008: From now on, keep your phone on 24 hours a day. I want you at my beck and call.
Wen Yan frowned slightly, trying to pull the jacket off.
“Go ahead and throw it, see what happens?” Pei Jinye’s voice sounded from behind her. Wen Yan’s outstretched hand froze in midair for a few seconds, then slowly fell back down.
She knelt for another ten minutes. Wen Yan felt like her legs were no longer her own—her knees had gradually gone numb and ached from the small pebbles digging into them. She didn’t make a sound, just knelt there in silence.
Pei Jinye stared at her for a while longer, then said, “Stay right here on your knees. Don’t even think about running off—I know exactly where you are.”
He tossed out that line, turned around, and left.
Wen Yan knelt on the cobblestones as passersby occasionally cast curious glances her way. Someone muttered, “How humiliating.”
Wen Yan laughed at herself, a bitter smile.
Humiliating?
But compared to staying alive, what was dignity worth?
After a long while, the laundry shop owner slowly walked out and told her that an hour had passed—she could leave now.
Wen Yan moved with difficulty, her knees throbbing with pain. As she pushed herself up, her legs gave out and she nearly collapsed back down again.
But she gritted her teeth and walked forward step by step.
Entering the laundry shop, Wen Yan spotted the suit jacket thrown on the floor at a glance. She bent down with effort and picked it up.
Seeing the scratches on it, a sharp pang of pain surged through her chest.
She fought back the hot tears welling up in her eyes, folded the jacket neatly, and placed it into her backpack, then walked step by step toward the campus.
Today, Wen Yan was late. She was marked for half an absence and had one credit point deducted. But at least Pei Jinye and his lackeys hadn’t caused her any more trouble, and she managed to finish her morning classes without incident.
Wen Yan glanced at the ruined suit jacket and decided to go find Professor Fu to explain what had happened and apologize to him.
But just as she walked out of the teaching building, a black commercial vehicle pulled up and blocked her path.
The window rolled down, and a face that filled Wen Yan with utter terror slowly emerged.
Pei Jinye tilted his head, his gaze slanting at her sideways, the corner of his mouth curling up bit by bit into an arc.
The next second, the power door slid open slowly. The man leaned back, sprawling casually across the spacious back seat, and crooked his finger at Wen Yan. “Get in.”
Wen Yan clutched her backpack straps tightly, trying to walk around the car. But the vehicle roared forward and stopped right in front of her again. Before she could react, a large hand reached out from inside the car and grabbed her wrist.
“Ah!” Wen Yan cried out in shock. She lost her balance entirely and was dragged into the vehicle.
Caught completely off guard, Wen Yan slammed hard into a solid embrace. The thick, heavy scent of tobacco wove itself into a net that instantly enveloped her.
Terrified, Wen Yan tried to escape, but the car door clicked shut with a lock, and the partition slowly descended. She was completely trapped now.
Wen Yan screamed in panic: “Pei Jinye, what do you want now, dragging me into your car?!”
The man narrowed his eyes at her, said nothing, and reached out to press gently on a spot just below her knee.
“Ah!” Wen Yan recoiled as if touched by something filthy, pushing at him with both hands. “Don’t touch me, Pei Jinye, don’t touch me!”
The man’s expression darkened. “Move again and I’ll cut your legs off.”
Wen Yan didn’t dare move anymore, because she knew that resisting now would only work against her—if she provoked him, he was fully capable of following through on such threats.
A layer of mist formed over her eyes as she watched him quietly, waiting to see what he intended to do.
But to her surprise, the man pulled a small first-aid kit from the car’s storage compartment. He took out iodine, cotton swabs, and ointment one by one.
He applied the medicine to her wounds. His movements were stiff and clumsy, yet deliberately softened—as if he was annoyed at having to tend to her, but also afraid of hurting her.
Wen Yan trembled all over from the pain but didn’t struggle anymore. She just kept her eyes tightly shut, refusing to look at him.
After applying the medicine, the man pulled her pant leg back down and put the first-aid kit away. Turning to see her eyes still closed, he grew irritated. “What are you closing your eyes for? Open them!”
Damn it—when some other man drapes his jacket over you, you’re all gratitude and devotion, but when I’m the one treating your wounds, you’re lying there playing dead?
Wen Yan’s lashes fluttered, but she didn’t move.
The man barked, “I told you to open your eyes—are you deaf? Do I need to pry your eyelids open with my own hands?!”
Wen Yan shuddered again in fear and slowly opened her eyes, meeting his unfathomable dark gaze.
The air went silent for a few seconds.
The man asked, “Feel any better?”
Wen Yan froze, seemingly caught off guard by the question. She pressed her dry lips together and asked in a small voice, “Why… why are you applying medicine for me?”
Pei Jinye clearly hadn’t expected her to ask that either. He paused, then let out a scoffing laugh. “Wen Yan, you don’t actually think that just because I put some medicine on you, I’ve taken a liking to you and want to date you, do you?”
Wen Yan frowned slightly, staring at him with a shocked expression.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Pei Jinye leaned back into his seat, his gaze like that of someone appraising an object, his tone reverting to its usual flippancy: “I’m just worried that if your knees rot and get infected, you’d run a fever and accidentally die on me—that’d be a waste.”
Wen Yan parted her lips, about to retort, but swallowed the words and asked instead, “Can I leave now?”
The man didn’t answer. He bent down again, pulled out a gift bag printed with a phone logo from the cabinet, and tossed it into her lap. “Take it.”
Wen Yan glanced at it and tossed it back. “I don’t want it. I’ll buy my own phone.”
The man clicked his tongue in irritation. “I said take it, so take it. What’s with all the nonsense? You think this is free?”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is,” Pei Jinye curled the corner of his mouth into a malicious grin, “I’ve already activated the phone for you, and the SIM card inside is newly registered with your information. From now on, this phone stays on 24/7, fully charged.”
He paused, leaning forward, staring at her instantly widened eyes, and spoke each word with deliberate clarity:
“When I call or text, you answer immediately and reply right away. Wen Yan, from today on, I want you—at my beck and call.”
Wen Yan’s lips trembled slightly, the word “no” nearly escaping her mouth.
A single index finger pointed straight at her nose, and Pei Jinye’s gaze suddenly turned sharp.
“Wen Yan, if you dare refuse to keep it, or smash this phone, I will absolutely barge straight into your home and kill you!”
Wen Yan lowered her lashes.
No wonder he had smashed her phone that day—he’d planned all along to monitor her in real time and control her every move.
“I understand.” Wen Yan lifted her head and asked, “So, can I leave now?”
The man glanced at his watch. “Wen Yan, it’s still early. How about we have a little more fun?”