Chen Xi returned to the shop, downed a bottle of soda, and continued working.

Qin Zhan wandered over and asked about the used car that Yang Shan’s colleague had been interested in.

Chen Xi only said the car was in poor condition and that she hadn’t let Yang Shan’s colleague buy it, without going into specific details.

As evening approached, Qin Zhan had something to attend to and left early, leaving only Chen Xi and Liu Boyang in the shop.

Chen Xi was lying under the chassis of a car, working intently, when she suddenly sensed something.

She turned her head and saw a pair of feet at the shop entrance.

Chen Xi called out to Liu Boyang from under the chassis: “Boyang, is there a customer?”

Liu Boyang looked up toward the shop entrance. “No.”

When Chen Xi looked toward the shop entrance again, the pair of feet had already disappeared.

She thought it was just someone passing by the entrance and didn’t pay it much mind.

After a few days, Chen Xi forgot about the used car incident.

That afternoon, three cars came to the shop for repairs.

Chen Xi, as usual, chose the most difficult one to work on.

After Qin Zhan and Liu Boyang finished their work, Chen Xi let them go home while she stayed behind to continue repairing the car.

Without realizing it, she worked busily until the night before finishing.

She emerged from the car, wiped the sweat from her forehead, grabbed a cup of water, and drained it in one gulp, then looked up to see a beam of dim yellow light streaming through the corner door from the neighboring VR arcade.

Chen Xi hesitated for a moment, put down her cup, and walked toward the corner door.

Two lights were on in the VR arcade, and Qin Lie was sitting at the computer typing on the keyboard.

Lines of code like hieroglyphics flashed rapidly across the flickering screen.

Chen Xi hesitated for a moment, but she still walked toward him.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Qin Lie’s hands suddenly paused.

He stopped and turned to look behind him.

The two of them silently met each other’s gaze for a moment in the dim lighting.

Chen Xi spoke first: “Been quite busy lately?”

Qin Lie made a sound of agreement, his expression unchanged.

Chen Xi smiled and said naturally, “I’ve been pretty busy too. After this period is over, let’s find a chance to drink together.”

Qin Lie nodded. “Alright.”

Both tacitly avoided mentioning what happened that morning.

After chatting for a couple of sentences, Chen Xi smiled and said, “You’re busy, I’ll head out first.”

Qin Lie nodded and continued typing on the keyboard.

Chen Xi walked out two steps, looked back, and saw the code racing across the screen again.

She smiled, her steps relaxed, and walked out through the corner door.

Tonight’s Qin Lie made Chen Xi’s heart flutter slightly again.

She liked emotionally stable men—those who let reason govern emotion, who knew boundaries best when interacting with others.

Although such people usually knew how to take things in stride and let go, never dragging their feet or clinging to anything.

Qin Lie listened to the footsteps disappear beyond the corner door, and his hands typing on the keyboard suddenly stopped.

After a moment of silence, he shut down the computer, got up, and went home.

The wind was a bit strong tonight, the night sky clear and filled with stars.

Qin Lie got into his car but wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He silently smoked a cigarette, seeing that the lights on Chen Xi’s side hadn’t gone out yet.

He stubbed out the cigarette butt and silently started the car.

Just after driving a short distance, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a black shadow flashing by in his rearview mirror.

Qin Lie wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He stared at the rearview mirror for a while, didn’t notice anything unusual, so he turned the steering wheel and drove out.

After driving just a short distance, he suddenly slammed on the brakes.

He still felt uneasy.

He stopped the car and, trying to keep his footsteps as light as possible, walked in the shadows toward Chen Xi’s shop entrance.

The lights in the shop suddenly went out. Chen Xi walked out, locked the door, and headed toward her motorcycle.

Suddenly, Qin Lie’s heart began pounding wildly, and he ran toward Chen Xi.

He saw a shadow quietly emerge from the darkness, following Chen Xi, with a crowbar raised high in their hand.

Qin Lie didn’t have time to think and crashed into that person.

Immediately, there was a muffled sound as he took a heavy blow to the head.

A stream of warm blood trickled down from his temple. Qin Lie felt dizzy but couldn’t care about his head injury and wrestled with the black shadow.

In a few moves, he seized the iron rod from the other person’s hand and threw it on the ground.

Everything happened in a flash. Chen Xi was startled but quickly reacted, picked up the crowbar from the ground, and swung it at the person.

With a dull thud, the iron rod struck solidly on the other person’s shoulder. The person cried out in pain and hesitated in their movements.

Chen Xi wasn’t someone to mess with—she reached out to grab the mask on his face.

Seeing that he couldn’t handle both of them, the person quickly broke free and ran away.

Chen Xi ran after him for two steps, then suddenly stopped and turned to look at Qin Lie.

He was covering his head with one hand, his figure swaying slightly.

Chen Xi asked in a low voice: “Are you alright?”

Qin Lie shook his head, then heard Chen Xi continue: “Give me five minutes.”

After saying this, she grabbed the iron rod and strode after the black shadow.

Qin Lie was a bit confused about what was happening and worried that Chen Xi might get hurt.

Blood was flowing from his temple. He staggered a few steps and chased after them, hearing two screams from a man ahead.

Just as he reached the corner of the arcade, he saw Chen Xi walking back with the iron rod, her face stern.

“What did you do?”

Qin Lie asked her.

Chen Xi said flatly: “It’s nothing now.”

She threw away the iron rod and walked over to examine Qin Lie’s wound.

She reached out to touch it—sticky and wet.

Chen Xi said, “I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Driving Qin Lie’s car, she raced toward the city hospital, her face looking terrible the whole way.

She knew that Qin Lie had taken this blow for her.

She also knew how much Qin Lie had done for her these past days.

But the more it was like this, the more uncomfortable she felt inside.

Chen Xi knew that Dunhuang wasn’t Qin Lie’s final destination—this person would leave sooner or later.

She didn’t want to develop feelings, but things seemed to be developing in a direction contrary to her wishes, bit by bit challenging the bottom line of her rationality.

Blood from Qin Lie’s temple kept flowing, and a stack of tissues would get soaked through after pressing for just a while.

Chen Xi’s hands gripping the steering wheel unconsciously showed protruding veins.

She remained silent the entire way, but suddenly spoke as they neared the hospital: “Qin Lie, you don’t need to do these things for me.”

Qin Lie covered his forehead and glanced indifferently at Chen Xi’s cold profile, saying nothing.

Chen Xi: “I don’t want to owe you anything. Don’t put pressure on me.”

Qin Lie coldly asked back: “Am I putting pressure on you?”

Chen Xi looked at the road ahead and only said quietly after a long while: “You don’t belong to this place. Why start something that won’t have a result?”

Qin Lie turned to look out the window and fell silent.

No result, so why begin?

Qin Lie finally understood why Chen Xi had been unwilling to face him these past days.

But he didn’t think that way.

Without beginning, how would you know whether there would be a result?

The two arrived at the hospital, registered for emergency care, treated the wound, called the police, and waited for the officers to come to the hospital for evidence collection.

By the time they finished with everything, it was already 3 AM.

Chen Xi drove Qin Lie back to his residential complex. Looking at the gauze bandage around his temple, she felt guilty but didn’t know what to say.

Qin Lie sat in the passenger seat, seeing her furrowed brow, couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s just a minor injury, don’t worry about it.”

He had gotten five stitches on his temple—his face was somewhat disfigured.

Chen Xi looked at him and forced a smile.

Qin Lie got out of the car, leaned down to look at Chen Xi inside: “You drive the car for now, be careful.”

After saying this, he closed the car door and walked toward the building entrance.

Chen Xi sat in the car, watching Qin Lie’s back. His walk was a bit unsteady.

She suddenly got out of the car, locked it, and quickly followed him into the building.

Qin Lie was waiting for the elevator when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw it was Chen Xi.

His long eyebrows raised slightly, his expression somewhat puzzled.

Chen Xi explained: “I’m worried. I’ll stay with you tonight.”

Qin Lie smiled and said casually, “Alright.”

The two entered the apartment. Qin Lie closed the front door behind him and casually turned on the living room light.

Chen Xi glanced around the room, industrial-style decoration with hardly a single warm-colored item in the entire place.

Even the sofa was square and rigidly shaped, in cold, deep gray tones.

Chen Xi looked down and saw only one pair of men’s slippers on the doormat.

She asked quietly: “What should I wear?”

Qin Lie opened the shoe cabinet and took out a pair of disposable slippers for Chen Xi.

Chen Xi glanced at the two large stacks of disposable slippers in the shoe cabinet.

Looking again at the cold, showroom-like living room, she couldn’t help but ask: “Do you usually live here alone?”

Qin Lie nodded, changed his slippers, and walked over to sit on the sofa.

Chen Xi hesitated for a moment in the entryway and asked him, “Want some water?”

Qin Lie made a sound of agreement: “There’s some in the fridge.”

Chen Xi walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door, only to be surprised again.

The refrigerator was neatly stocked with milk, bottled water, apples, and eggs—nothing else besides these.

This person lived his life as coldly and mechanically as program code.

Chen Xi suddenly found it somewhat amusing to think that if Qin Lie saw Grandma’s refrigerator that was practically bursting at the seams, he might go crazy.

She took two bottles of water, walked over to the sofa, handed one to Qin Lie, and sat down herself.

The two drank their water in silence for a few sips, when Qin Lie suddenly asked: “Have you offended anyone recently?”

The police had asked this question during evidence collection, and Chen Xi said she couldn’t think of anyone.

When the police left, they said they would first check the surveillance around the VR arcade tomorrow and told Chen Xi to contact them immediately if she remembered anything.

Now, facing Qin Lie, Chen Xi suddenly hesitated for a moment and said uncertainly: “Actually, there is one thing…”

Qin Lie’s gaze suddenly grew serious: “What thing?”

Chen Xi hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

“Let’s wait until the police check the surveillance tomorrow before talking about it.”

She thought of the used car incident but wasn’t entirely certain.

If she spoke rashly and let the people around them know, with Qin Zhan’s reckless personality, he would go pick a fight with the other party.

Boyang usually seemed quiet and reserved, but his temper could flare up instantly—when pushed to the limit, he might even risk his life in a fight.

And there was Yang Shan, who was pregnant now—she didn’t dare frighten her.

Qin Lie rarely saw Chen Xi looking so hesitant to speak, so he couldn’t help but press her with a few more questions, but Chen Xi refused to say more.

That night, Chen Xi slept in the guest room, suffering from some insomnia.

The pillow and summer quilt had a faint, sandalwood-like crisp scent, somewhat like the smell on Qin Lie’s body.

This made Chen Xi feel both familiar and strange.

Unable to sleep, Chen Xi simply thought carefully about the things she had done and the people she had dealt with these past days.

Apart from two nitpicky customers she’d had friction with, there was that guy at the used car market whose business she had disrupted.

Thinking of that person, Chen Xi’s brow unconsciously furrowed.

That man was probably a local tough guy—daring to sell accident cars, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to do other things either.

If it hadn’t been for Qin Lie blocking the way, that club would have landed on Chen Xi’s head.

Chen Xi speculated about the other party’s intentions and felt that venting anger was the most likely possibility.

After all, she had ruined a business deal worth over a hundred thousand yuan. It was normal for the other party to be unable to swallow this grievance and want to make her suffer a bit.

If that were the case, the matter would be simple.

Venting anger plus a warning—if Chen Xi kept quiet and swallowed this bitter pill, the matter should be considered settled.

Chen Xi secretly made up her mind not to mention this matter to the police, to make a big issue small and a small issue disappear entirely.

It wasn’t that she was afraid, but she didn’t want to cause trouble.

After all, she still had a business to run and a life to live—she didn’t want to get into a conflict with these local tough guys.

In the darkness, she sighed softly.

She just hadn’t expected to drag Qin Lie into taking this blow.

She gradually fell asleep amid a tangle of chaotic thoughts.

Probably because she had something on her mind, she suddenly woke up not long after falling asleep.

No dreams, and she didn’t feel afraid—she just inexplicably startled awake.

But when she thought of Qin Lie sleeping next door, her heart quickly settled down, and she fell asleep again before long.