“Then why couldn’t you say that you were the one who had an accident? Why did you have to say it was me?! Don’t you know how important it is for a female to keep her reputation?!” Gu Xingshan obstinately retorted, then picked up a pillow to throw at Gu Xinghao!

  But Gu Xinghao jumped away and dodged in time. “Can you not resort to violence? Don’t think that I won’t dare to punch you just because you’re female. If you throw something at me again, I’m going to retaliate!”


  Gu Xingshan continued throwing pillows at him.

  Gu Xinghao was enraged. “I say, why are you so……”


  Gu Xingshan raised her head, proud. “What about me?”


  Gu Xinghao sighed in resignation. “Well, nothing…… can’t you just be pretty?”


  “Sure. I was born pretty,” Gu Xingshan boasted.

  Just as Gu Xinghao was about to reply to her, his phone rang. Upon casting a glance at it, he immediately picked it up and changed his tone to one of urgency. “Mother, where are you? Why isn’t the ambulance here yet? Xingshan is…… what?”


  Gu Xinghao’s grip loosened and the phone dropped to the floor.

  ―


  The sky darkened gradually.

  Warm yellow lights began to be visible around the dingy little house.

  Hiding in a dark corner, Mi Nuo had wrapped herself with a stinky blanket, but she was still shivering from head to toe.

  In front of her lay a few pieces of cold, stale bread. She was freezing and hungry, but she didn’t want to eat the bread.

  Not far away on the coffee table was an electric stove with a bubbling pot of hotpot. As it made gurgling sounds, its warmth and fragrance wafted over to her. Old Zhong and his wife were huddling around the hotpot and having their meal.

  Mi Nuo, evidently attracted by the fragrance, was swallowing her saliva hard.

  Old Zhong turned around and smiled at her, revealing his mouth full of yellow teeth. “My dear, won’t you come and eat with us?”


  He spurted food scraps as he spoke, killing off Mi Nuo’s appetite instantly. Raising her brows, she lowered her head. “No, thanks.”


  Old Zhong’s wife, hearing her reply, began laughing to herself. “Forget it! Someone so soft and tender like her won’t want to eat with you!”


  That made Old Zhong laugh heartily.

  Mi Nuo didn’t bother herself with them. Lowering her head, she picked up her phone and looked at it in anxiety. Why hadn’t Li Yufeng come?

  The day before, she hadn’t even slept a wink. If this went on, she was going to go crazy!

  The place she was currently at was old and dilapidated, and she even had to share a common sleeping area with two other people. What was worse was their snoring, which kept her up at night.

  It had been five hours since the call she had made in the afternoon. Why was Li Yufeng still not arriving?

  Mi Nuo couldn’t help but pick up her phone again. She made another call to Li Yufeng, but there was no answer.

  She couldn’t stop herself from feeling irritated.

  She waited all the way until nightfall. The couple, having already fallen asleep, were snoring loudly once again. Mi Nuo heaved a huge sigh, then continued making calls to Li Yufeng — but they went unanswered as before.

  In this present moment, all she felt was a boundless sense of hopelessness.

  When she had been all glamorous and high-flying in her glory days, she had never felt that Li Yufeng was of much use. But now that she was down and out once again, she suddenly realized how small she was and how much of a blessing it was to have a mother.

  “But Mother, where are you now? Why aren’t you coming to bring me back home?”


  The thought of this, together with all the things that had been happening recently, made Mi Nuo unable to stop herself from crying. Afraid that she’d make a sound, she covered her mouth.