Chapter Eleven: Go Back to Your Sugar Daddy

In the underground parking lot of the Galaxy Hotel, at a corner, Xu Shen was leaning against a Bentley, smoking. When he saw Cheng Yin, his eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.

Cigarette ash fell on the gleaming front of the car, and he hurriedly wiped it off with his hand, leaving a gray mark on the cuff of his work clothes.

"Why are you here?" Xu Chen stubbed out his cigarette, his right hand still in a cast, making his movements somewhat clumsy.

Cheng Yin stood two steps away: "I came to see you."

His lips twitched slightly: "Given to you by Li Yaodong?"

Cheng Yin nodded: "It's necessary for work."

"Work?" Xu Chen sneered, "What kind of job requires dressing like this?"

"Help him organize the accounts," Cheng Yin answered truthfully, "We just started today."

Xu Chen's expression froze. He stared at Cheng Yin for a few seconds, then suddenly turned and kicked the Bentley door. The alarm blared, echoing through the parking lot.

"Are you fucking insane?" he said in a very low voice. "You think you can touch his accounts? Do you even know what kind of money that is?"

Cheng Yin looked at him calmly: "I know."

Cheng Yin took a step forward: "Are you worried about me?"

"What am I worried about!" Xu Chen shoved her away violently. "I'm afraid you won't know how you died!"

Cheng Yin stumbled, twisting her ankle in her high heels. She steadied herself by holding onto a nearby pillar, and the shoulder strap of her black dress slipped down, revealing a small patch of pale skin on her collarbone.

Xu Chen stared at the skin, his eyes turning dangerous. "He really didn't touch you?" Xu Chen suddenly asked, his voice hoarse.

Cheng Yin shook her head: "No."

"And what's that on your neck?"

Cheng Yin subconsciously touched her neck: "What?"

Xu Chen grabbed her and roughly ran his thumb across the side of her neck: "This!" His voice was almost squeezed out between his teeth.

Cheng Yin then remembered that Li Yaodong had indeed whispered in her ear at the party, possibly leaving a mark. But she didn't remember being kissed or bitten.

"It wasn't a hickey," she explained. "He was just too close."

Xu Chen scoffed and released his grip: "Do you think I'm a three-year-old?" He turned and lit another cigarette, taking several tries to light it. "Get lost, go back to your sugar daddy."

"I said get out!" Xu Chen suddenly snapped, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her against a pillar. "Can't you understand human language?"

Cheng Yin's head hit the concrete pillar, and her vision went black for a moment.

Xu Chen's hand was like an iron clamp around her throat, but he didn't actually use force. She could feel his palm trembling, his calloused fingertips roughly rubbing against her skin.

"You never used to...mind..." Cheng Yin said with difficulty, her voice weak from lack of oxygen.

Xu Chen's eyes were bloodshot: "The past is the past!" He loosened his grip slightly, but didn't completely let go. "Now you're dressed like this, managing his accounts, staying out all night, and you're telling me you haven't slept with him?"

"Xu Chen..." she called softly, her fingers gently resting on his wrist, not pulling him away, just touching him.

Xu Chen abruptly released his grip and took two steps back as if he had been burned.

Cheng Yin slid down the pillar and sat on the ground. She coughed twice, her throat burning with pain.

"You should leave." Xu Chen's voice suddenly turned weary. "Don't come back."

Cheng Yin looked up at him.

"Why?" Cheng Yin asked, "Because of Li Yaodong?"

He stopped abruptly, realizing what he had said.

Cheng Yin's eyes widened slightly. The words "my woman" exploded between them like a bomb, the aftershocks lingering for a long time.

The silence was broken by the ringing of a cell phone.

Cheng Yin took her phone out of her handbag, and the three words "Li Yaodong" on the screen were particularly glaring. Xu Chen's expression became even more gloomy after seeing it.

"Answer it," he sneered. "Your master is calling you."

Cheng Yin hung up the phone, but it rang again immediately.

This time, Xu Chen snatched the phone and pressed the answer button: "She'll be back right away, are you satisfied?"

After hearing what was said on the other end of the phone, Xu Chen's expression became even more ferocious: "None of your business!" After shouting this, he slammed the phone to the ground.

The sound of the phone screen shattering was particularly crisp in the parking lot.

Cheng Yin watched as her only means of communication was reduced to fragments, but she didn't get angry; she just sighed softly.

Xu Chen squatted down to meet her gaze. "Cheng Yin, listen carefully." His voice was unusually calm. "I, Xu Chen, from today onwards, I don't need you following me anymore. I don't need your money, and I don't need you haunting me like a damn shadow." He enunciated each word clearly. "Do you understand?"

Looking into his red eyes, Cheng Yin suddenly understood: "You're afraid of implicating me."

Xu Chen's expression was as if he'd been slapped: "Bullshit!"

"You're just afraid of dragging me down with you," Cheng Yin's voice was soft, but incredibly certain. "You think you're a quagmire that will drag me down with you."

Xu Chen suddenly stood up, looking down at her: "Stop flattering yourself! I'm just fed up! Ten years, and you've been like a mangy dog ​​I can't shake off. I've had enough!"

Cheng Yin slowly stood up, her black dress covered in dust. She patted the hem of her dress, her movements as composed as if she were organizing office documents: "You've told me to get out many times."

"This time it's for real!"

"That's what you said last time too." Cheng Yin looked up at him. "And the time before that too."

Xu Chen suddenly grabbed her shoulders, his grip so tight it felt like he was about to crush her bones: "This time is different!" His voice was hoarse. "Before, I chased you away because I thought you were cheap! Now..." His Adam's apple bobbed, "Now I know, it's because I'm not good enough for you."

The last few words were spoken as softly as a sigh.

Cheng Yin was stunned. This was the first time Xu Chen had ever said the words "unworthy". Before, he would only call her cheap, stupid, and ungrateful.

"I don't care whether we're a good match or not," Cheng Yin said.

"But I care!" Xu Shen released her, took two steps back, and said, "Cheng Yin, go. Go back to the mainland, find a good man, and live a normal life." He paused, "Just pretend... just pretend you never met me."

Cheng Yin shook her head: "Impossible."

"Watching you get better," Cheng Yin interrupted him, "just like how you watched me back then."

Xu Chen froze.

He kicked the door open and yelled "Get out!" The girls were so frightened they ran away.

In the corner, a thin girl was trembling, hugging her knees. Her school uniform was covered with words like "Go to hell, bitch." He intended to turn and leave, but inexplicably, he pulled out half a melted chocolate from his pocket and threw it to her.

He should have known that from that moment on, they were bound together.

"It's too late," Xu Chen finally said, his voice weary. "I'm completely rotten."

Cheng Yin was about to say something when footsteps suddenly came from the entrance of the parking lot.

The two turned around at the same time; it was a security guard from the Galaxy Hotel.

"Xu Chen!" the security guard shouted, "A customer needs to pick up their car!"

Xu Chen responded and turned to Cheng Yin, "Let's go." His voice had regained its calm. "Don't come back."

Cheng Yin stood still.

Xu Chen sighed, bent down to pick up the wreckage of the phone from the ground, and stuffed it back into her hand: "It can still be used after some repairs."

The security guard urged them on again. Xu Chen glanced at Cheng Yin one last time, then turned and walked towards the entrance. His figure appeared particularly lonely under the stark white light, the cast on his right hand resembling a mark of shame.

Cheng Yin watched his retreating figure and suddenly said in her newly learned phrase, "I'll wait for you." Her pronunciation wasn't perfect, but it was clear enough to understand.

Xu Chen paused for a moment, but did not turn around. He raised his intact hand and waved it, as if to say goodbye, or perhaps to surrender.

Cheng Yin slowly walked out of the parking lot, the sunlight in Haojiang was so bright that she couldn't open her eyes.

Her phone was broken, so she couldn't call a taxi and had to walk back to Gaber.

Cheng Yin didn't care; she just walked slowly, recalling what Xu Chen had said.

"I'm not good enough for you."

It's not "I hate you," it's not "You're not good enough for me," it's "I'm not good enough for you."

But she's obviously terrible too.