No. 25 A Lullaby for the Restless
Under a gray sky, the air in the Upper Capital City was filled with the fresh scent of rain-washed greenery. As I unlocked my bike downstairs, I glanced at the rooftop of the building across the street.
043 was still perched there…
What a lonely existence that must be.
No fixed abode, barely any rest, nerves constantly on edge for hours on end, all freedom and will caged until the employer gave the all-clear.
Even the right to be called by his name was stripped away, leaving only the cold, impersonal designation “043.”
Was the Huang Yingdie incident not truly over?
I mounted my bike, put on my headphones and the baseball cap, and headed towards a destination I would never normally visit.
I was going to pick up the recovering, tsundere princess for school.
I couldn’t fathom what her father was thinking.
If I remembered correctly, Huang Yingdie had only been discharged from the hospital three days ago. And today was Friday. Was it really necessary to send her back to school so soon?
Following the address Ouyang Dati had given me, I arrived at a luxurious residential complex and showed the security guard my special pass.
At the designated meeting point, I saw Huang Yingdie, dressed in her school uniform, and her boyfriend.
“Xiaodie can come with me to school.”
Huang Qinghao dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “You can leave.”
I parked my bike beside them and held out my hand. “Proof.”
He looked confused. “Proof of what?”
“Proof from her father or Ouyang Dati.”
I was here on behalf of her father. He couldn’t just brush me off with a few words. I had to report back to them.
My current job was to escort the mayor’s daughter to and from school, for a daily wage of 1,000 yuan. A month-long contract.
“Are you a dog? I need proof to take my girlfriend to school? Go lick the boots of those officials somewhere else. Don’t pollute our air.”
He scowled at me.
“Qinghao, don’t be like that. She…”
Huang Yingdie tried to defend me, but he cut her off. “It’s fine, Xiaodie. Let’s go.”
He grabbed her hand and was about to drag her away, but I jumped off my bike and blocked his path.
“You’re asking for trouble!”
He swung his fist at my face.
I dodged it effortlessly, grabbed his arm, and with a swift motion, threw him over my shoulder.
“Thud!”
He landed hard on the cobblestone path outside the complex.
“You call yourself her boyfriend?” I adjusted my cap, which had been knocked askew, and looked down at him. “Where were you when she was kidnapped? Where were you when she was shot and bleeding in that cave? Where were you when she was lying in the hospital, needing comfort and support?”
“I…”
“Even her father, the mayor of Nanjing, rushed to her side before her surgery was over. Are you, a middle school student, busier than the mayor? And you have the audacity to call yourself her boyfriend?”
His face flushed, then paled. He avoided my gaze. “I really had something to do…”
“Enough.” I grabbed Huang Yingdie’s hand. “If you’re a man, get up. If you can’t, admit it. Making excuses only makes you look childish. Until you’re capable of protecting her, I will.”
I took a few steps forward, then turned back to him. “I apologize for what happened at the hospital. I misunderstood you.”
Initially, I hadn’t wanted to accept this job. I wasn’t good at taking care of people, and I had no interest in Huang Yingdie’s personal life. But the pay was good, and Ouyang Dati had said the mayor wanted to repay me for saving his daughter’s life.
When darkness fell, happiness required a certain level of material security.
Words granted everyone the freedom to complain, but all those who lamented the unfairness of society and the system were essentially saying the same thing: “Give me money, women, and status.”
“Hmph, fake compassion.”
He scrambled to his feet, his face contorted with anger. “Don’t leave school early tonight. I’ll be waiting for you at the gate.”
“You can wait wherever you want.”
I turned my back on him and walked away, pulling Huang Yingdie along.
People in this world could be divided into two types: those who turned their struggles and criticisms into motivation, and those who drifted aimlessly through life, relying on luck.
The first type had clear goals, while the second type’s lives were dictated by chance. If they were lucky, they might even surpass the first type.
Being beaten up and having his girlfriend taken away in front of his own eyes, then being challenged—it was a humiliation no man could easily forget.
I hoped Huang Qinghao was the type who could turn humiliation into motivation. But even if he wasn’t, it was none of my business.
“Yi Yao…”
As we left the complex and I gestured for her to get on the back of my bike, she hesitated. “How much did my parents pay you?”
I looked at her calmly. “Do you want to cry in a BMW?”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying…”
She glanced towards Huang Qinghao. “I’m saying… I can pay you double. You…”
“Can you let Qinghao and me go to school together?”
I didn’t answer. I stared into her eyes, then asked, “Do you like him?”
She blushed and looked down. “He’s my friend.”
“I thought you said he was your sworn brother.”
“…”
She remained silent. I turned the bike around. “I refuse. Get on.”
We would be late if we didn’t hurry.
“Yi Yao… I’m grateful that you saved my life, but I still hope you can agree…”
“Agree to what?” I adjusted my cap. “Let you hang out with that guy? Then he’ll take you to a hotel and promise to just lie beside you and play on his phone, without touching you?”
She looked up sharply. “Qinghao would never do that!”
“I don’t know what kind of person he is, and I don’t care. My job is to take you to school. What you do after that is none of my business.”
“You… you’re hopeless.”
“Perhaps.”
Under my stern gaze, she reluctantly got on the bike.
“Hold on tight.”
We rode in silence.
“Alright, be here at six this afternoon.”
I watched her walk into Nurturing Talent Middle School, her back straight and proud, her expression unreadable. For some reason, I couldn’t help but call out to her. “No one in this world is guaranteed a happy ending. Remember, even fairy tales come with a price.”
She paused briefly, then hurried into the building.
Why did I care? Her life was none of my business. I had enough problems of my own.
I turned my bike around and pedaled faster, arriving at my own school just before the bell rang.
As I entered the classroom, several students were gathered around Lan Zhuoyue’s empty desk. They all gasped dramatically when they saw me.
“Look who’s back! Our hero has returned!”
“Good job, Yi Yao! You actually escaped from those vicious criminals.”
“I heard they were foreign terrorists.”
“No, they were drug dealers from the Golden Triangle.”
“What the hell do you know?”
As usual, they quickly got sidetracked.
Ignoring their stares, I sat down at my desk.
My desk was piled high with homework and test papers.
“Yi Yao, where’s your precious Lan Zhuoyue?”
A sarcastic voice came from behind me.
“I don’t know.”
I remembered Lan Zhuoyue’s plea at the hospital, begging me not to tell anyone about his illness. I took off my cap and placed it on his desk, then looked up at Tan Lijiang. “Class is about to start. Go back to your seat.”
“Come on, I’m still waiting for him to come back and apologize. A man keeps his word, right?”
He sat down beside me, grinning, and picked up my cap. “Ooh, little hearts. A gift from your boyfriend?”
I ignored him and continued sorting through my papers.
There were many students like him in school. The more you reacted, the more they would provoke you.
But there was a strange phenomenon: the classmates you hated the most in middle school often became the ones who contacted you the most after graduation, asking for favors.
“We were just kids back then.”
A simple phrase that excused countless transgressions.
“You’re quite calm, Yi Yao.”
Perhaps bored by my indifference, he put down my cap. “Let’s get to the point. Our class has a basketball game against Class 12 this afternoon. Lan Zhuoyue is our forward. We haven’t been able to reach him, so we thought you might have another way to contact him.”
He added, “Of course, if you don’t want him to play, it’s fine. We’ll just forfeit.”
