“This is my own business. You’re getting old. You talk too much.”
Lan Yin studied Zhi Li’s expression. No one knew a son better than his mother, and even she was somewhat surprised. Ash dropped from between her fingers onto the floor. “Zhi Li, don’t tell me… you’ve been building up his tolerance in preparation for something like this? Since when? You’ve actually put this much thought into him. I’m getting jealous. But this really is interesting. As expected of my son. See you tonight, baby.”
After parting from Lan Yin, Zhi Li was on his way back toward the classroom building when he passed a girl talking on the phone. She had been saying something, but the moment she came close to Zhi Li and glanced at him, she abruptly stopped speaking.
Zhi Li frowned slightly and turned around to stop the girl as she tried to slip away. “Did Yin send you?”
The girl started to deny it, but apparently heard instructions through the phone and nodded.
That damn woman. So this is the game she’s playing.
“What did you do to Ke Bu?”
“Nothing. We’re planning to date.”
The girl could clearly see Zhi Li’s expression turn cold and sinister. She took a step backward.
Zhi Li remained where he was. “I don’t care what Yin told you. If you appear within five hundred meters of Ke Bu again, I’ll make your death extremely unpleasant.”
Zhi Li kicked the flowerbed beside her. Several ceramic tiles shattered and fell away.
The girl nodded rapidly and ran.
First, I need to find Ke Bu.
Zhi Li had only just started walking when the phone in his bag rang. He looked at the caller ID and clicked his tongue impatiently.
“Lan Yin called me. Come out. I’m at the gate of your school.”
“What do you want?”
“Are you coming out, or am I coming inside to find you?”
“Tell me over the phone.”
The call disconnected.
Barely a minute later, a car came driving straight toward Zhi Li. People around him cried out, convinced that the car barreling onto campus was going to hit him. Instead, it stopped only one step away.
The window lowered.
The man sitting inside was handsome enough that, standing beside the breathtaking Lan Yin, he wouldn’t lose in the slightest.
“Get in.”
Dealing with two people at once was like raising a game’s difficulty to the maximum setting.
Judging from Zhi Zuo Si’s expression, Lan Yin probably hadn’t told him about Ke Bu yet. Otherwise, his reaction wouldn’t be this mild. Lan Yin wouldn’t arrive until tonight. There was still time.
Zhi Li looked up toward Ke Bu’s classroom again and clicked his tongue irritably before getting into the car.
There’s nothing to gain from clashing with Zhi Zuo Si right now. It isn’t time for him to know about Ke Bu yet.
“What did Yin say?”
“What did you do?”
Zhi Li didn’t tell Zhi Zuo Si. Zhi Zuo Si wasn’t part of his plan this time. Zhi Li first needed to pull Yin onto his side, then use her to help him deal with Zhi Zuo Si. He couldn’t afford to get even one step wrong.
After all, his opponents were Lan Yin and Zhi Zuo Si.
There was no more conversation inside the car. Zhi Zuo Si drove Zhi Li farther and farther away from the school.
Zhi Li glanced at the time. “What did Lan Yin offer you in exchange?”
“You asked one step too late.”
“So what are you planning to do?” Zhi Li glanced at the locked doors. “Are you kidnapping your own son? Are parents always such strange creatures?”
“You look like you want to fight your parents.”
“If I could, that’s exactly what I’d like to do.”
“You can.”
At last, the car stopped and the locks clicked open.
Zhi Li got out.
Zhi Zuo Si turned the car around, resting a hand against the door. “I don’t want to know what happened between you and Yin. Just don’t cause trouble for me.”
He drove away, leaving Zhi Li alone with nothing but a phone.
Trying to delay me, Yin? It won’t be as easy as you think.
Zhi Li made a call. “Dora…”
Lan Yin had originally planned to lie in wait near the stairwell, but Dora delayed her for a while. After dealing with Dora, she saw Zhi Li return and run toward Ke Bu’s classroom.
Getting anxious? Interesting.
Lan Yin quickened her pace.
When Zhi Li reached Ke Bu’s classroom, it was already empty. Then he heard movement near the stairs leading to the top floor.
“Do you want to disappear by yourself, or should I help you?”
“Zhi Li’s here. What a shame. I was only one step away. Ke Bu was already planning to touch me, weren’t you, Ke Bu?”
“You were going to touch her?”
Zhi Li was slowly becoming irritable.
Lan Yin’s presence was approaching.
Closer.
Closer.
She’s here.
Zhi Li grabbed Ke Bu’s arm and shoved him aside.
The full force of Lan Yin’s attack landed against Zhi Li’s side. He frowned slightly.
Damn. That woman really doesn’t hold back.
The girl behind them seized the opportunity to run away, leaving the three of them alone in the dark stairwell.
“Are you finished yet? How much longer are you going to keep doing this?” Zhi Li said through clenched teeth.
Lan Yin leaned against Zhi Li’s back.
Ke Bu said hollowly, “If you want to take back our promise, why don’t you just say it? Why make everything so complicated? I won’t cling to you. Just take it back. If you can’t say it, I’ll say it.”
He crouched down weakly.
Zhi Li crouched with him. He placed one hand against the wall and leaned close to Ke Bu, speaking clearly beside his ear, one word at a time. “I’m not in a very good mood right now. Don’t make boring jokes with me.”
He actually said he wants to take back our promise. Then what has everything I’ve done been for?
Zhi Li could practically hear Lan Yin laughing behind him.
She’s really going to do it now.
Ke Bu was about to speak when Zhi Li covered his mouth.
Zhi Li kissed him, their lips separated only by his palm.
“Whatever you want to say, wait a few days. I still have something to deal with. Wait for me.”
He forcibly dragged Lan Yin away.
“Don’t go back to that school anymore,” Lan Yin said as they walked out through the gates. “Come back to Yinguo Town with me. I’ll arrange another school for you.”
“Since when have I been that obedient?”
“I know you’re serious. That’s exactly why I won’t allow it.”
Zhi Li kept walking, staring into the night as the night stared back at him. “What you mean is that I’m never allowed to like anyone for the rest of my life.”
“You can only like the right person.”
“And that person has to be a woman?”
“That would only benefit you.”
“Who made that rule for me?”
Lan Yin came up beside him. “Your own body.”
The moment they entered the hotel where Lan Yin was staying nearby, she took out her phone. “I’ll have someone pack your things for you.”
Zhi Li snatched the phone from her hand and threw it onto the floor. He tilted his head slightly. “Who said I agreed?”
“Do you absolutely have to have a boy?”
Lan Yin was gradually losing patience with his refusal to obey. Her most beloved son had repeatedly given her attitude over some ordinary boy. Never in her life had Lan Yin suffered this sort of humiliation.
And all because of an outsider.
“No.”
Zhi Li looked at her.
“It has to be Ke Bu.”
Lan Yin kicked toward Zhi Li’s abdomen.
Zhi Li caught her foot.
“Don’t block me. Don’t fight back. Otherwise I’ll call Zhi Zuo Si right now. I’ll keep you here while he goes to deal with Ke Bu. You know that man very well. You know how ruthless he can be. Maybe he’ll stomp Ke Bu’s bones until they break. Or do you want to gamble on it? Gamble that we’re kind people?”
Zhi Li released her foot.
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