You're not Hua Jian

Xue Pan huddled in a corner, silently staring down at his feet.

The dozen or so men around him were notorious thugs from the area around Imperial University.

Xue Pan had been unlucky this time. He had bought some "obedience drops" from a gang leader called Brother Hang, but after the transaction was settled, Brother Yu had tracked him down today.

Brother Hang had lost an internal struggle in their little gang, and Brother Yu had taken over his business.

Xue Pan knew Brother Pengyu was making an example of him, showing everyone who did business with Brother Hang what would happen to them.

After all, an outsider with no connections was the easiest target.

Of course he resented it, but this time he faced more than a dozen men accustomed to vicious fights, and they were all armed.

In the end, he hadn't escaped. They had beaten him into this pathetic state instead.

As for selling Hua Jian out, Xue Pan hadn't given it a second thought.

A mere ten thousand yuan was nothing to that free-spending young master.

With Hua Jian's timid, trouble-averse personality, he should have rushed over as soon as he received Brother Pengyu's message.

But that "soon" had stretched until dusk, and he still hadn't appeared.

"Fuck, kid, are you screwing with me? Some rich young master who'd come running with a little scare? Are you fucking trying to pull something?"

Brother Pengyu ground out his unfinished cigarette and viciously kicked Xue Pan.

When they failed to get any money, his lackeys gave Xue Pan another brutal beating, took his phone and watch, then spat at him before leaving.

The kid was an Imperial University student, after all. Pengyu was only a petty thug doing a little black-market business, and he didn't want things getting out of hand.

Xue Pan had grown up at the bottom of society. Punches and kicks like these were nothing new.

Once the footsteps faded, he frowned and sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth.

Suddenly, an amused voice rang out.

"Hey, man. Looking pretty rough."

Xue Pan froze. He looked up to see a pair of long legs, and their owner crouched straight down in front of him.

"You're..."

Hua Jian scoffed. "Did those thugs knock you stupid?"

"Hua Jian?"

Xue Pan struggled to open his swollen, bruised eyes wide enough to get a good look at the man before him.

This man was nothing like the Hua Jian he knew, who wore black-framed glasses and always shrank into the shadows.

"You're not Hua Jian."

Something stirred in Hua Jian's mind. He raised an eyebrow. "If I'm not, are you? You were trying to screw me over just now, but I'm generous enough to forgive you. I'm even planning to put you onto a money-making opportunity. It's up to you whether you take it."

Xue Pan gave a derisive laugh. "What, get a part-time job at a bar like you?"

A name badge bearing the words "UP Bar" was pinned to Hua Jian's white shirt.

He ignored Xue Pan's mockery and stood up.

Xue Pan had sat in the same position so long that his whole body had gone numb. He shifted, enduring the pain.

Just then, Hua Jian nudged his leg with his foot, hitting the injury on his thigh.

The pain made Xue Pan instinctively grab Hua Jian's foot before he could draw it back. "What the fuck are you trying to do?"

The ankle in his hand was slender but strong, unmistakably a man's.

An odd feeling flickered through Xue Pan, but before he could react, Hua Jian tugged his foot free. "Looks like you're not crippled yet."

If he hadn't remembered a few plot points from the original novel, he would still have been mixing drinks at UP, not coming all the way to Baoning Street several kilometers away to check whether Xue Pan was dead.

"I remembered you're pretty good at racing. If you want to make money, get your arms and legs healed up."

Xue Pan abruptly looked up at Hua Jian. "How did you know I can race? I haven't raced once since I came to the capital. How did you know?"

"I've got Doraemon, all right?" Hua Jian irritably checked the time. "I've got things to do. I'll call you tomorrow."

Something suddenly occurred to Xue Pan, and he said sheepishly, "Those bastards took my phone."

Hua Jian took a deep breath. In other words, he had no phone and no money to buy one.

He suddenly regretted coming here.

"Forget it. I don't have time for you right now. Tomorrow at one in the afternoon, there's a café on the street up ahead. I'll wait for you there."

With that, the tall man swept out of the filthy, dim alley like a gust of wind.

Ten minutes later, Hua Jian returned to UP.

"Jian, you're finally back! Hurry, the customers are all waiting for your cocktails."

"Coming!"

Hua Jian plunged into work and soon put Xue Pan out of his mind.

That night, customers opened six bottles of liquor on Hua Jian's account.

The disgust he felt at those men making eyes at him wouldn't go away.

Making money was about as easy as swallowing shit.

The only good news was that nobody started trouble or got into a fight in the bar that night.

After a tense but uneventful shift, he clocked out at eleven sharp. Hua Jian had just stepped out of UP when someone called to him.

"Hua Jian."

Hua Jian turned toward the voice. "Xue Pan? What are you doing here?"

Leaning against the corner of the alley outside was Xue Pan, covered in injuries.

"I've got nowhere to stay tonight. I'll spend the night at your place."

"Hah. Listen to you ordering me around. Why should I let you stay in my apartment? Are you nuts?"

Hua Jian's patience ran out, and he turned to leave.

"Don't you want me to race for you anymore?"

"Race or don't. I don't care."

At those words, the last glimmer of light in Xue Pan's eyes vanished.

He didn't get along with his roommates.

If they saw how badly he was injured, they would definitely report him to the dorm supervisor, or even their counselor.

Then the matter of the "obedience drops" might come out too.

Unbelievable. Looking like he's about to cry, like some woman.

That was Hua Jian!

Xue Pan snapped his head up. Hua Jian hadn't opened his mouth at all. He stood before him, looking him up and down with disgust.

"You..."

At least he's still alive. Fine, I'll call it an investment.

...How was he talking without moving his mouth?

"Let's get this straight. I'll let you stay one night and lend you some money, but you'll have to write me an IOU for all of it. Once you've made some money, you'll pay me back with interest. And you're never touching those 'obedience drops' again!"

"Okay, but you..."

Hua Jian scratched his head and said impatiently, "No buts. Get moving. With you looking like that, everyone who passes is going to stare."

On the way, Xue Pan kept glancing curiously at Hua Jian.

Never mind how completely different his personality was from before-what was going on with those words he'd heard just now?

Now that I've saved Xue Pan, the scene where Shu Yao finds him tomorrow morning won't happen. That means he won't offend Cui Zhao over Shu Yao. But if he doesn't offend Cui Zhao, how will Xue Pan's biological father notice him?

Xue Pan jerked his gaze up. What biological father?

At this point, Xue Pan's biological father hasn't handed all his power over to Cui Zhao yet. If Xue Pan goes to reunite with his family now, could that prevent what happens later?

No, no. Cui Zhao is ruthless. If he catches even a hint of it, ten Xue Pans wouldn't be enough for him to kill.

Ugh, what kind of life is this? I've got so much to worry about!

Dazed, Xue Pan wondered whether he was hallucinating.

What nonsense was Hua Jian spouting?

He was an orphan who had grown up in an orphanage, with neither a father nor a mother. The director had told him he'd been abandoned at the orphanage gates. Hah. He'd always assumed his biological parents had died long ago.

And who was Cui Zhao, anyway?

When Xue Pan woke again, he lay on something so soft and comfortable that he didn't want to move, but the pain in his body quickly brought him to his senses.

As the events of the previous night slowly came back to him, his eyes widened at the sight of the clean, neatly furnished room. He rolled out of bed, pushed the door open through the pain, and called, "Hua Jian..."

Xue Pan hadn't seen anything like this in a long time: a bright living room and steaming food on the table. Warm, yet unreal.

"You're awake." Hua Jian set a bowl on the table and spared Xue Pan a glance. "There's a disposable toothbrush in the bathroom."

A lit cigarette hung from his mouth. As he spoke, the white smoke made him narrow his eyes, somehow lending him a certain sensuality.

Xue Pan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Hurry up. I've got to go to my part-time job soon. You can't stay here."

Hua Jian's impatient voice snapped Xue Pan out of it.

After a long while, Xue Pan asked, "You smoke?"