Under the ashen sky, Shangjing City breathed with the fresh scent of rain-washed plants.

Unlocking my bike downstairs, I glanced at the rooftop of another building.

043 was still sprawled there…

What kind of loneliness was that life?

No fixed home. Barely any rest. Nerves stretched taut for dozens of hours straight. Until the employer’s release order came, every ounce of freedom, every shred of will, felt like a caged bird’s.

Even the right to be called by name was stripped away—only the cold code "043" remained.

Had the Huang Yingdie incident truly not ended?

I swung onto my bike, headphones and cap on, pedaling toward a direction I’d never normally take.

To pick up that arrogant young lady fresh out of the hospital for school.

Though I couldn’t fathom what her father was thinking.

If I recalled right, Huang Yingdie had barely spent three days recovering in the hospital. And today was Friday—was it really necessary to force her back a single day early?

Following Ouyang Earth’s address, I reached a luxury residential compound. I flashed a special pass to the security guard.

At the meeting spot, I saw Huang Yingdie in her school uniform—and her "boyfriend."

"Xiaodie’s coming with me to school," Huang Qinghao waved dismissively the moment he saw me. "You can scram."

I parked beside them, hand outstretched. "Proof."

Huang Qinghao frowned. "What proof?"

"Proof from her father or Ouyang Earth."

Seriously—I was here on her father’s request. How could I explain leaving empty-handed after a few words?

My job: escort the mayor’s daughter to and from school. 1,000 yuan a day. One month.

"You some stray dog? I need proof to walk my girlfriend to school? Go lick the boots of officials if you want—don’t pollute us." Huang Qinghao’s face twisted with impatience.

"Qinghao, don’t—she—" Huang Yingdie tried to intervene.

"Enough, Xiaodie. Ignore her. Let’s go." He yanked her arm.

As he dragged her away, I leaped off my bike and blocked his path.

"You’re dead!" Huang Qinghao snarled, swinging a fist at my face out of habit.

I sidestepped easily, seized his arm, and slammed him onto the compound’s icy pebble path with a sharp *thud*.

The guy—half a head taller than me—lay sprawled.

I straightened my crooked cap, looking down at him. "You call yourself her boyfriend? Where were you when she was kidnapped? When she bled alone in a cave after taking a bullet? When she was rushed into surgery, needing comfort most?"

"I—"

"Even her father—the mayor of Nanjing—raced back before her surgery ended. Are you, a high school student, busier than a mayor? And you still claim to be her boyfriend?"

Huang Qinghao’s face flushed crimson, then pale. He avoided my gaze. "I… had things to do—"

"Enough." I pulled Huang Yingdie’s hand. "Stand up yourself if you’re a man. Can’t do it? Don’t make excuses—it just makes you look childish. Until you’re capable, I’ll protect Xiaodie."

Two steps away, I turned back. "About the hospital… I was wrong to misunderstand you. Sorry."

I hadn’t wanted this job. I’m terrible at caring for people. Huang Yingdie’s private life meant nothing to me. But the pay was decent. And Ouyang Earth mentioned the mayor wanted to repay me for saving his daughter. So I agreed.

When darkness falls, happiness needs a material foundation.

Words grant everyone freedom. But all complaints about social injustice boil down to one translation: *Give me money, women, and status.*

"Hmph. Fake kindness." Huang Qinghao staggered up, face contorted. "If you’ve got guts, don’t rush off after school today. I’ll wait for you at the gate."

"Where you wait, and for whom, is your freedom."

I pushed my bike away, pulling Huang Yingdie with me, without looking back.

People in this world split into two kinds: those who turn mockery and hardship into fuel, and those who drift without oars, riding life’s waves.

The first have clear goals. The second rely on luck—sometimes sailing farther than the first.

Beating a guy in front of his girlfriend, taking her away, then taunting him? That’s a deep humiliation for any man.

I hoped Huang Qinghao would use it as fuel. Though even if he drifted… it wasn’t my concern.

"Yi Yao…" Outside the compound, as I gestured for Huang Yingdie to sit on the bike’s rear seat, the rich girl hesitated. "How much did my father pay you?"

I met her eyes calmly. "Do you want to cry in a BMW?"

"That’s not it! I mean…" She glanced toward Huang Qinghao. "I can pay you double. Just… let me go to school with Qinghao."

I held her gaze silently. "You like him?"

She looked down, flustered. "He’s my friend."

"Last time, you said he was your sworn younger brother."

"…"

When Xiaodie stayed silent, I turned the bike sideways. "I refuse. Get on."

I’d be late otherwise.

"Yi Yao… I’m grateful you saved me. But please, just agree to—"

"Agree?" I tugged my cap brim lower. "Agree to let you hang out with that random guy? Then get tricked into a hotel where he’ll say *I’ll just lie beside you on my phone, I won’t touch you*?"

Huang Yingdie snapped her head up. "Qinghao’s not like that!"

"I don’t know what he’s like. It’s none of my business. My job today is getting you to school. After that, you can scale walls and run to the ends of the earth with him for all I care."

"You… you’re hopeless."

"Maybe."

Under my warning stare, Huang Yingdie finally sat on the rear seat, stiff and reluctant.

"Hold tight."

Silence filled the ride.

"Remember—wait for me here at 6 PM."

At Shangjing Yucai Middle School’s gate, watching Huang Yingdie’s thin, silent figure vanish into the building, I called out without thinking: "No one stays with you easily for life. Remember—even fairy tale books cost money."

She paused briefly, then hurried into the classroom building.

Strange. Why did I care about others’ lives? My own home was a mess waiting to be fixed.

I turned the bike around, pedaling faster, reaching my own school just as the bell rang.

Entering the classroom, several students crowded Blue Excellence’s seat. Nearly everyone exaggeratedly shouted when they saw me.

"Look who’s back—our big hero!"

"Not bad, Yi Yao. Got potential—escaping those vicious thugs."

"Heard they were foreign terrorists."

"Don’t spread rumors. They were Delta drug dealers."

"Damn, how do you know?"

As usual, they veered off-topic themselves.

Ignoring the stares, I sat at my desk.

Four days’ absence had buried it under homework and test papers.

"Yi Yao—where’s your Blue Excellence?" A sneering voice came from behind.

"Dunno."

Blue Excellence’s plea in the hospital bed yesterday—*don’t tell the classmates*—flashed in my mind. I placed my cap on the desk and looked up at Tan Lijiang. "Class is starting. Go back."

"Don’t rush off! I’m waiting to apologize to Blue Excellence. A man keeps his word, right?" Tan Lijiang plopped beside me, picking up my cap. "Oho—little hearts on it? Boyfriend’s gift?"

I just glanced at the troublemaker and kept sorting my papers.

At school, there are always students like this. The more you react, the harder they push.

But strangely, those classmates who hated you most in middle school often become the ones begging for favors after graduation.

*We were just kids.*

Three simple words holding countless forgiven reasons.

"Staying cool, huh, Yi Yao?" Tan Lijiang set down the cap, bored by my silence. "Straight talk then: our class has a basketball match against Class 12 this afternoon. Blue Excellence is our forward. We can’t reach him. Thought you might have other ways to contact him."

He added with a smirk, "Ah… but if you can’t bear to share him, we’ll just forfeit to Class 12."