After soothing the girl, the man didn’t forget to greet Qi Qi.
“I’m sorry, I just happened to have some business around here.”
Qi Qi gave a perfunctory reply, pulled the girl close to her side, and followed him into a residential area by the road.
This area seemed newly developed. The roads were fresh, with few cars or people passing by. The residential complexes on both sides were newly built as well, though a fair number of units had their lights on.
“Why are we going into a residential area? Didn’t you say we were going to eat?”
“Don’t rush. I live right here. Just come with me to grab something first,” the man said, turning back with a smile to explain.
The sky was growing darker by the minute. Though the lighting inside the complex was sufficient, the way the man turned and smiled at her in this environment was deeply unsettling.
The girl’s lips went pale, and she unconsciously clutched at Qi Qi’s clothes.
Qi Qi gave him a cold, sweeping glance.
So he’d realized there was no problem and couldn’t even be bothered to keep up the act anymore.
It seemed this man had been planning to make his move on the girl all along.
The man was growing impatient as well, starting to urge them along.
“It’s right here. Go on in.”
The three of them stopped in front of one of the buildings. He paused, speaking to them in a gentle voice.
Qi Qi took the girl’s hand and followed him in.
The building had one unit per floor. Conveniently enough, his place was on the second floor.
He knew how to pick his spots.
The man opened the door.
Qi Qi looked up and found herself locking eyes with a man inside. The girl was startled as well.
“Don’t be nervous. He’s my roommate,” the man said.
Seeing that the two of them were still standing at the door without entering, he grew impatient and reached out to pull the girl closer.
Qi Qi subtly dodged his hand and led the girl inside.
But just as one foot crossed the threshold, her phone buzzed.
The four of them fell silent instantly.
The air grew heavy in that moment.
The man inside stared at the girl’s increasingly pale face, his eyes narrowing sharply. He suddenly lunged forward.
Qi Qi’s gaze hardened. She quickly shoved the girl out of the room, blocked the man who tried to chase after her, and kicked the door shut.
Remembering what Qi Qi had told her earlier, the girl ran out crying, screaming for help as she went.
Meanwhile, behind a large tree in the residential complex,
Jian Yubai had been watching that direction the whole time. When he saw only the girl run out alone, he furrowed his brow. Without a second thought, he was about to rush over.
Then, the next moment!
A squad of men in black appeared from all around. He initially assumed they were accomplices of the culprit.
But when he heard the question from the man at the front, Jian Yubai stopped in his tracks, retreated to his original spot, and concealed himself.
“Where’s Qi Qi?!”
The girl was also startled by the sudden appearance of these people. She thought they might be the backup Qi Qi had mentioned.
She said tearfully, “Sister was locked in the room by them!”
Inside the room at that moment,
The two men glared viciously at the woman. They exchanged a glance and, without giving her any chance, clenched their fists and charged.
Qi Qi sidestepped to dodge, engaging both of them in combat.
Tables and ornaments shattered with loud crashes.
“Not bad. You two moved pretty fast this time—caught on earlier than expected.”
The man seemed to already know something. He sneered mockingly and attacked her again.
While fighting with Qi Qi, the other man’s ear twitched slightly.
“We’ve been found out. Let’s go!”
With that, the two of them dodged her attacks and made a run for a window.
Behind them, Qi Qi didn’t hesitate for a moment. Bracing her hands on the windowsill, she leaped down right after them.
Jian Yubai, who had been observing from behind the tree, saw the two men jump down and was about to step forward.
But then—
Another figure landed. The movement, the skill—light and practiced.
Even if it was only the second floor, that woman landed without a scratch.
Then,
Jian Yubai watched as Qi Qi engaged in combat with the two burly men.
The dropped cigarette butt betrayed the man’s shock.
He narrowed his eyes, silently retracting his steps, gazing meaningfully at that slender figure.
Then, as if spotting something!
Jian Yubai’s pupils constricted as he flashed forward.
Qi Qi, locked in combat with one of the men, didn’t see the gun slowly being raised behind her.
The man smirked sinisterly, his index finger pulling the trigger.
“Bang~”
A muffled gunshot rang out from behind.
The squad of black-clad men appeared in tandem.
Qi Qi smashed her fist into the man before her, spinning around—
Only to freeze, pupils shrinking, at the sight of the man who had suddenly appeared.
The gun clattered to the ground. The would-be attacker, his wrist snapped by Jian Yubai, writhed on the ground in agony.
Only after both men were subdued did Jian Yubai lift his head, gazing deeply at her.
Qi Qi averted her eyes, walking straight toward one of the men and pulling out a photograph.
“Have you seen him?”
The man glanced at the photo, let out a sneer, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Qi Qi’s gaze darkened as she viciously grabbed his collar: “Tell me, where is he now!”
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”
Qi Qi stared at him intently. Before anyone around could react, she snatched a gun from a nearby team member and pressed it against his forehead—so fast the team member didn’t even register it.
“Say it! Where the hell is he!”
Jian Yubai, who had been about to step forward, halted in his tracks.
He stared at the woman spiraling out of control, her eyes bloodshot, almost in disbelief.
“Calm down!” The team leader stepped forward, trying to take the gun from her.
Qi Qi turned her head toward him, a murderous glint surging in her eyes.
Afraid she might actually pull the trigger and blow him away, the team leader raised both hands.
“We have to bring them back alive—that’s an order.”
Qi Qi’s hand gripping the gun trembled slightly; the photograph in her other hand was crumpled beyond recognition.
A team member reassured her: “We’ve got it all on record. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”
Qi Qi lowered her lashes, concealing the moisture in her eyes, her frame slumping back with a defeated sway.
The team leader sighed, carefully retrieving the gun from her hand.
“I’ve already sent someone to take that girl back. You should go home and rest for a few days too.” With that, he nodded to Jian Yubai, ordered his men to seize the attackers, and vanished from the scene.
Once everyone was gone, the surroundings fell into utter silence.
Qi Qi’s thin black shirt was slightly disheveled from the fierce fight.
She stood there, still as a statue, her figure seemingly swallowed by the darkness of the night, leaving only a trace of desolation and loneliness.
Jian Yubai stepped forward, draping his jacket over her shoulders. He asked nothing, simply standing by her side.
After a long while—
Qi Qi: “How did you get here?”
Jian Yubai: “Took a cab.”
“Then how do we get back?”
“…………”
Still got the energy to think about that—guess she’s fine.
Jian Yubai slid one hand into his pocket and walked past her.
“Where are you going?”
“To the curb to wait for a ride. Coming or not?”
Qi Qi followed.
Jian Yubai glanced at her sideways with a teasing smile: “Walking this close to me—afraid I’ll ditch you here?”
Qi Qi said nothing, shuffling her steps to widen the distance.
Watching the woman about to retreat into the bushes, Jian Yubai couldn’t help but twitch his eyelid.
Exiting the neighborhood, the two simply sat down by the roadside to wait.
“When’s your driver getting here?”
“Tired? I don’t mind letting you lean on me for a bit.”
Qi Qi stared at him seriously: “Did the Jian family hit a genetic mutation by the time it got to your generation?”
Jian Yubai: “……..”
He didn’t know why, but she especially loved seeing this young master get put in his place—it was oddly satisfying.
Jian Yubai turned his head to look at her.
At this moment, the woman had returned to her usual self, as if the scene of her losing control and going mad moments ago had never happened.
Glancing at the smile at the corner of her mouth, Jian Yubai withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyes, and a faint, barely perceptible curve lifted at the corner of his lips.
“It’s not bad spending the night here.”
“Are you crazy? You have a villa but won’t stay there, and you come to this godforsaken place to camp?”
Jian Yubai didn’t mind the dirt. He propped his hands behind him on the ground, tilted his head up to gaze at the night sky, and responded to her teasing with ease, line by line.
“By the way, I heard from my brother that your studies abroad ended long ago. Why haven’t you come back to the country?”
Jian Yubai’s quietness made Qi Qi take another look at him.
“Is there someone here you can’t bear to leave?”
Seeing her look so gossipy, Jian Yubai found it amusing, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes. “Your little head sure has a vivid imagination.”
“It’s because you’re staying to keep your girlfriend company, isn’t that why you don’t want to come back?”
The man didn’t answer.
Realizing she might have asked too much, she awkwardly apologized and shut her mouth, saying no more.
Qi Qi didn’t notice that the man beside her had his gaze fixed on her profile the whole time.
While she admired the stars, Jian Yubai simply watched her like that.
“There’s no girlfriend. I’ve been alone in England the whole time.”
A low, gentle voice sounded, and Qi Qi instinctively turned her head.
“What?”
Jian Yubai gazed at her deeply for a moment, then finally looked up at the starry sky. “Nothing.”