Chapter 8: He Will Take You Away

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Chapter 8: He Will Take You With Him

Not quite enough...

But it could express her sincerity.

She carefully folded the money into a neat bundle, watching the figure who was about to leave the dark alley. She hurriedly caught up and once again tugged at his coat.

The moonlight tonight was faint and shadowy.

Fang Ye lowered his head to look at the hand pulling at his clothes.

He couldn’t help but wonder—how many times had this happened today?

Bai Li’s eyes still gleamed in the darkness. Like presenting a treasure, she spread the money in her hand and offered it to Fang Ye, “Can I give you a thousand first? I’ll give you the rest slowly.”

She didn’t want to get caught up in the issue of money.

Only this way—an interaction free of debts—could make her feel truly at ease.

In the sultry summer night, a breeze blew, carrying the scent of night-blooming jasmine.

“Bai Li.”

“Ah?”

Bai Li watched as the slender fingers of the young man pinched the bundle of money and shook it in his hand.

Before she could be pleased, he reached out and took her bag as well.

She blinked, puzzled. What did this mean?

Quickly, she explained, “There’s really nothing left in my bag.”

Fang Ye, holding her bag, paused for a moment after hearing this, then actually laughed out loud.

“Heh.”

Bai Li didn’t understand what he was laughing at.

She only felt a bit dazed. If she didn’t know Fang Ye, this scene at this moment... really looked just like a robbery.

Fang Ye... did indeed have a certain fierceness about him.

Lost in thought, Fang Ye had already undone the clasp on her bag and placed the entire sum of over a thousand yuan inside.

“Keep the money yourself.”

Bai Li understood his intention and instinctively tried to stop him, awkwardly imitating the social niceties she had learned from her elders.

“This is what I want to give you. It’s my sincere intention. Even if you don’t want it, I still want to give it to Grandma Yun. Don’t make decisions for her.”

This was the way her mother taught her to appease her stepsister.

Something she hated learning the most.

Now, in this urgent moment, she blurted it out without thinking.

The quiet alley was filled with a frown on Fang Ye’s face.

One hand lifted her bag back onto her shoulder, the other pressed gently to his lips, signaling silence.

He then bent down to meet Bai Li’s gaze.

His scrutinizing eyes mixed with a low voice sounded softly beside her ear, his tone far from pleased.

“Bai Li, don’t say things you don’t want to say. No one’s making you do something so awkward.”

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“...”

“And who told you I wanted to take money from you?”

“...”

“When you were little and wet the bed, I was the one who helped wash your clothes. What distinction of closeness or distance is there between us now?”

“...”

“Since you call me brother, shouldn’t you feel at ease living in my house?”

“...”

“How did you grow up like this? Such a good child, why is your character getting so twisted?”

“...”

Bai Li stood frozen in place.

These words sounded like complaints.

But she sensed a faint undercurrent of regret and pity.

Each word seemed to press hard on the wounds in her heart. She didn’t feel pain; only a gentle warmth flowed through her.

Especially the sentence: “You should feel at ease living in my house.”

Bai Li swore this was the first time she had heard such words.

Throughout her life, the people around her had instilled only one idea: this is someone else's home; you should be sensible, obedient, and humble.

As if her ingrained beliefs were being shattered, she felt uneasy, a sourness rising in her nose once again.

“Tsk.”

As if unable to bear it any longer.

Fang Ye reached out, ruffling her hair, then turned away and said in a faint voice:

“Enough. Let’s go home. Don’t mention money again. You don’t have to work outside. Just enjoy your break. If it’s not enough, ask me for more.”

The warmth of his touch lingered on her hair, but Bai Li didn’t know how to respond. She could only follow him step by step.

After returning home, Fang Ye promptly sent Bai Li back to her room.

After a hot shower, she hugged her pillow and lay on the bed.

This bed was especially soft, scented faintly with gardenia laundry detergent.

Yet Bai Li didn’t sleep well.

For some inexplicable reason, she kept recalling Fang Ye’s words—those unbelievable words that effortlessly shattered her thoughts.

Turning over, biting her lip, she felt that perhaps she was ill.

When she was humiliated and bullied, she wouldn’t feel much, just smile it off.

But now, when someone cared for her, she felt deeply wronged, even crying several times.

The moonlight was too hazy tonight. As clouds covered the sky without warning, rain began to fall, drizzling steadily without pause.

The dampness crept onto the balcony, and only then did Bai Li drift off into a drowsy sleep.

...

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At seven o’clock the next morning.

The rain had cleared and the sky was bright.

Bai Li woke naturally, following her biological clock.

She hadn’t closed the curtains the night before; weak sunlight spilled onto the wooden floor from the windowsill. Rubbing her eyes open, she heard the clear chirping of birds outside.

Such a peaceful morning, she indulged in ten more minutes of sleep, her weary body suddenly feeling relaxed.

Twenty minutes later.

After washing up, she quietly picked up her small bag and tiptoed out of her room, going downstairs to open the door and step onto the street.

The morning market was lively as usual.

All kinds of breakfast stalls lined the road, lids lifted to reveal steaming water vapor rising slowly.

She was out to buy breakfast.

Though she had given up the idea of paying rent, she still wanted to do something.

By conscience alone, since Fang Ye treated her well, she should do the same for him.

She bought two large steamed pork buns and eggs, plus two cups of warm fresh milk.

Her gaze was suddenly drawn to a stall selling plants.

Squatting before the pots of fresh greenery, she thought of Fang Ye’s empty balcony and courtyard.

The owner, smoking a cigarette, shouted out to her, “Miss, take a look and see which two you want. Twenty yuan for any two. If you’re careful and still can’t grow them, bring them back and smash them on this old man’s head. I’ll curse you three times and pay you back!”

What a lively, down-to-earth scene.

Bai Li smiled gently, unable to refuse, and carefully chose.

Her fingertips touched a pot of budding jasmine and another of self-propagating chrysanthemum. “I’ll take these two.”

Without a word, the man stubbed out his cigarette underfoot, swiftly bagged them up, and casually kicked a broken rose branch nearby.

“Twenty! If you’re willing to take this pot too, it’s yours. I can’t sell it anymore. Don’t let this good plant go to waste.”

Bai Li’s eyes dropped to the rose, whose branch was indeed incomplete. The soil at its roots was dry and cracked, yet even struggling to survive, it stretched out its green leaves as best it could.

She looked up, nodded without hesitation, and took the rose in her hands despite the dirt.

“I want it. Thank you, sir.”

The man, a humorous fellow, raised his eyebrows, “Don’t just say thanks, give the old man the money!”

Hearing this, Bai Li hurried to get her bag.

Just as her hand grasped the clasp,

A cool breeze brushed past her ear. Before her eyes appeared a pale, slender hand holding twenty yuan.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Looking up, she saw the young man’s tired eyes, his pleasant voice close at hand.

“Sir, keep the money.”

(End of chapter)