He suddenly turned and smashed the phone against the wall, aggravating his wound, and cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
I had never seen him lose his temper like this.
I rushed to his side. “Was that your father? What happened?”
“Nothing!” He ran his hands through his hair, looking both furious and helpless.
“Whatever it is, we can discuss it slowly. Getting angry won’t solve anything!”
“I want to discuss it, but he never gives me a chance! He makes decisions about everything without asking if I want it! Now he even…” He took a deep breath and stopped short.
“He’s doing it for your own good! He won’t harm you.”
He remained silent. I sat down beside him, leaning against the wall.
“My father is the same, always making decisions for me without asking what I want.”
He sat closely next to me, listening.
I shared my experiences: I’ve hated hospitals since childhood, with their sounds of suffering and disinfectant smell. When applying for college, I wanted to study traditional Chinese painting, but my father forced me to apply to medical school, believing that art offers no job prospects while medicine has a future. I was so angry I didn’t speak to him for a month.
“Did you compromise?” he asked.
I nodded. “Looking back, he was right. He has more experience… Studying medicine isn’t bad; it offers a high income and respect. Those suffering sounds and bloody smells, I’ve gotten used to them.”
He gazed at the distant lights. “I’m the opposite. Since childhood, I’ve dreamed of being a doctor, opening my own hospital… He always opposed it. We argued for two months, and finally…”
“You still enrolled in medical school. You won.”
He smiled bitterly. “Won? I’m still under his control! I didn’t want to come to Japan, but he forced me.”
“What is he pushing you to do this time?”
He looked at me but held back and shook his head. “It’s nothing! Just old nonsense… Don’t worry about it!”
In his last sentence, there was a hint of helplessness and love.
After all, they were father and son.
No matter how much they argued, the blood-bound affection could never be completely erased.
He suddenly came to his senses and stated, “It definitely won’t be Bo Bing…” My smile deepened—”The beauty’s strategy” worked!
The second night began. The judge announced, “Killers, open your eyes.” I opened my eyes and heard, “Killers, please kill someone.” I pointed at Ye Zhengchen. The judge said, “Game over, the police died!”
Ye Zhengchen opened his eyes, looking at my finger. “I lost!” he sighed deeply. Another officer despised him: “At the point of death, still covering for the killer!? You’re soft-hearted, but they showed no mercy…”
“You totally deserved to die! Let’s drink!” Yu Ge added. Ye Zhengchen gave a bitter smile, picked up a full glass of sake, and drank it in one gulp. Feng Ge winked at him with a cute Tianjin accent: “Feeling down? Dying under the peony flower, even as a ghost you’ll be charming!”
I felt embarrassed by their laughter. “Don’t overthink it, Ye Shixiong and I are just neighbors.”
“Neighbors?” Feng Ge laughed exaggeratedly. “Ask Ye Handsome, does he even know the meaning of ‘pure’?”
I looked helplessly at Ye Zhengchen, waiting for him to clarify. He leaned back in his chair with a teasing smile: “I don’t know!”
Revenge, pure revenge.
Ye Zhengchen crossed his legs, glanced towards Li Kai, and spoke leisurely: “I’ve always been… very impure about your motives… don’t pretend you don’t know.”
Some cheered while others waited to see the drama unfold. “How impure? Tell us!” someone shouted. “Is this a confession?” another asked.
The judge interrupted angrily: “Go! You two go next door and continue your ‘unfinished ghost story’; don’t interrupt our murder game!” Ye Zhengchen stood up, saying, “I have a report to catch. You guys continue playing!”
As he left, he walked to my side, placed his hands on my shoulders, leaned close, and interpreted “impure” to the fullest. “Kiddo, don’t forget to help me make the bed later!”
Everyone’s surprised and ambiguous eyes turned to me. I swallowed my words and pinched his thigh hard. He returned to the apartment, leaving me to endure everyone’s examining gazes all night.
If I had known, I wouldn’t have been soft-hearted helping him change the bedsheets and make the bed. Heaven’s sins can be forgiven, but self-inflicted sins cannot!
Author’s note: Xinxin (to her finger): Xiao Ye, was that curse directed at me? A certain Ye: No, I’m cursing the unscrupulous author! Xinxin (smiling innocently), thinking: Damn, he’s cursing me!
Just wait, you’ll have it coming!
Extras – Three Years Later
This chapter is an extra, continuing the timeline and plot from Chapter 2.
Chapters divisible by 10 (10, 20, 30…) will be extras.
Facing the intense sunlight, Ye Zhengchen stood with textbook-perfect posture, closed his right eye, aimed, and pulled the trigger, scoring ninety-nine rings in ten shots. He removed his headphones, put down the gun, and frowned.
“What’s wrong? Feeling down?” his companion Zheng Wei asked, surprised.
Ye Zhengchen casually responded with a “Hmm!” and sat on the sofa in the rest area, rubbing his throbbing temples. He was in the worst possible mood. He thought coming to the shooting range might relieve some stress, but he couldn’t concentrate while aiming.
Zheng Wei brought two cups of water, placing one on the coffee table before him. “Arguing with your old man again?”
“No. I haven’t been home in a month.”
A few young women passed by, their gaze lingering on the two distinguished men, giggling and intentionally swaying their hips. Zheng Wei glanced up a few times, while Ye Zhengchen took a sip of water, never once looking up. Women? In his younger days, he might have indulged out of boredom, but now only one woman could truly interest him.
Thinking of that woman, he unconsciously touched his cheek and took another sip of water. Her personality hadn’t changed at all, still so fiery!
“Let’s go, I’ll take you for a drink. I heard of a very authentic Sichuan restaurant, their dan dan noodles are great!” Ye Zhengchen said, leaving the shooting range with Zheng Wei quickly following.
Zheng Wei thought Ye Zhengchen would drive directly to the restaurant, but he stopped the car at a small street near the Third Ring Road.
“How’s the Nanzhou case going?” Ye Zhengchen asked.
“Almost done. Yin has confessed everything. We haven’t found Liu’s embezzled funds yet, but we’ve discovered several luxury houses in Beijing and Shanghai… There are still some small fish left, and we’ll arrest them once the evidence is solid.” Yin Zhongtian had provided key evidence, while Liu was the vice mayor of Nanzhou.
“How many years might he get?”
“He didn’t actually participate in the division of spoils and provided evidence voluntarily, which may lessen his sentence. He might even receive a suspended sentence.” Zheng Wei observed Ye Zhengchen, who seemed lost in thought, realizing his effort to practice shooting was linked to the Nanzhou case.
“So, your old flame asked you to help?” he asked with a smile.
“Hmm.”
Ye Zhengchen looked out the car window as people passing by took an extra look at his new car and the license plate. Occasionally, a few attractive women would glance at the opaque window, wondering about the car’s owner.
He pondered what her expression would be if she passed by, perhaps saying with disdain: “How ugly!”
Zheng Wei commented, “It seems the news I spread is quite effective. Women can’t keep calm!”
“With a fiancé in danger, no woman can remain calm.” Ye Zhengchen anticipated she would be anxious and do anything to save someone. However, he didn’t expect her to abandon her past rationality and dignity for Yin Zhong, even willing to sleep with a man.
What kind of love could make her lose all principles?
