Beside them, Shen Yi had long since grown used to her father’s astonishing ability to change faces.
Shen Sixing could switch moods faster than a page could be turned. One lift and drop of his eyelids, and he was an entirely different person.
Taking advantage of the moment while the two adults faced off, she quietly stole the cup of instant noodles Shen Sixing had left at the corner of the table. She deftly tore off the lid, poured in hot water, and then squatted on her chair, eating as if nothing unusual were happening.
The other people in the Internet café had noticed the commotion in their family, too.
Two guys gaming at the next table craned their necks to peek over. One of them chewed his gum and said, “Kid… are your mom and dad filming a TV drama or something? This live version is way better than anything on the screen.”
Shen Yi didn’t even look up. “No… They’re arguing.”
To be fair, the relationship between the two had always existed in that delicate space somewhere between friendship and romance.
They had maintained a harmonious façade for a long time, dancing on thin ice, with neither of them willing to be the first to break the unspoken tension.
That was why this clash, with the two of them openly at each other’s throats, was so unusual.
Shen Sixing rose from his chair.
Most of the time, he had a mild, listless air about him—sluggish and limp, like a lump of dough anyone could knead or step on.
But now, his expression was cold and unreadable, revealing a dangerous sharpness.
Without warning, the young man moved closer to Wen Ya. Less than an arm’s length separated them.
He lowered his head to look at her through his lowered lashes, then suddenly gave a soft laugh.
“That’s right. I’ve planted plenty of listening devices around the house.”
His voice was low and gentle. “Come to think of it, whenever you go out to work, I like investigating the routes you take. What time you leave, which road you use, where you stop along the way—I know all of it.”
He took another half-step forward, his tone turning cold. “Scared now? You can still stay away from me while you have the chance.”
Scared?
Wen Ya tilted her head back to look at him.
All she could think was…
This is so exciting.
She had thought he was nothing more than an unbearably boring engineer. Who would have guessed he had this side to him?
He could even threaten people.
What a hidden gem of a man.
“You’re really interesting, Shen Sixing,” she murmured.
Shen Sixing frowned, completely failing to understand her reaction.
Wen Ya’s interest had been thoroughly piqued. She leaned forward a little and rested her chin on her hand.
“What exactly do you do for a living, Shen Sixing?”
“Do police officers go around planting listening devices?”
Shen Sixing turned his face away, clearly unwilling to continue down that line of questioning.
He abruptly changed the subject, his voice carrying a trace of mocking coolness. “And what about you, Miss? You didn’t get home until five this morning.”
“Work,” Wen Ya replied.
“What kind of work requires you to clock off at five in the morning? Are state-owned companies really that brutal with overtime?”
“State-owned companies have good benefits. Overtime comes with subsidies.” Wen Ya made it up casually.
“Subsidies?” Shen Sixing pressed, the chill in his tone sharpening. “What kind of subsidies? A box of bullets, or a knife?”
Wen Ya was briefly at a loss, as though he had caught her off guard, but she quickly laughed again.
“And you, Shen Sixing? An eighteen-year-old police officer?” She deliberately emphasized the title, laughing twice as she refused to back down. “Does that sound reasonable to you?”
She leaned forward slightly and stared into his eyes.
“At the banquet I attended before, a wealthy man was killed. Everyone in those circles says a contract killer had taken a job. He was stabbed by someone wearing a police uniform.”
“That was you, wasn’t it?”
Shen Sixing’s expression did not change. The corners of his mouth flattened as he met her gaze.
“When I was escaping, someone beat me to it.”
“The dead man upstairs—that was you who killed him, wasn’t it, Miss?”
Wen Ya raised her chin defiantly. “So what? He deserved to die. If I hadn’t done it, someone else would have.”
“Besides, people are going to die sooner or later. All I did was speed up the process. What’s wrong with that?”
Shen Sixing froze for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.
Her bizarre logic had amused him again. Even his shoulders shook twice.
“You’re right.”
After he finished laughing, he quieted down. His tone became calm instead.
“Of course I didn’t kill that man because I hated him or had some personal grudge against him.”
“You should know, Miss, that I’m poor and completely unsuccessful.”
“A useless man like me can only earn money by harming society, and use it to raise a child.”
“Hunters don’t kill wolves because they hate them. They do it because they need to ensure the flock’s survival. My killing people works the same way.”
He tilted his head slightly and looked at Wen Ya, his voice soft and gentle.
“I need to raise a child.”
With just a few words, Shen Sixing had transformed a murderer into an inspirational single father who worked tirelessly to support his kid.
Wen Ya was almost dizzy from being spun around by his logic.
It took several laps around her mind before she managed to drag herself back to the point.
“Shen Sixing.” Wen Ya picked up the listening devices one by one, weighed them in her palm, and gave him a smile. “No matter how much you say, you still can’t hide the fact that you were spying on me, can you?”
Shen Sixing glanced at the electronic devices and pressed his lips together.
“Yes. As you can see,” he said instinctively clenching his fist, his fingernails digging into his palm as he struggled to keep his voice steady. “That’s the kind of person I am.”
“I’ve always been a terrible person. We should just end things here.”
“What we call the future is merely the result of the choices we make in the present.”
“We were never a good match. You’ve never understood me, and I don’t understand you either.”
“…”
Wen Ya was slow to react.
So… was he saying he wanted to break up with her?
After taking such a massive detour—confessing to the surveillance, revealing his identity as a killer—he had ultimately arrived at the conclusion that he wanted to break up?
“What about your child, then?” Wen Ya reacted with remarkable speed. She immediately wrapped her arms tightly around the little girl beside her and smiled. “Can you give her to me?”
Shen Sixing was stunned.
Wasn’t this supposed to be an argument?
Why was she taking advantage of the chaos to steal his child?!
A breath caught in Shen Sixing’s chest. His expression shattered completely, and all his coldness and sharpness crumbled away.
He practically shouted, “She’s mine!”
Wen Ya really did love seeing people driven to the brink of madness, so she refused to back down.
“What do you mean, yours? Does she have your name written on her?”
Shen Sixing’s face went pale. He opened his mouth, but for a moment, his mind went blank.
All his composure had been smashed to pieces.
“Tomorrow, I’ll put her on my household register. I’m going home tomorrow to fight it out with my dad. I’m done for. Are you happy now?”
Wen Ya said, “Why should she go on your household register? She’s my child.”
“I’m the one who raised her,” Shen Sixing stressed.
“With your vicious theory that starving yourself for a few meals will keep you lucid and help you live longer?” Wen Ya shot back. “You’re dirt-poor. We’ll be doomed if she stays with you.”
Shen Sixing really was poor, leaving him with no way to argue. His shoulders drooped, and his face turned pale, making him look as though he was about to cry.
In every marital argument, deciding which parent gets the child is always the biggest problem.
Wen Ya and Shen Sixing turned around at the exact same time and stared at her.
“Xiao Yi!”
Shen Sixing asked, “Do you love Daddy, or do you love Mommy?”
Wen Ya: “Are you coming with Mommy, or are you coming with Mommy?”
Shen Sixing exclaimed that she was being ridiculous. “Of course she’s coming with me! She’s always been by my side.”
Wen Ya said darkly, “Shen Sixing, are you asking to die?”
Shen Sixing: “Go ahead and kill me. I don’t want to live anymore.”
The two of them bickered back and forth right there, completely oblivious to everyone else around them.
In the end, the subject of the child came back to where it had started.
They both turned to stare at Shen Yi beside them and asked in unison:
“Xiao Yi, do you want Daddy or Mommy?!”
