Page 24

Qiao Xin shoved his friend away and sat down, annoyed. "Don't joke around. I'm much younger than her."

"What's wrong with being younger? She's so pretty; a few years older is worth it." His friend grinned and leaned in. "Hey, you're the heir of the Qiao Corporation. What woman can't you handle?"

"Shut up," Qiao Xin said, only to feel a tap on his back. He turned just in time to meet Chu Yuening's gaze. He sprang to his feet, assuming she had overheard them. Blushing, he apologized, "Sorry, don't listen to their nonsense."

Chu Yuening was curious. "What?"

She then directed her gaze at the other two boys, tilting her head.

"What can't I hear?"

The two boys quickly waved their hands. "N-nothing, we didn't say anything."

"Oh," Chu Yuening said, placing the change of over seventy dollars on Qiao Xin's desk. "Three desserts total 28; you didn't need to give me a hundred."

"It's the tip," Qiao Xin explained. "I usually give one at restaurants..."

He had intended to say 'to the waiter', but remembering that Chu Yuening was the boss, Hong Kong... did people here really not have the habit of tipping the boss?

"No need, I only sell sugary drinks, no tips required." Chu Yuening carried the peach blossom pot and couldn't help but inquire, "By the way, where's your cafeteria?"

Qiao Xing pointed in a direction, curious, "You're going to our cafeteria?"

"Indeed." Chu Yuening gazed at the peach blossom in her arms and gave a meaningful smile. "I still have something else to attend to."

The staff dormitories of the cafeteria were located behind the school, a row of low-rise houses connected together.

"Arong, hurry up with your work later, don't delay the students' lunch," a colleague called out to Li Zhirong as he saw him heading towards the dorms, worried that he would be late again like last time.

Li Zhirong irritably halted his steps. "So annoying, I don't need you to tell me!"

The colleague continued to nag, "You don't need me to tell you, right? You're in charge of serving the dishes. Last time, you were so busy that your feet barely touched the ground. Everyone thought you had already set up, but it was one o'clock before the principal rushed over, wondering why lunch wasn't served."

Li Zhirong, like a firecracker with a lit fuse, flared up, his expression turning menacing. "I've told you, I don't need you to bother me! If you keep babbling, I'll kill you!"

Startled, the colleague took a few steps back and clamped his mouth shut, trembling with fear.

Li Zhirong reached the house, pulled out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door.

The shack was tiny, packed to the brim with tools and debris. Upon opening the door, one would be greeted by a disheveled bed, its surroundings littered with boxes of medication for chronic bronchitis.

Without a word, Li Zhirong stepped into the room. He pulled aside the curtain to the bathroom and pushed aside a large, white, one-meter-tall bucket that was placed on the floor. Beneath it revealed a metal plate with a pull ring.

Lifting the iron plate, he fished out a rusted flashlight from the ground, switched it on by extending it forward, and descended the stairs, the beam of light guiding his way.

In the confined space, only Li Zhirong's labored breathing echoed, until, after a stretch of walking, a glimmer of light appeared.

In the center of the room stood an iron platform, atop which lay a female corpse. Li Zhirong regarded her with an obsessive gaze. Upon noticing the bruises on the woman's body, his eyes took on a frenzied glint as he seized the corpse and shook it violently.

"Why, why are all you women so despicable? My wife, and now you! I'm just a menial worker in the canteen, of such lowly status, yet you still throw yourselves at me?"

His frenzied episode subsided.

Li Zhirong regained a semblance of lucidity for a couple of minutes. He released his grip, collapsing to the ground as the flashlight tumbled away. With both hands cupping his face, he wept bitterly.

"Why? Why must you be so cheap? If you hadn't thrown yourselves at me, none of this would've happened! It doesn't matter, once I kill Su Yinyin, you won't dare to be so cheap anymore, you won't dare to casually seduce men..."

"Su Yinyin's life, you won't have the audacity to take it twice."

Outside the cellar, a crisp sound echoed.

Li Zhirong froze, then slowly lifted his head.

As the dim light and shadows advanced, the girl entered, cradling a pot of peach blossoms. Her lychee eyes sparkled with a subtle chill, while her long hair was adorned with a triangular headscarf at the forehead, from which a tuft of bangs escaped to rest gently beside a tiny mole on her nasal bridge.

Li Zhirong rose from the ground, his eyes fixated on the potted peach blossom. His expression gradually turned frenzied. "Why is this peach blossom here?"

The tone carried a hint of nonchalance.

"Do you mean this peach blossom, nurtured by dark arts with blood, which remains in bloom through all seasons, specifically intended to lure spirits?"

Chu Yuening raised an eyebrow, gave the peach blossom a glance, and then tossed it back, "Here, it's yours again."

Plum blossoms traced a curve in the sky.

With palpable anxiety, Li Zhirong cradled it tenderly, hastily checking for any damage.

After a while, a low, rough breath echoed through the empty tunnel.

"Does she know everything now?"

"Mrs. Li?"

Chu Yuening recalled the early morning when Mrs. Li had knocked on her door before dawn, clutching a pot of peach blossoms. The poor woman's eyes were bruised, her lips pale, and she trembled in fear.

"Ning Ning, it's Arong, really Arong."

"I may not be his biological mother, but I raised him from childhood. Why would he do this to me?"

Chu Yuening conveyed her words.

"Why?" Li Zhirong couldn't suppress a laugh, quickly covering his mouth, yet still chuckling. "She doesn't know why? That's ridiculous. All women are the same, even if she's his mother. I caught her on a blind date, she was laughing so happily, just like those girls who try to seduce me. Since she enjoys blind dates so much, let me, as her son, fulfill her wish."

"Not killing her myself is already my greatest gratitude for raising me."

"And she adopted another child? One is enough with me, why did she adopt another?" Li Zhirong sneered. "She used to say that all the family assets would be mine. How does she plan to divide them between two sons? I hate being deceived the most, so she might as well just die."

Upon hearing this, Chu Yuening commented, "Even her smile is a problem? A smile is seducing you? You truly are twisted."