Yan Huan and Yi Ling wasted no time in returning to their apartment. The community they lived in was a quiet place with barely any other occupants, and there were guards watching the gate 24/7. Even if reporters and paparazzi tried to get to Yan Huan, they would not be able to get past the guards. It was the ideal place to live in for peace and privacy.
“I’ll go pick up Little Bean.”
Yi Ling changed into something more presentable and then went to the pet store to bring Little Bean home.
Yan Huan was so tired she did not feel like moving. She sat on the sofa, grabbed a body pillow, shut her eyes, and began to doze off. A while later, she felt something tickle the back of her hand. She groggily opened her eyes and saw that it was Little Bean, licking the back of her hand in between meows.
“Welcome home.” Yan Huan lifted Little Bean into her arms. She rubbed the cat’s tiny pink nose, and then tried to estimate her weight. “Seems like she hasn’t grown.”
“She hasn’t been eating properly,” Yi Ling said sagely as she walked over. She did not seem the least bit tired.
Yi Ling collected Little Bean from Yan Huan’s arms and said, “Huanhuan, get some sleep. I’ll go buy some food for the both of us.”
“Okay.” Yan Huan got to her feet and stretched. She was exhausted. She had planned on watching a bit of TV, but she was so tired now she could barely keep her eyes open. She needed sleep.
Yi Ling played with Little Bean for a while, and then checked Yan Huan’s Weibo. Finally, she left the apartment to buy food and other groceries at the nearby store. She bought a number of cup noodles as well—she had been hit with a sudden craving for cup noodles.
By the time she had finished shopping, the sky had already darkened. There were few people about as she made her way home, but it did not occur to Yi Ling that she might run into a rapist or a mugger.
She had no money and no sex appeal.
She was a tomboy with an armful of cup noodles. Who in their right mind would want to rob her or molest her?
She was therefore absolutely confident that she was safe. Unfortunately for her, nothing was foolproof in this world; as the saying goes: “You will eventually run into ghosts if you keep going out at night.”
She was unlucky this time. She had just returned to her apartment, and already she had bumped into the proverbial “ghost”—a ghost who wanted to mug her.
Yi Ling stared at the man before her as she wondered whether he was possibly suicidal for picking a fight with her. It was a comical situation, as both her hands were laden with two large bags of groceries.
She was furious. She seethed inwardly: How dare you try to mug me? Don’t you know who I am? I was top dog in my orphanage, I started beating up all the other kids when I was just a little girl. Everyone called me “Dugu Qiubai,” after the famous Jin Yong Wuxia character.
“Hand over your money.” The man pointed a knife at Yi Ling, his eyes glazed over with greed.
Yi Ling’s eyes narrowed further.
“Are you trying to rob me, or rape me?” she asked calmly as she set her groceries on the ground. She rotated her wrists and then clasped her hands behind her back as she limbered up.
She had not had a good exercise in a long while. She could not pass up the opportunity for practice, not when her victim had practically offered himself up to her.
“Rape you?!” The thug seemed disgusted by the thought. “Just hand over the money, sissy boy. I’m not into men.”
“Sissy… boy?” Yi Ling lowered her head to look at her sportswear. She had put on thicker clothes because it was winter, which meant she had zero curves to speak of. But she was still a woman, dammit!
She could have let it go if he had merely called her a man. But he had called her a sissy boy.
Goddammit, were his eyes on his ass? How could he not see that she was a woman?
She rolled up her sleeves as she narrowed her eyes at the suicidal buffoon before her. She was going to beat him into a bloody pulp. She swore on her name that not even his mother would be able to recognize him once she was through.
Before she could strike, however, a massive leg shot past her and struck the thug’s hand. Ke-thunk! The thug’s knife dropped to the ground.
Before the thug could react, the leg returned in a ruthless 180-degree round kick to the face.
The mugger collapsed to the ground.
A large man walked over to the mugger and grabbed the man by his hair. The thug was already foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled into the back of his skull. His entire face was as red and swollen as a baboon’s behind.
“You’ve got balls of steel threatening someone with a weapon on my watch,” the large man said. In a flash, he had twisted the poor thug into a human pretzel. How dare he try to commit a crime before the chief of Sea City’s National Security Department?
“Lil guy, are you hurt?” The large man stood and grinned at Yi Ling.
Yi Ling had been about to thank him, but her words of gratitude died in her throat.
“What did you just call me?”
She narrowed her eyes as she asked the man to repeat what he had just said. She hoped that she had misheard him.
“I called you ‘lil guy.’ Why?” The large man smiled cheerily. He was tall and strapping, and had a goofy smile that made him look like an airhead, but Yi Ling knew better. This man was no bumbling goofball; he had a fiery temper, and was obviously powerful enough to nearly cripple a man with just two kicks.
Lil guy?
Yi Ling walked over to the large man and stopped before him. She saw the rugged face under the streetlight, and her pupils immediately dilated.
It was him. The man who had ticked her off the last time.
He had taken her for a man during their previous encounter, and he was now doing it again.
“Oh, it’s you, boy.” Lei Qingyi chuckled heartily when he saw it was Yi Ling. He reached out and slapped Yi Ling on the shoulder with his large hand. “You haven’t grown at all, I see. You still look like a girl. Guys should be like me.” He rolled up his sleeves; it was the middle of winter, but he did not seem bothered by the cold, despite his lack of winter clothing.
He patted the muscles on his arm. “See that? You can’t call yourself a man if you don’t have muscles. How are you going to get a girlfriend if you look like a naked chicken?”
He thumped himself on the chest. “A man should have a thick, powerful chest with solid pecs.” He flexed his chest muscles. “Look at these. But it’s okay, not everyone can have muscles like these, I know.”
He squeezed Yi Ling’s shoulder. “What a thin shoulder. I can probably crush it with my bare hands!”
Before Yi Ling could react, Lei Qingyi had already reached out and thumped her on her chest. He paused, confused.
“Lil guy, I see you have pecs. But they’re kind of soft.” He squeezed her chest with the first three fingers of his hand. It took him a moment to realize that something was off.
“Hey, why’s your chest all swollen, bro?”
Yi Ling looked down and stared at the hairy hand on her chest. A few seconds ticked by before she finally registered what was happening.
