Chapter 62: Her boyfriend kills a coquettish troublemaker with a single slap (25)

Xue Yan was now truly afraid, far more so than when Bai Yao had previously caught him secretly trapping mice. He sneaked glances at the girl sitting beside him several times, but whenever she looked his way, he quickly withdrew his gaze, lowered his head, and sat with perfect posture. No one in the entire cinema could be more obedient and well-behaved than him.

He had countless questions swirling in his mind, yet dared not voice a single one.

In the suffocating silence, Bai Yao finally spoke in a low voice, “You really have some nerve, neglecting your work to gamble here!”

Xue Yan nervously picked at his fingernails, his head drooping even lower. He mumbled, “I’m sorry, Yao Yao.”

Bai Yao shot him a glance. “Who did you bet on to win?”

“The fifth seat in the seventh row.”

Suddenly, a pink wallet was placed in his hands.

Xue Yan stared blankly, raising his head.

Bai Yao said, “I’m betting on the same person as you.”

Timid as ever, Xue Yan hesitated. “Yao Yao, are you testing me?”

Bai Yao’s tone was sharp. “If I were testing you, I’d have brought candy instead.”

Xue Yan gazed at Bai Yao for a long while. Seeing she had no intention of raising her hand to slap him, he finally relaxed, and a smile crept onto his face. Carefully, he placed the well-protected candies into Bai Yao’s lap, then, cradling the wallet, went off to find Aunt Zhang to increase his bet.

Now, only Bai Yao and Mr. Shu remained in this row of seats.

Mr. Shu sat several seats away, turned his face, and offered a mild smile. “Ms. Bai, could you perhaps stop spoiling him so much?”

Bai Yao looked at the speaker.

Mr. Shu said, “Honestly, he’s already running wild in the town.”

Bai Yao was the only one who could keep Xue Yan in check. Each time he made a mistake, she seemed fierce, scolding him harshly, yet in truth, she always indulged him, sometimes even joining in his mischief.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Xue Yan could so confidently act with impunity—plucking flowers planted around town, leveraging his age to play marbles with the children and ‘win’ their snacks, or kicking any dog that barked at him as he passed.

The town was home to neither too few nor too many residents; relations among them were not as harmonious as they appeared, peace maintained only by the rules they had set.

Yet Xue Yan was an anomaly. He rarely participated in the town’s affairs, often shutting himself away in his house. That was fine, but whenever he felt like venturing outside, disregarding the rules was commonplace.

Bai Yao smiled gently. “Mr. Shu, Xue Yan has a child’s heart—he’s warm and sincere, just a little too playful. It’s not such a grave matter.”

Mr. Shu pondered her words—“a child’s heart, warm and sincere”—and realized why Xue Yan depended on Bai Yao so deeply.

Finding a woman whose vision was poor but still liked him was no easy task.

Bai Yao added, “Besides, I think your indulgence toward Xue Yan is no less than mine.”

Mr. Shu laughed. “Is that so?”

Bai Yao said, “Over the past half year, in order to help him keep me here, you’ve all been acting, suppressing your instincts. It must have been exhausting.”

Only then did Mr. Shu realize Bai Yao was even more perceptive than he’d imagined.

This town, at night, would be shrouded in dense fog that could make people lose their way. The flowers planted along the roads were large and beautiful, but Bai Yao had once stood at her window and watched as a flower opened its enormous maw, swallowed a stray pheasant whole, and moments later spat out nothing but bones.

She had also seen the street-sweeper uncle, overwhelmed by the heat, collapse under the shade of a tree, his body melting into the grass like a pile of mud.

Many times, children, after fighting, would search for their lost body parts. Hua Hua often couldn’t find his eyes, but after fruitless searching throughout the school, returning to the classroom, he would find them neatly placed on his desk.

Of course, that was Bai Yao’s doing.

Even her colleagues insisted the thick red sauce they used in their meals was tomato sauce, but having seen it enough times, Bai Yao knew something was off.

The town was full of strange things and people. She was no fool; living here for long, she naturally realized something was amiss.

Yet absurdly, all those oddities were kept outside her and Xue Yan’s home.

So Bai Yao said the townspeople’s indulgence toward Xue Yan was no less than hers. Even with his threats, anyone with a mind could expose a hint of danger to Bai Yao, making her suspicious—it wouldn’t be difficult.

But such a thing had never happened.

Purely because their acting was poor, Bai Yao occasionally caught a glimpse of something amiss.

Mr. Shu had rarely interacted with Bai Yao before and knew little about her, but today, his impression of her was completely changed. He glanced at Xue Yan, who was approaching, and said quietly, “It was he who granted us our freedom, so we’re willing to help him fulfill his heart’s desire.”

Xue Yan’s heart’s desire was only Bai Yao.

Before Bai Yao could ask what “granting freedom” meant, Xue Yan came trotting back, happily sitting beside Bai Yao, clasping her hand, his eyes sparkling as he stared at her.

Bai Yao raised her hand and turned his face toward the big screen. “Watch the movie.”

Xue Yan pouted in displeasure. He hadn’t forgotten Mr. Shu’s attempt to trick him earlier. His eyes darted around as he pressed close to Bai Yao and whispered, “Yao Yao, you don’t know how hypocritical some people are. They know girls are in difficult situations, so they deliberately make her offer herself, then give her a chance to win.”

Whoever said Xue Yan was foolish? When it came to things outside Bai Yao, he was almost too clever—he could even use idioms to gossip.

Bai Yao’s gaze passed over Xue Yan and settled on Mr. Shu.

Mr. Shu remained unfazed, saying leisurely, “It’s nothing but a fair, consensual exchange. We all got what we wanted, and I didn’t break the game’s rules to let her win. I merely let you bet that she might win.”

He and Yin Huanmian were both mature adults, capable of bearing the consequences of their decisions.

When Xue Yan learned Bai Yao was pregnant, his reaction was as if he would die from heartbreak. Mr. Shu found such emotion hard to comprehend, which made him curious.

And Yin Huanmian happened to appear when Mr. Shu was curious about love between men and women. In her desperate situation, she still retained some human kindness toward Cha Lan, which naturally drew his attention to her.

If he could shatter that humanity within her, it would surely be interesting.