The wine bottle was thin and shattered in his hand with a single strike.

Xie Huai’s face bore an iciness that couldn’t be dissolved. His gaze was regretful as he said, “Breaks so easily?”

Gripping the broken bottleneck in his hand, he turned to stare at Brother Li’s hand clutching Xia Xia.

The girl’s skin was delicate, and his grip had left two deep red marks on her arm.

Brother Li released Xia Xia, and Xie Huai extended his hand to her: “Come here.”

Xia Xia rubbed her arm but didn’t listen to him, instead moving to stand beside Jiang Jingzhou.

Xie Huai’s eyes darkened: “When I tell you to come here, are you deaf?”

Xia Xia moved even closer to Jiang Jingzhou, deliberately ignoring him: “Senior, they’re both bad people.”

Xie Huai asked: “What did they do to you?”

Xia Xia ignored him, lowering her eyes to look at the stone bricks beneath her feet. Xie Huai grabbed her wrist and pulled her to his side: “I’m asking you a question!”

His expression was impatient, but despite his seemingly rough movements, he was being gentle. He cradled her face to examine it: “Did they hit you?”

Xia Xia had been giving him the cold shoulder for half a month, and now suddenly being this close to him again, feeling his gentle breath on her face, all those girlish feelings of hurt and grievance could no longer be contained. Her eyes welled up, and she burst into tears right in front of Xie Huai.

Xie Huai thought she had been wronged and clenched his fist, turning to land a punch straight on the photographer’s nose bridge.

The man’s nasal bone was broken, and his face was covered in blood.

Xie Huai grabbed his collar and lifted him, his eyes red with fury: “What did you do to her?”

The man gasped in pain: “…Nothing.”

Xie Huai couldn’t stand hearing Xia Xia cry. All the anger he had been holding back was unleashed on the man without restraint.

Brother Li tried to help but was blocked by Jiang Jingzhou.

Xie Huai’s voice was ice-cold: “Won’t talk, huh?”

He threw the beaten and bruised man back to the ground and walked toward Brother Li.

Since Xie Huai had immediately cracked open the photographer’s head, Brother Li was smart enough not to fight back – alone, he would never be a match for three people.

Brother Li had a refined appearance and pushed up his glasses: “Let’s talk this through reasonably. We didn’t harm her, you can check if you don’t believe me.”

He glanced at the man lying on the ground: “He just doesn’t know how to talk properly and made your sister angry.”

After crying for a while, Xia Xia spoke with a choked voice: “They wanted me to wear crotchless stockings for photos and wanted me to… do that to him.”

Brother Li’s expression froze: “It was just a joke, look how scared you made a sister.”

Xie Huai’s face turned cold as he bent down to pick up the broken bottle. Xia Xia grabbed his hand.

Her palm was warm and delicate, moistened with tears.

“Brother Huai, don’t hit him,” the girl wiped away her tears, holding his arm with both hands. “I shot photos all morning, and he still owes me two hundred yuan.”

Xie Huai and Brother Li were similar in height, but their auras were worlds apart.

Brother Li’s refined face barely maintained a facade of calm and a smile, while the young man’s thin frame exuded a coldness that made him tremble, creating an overwhelming mountain-like pressure when standing before him.

“Money,” he said concisely.

Brother Li laughed dryly. Being someone who knew when to bend, he took out two hundred yuan and gave it to Xie Huai.

Though Xie Huai was smiling, it sent chills down one’s spine: “Who did you want to wear crotchless stockings?”

Brother Li: “I said it was just a joke…”

Xie Huai: “Fuck your mother.”

He pressed the glass shard near Brother Li’s eye: “I’ll ask one more time, who did you want to wear crotchless stockings?”

Brother Li was pinned against a tree behind him, and his casual expression crumbled: “Young man, you’ve already hit someone, and I’ve given you the money. Do you need to take it this far? I just heard someone nearby call the police, I don’t believe you dare to do anything.”

Xie Huai said nothing but moved his wrist, pushing the shard toward his eyeball.

“Okay, okay.” Brother Li didn’t dare gamble his eye on whether Xie Huai had the guts or not.

He said: “I’ll wear them, I’ll wear them, alright?”

Xie Huai asked: “Who did you tell to do that thing?”

Brother Li, being a man, immediately turned pale: “You’ve beaten him to that state, you’re definitely going to detention. Let’s sit down somewhere and talk calmly, maybe we can settle this privately. If you insist on making things ugly, I have no choice.”

Xie Huai pressed harder, cutting a bloody mark next to his eye socket.

Brother Li said: “I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

Xie Huai threw away the shard and took Xia Xia’s hand.

Brother Li: “Where do you think you can run? Your school, your name, and the police will find out everything with one investigation. The whole street has surveillance cameras, your assault was already recorded.”

Xie Huai gave a carefree smile: “Who said I’m running?”

He raised an eyebrow with an irritatingly rebellious expression: “I haven’t finished my meal yet. When the police come, tell them to find me at the restaurant next door.”

Brother Li glared darkly at his retreating figure, then at Xia Xia beside him, muttering under his breath: “Slutty bitch, acting pure with me, doing model shoots but playing hard to get.”

Xie Huai’s departing footsteps stopped.

He turned back, his gaze falling on the man’s face full of resentment and humiliation.

He smiled and walked back: “You have a point.”

“I’ve already beaten someone this badly today, detention is unavoidable. Since it’s fifteen days either way, beating one person isn’t worth it, but beating two is a bargain.”

Xie Huai grabbed his hair and slammed his head against a roadside stone post.

His expression was blank: “Who are you calling names?”

When Xia Xia walked out of the school gates, Sister Yan’s car was parked across the street.

The car cabin was filled with swirling smoke and a choking cigarette smell, the ashtray full of butts from all the cigarettes Sister Yan had smoked while waiting for her.

“Got everything?”

Xia Xia opened her bag: “Change of underwear and socks, two T-shirts, one pair of pants, and his lollipops.”

“Forget the lollipops,” Sister Yan said, “They don’t allow food inside.”

Xia Xia bit her lip: “Will anyone beat him up?”

Sister Yan comforted her: “The police won’t beat people. At worst, the food will be bad. Give him more money so he can buy some better meals from the store to get by.”

“What if other inmates beat him? Xie Huai has a bad temper, I’m worried he won’t adjust well inside.”

Sister Yan smiled: “This is just a detention center, not a jail. People like Xie Huai who are in for fighting? Others will avoid him.”

She smiled for a moment before lighting another cigarette: “This is my fault. I’ve dealt with that Li guy a few times and introduced some girls to him, but no one ever told me he shot that kind of stuff. Thank goodness for Xie Huai, or else I would have harmed you, sister would have.”

“I’ll handle Li’s side, don’t worry about it. When Xie Huai gets out, sister will treat you both to a meal.”

Sister Yan parked the car outside the detention center.

Xia Xia got out, facing a compound with white walls and red tiles, electric wires on top of the walls, and black characters on a white background forming a couplet on either side of the main gate.

“The law is a boat in the sea of suffering, turn back to shore and we await your return.”

Xia Xia felt the solemn atmosphere of the detention center and imagined Xie Huai with a buzzcut, wearing prisoner’s clothes, hands and feet in chains, stripped of all his arrogance and looking pitiful. She couldn’t help feeling distressed.

When the police heard she was bringing clothes, they called Xie Huai out.

He wasn’t as wretched as she had imagined; he was even still wearing his clothes and had no handcuffs.

He took the clothes: “Why do you look so miserable?”

Xia Xia: “I called Officer Chai, and he said administrative detention won’t go on your record, so you don’t need to worry about people looking at you differently when you get out. But the school knows about this, and Teacher Yi said you’ll get disciplined when you return.”

Xie Huai asked: “Why would people look at me differently? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He said coolly: “Even if they do, you think I care?”

He curved his lips in a roguish smile: “Weren’t you avoiding me? What made you willing to bring me clothes?”

Xia Xia’s eyes were red as she stared at him: “Do you have any conscience?”

“Am I the one without conscience, or are you?” Xie Huai said, “If we can’t be lovers, you won’t even be friends anymore, have you completely forgotten how good Brother Huai was to you? I’ve been busy these days but just wait, Xia Xia. When I get out, I’ll deal with you.”

The police indicated it was time for him to go back.

Xie Huai took out the thousand yuan hidden in the clothes: “I don’t need the money, you keep it. Take good care of yourself for the next half month.”

He threatened: “Eat well, see the world because when I get out, you won’t have the chance anymore.”

The detention center room was a seven-person dormitory with a bathroom.

When Xie Huai entered, there were already five people inside, and a middle-aged man with a large belly was sent in with him.

The man was unfamiliar with this place, unable to distinguish between a detention center and a prison. Having watched too many shows and movies, he warily eyed everyone in the room, afraid of being dragged in for a beating or worse.

The original five inmates were playing cards, and after briefly greeting the newcomers, they went back to their game.

Xie Huai found his bed by the window and put his clothes in the cabinet.

The middle-aged man said nothing and took off his shoes to lie on the bed. The five-card players stopped their game and all turned to look at him.

A young man with a crew cut spoke: “Don’t get on the bed.”

The middle-aged man was still dazed when they heard the police officer outside banging on the door with his metal rod: “Xu Dalong, get down! Who said you could lie on the bed during the day?”

Xu Dalong jumped in fright and hurriedly climbed down.

After the officer left, the young card player laughed: “It’s boring here, and they don’t manage much, but there’s one rule: no lying on beds during the day.”

Seeing that the environment wasn’t as scary as he had imagined, Xu Dalong wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Everyone except Xie Huai was playing cards. Xu Dalong moved closer to him: “Young brother, how did you end up here?”

Xie Huai kept arranging his things, ignoring him.

Xu Dalong humphed a couple of times. He sat leaning against the bed, his expression naturally showing traces of affluence.

The bedding became crooked where he leaned against it, and the room’s surveillance camera’s red light blinked once before the same police officer returned.

This time he directly unlocked the door.

The card players quickly put down their cards and stood up, while Xie Huai sat in his chair by the window, not moving at all.

“Xu Dalong,” the officer pointed at his bedding, “What are you doing? What’s wrong with this bedding?”

Xu Dalong looked at his crooked bedding, then at the others’ perfectly squared bedding, and broke into a sweat: “I’ll fix it right away.”

It was obvious this person had never made a bed at home; he couldn’t even make it reasonably flat, let alone perfectly squared.

The prison guard waited a while, then got impatient: “I’m going to the bathroom first. When I come back, this better be fixed exactly like the others.”

After the guard left, Xu Dalong pleaded with the crew-cut guy: “Brother, can you help me? I don’t know how to make it square like that.”

Crew-cut spread his hands: “I don’t know either. I don’t even use blankets when I sleep, it’s warm enough now and you won’t freeze to death. Why torture yourself to make perfect squares?”

Xu Dalong was already fat, and when nervous, his sweating made him look even oilier: “Then what should I do? Will he beat me when he comes back?”

The young man waved his hand: “Not that bad, he’ll just yell at you at most.”

Xie Huai observed him for a while, then stood up and walked over.

He spread the man’s bedding on the bed, scooped up some water, and sprinkled it on top, using his hands to create crisp folds in the wet fabric.

Xie Huai didn’t say a word. He kept his head down as he folded the wet bedding into a perfect square and placed it at the head of the bed.

Xu Dalong gratefully said: “Thank you so much, brother.”

Xie Huai didn’t say anything.

Life in detention was tedious. Xie Huai had only been there half a day and was already getting impatient.

Lights out was at ten o’clock. He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, his mind blank, but when he closed his eyes, all he could see was the girl’s pretty, well-behaved face.

The men in the room started their night talk session, some talking about their girlfriends, others about their work.

Crew-cut complained angrily: “When I get out this time, I’m going to that contractor’s house again. He owes us tens of thousands and won’t pay it back, but still goes drinking and whoring every day. He doesn’t see us workers as human beings.”

No one responded, so he asked: “Brother Xu, what do you do for work?”

Xu Dalong laughed awkwardly: “I’m a project contractor.”

Crew-cut: “Project contractor? That’s just a fancy way of saying contractor, isn’t it?”

Xu Dalong said: “Yes, yes, but I’m different from those contractors who don’t pay wages. I have principles, I’ve never delayed paying wages.”

Crew-cut asked again: “Then how did you end up here?”

Xu Dalong: “Got caught in an anti-prostitution raid. Last night I was treating a construction company manager to drinks and made a stupid mistake…”

Crew-cut: “…”

As awkward silence filled the room, Xu Dalong changed the subject: “Young Xie looks like he’s still a student. What did you do to end up here?”

Xie Huai moved his gaze from the ceiling and said casually: “Fighting.”

“Oh, fighting, that’s not a big deal.” Xu Dalong was talkative. “I used to fight a lot when I was in school too. Back then I liked hanging out with big brothers, and when they gave the order, we’d rush in with all the little brothers and have group fights with other gangs.”

“Young people all have their hot-blooded, reckless moments.” He smiled. “Who did you fight? Why did you fight?”

Xie Huai’s eyes drifted to the window, where a clear beam of moonlight shone through the narrow opening.

The moonlight fell on his face, making his handsome features appear incredibly gentle.

He said softly: “Some idiot. He messed with my woman.”