Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
07
The moment we left the dormitory, I opened the letter.
“Chengyi, I don't like the whole world. I only like you.
“Even with one percent battery left, you're still the person I want to message…”
He stopped.
His grip tightened around his luggage.
“Please… quieter. Stop reading…”
I clenched the letter and asked coolly:
“Why?
“Afraid reading it aloud would let her down?”
He lowered his head and said nothing.
An unnamed discomfort rose in me.
I pulled him into the car.
Inside, I backed him against the window.
“Talk.”
Still silent.
I leaned close to tease him until his face burned.
The driver obligingly raised the partition, leaving us alone in the back.
“Sis… we're outside the university…”
I laughed softly.
“Afraid Jingjing will see?”
No answer.
All the way home, I kept teasing him, making him more and more flustered.
When we stopped, he climbed out on slightly unsteady feet.
I told the butler to move his belongings into the room next to mine and prepare a spare key.
Late that night, a faint sound woke him.
He opened his eyes and stared at me in confusion.
“Sis…”
I deliberately looked stern.
“Bad boys get punished. Understand?”
My eyes fell on the love letter on his desk.
I picked it up and waved it before him.
“Take it.”
Still sleepy, he obeyed.
Watching his bewilderment, I said:
“I wonder what Pei Jingjing would think if she saw you now.”
He lowered his head.
“Answer me. Do you like her… or me?”
After a long hesitation, he whispered:
“…You.”
I watched him closely.
“No lying.”
He pressed his lips together. His eyes reddened with nerves, but he said nothing more.
08
After that visit, rumors about Chengyi and Jingjing spread across campus.
Even Father, a university board member, heard.
He enthusiastically tried matchmaking.
“If you like her, don't be shy.
“Uncle Lin will help.”
After that, he mentioned her from time to time.
Three times today alone.
“Her family's very well-off. Won't you consider it?”
“I know her father. Both families would support you getting to know each other.”
“She seems very fond of you. Why not try?”
At the fourth attempt, Chengyi interrupted shakily.
“Uncle Lin… Pei and I are just classmates. There's no need to worry about it.”
I smiled meaningfully and nudged him beneath the table.
“Father only wants what's best for you. Right, Dad?”
“Exactly. The Pei family is—”
Chengyi pressed his lips tight. His throat moved. His eyes reddened.
Father noticed.
“Not feeling well?”
“A… little.”
“Go upstairs and rest.”
He rose slowly, trying to hide his awkwardness, then hurried to his room.
I followed and went in.
He turned, helpless.
“Please let me off. I know I was wrong.”
I folded my arms.
“I warned you.
“Every mention of the Peis in this house earns you a punishment.
“You didn't dare contradict Father. You let him go on and on.
“So that's one more.”
After a little “lesson,” he finally remembered.
From then on, whenever Father began to mention the Pei family or Jingjing, he immediately changed the subject.
Soon, no one mentioned her at all.
I still used his mother's secret to keep him obedient.
Sometimes in the car. Sometimes right in front of Father and my stepmother.
If he showed the slightest unwillingness, I reminded him coldly:
“Better behave. Or I'll tell Father everything.”
With that hold over him, he could only silently cooperate.
Sometimes I smiled at him.
“After keeping your mother's secret this long, shouldn't I charge interest? Compound interest.”
That was only preparation.
In a few days, I meant to collect a larger debt.
He nodded obediently.
“I understand.”
His eyes remained gentle and compliant.
Over the following days, things between us often grew charged.
I still restrained myself.
Every day, I wrote a warning in huge letters on my calendar.
LIN YOU, NO OPENING PRESENTS EARLY!!!
I reminded myself again and again.
Wait.
09
I'm exactly six years older than Chengyi.
My twenty-eighth birthday was coming.
The same day would be his twenty-second.
I booked a room at the most luxurious hotel downtown and carefully chose formal clothes and a cake.
I awaited it like a girl in love for the first time.
Six in the evening. June 30, 2026.
I drew a deep breath and opened the hotel room door.
“Hey, Lu Chengyi. Happy birthday.”
Silence.
The day before, I'd given him the key card and told him to wait there.
I'd even left work early.
He wasn't in the room.
I grew irritated and called repeatedly.
No answer.
At last, I called Song Wanmei.
“Where is he? He promised to spend our birthday with me. Why has he vanished?”
She said she didn't know. I should find him myself.
Damn it.
I drove through the streets, so anxious I almost called the police.
Then, passing a narrow alley, I saw him.
Several blond-haired thugs had cornered him.
Their leader, a middle-aged man, clutched his collar and kept slamming him against the wall.
“Little bastard! Just like your cheap mother. Got money and forgot your real father? Pay up, or I'll ruin that pretty face!”
I recognized him.
Lu Chengguo.
Chengyi's biological father.
Five years earlier, when Song Wanmei married into our family and brought her son, he'd repeatedly come to cause trouble.
He demanded ten million yuan, calling it the price of selling them both.
Father had security drive him away.
He'd supposedly fled northwest under a mountain of debt.
Now he was back.
Chengyi handed over all the money he had.
Three hundred yuan.
“Please… let me go.”
Chengguo slapped him.
“Three hundred? Think I'm a beggar? Your mother married rich, didn't she? Look at your clothes! No money, my ass. I'll teach you!”
“Don't!”
I rushed from the car.
Too late.
An iron bar struck Chengyi's leg.
He dropped to his knees in pain.
As Chengguo raised it again, I stepped in front of him.
He paused, then smirked, yellow teeth showing.
“Well, the Lin family's young lady. Feeling sorry for my son?”
I stared straight at him.
“Touch him again and you'll be in a police station tomorrow. One call from my father, and the whole city's police will be looking for you.”
He sneered.
“Trying to scare me? Takes more than that.”
“Try me.”
I took out my phone and dialed 110.
His expression changed.
“Fine. You win.”
He spat, kicked over a rubbish bin, and called to the thugs.
“Let's go!”
The alley fell quiet.
Chengyi spoke weakly.
“Happy birthday…
“I'm sorry. You waited a long time, didn't you? Can we… still make it?”
“Shut up!”
I bent and pulled his arm over my shoulder.
“Make what? We're going home!”
He was almost a head taller than me.
When his full weight settled on me, I nearly lost my balance.
“Sis…”
“Don't talk.”