The June rain arrived without the slightest warning.
Chen Yan carried the last crate of beer into the barbecue restaurant’s back kitchen. By the time he stepped outside again, the drizzle had already become a relentless downpour. Standing beneath the eaves, he lit a cigarette and watched the pedestrians on the street scatter in search of shelter.
His phone vibrated.
It was his elderly landlady calling.
“Little Chen, this month’s rent is due. Three thousand eight hundred yuan. Tomorrow is the final deadline.”
“Got it, Auntie Zhang.”
After hanging up, he exhaled a ring of smoke.
Three thousand eight hundred.
At the moment, he had four thousand two hundred yuan to his name. Once he paid the rent, only four hundred would remain, barely enough to scrape by until the end of the month.
The bigger problem was that tonight was his last shift at the barbecue restaurant. The owner claimed business had been poor lately and had decided to let him go. After all, he was only a temporary worker.
He needed to find another job.
Crushing the cigarette beneath his foot, he stepped into the rain.
The storm was far heavier than he had expected. By the time he reached the subway station, he was soaked from head to toe.
Standing near the entrance, he wrung the water from the hem of his shirt. As he did, movement in the alley across the street caught his attention.
At first, he paid it no mind.
In weather like this, anyone would be looking for a place to hide from the rain.
Then a sharp female voice cut through the sound of the storm.
“Get lost!”
Chen Yan looked up.
Across the street was a dead-end alley. Three young thugs had cornered a woman there.
She wore a fitted business suit and held a document folder tightly against her chest. Rain streamed down her face, but she stood perfectly straight, her posture unwavering and her gaze as cold as ice.
The yellow-haired thug leading the group let out a whistle.
“Got some spirit, don’t you? Beautiful, since it’s raining so hard, why don’t you come have a drink with us brothers?”
“I’ll say it one last time,” the woman replied coldly. “Get lost.”
Chen Yan narrowed his eyes.
Interesting.
Despite being trapped in a dead end and surrounded by three men, she had not taken a single step back.
The chill in her eyes wasn’t an act.
It was the kind of composure possessed by someone accustomed to standing above others, someone who viewed these street thugs as little more than stray dogs blocking her path.
“Hahaha!”
The yellow-haired thug turned and laughed with his companions.
“Did you hear that? She told us to get lost!”
Turning back toward her, he sneered.
“Beautiful, this whole neighborhood belongs to me. Where exactly do you want me to go? How about…”
He reached toward her face.
The next moment, he flew through the air.
His body shot sideways for more than two meters before crashing heavily into a puddle with a tremendous splash.
The other two thugs froze.
Neither of them had even seen what happened.
One moment their boss was standing there.
The next, he was gone.
Chen Yan casually flexed his fingers.
Just seconds earlier, he had been standing nearly ten meters away.
Now he occupied the exact spot where the yellow-haired thug had stood.
Rain dripped from the strands of hair hanging across his forehead. His expression remained indifferent, as though he had merely swatted away an annoying fly.
“Who the hell are you?!” one of the thugs shouted after finally recovering from his shock.
Chen Yan ignored him entirely.
Instead, he turned to the woman.
Through the curtain of rain, her features became clearer.
She appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, almost like a work of art, yet there wasn’t a trace of warmth in her eyes.
She was studying him as well.
Her gaze swept over his soaked, worn-out T-shirt, traveled down to his battered sneakers with peeling soles, then returned to his face.
“Are you alright?” Chen Yan asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied evenly. “Thank you.”
Chen Yan shifted his attention back to the remaining two thugs.
“Get lost.”
The pair exchanged nervous glances.
Without another word, they hurried over, dragged up their groaning leader, and fled as fast as they could.
Soon, only the two of them remained in the alley.
The rain continued to fall.
The woman stood there, drenched from head to toe, yet she maintained her distant, unapproachable bearing.
Chen Yan noticed that the folder she held against her chest was completely dry.
“You protected the folder well,” he remarked.
She lowered her eyes to look at it, nodded slightly, and said nothing.
Chen Yan did not continue the conversation.
Turning around, he prepared to leave.
“Wait.”
Her voice sounded behind him.
He stopped but did not turn around.
“What is your name?” she asked. “I owe you a favor.”
Chen Yan thought for a moment.
“No need.”
“I’ll find you.”
Her tone carried absolute certainty.
Chen Yan offered no response and continued walking away.
As he exited the alley, he glanced back from the corner of his eye.
She was still standing there.
Her figure appeared hazy through the rain, but her eyes remained remarkably bright.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
She looked familiar.
It felt as though he had seen her somewhere before.
Whatever.
It had nothing to do with him.
He entered the subway station and disappeared into the crowd.
…
In the alley, Su Qingyuan watched his figure vanish into the rainy night.
Her phone rang.
It was her assistant, Xiao Chen.
“President Su! Where are you? The meeting starts in ten minutes!”
“Something came up. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“But President Su, today’s partnership negotiation with President Zhao is extremely important. You know his temper…”
“Then he can wait.”
She ended the call and lowered her gaze to the folder pressed against her chest.
When those three thugs had appeared earlier, her first instinct had been to protect this document.
It contained the Su Group’s most important project proposal for the second half of the year.
She had spent three consecutive sleepless nights completing it.
As for the man who had intervened…
She hadn’t even seen how he moved.
The strike had been clean, direct, and efficient.
As though he had done such things countless times before.
Her eyes drifted to the ground.
Rainwater washed across the pavement, but where he had stood remained a faint footprint.
The soles of his shoes had carried charcoal dust from a barbecue restaurant, leaving behind a dark mark.
Su Qingyuan crouched down to examine it.
The footprint was surprisingly deep.
To leave such a clear impression on concrete, how much explosive power had that man possessed?
She rose and headed toward the alley entrance.
After taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
Something had occurred to her.
That man’s back…
It felt strangely familiar.
As if she had seen it somewhere before.
Frowning slightly, she took out her phone and made another call.
“Find someone for me.”
“Who, President Su?”
“A man in his twenties. Around one point eight meters tall. Lean build. Wearing a faded gray T-shirt. There was charcoal dust on the soles of his shoes. He appeared near Qingshi Bridge Subway Station at approximately eight-thirty tonight.”
“President Su, that’s far too broad. How are we supposed to find him?”
“Find him anyway.”
She hung up and walked toward the luxury sedan waiting by the curb.
The driver asked cautiously,
“President Su, shall we head back to the company?”
“Yes.”
The car pulled away.
Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes.
Yet the man’s figure lingered stubbornly in her mind.
The effortless strike.
The indifferent way he had turned around and left after helping her.
And that casual dismissal.
No need.
Countless people sought opportunities to earn a favor from Su Qingyuan.
Yet he had treated it as though it were worth nothing.
Her eyes suddenly opened.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
…
Twenty minutes later, Su Qingyuan entered the conference room.
President Zhao, the business partner, looked visibly displeased.
However, the moment he saw her, he forced a courteous smile onto his face.
“President Su, it is an honor to finally meet you.”
Su Qingyuan nodded and took her seat at the head of the table.
The meeting officially began.
She presented the proposal and led the negotiations, but every so often, her thoughts drifted away for a second or two.
Only after the meeting concluded did she return to her office.
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, she gazed down at the endless stream of traffic below.
“President Su, is everything alright?”
Assistant Chen entered carrying a cup of coffee, speaking carefully.
Without turning around, Su Qingyuan replied,
“I’m fine.”
After a brief pause, she added,
“I need you to do something.”
“Of course.”
“Tomorrow, post a recruitment notice under the company’s name.”
Assistant Chen blinked in surprise.
“What position are we hiring for?”
Su Qingyuan considered the question for a moment.
“A personal assistant.”
She paused.
“Or call it a private butler. Offer a generous salary.”
Assistant Chen was even more confused.
“President Su, you’re looking for a personal assistant? But you’ve always said you disliked having outsiders in your home…”
“Just do as I said.”
Not daring to ask any more questions, Assistant Chen quickly agreed and left the office.
Once again, Su Qingyuan was alone.
She looked out the window.
The rain had stopped.
Golden sunlight pierced through the gaps in the clouds as the setting sun emerged.
The man’s figure surfaced in her mind once more.
I will find you.
She silently made the promise to herself.
…
At that very moment, in a rented room less than ten square meters in a run-down district of the city,
Chen Yan hung his damp clothes by the windowsill.
Sitting shirtless on the edge of his bed, he scrolled through job listings on his phone.
Barbecue restaurant.
Delivery station.
Security guard.
His eyes skimmed through the listings one after another.
Then they stopped.
A highlighted notification appeared at the top of the screen.
[High Salary, Urgent Recruitment]
Su Group is hiring a Personal Assistant/Private Butler.
Starting salary: 20,000 RMB per month.
Meals and accommodation provided.
Requirements: Male, 25-35 years old, physically healthy, no bad habits. Relevant experience preferred.
Chen Yan stared at the words “Su Group” for several seconds.
No wonder she had looked familiar.
That woman was the CEO of the Su Group.
He had seen her photograph displayed on the digital advertising screens inside the subway station.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
He tossed the phone aside.
Twenty thousand a month.
Meals and accommodation included.
His current rent alone was three thousand eight hundred.
Lying back on the bed, he stared at the long crack stretching across the ceiling.
Forget it.
A major corporation like that would never hire a casual laborer like him.
Tomorrow, he will continue looking for ordinary work.
Outside the window, the streetlights flickered on.
Dim yellow light filtered through the windowsill and spilled across his body.
Near his right shoulder blade was a faint scar.
It appeared old, barely visible beneath the glow of the streetlamp.
Chen Yan turned over.
His back faced the window.
The light faded from sight.