After Jiang Yifei had his wound treated, he picked up the jacket Xia Zhi had left aside, draped it haphazardly over his shoulders, and walked out.
He stopped in front of Xia Zhi’s car, wearing a wicked grin.
“Little Xia Zhi, you’re in the same grade as Pei Yuhuan, so you’re 20 this year?”
Xia Zhi nodded, unsure why he was asking.
The man flashed his teeth.
“I’m 23. You should call me ‘brother.’”
Xia Zhi glanced at the men in black not far away, pursed her lips, and said nothing.
Her face clearly read, “Fine, you have more people. I won’t curse at you.”
“Hah~”
How could someone write all their thoughts so plainly on their face?
She was just too well-behaved.
Jiang Yifei leaned one hand on the car roof, bending down to get closer.
He coaxed, “Little Xia Zhi, we went through life and death together tonight. Is it really so hard to call me ‘brother’?”
He phrased it politely and tactfully.
But by blocking Xia Zhi’s car, he made it clear: “If you don’t call me ‘brother,’ you’re not leaving tonight.”
Xia Zhi had always known when to yield. She gave him a faint smile.
“Brother~”
“Tsk, so well-behaved~”
Then, Xia Zhi asked, “So, brother, since I saved your life tonight, how are you going to repay me?”
Saved his life? Jiang Yifei frowned in confusion.
Did she mean… bringing him to this rundown clinic for bandaging?
Miss Xia’s favors were never free, after all.
A delicate, wealthy beauty, sweetly calling him “brother”—whatever request she made, a man would have to agree.
Jiang Yifei habitually rubbed his lip ring with his middle finger.
“Little Xia Zhi, what do you want? Brother will definitely repay you.”
He glanced back at the clinic, then suddenly winked at Xia Zhi.
“If you want to play some wild games with brother, that’s fine too. Just bring me here for treatment afterward…”
Who wanted to play wild games with him!
Xia Zhi was both angry and embarrassed. She simply pushed the man away forcefully.
“Just remember you owe me a favor!”
She closed the car door, told the driver to leave, and sped off.
Watching the white van drive away, the wicked grin on Jiang Yifei’s face slowly faded.
Turning around, the man had already regained his gloomy expression.
Jiang Yifei cursed under his breath, kicked the black-clad man with glasses in the abdomen, and added two more kicks for good measure.
The man broke out in a cold sweat at the temples from the kicks but only dared to lower his head, not uttering a sound.
“Damn,”
Jiang Yifei exhaled sharply, “Why the hell didn’t you wait until I was dead before showing up?”
The man stood up from the ground, his face devoid of any emotion.
“I’m sorry, young master. Our people were afraid of interfering with you and Miss Xia… so they kept their distance. It won’t happen again.”
Having vented his anger, Jiang Yifei couldn’t be bothered to dwell on what had already happened.
He tilted his chin toward the direction Xia Zhi had left.
“Send two people to follow her.”
The man was somewhat surprised. “To protect Miss Xia?”
“Do you think I’m some kind of pervert?”
Jiang Yifei snapped irritably, “Among the four who attacked tonight, one of them recognized Xia Zhi.”
Hearing this, the man in black immediately understood.
“Understood, young master. I’ll have someone keep a close watch… and track that person down.”
“Mm.”
In the van, Xia Zhi wearily instructed Zhang Siji.
“After dropping me off at home, please make another trip to Tang Palace. I left my bag there.”
“Yes, Miss Xia.”
Zhang Siji hesitated, then finally spoke up cautiously.
“Miss Xia, that Jiang… is a genuine gangster. It’s best to have as little contact with such people as possible…”
Xia Zhi gave a noncommittal “Mm,” offering no explanation.
In the past, with her lofty pride and self-importance, she would never have deigned to acknowledge Jiang Yifei.
But tonight, she had indeed harbored the intention to get closer to Jiang Yifei, which was why she had complimented his looks and even called him “brother”…
The events in that dream had made Xia Zhi realize how unpredictable life could be.
Even if one stood high in the clouds today, who could say that tomorrow the tower might not collapse, sending them tumbling into the mud?
One more friend meant one more path.
Who could predict what the future held?
Over a dozen kilometers away, in the old alleyways where Jing’an and Changning intersected.
A bloodied young man with dyed yellow hair lay collapsed at Xie Ning’s doorstep, gritting his teeth as he knocked.
Xie Ning opened the door, saw him, and quickly dragged him inside.
“Shisan! What happened? How did you end up like this!”
The young man with yellow hair, nicknamed Shisan, was Xie Ning’s childhood friend, as close as a brother.
He was also one of the four men who had attacked Jiang Yifei earlier.
Shisan shrugged it off indifferently. “I messed up a job for the boss, so I got punished according to the rules…”
Xie Ning pressed his lips together. “I’ll take you to the hospital…”
Shisan immediately shook his head. “No, don’t. Just get some alcohol to disinfect the wounds. I can handle it.”
If he went to the hospital like this, it might end up involving the police station, which would be even more troublesome.
Xie Ning silently tended to his childhood friend’s injuries, his voice low as he advised him, “You should get out of this life. Find a proper, honest job.”
Shisan scoffed. “With my record, what kind of honest job could support my daughter… Don’t worry, I won’t drag you into this.”
“I’m not afraid of you dragging me in,” Xie Ning replied.
…
Meanwhile, across the ocean in the United States, it was just noon.
In a high-end private hospital by the seaside, on the top floor’s intensive care unit, Pei Yuhuan had finally passed the critical stage.
That night, after drinking, he had been speeding and got into an accident on Nanpu Bridge.
His sports car had crashed through the guardrail and plunged into the Huangpu River.
By the time he was brought to the hospital, his life had been hanging by a thread.
Pei Yuexuan immediately arranged for a private jet and personally flew his younger brother to the United States.
On one hand, he sealed off news domestically to stabilize the group’s stock price; on the other, he spared no expense to gather the top doctors and professors in the U.S…
Finally, they managed to pull Pei Yuhuan back from the brink of death.
But that was all—they had only saved his life.
Pei Yuhuan lay weakly against the hospital bed. Having always cared deeply about his handsome face, the first thing he did upon regaining consciousness was to ask for a mirror.
On his once handsome and striking face, there was now a scar the length of a palm.
His looks were completely ruined.
Moreover, his right leg had been amputated below the knee.
He was now permanently disabled.
The once flamboyant Young Master Pei didn’t even have the strength to cry, utterly devoid of any will to live.
Pei Yuexuan entered from outside the door, his heart aching with pain and guilt as he looked at his brother.
That night, if he had stepped out to stop his brother from driving after drinking, perhaps this accident would never have happened.
Pei Yuexuan blamed himself entirely for this tragedy.
“Yuhuan, it’ll get better…”
Pei Yuhuan looked up at him, his face streaked with tears. “Brother, don’t comfort me. My life is over.”
Pei Yuexuan’s eyes also reddened. “I’ll find the best doctors… Your leg… don’t worry, with today’s technology… it won’t be noticeable…”
Pei Yuhuan shook his head.
His heart was filled with thoughts of Xia Zhi.
Even when he was whole and well, he couldn’t keep her. Now, in this wretched state…
“Brother, I can’t accept this… I just can’t…”
Pei Yuhuan turned his face away, a fanatical madness rising in his eyes.
The pampered young master was gradually descending into darkness.
Xia Zhi thought that by foreseeing ‘Father Xia’s bankruptcy two years later’ and ‘the humiliation she would suffer because of Pei Yuhuan five years later,’
she could completely avoid it all.
But in truth, fate is the most merciless.
The gears crushed the small obstacles and continued rolling forward.
The blond-haired boy, Xie Ning, Jiang Yifei, Pei Yuhuan, Pei Yuexuan, Father Xia…
Everything would unfold according to its original trajectory.
The real story was only just beginning.