"I can't stand that scumbag anymore! Every time my mom works the night shift, he comes knocking on my door, saying he wants to 'talk about his feelings.' Sometimes he keeps knocking until late at night, and I don't even dare to close my eyes."
"And he always pretends to accidentally touch me once or twice. Outside, he acts all innocent and humble, bowing and scraping to everyone. I've told my mom so many times, but she refuses to believe he's capable of this."
"Now I just hope he disappears!"
Qiuqiu was in a foul mood and ordered two bottles of green plum wine. After downing one glass, her pent-up complaints came flooding out like a burst dam.
Chai Xiaomi looked at her with concern, knowing full well that these words had been bottled up inside her for too long—from the time she went missing, to the rough days after she returned, to now when her entire heart was tied to Lili. Qiuqiu didn't even have a single person to confide in.
"Stop drinking, or you'll get drunk." Guilt weighed on Chai Xiaomi's heart as she reached out and snatched the bottle from Qiuqiu's hand.
Her own place was close to this restaurant, just a five-minute walk away, but Qiuqiu had taken a cab. Plus, with that scumbag still at home, she really couldn't let her keep drinking.
"What's wrong with getting drunk?" Qiuqiu said. "I've got you, don't I? I don't care—I'm staying at your place tonight. Please take me in, babe. I can't bear to go back to that home for even one more day. Everyone looks forward to holidays, but I dread them the most."
"...Alright." Chai Xiaomi hesitated for a moment, mulled it over, and decided to reveal the secret buried deep in her heart to Qiuqiu. "But there's someone else living in my place."
"Who?" Qiuqiu's alarm bells went off. "So you've been hiding a new side piece from me all along?!"
Chai Xiaomi knocked back three glasses of wine in rapid succession, and under Qiuqiu's resentful gaze, confessed solemnly: "No, it's my husband."
Then, she laid it all out—everything she had personally experienced, and the fact that the world they currently lived in was also a novel.
Thirty minutes later.
When Chai Xiaomi reached the most intense part of their reunion, she downed a few more sips of wine to steady her emotions. She took the tissue Qiuqiu handed her, wiped her tears, and said, "Do you understand how I felt then? I thought I'd never see him again, and now I get to live under the same roof with him every single day. I've done good deeds my whole life—I deserve this."
Qiuqiu's expression was complicated as she stared at the teary-eyed girl across from her. She secretly searched on her phone: What to do if your bestie seems possessed by a ghost? Urgent, waiting online!
Chai Xiaomi grew more and more agitated, drinking cup after cup. Before long, both bottles of green plum wine were gone. Her body went limp, collapsing onto the table, her cheeks flushed like a thin layer of rouge, the corners of her eyes tinged red.
"Lili—!"
That shout came out thick with sobs, startling the guests at the surrounding tables.
Anyone listening would have thought someone was wailing at a funeral.
"Don't die," she buried her face in her arms, whining like a child. "Boo-hoo, you can't die..."
"I miss you so much, Lili..."
"Goddess of Santu, I beg you to protect him..."
She lifted her head dizzily, her fair face stained with a faint pink hue, tears streaming down one by one. Her long lashes were wet, like little fans drenched in rain.
She didn’t even seem to realize she was crying. She foolishly raised her glass to her lips, only to spill half the wine onto her skirt.
"Oh no, friend, I’m begging you. I don’t know if your Lili will die or not, but I'm about to be scared to death by you. Snap out of it!" Qiuqiu scrambled to grab tissues and wipe Xiaomi's clothes. "Stop drinking, stop drinking. I'll take you home."
The name Lili was something Qiuqiu, as her best friend, naturally knew all too well.
He was the villain in Chai Xiaomi's favorite novel. She had expressed her love for this character more than once, even treating him as her soulmate.
Qiuqiu was into otome games herself, and she had a few virtual boyfriends too. So she had always assumed Xiaomi was just finding a spiritual anchor.
But after listening to Xiaomi just now, she gradually realized how serious this was. The way Xiaomi spoke didn’t sound like a joke at all.
It seemed she was suffering from delusions!
The mountain where Xiaomi had gone missing before was rumored to have many deaths in the past. Maybe she had been haunted by something unclean!
Qiuqiu helped Chai Xiaomi out of the restaurant, but before they had gone far, the rain suddenly came pouring down. Thunder rumbled—the summer weather was always changeable, clear skies when they left just moments ago.
She quickly pulled Xiaomi under the awning of a nearby bar to take shelter.
The person beside her was crying uncontrollably, drunk and rambling, mumbling incoherently—but every other word was about Lili. She seemed completely immersed in a sorrow that she couldn’t shake off.
Qiuqiu was busy comforting her and didn’t notice that on the other side of the bar entrance, a group of men with malicious intent kept glancing their way.
By the time she noticed, they had already approached.
"Oh ho, pretty ladies! It's pouring out there. How about big brothers give you a ride home?" Five men surrounded them. The one leading the group grinned sleazily, his eyes lingering on Xiaomi. "Pretty drunk, huh? Don't push yourselves."
"No thanks." Qiuqiu's face turned cold, her voice tense. She realized that the man’s eyes were glued to the wet patch on Xiaomi’s dress where the wine had spilled. The beige fabric had become somewhat see-through after getting wet.
Her heart clenched. She quickly pulled Xiaomi into her arms, hugging her tightly. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, but she forced herself to glare back at them with a warning look.
"Why so mean, sis? Look how upset your friend is. We're just trying to help out—show some gratitude," a blond guy chimed in.
"See, your friend's clothes are all wet. She'll catch a cold. Come with us—our car's parked right over there, just a few steps away."
With that, a couple of them reached out to grab them.
The sudden storm had left the streets empty. Qiuqiu couldn't find anyone to call for help, so she could only hold Xiaomi tighter. "W-what do you think you're doing?"
The drunken woman in her arms seemed to sense something off too. She lifted her dazed head, tears still clinging to her unfocused eyes. "Qiuqiu, don't be scared of these punks. My Lili can knock one out with one punch and kick two down with one leg."
Those words practically ground the men's dignity into the dirt. They instantly erupted in anger. "Lili? What a wimpy name! Is that your boyfriend? If he's so tough, why isn't he here to save you?"
They reached out again to grab her.
"Don't touch her!"
A slightly angry voice suddenly came from the entrance of the bar.
Out walked a young man in casual clothes, a watch on his wrist that clearly wasn't cheap. A bodyguard followed behind him. He looked like a rich kid from some prominent family.
Zhou Yanchen’s face carried a hint of displeasure as he coldly swept his gaze over the thugs. "A bunch of grown men bullying two girls—aren’t you proud of yourselves? Get lost. Now!"
A few people recognized him—wasn’t he the one who booked the most expensive VIP booth tonight? The tips he tossed out alone could cover their lavish spending for half a month. Full of himself, just relying on his family’s dirty money, damn rich brats.
“Who the hell do you think you are, telling us to get lost?”
Zhou Yanchen raised an eyebrow. “The Zhou Corporation in Jing City—never heard of it?”
“Oh wow, a big shot from the capital! Sorry, bro, we’ve never heard of any Zhou Corporation. Only know about Cao’s Duck Neck, hahahahaha!”
“Which rich daddy’s boy is this, showing off so much? I’m sooo scared!”
“You motherfcker! !”
The insults grew filthier by the second.
Zhou Yanchen had come here tonight to attend his cousin’s birthday party, never expecting to run into Xiaomi. He’d wanted to play the hero and save the day, but instead ended up being mocked and humiliated by these thugs in public.
Back in Jing City, just mentioning his name, everyone would bow and scrape to him.
Mortified, Zhou Yanchen suddenly threw a punch. He fancied himself trained in freestyle fighting, played basketball, and hit the gym—figured he had some skills. But in the end, he and his bodyguard were outnumbered, beaten black and blue, and left sprawled pathetically in the rain-soaked gutter.
“Hey, little sis, that’s your boyfriend? That’s all he’s got? What a scrawny dog, hahaha!” The leader turned to his buddies with a mocking grin, laughing so hard he almost doubled over.
“Hey.”
A lazy, indifferent voice cut through the curtain of rain.
It wasn’t loud, but it sliced perfectly through the laughter.
“Take back what you just said, and get this straight—who exactly is her boyfriend.”
Raindrops slammed onto the black umbrella, splashing into tiny droplets that wove a hazy curtain along its edge. Beneath it, a tall, straight figure seemed to blend into the violent stormy night, yet stood out even more than the darkness.
The brim of the umbrella lifted slightly, revealing half a face.
Lips as delicate as cherry blossoms, curved in a contemptuous smirk.
The bar’s neon lights spread a blurred halo across the puddles on the ground, shattering into a mosaic of reflections.
That group of men charged at him, cursing.
Then, one by one, they went crashing into those shimmering puddles.
Splashing water mixed with the sound of rain, crackling and popping, accompanied by groans of pain.
Qiuqiu’s mouth hung open, stunned. The whole thing lasted less than a minute from start to finish.
The man under the umbrella shook his hand with disgust, as if he’d touched something filthy and couldn’t wait to wipe it clean.
Then, he walked over, step by step.
Stopping right in front of them.
The umbrella lifted fully.
In that moment, Qiuqiu’s breath nearly stopped.
Dual-colored pupils were exposed beneath the umbrella, shimmering faintly in the misty rain, like some kind of jewel that didn’t belong in this world.
Qiuqiu’s pupils contracted sharply, her mind buzzing as all thoughts blanked out. Xiaomi’s descriptions, which she had heard so many times her ears were numb, exploded in her head all at once...
It was him...
Wu Li looked down at the girl, dazed and drunk. All the coldness and menace faded away, leaving only adoration in his eyes. He reached out his hand:
“Baby, it’s raining. I’ve come to take you home.”
Chai Xiaomi stared blankly at the person in front of her, mumbling drunkenly: “Lili, it’s my Lili...”
The next second, she lifted her face with a beaming smile, like a cheerful little sparrow, and threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck as if she wanted to hang on him completely.
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. I can’t sleep every night just thinking about you...”
She buried her face in the hollow of his neck; her thin back trembled gently with sobs.
Wu Li steadied her firmly, one hand around her waist, the other gently patting her back. His tone was helpless yet tender: “Mimi, have you forgotten? We’ve been reunited for a while now, and we’ll be together forever.”
“No!” The girl in his arms suddenly raised her head, eyes red, pouting her lips—“I’m going to miss you! All day, every second, every moment! You can’t stop me!”
What logic was there with someone drunk?
“Well—” Wu Li dragged out his words, asking with mock seriousness, “Besides me, is there anyone else you think about?”
Chai Xiaomi shook her head vigorously. “No, only you. I love you the most! I told you that ages ago, what, are you deaf? Is there something wrong with your ears? Want me to blow on them for you?”
Wu Li cast a faint, deliberate glance at Zhou Yanchen, not far away, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “Whether I’m deaf or not doesn’t matter. As long as some people aren’t deaf, that’s fine.”
“Lili, what are you saying? I don’t get it. My head’s a bit dizzy. Hold me.”
“Alright, I’ll carry you home.” Wu Li scooped Chai Xiaomi up in his arms, the umbrella he held completely tilted over her.
He shot Qiuqiu a cold look. “As her friend, why didn’t you tell her to drink less? Not one, but both of you.”
Both of you?
Qiuqiu blinked in confusion.
Holy crap!!!
So there really was a new bestie!?
Chai Xiaomi!!
You are so dead!!!
