Chapter 596 Extra – Su Jiao

Chapter 596 Extra — Su Jiao

"Su Jiao, are you done yet? Quit dawdling and hurry up!"

A slouching, bleach-blonde punk leaned against the door, yelling at the woman inside.

Su Jiao pasted on a fake smile. "Got it, Brother Fei."

She wore revealing clothes, her face caked in heavy makeup, her whole body screaming exhaustion.

Years ago, she had stolen money from home and boarded a train heading south.

No sooner had she gotten on the train than her luggage disappeared. By the time she disembarked, pickpockets had stripped her clean—she had nothing left.

Standing helplessly in the crowd after getting off the train, she had no idea what to do.

A kind-hearted older woman offered to introduce her to a job. With no other options, she reluctantly followed her.

She was then taken to a shabby workshop out in the boonies. Her job was to plunge her hands into boiling pots for processing.

After just a month, her hands were blistered, bleeding messes. She couldn’t leave—but luckily, she was young and pretty.

She seduced one of the security guards running security at the workshop and became his mistress, finally escaping that airless, sweatbox hellhole.

And that was when she realized—the outside world was nothing like home.

The security captain had a wife and kids at home. Outside that little workshop, where he held absolute authority, he was a nobody.

She refused to resign herself to staying with him. She wanted to leave, but she had no money, no connections, nowhere to go. So she had no choice but to cling to him.

Fortunately, the security captain doted on her for a few years and was generous.

Finally, when she had saved up a few hundred yuan, she sweet-talked him into taking her to buy a pair of gold earrings. She rode his motorcycle from the outskirts into the city.

Then, pretending she needed the bathroom, she slipped out the back door of the mall and ran like hell, losing herself in crowds, too terrified to look back or stop.

What came next was pure hell. She took on all kinds of jobs—shampoo girl, dishwasher, waitress. Soon, the city started cracking down on temporary residence permits. They were too expensive—a month's pay down the drain. She couldn’t bear it, so she hid and dodged the authorities.

When she met the two-bit hood Brother Fei, her life finally improved a little. He was the second man she ever loved, after Lu Jin'an.

He treated her to food, drinks, and fun, tearing through the streets with her on his motorcycle, taking her to see the ocean—making her feel human again.

But like Lu Jin'an, once he had her, he stopped caring. Her good days lasted only a few months. Brother Fei went from hitting her to bringing other women into her rented room, even forcing her to work at a hotel.

Yes—the kind with hourly rates.

Among Brother Fei’s crowd, this was common. Many gangsters’ girlfriends turned tricks at night. Their men pimped off their girls, not only unbothered by it but even helping to find clients.

They passed their girls around like joints—sometimes even sharing them.

She refused at first, but Brother Fei was far harder to deal with than the security captain. She had no choice but to comply.

She tried running away several times but got caught and got the shit beat out of her. At night, they’d drop her off at no-tell motels, posted up outside till her time was up to take her back.

Sometimes, Brother Fei and his crew would go out "hustling"—stealing, scamming, doing drive-by snatches. She knew that if things kept going this way, she’d never crawl out of this hole.

No—by now, she couldn’t even picture better. All she wanted was a normal fucking life.

She wanted to go home. …

A beat-up van was parked outside the rundown hotel.

Su Jiao followed a few sisters out of the car and walked up the dimly lit stairwell toward the upper floor.

Ah Fei and his crew kept watch downstairs.

Tonight's client was a simple and honest man, unlike those who would grope her the moment they entered. He was so restrained he didn’t know what to do, blushing as he said he had been dragged here by friends to "see the world."

Like others before him, he was curious about why Su Jiao was in this line of work. And like every time, Su Jiao made up a sob story for herself—always one of helplessness.

"Do you want to run away?" he suddenly asked.

Su Jiao froze.

"I can’t. Heh, they've got lookouts at both ends of the alley," she laughed, but her gaze fixed intently on him.

"I’m willing to help you."

"Why would you help me?"

"You’re too good for this. I can see you hate it.

You know, in my hometown, how they judge if a man's worth anything is whether he has a woman."

He began telling his story, saying his name was Xu Yan.

As a child, he was the so-called "good kid," but as he grew up, most people’s judgment of a man seemed to hinge solely on whether he could find a partner.

At 20, without a girlfriend, every aunt and busybody nagged him, "It’s time to find someone, or all the good ones will be taken."

At 23, still single, relatives and friends started hinting, "Don’t aim too high. Lower your standards. Women are all alike in the dark anyway. Build a career, start a family—hurry up and marry a wife to take care of your parents, give them a grandson, and their lives will be complete."

By 25, unmarried, the whispers had started, "Look at him, no prospects at all. At his age, not even a girlfriend. Probably die alone."

"Right, look at his face—already balding, not tall, average looks. It’ll only get harder. That kid from the XX family? Had a girlfriend at 19, and now she’s pregnant. Now that’s a real man."

They gossiped about him with disdain, as if everyone was concerned for him, for his own good. Their "helpful" advice only made him feel worthless.

Xu Yan said he was just an ordinary man, unable to escape his environment. Everything around him influenced him. He began avoiding going out, skipping family gatherings, shunning friendships, even speaking less. Every New Year, he forced himself to attend reunions but sat silently in a corner.

He wanted to flee, but his parents and family kept him trapped in his world, miserable. The pressure grew heavier each day, especially now that his parents sighed in disappointment in front of him.

Despite being honest, polite, hardworking, didn't drink or gamble, and even handing half his salary to his family, he might as well be trash—because he wasn’t married.

No woman? No worth. Meant he was a loser.

Though he refused to admit it inwardly, he stopped fighting back. With everyone saying the same thing, he slowly started believing it too. He was a failure, a man with no prospects.

Wherever he appeared among relatives, friends, or acquaintances, he was the punchline.

When people mentioned him, they'd say, sneering, "Oh, Xu Yan? Yeah, seemed alright as a kid, but turned out useless. Can't even get laid."

Su Jiao listened quietly. "No, no, they’re wrong. Since when does getting laid make you a man?"

Xu Yan seemed to have found someone who finally understood. "You think so too? Really? I’m not... worthless?"

"No, you’re not!" Su Jiao didn't blink.

Xu Yan stared at his hands for a long moment before his voice barely audible, "Run away. I understand how you feel, your situation...."

A glimmer of hope flashed in Su Jiao's eyes. "You're willing to help me?"

"Yeah, I'll help you." He wasn’t some pushover.

She didn’t know if he was telling the truth, but she desperately needed to grasp this lifeline.

Things unfolded naturally between them. Xu Yan’s gaze softened—he’d become a man. He left, saying he’d return the next day.

To her surprise, Su Jiao caught herself anticipating it. The next day, Xu Yan indeed came back. He tugged out a 1-liter water bottle from his bag and smiled at her. "*Oil*," he said.

Su Jiao’s eyes lit up. "You mean... burn the place down?"

"Yeah, set a fire."

They poured the oil onto the bed and blankets, and soon flames erupted, choking the air with smoke. The hotel plunged into chaos—screams, panic, the works. Su Jiao followed Xu Yan, merging with the stampeding crowd as they rushed outside.

The parked cars below didn’t just belong to Brother Fei and his gang; many were there dropping off girlfriends for work. Everyone scrambled to find their women, shouts filling the air—pure bedlam.

"Quick, step on my shoulders and climb up!" Xu Yan led Su Jiao to a wall and crouched down.

No time to overthink it, she stepped onto his shoulders and scaled the wall.

"Su Jiao! Don’t run! Stop!" A shout ripped through the air—Brother Fei’s gang.

Su Jiao didn’t dare pause, swiftly pulling herself over the wall.

Xu Yan looked up. "Pull me up!"

Su Jiao glanced back at Brother Fei’s gang closing in. She couldn’t face Xu Yan. Without a second thought, she jumped off the other side of the wall.

Through the wall, Xu Yan’s screams followed her. No stopping, no glancing back—just run.

She hid, too scared to even call the cops. She didn’t dare emerge, unsure if Brother Fei’s men were searching for her.

On the third day, she caught whispers—a murder in North Lane. Thinking of the man named Xu Yan, her fingers trembled. With a murder case, Brother Fei and his gang probably had no time to look for her.

Seizing the chance, she fled the city. After nearly ten years away from home, she returned to City A—but there was no home left, no family.

Like a wandering ghost, she drifted without belonging. Eventually, she headed south, hearing that Su Lei had gone there.

She wanted to see if she could find him.

She took a job selling clothes, and her life finally settled into a quiet rhythm. Only occasionally, when she remembered Xu Yan, guilt gnawed at her.

Survival first—fear had ruled her.

Two years passed quickly. She lived in a cheap rental, ate budget stir-fried noodles, and kowtowed to fussy customers. Her heart was hollow, her gaze vacant. Slowly, she grew accustomed to this life.

After work, exhausted, she stepped out onto the street and approached a motorcycle taxi driver. "Xinxin Apartments—how much?"

"Eight kuai, gorgeous."

Su Jiao glanced up—her blood turned to ice. Her voice cracked. "Xu... Xu Yan?"

END