“Shh!”

Rong Qian made a hushing gesture at them, sneaky, and signaled for them to lower their heads and come closer, telling them not to make noise.

The two drunk men, not understanding what Rong Qian was up to, were just delighted to see a beautiful woman leaning toward them, and foolishly grinning, they leaned their heads down.

“Let me tell you a secret,” Rong Qian whispered to them.

The three of them huddled together, like accomplices plotting something.

The two men, dazed, perked up immediately at the mention of a secret and couldn’t wait to ask, “What secret?”

“That is—” Rong Qian’s hands slowly reached toward the back of both men’s heads, the corners of her mouth curving into a sly smile, “—you’re both about to die!”

Then, gripping both their heads, she slammed them together face-to-face with full force!

“Ah!”

The men’s screams of pain echoed through the alley, causing Shen Yi’s footsteps to pause, and at the same time drawing the attention of both Lin Jie and Shen Fengran in the car. The two of them turned to look and saw Shen Yi standing not far from them.

The moment Lin Jie saw Shen Yi, he panicked, hurriedly throwing the cigarette he held onto the ground. He fumbled and stomped on it several times, then kicked it under the car.

Seeing Shen Yi, Shen Fengran’s lips curved into a mocking smile, looking every bit the spoiled young master. Once Shen Yi walked over, he said with a wicked grin, “Well, isn’t this my good brother Shen Yi? What, are you doing a bed-check in the middle of the night?”

Shen Yi glanced at him, his gaze landing on Lin Jie, who had his head lowered, not daring to look up at him.

“Lin Jie, what are you afraid of? Tell your big brother Shen here what you’ve been up to with me,” Shen Fengran said, stirring the pot from the side.

Lin Jie clutched at his pant legs nervously, head still lowered, not daring to meet Shen Yi’s eyes.

“Let’s go.” Shen Yi, however, didn’t say much else, patting his shoulder to signal him to follow.

Seeing Shen Yi about to leave just like that, without giving him a single proper glance the whole time, Shen Fengran’s face darkened. He said coldly, “Shen Yi, are you treating me as if I don’t exist?”

“Or is it that you’re afraid of something?”

Shen Fengran stared at his retreating figure, certain that hearing this, Shen Yi would definitely stop in his tracks.

Sure enough, Shen Yi stopped. He turned around, and the look in his eyes as he gazed at Shen Fengran was so indifferent and ice-cold.

Shen Fengran swallowed unconsciously. He had to admit, in front of this half-brother of his, he instinctively felt a sense of inferiority.

“Stay away from him. Don’t go near him.” Shen Yi’s tone carried no warmth at all, his cold gaze like a sharp blade, stabbing ruthlessly into Shen Fengran’s heart. “And another thing—stop imitating me.”

He hadn’t said a single hurtful word, nor had he looked at Shen Fengran with that kind of contemptuous gaze, yet Shen Fengran felt that every word he’d said was brimming with disgust toward him.

He glanced down at the white shirt he was wearing, then looked at Shen Yi—he, too, was wearing a white shirt, but his was so clean and pristine, spotless, gentle as jade, with an air of refined elegance.

Looking back at himself, by comparison, he felt out of place, like garbage!

As the saying goes, the gentler a person is, the better they know how to hurt others—and that saying truly wasn’t wrong.

Shen Fengran let out a self-mocking, cold laugh. No matter how he looked at it, he felt disgusting and filthy.

Watching Shen Yi walk away with Lin Jie, Shen Fengran picked up a can of beer and took a swig, saying impatiently, “Did those two fall into a cesspit or something? They’ve been gone this long and still haven’t come back?”

Shen Fengran waited for quite a while before the two men finally staggered and stumbled back toward him.

Just as Shen Fengran was about to start cursing them out, he saw their bruised and swollen faces and his expression darkened. He demanded, “What happened?”

“We got beaten up by a woman…” one of the men said, his voice lacking confidence.

Shen Fengran let out a derisive snort. “Where is she now?”

“She left—she went off following Lin Jie, and another man wearing a black baseball cap.”

Shen Fengran’s hand, holding the beer, paused. Following Shen Yi? Could it be—that woman?

“A’Qian, are you alright?”

Meanwhile, Shen Yi and Rong Qian were walking back together, and recalling the scene from earlier, Shen Yi still asked her with concern.

Rong Qian smiled and said, “What could happen to me? Those two were so drunk, after I gave them a good lesson, they’re lying on the ground playing dead.”

“They… they’re Shen Fengran’s men…”

Lin Jie, walking behind them, said this in a low voice. Upon hearing it, both Rong Qian and Shen Yi stopped in their tracks.

The two exchanged a glance, and it was Shen Yi who said, “We’ll talk about it once we’re back.”

“Mm.”

After returning, Shen Yi went to talk to Lin Jie.

Shen Yi gave him a final ultimatum: if he wanted to ruin his own life, then he could leave right now, and from then on, Shen Yi would no longer care what happened to him.

These words truly frightened Lin Jie. He quickly swore and promised that he would never associate with Shen Fengran again, and that he would study hard from now on, not letting down Shen Yi’s investment in him.

How much of this Shen Yi believed, no one could say—but in any case, Shen Yi let him return to his room.

Once Lin Jie left, Rong Qian went into Shen Yi’s room, and the first thing she asked was, “Is there still hope for him?”

Shen Yi’s brows furrowed slightly. “If he’s willing to listen to me, there’s still hope for him. If not, he’ll become a menace threatening society’s safety.”

Rong Qian said thoughtfully, “I think he listens to you quite a bit, so he should still have hope.”

“Perhaps,” Shen Yi said with a faint smile, not giving a definite answer.

Setting aside Lin Jie’s matter for now, regarding Shen Fengran, Rong Qian was quite curious about one thing. “I heard everything you two said just now—does that Shen Fengran really admire you that much?”

Because of admiration, came imitation.

“He’s a madman,” was all Shen Yi said.

Rong Qian froze. A madman? Had something happened between him and Shen Fengran before?

Rong Qian could sense it—whenever the topic of Shen Fengran came up, Shen Yi’s entire expression turned off. Something must have happened between them!