Chen Jin had begun returning to the villa every night, always before dusk. Each time he stepped inside and saw Lin Wan—immobilized, curled up pitifully on the couch, watching some ancient black-and-white film on the old-school movie channel—something like pity stirred in him. He asked whether she wanted anything.
She blinked at him and asked, "Can you give me my phone back?"
He refused without hesitation. "That's the rule."
Lin Wan turned her head away and stopped acknowledging him altogether.
Chen Jin leaned closer, saying, "Tomorrow I'll take you to the hospital for a checkup. You really scared me that day—you were talking nonsense. What if you frightened yourself sick…"
A chill ran down her spine. "What did I say?" she asked warily.
He thought for a moment before muttering, "Nothing much. Your expression just wasn't right… the way you looked at me, like I was about to devour you."
Lin Wan shot him a glance and let out a cold snort. Something awkward flickered across his face before he stiffened and said, "I did go a little far that day, but you drove me mad at first. I told you not to drink. You never listen. A woman staggering around drunk all the time—what does that look like?"
"I'm fine. I don't need a hospital," she mumbled.
Chen Jin insisted again and again. But compared to stubbornness, Lin Wan was no pushover—and this time, he didn't force it to the extreme the way he used to. He knew she'd always hated hospitals. Maybe she'd only been frightened and lost control for a moment that day; perhaps there wasn't anything truly wrong. So under her fierce resistance, the trip to the hospital was quietly dropped.
The next morning, a large box of items arrived. When Lin Wan opened it, she was stunned by how packed it was. A brand-new PSP. A stack of idol-drama DVDs. The complete collection of Stefanie Sun's CDs. A pile of colorful magazines. Everything except her phone and laptop.
Depressed, she tossed the DVDs back into the box with a clatter. A moment later she dug them out again and checked them one by one—they were all she had to get through the coming days. Finally, she stroked the cover of My Desired Happiness with a sigh, then slid the Kite into the sound system. She listened to it one track after another, looping endlessly. The entire day slipped by that way.
That night, Chen Jin still wrapped himself around her, kissing and caressing her. The touches made her unbearably ticklish, but whenever she moved even slightly, he snapped that if she dared squirm again he'd "deal with her." Terrified, she went rigid like a corpse. Then he complained that she was too tense, that she felt like a piece of wood. And she thought, If only I really were a piece of wood—then you'd have no interest in me at all.
That afternoon, while she was numbly watching a Taiwanese drama, Aunt Zhou told her there were visitors asking for her. Her heart skipped. Could Milan have found this place? She'd been missing for half a month; surely someone must have reported her disappearance by now.
She steadied herself on the railing and hobbled down the stairs—and saw two impeccably dressed men sitting on the living-room sofa. One was Fang Zheng. The other, surprisingly, was Tan Xizhe.
She stared, utterly confused. What kind of combination is this?
Fang Zheng's jaw dropped as he watched her descend like a wounded ballerina. "Lin Wan, what kind of martial-arts training is that supposed to be?"
Lin Wan gave them a small smile in greeting. "I stepped on broken glass," she explained.
Tan Xizhe clearly didn't buy it. He arched a brow. "Both feet? Don't tell me Chen Jin held the glass to you."
"Oh come on," Fang Zheng protested, bristling. "Don't make my buddy sound like some medieval torturer."
Tan Xizhe snorted. "If he isn't one, why is Lin Wan here?"
"Tch. Let the couple fight however they want—none of your business."
The two were getting more outrageous by the second. Lin Wan coughed lightly and asked, puzzled, "Why did you two come together?"
"Oh, like this." Tan Xizhe slung an arm over Fang Zheng's shoulder in an overly familiar pose and grinned. "Let me introduce him—this is my cousin."
Her gaze drifted between the two faces. Come to think of it, they did look somewhat alike—both fair-skinned.
Fang Zheng slapped Tan Xizhe's hand away with mild disgust. "Don't look at us like that. We're nothing alike. I'm human; he's an妖—different species entirely."
"Enough, enough. Go stand in a corner somewhere." Tan Xizhe waved him off like a fly.
"Aha, see this, Lin Wan? This is how the demon folk operate. Classic burn-the-bridge behavior. Without me, he couldn't have taken one step in here. Whatever. I won't argue. Best keep my distance, so I don't catch any妖气," Fang Zheng muttered as he wandered out the door.
Lin Wan watched him disappear, then turned to Tan Xizhe. "What was that all about?"
He shrugged with a rueful smile. "Our little operation failed. We were afraid you'd be sentenced to death here. He must've given you a hard time, right?"
"Just lost my freedom, that's all," she said with a shrug.
"That foot really has nothing to do with him?" Tan Xizhe still couldn't let it go.
Lin Wan thought about it—it was technically related to Chen Jin, but she had stepped on the glass herself. So she simply told the truth. "I did it accidentally."
"He smashed something in anger, didn't he?"
Lin Wan nodded.
Just then, Fang Zheng came charging back in, shouting in dismay, "Where did they all go?!"
Lin Wan blinked. "What's gone?"
"The wine! I wanted to sneak a couple of bottles." Then his eyes brightened. "I got it! Jin must've changed the hiding spot, right? That guy's too sly. Hey, Lin Wan, we're friends… right?"
She lowered her gaze to her injured feet. "He smashed them."
"What?" Fang Zheng didn't hear clearly. "Say that again?"
But Tan Xizhe heard—and his eyes drifted to her feet, suspicion deepening.
"Hey hey hey, why are you two staring at her feet? I'm talking about the wine! Chop-chop! Opportunities like this are rare. That guy's a tightwad—it's hard to get anything off him."
"There's none left. He smashed them all," Lin Wan said helplessly. She hadn't even noticed how many bottles he'd broken that day—she'd been too terrified at the time. But afterward she saw the empty rack; clearly everything had been destroyed.
"What?" Fang Zheng's eyes nearly popped out. "No way! He smashed my bottle too?!"
"Yours?" the other two echoed, baffled.
"Yeah! A distant relative asked Jin for a favor and gave him a good bottle in return. Auction house stuff. Worth hundreds of thousands…"
"And how did it become yours?" Tan Xizhe asked dryly.