The supermarket was crowded, with a constant stream of people. Ye Meng crouched in the underwear section, her eyes dazzled by the dizzying array of men’s underwear. Fabric? Size? Boxers? Briefs? And what the heck were “bullets”?

The two were on a video call, remote shopping. Ye Meng asked in confusion, “Large or small size?”

“It’s not like you haven’t felt it before, can’t you tell?”

She enunciated each word, “…Large. Or. Small. Size?”

Li Jin Yu laughed and gave her a size.

Ye Meng felt like an eager supermarket sales assistant, doing her utmost to promote products to the picky young master on the video: “How about this? Pure cotton, a king-among-commoners experience, soft against the skin. But they don’t have your size. Would you settle for small?”

Li Jin Yu sat in the courtyard drinking coffee, utterly uncompromising: “No.”

Ye Meng’s gaze began wandering again, then suddenly lit up. “Ah, this is good. Gladiator. Definitely for macho men.”

“…” What nonsense was this?

“Or this one. Wear it, and everything becomes hazy—the moon hazy, the bird hazy.”

“You’re the hazy one.”

Ye Meng picked up another pair: “There’s also the bullet type.”

“I don’t wear bullet ones.”

Ye Meng asked curiously, “But what exactly are these bullet ones anyway?”

“Why don’t you buy a pair, and I’ll model them for you?” said the precious young master.

“…”

Li Jin Yu laughed, enjoying his advantage while playing innocently. Basking in the thin, gold-like morning light, he reclined in the chair with one leg crossed over the other, shielding his forehead from the light with his hand. He casually said, “Alright, I’m just teasing you. Just buy any two pairs. And bring me a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on your way back. That kid Zhou Yu even took my lighter.”

Ye Meng still couldn’t believe it. While checking out, she switched the video call to audio. “Did you bully him?”

Then she faintly heard Li Jin Yu give a soft, amused snort on the other end. His voice, like morning frost, was lazy and deep. “What? Do you think I’m jealous of him? Or do you knowingly bring him home to make me jealous?”

Ye Meng laughed coldly: “Did you tell me a single word about coming to Beijing?”

“I’m not arguing with you, don’t be like that,” the young master got up to wash his face. “Forget it, we’ll talk when you get back.”

Li Jin Yu’s courtyard was worth five or six of Ning Sui’s. Just one bathroom was equivalent to half a suite in Ning Sui. The courtyard had two pomegranate trees, their dense branches hanging over the wall. He had just moved in recently; there wasn’t much furniture inside, leaving it quite empty. He didn’t have many possessions to begin with, and after Zhou Yu’s “looting,” it looked almost like an empty shell with freshly painted walls.

When Ye Meng returned, Li Jin Yu was washing his face in the bathroom, his face covered with trickling water droplets, his hair tips wet and clinging to his temples. Every time after washed his face or took a shower, his skin looked incredibly tender, so fair it seemed translucent.

He especially resembled a freshly washed green leaf, with clear veins, clean and fresh.

She tossed him the things and, leaning against the bathroom door, finally asked calmly: “How have you arranged for Granny and Ping An?”

Li Jin Yu didn’t even dry his face, took the items, and walked out. Ye Meng only then realized that even the towels in the bathroom had been taken.

He casually walked to the bedroom with his face still dripping wet to change clothes. The bedroom door was wide open, and before he even entered, right in front of her, he unconcernedly pulled up his pajama top and removed it, revealing his broad, thin back and straight shoulders. Viewed from behind, Li Jin Yu’s shoulders resembled a perfect clothes hanger.

“Granny is at your place,” he lowered his head, buttoning his shirt from bottom to top, his face still wet with water dripping down. “I gave Ping An to Fang Ya’en. It’s not convenient for two elderly ladies to take care of a dog. Fang Ya’en will regularly take Ping An to visit Granny.” After saying this, he lowered his head to undo his pants, then noticed her standing like a wooden puppet, motionless, with a rather hungry look in her eyes.

Li Jin Yu reached out his long arm and gently pulled the door. He didn’t close it completely, just angled it at about sixty-five degrees—an especially precise angle, just enough to block Ye Meng’s view.

When he finished changing and opened the door again, he was sitting on the bed, head lowered, putting on his socks.

His bedroom was very large, containing only a bed and a nearly sixty-inch computer monitor like a TV supported by a tripod in front of the bed. Nothing else, oh, except for an open suitcase—a Rimowa, at that. Ye Meng frowned. Li Jin Yu seemed to know what she was thinking and explained with a smile: “I visited my mother’s place. These are old things, not newly purchased.”

He still wore the same shirt and slacks as that day, except the buttons at his chest and cuffs were undone, loosely open, revealing clean, lean collarbones and forearms. Water still ran down his face, slowly sliding down his smooth neck into his collar. His temples and sideburns were wet. This appearance was too reminiscent of post-coital moments—at this point, anyone would surely think they had just finished making love. The key point was, he then patted the spot beside him on the bed, saying, “Come over, let’s talk for a bit.” This suave, wealthy young master’s demeanor made Ye Meng feel like a call girl he’d hired.

“…”

The bed was a tatami style, with two messy gaming controllers tossed on it. He’d been busy playing games with his friends these past few days.

Li Jin Yu leaned back on the bed, supported by his hands, head slightly tilted back. Yet he seemed to see through her thoughts. He moved his neck a bit and, without looking at her, said in a languid tone: “I haven’t been gaming or racing cars. I’ve been busy with other things these days.”

Ye Meng surrendered with a sigh, “What are you planning to do about Zhou Yu? Report to the police?”

“No need,” Li Jin Yu sat up and casually lit a cigarette for himself. “I installed a tracker on his phone. He hasn’t left Beijing.”

No wonder he was so relaxed and still directing her to buy underwear.

“You knew early on, didn’t you?”

Li Jin Yu looked at her and said, “Not that early. I just noticed he would steal my cigarettes. It’s not normal for a seventeen or eighteen-year-old to have such petty thieving habits, so I observed him for a couple of days.” At this, he glanced at her sideways, tapped his ash, and said with a smile: “This precious brother you picked up is quite interesting.”

“Are you going to mock me about this for the rest of my life?”

“No,” he casually raised his hand in a half-oath gesture. “I’m just reminding you not to bring home kids just because they look good. It’s one thing to trick me, but you nearly tricked Tai Ming Xiao.”

That day, after her big crying session, she still felt unsettled. Sometimes people are like this—when feeling lost, they want to find spiritual support. Having been in the antique business for so long, she had some belief in feng shui and deities. So, before returning, she visited the locally renowned Six Banyan Temple to seek divination about her relationship with Li Jin Yu. The oracle that day told her to accumulate good karma, and she would reap rewards in the future. Who could have guessed that Zhou Yu would coincidentally cross her path at that time? She felt it was a predestined arrangement.

Despite his mockery, Ye Meng restrained herself and asked: “Why didn’t you contact me when you came back to Beijing?”

Li Jin Yu leaned back again, supporting himself with one hand, legs bent and splayed, the other hand tapping ash, saying lightly: “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me. I also didn’t want to cling to you like before and make things difficult for you.”

Ye Meng turned her head away: “It’s because you have more friends here now, so you don’t need me anymore, right?”

“If you insist on thinking that way—”

“I can’t help it,” Ye Meng interrupted him, turning back to look at him coldly. “That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

Li Jin Yu smiled, put out his cigarette, and sat upright with one leg folded on the bed, facing her directly. Those eyes, without the slightest embellishment, scanned her frankly from head to toe before he said: “I’ve discovered women are truly contradictory. Don’t you remember what you told me back in Ning Sui? You said I needed my circle of friends. Now I have one, and you feel I don’t need you anymore. Although that wasn’t my intention just now, I still want to explain to you—I was only trying to say that I’m making an effort to become what you want me to be.”

“What if I want you to change back? I don’t want you like this now. Do you know how cold you seem right now?”

Li Jin Yu seemed to give a cold laugh. “Change back, and then what? Can we live our entire lives hiding from the truth? Don’t you want to know the truth about your mother anymore? This time, just one Liang Yun’an tells you I was a witness, and you immediately call to question me, even threatening divorce. What about next time? If someone else tells you your mother’s death is related to my mother, are you going to bring up divorce again?”

He said: “I’m tired. I can’t bear this life—one day with my heart roasting on fire, the next frozen in ice water. And I can’t stand being like a dog, eagerly waiting for you to come home.” After saying this, worried Ye Meng might overthink, he added, “I don’t mean to compare myself with your mother; I was ignorant before. So, before your mother’s case is solved, I don’t want to add any more burden on you. Even if I contacted you, look—we’d still end up sitting here arguing. Doesn’t that hurt you? And it doesn’t solve any substantial issues.”

She was so distressed she was nearly going crazy, but as he rightly pointed out, she couldn’t possibly maintain such a marriage with him by pretending everything was fine.

This topic would lead nowhere if they continued. Seeing her eyes reddening, Li Jin Yu didn’t dare continue. If Ye Meng shed even one tear, it would be too much for him to bear. He forced himself to look away, lowering his head while buttoning his cuffs: “Let’s talk about Zhou Yu first. How much do you know about his mother’s situation?”

Ye Meng also composed herself, softening her tone: “He’s from a single-parent family, living solely with his mother. He said she was sick, and he brought some family heirlooms to Beijing to have them appraised at an antique company. I let him come back with me, thinking I could have Tai Ming Xiao help inquire about it.”

“Did you find anything out?”

“No,” Ye Meng was puzzled too. “Tai Ming Xiao made inquiries for two days but got no information.”

Li Jin Yu said: “No need to ask anymore. This person doesn’t exist.”

“What?” Ye Meng was momentarily stunned, hardly believing her ears. Only now did she realize how low her intelligence had sunk lately.

“Zhou Yu didn’t come to Beijing to find his mother,” Li Jin Yu opened his phone and pulled up the tracking device’s action route. “These are his movement patterns over the past few days. His mother is missing, yet he hasn’t even filed a police report. And as you said, if his mother came to Beijing to sell a family heirloom for medical treatment, he should be looking for her, but he hasn’t been to any antique companies, antique markets, or hospitals. He should at least check surveillance footage at the train station, but he didn’t do any of that.”

“Then where did he go?”

Li Jin Yu glanced at her, seeming reluctant to tell her.

“Tell me.”

He lowered his head: “Nightclubs, bars, and the red-light district to find prostitutes.”

“He’s only eighteen!” Ye Meng shouted, gripping her phone.

Li Jin Yu smiled, retrieved his phone, and tossed it aside, looking at her: “What’s wrong with being eighteen? Everything that should have grown has grown by that age, sister.”

“Where is he now?”

“Pingling Cave.”

Pingling Cave was also in Guan Mountain District, in the ninth street’s eighteenth alley. Every dim, secluded alley had one or two massage parlors or hair salons illuminated with a faint red glow. Zhou Yu had been in this den of carnal pleasure for two days. Except for last night’s brief return home to sweep away Li Jin Yu’s belongings like a whirlwind, he had returned here.

At the entrance of Pingling Cave stood a large archway. If one didn’t know what activities went on inside, it wouldn’t seem strange. But knowing what it was, the archway resembled an ancient brothel.

The street was desolate, almost devoid of people. Ye Meng parked the car on the roadside opposite Pingling Cave. In the dim moonlight and street lamps, they stood side by side, leaning against the driver’s side door, smoking. They were the only two people on the entire street, with the car lights faintly illuminating them.

“Zhou Yu must be possessed by some enchantress. Staying for two days? Isn’t he afraid of dying from exhaustion?” Ye Meng said.

Li Jin Yu lazily leaned against the car door, one hand in his pocket, and laughed: “Seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys have abundant energy. You can’t blame the ladies for this.”

“…”

As they walked inside, Ye Meng suddenly felt that coming here with him was a mistake. The scantily clad girls at the entrance all had their eyes light up red upon seeing him. Some even stood candidly against the wall, openly beckoning him: “Handsome, massage?”

They both stopped and exchanged a glance. Ye Meng knew what he was about to do.

“Sister, can I ask you something?” Li Jin Yu had already turned back to chat with the woman.

In the dim alley, the woman’s voice seemed to melt into water. Her bosom rippled softly like ocean waves as she responded flirtatiously: “What is it, handsome?”

Before Li Jin Yu could ask, they heard hurried footsteps retreating from around the corner of the alley. The footsteps were initially casual, then suddenly slowed down, as if listening at the corner for a couple of seconds, before frantically fleeing in panic. Without a doubt, it had to be Zhou Yu.

Ye Meng also realized this, exchanged a glance with him, and immediately ran back: “I’ll get the car, you chase him! I’ve seen the map—if he gets out there, he’ll reach Songan Road. I’ll cut him off at the Songan Road intersection!”

There was no need to go as far as Songan Road. Li Jin Yu pursued him for one street, took a shortcut, and immediately blocked him. He even leisurely leaned against the mottled wall, smoking a cigarette while waiting for him. Zhou Yu ran until he was out of breath, bent over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily as he looked at him for a moment. The next second, he unexpectedly turned and fled in the opposite direction.

But he was blocked by Li Jin Yu again in another alley.

This time Zhou Yu was even more breathless. His throat started to emit smoke as if filled with sand that wouldn’t disperse. Yet the man opposite him still calmly leaned against the wall, smoking.

Zhou Yu supported himself with both hands on his knees, watching him vigilantly while taking a deep breath. He gathered all his remaining strength, like a fully drawn bow poised to release, then turned and ran again!

This time the man didn’t seem to chase after him. Hugging a large black bag to his chest, he stumbled toward the yellowish light at the end of the path, giving it everything he had. He used every bit of strength in his body, his lungs filled with the cold air. Even as he ran, he coughed, occasionally looking back to see if the man had caught up.

“Beep beep—”

Zhou Yu suddenly turned around to find a car blocking the road at the intersection. He slowly came to a stop, his heart filling with despair as he realized there was no escape. He thought he was heading toward the light, but the hazy moonlight turned out to be like a cage, enveloping him completely.

However, Li Jin Yu had arrived even earlier, casually emerging from the corner of another alley.

Zhou Yu hadn’t anticipated this at all. He felt like he’d been tricked, step by step forced into a trap set by this man. Stammering in astonishment, he muttered: “Y-y-you!!”

If Nine Gate Ridge was a paradise for the rich second generation and the climax of this city’s nightlife, then Pingling Cave was a den of prostitutes and their clients—the most shameful place in the city. The environment here was comparable to a sewer: mottled, moldy walls, stinking puddles of dirty water everywhere, dead rat carcasses lying in ditches, and even garbage cans overturned by stray dogs, filled with used condoms, pregnancy tests, and even bloody sanitary pads.

No matter how you looked at it, this environment was utterly hopeless—like an inescapable purgatory on earth.

It was in this dilapidated, even disgusting environment that Li Jin Yu slowly walked toward Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu thought at that moment, how could a high-and-mighty rich young master like Li Jin Yu understand the desperation and helplessness of people at the bottom like him? For a thirty-thousand-yuan watch, he was willing to pursue him relentlessly in such a place, even chasing him like a cat with a mouse.

Zhou Yu dared not imagine what inhuman torture he might suffer at his hands, considering these rich second generations had the most creative ways to torment people. Thinking of this, his body began to tremble slightly.

However, he hadn’t expected that Li Jin Yu, carrying a baseball bat picked up from somewhere, one hand in his pocket, the other placing the bat against the wall behind him, would casually jerk his chin toward the car at the entrance and, despite his menacing appearance, say with gentlemanly words: “Keep the watch if you like it, but you need to apologize to my sister. She almost blamed herself again because of you.”