Chapter 4

Zhong Yao woke up and realized that the room she had stormed into last night was actually the study.

One whole wall was lined with bookshelves, neatly filled with books, models, figurines, and rows of trophies. The bed she’d slept on was a low tatami mat placed by the window.

Beijing’s weather seemed especially lovely. Sunlight streamed gently into the room, catching floating dust particles in its beams. When she turned her head, she could see the warm reddish-orange glow of the rising sun.

Even the study in her father’s house was like something out of a dream.

Jin Chuan’s face flashed through her mind, and Zhong Yao suddenly felt a wave of regret.

She wasn’t usually someone who cried or threw tantrums. But after waiting for him all night, only to discover that her deadbeat father was actually Sun Shiwu’s dream man Jin Chuan, she had completely lost control of her emotions.

She still wasn’t sure what exactly had upset her so much—was it that Shiwu’s idol wasn’t who she thought he was? Or was it sorrow on her mom’s behalf?

She didn’t know the answer. She only knew that she had left a terrible impression on Jin Chuan: a daughter with a bad temper.

And the last thing she had wanted…
was for this father to catch her at her worst.

Just thinking about it filled her with regret.

Zhong Yao pulled her knees up and buried her face in them.

She felt like she had embarrassed her mother. She felt like she might have done something wrong. But did that mean she was supposed to apologize to a heartless father?

She couldn’t do it. Absolutely couldn’t.

Just imagining the scene made her feel sick.

Now, even more than before she’d met him last night, Zhong Yao didn’t know how to face her father. She felt even more conflicted and lost.

Her stomach grumbled, but she stayed still, hugging her knees tightly on the tatami mat.

“You ignored all my messages last night. What exactly are you trying to do?”

A familiar voice suddenly floated in through the not-quite-shut window.

Zhong Yao looked up and saw She Rui in the garden below. Jin Chuan was standing beside her.

She Rui looked serious, while Jin Chuan seemed completely casual.

“What’s your plan for Zhong Yao?” She Rui pressed him again.

It was a question hurled at Jin Chuan, but upstairs, Zhong Yao tensed up inexplicably.

Her fingers twisted the bedsheet as she waited silently, along with She Rui, for his answer.

She saw Jin Chuan slump lazily into a chair and reply in a laid-back tone, “What else? She’s my daughter, so I’ll treat her like one.”

“Tsk.”

She Rui rolled her eyes and stood tall over him. “Jin Chuan, dodging the question won’t help. Are you seriously planning to keep her by your side?”

“Have you considered what the media will write if they catch wind of this?”

“You’ve finally secured your position in the film industry. Shouldn’t you protect your reputation and push a little harder?”

After a barrage of sharp questions, She Rui’s tone softened. She spoke with a rare seriousness:
“Jin Chuan, listen to me. Let Zhong Yao live at school. It’ll be better for both you and her.”

Upstairs, Zhong Yao bit her lip so hard it left a mark.

She stared hard at Jin Chuan’s broad, silent back. Her fingers clenched tighter around the sheet, crumpling it into a ball.

Her heart felt like it had fallen into a void. She couldn’t bear to hear more. She stood up and slammed the door shut behind her, cutting herself off from their conversation.

Some truths didn’t need to be spoken aloud—Zhong Yao could guess the answer easily enough.

Because of Sun Shiwu, she had always known that Jin Chuan was a celebrity admired by millions. Everyone watched his shows. Even Aunt Liu would sometimes talk about his characters. He was the dashing national heartthrob, the ideal father figure in every girl’s fantasy. Just being seen with a young boy at an amusement park had already sparked wild rumors about a secret child.

How could a superstar like Jin Chuan possibly want to expose the existence of a daughter from a remote town?

In fact, before she came to Beijing, Zhong Yao had already planned to live at school—far away from the father who had abandoned her. That way, she could still fulfill the promise she made to her mother without forcing herself to live with someone she resented.

She Rui wasn’t wrong. Living at school really was best for everyone.

And yet… Zhong Yao couldn’t explain why, but hearing them casually decide where to place this “trouble” of a girl made her chest tighten uncomfortably.

Suddenly, this big, beautiful house felt suffocating. She needed air.

——

Zhong Yao slipped out of the house quietly—without leaving a note.

Everything around her was unfamiliar. She hadn’t planned to go far, just to get some space and clear her head.

Fortunately, the area where Jin Chuan lived was peaceful. Even the roads nearby had few cars or pedestrians. She didn’t feel scared at all.

As she walked, the sight of trees unique to the north calmed her slightly.

She suddenly realized—ever since arriving in Beijing and discovering that Jin Chuan was the heartless father, she hadn’t been herself.

She cried more easily. Got angry faster. And seemed… more timid.

At fourteen, Zhong Yao didn’t know why she had changed. But she knew one thing: she didn’t like this version of herself.

What she didn’t realize was that ever since she saw Jin Chuan, a part of her heart had started holding onto hopes she shouldn’t have had.

No one truly doesn’t care about being loved. Saying otherwise was just lying to herself.

Zhong Yao didn’t understand such complicated reasoning. She only knew that these changes had all started after she came to Beijing.

So—

Should she stay away from Jin Chuan? Should she stick to her original plan and live at school like she’d decided?

VROOM VROOM VROOM—

As she stood by the roadside, still torn over what to do, a loud rumble snapped her out of her thoughts.

She looked up just in time to see a motorcycle speeding around the corner—so close it nearly grazed her.

Something snagged the corner of her jacket and yanked her forward violently, throwing her to the ground.

Her hands scraped hard against the pavement, leaving deep red abrasions. The pain made her suck in a sharp breath.

Ahead, the red motorcycle screeched to a drifting stop.

Through the helmet’s visor, she locked eyes with a pair of cold, sharp black eyes.

The rider hadn’t fled. Still wearing the helmet, he walked straight toward her.

“You—”

He had just started to speak when the sound of a black SUV hitting a speed bump interrupted him. Without missing a beat, his tone changed:
“Come with me.”

“What?”

Zhong Yao had expected him to apologize first. Instead, he pulled her up off the ground and dragged her straight toward the motorcycle!

“What are you doing?” she yanked her arm away, clearly on guard.

He glanced at the bloodied scrapes on her palms, then looked past her with narrowed eyes—toward the black SUV approaching behind them.

Suddenly, he yanked off his helmet and shoved it onto her head. In the next instant, Zhong Yao’s feet left the ground.

By the time she realized what was happening, she was already on the back of the motorcycle, clinging to the boy in front of her—his white hair wild and striking in the wind.

“Hold on tight,” he ordered.

The next second, the motorcycle shot off like an arrow from a bow.

Zhong Yao was stunned. In her mind flashed Jin Chuan’s warning from the night before:

“If you go outside now, there are eight child traffickers, nine drunk vagrants, and ten psychotic serial killers waiting for you.”

She suddenly realized—
she might have just encountered the kind of trafficker who kidnaps people without a word and drags them into a vehicle.

Zhong Yao was terrified. For a moment, she even considered jumping off the bike.

But the motorcycle was going far too fast. She had no chance.

All she could do was clutch the boy’s shoulder with one hand and tremblingly fumble for her phone with the other, trying to dial 110.

Up ahead, the white-haired boy seemed to notice her intention. He suddenly turned his head and said,
“If you don’t want to die from a fall, you’d better hold on.”

In the next instant, the engine roared like thunder, and the motorcycle accelerated to its top speed.

Zhong Yao was jolted forward, slamming hard into the boy’s back. A sharp turn nearly flung her off, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Tsk!”

The white-haired boy stiffened, and growled irritably,
“Let go, or I’ll toss you off right now.”

Zhong Yao thought he was completely unreasonable. She snapped back angrily,
“You think I want to? Who was it that pulled me onto this bike in the first place? It was you! If you’re so annoyed, then stop the bike and let me off!”

Her voice trembled slightly—not just from anger, but mostly from fear.

Still, she thought that maybe if she made him angry enough, he’d stop and she could run.

Qi Yu hated clingy girls more than anything.

If he could, he’d have thrown this girl off the bike immediately. But he could still see that paparazzi car in the rearview mirror. If he let her go now and she learned his identity from the paparazzi, it’d only create a bigger mess.

He swore under his breath and revved the engine again.

The motorcycle sped up until it scared Zhong Yao.

She couldn’t worry about anything else anymore. Even if she wasn’t mad, she had no choice but to hold on tightly to the boy’s neck.

The bike carried her through roads and alleys, a route clearly chosen with care—she didn’t see a single soul she could ask for help.

Just when she thought she was doomed, the motorcycle suddenly stopped.

“Yu-ge! What took you so long?!”

A tan-skinned, sunny-looking boy walked up to them, while Zhong Yao, still shaken, clung tightly to Qi Yu’s neck.

As the other boy got closer and saw Qi Yu being held by a girl, his face morphed into shock.
“Holy crap! Yu-ge, wha—what’s going on with this pretty girl?!”

“Let. Go.”
Qi Yu all but ground the words through his teeth.

Zhong Yao finally let go, only now realizing these two looked about her age. They probably weren’t the traffickers she’d imagined.

Before the boys could speak, she asked first:
“Who are you? Why did you bring me here?”

Qi Yu glanced at her. The girl’s brows were furrowed; she clearly wasn’t happy. Her face didn’t carry that fanatic gleam, nor did she seem to recognize him.

“Sorry,” he said coolly, voice detached but polite. “I was just trying to shake off the people following us.”
He reached over to take the helmet from her hands, then turned to his friend.
“Yiming, I hit her. Take her to the hospital.”

As he spoke, Zhong Yao remembered the car that went over the speed bump earlier. It had followed them for quite a while—she had thought they were working together.

“Hold it right there!”
She grabbed the corner of Qi Yu’s shirt, stopping him.
“What’s wrong with you? You hit me, then took me here without a word, and that’s your idea of an apology? Also, why can’t you take me to the hospital?”

Qi Yu’s steps halted. He turned around and stared at her with eyes colder than before.

Holy sh—!

Tang Yiming had never seen Qi Yu apologize before. He couldn’t believe this girl didn’t appreciate it and even dared to grab his shirt! He was afraid Yu-ge would hit her and land himself on the trending searches for another three days.

“Um, pretty girl,” he quickly stepped in to defuse the situation, “you’re misunderstanding Yu-ge. He’s just… got one of those cold faces. He actually feels really bad, seriously! Whichever hospital you want to go to, I’ll take you. Medical fees, taxi fare, recovery snacks—all covered!”

Qi Yu had a bad temper and a sharp tongue that could send even media outlets spiraling.

But suddenly, he smiled and sneered:
“Trying to get famous, huh? You know what happened to the last one like you? She got flamed so bad she had to take a break from school.”

He turned back to Tang Yiming with a quiet warning:
“If you don’t let go, I’ll make sure your ending is worse than hers.”

“What are you talking about?”
Zhong Yao’s frown deepened. “You were the one who messed up. What gives you the right to be rude? Just because I’m not from Beijing doesn’t mean you can bully me. If you won’t apologize properly, I’ll call the police to settle this!”

She genuinely thought he had a screw loose—maybe several. Calling the police was doing him a favor.

Qi Yu thought she was bluffing—until she pulled out an old model phone and started pressing 110.

That’s when it hit him.
She really might not know who he is.

“Wait!”
Qi Yu lunged forward and snatched her phone.
“I’ll apologize—”

But before he could finish, Zhong Yao’s expression changed. She yanked the phone back and cut him off.
“Fine, apologize, but don’t touch my phone!”

It was as if the phone was her lifeline.

Qi Yu was stunned. This girl really was… odd.

“It was my fault I hit you. I’m sorry,” he said, tone finally softening. “But I really can’t take you to the hospital myself. My friend will take you. You can save his number and contact him if anything comes up.”

With that, he turned and walked straight into the courtyard ahead.

The phone Zhong Yao held was one her mother had scrimped and saved to buy for her.

When the white-haired boy snatched it earlier, it had scared the soul out of her. Now that she had received a proper apology, she didn’t feel like arguing anymore and let him leave.

“So, um, pretty girl…”
Tang Yiming leaned in curiously.
“What’s your name? How do you know Yu-ge?”

“I don’t,” Zhong Yao replied honestly.

“Huh?”
Tang Yiming was in disbelief.
“You seriously don’t know Yu-ge?!”

Zhong Yao glanced down at her scraped palms and muttered irritably,
“Why should I know him? Is everyone in Beijing a celebrity or something?”

After saying that, she suddenly remembered something and unlocked her phone. Sure enough, there were already several missed calls—two from She Rui, and the rest from unknown numbers.

“Damn, people like this really still exist in this day and age—someone who doesn’t surf the web at all!”
At that moment, Tang Yiming finally digested what Zhong Yao had just said.

He figured the pretty girl probably hadn’t lied. After all, not a single girl at school had ever seen Qi Yu and not rushed up for a signature or his number.

Since this girl clearly didn’t even recognize Qi Yu, he lost interest in prying further and simply said,
“Well then, how about I take you to the hospital on Yu-ge’s behalf as an apology?”

“Oh right, I’m Tang Yiming. What’s your name, pretty girl?”
He grinned broadly, his bright white teeth standing out starkly against his sun-kissed skin.

But Zhong Yao ignored him. She just frowned, eyes fixed on her old-model phone.

“Uh, hey—”

“Can you be quiet for a second?”

Whatever Tang Yiming was about to say was mercilessly cut off by Zhong Yao.

He watched as the pretty girl stared at the vibrating phone like she was about to sit for a big exam. She took a deep breath and tapped the answer button.

Her voice was calm and distant as she greeted,
“Auntie She.”

The way Zhong Yao answered the phone was so serious, Tang Yiming didn’t dare interrupt.

A moment later, she looked up and asked him,
“What’s the address here?”

Tang Yiming answered truthfully.

Soon after, Zhong Yao ended the call and looked at the slightly clueless boy in front of her.

“My guardian will be coming to pick me up. You can go now.”

“But what about your injury?” Tang Yiming was surprisingly responsible.

“It’s not that bad. I can handle it myself.”
She had plenty of scrapes and bruises back in Yunshui Town. This was nothing serious, and she didn’t think it warranted a hospital visit. Besides, she had something more important to discuss with She Rui—there was no time to waste.

Tang Yiming figured since she didn’t even know Qi Yu, it probably wouldn’t come back to bite them.

“Alright then, but you’re the one saying that. I’m off, okay?”
She was really pretty, so he just wanted to double-check.

“If you don’t leave, I’ll have my guardian come explain things to you personally,”
Zhong Yao was filled with nerves about seeing She Rui and had no patience to keep dealing with this boy.

Tang Yiming: …

Sure, the pretty girl looked nice, but why did she sound like someone’s mom? So impatient, even a bit fierce.

“Well… alright then. Bye, pretty girl!”
With that, he dashed into the courtyard ahead.

Not long after, She Rui arrived.

She had originally planned to scold Zhong Yao thoroughly. But unexpectedly, the moment the girl saw her, the first thing out of her mouth was:

“Auntie She Rui, I want to live on campus. Please take me to the school to check in this afternoon.”

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Author’s Note:
Hmph, both Daddy and the boyfriend sure have a long way to go! (￣︶￣)*