"Brother, she smells so good!"
Fortunately, the ankle sprain wasn't too serious.
Ren Siyi's ankle was wrapped in a layer of gauze. The medicine Shen Shen had given her was indeed miraculous—the swelling had gone down within just a few minutes.
She limped into the living room, where the young man's wheelchair was parked by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching a winter crow perched on a bare branch outside.
A cold, crescent moon hung from the treetop.
The room was dark, the moonlight making Shen Du's skin look pale.
To be fair, when this kid was quiet, he was actually pretty handsome.
But—he clearly knew he was handsome. He knew he was handsome and rich, and he especially wanted to use that to show off his charm, which gave him an uncontrollable greasy vibe that hit you right in the face.
He turned around and saw the "little maid" Ren Siyi, his eyes lighting up.
However, before he could speak or make a move, Ren Siyi walked up to him, dropped the flattering, ingratiating smile and tone from earlier, and said seriously, "Young Master Shen, before I start working, there are a few things I'd like to say to you."
It was so rare to see her this serious that Shen Du was momentarily at a loss for how to respond. He quickly nodded. "Go ahead."
"I'm here to work, not to sell myself." She paused. "I'll be blunt—sorry, but your brother did offer me a salary I couldn't refuse, but the work contract I signed absolutely does not include selling my body. You asked me to wear this outfit, and I wore it, but this is the only time. From now on, I'll only wear my own normal clothes. I hope you don't mind."
Shen Du looked disappointed.
After all, she looked really, really, really stunning in that black-stocking maid outfit.
"Also, regarding my job duties—I'll only do what a housekeeper should do. During work, I refuse all physical contact, and I even refuse verbal sexual harassment. If you can't accept that, then I'll resign right now."
Although Ren Siyi often hung out with the small-town wild girls, her grandparents had always taught her that a person can be poor but not lacking in ambition—no matter how poor, one must live with dignity and principles.
She didn't want to disappoint her grandparents.
Shen Du suddenly stood up from his wheelchair, sending it flying.
Standing on one leg like a golden rooster, he said indignantly, "I'm just a handsome, charming, romantic tall-rich-handsome guy, but I'm not sex-starved, and I'm definitely not a rapist! I'm not just anyone! You think I only want your beauty? No! I also want to suck—cough, cough, cough…"
He turned red with anger and started coughing again, nearly losing his balance on one leg.
"Hey, sit down." Seeing him like this, Ren Siyi quickly pushed the wheelchair back over and made him sit. "Let's talk nicely, no need to rush."
"I'm not the kind of person you think I am." His face was red.
"Then why did you make me wear this outfit?" Ren Siyi pouted.
"Isn't this just the normal work uniform?"
"What's normal about it?!"
"What's not normal about it? Didn't you come to apply as a maid? What's wrong with wearing a maid outfit?"
Ren Siyi was speechless.
Shen Du sneered. "If your heart is dirty, everything looks dirty. You're young—maybe watch less unhealthy stuff, okay? This is an adorable maid outfit. Your taste is just bad."
Ren Siyi struggled to hold back an eye roll and flashed him a sweet customer-service smile. "Okay, okay, fine. But I don't like it—can I not wear it?"
"Sure, suit yourself."
As they were talking, Ren Siyi saw through the floor-to-ceiling window that a Maybach had pulled up in front of the villa, and Shen Shen, dressed in a black suit, got in.
The driver closed the car door, and the Maybach disappeared into the night.
"It's this late—is your brother still going out?"
"Yeah." Shen Du said, "My brother's a night owl. He sleeps during the day and works at night."
"What kind of work needs to be done at night?"
"Haven't you heard of Shen's Hospital? It's a private hospital where you can still get an appointment with a specialist at night."
"Of course I've heard of it." Ren Siyi said. "During the day you can only get a regular appointment, but lots of famous specialists take night shifts. It's famous nationwide. My grandmother has rheumatism—she actually wanted to go to that hospital, but since it's private, the fees are really expensive."
"It can also be free." Shen Du said casually. "Just donate blood."
"Huh? You can get free treatment by donating blood?"
"Yeah, but it's not fully free. The discount depends on how much you donate, I think. I don't know the exact details."
"Then can I donate blood to let my grandmother get treatment?"
"You can, but…"
Shen Du looked at her. A strange possessiveness made him reluctant to let her donate blood. "Rheumatism is a minor illness—just take your grandmother to a regular hospital. Shen's Private Hospital only treats incurable diseases that regular hospitals can't handle."
Ren Siyi nodded. That made sense.
She'd just earn more money and take her grandmother to a public hospital—they could even use medical insurance there.
"So is your brother a doctor? Does he have to go to the hospital at night?"
"My brother isn't a doctor. He does know medicine, but I haven't heard of him going into the operating room in a long time." Shen Du said. "He's the founder of Shen's Medical."
"Wow!" Ren Siyi's eyes widened. "No wonder your family is so rich. This hospital has chains all over the country. He must be rolling in money now."
"Not just the country," Shen Du corrected. "The whole world. Our Shen family private hospitals are almost open all the way to Antarctica."
"Impressive!" Ren Siyi played along. "So you're a medical family! Can you treat patients too?"
"Nope." Shen Du lifted his chin. "I'm just a useless rich kid."
Ren Siyi: …
And you're proud of that, huh.
Shen Du's schedule wasn't exactly healthy either—he stayed up late playing video games at night. Ren Siyi kept him company for two hours before collapsing onto the sofa with a huge yawn, falling asleep within seconds.
"Hey! Get up, get up and play with me." Shen Du held the controller in one hand and pushed her with the other.
Ren Siyi slept like a log, barely waking. No matter how Shen Du pushed, she just mumbled vaguely in her exhaustion, her eyelids refusing to open.
Shen Du could only play Zelda by himself, feeling very lonely.
He feared loneliness more than anything. Unfortunately, loneliness was the eternal life lesson of the Immortal.
He set down the controller and looked at Ren Siyi on the sofa.
Ren Siyi lay curled up, sleeping on the sofa, one hand pillowed beneath her cheek, the other hanging limply over the edge.
Her breathing was soft and shallow, lips slightly parted, a few strands of hair scattered across her neck.
She slept deeply, completely unaware of the world. Even the loud game volume hadn't woken her.
Her delicate collarbone was faintly visible beneath the lace trim of her collar.
Shen Du, as if possessed, set down the controller, braced himself on the wheelchair armrests, stood up, hopped once on one foot to barely steady himself, then slowly, slowly approached the sofa.
He leaned down, so close that his breath nearly brushed against the side of her neck.
That sweet scent, so close to her artery, was still detectable—just not as strong as when she'd first walked in.
His canine teeth itched slightly.
Just as he was about to touch her, the door swung open and Shen Shen walked in.
"What are you doing?" He tossed his briefcase aside casually.
Shen Du's body stiffened. He turned to look at his brother.
Shen Shen stood in the darkness, his black suit impeccably pressed.
"Brother, she smells so good!" Shen Du's eyes burned with naked desire. "I've never smelled food this fragrant before."
"Humans aren't food." For some reason, Shen Shen felt uncomfortable seeing him so close to her. His voice deepened. "Mind your attitude."
"I know, I know. I just wanted to tell you—she's really special. So fragrant!"
Shen Shen shot him a look, walked into the living room, poured himself a glass of cold water at the bar, downed it in one gulp, and sat elegantly on a single-legged stool. "You said the same thing about the last one."
"Brother, I have self-control. Don't worry, I won't mess anyone up. Didn't all the previous ones turn out fine? They were even reluctant to leave."
"I've told you—if you want to keep a girl you like, suppress your appetite." Shen Shen said crisply. "Unless you want me to send her away tomorrow."
Shen Du did feel a bit reluctant about that. His brother didn't want him to bite too early and lose control, causing trouble.
But besides her blood, Shen Du was also quite taken with her looks.
The girl wasn't taking the bait, and under his brother's restraint, he didn't dare act recklessly. He could only slowly win her over with money and charm. Everything took time.
He sighed, suppressed the craving churning inside him, and sat back in his wheelchair.
Shen Shen set down his glass and walked up the marble steps.
Behind him, Shen Du couldn't help asking, "Brother, there's one thing I don't understand. Why won't you let me hunt humans? Aren't we just at the top of the food chain?"
Shen Shen glanced back at him, like he was looking at an idiot. "Can you stop a bullet?"
Shen Du shook his head. During his years studying abroad, he'd personally witnessed one of his kind being shot dead.
"Doesn't this country ban guns?" He spread his hands, unconcerned.
"That's your luck, not humanity's."
"Uh…"
What Shen Shen wanted was never war. "Since humans have the ability to destroy us, then we're not in a food chain relationship."
Shen Du asked naively, "Then what's our relationship with humans?"
Shen Shen thought for a moment, then answered, "A community of shared destiny."
…
Ren Siyi slept on the sofa all night and woke up to find it was already morning.
She rubbed her eyes, sat up from the sofa, and checked her phone. A notification showed that yesterday's wages of 2500 had already been deposited.
So it really was paid daily.
How satisfying.
The estate was empty during the day—just her and the butler. The two brothers who came out at night were both asleep.
Curious, she asked Lu Sen, the butler who was watering flowers in the garden, "This estate is so big. Are you the only one serving here?"
"Mm. The master doesn't like too many people."
How reclusive.
"So you do all the cooking and cleaning yourself? Can you handle it all?"
Lu Sen: "Are you questioning my abilities?"
"Oh no, no, no." Ren Siyi quickly waved her hands. "Just talking nonsense."
Lu Sen ignored her.
Hard to get along with.
Ren Siyi asked again, "There's nothing to do during the day. I want to go out and look around. Is that okay?"
"Feel free."
Ren Siyi left the villa and strolled out of Central Park. The vast park was eerie at night, but in the morning there were quite a few people exercising.
She walked all the way out without seeing any other villas. It seemed like the entire park only had the Shen family's villa, nestled deep within the forest.
Very extravagant.
Ren Siyi went straight to the library, picked up a book on traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and read it with great interest to pass the time.
She didn't have any grand ambitions. Her college application was for Traditional Chinese Medicine. She planned to save up money during university, then work at a Chinese medicine clinic after graduation. If she did well in the future and managed to save enough, she'd open her own clinic.
It would be hard to make it in a big city, especially for a girl from a small rural town like her.
But she was determined to stand on her own two feet, bring her grandparents to the city to enjoy a comfortable life, find her father, and reunite the family.
In the afternoon, a WeChat message came in.
Dragonfly Immortal: "Hey hey, are you there?"
Ren Siyi looked at the unfamiliar WeChat name. She didn't really know this person. She opened the chat window—there were no previous messages between them, except for a record of a 30-yuan red packet received yesterday evening.
Oh, she remembered now. It was that tarot-reading scammer from yesterday.
But… if she really thought about it, she had been followed by thugs last night, tripped, and scraped her knee.
She had indeed seen blood, so the "blood disaster" wasn't entirely nonsense.
Cute and Neurotic: "I'm here. What's up?"
Dragonfly Immortal: "Did my divination come true? [Sideways smirk]"
Ren Siyi frowned and casually typed: "No refund for thirty. Even if it came true, no refund."
She touched her knee—it didn't hurt anymore. Shen Shen's medicine was really effective.
Dragonfly Immortal: "I'm not here to ask for a refund. Haven't had any business today. Want me to do another reading for you?"
Cute and Neurotic: "I don't really have anything to divine right now."
Even though she'd gotten her salary, this charlatan… wasn't going to squeeze any more IQ tax out of her.
Dragonfly Immortal: "Your father's name is Ren Yi. He went to the city for work five years ago and disappeared the following year. Am I right?"
Cute and Neurotic: "!!"
Ren Siyi had never told him her father's name.
Cute and Neurotic: "Do you have news about my dad?"
Dragonfly Immortal: "No, I don't."
Cute and Neurotic: "Then how do you know his name?"
Dragonfly Immortal: "I divined it. Believe me now? [Hehe]"
About half an hour later, Dragonfly Immortal arrived at the Provincial Library.
Since the Provincial Library was right next to Central Park, Ren Siyi couldn't go too far—her employer might wake up and need her at any moment—so she'd ordered a door-to-door fortune-telling service.
Dragonfly Immortal charged her 100 yuan and arrived fifteen minutes later at the self-service water and rest area on the third floor of the Provincial Library.
Ren Siyi was sitting there, waiting anxiously. When he got out of the elevator, she recognized him at once and waved frantically for him to come over.
He was wearing a Crayon Shin-chan cartoon T-shirt with black pants, making him look even younger. Ren Siyi was certain he was probably about her age. His features were delicate and fair, and he was tall and slender at about 1.8 meters—kind of handsome.
When Dragonfly Immortal saw her, he jogged over. After he sat down, Ren Siyi pushed the lemonade she'd just bought toward him. "Thank you for your trouble, Master."
Now that she felt he really did have some skill, Ren Siyi's attitude toward him had become much more respectful.
"Don't call me Master. It makes me sound like a scammer." He laughed. "My name is Li Er. Er as in Erhai Lake."
"Ren Siyi." She also introduced herself, then skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "Do another reading for me. Where exactly is my dad?"
Li Er took out that slightly worn deck of tarot cards from his backpack, laid them out in order, and had Ren Siyi carefully cooperate with the placements in the middle.
In the end, he drew a card.
Strangely, just like yesterday, the card drawn was again the reversed Death card.
Seeing that card, Ren Siyi's heart leaped into her throat.
Li Er looked at the card and was silent for a long time. Ren Siyi watched him nervously but didn't disturb his thoughts, and didn't dare press for an answer.
She was afraid of getting the same answer as yesterday.
After a long while, Li Er finally spoke: "Your father… is still in the mortal world."
"Ah, really?!" Ren Siyi let out a huge sigh of relief, clutching her pounding heart. "As long as he's still alive, that's fine."
"I didn't say alive. I said in the mortal world." His narrow, beautiful phoenix eyes glanced at her sideways. "But it's no different… from being dead."