Dazzling

Xing Wu strode over to Qing Ye, rainwater streaming down his face as he stared at her: "It's fine now. Give me the stool."

But Qing Ye was frozen, staring blankly at the man lying in the rain, her voice trembling as she said: "Did... did you kill him?"

As they spoke, the commotion in the yard finally prompted several households to open their doors. Aunt Zhao gasped in shock and called out to Xing Wu standing by the shower room entrance: "Wu Zi, what happened?"

Xing Wu slowly turned his head, ignoring Aunt Zhao's question. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the peeking Wu Baoping, his tone icy cold: "Uncle Wu, drag your second son back inside."

Old Wu, realizing it was his own son lying on the ground, rushed out without even grabbing an umbrella. Seeing it was indeed Wu Lao Er, he immediately called for his wife while cursing and carrying Wu Lao Er back into the house.

Xing Wu snatched the chair from Qing Ye's hands and threw it inside, then turned and walked back into the heavy rain toward the Wu residence. Qing Ye felt her entire body turn cold - earlier she had been afraid of the man outside breaking in, but now she was terrified that Xing Wu might have beaten him to death.

She watched Xing Wu march directly into the Wu house, gritted her teeth, and dashed through the rain after him. Qing Ye stopped at the Wu's doorway, not daring to enter, but peered inside to see Xing Wu wasn't checking on Wu Lao Er's condition. Instead, he went straight to the wardrobe, yanking all the clothes out.

Qing Ye stared at Xing Wu in shock. Neighbors from around the compound had gathered under umbrellas at the Wu's doorway, none understanding what was happening.

It was only then that Qing Ye noticed Wu Lao Er lying to the side wasn't dead. Though he looked utterly battered, his eyes were open and he was propped up in a sitting position.

Wu Lao Er's mother grabbed Xing Wu and wailed: "Wu Zi, what are you doing? Whatever my son did, we can talk about it properly. Why are you ransacking our house?"

Xing Wu completely ignored her. He crouched down, pulled open the bottom drawer, and pushed the clothes aside. Instantly, everyone stared in stunned silence - beneath the men's clothing lay fresh-colored women's underwear, clearly of a young girl's style.

Qing Ye immediately recognized them as her own - the underwear that had been stolen recently. Her blood ran cold, her mind nearly shutting down from the shock.

They watched as Xing Wu grabbed a plastic bag from nearby, stuffed all the women's underwear inside, then stood up and looked at Wu Lao Er's parents: "Your son stealing my cousin's underwear was bad enough, but then he tried to break into the shower room during the thunderstorm. As for what he intended to do in there - you know perfectly well."

The Wu family instantly turned pale. Even Uncle Wu, who had seemed ready to grab a knife earlier, suddenly deflated, staring at his second son and cursing: "Lao Er, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Xing Wu snorted coldly, scanning the crowd with a fierce glare as he delivered his warning: "You all know he's asking for death. Let me warn everyone in this compound - if anyone dares to set their sights on Qing Ye again, there won't be a next time. I'll send you straight to meet the King of Hell. I've never been afraid of prison food in my life."

Standing at the Wu's doorway, Qing Ye stared blankly at Xing Wu. She didn't know what she was feeling in that moment - fear, panic, shock, or this sudden sense of security. It was all so complex, so overwhelming that her emotions surged violently, her entire body trembling.Xing Wu dropped his words and turned to leave when he spotted Qing Ye standing by the door, arms wrapped around herself. Her white dress was completely soaked, and she was shivering as she stared at him.

His brow furrowed as he snapped at her, "What are you doing out here?"

Qing Ye didn't respond, just gazed at him with damp eyes. Feeling uncomfortable under her stare, Xing Wu grabbed her wrist and led her through the pouring rain, pushing her back into the bathroom. "Just take your bath in peace."

"What about you?" Qing Ye asked softly.

Seeing how clearly frightened she was, Xing Wu clenched his jaw and softened his tone. "I'll be right here."

Xing Wu went upstairs to fetch dry clothes for her. While Qing Ye was bathing, she heard commotion in the yard again—it seemed someone had arrived. She quickly rinsed off and opened the door to find an umbrella placed by Xing Wu at the entrance. The back door of the barbershop was left open, with Xing Wu deliberately keeping it ajar to let light in for her.

Qing Ye opened the umbrella and hurried home. Indeed, after an hour of calling, the police had finally arrived. Two officers stood in the shop, apparently quite familiar with Xing Wu.

Patting Xing Wu on the shoulder, one officer said, "Next time, take it easy. Don't let things get out of hand. If you end up locked away, what will happen to your mom and grandma?"

Xing Wu handed them each a cigarette and replied calmly, "I know my limits."

After understanding the situation, the officers seemed to think Wu Lao Er had it coming. Since no one was killed and the Wu family had no grounds to pursue the matter, they chatted briefly with Xing Wu before leaving.

Once the police were gone, Xing Wu locked the rolling shutter door and turned to find Qing Ye staring at him from the staircase. He sighed, walked over, took the wet, dirty clothes from her hands, and said, "Go upstairs and get some sleep."

Qing Ye turned silently and went upstairs. Xing Wu watched her until her figure disappeared at the top of the stairs before heading back to the yard.

His mood was terrible—utterly foul. A suffocating gloom seemed trapped in his chest, with no outlet for release. As the shower streamed over his lean frame, his body tensed, and he slammed a fist hard against the wall.

But the punch did little to ease his turmoil. He couldn't bear to imagine what might have happened if he hadn't answered Qing Ye's call, if Wu Lao Er had managed to pry the door open just moments earlier. The thought was terrifying.

He felt profoundly grateful that he had chosen the most expensive double-lock when buying the door latch that day. He didn't even dare consider what could have occurred if he had picked a cheaper one.

For the first time in his life, Xing Wu felt a chilling fear. He had thought his life was already set, that there was nothing left to scare him. But because of that girl's arrival, because of tonight's events, he had started to fear.

He feared that an innocent girl might be ruined in his home, right under his watch. Though he never considered himself a good person, he couldn't stand the thought of such a thing happening.

After his shower, Xing Wu hand-washed both his wet clothes and Qing Ye's. Not wanting to disturb her, he didn't go upstairs immediately. Instead, he stayed downstairs, scrolling on his phone and smoking a cigarette before finally carrying the basin upstairs.

Unexpectedly, Qing Ye wasn't asleep. She sat on the edge of the bed, head bowed, staring at the floor. She wasn't on her phone, and her hair was still dripping. She looked as if she had been suddenly thrown into deep water—desperate, suffocating, cruelly pitiful.

Xing Wu set the basin down and asked, "Still awake?"After saying this, he walked to the window to hang up the clothes. The girl behind him was unusually silent, not uttering a single word, which made Xing Wu feel quite unaccustomed.

After hanging the clothes, he turned to look at her, then took a hairdryer from the drawer and handed it to her. Qing Ye didn’t take it and still didn’t move.

Xing Wu helplessly plugged in the hairdryer, walked around to her front, and began drying her hair for her. Qing Ye kept her head lowered, neither refusing nor cooperating much. Xing Wu knew she had been badly frightened today—any girl would have been, let alone someone like Qing Ye, who came from a big city, had been well-protected since childhood, and lived a comfortable and smooth life. Where would she have ever encountered such dark sides of life?

He actually wanted to comfort her a little and tell her to get some good sleep, but every time he opened his mouth, Xing Wu didn’t know what to say.

He had never comforted anyone before, and his language grades were the worst among all his subjects. Cursing someone was more his style; trying to organize words to comfort someone was truly a challenge for him.

But just then, Qing Ye, who had been keeping her head down, suddenly whispered very faintly, "I want to go home..."

The noise from the hairdryer was too loud, and Xing Wu didn’t hear her clearly. He turned it off and asked uncertainly, "What did you say?"

Qing Ye’s hair was no longer dripping, half-dry and clinging to her cheeks. Her small, delicate face was hidden behind her hair as she repeated, "I want to go home."

This time, Xing Wu heard her clearly. He set down the hairdryer and sat opposite her, on his own bed, leaning forward with his hands on his knees as he stared at her. "Is there anyone left in your family?"

After a long silence, Qing Ye shook her head. No, there was no one left in her family. She used to have a grandfather, but he had passed away a few years ago. After her grandfather’s death, her uncle had a falling out with her father over matters from before her grandfather’s passing. Once her uncle went abroad, her father cut ties with him, and her uncle stopped all contact with her father as well. She had no family left.

Xing Wu pinched the bridge of his nose and patiently said to her, "If there’s no one in your family, how can you go back? Where would you live? How would you survive?"

Qing Ye buried her face in her knees, holding herself tightly, and said somewhat hysterically, "I don’t know. I don’t know where I can go. Anywhere but here—anywhere would be better."

If Qing Ye had said this to Xing Wu during her first few days here, he would have told her to get lost without a second thought, and might even have helped carry her luggage out to personally send her on her way.

But on this torrentially rainy night, after she had just experienced a terrifying scare, when Xing Wu heard her words, he only felt his jaw tighten, and his entire being was shrouded in an invisible, intangible gloom.

He didn’t say anything. They remained quiet for a long time, until Xing Wu noticed a drop of water fall onto the floor. He lifted his gaze and realized that Qing Ye, hidden behind her hair, was silently crying.

At that moment, his heart twisted. When Li Lanfang had told him that a cousin was coming to stay at his house, he had always regarded this unknown cousin as an unwelcome guest. From the first moment he saw her, she had that arrogant, disdainful look in her eyes, as if she looked down on everything and everyone here.

Although Xing Wu was reluctant to admit it, the dazzling thorns on Qing Ye had indeed pricked his self-esteem time and again, and the people and environment around him, which he had never thought much of before, only intensified this feeling.From the very first day Qing Ye arrived, he knew she was different. She was unlike everyone else in Zhazha Pavilion; she didn't belong here and should never have been dumped in this place. Yet he couldn't change others, couldn't alter the environment, and at this moment, he couldn't drive this girl away either.

Xing Wu's furrowed brows gradually relaxed. He lowered his gaze and called out to her, "Hey."

Qing Ye ignored him, so he simply brushed aside the hair covering her forehead and instantly saw her tear-streaked face—pitiful enough to wrench one's heart.

She turned her head away, wiping her tears, unwilling to meet his eyes. Xing Wu deliberately leaned to her right and said, "I figure you've got nowhere else to go. If you did, your family wouldn't have sent you here. School starts in just over ten days—transferring elsewhere isn't realistic now."

Qing Ye knew it wasn't realistic, but she simply didn't want to stay here. It was a deep-seated disgust and rejection rising from within. She had thought she could endure it—just one year, no big deal—but even before school began, this aversion grew increasingly uncontrollable.

Then she heard Xing Wu sigh and suddenly say, "What happened today—I promise it won't happen again."

Qing Ye turned her tearful eyes to him. "How can you guarantee that?"

Xing Wu curled his lip, propping his hands on the bed behind him with casual defiance.

Under her skeptical gaze, he explained helplessly, "The Wu family has two sons. The eldest drives a taxi in town. After marriage, his wife and mother-in-law didn't get along, so he rarely comes back. The younger son, Wu Lao Er, is thirty, idle and waiting to die, can't find a wife, and just leeches off his parents. That's why the Wu daughter-in-law is full of resentment."

"Wu Lao Er may be a scoundrel, but he's cowardly—only dares to do shady things. I hit him harder than necessary today, but being gentle wouldn't have worked. He'll be laid up at home for at least ten days to half a month. Even with ten times the guts, he'd never dare entertain any foolish ideas about you again."

"Besides, I won't give him another chance. If I say I can guarantee it, I have my ways."

This seemed to be the first time in Qing Ye's memory that Xing Wu had spoken to her seriously. She couldn't help looking at him a moment longer.

Whether it was his words or not, Qing Ye's tears stopped, and she dropped the subject of leaving. She just sat there quietly.

Xing Wu remarked, "My mom will be back soon. If she sees you crying because of me, she'll probably scold me again."

Qing Ye felt too miserable to face Li Lanfang's dramatic outbursts and foul language, so she turned and climbed onto the bed, pulling the blanket over herself.

As soon as she lay down, she heard Xing Wu's footsteps heading out. She immediately sat up and asked, "Where are you going?"

Xing Wu turned to see her anxious expression, her beautiful eyes red-rimmed—as if afraid of being abandoned.

The usual sharpness in his brow softened slightly. "Can't sleep. Watching a ball game. I'm not leaving tonight."

Hearing "not leaving tonight," Qing Ye seemed to relax and lay back down.

Though Xing Wu closed the door behind him, she could still hear the intermittent sounds of the TV from outside. For the first time, this sleep-disrupting noise felt reassuring, and she drifted off to sleep listening to it.