Font Size:
Shang Li had only eaten half her meal when the public bus arrived. It was then she realized she had been sitting here dazed for over two hours.
She picked up her bag and stood up woodenly, boarding the bus heading toward the rental apartment.
By now, the evening rush hour had passed, and the bus was nearly empty. Shang Li chose a seat toward the back and sat down.
Slowly, she turned her head and gazed out the window, which had been darkened by the deep hues of nightfall.
Outside, the city glowed with brilliant lights, traffic weaving through the streets like rivers of metal and glass. Yet behind this dazzling commotion, she felt a strange loneliness and confusion. She didn’t know if there was still a place for her in this vast city.
Shang Li had grown up in Nancheng, a small city in the South. When she was a bit older, she moved with her parents to Jin City. At the time, she had thought Jin City was the biggest and most prosperous place in the world.
After graduating from middle school, she earned a scholarship to Dijin High School with outstanding grades and moved to Jingbei. Only then did she realize that her previous sense of the world had been no more than a frog at the bottom of a well.
Lost in thought, Shang Li suddenly caught sight of a black Rolls-Royce parked beside the bus.
Even in Jingbei, the most prosperous city in the country, cars like the Rolls-Royce were still a rare sight.
Shang Li was abruptly reminded of that day after school before the college entrance exam. She had clutched the confession letter she’d spent a long time preparing, along with the red string she’d woven herself, and had mustered the courage to quietly follow Lu Tinghe to the school gate.
She would never forget the tall, slender figure of the boy in his white school uniform shirt, stepping effortlessly into a black Rolls-Royce.
It was the same kind of Rolls-Royce.
The man who opened the car door for him was middle-aged, dressed in a tailored suit, and respectfully said to Lu Tinghe, “Young Master, the Master is waiting at home. The private jet to London for next week has already been arranged.”
At that moment, Shang Li had felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her, leaving her frozen in place, her heart chilled to the core.
So this was the difference between her and Lu Tinghe. He could ride in a luxury car worth tens of millions and fly on a private jet to study abroad in the UK, while she had to buy the cheapest bus ticket home to Jin City every school break.
Fortunately, she never gave him the confession letter or the red string.
Watching the guy she loved disappear into the car, Shang Li’s eyes suddenly welled with tears. In the end, she bit her lip and quietly turned to leave.
As she thought back, a sour ache rose in her nose.
She reached up to let down her high ponytail, slipping the black hair tie—once touched by Lu Tinghe—onto her wrist, as if by doing so, he could be closer to her pulse.
Shang Li rubbed her eyes, pulled her emotions back in, and forced herself to stop thinking about it.
She had just lost her job—this wasn’t the time to dwell on such things. She still needed to eat, still had to pay for tuition and rent. She couldn’t let herself drown in that illusory dream.
Maybe she was just too exhausted. As her thoughts drifted, Shang Li slowly nodded off with her head bowed.
She hadn’t noticed at all that from the moment she got on the bus, Lu Tinghe had quietly followed her aboard.
The man had been sitting just one row behind her, silently gazing at the fuzzy little head in front of him, completely lost in thought.
At this moment, Shang Li’s waist-length hair cascaded down like a waterfall, covering the entire back of the seat.
Unable to help himself, Lu Tinghe reached out. The moment his fingers brushed against that long hair, a jolt like electricity surged through his body, and he quickly withdrew his hand.
The bus continued to roll slowly through the streets of Jingbei. Shang Li’s head bobbed with each bump, her body swaying along with the motion of the vehicle.
When she tilted sideways and nearly collapsed onto the adjacent seat, Lu Tinghe stretched out his long legs and came around from the back to sit beside her.
In the next moment, the girl’s head landed gently and securely on the broad slope of his shoulder.
Shang Li carried a lovely scent—soft and sweet, like fruit, yet with a hint of vanilla ice cream.
Lu Tinghe glanced at the half-eaten sandwich in the girl’s hand and couldn’t help but frown.
Maybe her sleeping position was too uncomfortable, because Shang Li shifted slightly, leaning even closer against him. One of her hands slid over and rested on his thigh.
Lu Tinghe’s entire body tensed. It was as if a fire had ignited inside him, burning fast and hot.
He closed his eyes, breathing quietly, trying to suppress the heat stirring within him.
“Shang Li, move your hand. Do I look like the kind of man who’s that easy to approach?”
“……”
Shang Li was fast asleep, completely unresponsive. And soon, her other little hand landed on him as well.
Lu Tinghe: “……”
At this point, he could hardly bother with politeness or self-restraint—he just wanted to curse out loud.
Shang Li pressed her lips together, muttering something under her breath that he couldn’t catch, then shifted her body and leaned toward the window instead.
Lu Tinghe’s tensed body finally relaxed. He took out his phone and sent a message to Tang Yu.
[Help me look into something.]
Tang Yu replied immediately:
[Young Master, I’m currently tailing the bus. Where are you going?]
Lu Tinghe:
[You head back first. I’ll return shortly. I’ll send you the name of a restaurant—look into it for me.]
Tang Yu:
[Young Master, I just helped you handle that drunken thug last night, and now you suddenly want me to investigate a restaurant. If the Master finds out, what am I supposed to tell him?]
Lu Tinghe:
[Buy a bottle of glue on your way back to the Lu Residence, and seal your own mouth shut.]
Tang Yu:
[…]
…
Shang Li didn’t know how long she had been asleep when the bus suddenly shook violently, startling her awake with a shudder.
She snapped out of a murky dream, staring in confusion at the street signs.
Thankfully, she hadn’t missed her stop.
Then, a wave of warmth spread through her hand. She looked down—and found a can of hot chocolate milk resting in her palm.
Now she was fully awake.
She clearly remembered falling asleep holding half a sandwich—so where was it now? Had she sleepwalked and eaten it in her dream?
Then where did this chocolate milk come from?!
Still dazed and bewildered, her phone lit up with a new message.
In the family group chat, her father wrote:
[Lili, are you coming home for the National Day holiday?]
Her mother followed up:
[Come back, Lili. Don’t work all the time. Take a break and relax a bit. I’ll cook something nourishing for you.]
Shang Li curved her lips into a smile, a soft sweetness spreading across her face.
No matter how bitter or difficult life became, at least there were still her Father and Mother in this world who loved her. There would always be a light left on, waiting for her to return home.
She thought for a moment, then typed out a reply:
[Okay.]
…
At that moment, in the Lu Residence.
Lu Youlin sat on the living room sofa, brows furrowed as he stared at Tang Yu, making the latter feel a growing sense of unease.
Lu Youlin was in his sixties, but with excellent upkeep. His build was strong, and his demeanor energetic—he didn’t look a day over fifty.
From deep in his throat came a powerful and commanding voice: “You’re telling me that boy saw a girl sitting by the roadside and jumped out of the car?”
Tang Yu answered nervously, “Yes, Master.”
“And then he followed that girl onto a bus?”
“Yes, Master.”
At those words, Lu Youlin pressed his lips into a tight line, his chin pulling inward. The sharp line of his jaw became even more pronounced as the tension in his face tightened.
He sat there in heavy silence, the sheer weight of his presence making the air around them thick with pressure—even the sound of breathing seemed unnaturally loud.
Tang Yu’s heartbeat quickened; cold sweat started to bead in his palms.
After a long pause, Lu Youlin finally spoke, voice low and deliberate: “Are you sure that was a girl, and not a man?”
As soon as the words left his mouth—pfft.
From the side, Lu Siyu spat out the wine in her mouth.