Seeing that he wasn’t planning to come in, Ning Xi slipped past him and went outside.
She sighed inwardly—this was indeed the male lead of the novel. Whether it was his looks, his build, or his overall bearing, he was the kind of person who made it hard to look away.
That innate refinement and aloofness, steeped into his very bones, wasn’t something an ordinary family could ever cultivate.
She bent down to pick up the garbage bags piled in the hallway, then tilted her face slightly to meet Meng Yizhen’s gaze. “You’re not coming in?”
The man’s disgust for her had reached its peak. Anyone with eyes could see it.
She was a Ning Xi with a different soul inside, so naturally she couldn’t act like the original owner, who would throw herself at Meng Yizhen the moment she saw him, desperate and hungry.
Ning Xi’s normalcy was precisely what made Meng Yizhen think something was off.
He furrowed his brow, wondering why this woman had suddenly changed her tune today.
The voice that reached his ears had shed its usual deliberate coyness. It was clear and sweet, carrying an unexpected warmth.
Meng Yizhen lifted his head slightly, his scrutinizing gaze tinged with wariness.
He’d come back this time intending to have He Kezhou bring his things downstairs for him, but when he called, he found out He Kezhou was out running delivery orders.
The salary Meng Yizhen paid He Kezhou was enough to live on in Xincheng, but supporting a girlfriend on it—that probably wasn’t quite enough.
Because he knew He Kezhou was under pressure, every time He Kezhou proactively transferred the rent to him, he sent it back. He only said to keep a tally, and that He Kezhou could pay him back when his finances weren’t so tight.
Meng Yizhen stepped aside, looking at Ning Xi the same way he might look at the garbage bags in her hands.
Ning Xi groaned inwardly. The original owner had burned through every scrap of goodwill she’d ever had with the people around her.
Disliked by everyone who met her.
There were too many garbage bags, and the handles were cutting into Ning Xi’s fingers.
She had enough sense to know she was in the way and an eyesore, so she didn’t linger.
Meng Yizhen stared at the woman’s hands, clutching seven or eight garbage bags, her frail figure almost swallowed up by them.
“I’ll grab my things and leave.”
Ning Xi struggled to press the elevator button, then looked back at him.
She could hear the coldness in his tone, but at least he hadn’t completely treated her like air.
“This is your home. You don’t need to explain yourself to me.”
If anyone else had said that, Meng Yizhen wouldn’t have been surprised.
But those words coming from Ning Xi’s mouth?
He leaned lazily against the wall, wanting to see if this woman would actually go throw the garbage away.
The elevator doors slid open slowly. Ning Xi didn’t hesitate—she bent over and hauled the bags inside in one go.
The doors closed, and the floor numbers began to change.
Seeing that she really had gone to toss the trash, the tension in Meng Yizhen’s brow eased, and he let out a relieved breath.
He stepped inside, found shoe covers in the entryway cabinet, put them on, and went straight to the master bedroom, entering the passcode to unlock the door.
Ning Xi didn’t hurry back up after throwing away the garbage.
Meng Yizhen might as well have had “I don’t want to see you, and I’m barely tolerating you” written across his face.
From her memories, whenever there was a chance to see Meng Yizhen, the original owner would always dress in something skimpy and revealing, deliberately throw herself at him, and manufacture opportunities for physical contact.
Every single time, she’d failed—and instead caused humiliating scenes that made both herself and He Kezhou lose face.
“Ugh.”
Ning Xi let out a melancholy sigh.
Okay, she didn’t want to recall any more of that.
Her vision was going black in waves, and her legs felt weak.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. A few steps and one trip to toss the trash, and this body is already giving out?”
Ning Xi crouched miserably next to the trash can, planning to rest a moment before standing up.
She felt someone staring at her, so she lifted her head.
Before she could brace herself, she locked eyes with a short, pudgy man wearing a white “abibas” T-shirt.
The man was gnawing on half a watermelon, juice dripping from his mouth down onto his shirt, his lecherous gaze fixed on her legs beneath her skirt.
Ning Xi frowned and stood up.
She’d forgotten she was wearing a short skirt. Crouching like that just now—she’d definitely flashed him.
The man casually tossed the gnawed-clean watermelon rind into the trash can, wiped his sticky hands roughly on his shirt, and sized her up with a leering stare. “How much? What’ll it cost to take you home for the night?”
He’d been watching this woman zoning out by the trash can for a while now.
Her figure and her face were enough to hook a man and make it impossible to look away.
A woman wandering around the neighborhood in a short skirt at this hour—past midnight—she was probably one of those types.
The man’s words made Ning Xi want to vomit.
Her face darkened. “Get the hell away from me.”
The man glanced around, saw no one on the street, and grew bolder.
He reached out to grab Ning Xi.
Ning Xi reacted quickly—she turned and ran.
The man’s footsteps were heavy and thudding, but he was fast.
Dragging this useless body along, Ning Xi couldn’t run fast enough. All she could do was scream “Help!” at the top of her lungs.
The neighborhood was dead silent, and there wasn’t a security guard in sight.
The short, pudgy man stared unblinkingly at the woman’s swaying skirt hem and her long, straight legs as she ran.
He swallowed hard and shouted at her, “Name your price—I’ve got money. If you’re already in this line of work, don’t act all high and mighty.”
Ning Xi gasped for breath, her legs going weak, her chest feeling like it was about to explode, a rusty, metallic sweetness rising in her throat.
A blinding light appeared up ahead, and Ning Xi’s leaden feet found the strength to move again.
“There’s a creep! Help!”
The electric scooter’s headlight stabbed into her eyes, making tears stream down her face. She couldn’t make out who was riding it at all.
“Squeal—”
A sharp screech of brakes cut through the silence of the residential complex, tires scraping against the ground with a dull thud.
Ning Xi, physically exhausted, collapsed to the ground.
Her palms and knees scraped against the pavement, sending searing pain through her.
The short, stout man raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light and snorted through his nostrils. “I’ll give you 900. Spend one night with me.”
His voice was loud, contemptuous, and certain.
As if he’d already decided that this was the kind of work she did.
He Kezhou had only come rushing over on his electric scooter after hearing Ning Xi’s cries for help.
He dropped the scooter, furrowed his brow, and drove a punch straight into the man’s fleshy face.
The man yelped in pain, the blow sending him tumbling into the flower bed.
He Kezhou grabbed the man by the hair, pressed his face down, and ground it against the pavement.
Ning Xi wiped her eyes with her arm and saw the familiar back. Her heart suddenly relaxed.
She moved her lips and called out, “He Kezhou.”
He Kezhou only gave her a silent back, not even turning to look at her.
The shrill screams attracted the security guards patrolling the complex.
Ning Xi was furious—she’d been screaming at the top of her lungs just moments ago, and the patrolling guards hadn’t come.
Before she could even speak, she was stunned by the guards’ dismissive glance and the way they rode a lap around and then left.
Before leaving, one guard reminded He Kezhou: “Don’t go too hard. Once you’ve taught him a lesson, take your girlfriend home. It’s late at night—if you know it’s unsafe, don’t wander around outside.”
He Kezhou released the man’s hair, ignoring the blood-stained grass and ground.
Ning Xi met his dark, heavy eyes. She wanted to explain, but was intimidated by his cold, weary gaze.
He Kezhou righted the fallen electric scooter.
Ning Xi limped over to him. She wanted to say that she’d only come down to throw out the trash when she’d been targeted out of nowhere—she hadn’t been flirting with anyone, hadn’t done anything inappropriate.
In her memory, this kind of situation had already happened three times this month.
This was the fourth.
The first three times, the harassment had been largely because the original owner of this body had been wandering around the complex at night, casually striking up conversations with strange men, accepting cigarettes and drinks they offered.
He Kezhou stared at her eyes, which were holding back tears, then shifted his gaze to her scraped knees. His voice was tired and hoarse: “I can’t carry you on my back tonight. Get on.”
Ning Xi endured the pain and sat sideways behind him on the scooter.
He Kezhou rode the scooter, first taking her to the door of their home, then re-entering the elevator and heading back down.
As the elevator doors closed, he caught a glimpse of Ning Xi quietly stepping inside.
Tonight’s Ning Xi struck He Kezhou as strange.
For the first time, when she was bullied, she didn’t cry or make a fuss. When she was hurt, she didn’t take it out on him, didn’t curse at him or hit him.
When He Kezhou returned with the iodine and band-aids, he was surprised by how clean and tidy the home was.
If not for Ning Xi sitting on the sofa with her knees hugged, looking at him with red-rimmed eyes, he would have wondered if he’d walked into the wrong place.
In his right hand, the man carried two plastic bags—one labeled Lianxin Pharmacy, the other Linhui Convenience Store—and in his left hand, a cup of milk tea.
He placed the milk tea within Ning Xi’s line of sight.
Ning Xi didn’t reach for the milk tea. She looked at He Kezhou seriously. “I went downstairs in the middle of the night to throw out the trash. I didn’t know that even throwing out trash could get me targeted by bad people.”
If she’d said this when he first rescued her, He Kezhou might not have felt anything—he might not even have believed she’d gone down to throw out trash.
But the cleanliness and tidiness of the home told He Kezhou that Ning Xi wasn’t lying this time.
He Kezhou opened the Lianxin Pharmacy bag and took out the iodine and band-aids.
The wounds on Ning Xi’s knees were treated with practiced skill.
She held out her right hand to He Kezhou, revealing the scrapes on it.