As I picked up the scattered fruits, my gaze lingered on Long Fei standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the setting sun. For some reason, a trace of sadness welled up in my heart.
He was only sixteen.
While others raged against this damned education system, he silently endured his family’s training, trapped under the suffocating pressure of their gilded cage.
From e-commerce to computer software, from elite social etiquette to martial arts—so many in this world are bound from birth by an invisible net.
Cats with drooping ears suffer from a deformity, yet they’re often more sought after than ordinary cats.
“Who is he?”
My father crept up beside me, pretending to tidy the fruits while whispering in my ear.
He’d never actually met my boyfriend. He only knew street gossip, and being the type to believe every rumor, he’d used it to mock me relentlessly. Any mistake I made would trigger his threat: “What would your boyfriend think?”
Besides, Long Fei in that sharp suit hardly looked my age.
“He’s…”
“I’m Yi Yao’s client.”
Long Fei must have overheard. He turned, walked over, and handed my father a business card. “Your daughter helped promote my store at school. I came to thank her.”
“Promotion?”
Father stared blankly at the card, then at the bold characters: *Chairman, Shangjing City Tianhuo Network Technology Co., Ltd.* His voice trembled. “We… we probably don’t have what you need.”
“You misunderstand. I’m buying fruit for my employees. Could you deliver all the undamaged ones to my company by tomorrow?”
“All… all of them?”
I watched Father’s eyes widen as he gulped.
“Yes. My driver will handle payment. Yi Yao and I have private matters to discuss. May I borrow her for a moment?”
“Ah—of course! Yi Yao, go talk properly with this esteemed guest!”
At the mention of money, Father sold me out without hesitation.
Long Fei shot me a look and strode toward the street. I had no choice but to follow.
“Yeah, it’s me. Go to that fruit shop. Buy every piece of fruit they have. Use *that* card. Meet me at the car after.”
He guided me to a footbridge beside the road as he hung up. We stopped at its center, watching the sun sink halfway below the horizon, painting the clouds in fiery hues with its dying light.
“Yi Yao.”
Long Fei leaned against the railing, arms outstretched, basking in the evening breeze as he gazed at the sunset. “Will you come away with me?”
This scene felt ripped straight from a soap opera.
I lowered my head, feigning hesitation before murmuring, “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t owe me an apology. *I* owe *you* one.”
He turned, resting against the railing. “I had you, yet I still… with all those women. Heh. Maybe this is my punishment.”
*Please.* We’d barely held hands. As a girlfriend, Yi Yao hadn’t even tried to act cute—just eating, drinking, and causing chaos with his gang. He might as well not have been my boyfriend at all.
“Fine. This ending is best for both of us. I hope you find happiness, Yi Yao.”
“…”
“Why so quiet?”
“I really need to use the toilet…”
*Pfft.*
My answer made him laugh. “Still the same. Alright then. I leave for Tiandu tomorrow. I won’t be back for five years. Forget me, Yi Yao.”
He ruffled my hair like I was his little sister, giving a resigned smile. “Go on. Your dad’s shop has a restroom, right? And stop talking so crudely—you’ve picked up bad habits from Floral Snake and the others.”
“So…” I peeked up cautiously. “I’ll head back?”
“Mm. Go.”
I bowed to the man who’d looked after Yi Yao for nearly a year, then walked down the bridge steps. Habit made me glance back. Long Fei still stood there, as if expecting it. He waved in the sunset.
I smiled faintly.
“Be good to Sister Qianqian.”
Zhong Qianqian. Ten years from now, she’d be Long Fei’s wife—a famous Shangjing City host. Online rumors said their parents had arranged the marriage when they were children. They’d stayed devoted, with few scandals.
“You…?” Long Fei looked stunned from afar. “Xiao Yao, you knew?”
“You made Floral Snake call me ‘sister-in-law.’ As your *nominal* girlfriend, shouldn’t I care about your life?”
Truth was, it was just his teenage heart resisting.
Born into expectations. Raised under pressure. Forced into a marriage.
A life controlled.
“Heh… Yi Yao, you’ve really grown up…”
“Thanks. Goodbye then.”
I swept my bangs aside, shoved my hands in my pockets, and walked down the footbridge without looking back.
Back at the shop, Father chatted cheerfully with the part-timer. Seeing me, his smile bloomed like a poppy. “Well? Did you thank him properly?”
“No. He left.”
I washed my face in the shop restroom, then clipped my bangs back with a hairpin.
Honestly, this girl stuff was annoying. I’d never fussed with hair before—this body’s habits were rubbing off on me.
“Dad, I’m going out. I’ll be back late.”
“Be careful!”
Unusually, he didn’t ask where I was headed.
Of course not. Long Fei’s order meant half a month’s extra sales. Any merchant would be thrilled.
If I’d told him that big client was my boyfriend, Father would’ve dropped all his objections instantly. Maybe even pushed us together.
But I wouldn’t give him the chance.
“Shangjing Central Hospital.”
I hailed a taxi and slid into the passenger seat.
Yes. Huang Qinghao was at Central Hospital. I’d hacked that intel last Sunday.
He’d crossed my line.
Among Shangjing’s street rats, curses and fistfights were fair game. Hate each other? Settle it face-to-face. Life and death? Whatever. That was the unspoken rule.
But targeting family? That started a blood feud.
“Nineteen yuan.”
The cab stopped at the hospital entrance minutes later. I counted out coins from this month’s allowance and stepped out.
Ironically, Huang Qinghao emerged just then—his hand still bandaged from my kick—supported by two thugs and that mayor’s daughter.
Our eyes locked instantly.
Instinctively, the girl who’d drunkenly barged into my home yesterday spread her arms between us.
“Leave.”
Her voice, usually sweet as a songbird’s, carried quiet fury.
“But A-Vid Jie…”
“Take Qinghao away. Now.”
Her calm tone brooked no argument.
The thugs exchanged glances, then dragged Huang Qinghao off as he glared daggers at me.
I moved to follow. A slender figure blurred in front of me, settling into a taekwondo stance.
“You’d protect him *that* much?” I couldn’t help but smile wryly. “Xiaodie, this is between him and me. Not your fight.”
“Don’t call me Xiaodie.”
Her voice turned icy.
“What should I call you? I don’t even know your name. ‘A-Vid’ like them? Where’d that weird nickname come from anyway?”
No answer. Just a spinning kick aimed at my head.
I dodged, countered with a kick of my own—*thud*—my heel slammed into her crossed arms. She stumbled back, her elegant posture shattered.
“We have no reason to fight. Stand aside.”
Neither Yi Yao nor I knew Huang Qinghao before. Liang Zhenyi’s incident was pure coincidence. He just happened to be the one holding the iron pipe that day. I’d targeted him first. Hit him harder than necessary.
“He’s my brother.”
She charged again, her kick crackling with force.
I blocked it full-body, then launched a scissor kick at her arms. As she recoiled, I spun 360 degrees on my right foot and drove my left heel into her chest—
*Thud.*
Like a master disciplining a disciple, she crashed against the hospital’s brick wall.
“He’s your *adopted* brother. So what?”
I stepped closer, looming over the girl now smeared with dirt. Even her pretty face was streaked with grime. “First, you ‘adopt’ relatives. Then you build trust. Wait until he’s off guard, slip something into his drink, and take him. Is that the plan?”
“Qinghao’s not like that!”
Tears glistened in her eyes—probably her first time this humiliated. “Don’t you *dare* slander him!”
*Typical love-struck girl…*
“Get up.”
I sighed inwardly and offered my hand under the stares of onlookers.
“Hmph!”
She slapped my palm away, scrambled up, and fled without wiping the mud off her clothes. She vanished around the street corner, sobbing.
A faint sting lingered on my slapped hand.
I straightened, facing the setting sun.
In the breeze, its last faint glow vanished below the horizon.
