Chapter 2

"Don't rush into making a decision. The rankings just came out. You're first in the province, more than ten points ahead of second place. Tonight—"

"Stir-fried rice noodles and fried shrimp tails, coming right up!" The food stall owner's booming shout interrupted Wang Quan. "That's everything. Enjoy."

Looking at the delicious-looking dinner in front of him, Chi Ning was too hungry to think about anything else.

He sped up, speaking clearly and logically. "Teacher, I know you're worried about me, but I'm really not skipping the competition because the pressure's too much. I just think I'm exhausted right now and want to take better care of myself. By the way, the stir-fried rice noodles at the night market look pretty good. Want me to bring you a portion?"

Wang Quan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "...No need."

Calling Chi Ning rebellious didn't seem right—he was even thinking of bringing his teacher food while he ate. But calling him considerate... this kid had simply decided he didn't want to compete, and that was that.

Chi Ning hummed, hung up, pulled a pair of disposable chopsticks from the bamboo tube beside him, tore off the plastic wrapping, and began wolfing down the noodles.

There didn't seem to be any chili peppers in the stir-fried rice noodles, but every bite was filled with the fragrance of chili oil. After only a few chews, sweat poured down his face.

It was too delicious to waste. Tears streaming down his face, he ate the final bite.

The owner found it amusing. "If you can't handle spicy food, you've got to tell me. I can put in less next time."

Chi Ning handed over two crisp twenty-yuan bills. "I'll definitely remember to say so next time."

Beaming, the owner accepted the money and pointed the student crying from the spice toward a solution. "Near the west gate of the night market, there's a stall selling chilled bayberry juice. The high school student running it has a bad temper, but he makes good stuff. If you really can't take the heat, go buy a couple cups."

"Okay." Chi Ning slung his bag over his shoulder and hurried toward the night market's west gate. But when he got there, he saw no high school student selling bayberry juice.

The area was dead silent. Plastic food containers stained with greasy leftovers lay scattered across the ground. Several pitch-black alleys stretched out from the main road like thin legs growing from a spider's body, horrifying to look at.

A few construction workers squatted on the curb with boxed meals in their hands. They were covered in mud, and their eyes were the only bright things on their faces. As they shoveled food into their mouths, they stared fixedly at Chi Ning.

His guard immediately went up, and he took half a step back.

One of the workers stood up and warned him in heavily accented Mandarin, "Student, just walk around up ahead. The west gate connects to the little market across the street. It's pretty chaotic there. Don't come this way."

"I heard someone here sells bayberry juice," Chi Ning said.

The workers exchanged looks. The one who had warned him seemed like he wanted to say more, but a companion beside him tugged him back. In the end, he said nothing. He only pointed toward the brightly lit area to the east, urging Chi Ning to leave quickly, then headed with the others toward an unfinished building nearby.

Chi Ning let out a breath of relief.

Only then did he realize that Yangcheng in the nineties was different from the civilized city it would become after later reforms and anti-pornography crackdowns.

More than twenty years ago, Yangcheng had yet to become the future foreign trade hub. It was right in the middle of rapid development.

There were more opportunities, but there were also more people making money through shady side businesses and gray-market deals. Going out at night was nowhere near as safe as it would be in the future.

He immediately gave up on the idea of buying an iced drink. Just as he was about to leave, an icy hand grabbed his ankle.

Chi Ning nearly jumped out of his skin. Forcing himself to stay calm, he turned around and met a pair of eyes that shone startlingly bright in the darkness.

He was leaning against the base of a wall beside the alley. He wore a pure black jacket with the collar raised over his chin. There was a cut on his forehead from a sharp weapon, and blood had streamed all over his face.

The hand around Chi Ning's ankle was cold, wet, and sticky. It had probably been soaked through with the man's blood.

Looking around, Chi Ning saw an overturned foam cooler beside the youth. Several plastic bottles inside had burst, spilling purplish-red bayberry juice all over the ground.

Following the trail of bayberry juice, Chi Ning saw the youth's torn pants and the flesh split open along the outside of his thigh.

The wound was horrifying. If it wasn't stitched and stopped in time, he might die here from blood loss.

Chi Ning pulled out his phone and had just dialed 120 when the grip around his ankle tightened again.

Without changing expression, he completed the call. After explaining the situation, he crouched down, swiftly tore open his backpack strap, pulled out the nylon cord inside, and quickly tied it around the other man's upper thigh. Then he raised a hand and patted the youth's cheek. "Hang in there. The ambulance will be here soon. Don't fall asleep."

Qin Heng opened his mouth and drew in a ragged breath. In all his life, this was the first time someone had slapped him. The person in front of him looked like he was about to cry from the sight of blood, so how could he still look so calm?

For some reason, Chi Ning felt the corners of his eyes itch. He raised his arm and used the clean inner side of his sleeve to wipe the eyes that had been made watery by the spice. Casually, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Qin..." The youth's voice came out as little more than breath.

Chi Ning didn't hear him clearly, so he lifted a hand and brushed aside the other man's hair to check the shape of his skull.

There were no dents or bleeding spots. His skull was beautifully shaped—after he died, he would definitely make an excellent cadaver specimen.

After finishing the examination, Chi Ning stared blankly at the wound on the other man's temple.

President Qin, who had pursued him for half his life in his previous life, had the same scar on his temple. That man had said he got it while working part-time at a construction site when he was young. He knew Chi Ning didn't believe him, yet he had refused to say another word.

Thinking of that, Chi Ning's expression dimmed.

He had been too busy with work to date, and he hadn't wanted to hold anyone back. Because of that, he had rejected Qin Heng many times and never gave him a definite answer before he died.

It would have been nice if they could have met earlier in this life. At least they could have become friends sooner.

What had Qin Heng been like when he was young? Everyone said he had changed a great deal. Could it be that he had been ugly as a child?

Chi Ning laughed at his own thought.

The ambulance siren grew louder as it approached. There were too many people at the night market for the vehicle to drive in, so several medical workers carried a stretcher and ran all the way to the alley entrance.

He shifted his numbed legs and only then realized that his foot was still in someone else's hand.

"Let go."

Only after his ankle was released did he notice that the red string tied around it had gotten dirty.

A gold needle-ring charm for warding off evil was threaded onto the red string, hanging right over the protruding ankle bone. The other man had gripped him tightly, and the ring had left a faint red mark on his skin.

Chi Ning didn't want to argue with an injured person, nor did he want to meddle any further. He told the doctor, "I don't know him. I just helped make the call. I'm leaving first."

He was in a hurry to wash his feet. After saying that, he rushed back to the street and hailed a taxi. The moment he got in, the phone in his pocket rang again. This time, two words lit up on the screen—Dad.

"Hello?" Chi Ning answered.

If he wanted to slack off, getting past his parents was a hurdle he had to clear.

The Chi family owned a pharmaceutical company. It had achieved quite a bit in the past and was considered one of Yangcheng's wealthy families. The media watched their every move.

There was already an older brother at home who coasted through life every day. Media tabloids kept stirring up rumors that the Chi family had no successor, and Chongning Biotechnology Company's stock had fallen quite a bit because of it.

Entertainment options were scarce in this era, so gossip newspapers sold extremely well. Those media outlets were practically praying for something else to happen to the Chi family so they could make even more money.

"Where are you?" Chi Baichuan's steady voice entered his ears.

For some reason, Chi Ning's eyes stung. After his older brother died in an accident in his previous life, his parents had been consumed by grief. Both his father and mother had poor health and passed away early. It had been a long time since he had heard his father's voice.

"I'm at the night market," Chi Ning said softly.

"The night market? Why did you go there? Did you go have dinner? What kind of dinner takes this long?"

"Mm... stir-fried rice noodles and fried shrimp tails." Chi Ning awkwardly changed the subject. "Dad, what did you call me for?"

Chi Baichuan laughed as he scolded him. "And you're asking what for? Your homeroom teacher came all the way to the house. Get home quickly."

Chapter 2

"Got it."

Chi Ning hung up, buckled his seat belt, and said to the taxi driver, "West gate of Jiurong Prestige City. Sorry for the trouble, please drive faster. I'm in a hurry."

"Sure thing." The driver stepped on the gas and sped toward the destination.

Chi Ning considered his father's tone over the phone and felt that he didn't seem particularly angry.

But how was that possible?

In his previous life, after his brother skipped school, his father would not only set aside his work to personally go find him, but would even lecture his older brother in public.

In this era, even flip phones had yet to become widespread. Most working-class people could only use PHS phones. The only ways to get information were television and newspapers.

Print media had not yet declined, and cheap entertainment tabloids catered perfectly to everyone's appetite for gossip, relying on low prices and high sales volume.

But celebrities didn't have gossip worth digging up every day. To make money, paparazzi wrote about every wealthy family in Yangcheng.

The entertainment tabloid headline Chi Ning saw most often was, "Chi Family's Eldest Son Caught Street Racing Late at Night, Scolded So Badly by Chairman Chi That He Couldn't Show His Face."

Everyone in Yangcheng who read gossip tabloids knew how strict his father was.

Chi Ning thought about it all the way home but still couldn't understand why his father wasn't angry. He could only run through the possible storm that awaited him at home and consider how to deal with it.

Lying definitely wouldn't work. Maybe he could try arguing with his father like his brother did?

If he acted even more like a bastard, then no one would want him to become the heir, right...?

Chi Ning got out of the taxi, crossed the garden, and reached the front door. He rubbed his face, put on an unruly expression toward the door, and was just about to rehearse his lines when it opened.

Chi Baichuan stood in the doorway. "You're here. Why didn't you come in?"

Looking at his father's young, gentle face, Chi Ning's mind went completely blank.

He hadn't seen his parents for more than a decade. His memories of his father's appearance had long since blurred, while the black-and-white portrait in the ancestral hall remained exceptionally clear.

He couldn't say a single word of what he had prepared. His chest felt painfully swollen with emotion, and all the grievances he had suffered in his previous life suddenly rushed into his nose, making it sting as though he wanted to sneeze.

Unable to stop himself, Chi Ning reached out and wrapped his arms around his father's waist, burying his face against his chest as he choked out, "Dad."

The stern expression on Chi Baichuan's face instantly fell apart. At a loss, he pulled Chi Ning inside. "Did someone wrong you?"

Chi Ning shook his head.