As a precaution, over the following few days, Shen Yi had Rong Qian stay home and not go out even half a step.

If someone knocked on the door, she was absolutely not to open it!

Shen Yi planned to observe things for a few days and confirm whether word had already reached Shen Chi’s side. After observing, he found that over those few days, Meng Yuxin had not come looking for them again.

It was as though her previous appearance had been nothing but a fluke.

But Shen Yi did not let his guard down because of this. He still had Rong Qian try her best not to go out, which once again made her feel utterly stifled. She had never expected to have to live this kind of hiding-and-skulking life again.

With nothing to do at home and practically growing mold from boredom, Rong Qian felt like she was dying of tedium. A hero with no battlefield to fight on — that was one of life’s greatest regrets. Talent like hers, buried and wasted, frittering away day after day. What a waste!

“Ahh~ So bored! Is there absolutely nothing fun for me to pass the time with?” Rong Qian sprawled flat on the floor in a spread-eagle position, staring up at the ceiling, moaning listlessly.

Just then, Rong Qian suddenly heard a noise outside the door. She pricked up her ears and listened — footsteps, and more than one person.

The people outside were speaking in very low voices, sneaking around in a clearly suspicious manner. Sure enough, after Rong Qian waited a moment, she heard the sound of someone picking the lock.

Rong Qian’s eyes instantly lit up. She couldn’t conceal the delight at the corners of her mouth. Entertainment had come knocking at her door all on its own!

Outside the door were three Americans. One of them was fat, wearing a baseball cap and a loose basketball jersey, currently in the midst of picking the lock. The other two were on the slender side and were standing guard. All three were teenagers, still students.

All three bore fresh injuries — some had gauze taped to their faces, others had bandages wrapped around their arms. It wasn’t hard to see that they had either been in a fight or had been beaten up.

“Done yet?” one of the shorter, skinnier boys asked impatiently.

The fat one was sweating all over from nerves, his face flushed. He said irritably, “What’s the rush? Stop making noise!”

“What are you scared of? There’s nobody inside,” the other one, a tall and lanky white kid, said with a look of contempt.

The fat one shot them a glare and threw up his hands, “Fine, you’re so great, you do it!”

The two who couldn’t pick locks both sheepishly rubbed their noses and said nothing more.

The fat one continued picking the lock and reminded them at the same time, “Once we’re inside, smash whatever needs smashing, but keep it quiet. Don’t let the landlord downstairs find out.”

The two of them nodded, signaling that they understood.

Then came a “click” — the lock was picked.

The three exchanged glances, all wearing expressions of delight. The fat one puffed himself up with pride, chest out and chin high, feeling tremendously pleased with himself.

Smirking, the fat one shoved the door open — and the next second, he was so startled he shuddered and stumbled backward several steps!

There was someone inside the apartment!

“You guys pick locks way too slowly. Want me to teach you? I can guarantee it won’t take more than a few seconds.”

Rong Qian had already moved a stool to the entryway and settled in to wait. At this moment she was sitting with her legs crossed, swinging them leisurely. Her arms were folded across her chest, a sly and wicked grin playing at the corner of her lips. Beside her feet sat a baseball bat, which she picked up, gave a few testing swings, and familiarized herself with its feel.

The three outside were stunned. When they recognized Rong Qian’s face, their shock instantly turned to terror!

“Well, well — old acquaintances!” Rong Qian had a very good memory, especially when it came to faces — she was exceptionally gifted in that regard. She recognized these boys at a single glance as the group she had encountered in the alley when she first crossed over.

Having experienced firsthand what Rong Qian was capable of, all three turned and bolted!

“Halt! Did I say you could leave?” With a single command from Rong Qian, the three outside froze on the spot, not daring to budge.

Rong Qian stood up and walked over to them. Towering over them by virtue of her height, she looked down at them and demanded, “Who sent you?”

The three shoved each other, none of them willing to speak. Rong Qian lost patience and fixed her stare on the fat one. “You. Talk.”

Cornered, the fat one had no choice but to come clean: “Joseph.”

The Joseph in question was their boss — the blond guy who had whistled at Rong Qian that day.

“Why did he send you to do this?” Rong Qian pressed on.

The fat one said, “It’s because of Thomas. Thomas and our boss Joseph are good buddies.”

“So what you’re saying is, Shen Yi offended someone named Thomas?” Rong Qian mused, working it out.

The fat one nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, exactly!”

“You came here to smash things, right? Then come on in and smash away.” Rong Qian generously stepped aside to let them through.

The three looked at one another, unable to read what Rong Qian was up to.

“If you don’t smash anything, you’ll have a hard time explaining yourselves when you go back. Won’t your boss give you an earful?” Rong Qian reminded them helpfully.

The three entered nervously, feeling the whole time that there was a trap, yet stumbling inside in a daze anyway. One of the shorter, skinnier boys even grabbed a water glass and was about to hurl it to the floor, when Rong Qian let slip a breezy remark: “You dare smash anything, I’ll smash you.”

The skinny boy got such a fright that his hand jerked, and the glass slipped. He fumbled frantically and barely caught it.

“You — what exactly do you want?!” The fat one couldn’t withstand this kind of psychological pressure Rong Qian was applying. He broke down and surrendered with a miserable expression.

Rong Qian looked at them coldly, rolled her eyes, and muttered a low curse in Mandarin: “Idiots.”

“Do you even understand what it means to adapt to circumstances and read the situation?” Rong Qian said irritably.

The moment she finished speaking and saw the three of them shaking their heads like rattles, Rong Qian pressed her palm to her forehead in exasperation. She was being foolish herself — Chinese culture was vast and profound; how would these foreigners ever understand?

Rong Qian didn’t bother beating around the bush with them and said bluntly, “Get this into your heads — when you go back, say you completed the mission. Don’t say you saw me. Pretend I don’t exist.”

“If I find out you’ve told anyone about me—” she tapped the baseball bat against her shoulder and gave a cold laugh. “I’ll break your legs.”

A few minutes later.

Rong Qian pulled open the curtain and looked down at the three of them fleeing in a panic. She shook her head in disappointment. How boring — couldn’t they at least put up a bit of resistance and give her a chance to warm up?

At that moment, she suddenly noticed someone down below looking up at her. Quick as a flash, with a swoosh, she yanked the curtain shut!

Only after hiding did Rong Qian let a strange expression cross her face. The person looking up at her from below — why did he seem a little familiar? She felt she’d seen him somewhere before.

Lin Feng had rushed to Number 17 Saint Roe Street after hearing some news. He had thought he arrived too late, but to his surprise he ended up witnessing Joseph’s lackeys bolting out of the building in a panic.

Lin Feng found this odd and looked up — only to discover that behind the window of Shen Yi’s apartment stood a woman!

Lin Feng was thoroughly baffled. Hadn’t Shen Yi been living alone? So why was there a woman in his home?

At eleven o’clock that night, Shen Yi was cycling home when someone intercepted him once again along the way.

The back of his bike was grabbed and held firmly. Shen Yi was forced to stop. His expression was anything but pleasant, and he didn’t even spare the person a glance. “Lin Feng. I’ll say this once — let go.”

Lin Feng, rather than bantering with him as usual, walked around to face him with a serious expression. “Shen Yi, do you live alone?”

“What else?”

“If you live alone, then who is that woman?” Lin Feng was completely deadpan, his expression grave, as though this were a very serious matter.

A flicker of something unusual crossed the depths of Shen Yi’s eyes, but on the surface he remained composed without a trace of change. “What woman?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know? I saw her with my own eyes!”

Shen Yi stayed unruffled and calmly asked, “Where did you see her?”

“This afternoon, I heard that Joseph sent people to your place to cause trouble, so I rushed right over. As a result, I saw those guys running out of the building in a panic — and then I saw a woman in the window of your apartment!” Lin Feng spoke with complete conviction, and the grave look on his face made clear he was not joking.

To his surprise, the moment Shen Yi heard this, his expression shifted. He jumped back on his bicycle and took off!

“Hey! I wasn’t done talking!”

Seeing the flustered look on Shen Yi’s face as he pedaled away in a hurry, Lin Feng couldn’t even get close to catching up — Shen Yi was already far down the road.

“This guy — he can’t actually have a woman stashed away at home, can he?” Lin Feng muttered to himself. Then he recalled how Shen Yi had always been rushing home in the evenings lately, and suddenly felt this possibility was very likely indeed.

Lin Feng was just about to follow after him and get some answers when a Black man came sprinting over, breathless, calling out to him in broken Mandarin: “Lin Feng! Wait!”

Lin Feng turned and found it was his good buddy Jessie. “Why are you running so hard? What happened?”

Jessie had run the whole way and was completely exhausted. He bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. “Thomas found out we’ve been helping Shen Yi multiple times. He had our guys beaten — they’ve all been sent to the hospital, badly hurt. But there’s no money to pay the medical bills, and it’s a real mess right now. Get over there quick!”

“Damn it!” Lin Feng cursed, shoved Jessie out of the way in his fury, and ran.

Jessie was dripping with sweat and heaving for air. “Lin — Lin Feng — wait for me…”