Gan Qing tilted her head, her eyes staring from a corner of the corridor. She saw Nie Ke frowning and shouting out his instructions. He occupied a large section of the empty space in the courtyard and was ordering the movers around until their heads were spinning.

Even though this man was nearly middle-aged, his looks were still good. He could even be called delicately handsome and his body was also very much in shape. He knew how to dress and also carried his clothes well. The coal-black long coat made his face appear very clean. A female driver passing by had her way blocked by him but when she wound her window down to look, she didn't even frown and instead, waited patiently for him to move.

Nie Ke saw clearly the Maserati logo on the car and his expression changed immediately. With poise and elegance, he walked over to exchange a few words with the female driver, perhaps to apologise and to explain. In just a few words, they even struck up a conversation.

The two people chatted happily, and probably even thought that the movers moved their van too quickly.

After the woman drove away, the melancholic smile on Nie Ke's face disappeared. He watched the car leave, then lit a cigarette and drew on it harshly. He seemed unwilling to accept how things had turned out and also seemed to be harbouring ill intentions. The corners of his eyes and mouth were drawn at a sharp angle. This expression didn't quite look human; it looked more like a wolf hiding beneath human skin.

Gan Qing's eyes swept across his exposed neck and wrists. Her eyes focused like a high school student in an examination hall staring at the last geometry question, coldly calculating where she should make the first move.

Nie Ke threw the cigarette butt onto the manhole cover, then lifted his head to look at the eighth floor. He thought of Xiang Xiaoman and a cold, scornful smile appeared on his face. He regretted being too kind and soft-hearted, and not removing the woman cleanly. Keeping her by his side had resulted in so much trouble.

But what can you do to me? Just you watch, crazy bitch. As Nie Ke thought, he spat and then climbed up into the front passenger seat of the moving van.

He liked women but in his eyes, women were just like the equipment in a game. They were not people and there was no need for feelings. They should come and go at his bidding, and it would be best if they harmed or killed themselves for him to add to his mysterious charm. But if they dared to resist or dared to cause him trouble, then they were nothing good.

Since ancient times, people who tamed wild horses were heroes and fighters. But if the wild horse was unwilling to be tamed and even pretended to be docile only to bite their handler when they had the chance, then they were sinful and deserved to die.

Right at that moment, Gan Qing moved. The building entrance where she was at was only a few meters away from the bumper of the moving van. Between them was a bicycle rack which could perfectly hide her body. With just a few steps, she could slip under the van, and then…

...go to the young, handsome and capable Mr. Nie's new home, check out the place, and give him a little "surprise" at night.

However, right at the moment when she was about to slip out, an arm reached across from out of nowhere and held her back by her waist. "Come back!"

Gan Qing recognised the voice. She ignored it and stubbornly charged forward. Her elbow jabbed to the side but the other person refused to retreat. Elbow collided against elbow with a muffled thunk.

Both of them had collided directly and whoever was thinner suffered more. Gan Qing was forced to step aside to reduce the impact. At the same time, the other person lifted an arm and seized the door frame, blocking her way.

Gan Qing's gaze didn't leave Nie Ke. Her hands were trying to force a way out, yet her voice was politely making small talk. "Little Master Yu, why aren't you at work today?"

"There's a parent-teacher conference, I took a half-day leave." Yu Lanchuan dodged Gan Qing's shoulder that was crashing towards him. He forced half a step forward and his other hand grabbed the elbow of the hand that had been in her pocket the entire time. "Take it out!"

"Life sure is hard for you, Little Master Yu," Gan Qing said with a false smile. Her knee blocked his thigh. "Every day, you have to leave early and come back late…"

Yu Lanchuan retracted his leg but otherwise, did not move. As before, he blocked her path and the two of them exchanged a few moves in that tiny space. Fortunately, the building entrance was hidden by the moving van; otherwise, outsiders would see legs and arms flying around.

"...you have to take care of a younger brother..." Gan Qing's hand cleaved down like a knife, aiming right at his stomach. Yu Lanchuan slammed his elbow down on her hand and realised that her hand was quick but without strength. In the second that his elbow pushed down on it, her fingers moved swiftly, transforming into a blade to accurately brush past his ulnar nerve.

Yu Lanchuan hissed in pain.

Gan Qing said, "...and you can still find time to poke your nose into other people's business."

"It's still okay." Half of Yu Lanchuan's arm had lost all feeling but he endured and did not retract it. After all, a person's fingers were not a real blade. It hurt but there was no serious injury. He stood at an angle, using his shoulder to open the way, and spread his long legs to block Gan Qing, forcing her back into the corridor. "My time management can just about handle all that."

One used her hand as a blade, the other used his body as a sword.

The blade was a three-inch fingertip blade, slitting throats with barely a warning.

The sword was a heavy sword, with a thick spine and a wide blade, an honest and upright spirit contained within.

Gan Qing finally shifted her gaze and looked directly at Yu Lanchuan.

Outside, the sound of people talking was noisy and clamorous. In this tiny space hidden by the bicycle racks, there had already been one round of a silent and fierce fight, blade glinting and the sword flashing.

The afternoon sun did not shine through the north-facing windows. Gan Qing retreated into the shadows and fell silent for a while. She let out a soft laugh. "Little Master Yu's skills are much stronger than I had expected. As expected of the direct descendant of Han Jiang Yu."

Yu Lanchuan didn't say anything. He was wary, on guard for any more trouble she might cause.

He didn't have much experience with fighting other people. Plus, he was used to being civilised and worried about a lot of things. When he used his strength and attacked, he would always have an intention to hold back, as though he was afraid he would cause serious harm.

If Gan Qing wanted to take his life, she probably wouldn't need even a minute.

But if she didn't want to injure others, then she was tying her own limbs. On top of that, the space at the building entrance was limited and she lacked strength. If they were to arm wrestle, Yu Lanchuan would probably have to first give her an advantage of an additional arm. Unexpectedly, she had been stopped by him.

At that moment, the van could be heard accelerating. Slowly, it was driven away. It was too late to go after it now.

Gan Qing sighed. She shook the arm that was restraining her. "I didn't apply for leave, Little Master Yu. If you don't let go, you'll have to compensate me for the hours I miss again."

Yu Lanchuan asked, "What were you planning to do just now?"

Gan Qing said, "Nothing much. Leave the house and go to work."

"What's in your pocket?"

"Keys."

Yu Lanchuan didn't believe her words, not even the punctuation. He pulled her hand out of her pocket. Gan Qing loosened her grip. There was a clinking sound—she was really holding a bunch of keys.

"In the bright daytime"—Gan Qing looped her index finger through the key ring and spun it a couple of times, saying in resignation—"what did you think I was going to do?"

Yu Lanchuan was at first relieved. Then, in the next second, his gaze was suddenly pinned on the keys…

Dangling from her key ring was a decoration made from tying strings into knots, and the strings were two differently-coloured, fluorescent shoelaces!

The shoelaces were very familiar!

Gan Qing caught the keys in her hand and stuffed them back into her pocket. "Have I passed the security check?"

Yu Lanchuan involuntarily stretched out his hand. Halfway, he drew it back. "Your… keychain is pretty unusual."

"You like this type? When I'm back I'll give you one," Gan Qing spoke without thinking as she walked out. "Colourful knots repel evil to protect your home and can increase positive energy. The 'neighbour price' is twenty yuan. I'll pass one to you tonight, thank you for the business."

Yu Lanchuan moved his legs to keep up with her. "Those are shoelaces, aren't they?"

Gan Qing, "..."

Surely not?

She quickly dug it out and looked carefully—they really were shoelaces.

Such flashy shoelaces, they're definitely not mine. Where did I pick them up? She thought in bewilderment. She couldn't remember where those things came from anymore.

When she was young, there was a period of time when she was obsessed with tying knots and she had known how to tie quite a number of Chinese knots… Of course, she had forgotten them all now.

These small, scattered bits of her old possessions had all been given to her by Boss Meng. In fact, she couldn't remember where most of them came from. They weren't anything of importance to her and she had never thought that each and every one of them would be kept by her shifu.

When the older generation did something awkward, it was always like this. They didn't understand what the kids were thinking and also didn't dare ask too closely. He had been afraid of being too naggy, so he hadn't dared to carelessly touch any of her things, afraid that he would accidentally lose something important. But a youth that was filled with bouts of wind and rain wouldn't have so many important items. Looking back at them after a few years had passed, more than half of them were unknown to her.

And the person who had so carefully kept all her "unknowns" was no longer here.

Softly, Gan Qing's heart sank. She took a deep breath to hold it still, not letting it sink any lower. She was very experienced with maintaining a "heartless" state.

Her steps paused and she turned her head to say, "Is there anything else? That twenty yuan can't be lowered any further, Little Master Yu. Don't follow me anymore."

Yu Lanchuan came to a stop. He finally realised that he had followed her from the building entrance all the way to the courtyard gate.

"You…"

You don't remember where the two shoelaces came from?

...And you don't remember me?

The night that was filled with the ruckus of human voices and dog barks in my memories that shook me to my core was just a trifling matter that you forgot the moment it was over?

Where did you come from?

All these years, where had you gone to?

All these questions fought to be the first, swirling around in his throat. In the end, they melded into an image of a young girl looking at him with a mischievous expression and saying mockingly, "That doggy on your underwear looks a lot like you."

Gan Qing prepared herself to listen to yet another round of "Alliance Leader's Lecture on Law Awareness'' but what she saw was Yu Lanchuan's ears suddenly turning red. Who knew what grand move he was brewing up.

Gan Qing said, "Little Master Yu, if you have anything to say, just say it. Don't keep it in, your face is already red from holding everything in. It won't be good if others see you like this, they'll think that I'm doing something improper to you."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

She had been a female ruffian since young!

Gan Qing wanted to escape as quickly as possible, so she lowered her voice slightly and said sincerely, "I'm really going to go to work. Little Master Yu, stop following me. If I really want to take off that scumbag's head, you won't be able to stop me even if you follow me all the way to the women's washroom."

Flustered and exasperated, Yu Lanchuan said, "Who's following you to-"

Gan Qing cut him off, "Shh… Not so loud. Such coarse words will ruin your image."

Steam rose from Yu Lanchuan's every orifice in his indignation. With tremendous effort, he maintained his image and forced out a few words through gritted teeth. "When Yan Hao kidnapped him, you tried to stop him. I thought you were very rational and not someone who liked to find trouble for herself."

Gan Qing smiled, "Ai, this is nothing, it's no trouble at all."

She was even being polite!

"Wait a minute," Yu Lanchuan said quickly. "You're not the only one keeping an eye on Nie Ke now."

Gan Qing paused.

"In the past, no one knew what they did. Since this matter has been brought to light now, you're not the only one who's unwilling to let them get away with it," Yu Lanchuan said. "Wait a few more days, half a month at most."

"Half a month." Gan Qing looked at him deeply and nodded. "Okay."

A shameless person could always very quickly recalibrate their mental state. Nie Ke threw his child over to his parents and moved to a new house. No. 110 was old, rundown and small; were it not because it was in a school district, it would not be worth its price at all. A high-class apartment of the same price was much more comfortable.

He checked out the garden at the bottom of the apartment building and was quite satisfied. He even casually made plans with a female internet friend who was coming to visit Yanning, planning to relax fully.

But after relaxing for a few days, things started going wrong. At the start, it was the nearby jianbing seller giving him strange looks. Nie Ke didn't care, he didn't eat that kind of thing anyway. Then, very quickly, all the breakfast vendors nearby started to whisper to each other and it even spread to the convenience shops and cafes!

"Sir, I'm sorry but our coffee machine is not working."

"But it was just-"

"It became spoiled just now," the round-faced server's smile was very professional. "I'm really very sorry."

Nie Ke said, "Then, I don't want coffee. Give me a sandwich."

The server said, "We're out of sandwiches."

"There's one right in the display-"

"You are mistaken. That's a display item."

"What do you mean by this? The customer has the right to choose. You are breaking the law-"

"I'm really very sorry. If you're not satisfied, you may lodge a complaint."

After that, the line "You may lodge a complaint" seemed to linger in Nie Ke's ears. Full of anger, he ran back to his new home and bumped into a beggar right in front of the elevator. Nie Ke didn't like filth so he stepped back with a frown. However, the beggar gave him a wide, meaningful smile, a smile that gave him goosebumps all over. He had a bad feeling in his heart.

As he thought, once he went upstairs, he realised that his house had been marked by someone. A smiley face had been drawn next to his door plate!

Nie Ke pushed the door open and entered. A piece of paper that had been slipped into the crack of the door fell onto his shoe. The paper was printed with the words: I know what you did. I know where you live.

Nie Ke's scalp tingled. Scared witless, he called the police. The two police officers who came took a look around and saw one full-grown adult man completely unharmed and nothing missing from the house, so they just recorded his statement and left.

Nie Ke was so frightened his soul was leaving his body. He could only leave to stay at a guest house. The beggars at the roadside watched him enter. With a twirl of their moustache, very quickly, a paper slip appeared in the guest house room.

At the restaurants that he went to, the bars, and even on the electrical poles on the roads he passed through, the smiley face followed him like a shadow.

Nie Ke was on the verge of breaking down. But the police not only thought that he was being overly sensitive, they even visited him to ask some questions every other day.

Ten days later, Yang Yifan sent off some visitors in her office and gave Yu Lanchuan a call. "Little Master Yu, is your team of lawyers ready?"

Yu Lanchuan picked up his phone and turned to go to the pantry.

"We have contacted the victims who are willing to testify. There are four of them now and there may be more in the future. The most recent one had her drink spiked at a bar and was taken away by them. She kept the evidence but they threatened her with her nudes so she didn't dare make a report all this while." Yang Yifan blew on her nails. "The bar might still have the surveillance video of them spiking her drink, it would be good if we can get it. Can you handle the boss?"

Yu Lanchuan said, "I'll try."

"President Yang said, "Good. Then, we'll start to spread it online. There'll be many eyeballs reading this."

Detained in a special ward, Xiang Xiaoman lifted her head timidly and looked at the young female police officer who had once given her a personal contact number.

The last time, the paper on which the number was written had been so flimsy. Xiang Xiaoman also had not appreciated the gesture.

This time, the young female police officer was finally not only bringing with her the naive courage of a single person, she was also bringing people from the Women's Association and an organisation that helped victims of domestic violence. There was also a proper psychiatrist and a professional psychology consultant.

It might be the case that the lawsuit would cause a great uproar but the final judgement, as before, would still leave them discontent.

It might be the case that the punishment for evil people would never ever be commensurate with the harm they had caused others.

But she still had to climb to her feet and continue to live.

Even if she had nothing more to live for, she still had to show those unbearable and despicable things that she wouldn't take things lying down.

Gan Qing stood at the intersection, waiting for the lights to turn. She scrolled through the news that was spreading everywhere on her phone and glanced at the date—it was half a month on the dot. Little Master Yu was quite punctual.

She looked up and saw that Yan Hao was helping the pet store next door carry cat litter, so busy that his feet were barely touching the ground.

Yan Hao still had a fear of her. When he accidentally met her gaze, he was so frightened that he dropped his head and fled right away.

"Hey," Gan Qing called out to him from the road side. "Your wife is with me. Come and pick her up when you're free."

The little mute girl from the pet store looked at him in shock. Yan Hao felt so awkward that his face and ears turned red, turning into a large tomato on the spot.

However… the large tomato probably didn't know what great contributions he had made.

Gan Qing meow-ed at the kitten in the display window, then turned to go.

— END OF BOOK 2 —