Not long after the school year began, Shen Yi received an email invitation from Sui Ning.
The wording was meticulous, and every phrase carried the propriety of a scion from an old and distinguished family, as though he were writing a formal business letter.
In essence, he was asking whether she had time to meet and discuss the details of a commission.
A commission, huh...
Shen Yi readily agreed.
Sui Ning was loaded.
“Shall we discuss the price when we meet?” Shen Yi asked over the phone as she gathered the tools she would need. Her fingers swept across the tabletop, and she packed everything one item at a time: a dagger, a length of rope, gloves. “Which relative is it? I told you ages ago—if a relative is useless, you can just kill them. I didn’t expect you to finally see the light, Sui Ning.”
Her tone was positively gleeful.
On the other end, Sui Ning carefully considered his wording. “Your target is my uncle.”
Shen Yi coiled the end of the rope and stuffed it into her bag. “You want him dead?”
“No.” Sui Ning’s voice was calm and gave away no emotion. “He is my maternal uncle, after all. Things haven’t reached the point where one of us has to die. I want you to retrieve something for me. If you could frighten him a little before you leave, that would be even better.”
Just frighten him?
Shen Yi figured this job would be easier than murder. And Sui Ning paid generously, making it well worth her while.
“Okay.”
…
The location Sui Ning gave her was a standalone villa on the outskirts of the city. Shen Yi set out that morning, surveyed the area, and stayed nearby until nightfall.
By the time dusk settled over the land, the target’s convoy finally arrived. Three black sedans pulled up. The bodyguards got out first and made a thorough sweep of the surroundings, one hand pressed to an earpiece as they reported in low voices. Once they confirmed the area was secure, they left.
Shen Yi slid down through a ventilation shaft from the second floor, landing with her knees slightly bent without alerting anyone.
She kept close to the hallway wall. From inside the study came the rustle of papers and the low murmur of a man speaking on the phone.
When she silently pushed the door open, the man was standing with his back to her in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Anything you want to say?”
The girl’s clear, youthful voice reached the man’s ears without warning.
He whipped around, his pupils contracting.
He was around fifty, with graying temples. He wore a dark-gray cashmere sweater and still clutched his phone in one hand.
“Who are you?”
He stared at the girl who had appeared out of nowhere.
“Someone hired me. I’m here to retrieve something.”
The choice of words drained the color from the man’s face.
“…Are you an assassin?”
With such an uncanny, silent approach, that was the only profession he could think of.
Shen Yi did not deny it.
His lips trembled. “Who sent you?”
Shen Yi took another step forward, the soles of her shoes making almost no sound against the carpet.
The power to the room had been cut, plunging it into darkness. Only the streetlights outside filtered through the windows, stretching the two figures’ shadows across the floor—long and thin.
Cold sweat broke out across the man’s skin.
“I can give you money.”
Shen Yi’s shoulders drooped, and her tone became solemn, as though she had been deeply offended.
“We have professional ethics.”
Sweat trickled from his temple down his cheek, and the back of his shirt was already soaked through.
He retreated, bumping into the edge of the desk. Then he kept backing away until his back hit the wall and he had nowhere left to go.
“What would it take for you to let me go? I know people in your line of work can’t simply cancel a contract, but it’s not as though everyone who crosses paths with an assassin is guaranteed to die, is it?” he shouted incoherently. “We can negotiate. Anything is negotiable.”
Remembering Sui Ning’s instructions, Shen Yi decided to scare him a little after all.
She let out an affected, helpless sigh and said softly, “We don’t have any personal grudge against each other. You’re just unlucky.”
Unlucky?
What kind of reason was that?!
A hint of viciousness appeared in his expression. His jaw tightened for a moment before he forcibly relaxed it.
“You’re so young. How did you end up doing this kind of work? Is it because of your family?”
He racked his brains, trying to find a weakness in Shen Yi’s upbringing.
The odds of reforming an assassin were practically zero, but if she was only a child, she seemed far less threatening.
That gave him a sliver of hope.
After all, children were easier to persuade. A child meant there was at least a chance she might take pity on him.
Shen Yi thought about it, then answered with complete seriousness. “Probably because we’re poor.”
She counted on her fingers. “My oldest brother is really annoying. He’s always trying to plan out my life, and I can’t be bothered to listen to him. My second brother gambles all over the place. I’m going to beat him to death sooner or later. Then there’s my third brother. He looks down on my job too, even though I work so hard. My fourth brother dropped out of school ages ago. He’s addicted to the internet.”
At the end, Shen Yi summed up her statement. “My dad doesn’t work either, and Mom is always forcing me to study.”
It sounded like a heartwarming tale of an irresponsible family that relied entirely on its youngest daughter to support them through murder.
If he hadn’t been the protagonist about to be killed, he would have applauded her story.
After Shen Yi finished speaking, she noticed his eyes darting frantically as he struggled to find some way out alive, his expression one of utter panic.
She burst out laughing.
She moved past the man and stopped in front of a safe, then smashed the lock open by force.
The lock cylinder gave a sharp metallic snap as it broke, the sound especially jarring in the silent room.
Remembering Sui Ning’s instructions, Shen Yi gathered every important document and tucked them against her chest, moving briskly and leaving not a single one behind.
“Goodbye.”
She pushed open the window. Before climbing out, she turned back and waved at him, as though saying farewell to a friend she had just met.
In the blink of an eye, the girl’s figure vanished into the night.
The man sank limply to the floor, his back against the wall as he gulped in breath after breath. His chest heaved violently.
…He was alive?
He lowered his head and looked at his hands. All ten fingers were trembling, shaking uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Sui Ning sat across from Shen Ruxu.
The lighting in the private room was warm. The two cups of tea on the table had already gone cold. Sui Ning had barely touched his, and he had been doing all the talking.
Shen Ruxu listened half-heartedly, slouched in his chair with one elbow propped on the armrest and his chin resting against the back of his hand. His eyes were half-lidded, making it impossible to tell how much he had actually taken in.
Sui Ning’s rebellious younger brother and his family caught between opposing forces had left him feeling rather stifled as well.
After much consideration, the only friend he had to confide in was Shen Ruxu, a friend he had acquired more or less by convenience.
Shen Ruxu’s identity was simple. He was a pure and uncomplicated criminal, most likely with neither parents nor a family, and he had no involvement with any of the various factions’ conflicts. The two of them were simply friends.
With Shen Ruxu, Sui Ning could vent all his darkest thoughts without holding back.
Eventually, their conversation turned to what had happened this time: Sui Ning had spent a small fortune hiring an assassin to steal some documents for him.
After hearing the story, Shen Ruxu cried out in exasperation, “Why haven’t you had your uncle killed yet? Are you planning to save him for the New Year? A meddlesome relative like that should’ve been killed ages ago.”
“He used to treat me pretty well too. It’s not as if I’d go so far as to make him die,” Sui Ning said. It was difficult to discuss blood ties or familial affection with someone as emotionally hollow as this. Rubbing the rim of his teacup with his fingertip, he gave a quiet laugh. “The way you put things is quite similar to someone I know. Your thought processes are practically identical.”
“And you both have the surname Shen.”
What a coincidence that they shared the same surname.
As he thought about it, Sui Ning found himself unusually considering Shen Yi.
His gaze fell on the tea leaf settled at the bottom of his cup. “She’s a little more interesting than you, though. I rather like her. But her brother seems quite troublesome too. At first, I thought her family was ordinary, but then…”
When he recalled the heart-stopping scene aboard the ship, Sui Ning realized that, aside from the instinctive fear he’d felt at the beginning, what surfaced after he had calmed down was an excitement he could barely suppress. It seemed that, deep down, people really did prefer dangerous situations that offered a challenge.
The corners of his lips lifted slightly. “I wonder if I’d be shot full of holes if I tried to pursue her.”
“What?” Shen Ruxu’s eyelashes fluttered. He lazily raised his eyes. “So who are you trying to pursue?”
He suddenly became interested, his whole body emerging slightly from its languid state. “I can be your love guru.”
Shen Ruxu spoke with great enthusiasm, leaning a little closer and propping his elbows on the table. He looked delighted. “But with your high emotional intelligence, Sui Ning, I’m sure she’ll say yes! You’re my good friend, after all.”
Sui Ning said, “You have that much confidence in me?”
He certainly didn’t have that kind of confidence in himself.
He always felt as though he might lose his life at any moment.
After all, that was the Shen family.
Sui Ning paused, seemingly deep in thought, and unconsciously tapped his fingers twice against the tabletop.
“And she seems to have a lot of older brothers.”
“A lot?” Shen Ruxu murmured twice, his brows drawing together slightly. “Then she’s probably kept under very strict control. I only have one older brother, and he’s always trying to boss me around too. It’s incredibly annoying.”
“All right, stop keeping me in suspense. Who are you planning to pursue? I can help you.”
It had nothing to do with him, yet he was already getting excited on Sui Ning’s behalf.
Shen Ruxu’s eyes gleamed with an almost childlike enthusiasm.
Looking at his friend like this, Sui Ning smiled. It was rare to see a boy speak of the girl he liked without the usual shyness and evasiveness.
He lightly clenched his fingers and said with utmost seriousness, “Really? Then I’ll leave it to you to help me pursue Shen Wenta’s sister.”
