The Ruthless Years

Another busy day at work.

The reserved smile on Bennett's face vanished the moment he got into the car, replaced by a deep weariness, both physical and mental.

His wife called his office today, saying that he hadn't visited her father recently, which made her feel they were being neglected and treated unfairly.

God above, everyone knows in their hearts who is in power, but Bennett can only silently endure it.

The two had a fight—mainly because Bennett listened to his wife's various complaints, then apologized and put up with it.

Promotions within a bank have very stringent requirements; it's not simply a matter of being appreciated and having the ability, especially for important positions like those in the Credit Department.

In such a position, a person may have many minor flaws and may not have much ability, but they must meet two requirements that seem somewhat ridiculous to some, yet are a kind of rule that society tacitly accepts.

First, be cautious.

Second, it has assumed full social responsibility.

The first rule is very straightforward: don't do things that are too risky. But that's not a complete rule. Banks have dedicated risk Evaluation Department that will tell their superiors what foreseeable and unforeseeable consequences their different decisions will bring.

The second point is relatively difficult to understand literally, but its core is very simple: it means having a complete family, including their own family, the family one level above them, and a complete social network.

Federal sociologists and some crime research institutions have reached a conclusion through their study of various cases over the years.

A person with stable family relationships after adulthood is significantly less likely to commit a crime than someone who lacks family relationships, has no marriage or children, and lacks social interaction.

Marriage and family are a form of social responsibility. In a relatively mild and acceptable way, it is a person's responsibility. When people have responsibilities, they will restrain themselves.

In reality, this is a kind of shackle that society imposes on individuals during its development and evolution. It is also the most suitable shackle for modern civilized society. It can trap a person in an invisible net, leaving them powerless to struggle and ultimately making them a part of that net.

Bennett didn't intend to have too much conflict with that woman in the short term. He also saw coming to Sabine City as a turning point in his life. Once he replaced Qiao Geliman, he would consider divorcing his wife.

Anyway, he didn't have much property, so it didn't matter if he gave it all to the other party. He could start a new life from then on.

Thinking about this made him feel a little more invigorated.

As the car drove out of the underground parking garage, several pigeons that had been perched on the trash cans by the sidewalk flapped their wings and flew into the sky.

There are fewer and fewer birds in the city, and they rarely encounter people who will feed them. They have to search for food that is unlikely to appear in the cold winter.

This harsh winter has not only brought cold to people, but has also caused suffering to animals.

Bennett's car slowly came to a stop in the parking lot opposite the Strip Club. He was wearing a stand-up collar trench coat and Wide-brimmed Hat, the brim pulled low. No one noticed him, let alone paid attention to someone entering a strip club.

He had a very strange experience here yesterday, and when he went back and recalled everything, the result was very sad.

He discovered that he couldn't even remember what his first girlfriend looked like. Under the ravages of the merciless bastard that is time, the face that once appeared in his dreams every day had long since faded and become blurred.

The face in his memory, which he could never forget and which was etched into his very being, was now so blurry that it made his heart ache once again.

He once truly believed that this love would never fade in his lifetime, but clearly, he couldn't.

Until... the girl's face gradually replaced that face. He didn't know if it was because he was remembering something, or if the two of them really looked very alike.

Family conflicts and workplace power struggles meant he shouldn't have been visiting this place repeatedly, but he instinctively wanted to see that girl.

After showing his VIP Card, he selected the girl again in the VIP area. The girl had changed her clothes today; it was a pink dress with some small yellow flowers on it.

The moment Bennett saw the girl, he felt a moment of disorientation. In that disorientation, he suddenly recalled a fragment of a past time—a sunny day in late spring or early summer. In his memory, he was chasing the wind, and the wind was chasing a girl; his heart was filled with joy...

Happy times are always short-lived. Satisfied, Bennett took out his wallet, counted out twenty dollars, then paused for a moment, counted out ten more dollars, making a total of thirty dollars, which he put into the girl's hand.

In truth, he could have given the girl more. Deep down, he knew it was nothing more than a transaction of pleasure with money. But whether it was based on his pursuit of some false illusion or his desire to prevent the girl from becoming greedy because of his pity, he restrained himself from giving her more money.

Just as he put the money into the girl's hand, he paused for a moment, noticing the bracelet on her wrist.

It was a very old silver bracelet, some parts of which were severely blackened, but Bennett recognized its origin at a glance.

He grabbed the girl's wrist, but she managed to break free.

The girl's expression was no longer as varied as before. Now, she coldly stuffed the money into her bosom. "Excuse me, sir, the service is over."

She was a completely different person one second ago, and the rapid change was like a bucket of cold water poured over Bennett's head.

Yes, she has completed her service and, according to regulations, she can leave.

Bennett was getting anxious. This bracelet was almost identical to the one he remembered. It was the first thing he had ever bought for a girl with all his spare change. That bracelet held his most beautiful and purest feelings!

He still remembers that on the back of the second four-leaf clover on the bracelet, there were the initials of two names, the initials of his name and the initials of his first love's name.

"Sorry, I startled you..." Bennett explained, his gaze still fixed on the bracelet he increasingly felt was the one he had bought as a gift. "Where did you get your bracelet?"

The girl shook her head. "That's none of your business, sir."

She started packing her things, though there wasn't much to pack. Seeing the girl was about to leave, Bennett excitedly pulled several twenty-dollar bills from her wallet. "Give me another job!"

The girl glanced at Bennett a few more times, then snatched the money and put it away. "If you can't do it, I won't give it back to you."

Bennett sat back down on the sofa. He nodded; the girl wouldn't leave immediately, and he calmed down a bit. "No problem, but you have to answer my questions, because I'm yours..."

The girl rolled her eyes and started her new job. Soon Bennett figured out where the bracelet came from; it was given to her by her mother, and he also saw the initials of the two names.

His calmed heart stirred again. The numerous conflicts within his family made him yearn for the pure and innocent feelings he had felt at the beginning, which had almost become a sacred longing in his heart!

But soon the girl told him a fact he never wanted to know in his life.

"Do you know my mother?" the girl asked, lighting a cigarette after finishing her second job.

Bennett nodded somewhat awkwardly. "Your mother and I used to be good friends."

The girl gave a forced smile, an expression that infuriated Bennett. "I'm not joking, I really do know your mother."

The girl raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Yes, at least half of the ten men you meet near my house will say that..." She seemed to have a good sense of humor, but what she said wasn't very funny. "And they definitely know my mother better than you do."

The silence lasted a long time, then Bennett suddenly said something he shouldn't have, "You shouldn't have done this!"

"You look down on me..." The girl threw the remaining cigarette butt on the ground and began to pack her things. "I know, look at your trench coat, how much did that cost? Three hundred, five hundred? Or a thousand?"

"Eight hundred and eighty dollars," Bennett replied softly.

The girl's disdain and mockery deepened. "Eight hundred and eighty dollars, sir. Do you know how much I need to earn to make that much money?" She spat, her face filled with hatred, and her emotions affected her actions as she packed her things.

She forcefully stuffed the items into her bag, as if throwing them. "I believe this is just one of many items in your closet. What gives you the right to judge me based on your own standards?"

The girl looked up at him and said, "You think I like you...?" She raised her middle finger, cursed him as a son of a bitch, and slammed the door shut as she left.

Before Bennett could realize that what he said was actually more outrageous than some of what he did, a burly man walked in. He looked at Bennett sitting on the sofa and gave him a smile that was anything but comforting.

"Sir, please respect everyone. I don't want to resort to violence, and I believe you don't want to get hurt either. Besides, we won't see each other again, right?"

That night, Bennett couldn't sleep. He didn't fall asleep until very late. He had a very strange dream. The vague memory was merging with another memory. In the dream, he experienced a lot and was extremely tired.

When he opened his eyes at dawn, he made a decision: he would change that girl.