Chapter 95

In the middle of summer, Yese Ning finished shooting for one of the four major female magazines in the country during the day and had to attend a brand banquet in the evening.

The dressing room was chaotic, with people hustling and bustling everywhere. About a dozen staff members were all busy around her, the big celebrity. Mijia tilted her head, holding the phone between her shoulder and ear, while softly asking Yese Ning if she liked the new black Valentino dress she was holding.

The makeup artist accidentally pulled on one of her hairs, and the pain made Yese Ning furrow her brows, as if a crack had appeared on the face of a beautiful oil painting.

The makeup artist repeatedly apologized, “Sorry, darling, did it hurt?”

Yese Ning didn’t respond, just glanced at the backless black dress in Mijia’s hands and gestured with one finger. Mijia immediately understood, hurrying to grab another outfit.

They changed outfits a dozen times. Yese Ning finally settled on a dark red velvet deep-V gown.

Once the dress and hairstyle were ready, Yese Ning lifted the hem of her gown and attended the banquet.

The venue was filled with the scent of perfume and flickering shadows, with diamond chandeliers casting light on tall wine glasses, sparkling brilliantly. Everyone was dressed in luxurious attire, their faces adorned with polite, fake smiles, resembling the wandering ghosts of the night.

For a moment, Yese Ning suddenly felt exhausted.

She impulsively skipped her speech scheduled by the brand and sneaked out.

Inside the RV, Yese Ning kicked off her ten-centimeter crystal high heels, revealing her slender, white ankles. She leaned her head back against the seat, closed her eyes, and let her long, raven-like eyelashes lower. The light from outside the window passed over her half-red lips.

She looked breathtakingly beautiful.

Her phone rang with a crisp “ding” sound in the quiet, boundless night.

With her dark nail polish, she reached for the phone and tapped the screen. A message from a friend appeared: “Filone, he’s married.”

At that moment, Yese Ning felt as though her heart had been gripped, as if someone had pushed her underwater. All she could hear was the bubbling sound of air, and her breath was gradually stolen away. She wanted to struggle but couldn’t.

“Stop the car,” Yese Ning said.

“Just go ahead, I’ll take a walk,” she added.

Before the male assistant could protest, Yese Ning quickly got out of the car. The door slammed shut with a loud bang, and she even gave a middle finger behind her.

The hem of her dark red gown, shimmering like velvet, disappeared into the night.

Yese Ning wandered aimlessly through the streets. Eventually, she found herself in front of an aquarium. Unfortunately, the lights were off, and the owner had already closed for the night.

She stubbornly knocked on the metal shutter door.

The blue shutter rattled loudly, dust falling from it and brushing against her delicate face, like pearls covered in grime.

Without caring, she sat on the steps in front of the aquarium, ignoring the wet ground left by the evening rain. Her seven-figure dress was being ruined, but she didn’t even blink.

Yese Ning pulled a cigarette from her pack, holding it between her red lips. The lighter clicked with a “kacha” sound, and she lit the cigarette. The orange-red flame illuminated her profile.

Gray-white smoke slowly drifted out of her mouth.

She looked beautiful but tired.

Perhaps it was the stillness of the night, or the fact that she had just received news about his marriage while sitting in front of an aquarium, but memories flooded her mind.

Who would have thought that a glamorous star, dressed in a bright red gown and unconcerned with her image, would now be sitting on a dusty step in an alley, reminiscing about someone?

Yese Ning had always known she was beautiful and knew exactly what she wanted. Her birth had been less than ideal, and although the cards she was dealt weren’t great, she understood how to play them to her advantage.

Beauty could be monetized, but it wasn’t a long-term solution.

That was why Yese Ning had worked as a waitress in nightclubs, selling drinks. She wanted to save up for studying abroad, to escape her alcoholic and gambling father, and to break free from her inescapable family situation.

She spent her days between a damp, cold attic and a neon-lit bar, caught in a hopeless dream.

Then she met Zhou Jingze.

Yese Ning’s help for him wasn’t because of a sudden whim or some inherent kindness.

The reason she stayed so long in the bar was that her personality allowed her to calmly wipe the blood off her face when someone splashed it on her in public, then just continue working as if nothing had happened. Indifference had always been her survival strategy.

Yese Ning helped Zhou Jingze for another reason altogether.

Her apartment was located in a poor district, and she had to squeeze through narrow alleys to get to it. The rows of clotheslines above her head looked like the jagged teeth of sharks, constantly dripping water, soaking her back.

There were always drunk people lounging in corners, whistling at her as she passed.

One night after her late shift, a drunk neighbor knocked relentlessly on her door, cursing and yelling lewd words. When the water heater stopped working, Yese Ning took a cold shower and shivered uncontrollably, even her hand shaking as she lit a cigarette.

The knocking and cursing continued outside, and it wasn’t the first time she had been harassed this way. The wooden door couldn’t withstand much longer, and soon, a large gap appeared, letting in the night wind and the possibility of intruders.

Being a girl, Yese Ning was scared. She took a bottle of U.S. beer from the fridge and drank half to calm her nerves.

With a loud “bang,” the window suddenly opened, and a pale hand reached out, bathed in the orange light from the street.

Yese Ning extended her index finger, motioning upwards in silent invitation.

The drunk man staggered toward her, gripping the wall for support. When his hand touched her finger, he bent down and sniffed, savoring the delicate scent of a woman.

Before he could savor it further, a green bottle of liquor fell and smashed on his forehead. Blood poured from the wound.

The man screamed in pain and ran off.

After he left, Yese Ning slowly slid down the wall, sitting on the ground. Her back was soaked in cold sweat.

She couldn’t stay in that place any longer, so she decided to move.

After she moved out, Yese Ning still felt uneasy. She asked around but received no clear news. Some said the man had stitches, others said he had turned into an idiot.

Yese Ning believed in karma but didn’t regret her actions. To ease her guilt, she had helped Zhou Jingze.

However, she never expected Zhou Jingze to come and apologize.

Zhou Jingze was a regular at the bar, tall, handsome, and with a reputation for being a ladies’ man. He was also a super-rich second-generation heir, with connections. But he was also reckless, hanging out with bad company, just like Peng Zi, who wasn’t a good influence.

The night before, Yese Ning had accidentally witnessed Zhou Jingze and his gang fighting in the back alley of the bar. He was dressed in a black hoodie, his sharp features stained with blood. He had stepped on the throat of a man lying on the ground, making him groan in agony.

Each time the victim screamed in pain, Zhou Jingze would let up for a moment, only to stomp harder when the man thought he could escape.

He tortured the man without blinking an eye, leisurely lighting a cigarette. The “pop” of the lighter was followed by the glow of an orange-red flame, and he exhaled smoke, glancing lazily around the corner.

Yese Ning had just happened to look over.

Zhou Jingze was wearing a black hoodie. The hood was up, and his cold, stern face was half-hidden in shadow, split in two by the dim streetlight overhead. Only a pair of deep, pitch-black eyes were visible—cold, shattered.

Like an abyss.

She saw in him a beast—vicious, struggling, and cornered.

She never expected someone like that to apologize.

Ye Saining didn’t take it to heart. Later, when she was forced to resign, she didn’t argue either. After all, she had broken the rules first.

But what she didn’t expect was for Peng Zi to send people to beat her up.

When Zhou Jingze came to her again, she was carrying plates at a roadside barbecue stall. He apologized again, saying he wanted to make it up to her.

Ye Saining was a little annoyed at that point, especially since her wounds were still aching. She took the chance to extort him a little and said, “If you’re really that sorry, why don’t you send me to study in the UK?”

Zhou Jingze was stunned for a moment, then said, “Okay.”

Ye Saining never dreamed that she’d be able to latch onto someone like Zhou Jingze—one of life’s golden boys.

He pulled her out of the mud.

It took time to prepare to go abroad. During the entire summer, Ye Saining hung out with Zhou Jingze. He took her skiing, racing, gambling, indulging in the pleasures of nightlife.

With him, Ye Saining’s view of the world expanded.

Life, it turned out, wasn’t just endless polishing of wine glasses and working nonstop.

The more time she spent with him, the more she understood him. He seemed like a carefree playboy on the surface, the typical rich kid, but he was different.

When he leaned over a pool table, eyes sharp like an eagle’s, he sank a ball with a sharp “thud.” The warm-toned light hung from the ceiling and danced on his eyelashes. Sometimes he’d wear a lazy, roguish grin.

Or during midnight races on Gong Mountain—when he took first place, while a crowd cheered for him, Zhou Jingze arrogantly flipped off the losers, his expression wild and unrestrained.

And then there was the time it rained, and Zhou Jingze found a stray cat. Afraid it would get wet, he took off his jacket and draped it over the little creature. His long, narrow eyes briefly softened with fleeting tenderness.

At that moment, she thought he was genuinely handsome—handsome down to his bones.

But it was just admiration.

Zhou Jingze was proud. So was she. Ye Saining would never confess her feelings first.

She always waited for others to pursue her.

That summer was full of joy and freedom—so much so that Ye Saining forgot about her predatory father.

Her father went around telling people she had climbed up the Zhou family ladder, that she’d live a life of luxury now, and that she’d buy him sports cars and mansions.

Ye Saining replied coldly with two words: “Keep dreaming.”

But she never expected her father would go find Zhou Jingze to blackmail him.

Her father’s ugly face was on full display. “Her mom came out of a brothel, right? Heh, you could also—”

“And also…”

Ye Saining didn’t know what else her father had said. By the time she found out, it was already too late.

When she went to find Zhou Jingze, he was in the billiards room, playing with a group of people.

Her father had just left.

Zhou Jingze, afraid his friends might say something hurtful, immediately set down his cue and walked out.

Ye Saining was at the aquarium next door, watching the fish. On both sides were square blue glass tanks, filled with butterflyfish, porcupinefish, and fairyfish, swimming freely.

Until a shadow fell beside her.

“Sorry you had to see such an embarrassing side of me,” Ye Saining said. Her naturally curled lashes trembled as she gave a self-deprecating smile.

Her father’s sudden appearance yanked her out of her dream.

It reminded her that she came from the lowest of the low, from a bloated, twisted family she could never escape. Her life was destined to be bleak.

She didn’t belong with someone like Zhou Jingze.

Zhou Jingze interrupted her. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and asked, “When you make decisions, do you find yourself influenced by your father?”

“No,” Ye Saining paused, but still answered.

Children who grow up in unhealthy environments spend their whole lives trying to escape their families, yet often, unconsciously, become like them—prone to anger, interrupting others, showing an ugly face, being harsh.

Every time Ye Saining realized she was acting like her parents, she’d write it down in a notebook and quietly remind herself to correct it.

She didn’t want to become like them.

“Then there you go. Aside from sharing a name on your household registration, he has no power over you,” Zhou Jingze said calmly and logically.

“You are you. He is him,” Zhou Jingze looked at her and said.

Those words were like light breaking through the clouds. Ye Saining felt enlightened. She looked up, smiled, and said, “Tha—”

Before she could finish the word “thank you,” Zhou Jingze suddenly reached out, pressed her head down, and dunked her into the aquarium. She struggled, but then he plunged his own head in too.

They both knew how to hold their breath underwater.

“Close your eyes. Ten seconds,” Zhou Jingze said.

That day, Ye Saining and Zhou Jingze had their heads submerged in an aquarium. Water flooded in, breath held, thoughts suspended, and fish came up to kiss her cheeks.

It felt like entering another world.

Only the sound of bubbles remained. All the sadness, suffocation, and pain disappeared for a moment.

She wanted to stay there forever, like a butterflyfish, forever in the tank.

Eventually, Zhou Jingze pulled her out. Gasping for air, Ye Saining couldn’t stand, collapsing onto the ground.

Zhou Jingze bent down to help her up. Their eyes met and both paused—then smiled.

They were soaked through, smelling like water, with hair sticking to their foreheads—absolutely miserable.

The boy burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking, unable to stop.

The aquarium owner played an English song then—a husky female voice drifting through the air. Ye Saining looked at the handsome boy laughing in front of her, heart pounding.

The lyrics sang:

**Can’t you hear my call

Are you coming to get me now

I’ve been waiting for

You to come rescue me

I need you to hold**

Every line, every beat, hit her heart with uncanny precision.

When Zhou Jingze finally stopped laughing, he sat next to her, leaned against the wall, took out a new cigarette from the box, lit it with a “snap.”

As the gray smoke slowly faded, his features became clear again. Zhou Jingze looked at her with those dark eyes and asked, “Feel better?”

He was really asking: Are you happy now?

Ye Saining looked up at him. In that moment, she thought: *I’d die with him.*

Her heart was moved.

She admitted defeat.

Once she fell for him, the desire to possess him grew uncontrollably. She wanted to be the cat on his lap, kiss him in the rain, make love with him on an empty railroad track, get matching tattoos with him.

She wanted to be with him.

On her birthday, Ye Saining wore a new dress, all dolled up—like a red rose blooming just for him. That night, Zhou Jingze jokingly asked if she had made a wish.

“I did. I wished for you to be my boyfriend,” Ye Saining said, eyes bold and direct.

Zhou Jingze’s smile faded. He stayed quiet for a long time before finally saying:

“I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

These were Zhou Jingze’s exact words.

There had been mutual affection between them as a man and a woman, but over time, what remained was more a deep sense of mutual understanding. Because the two of them were just too similar.

Ye Saining smiled in relief, eyes bright: “I won’t give up.”

But what Ye Saining hadn’t expected was that less than a week later, Zhou Jingze brought a girlfriend and appeared right in front of her. That girl sat on the back of his motorcycle, waited for him at the finish line of his races, accompanied him everywhere.

Zhou Jingze was using another way to tell her—there was no chance between them.

Ye Saining had thought that by pretending to just be friends, she could slowly win him over. At the very least, she was different to him. Wasn’t she?

She had always believed that.

So, they became friends again.

Until she went to study abroad in the UK. One day, Zhou Jingze suddenly transferred her some money, telling her to buy a new phone so he could save her number properly.

Ye Saining instinctively felt something was off and asked what was wrong.

Zhou Jingze’s tone was light:

**[Just a texting mix-up. Made a girl mad—she thought she was you. If we’d kept chatting, she would’ve found out about my almost fan-seducing incident.]**

That—was what cherishing someone really looked like.

For the first time, Ye Saining felt a sense of crisis.

Until the end of the new semester, Ye Saining found out he was dating someone.

She had never taken Zhou Jingze’s relationships seriously. He was always lonely, wanting company, but never truly invested.

But this time was different. For the first time ever, Zhou Jingze changed his social media profile picture—to a girl.

Ye Saining clicked to enlarge it. Only the girl’s side profile was visible, her hair tied up in a bun, wispy strands falling across her forehead. Her profile was graceful as she looked down, writing on an exam paper.

It looked like a candid shot in the library.

Ye Saining rushed back before Zhou Jingze’s birthday. The first thing she did upon returning was try to find out who the girl was, but Zhou Jingze was clearly trying to protect her—not saying a word.

It didn’t matter. She’d find out on her own.

Ye Saining logged into Beihang University’s forum and, within half an hour, learned everything about the girl. She read a post saying that Xu Sui went to the library every afternoon and decided to go see her.

She wanted to see just how stunning this girl had to be, for Zhou Jingze to openly and unconditionally spoil her.

Just as Ye Saining stepped onto the first-floor stairs of the library, a few freshman girls rushed past her, holding books, chatting.

One girl with glasses asked, “You don’t usually come to the library. Why today?”

The other replied excitedly, “I’m here to see Senior Xu Sui!”

Someone teased, “Yeah right, you just want to see her boyfriend. Trust me—at exactly 5:30, when the setting sun falls across her table, Zhou Jingze—no, her boyfriend—will show up with peach oolong milk tea and pineapple buns.”

The girl was skeptical. “Exactly on time?”

Her friend affirmed, “Exactly on time.”

Ye Saining reached the third floor and found the girl in a secluded study room. She wore a white T-shirt and high-waisted blue jeans. She was hunched over her homework, her shoulder blades visible through the fabric, her skin fair and frame delicate.

She looked quiet, well-behaved—like a model student.

Ye Saining hadn’t expected Zhou Jingze to like someone like that.

She walked in and sat at a hidden table nearby. Soon, whispers of excitement rippled through the room:

**“He’s here, he’s here!”**

Ye Saining looked up. The guy wore a black T-shirt, had a tall, lean build, and a baseball cap pulled low. His Adam’s apple was prominent. One hand was in his pocket, the other held a cup of peach oolong tea and two pineapple buns.

Sunlight poured over his shoulders, giving him a cool, slightly rebellious aura.

**“See? Those are her favorites!”**

Ye Saining watched the boy she liked walk toward another girl. He set the snacks down, leaned lazily over the table, and gently took one of her earbuds out.

The girl looked up in surprise, then smiled.

Then—

He tilted her chin, leaned across the table, and kissed her as if no one else existed. His thumb caressed her skin—tender and intense.

The golden dusk light spilled across the desk like thick honey. The girl’s fingers slowly climbed onto his shoulder. Their shadows overlapped.

Ye Saining glanced at the time. Exactly 5:30.

The scene was piercing, like her breath was being stolen inch by inch. She didn’t know how long she stood there watching—then finally left.

Growing up, Ye Saining had learned one lesson:

If you want something, grab it in time—hold it tight.

So she used her return to China as an excuse to organize meetups. She invited Zhou Jingze and their old friends—parties, drinking games, truth or dare. She recorded everything into a vlog.

Oh—and when Zhou Jingze lost a game and had to pay the bill, she just happened to be sitting next to him and saw his payment password.

He was half drunk. Ye Saining noticed his phone had a little bear keychain. She reached out to touch it.

Zhou Jingze moved his phone away, lifting his eyes in warning.

Ye Saining feigned annoyance, resting her chin on her hand and smiling. “Don’t be so stingy. I won’t look. But at least tell me the brand of your watch. It’s nice—I want one too.”

The watch didn’t matter to him. He quietly told her the brand.

Ye Saining had seen Xu Sui and could tell at a glance that she was the kind of girl who lacked security—sensitive and soft. So she uploaded the video to social media, knowing Xu Sui would see it.

That would surely cause cracks in their relationship.

The convenience store incident was also intentional. Ye Saining hadn’t planned to go that far—but as she passed by Xu Sui and glimpsed the same bear keychain on her phone…

They were matching.

No wonder Zhou Jingze wouldn’t let her touch his.

Xu Sui’s phone screen lit up at the right moment. She glanced at it—the contact name read: “Boyfriend.”

Something twisted in Ye Saining’s heart. Jealousy grew like wild weeds.

So Ye Saining started lying. She twisted Zhou Jingze’s words from “I don’t want to lose you as a friend” to “I don’t want to lose you.”

In the end—she succeeded.

But Ye Saining never expected that this move would push her even further away from Zhou Jingze, plunging her into a never-ending abyss of unrequited love.

Later, at the hospital where Xu Sui worked, they met again. Ye Saining finally explained everything and apologized. Only then did she feel a bit of relief.

After Xu Sui walked out of the hospital room, Ye Saining lay on the bed and sent Zhou Jingze a message.

She wasn’t trying to take credit. She truly wanted to repent.

Soon, Zhou Jingze replied. His words were brief:

**You’ve got the wrong person. Don’t message me again.**

Every word was cold and ruthless.

The last time Ye Saining saw Zhou Jingze was on a crowded street.

There were many people, but he calmly held Xu Sui’s hand. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers. They smiled at each other from time to time.

Ye Saining saw Zhou Jingze’s expression twitch—like he was stifling a yawn. She knew his pollen allergy was acting up, but he was enduring it.

Halfway down the street, Xu Sui’s shoelaces came undone. Zhou Jingze naturally crouched down amid the crowd to tie them, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Still that unruly, cocky man—yet willing to bend down for someone he loved.

Ye Saining withdrew her gaze from the couple, turned around, and strode forward.

And just like that—her unrequited love ended.