He took a cab home.

Lu Huai was starting to resist using Xu Wenxi's money.

No matter how he looked at it, it felt like selling his body. Like money earned by a slave, stripped of all dignity.

But while he was waiting for the cab, a thought suddenly hit him.

He'd suffered brutal damage, both mentally and physically. If this went to court, she'd probably have to pay emotional damages. So why couldn't he use the money?

Lu Huai had never aspired to be some kept pretty boy living off a woman, but in that instant, he figured it out.

If he'd been wronged and still didn't even dare spend the money, would the world spare him just because he was kind?

No.

And besides, it could lull the other side into thinking he'd already been corrupted by money.

When in fact, they had no idea how strong his will was right now.

That settled his conscience.

When he got home, Su Xiangrong was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. She was eating dragon fruit and looking at the laptop in her lap.

She had headphones on and was humming some tune.

Su Xiangrong never recorded songs or worked on music at Lu Huai's place. That was part of their agreement. She usually did all that at what she called her "label."

"Lu Huai's back~"

His movements had clearly been light, but she still seemed to catch the slightest sound. Wasn't she wearing headphones?

Lu Huai answered softly.

"Mm..."

"Have you eaten?"

"Not yet. I'll order takeout in a bit... what do you want?"

Lu Huai was about to head back to his room to put his things down and change clothes.

The pure white outfit he was wearing didn't show any brand, but the fabric was obviously high-end. Xu Wenxi had made him wear it when he left. She'd said something about not wanting to keep things she'd worn or used herself around her place anymore...

A very strange thing to say.

One of Su Xiangrong's ears still had a headphone hanging from it. On her left ear was an earring she apparently hadn't had time to take off.

She turned slightly and leaned over the back of the sofa, smiling in a sultry, charming way.

"I want to eat you."

"That's illegal..."

Lu Huai took out his phone and glanced at it.

His cheeks still inevitably flushed, but he seemed to have built up some resistance to this young girl who was always making dirty jokes.

"Not bad. You've learned to fight back now. Wanna battle with music?"

Su Xiangrong stretched out her smooth, fair arm and pointed at herself with her slender fingers.

Lu Huai shook his head helplessly.

"If you're not eating, I'll just order for myself..."

"I am eating~ I want crab pot~~"

"That's expensive..."

"You came back this late and made me stay hungry for so long, and I haven't even complained yet. Is asking for a little compensation really too much? Hm?"

Su Xiangrong tilted her head, pressed her red lips together, and widened her eyes. She looked like a sweet, well-behaved baby making a perfectly reasonable counterargument.

Of course, that was an illusion.

Women were terrifying.

Lu Huai sighed inwardly and nodded.

"Okay..."

He went back to his room to change, planning to take another shower.

He'd already showered at Xu Wenxi's place, but he'd worked up quite a sweat on the way back. In the end, his body was just too weak.

While showering in the bathroom, the hot water streamed down under the bright light overhead.

Lu Huai looked at the light, then at the mirror across from him, blurred by steam.

He reached out and wiped the mirror clean.

Then he saw it clearly: a body with no muscle to speak of, just thin, weak, almost meager.

"Decided. Starting tomorrow, I'm working out!"

It wasn't just because of his current stamina.

It was because someone had already appeared in his life as an opponent he couldn't avoid.

By the time he finished showering, the takeout had arrived too.

Su Xiangrong and Lu Huai sat together and ate.

Watching him keep glancing at his phone like he was setting something up, Su Xiangrong felt like something had happened to him.

She couldn't quite put it into words, but some things seemed to have changed so easily.

For example, he now seemed able to look at her while speaking. Sure, he'd still blush easily when certain topics came up, but she could also feel that this boy was becoming more and more obviously nonchalant.

"Oh right, why have you been coming back so late these past few days? Going on dates with some pretty girl?"

Even crab pot couldn't stop Su Xiangrong's mouth. She asked curiously.

Lu Huai shook his head and took small bites of his food.

"No... I've just been gaming outside." That was probably the most normal and reasonable excuse.

Su Xiangrong thought about it.

"But don't you have a computer in your room?"

"It's different at an internet cafe and at home..."

"What's different?"

"The atmosphere, I guess..."

"Oh, so it's like how recording in a studio feels different from performing live?"

"I don't get what you're talking about..."

"I don't get it either."

"..."

After that weird exchange, Lu Huai didn't put much thought into answering Su Xiangrong's questions.

Mainly because he was really tired.

And the workout plan he'd prepared was supposed to start in the morning.

Which meant that after finishing his homework as fast as possible, Lu Huai needed to sleep.

As for how he was going to plan things from here on out, how he'd make top three in the grade this semester while keeping up his training...

That would have to wait until tomorrow.

"You're going straight back to your room? You're not gonna watch TV with me?"

Su Xiangrong had finished eating. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at Lu Huai as he stood up.

Lu Huai nodded and dragged his tired body along.

"I'm a little tired... gonna rest first."

"Take care of yourself, young man. Don't waste your essence while you're still young and clueless."

"Nothing like that happened!"

"Hahahaha... okay, okay. Good night~"

"Good night..."

By the time he finished his homework, it was already close to ten.

The homework itself wasn't hard.

The only hard part was that he actually had to copy down the questions before answering them.

What kind of insane logic was that?

The questions were longer than the answers. Seriously, who even came up with this?

Every time he copied questions, Lu Huai got indignant.

After lying down on the bed, he was already sleepy, but still couldn't resist taking out his phone for a look.

No matter how tired you were, if you didn't play on your phone for a bit after getting into bed, it somehow felt impossible to fall asleep. That was probably modern people's phone addiction.

Then he saw the message Yan Ningning had sent him.

"Are you home yet?"

How nice.

There was still someone who cared about when he got home.

A warmth he couldn't quite describe spread through him. It seemed to exist in contrast to the way he'd been treated at Xu Wenxi's place.

It was just a shame...

For a while, he couldn't have too much contact with Yan Ningning.

Not that frequent contact would definitely make her like him. Lu Huai knew his place.

Yan Ningning was a girl who got along with everyone and was naturally likable. There was nothing special about him. At most, because of their old friendship, she might favor him a little.

With his unremarkable looks, unlikable personality, and ordinary family background, the best role for him was to be a friend who stayed by her side as she grew up.

He shouldn't let too much expectation or romantic fantasy take root in his heart first.

That would only make him more bitter.

He didn't want to become someone who loved and couldn't have it.

And right now, keeping his distance was also because he didn't want Xu Wenxi to hurt this girl.

Even if... the two of them really were innocent.

"Mm, I'm home."

"That's good... what were you doing out so late?"

She probably still didn't know he'd gotten into Xu Wenxi's car right outside the school gate.

Though... that probably wouldn't stay hidden for long.

"A friend needed me for something, so I got back late..."

There was actually a lot more he could've said.

He could've asked if she'd eaten.

He could've asked why she was still awake this late.

But after thinking about it, Lu Huai sent none of that.

His current situation meant he had no choice but to restrain his feelings.

There was only one thing he needed to focus on.

Fight back.

At the same time, a faint trace of regret and melancholy lingered in him.

Some stories never get the chance to begin.

They're like flowers in spring. Before you can even see them bloom, they wither first.

"A friend? Do I know them?"

"Probably not."

"Okay then... I'm going to rest. Sleep early."

"Mm, good night."

"wanan."

He didn't know if it was a typo or intentional.

But those few letters made Lu Huai's heartbeat skip.

Still, he couldn't ask. If he did, the conversation would get too ambiguous.

It was probably just a typo...

But would someone really mistype that?

Lu Huai! Stop thinking about it! If you keep this up, you won't get up for training in the morning!!

He turned off his phone.

The boy, his face flushed and heart still racing, stared at the ceiling.

Faced with the darkness, and with the unknown road ahead of him, he closed his eyes.

And fell into a deep sleep.

Then at five in the morning, the alarm rang.

Lu Huai sat up and looked at his phone. The lingering exhaustion in his body made him want to lie back down.

But the boy with a breath of stubbornness trapped in his chest picked up his phone and got up.

At that hour, the stars were gone from the night sky, but it was still black outside. He put on his shoes and went out.

Choosing this time was important.

Lu Huai couldn't make himself go for a morning run under a crowd's attention, so he could only squeeze his rest time instead.

If he didn't even have freedom, then rest time had no meaning anyway.

He picked a nearby street where no one would show up at this hour and started his morning run.

From walking slowly, to walking fast, and finally to actually running, the whole process was tangled and difficult.

You could also call it breaking through the barrier in his heart.

Lu Huai really did think too much. He had all kinds of worries.

But... the force of a person's longing for freedom was like a fledgling eagle falling from its nest, only to spread its wings and fly toward the sky.

Lu Huai, run!

Take your life back!!

After giving himself a few more chuuni pep talks, he went home and checked his phone.

He'd only run close to two kilometers.

And he was already tired as hell, drenched in sweat.

Thankfully, Su Xiangrong, who always slept late, still wasn't up at this hour.

After taking a shower, Lu Huai was able to head out smoothly.

This time, Xu Wenxi's flashy ride wasn't waiting at the school gate.

That was the one bit of luck in all this bad luck.

And when Lu Huai dragged his newly activated but still tired body into the classroom, sure enough, Li Xin came right up to him with an utterly shocked expression.

This time, he didn't shout.

He just stared at Lu Huai in disbelief.

"You... how did you do it?"

Lu Huai raised a book slightly to hide his expression and turned his gaze toward the hallway.

It wasn't because he was hoping Liu Qianxun would descend there again like a fairy from heaven.

"What do you mean, how did I do it..."

"I mean... you actually got into Xu Wenxi's car? You know her? What's your relationship? Oh my god..."

"Ah... that's hard to explain, but... it's a very helpless kind of relationship."

He tossed Li Xin that vague answer and let him imagine the rest.

His life no longer had flowers in it now. A rosy life had nothing to do with him anymore. If he wasn't careful, it might even turn into a gray-toned photograph.

But before he could even begin his grand plans, Lu Huai ran into the first setback of the day.

Yang Mo had sent him a message.

"Classmate Lu Huai, your manuscript... might have a bit of a problem. This kind of subject matter may not be suitable for the school magazine."