The bar was built by the lake in the city center of Beijing. After leaving the bar, Jian Jinci went to the bridge by the lake.
She sat on the ground, leaning against the bridge railing, barefoot, with a pair of high heels beside her.
The cool April breeze gently blew her hair, rippling the surface of the lake.
The temperature difference between day and night in Beijing was significant. It was already ten o’clock at night, and Jian Jinci sneezed, wrapping her trench coat tighter around herself.
Staring at the lake, she cried in frustration, like a child. Then, as if something crossed her mind, she placed her hands on either side of her mouth, closed her eyes, and shouted, “All scumbags should die!”
Including her father—they all deserved to die. If scumbags didn’t exist in this world, many more people would be happy.
Scumbags don’t just hurt the women who deeply love them; they also hurt their children.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw a pair of long legs. Her gaze shifted upward and lingered on the man’s face. “Why did you follow me, brother? I really don’t have any money. I’ll definitely pay you back when I do.”
The man’s voice carried a cold sternness. “I don’t want money.”
“Then you must be bewitched by my beauty and have ill intentions.” With that, Jian Jinci crossed her arms over her chest, covering herself, and looked at him warily.
Seeing him remain silent, she thought she had hit the mark. Her eyes fixed on him with caution. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll call the police.”
She fumbled on the ground, grabbed her high heels, tapped the shoes a few times with her slender fingers, and held them to her ear in one fluid motion. She wailed, “Uncle Police, save me~”
The man crouched in front of her, one hand resting on his knee, the corner of his lips curling into an almost imperceptible smile. “What did the police say?”
Jian Jinci moved the high heels away from her ear, furrowing her brows and pouting, her expression filled with utmost grievance. “Uncle Police isn’t answering.”
She grabbed his arm, pleading with her eyes. “I’ll give in to you, but please don’t kill me. Spare my life, okay? I have a younger brother to take care of. What will happen to him if I die?”
His eyes held a complex expression. “What about your family?”
Even though she was drunk and barely conscious, the word “family” could still wound her. A bitter look flickered in Jian Jinci’s eyes as she pushed herself up from the ground. “My younger brother is my only family. Do you know who I am?”
She spoke to herself. “I’m the eldest daughter of the Jian family. In Beijing, even if you haven’t met me, you must have heard of me. Everyone envies my status and wealth, but in reality, even my father doesn’t care whether I live or die. Isn’t that laughable?”
Even so, she still had to maintain the façade of a harmonious family in front of outsiders.
His hand at his side clenched slightly, but he said nothing.
Leaning against the railing, tears glistened on her cheeks as she turned to look at the person behind her. “Do you have any candy? It’s too bitter.”
Life was too bitter, living was too bitter. Everyone feared death, but perhaps for some, death was the true liberation.
The cool breeze dissipated some of her drunkenness. These words were something she could only say to a stranger under the influence of alcohol.
“Forget it. Why would a man carry candy with him?”
He took two steps forward and opened his palm, revealing a piece of candy.
Jian Jinci stared blankly at the candy in his hand. She recognized the packaging—it was the same brand she had eaten since childhood, her favorite lychee flavor.
An intense sense of familiarity washed over her once again, for no apparent reason.
She hesitated to take the candy, simply staring at it in a daze. He spoke softly, “Not having any?”
“Eat.” Her thoughts interrupted, Jian Jinci took the candy from his palm, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. “Thank you for the candy. My name is Jian Jinci. I don’t know yours yet?”
He remained silent for a long while before slowly speaking. “Pei Yanzhou.”
Jian Jinci’s fingers twitched slightly as she turned her head. “Your surname is Pei?”
Pei Yanzhou replied, “Can’t I be surnamed Pei?”
She shook her head. The lychee-flavored candy and the surname Pei reminded her of someone—someone who was no longer in this world.
That person’s passing had been a pain of her youth.
Jian Jinci pushed the thought aside. She lifted Pei Yanzhou’s chin, studying him for a moment, and said, “Are you following me because you want to join my pond? Or do you want me to join yours?”
Pei Yanzhou said coldly, “I don’t keep fish.”
“With looks like yours, why not join my pond?” Jian Jinci hooked her arm around his neck, her gaze hazy, cheeks flushed on both sides.
“…”
The next day, 10 a.m., hotel room.
The floor was a mess.
Jian Jinci opened her eyes, took in the unfamiliar furnishings in the room, and abruptly sat up in bed. As the covers slipped away, she realized she wasn’t wearing any clothes.
She strained to recall the events of the previous night. She had blacked out from drinking, her mind drifting between clarity and haziness.
All she remembered was teasing a man named Pei Yanzhou, insisting he join her “pond,” and then…
To thank him for settling the bill at the bar, she had insisted on offering her first kiss as gratitude. Whether she had actually given it or not, she couldn’t recall—after that, everything went completely blank.
She threw back the covers and looked down at herself, slapping her forehead in frustration. Had she really slept with him last night?
But the room was empty except for her.
Her memory was a void.
If she had actually done something…
Better to slip away first.
She got out of bed, picked up her clothes from the floor, dressed, and left the hotel.
She kept telling herself: forget last night, forget that man named Pei Yanzhou. This was just a fleeting episode in her life, nothing to dwell on. Beijing was vast—they would never cross paths again. He might not even be from Beijing, for all she knew.
Back at her rented apartment, Jian Jinci had just changed into slippers when an annoyed voice called out, “Jian Jinci.”
She looked up at the young man leaning lazily against the wall, hands in his pockets, and scolded him with a laugh. “No respect for your elders, daring to call your sister by her full name. Do you want a beating?”
The young man bore some resemblance to Jian Jinci. At his age, he should have been bright and clear-eyed, but instead, he carried a brooding air.
Jian Xu’s brows furrowed. “Jian Jinci, how old are you? Can’t you stop making people worry? You didn’t come home last night, and your phone was off.”
“You little brat, lecturing your sister now?” Jian Jinci pulled her phone from her bag—it must have died and shut off. “My phone ran out of battery.”
She plugged it in to charge. “As you said, I’m a grown-up. Your sister won’t get into trouble, don’t worry.”
Jian Xu didn’t respond. He reheated the meal he had prepared in the microwave and brought it to the dining table. “Eat.”
He added, “I’m heading back to school this afternoon. I’ll be back for summer break.”
“I’ll take you there this afternoon.”
“No need.” Jian Xu looked at her. “I’ll figure out the tuition myself. Just take care of yourself.”
Jian Jinci set down her chopsticks and looked at him seriously. “You’re still a minor. I’m your sister—how can I not look after you? Focus on your studies. Leave the rest to me. No need for a kid like you to worry.”
Jian Xu’s voice was flat. “We’re not even related by blood.”
Jian Jinci tapped his head in annoyance. “What nonsense are you talking? Of course he’s your biological father.”
Jian Xu’s eyes darkened. “Is he worthy of being called a father?”
Jian Xu was Jian Senran’s illegitimate child. Back then, she was eight years old, and Jian Xu was still an infant in swaddling clothes. His mother couldn’t raise him on her own, so she sought out the old master—her grandfather—hoping Jian Xu could be taken in by the Jian family. After all, he was his own grandson, and the old master agreed.
On the day Jian Xu’s mother brought him to the Jian family, she died in a car accident. If it weren’t for his mother, the one who would have died in that accident would have been her. It was Jian Xu’s mother who pushed her out of the way, unable to save herself.
She had always felt deeply guilty about this, unable to let it go. The old master tried to console and guide her many times. Back then, she was still young and didn’t fully understand the complexities of human relationships. The old master told her that Jian Xu’s mother had pushed her aside only to ensure Jian Xu would have a better life in the Jian family in the future, so she shouldn’t blame herself.
After all, everyone knew Jian Jinci was the old master’s most beloved granddaughter.
But Jian Jinci couldn’t accept that. Jian Xu could have had a mother, but because of her, he lost his.
Under the old master’s protection, even though her father and stepmother disliked them, they couldn’t do much to them. However, that winter, the old master passed away, and she and Jian Xu were moved by Jian Senran to a remote courtyard because her stepmother didn’t want to see them.
Because of her, Jian Xu lost his mother. She endured the pressure from her stepmother and raised Jian Xu, even though she herself was just an eight-year-old child at the time.
Their life in the Jian family was worse than that of the servants. Jian Senran adored his current wife, Liang Jinyu, and their daughter, Jian Ying. Everything in the household was decided by Liang Jinyu.
Jian Senran was a philanderer, but after marrying Liang Jinyu, he stopped visiting pleasure quarters. Jian Xu was a mistake he made while drunk.