Swift as lightning, Tiantianquan didn’t take the subway. Instead, she splurged two hundred bucks on a taxi to get to the barbecue stall as fast as possible.
She wore cat-eye blue contact lenses, her face done up with delicate, mixed-race-inspired makeup. Clad in sky-high heels and a little black dress that barely covered her ass, she stood there with her tiny waist cinched, like a little she-devil straight out of a spider’s den.
Tiantianquan stood beside Song Xinya, glancing left and right, her mood restless: “Where’s the hot guy? The one with that particular feature—incredibly massive, twenty centimeters long? Where is he? Where’d he go?”
Chen Siyan stood up and puffed out his chest: “Right here, at your service.”
Tiantianquan froze for a second: “You?”
Thinking back to how she’d dressed to the nines today and spent two hundred bucks on a taxi, just to see this guy?
Tiantianquan turned to Song Xinya: “You know this is fraud, right?”
Chen Siyan was deeply offended: “What’s wrong? Can’t it be me?”
Tiantianquan: “High nose bridge? Long fingers? Perky ass? Strong kidney function? Powerful prostate? Twenty centimeters?”
Chen Siyan: “That’s right. You’re describing me.”
Tiantianquan laughed: “Which part of you even fits?”
Chen Siyan: “Which part of me doesn’t fit?”
Tiantianquan gave him a slow, appraising look, circling him once.
High nose bridge—check.
Long fingers—check.
Perky ass—check.
“What about kidney function, prostate, and twenty centimeters? How do you prove that?”
Chen Siyan: “Come with me to the men’s room, or find a patch of woods, and I’ll prove it to you right now.”
Tiantianquan: “Want to sleep with me the moment we meet? Dream on.”
That was unfair to Chen Siyan: “That’s not what I meant. I meant, if you insist on proof, I’ll let you see and touch.”
Tiantianquan: “Want me to give you a hand job the minute we meet? You must be out of your mind.”
“My delicate fingers are meant for holding a scalpel, not for touching that ugly lump of yours.”
Chen Siyan: “How do you know it’s ugly if you haven’t even seen it?”
Tiantianquan didn’t want to listen to his nonsense anymore. She twisted her little figure and turned around on her high heels, ready to leave.
Song Xinya: “Freshly grilled crispy sausages, anyone want some?”
Tiantianquan swiveled her waist and walked back: “I want some.”
Chen Siyan quickly grabbed a grilled sausage from the plate, along with the one Song Xinya was holding, and handed them both to Tiantianquan: “Eat these, all for you.”
Song Xinya’s hands were now empty. Men—always ditching friends for pretty faces.
Tiantianquan took the two sausages and passed one to Song Xinya: “I don’t hog it all.”
When Song Xinya took it, she pulled Tiantianquan over to a seat: “I’m treating, might as well take advantage.”
Tiantianquan couldn’t resist a crispy sausage. She had a weakness for them and sat down to start eating.
Her little black dress was already short, and sitting made it even shorter, nearly exposing her butt cheeks.
The chair wasn’t high—just a standard street-stall plastic chair that hit knee level.
To avoid flashing anyone, Tiantianquan clamped her legs tightly together, holding a skewer in one hand and pressing down on the fabric between her legs with the other.
As you can imagine, this seating position was awkward and uncomfortable.
After less than five minutes, her legs cramped, her hand went numb, her arm ached, and her whole body felt stiff.
Chen Siyan unzipped his backpack, pulled out a jacket, and handed it to her: “Tie it around your waist.”
Tiantianquan: “I’m not wearing it. It smells like your sweat.”
Chen Siyan: “It’s a spare in my bag. I haven’t worn it.”
Tiantianquan had just said no; now she couldn’t bring herself to say yes without losing face. She stayed silent, stubbornly continuing to eat, keeping one hand pressed firmly between her legs.
Chen Siyan walked over to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet.
Tiantianquan gasped: “What are you doing?”
Chen Siyan leaned down, bent over, and tied the jacket around her waist.
Tiantianquan looked at the fuzzy head hovering in front of her and said: “My skewer just rubbed against your white shirt. I got it dirty—there’s a big splotch of chili oil.”
Chen Siyan: “No worries. I’ll wash it when I get home.”
Tiantianquan: “What if it doesn’t come out?”
Chen Siyan: “Even if it doesn’t, it’s fine. Consider it a keepsake from you.”
She was wearing a little tank top, revealing a stretch of pale, soft waist.
As Chen Siyan spoke, his warm breath landed on the skin of her midriff.
It felt like a little cat licking her—ticklish.
After tying the jacket around her, Chen Siyan straightened up and studied the effect: “Now you don’t have to worry about flashing anyone.”
He was tall and broad, and the oversize jacket wrapped around her slender frame, hanging down below her knees. It swathed her entirely, giving a sense of security.
Tiantianquan sat back down and moved freely: “Great. No more worrying about showing too much.”
From a nearby table, a man glanced at Tiantianquan and said: “If you know you’re coming for barbecue, why dress like this? Causing your own trouble. Isn’t she asking for it?”
Chen Siyan turned his head toward the man: “How do you talk, buddy? You must’ve wiped your mouth after taking a dump, right?”
The man: “I’m just saying this for her own good. A girl dressing like this late at night is practically asking for bad men to mess with her. If something happened, it’d be her own fault.”
That was some inhuman garbage—textbook victim-blaming. Tiantianquan was furious.
She shot to her feet, ready to argue with the man.
But she was all skin and bones, thin as a sheet of paper. If it came to a fight, she wouldn’t even withstand one punch.
Chen Siyan reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pressed her back down into her seat: “For stuff like this, don’t take charge as a girl. I’ll deal with it.”
He jerked his chin toward Song Xinya: “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her do anything rash.”
Song Xinya gripped Tiantianquan’s hand firmly.
Chen Siyan slammed the beer bottle in his hand heavily onto the table. Bang! White foam bubbled up from the neck and spilled down the bottle, dripping onto the tabletop.
He stared at the man, righteous and stern: “First of all, the time is seven in the evening, not ‘late at night.’ Second, women have the right to dress however they want, in any clothes they like. Third, everyone keeps teaching women how to protect themselves, but no one teaches men how to respect women. This isn’t about short skirts. It’s not about the darkness. It’s about those born rotten—those disgusting men who can’t help but mess with women.”
He locked eyes with the man: “If you’re that bored, go sit in a jail cell! Mouthing off and throwing your weight around over women? You think that makes you look good? You conceited fool. Who the hell do you think you are?”
The man, humiliated, grabbed a chair and started toward Chen Siyan: “Say that again if you’ve got the balls!”
Chen Siyan didn’t flinch. He picked up another beer bottle, smashed it down, and it broke in half—the jagged edges uneven, razor-sharp.
He aimed the vicious, sharp broken end at the man’s face: “I said—up your whole damn family tree!”
“What’s it to you? I said it—I’ve got guts. Come on, try to kill me. Let me see if you dare!”
The soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless.
The man across from them had been bold enough to bully a woman, but the moment he saw Chen Siyan raise a sharp glass bottle toward his forehead, he froze in shock, losing his nerve.
Colleagues who had come for the barbecue and were usually close to Chen Siyan stood up one after another and moved behind him. The crowd swelled into an intimidating line.
The man grew even more frightened and stood motionless.
The barbecue shop owner walked over. "Everyone, let's keep the peace—harmony brings wealth. We're here for skewers, not a fight. Time is money; I'll throw in two extra strips of beef tendon for the table."
The man took the easy way out, seizing the excuse to back down. “Forget it. I’m not one to split hairs. I’ve got things to do. I’m leaving.”
He didn’t even touch the two free strips of beef tendon, afraid of getting beaten, and hurried off.
Chen Siyan watched him leave and spat. “Pfft! Coward!”
