Wen Ya sat on the sofa, resting her chin in her hand with an air of indifference. After listening to Shen Sixing’s explanation, she slowly came to understand.
“So I’m broke now?”
She had gone from wealthy to penniless overnight, yet her reaction was surprisingly calm.
“Why could your family freeze so many of my cards? Looking into other people’s private information is illegal.” She was a little unhappy.
“How has the government’s crackdown on organized crime not reached your family?”
A family like Shen Sixing’s had legitimate businesses on the surface to cover up its dealings, while underneath, the legal and criminal worlds were woven together into one vast, deeply rooted behemoth. This was the first time she had ever come into close contact with one.
She muttered, “I’m a hitwoman, and they can still freeze all my cards. If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean your family can do whatever it wants? Whatever it wants?”
Hearing this, Shen Sixing hadn’t expected that to be her main concern. The corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.
So cute.
Wen Ya scratched her hair and seriously thought for two seconds about how the family of three was going to survive from here on out.
“So, neither of us has any money now.”
Her gaze went blank for a moment. “I was planning to quit after I turned twenty, but I guess I can’t for the time being.”
Wen Ya had a family to support.
She wasn’t alone anymore. She had to support Shen Yi—and perhaps more people in the future.
Although she had long since grown tired of being a hitwoman, the job at least paid quickly and didn’t require any educational qualifications.
“If I don’t work as a hitwoman in the future, I could wash dishes,” Wen Ya considered as she planned for the worst. She realized she knew absolutely nothing about the job market. These days, everything seemed to require a degree, and all she could find were simple jobs.
Shen Sixing stood up and walked in front of the sofa. Then, with utmost solemnity, he knelt down before Wen Ya and looked up at her.
“Please don’t, Miss. If I let you go wash dishes, then I truly won’t see any reason to go on living.”
If a man had fallen that far…
He might as well just die.
“And also…” he said softly, glancing at her cautiously. “Your cards were frozen because of me. Aren’t you angry?”
“You can beat me up. This is my fault. You can do whatever you want to me.”
Wen Ya lowered her head and looked at him. Shen Sixing was obediently crouched in front of the sofa, revealing a pair of pitch-black eyes.
He looked so well-behaved.
Like a big, black rat.
Unable to help herself, she leaned toward him, lowered her head, and smiled as she gave him a light kiss.
When her lips touched him, there was hardly any pressure at all. It was like a flower petal drifting down onto the corner of his mouth.
There was not the slightest hint of sensuality in it.
“I’m not angry, darling. You’re so interesting.” She smiled. “I like you best when you look this pitiful.”
Shen Sixing froze after being kissed. His eyelashes fluttered twice in quick succession, and the CPU in his brain suddenly overloaded.
The moment her soft lips touched him, he felt as though his entire body had turned into a piece of candy, held between her lips and slowly, bit by bit, melting.
It softened from the edges inward, seeped deeper and deeper, and finally dissolved into a syrupy sweetness.
In the end, it all flowed into Wen Ya’s smiling eyes.
“I’m not angry,” Wen Ya said after pulling away, her voice carrying a hint of tenderness she didn’t even notice. “We’ll figure out what to do about the cards later.”
“Even if the money’s gone, we can always earn more.”
Wen Ya took it all in stride.
Shen Yi, on the other hand, could only think: As expected, romance was more entertaining to watch from the sidelines.
If even a thousand yuan disappeared from Shen Yi’s card, she would toss and turn all night, unable to sleep.
Mom really was someone who did great things.
She could remain calm even after a huge fortune had been frozen.
Shen Yi was filled with solemn admiration.
…
Whether in movies or fairy tales, the ending always stopped at the opening of a door symbolizing freedom.
The audience would automatically imagine a perfect conclusion to the story.
But in reality, for the protagonists, real life had only just begun when that door closed behind them.
Even a hitwoman had to sit awake at three in the morning, tearing her hair out over the monthly bills.
Shen Yi was a fairly sensible child and never caused the two of them any trouble, so they could go about their own business without worry.
But sometimes, even the most well-behaved child would inevitably get into minor conflicts with others at school as they grew up.
And whenever that happened, Shen Sixing would receive a call from the teacher.
For someone who loved stirring up trouble, the most tragic thing in the world was this: once, you had been a villain who had done every kind of evil, someone who could turn the tide with a flick of your hand.
Then you became a father.
You would be halfway through causing trouble, standing amid smoke and gunfire with a walkie-talkie in your hand and several people you had already dealt with lying at your feet, just about to issue the final order—
When your phone suddenly started vibrating in your pocket.
Shen Sixing glanced at the screen and answered in despair. “What has she done this time?”
This was the seventeenth call he had received that semester. On average, it came once every two weeks—more reliably than his mission briefings.
Shen Sixing hadn’t even had time to change his clothes.
With a coat still draped over his lean shoulders, reeking of smoke and gunpowder, he hurried into the office and hauled Shen Yi away.
“Wait!” the boy’s mother called after them. “Aren’t you going to apologize? Our son’s front tooth was knocked out!”
Standing in the office, Shen Sixing looked more like an older brother who had come to pick up his little sister than the father of a child.
He stopped and cast the boy’s mother a cool glance.
“Exactly,” the toothless boy mumbled, covering his mouth. His words whistled through the gap in his teeth. “All I did was call her a couple of names. I didn’t even touch her.”
Shen Sixing hadn’t expected an apology to be part of the process.
After a brief pause, he stopped and looked at Teacher Li with complete sincerity. “But I still have a location that needs to be blown up. I’m really busy and don’t have time.”
As he spoke, he reached to his waist and pulled something out, then placed it on the desk with a cheerful smile.
It was a gun.
Black, gleaming, its hard, cold surface catching the fluorescent light in the office.
Smiling brightly, Shen Sixing tapped the gun twice with his fingertip, producing two crisp clicks. He looked at the teacher’s ashen face.
“You really want me to apologize?”
Teacher Li’s lips trembled.
Shen Sixing added five more words: “Can we leave now?”
Teacher Li understood immediately.
He opened the door at once.
Shen Sixing led Shen Yi away with his head held high.
Once they got home, he shut the door and couldn’t help but settle accounts with Shen Yi.
“I’ve been called to the teacher’s office more than a dozen times.”
Shen Sixing held up one finger as he counted. “Every time I go out to handle business, you like to follow me. Last week, when I went to the docks to meet someone, you crouched behind a shipping container and spied on me.”
“You’re always making a mess of the house. And last time, you took the blueprints I left on the coffee table and folded them into paper airplanes.”
“When I asked whether you’d taken them, you said no. Later, I found four whole airplanes under your bed!”
Shen Yi couldn’t help arguing back. “Actually, you’re the one who likes leaving work-related things lying around like trash.”
Shen Sixing was a lazy man. He was always leaving the drawings he used for work lying around everywhere.
At that, Shen Sixing’s gaze drifted slightly.
“And another thing.” Pretending he hadn’t heard Shen Yi’s complaints, he held up a third finger. “Not long ago, you used my computer to play games and messed up my code. You overwrote a week’s worth of programming with a single click.”
After listing Shen Yi’s ten major offenses, Shen Sixing straightened up and leisurely pulled something out from beside the TV cabinet.
It was the feather duster Wen Ya usually used for cleaning.
He gave the feather duster a light wave in his hand. “Your dad here is a very good person.”
Shen Yi glanced at the feather duster in his hand, and her expression began to turn uneasy.
“I’ve got two rules when I’m out in society—I don’t hit women, and I don’t hit the elderly.” Shen Sixing raised the feather duster and smiled faintly.
He looked down at Shen Yi, the smile on his lips slowly deepening.
“But you…”
“You’re neither elderly nor a woman.”
“You’re a child!”
Which meant she was definitely getting a beating this time!!
…
…
The plot will continue tomorrow. The storyline is wrapping up.
One more thing: there won’t be any more everyday slice-of-life scenes after this. We’re moving into the main plot now—this section is the final thread of the story!
