Cheng Kai Ran was a person with an extremely face-conscious yet insecure mentality. From high school, he had always felt inferior around Ye Meng, thinking that this beautiful and generous girl who excelled at gaming and dancing, with numerous boys who liked her, would consider him—a small-time hoodlum from another town who hadn’t even finished high school—as nothing in her eyes. Though high school Ye Meng appeared shameless and nonchalant, she was good to everyone, especially to younger boys whom she took extra care of.

So despite Cheng Kai Ran now having become a small-time boss, seeing Ye Meng still inevitably made him feel inferior. Over time, this inferiority formed into a warped psychology, feeling that Ye Meng owed him. During those years when he couldn’t see Ye Meng, he thought about her day and night, dreaming and going crazy thinking about how to take revenge for her heartlessness and her years of ignoring him.

He believed Ye Meng must have felt guilty, which was why she had been avoiding him for so many years, never once reaching out to him. Yet now, Ye Meng appeared before him with such naturalness, so unexpectedly, as if they had never broken off their friendship, as if she had never abandoned him.

Cheng Kai Ran was caught off guard. He didn’t know what Ye Meng was thinking. Years of hatred seemed to crumble entirely at her casual smile. This was unrequited love—he liked her so much that he remembered more clearly than she did every boy who had ever liked her.

While Cheng Kai Ran’s thoughts were in chaos, Ye Meng calmly sat to the side ordering food. Looking at what she had ordered, it was all the dishes that Cheng Kai Ran loved. Cheng Kai Ran, who was three years younger than her, knew she had always been good at taking care of people—it just depended on whether she cared to.

The server was familiar with her and asked with a smile: “No spicy today?”

Ye Meng smiled, “No need, my friend doesn’t eat spicy food.”

Cheng Kai Ran’s heart trembled. After all these years, she still remembered. Although Li Jin Yu also didn’t eat spicy food, Cheng Kai Ran felt that currently, Ye Meng and Li Jin Yu were completely unrelated.

From the moment he entered, Li Jin Yu had taken off his jacket and casually hung it on the back of his chair, keeping his head down to play escape room games on his phone. He treated the beautiful woman across from him as if she didn’t exist, making it clear that pretty older sisters like Ye Meng probably weren’t his type. Cheng Kai Ran wasn’t very familiar with Li Jin Yu. Li Jin Yu was just like that—never getting close to anyone, appearing casual and laid-back, yet somehow giving off a sense of distance. But Cheng Kai Ran knew very well that Li Jin Yu’s looks were exactly what Ye Meng would like; she had preferred the same type since she was young.

Ye Meng calmly poured a glass of water for the young girl beside her, then lightly nodded her chin toward the silent yet notably attention-drawing Li Jin Yu across from her, asking meaningfully: “Boyfriend?”

The young girl was very timid, blushing and stammering, glancing at Cheng Kai Ran and Li Jin Yu before speaking.

Cheng Kai Ran interrupted, “Don’t tease the girl. She’s my sister. This is her boyfriend.”

Li Jin Yu instinctively looked up at Cheng Kai Ran but said nothing before returning to his escape room game.

Ye Meng was slightly surprised, “High school student?”

The young girl finally spoke weakly: “Sister, I’m a university student.”

“Is that so?” Ye Meng smiled, “You look very young like you haven’t finished high school yet. Which university do you attend?”

“Central South University.” The young girl’s face finally showed a hint of confidence.

“A 985 university, not bad,” Ye Meng glanced at Cheng Kai Ran and joked, “Not your biological sister, right?”

As the young girl was about to explain, Cheng Kai Ran interrupted again, “What did you want to see me for?”

Cheng Kai Ran wasn’t stupid. He knew Ye Meng’s character too well. He had momentarily been captivated by her kindness, but now that he had calmed down and his reason had returned, he realized that this “coincidental” meeting seemed strange. Moreover, that dance machine was the scene of their first encounter.

Years ago, the arcade’s dance machine was very basic, but Ye Meng particularly loved it, spending most of her time after class there. Cheng Kai Ran first saw her on that dance machine, competing for points with a boy with dyed yellow hair, drawing a crowd from the entire arcade. In that area, Ye Meng’s name was renowned; almost everyone who enjoyed gaming knew her.

Ye Meng had been prepared for this, looking directly and honestly at Cheng Kai Ran, “Let’s talk about the past.”

Ye Meng didn’t look elsewhere, her eyes exceptionally clean and pure as they focused on Cheng Kai Ran.

The young girl was suddenly dumbfounded, not understanding how the atmosphere had suddenly plummeted, becoming so tense.

Cheng Kai Ran lit a cigarette for himself without saying a word.

Ye Meng casually played with the lighter that had just lit the cigarette, calmly looking at him: “Kai Kai, if it hadn’t been for you, my mother wouldn’t have died. Of course, I know it’s not your fault. I only blame myself for not rushing forward to take those two knife wounds for you back then.”

Cheng Kai Ran suddenly turned his head to stare at her! She was deliberately saying this!

That snowy day. The young hooligans that Cheng Kai Ran had provoked came to Ye Meng’s school repeatedly to ambush her. Ye Meng was called to the office before finishing her exam. Her practice papers were covered in red crosses, and feeling irritated, she sent Cheng Kai Ran a message ending their friendship. Without hesitation, Cheng Kai Ran ran to the school to find her, only to be caught by the gang who had been lying in wait near Ye Meng’s school.

That year, the English listening test for the college entrance exam was held half a year in advance. Cheng Kai Ran was stabbed, and Ye Meng was also injured, causing her to miss the test. English was the only subject she excelled at among her otherwise poorly performed courses, and she directly lost thirty points. Inevitably, Ye Meng failed the college entrance exam that first year. After that, whenever she encountered Cheng Kai Ran on the street, she treated him like a stranger. The last time she saw him was the following year when Ye Meng was repeating her senior year, and Cheng Kai Ran’s face was disfigured from being beaten in the snow.

“My mother always believed that I harmed you. You know she had depression and already carried heavy guilt. Any casual gossip around town could immediately prompt her to slit her wrists. Having such a fragile-hearted mother, I didn’t want to associate with you all anymore. She never expected that later, because of this, your face was disfigured, and she always believed it was her fault—that it was because she forbade me from associating with you. Eventually, she committed suicide.”

Ye Meng smiled, turning her gaze toward the window: “My mother never demanded that I become a perfect child, but she didn’t want me to be the bad child in others’ mouths. Yet everyone in town thought I was a bad child.” She smiled indifferently, “Honestly, I don’t have many good qualities, but my mindset is good. No matter what others think of me, there’s one thing you should know. That day, I called the police, so why didn’t they find you? Because none of you wanted to go to the police station. After I called, that gang ran away, and you ran with them, didn’t you? Later, the police called me asking why no one was there, suspecting that I had made a false report.”

Ye Meng casually picked up the pen from the table that had just been used to place the order, “If you insist on holding me accountable, why don’t you cut two slashes on my face too? Then we can call it even, clear our grudges, and go our separate ways.”

Hearing this, Cheng Kai Ran stood up abruptly, “Go our separate ways? Ye Meng, do you hate me that much?”

Cheng Kai Ran knew her too well. Ye Meng’s personality was such that she could spoil those she liked to the heavens, but for those she disliked, even threatening death wouldn’t work. Back then, a small gang leader in Cheng Kai Ran’s circle liked Ye Meng, showing his affection and even threatening her in various ways, but Ye Meng completely ignored him. If it had been any other young girl who provoked such a person, she would probably have been too frightened to leave the house. At that time, the small gang leader even gathered a group of brothers, setting up formations to block people at the school gate, infuriating the school teachers to no end, and almost causing Ye Meng to be expelled. Ye Meng was completely innocent; she couldn’t even remember who this person was. In the end, she directly grabbed a large brick, walked determinedly to the school gate, and without hesitation smashed it against his forehead. With blood all over his forehead, she impatiently said to the sleazy small gang leader: “Come on, which part of me do you still like? I’ll throw it all away. Is it my legs? I’ll go see them off, okay? Get lost!”

Now, hearing that Ye Meng wanted to repay his two scars, Cheng Kai Ran believed she was truly capable of doing such a thing.

In the end, the meal didn’t happen. Cheng Kai Ran was so angered by Ye Meng that he flipped the table and left, even forgetting to take his sister and her boyfriend with him.

But what Cheng Kai Ran didn’t know was that Ye Meng would never actually cut her face. That might have been something she’d do in her immature, chuunibyou youth, but now she would never do something so self-destructive. She was relying on the possibility that Cheng Kai Ran still had feelings for her, and she was certain that with his timid, cowardly personality, he would never confess his feelings for her; in the end, he would just flip the table and leave.

So she had originally expected to be dining alone. But unexpectedly, two more people remained, making the atmosphere somewhat bizarre.

Ye Meng crossed her arms and coolly stared at the two self-invited guests before her: “Aren’t you leaving?”

The young girl cautiously asked her: “Can we stay for the meal? I’m a bit hungry.”

Ye Meng laughed helplessly, glanced at the tall man, and said with a smile, half-jokingly: “Then I get to have your boyfriend.”

Li Jin Yu looked away from the window with extreme annoyance and stared at her: “Do you always speak so bluntly in front of children?”

The young girl finally said: “He’s not my boyfriend. Jing Yu brother is just like Kai brother, they’re both like brothers to me.”

Ye Meng: “Is that so? I think he’d quite like to be your boyfriend.”

The young girl immediately blushed, “No way.”

Ye Meng smiled without saying anything. After a while, Li Jin Yu, staring out the window, spoke with his characteristically lazy demeanor and trashy words: “Such an obedient little sister, who wouldn’t want to be her boyfriend? Doesn’t big sister like younger brothers too?”