Han Yanyan seized the opportunity, took advantage of being drunk, and wailed, “Scoundrel! Bully! Why are you all so cruel to me?!”

A woman screaming, struggling or weeping was sometimes still a turn-on for a man. Only wailing like this was a huge turn-off. Yao Chen’s lust ebbed immediately once she began howling.

“Enough, don’t cry!” He let her go, annoyed and exasperated.

Han Yanyan’s shoes had fallen off. She curled up on the seat in a fetal position, crying and sobbing. It was an enormous contrast to her usual calm, indifferent appearance. It seemed to be the sort of truthful drunken outcry that peeled back the shell of her usual strength, revealing the fragility beneath.

Yao Chen didn’t try to make her feel better. Instead, he sat unsympathetically across from her, shirt still open, lit a cigarette and watched her cry. When he had finished half the cigarette, Han Yanyan’s cries began to halt. She buried her face in her knee and wept gently.

These were the sort of tears that made others feel pity.

Yao Chen pulled out a tissue and threw it at her. “Wipe your tears.”

Hanging her head, Han Yanyan wiped her eyes before looking up. Her eyes were red and her lips slightly puffy, but she seemed to have calmed down and her gaze has returned to normal. It seemed as though she was a completely different person from the one who had just broken down.

Feeling amused, Yao Chen flicked his cigarette and asked, “So who bullied you?” This emotional breakdown obviously wasn’t from his forceful approach just now, but the breaking of a dam that had been building up for a long time.

“You,” Han Yanyan replied coldly.

Yao Chen looked her up and down, and didn’t feel like what he had done was bullying at all. He smiled, “Who else?”

Pressing her lips together, Han Yanyan answered, still cold, “It’s none of your business.”

Yao Chen stared at her for a while, then put out his cigarette, pulled her into his arms, and clamped her jaw with his hand. “Didn’t I say I wanted you to be my girlfriend? Everything about you is my business. Tell me who’s so bold as to bully you, and if anything like that happens again in the future, just let me know and I’ll fix it for you.”

She glared at him. “Do you think you’re omnipotent? That you can solve everything? This is about my own family, you can’t do anything about it!”

Yao Chen raised an eyebrow. “Family?”

“My own father and mother!” Han Yanyan spat. “The ones who gave birth to me! How could you possibly solve it? If you could fix this for me, Yao Chen, if you could figure it out, I’ll have nothing more to say. I’ll follow you obediently wherever you go!”

Yao Chen raised his eyebrows and asked, interested, “What happened with your parents? Tell me all about it.”

Han Yanyan lowered her eyes and confessed to him all the shit that happened in her home.

Prices at Jinhao were high, and waitresses earned a lot. Even if she was paying for her younger brother’s treatment, she should still have had money, yet she was still dressed in bargain-bin clothes. Yao Chen had thought it a little strange for a while, and now he understood. How unlucky to have been born to such parents.

“Blood ties aren’t as important as you might think,” he sneered. “Just cut them off, and you’ll find that they were never worth your effort.”

“That’s easy for you to say…” Han Yanyan replied as if in pain.

“That’s fine. If you can’t cut them off yourself, I’ll do it for you.”

Her eyes widened. “You…”

Leisurely, Yao Chen lifted the shirt collar and bra strap that he had just torn off her shoulder back into place. Then patting her on the face, he said, “Give me three months. Just remember to keep your word. ”

Han Yanyan looked into his eyes, making sure that he wasn’t joking. She was silent for a moment, then looked up and agreed. “Alright. But until then, don’t bother me again.”

He smiled, readily agreeing, “Of course.”

Yao Chen was as good as his word. He really did stop chasing her, only occasionally picking her up from school and taking her to work, or sending her back home afterward.

Since they hadn’t made their relationship public, none of her coworkers at Jinhao knew about it. Han Yanyan’s supervisor put her in charge of the eighth section, and when he met Yao Chen in the hallways, she lowered her head, greeted him with “Mr. Yao”, and turned sideways to make way.

When she sent him wine in his private room, Yao Chen would take a long pull on his cigarette, put his arms around Sakura or Emily, and watch her with a smile. Han Yanyan pretended to be invisible. When she poured him wine, and he reached out a groping hand, she always ducked away just in time, so as not to allow him a touch.

She renewed her monthly rent with the “extra” 20,000 yuan Yao Chen had given her earlier, and continued living in her little rented apartment. That month, she sent nothing home. When her parents called the landline to scold her, she pulled out the telephone line. A little later they attempted calling her cell phone with a different number before finally giving in.

The one who pays calls the shots. Only steamed buns gave money, sweat, and blood while still allowing themselves to be a trampled doormat.

Han Yanyan was far from being a steamed bun. In this world she had no attachments nor scruples.

When they called, she threatened her parents, finally agreeing to watch how they behaved before determining whether or not she would continue paying for her brother’s treatment the next month. But she didn’t see any sign of action from Yao Chen from her parents’ reaction. Still, he had told her three months. Only a month had passed so far. She wasn’t in a hurry.

She wondered what would happen when thugs dealt with thugs?

In the months that followed, Yao Chen’s pursuit of her had finally turned into a normal man pursuing a woman. They would occasionally go out on dates, eating and shopping. She limited physical contact to kissing. When Yao Chen tried to push, she would remind him of his own promise.

Yao Chen would grind his teeth, pinch her slender waist, and say through gritted teeth, “Just wait, you little nymph!”

The new year passed in a blink of an eye, and the school was on holiday. The students were all going home to prepare for Spring Festival. Han Yanyan hadn’t been home for Spring Festival in two years. Instead of a New Year family reunion, her parents preferred her to stay, work in K City, and make more money. Han Yanyan didn’t plan to go back this year, either. She stayed in her apartment and only ever went out at night to work at Jinhao.

Yao Chen found her reclusive, unsociable life strange. “What do you do during the day?”

“Read,” she replied. “I used to do tutoring, so I was always too busy. It’s really nice to be able to study in peace and quiet.”

For the first time, Yao Chen, who had dropped out of high school, found himself at a loss for words.

The three-month deadline was coming up soon. It was time for him to give her an answer.