Lu Feng remained silent.
Lin Ran raised the corner of her eye. “Do you like her?”
“No,” he replied quickly. “She’s just a younger sister.”
Lin Ran stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled. “Good enough. I’m satisfied with your answer.”
“Whether it’s true or a lie to protect her, I’ll take it as the truth.”
After saying this, Lin Ran no longer looked at him and began chatting and laughing with the others.
Lu Feng sat beside her like a silent shadow.
He listened as these wealthy young masters and heiresses discussed luxury brands he didn’t understand, shared amusing anecdotes from their vacations abroad, and gossiped about their social circle.
The laughter grew louder and louder.
Lin Ran seemed to enjoy this atmosphere, laughing freely and boldly. When someone toasted her, she drank heartily.
Chen Chao stayed almost glued to her side, occasionally leaning in to whisper in her ear, and she didn’t push him away.
The sight of this pair of villains was particularly grating. A knot of frustration tightened in his chest.
There was disgust, hatred, and something else…
Before he could dwell on it, his head began to spin as the aftereffects of the strong liquor took hold.
He leaned back against the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.
The chatter continued around him.
“Ranran, my birthday party is next week, on a yacht. You absolutely have to come,” a girl said, nudging Chen Chao aside to cling to Lin Ran’s arm and pout.
“We’ll see.”
“Don’t refuse. Remember to bring Lu, the campus heartthrob, along,” Chen Chao suddenly interjected, glancing toward Lu Feng, who had his eyes closed. “Let him get to know us better.”
Chen Chao’s little scheme was to make Lu Feng realize just how wide the gap was between him and Lin Ran.
That way, he’d be less arrogant in the future and more proactive toward Lin Ran.
Lu Feng’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, but he didn’t open his eyes.
Lin Ran glanced at him, a smirk curling her lips. “Him?… We’ll see how he behaves.”
This ambiguous remark drew a round of laughter.
Lu Feng’s hand, resting at his side, slowly clenched into a fist.
Lin Ran hadn’t asked him to come tonight to introduce him to her friends.
It was to demonstrate that he, Lu Feng, belonged to her, Lin Ran.
She could protect him, indulge him, even if he was just a poor student.
Similarly, she could also watch him be humiliated.
Her attitude depended entirely on her mood.
This was a more sophisticated form of humiliation.
At half past ten in the evening, Lin Ran announced she was leaving.
Chen Chao tried to persuade her to stay, but she refused.
“I have things to do tomorrow.”
With that, Lin Ran reached out to pat Lu Feng’s cheek, signaling him to wake up.
Just as her hand moved toward him, he opened his eyes.
His cool, deep pupils stared directly into hers, as if they could draw her in.
Lin Ran’s hand, frozen in mid-air, shifted to take his instead.
“Let’s go.”
The two left the private room and walked out of the bar.
The night breeze carried a hint of coolness, dispersing some of the alcohol lingering on them.
Lu Feng followed a step behind her.
Lin Ran’s car was parked not far away, the driver waiting patiently.
She walked slowly, then suddenly stopped and turned to look at him.
“Lu Feng, do you think I’m vicious?”
The question came abruptly.
Lu Feng looked at her. The streetlight cast a soft shadow across her face, softening the edges of her bright, bold features.
He remembered having called her vicious before.
Lu Feng didn’t quite understand why she would ask again.
But he answered honestly with a quiet “Mm.”
Lin Ran chuckled softly. “I think so too.”
She turned and continued walking slowly, her voice drifting in the cold wind.
“In this world, kind people often die young.”
“I don’t want to die, so I choose cruelty.”
Lu Feng said nothing.
Lin Ran’s voice drifted over again.
“When I was little, I had a Ragdoll cat. It had blue eyes and was especially beautiful. I adored it.”
“I bought it the best cat food, the most expensive toys, and held it every night as I slept.”
“Then one day, it scratched me.”
Lin Ran stopped walking again and turned to look at him.
“The reason it scratched me was simple—just because I held it two minutes longer than usual.”
“It grew impatient and gave me a fierce swipe.”
Lin Ran raised her left arm, revealing a faint scar on the pale, soft inner side.
She continued, “After that, my father wanted to give it away to someone else. I cried and begged him not to.”
“I said I would teach it better, that it would change.” Lin Ran smiled. “Guess what happened next?”
Lu Feng didn’t guess, his clear gaze fixed on her.
“Later, it scratched me three more times.”
“The third time, I threw away all the expensive cat food, cut up all the toys, refused all its attempts to touch me, and locked it in an empty room without even a cat bed.”
“Just one week—a single week—and it couldn’t hold out any longer. Its nature changed.”
The night breeze lifted Lin Ran’s hair. She reached up and casually, elegantly brushed it aside. She looked at Lu Feng, her eyes startlingly bright.
“From then on, I understood: the more you cherish something, the more it will hurt you.”
“It’s better to grasp it tightly from the start, hold it until it hurts, let it know who the master is.”
She bit out the last two words coldly and heavily.
With that, Lin Ran turned and slipped into the luxury car, speeding away.
Watching the receding taillights, Lu Feng’s gaze darkened.
The cat she spoke of was him.
He raised a hand to touch the bite mark on his collarbone, suddenly curling his lips into a mocking smile.
Trying to tame him?
He wasn’t that cat.
＊
At seven o’clock on Saturday morning, Lu Feng woke up.
The headache from the hangover still lingered faintly. He sat up, rubbing his temples.
Today was tutoring day.
Every Saturday, he tutored a high school student in math and physics for two hours. The pay was good, enough to cover his weekly living expenses.
His phone suddenly rang.
That distinctive notification tone again.
Lu Feng paused, stared at the screen for a few seconds, then picked it up.
【I quit your tutoring job for you. Come to my place now.】
Followed by a location link.
Lu Feng stared at the words, his blood gradually turning cold.
Quit?
Without asking him, just deciding on her own?
His fingers tightened, almost crushing the phone. He took several deep breaths before typing again.
【Why did you quit my job?】
The reply came almost instantly: 【Do I need a reason?】
【That’s my own life.】
This time, Lin Ran replied more slowly: 【Your life is under my control now. Come here. Don’t make me say it a third time.】
A commanding tone, leaving no room for doubt.
Lu Feng closed his eyes, then opened them again, his gaze icy.
＊
At the breakfast table, the atmosphere was somewhat strange.
His foster mother drank her porridge in silence, while his foster father looked at him with a complicated expression. “Xiao Feng, that Miss Lin who helped us… what is she to you?”
Lu Feng paused while picking up food with his chopsticks.
“A classmate.”
“How could a classmate help us so much?” Li Fenghua exclaimed in surprise. “She paid off the 500,000 yuan loan shark debt and found your father such a good job.”
Lu Feng’s hand holding the chopsticks tightened slightly. “I’ll pay her back the money.”
His voice was flat, without a trace of emotion.
Lu Anguo wanted to say more, but he knew his son had strong self-esteem—it was they who had burdened him.
He sighed. “As for the job, please thank her for us. If the five hundred thousand really becomes too much, we can sell the house first and repay some of it.”
“No need.” Lu Feng looked at his foster father. “A while ago, there was a national university architectural design competition. I signed up.”
“The first prize comes with one million in prize money, second place gets five hundred thousand, and third place gets two hundred thousand.”
“I want to try and see if I can win an award.”
His foster parents’ eyes lit up. Since childhood, their son had always been outstanding and never gave them cause for worry. Even during the college entrance exam, despite running a high fever, he still scored high enough to enter Jing University.
They believed that with their son’s abilities, he would definitely make it into the top three.
The two of them suddenly regained their appetite and began eating.
After breakfast, Lu Feng returned to his bedroom to get his phone. From the living room came the low voices of his foster parents talking.
“Is that Miss Lin interested in our Xiao Feng?”
“She’s a wealthy young lady. We can’t reach that high.”
“That’s true, but what I’m afraid of isn’t that we can’t reach high—it’s that we can’t afford to offend her!”
“If Xiao Feng ever upsets her in the future, I don’t think that girl is easy to get along with…”
Lu Feng clenched his phone, his gaze gradually turning cold and hard.
If he couldn’t afford to offend her and couldn’t avoid her either.
Then he would play this game with her to the end.
A temporary victory or defeat wouldn’t decide a lifetime.
He had warned her—if she provoked him, she would regret it.
Lu Feng left home and headed for Lin Ran’s house.