Bonus Chapter: She Actually Didn't Want Much

The night in Haojiang is humid and sticky, with neon lights cutting the narrow streets into fragments of light and shadow. The air is filled with the lingering scent of casino air conditioning, the mixed aromas of cheap perfumes and expensive cigars, and the pervasive anxiety brought on by the rapid flow of money.

In the back alley of "Star Entertainment City," the garbage cans emitted a sour, rotten smell.

Xu Chen leaned against the damp brick wall, the cheap cigarette between his fingers almost burned to the end, the scarlet light flickering in his tired eyes.

A black Bentley Mulsanne silently glided into the alleyway, standing out starkly from the surrounding dilapidated state.

The car was still running, and the rear window was lowered halfway, revealing Li Yaodong's cold and stern profile.

The dim light at the alley entrance fell on his high nose and tightly pursed thin lips, obscuring his eyes but revealing a menacing aura.

Xu Chen spat, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and crushed it with his toe. He opened the car door and climbed in. The air conditioning inside was strong, and the scent of leather and a faint ambergris instantly enveloped him, creating a sharp contrast with the smell of smoke and sweat on his body.

Li Yaodong didn't look at him. His gaze was fixed on the flowing night outside the window. A metal lighter between his fingers clicked and closed, making a crisp and regular "click" sound that tingled with the nerves in the quiet carriage.

"This is the settlement certificate for the last debt." A document was thrown onto Xu Chen's lap, the paper cold. "Your gambling debts are settled. Your documents." A small, transparent file bag fell down, containing his passport and travel permit.

Xu Chen gripped the thin paper and document bag tightly, his fingers trembling slightly from the force, his knuckles turning white. He opened his mouth, his throat dry, but no sound came out.

The enormous debt vanished like a landslide, but he felt no relief whatsoever; instead, he felt as if all his strength had been drained away.

"There's a boat to Shekou tonight." Li Yaodong's voice was devoid of emotion, flat as a dull knife. "Go back to the mainland. From this day forward, you are never to set foot in Macau again, and you are never to appear before Cheng Yin again. No phone calls, no messages, no contact whatsoever." He paused, the sound of his lighter clicking away momentarily stopped, then turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Xu Chen like a cold searchlight. "Do you understand?"

Xu Chen suddenly looked up and met those unfathomable eyes. There was a warning, contempt, and something else he couldn't understand, something deeply repressed.

His throat bobbed, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "What if... I owe you more?" He knew himself how bastardly and despicable this question was, like a mangy dog ​​wagging its tail and begging for mercy but never changing its ways.

Li Yaodong chuckled very lightly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes; instead, it added to the chill. He reached out and picked up a pair of pure silver cigar cutters from the center console, slowly and deliberately toying with them. The sharp blade of the cutters flashed a cold light in the dim light.

“That won’t be something that can be solved by losing one hand.” His tone was calm, even with a strange languor, but the content was chilling. “I will make you disappear without a trace. The cement buckets used for filling the seabed in Haojiang are not missing one more.”

A chill ran down Xu Chen's spine; he knew Li Yaodong wasn't joking. This man was capable of anything.

The car fell silent again, with only the faint hum of the air conditioning vents.

Xu Chen clenched the documents in his hand, his nails digging into his palms. He suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with a stubborn, reckless determination: "Her cousin... Chen Zhi's family are scum... and her aunt... will they come after her again?"

This was a question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time, like a poisonous thorn stuck in his heart. He knew that those vampires wouldn't let Cheng Yin go easily.

Li Yaodong's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, as if he were impatient, or perhaps he had already anticipated this question. He put down his cigar cutter, his voice still flat, yet carrying a resolute air of finality: "It's all resolved. They will never appear in Cheng Yin's life again. In her life," he paused, each word heavy with conviction, "there will be no more, and no less, any scoundrels will be allowed to be around."

"Resolved?" Xu Chen pressed, his voice tense. He couldn't imagine the specific meaning of "resolved," but Li Yaodong's tone made him understand that it must be thorough and permanent.

Xu Chen seemed to be burned by that gaze, and he abruptly pushed open the car door, almost stumbling as he fell into the humid, foul air of the alley. He stood with his back to the car, panting heavily, as if trying to escape the suffocating oppression inside and... his own shame.

He took a few steps, his steps faltering. The neon light fell on his hunched back, casting a twisted and disheveled shadow.

However, just as he was about to walk out of the alley, his feet suddenly froze on the spot.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking softly, his chest heaving violently. A few seconds later, as if using all his strength, he suddenly turned around and walked back to the car, step by step.

The car window remained open, and Li Yaodong watched him return without any surprise on his face, as if he had been waiting for this moment all along.

Xu Chen stared through the car window, his eyes bloodshot, like a trapped, wounded wild beast. He gazed at the aloof, all-powerful man inside, his voice hoarse and almost cracking, yet carrying an unprecedented, desperate solemnity:

“Li Yaodong…” He addressed her by her first name for the first time, “You… treat her well.”

"Cheng Yin...she's suffered too much." These words seemed to be forcibly ripped from his very heart, tinged with blood and foam. "Really...so much. So...so she doesn't actually want much, just a little sweetness, a little kindness, is enough to win her over...enough for her to remember for a long time..."

His voice choked, and he turned his face away awkwardly, quickly wiping his eyes with his sleeve. When he turned back, his eyes were even redder, but his gaze pierced straight at Li Yaodong:

“I’m a bastard! My dad doesn’t love me, my mom doesn’t care about me! I’m a piece of trash! I don’t even know how to treat people well! I know I don’t deserve her!” He rambled on, as if he were confessing, or as if he were angrily cursing himself. “But…but I want her to be okay…Li Yaodong, since you…since you’ve taken her away, you have to treat her well! You have to treat her properly! Don’t let her…don’t let her suffer like that again!”

He practically roared out his last few words, then slumped against the car, panting heavily, as if those words had drained his entire life force.

Inside the carriage, Li Yaodong's hand, holding the lighter, froze in mid-air.

He had always thought that Xu Chen only took from and used Cheng Yin, like a leech clinging to its only source of blood. He even felt contempt and relief, relieved that Cheng Yin's object of "repayment" was so despicable that he could take over, cover up, and replace her without any psychological burden.

But now, looking at the young man outside the car, who was emotionally distraught, incoherent, yet using his last strength to say "treat her well," he suddenly understood something.

He and he, in some ways, might be the same kind of people. Both selfish, both possessive, and both using their own methods to trap Cheng Yin.

The only point they agreed on was that if Cheng Yin had a better, brighter option, they would all choose to let her go. Even if that option didn't include them.

Li Yaodong remained silent for a long time, so long that Xu Chen thought he wouldn't answer and was about to leave in a sorry state again when he heard a very low but extremely clear response from inside the car.

"I know."

There were only three words. No promises, no guarantees, yet they weighed heavily on this moment, on the brief and strange tacit understanding between the two men, like the heaviest weight.

Xu Chen paused, seemingly surprised by the response. He took one last, deep look at the blurry silhouette inside the car window, as if unloading a heavy burden. Then, he turned and walked step by step into the enchanting night of Haojiang, never to look back.

Li Yaodong rolled up the car window, shutting out all the noise and pollution from the outside world. He leaned back in the leather seat, closed his eyes, and the lighter between his fingers remained silent for a long time.

The carriage was deathly silent, with only the air conditioning still silently blowing cool air. Cheng Yin's quiet face appeared before his eyes, recalling the slight brightness in her eyes when she ate sweets, and the silent corners of her mouth when she endured pain.

"Just a little bit of sweetness is enough..." he murmured to himself, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the cool metal casing of the lighter.

After a long pause, he whispered to the driver in the front seat, "Drive."

The black sedan silently glided out of the dimly lit back alley, merging into the dazzling sea of ​​lights and traffic in the Pearl River Delta, leaving behind a painful past and a disheveled figure in that shadow.