Chapter 3

"Are you hungry? I'll get you something to eat," she said. She hadn't seen him eat anything today when she was cleaning the road.

Ling Yiran threw some noodles and eggs into the pot to make a simple bowl of noodles for him.

"Here, eat, but don't eat too fast. It's quite hot," she said.

He lowered his head and ate his noodles quietly. Ling Yiran also stared at him in silence. For some reason, the loneliness that she used to feel whenever she just returned to the apartment seemed to have disappeared. Could it be due to the presence of another person in the room?

After he had finished eating, Ling Yiran cleaned up the plates. "I usually sleep with the lights on. I hope you don't mind," she said. Ever since she was released from prison, she had gotten into the habit of keeping the lights on while sleeping.

"Sure."

Ling Yiran lay down on the bed, while he lay on the mat she had spread on the ground.

She closed her eyes and tried hard to fall asleep. She did not know when it started, but at some point in time, she had started to find it really scary to sleep.

Because, once she fell asleep, she would always dream of her time in prison. She would be beaten, shamed, and abused... and every finger could still feel the pain of being broken and the nails being torn off from them...

A lot of the time, she even thought that she would die in the prison.

However, weirdly, she slept until sunrise that night and was not visited by her usual nightmares.

Ling Yiran looked at the figure lying on the ground in a daze.

Was it because of him? Was it because she was no longer alone in this room, and that there was another person staying with her?

Before she even knew it, she had gotten out of bed, squatted down, and placed her hand on his cheek. Her hand felt warm.

He was real, and not something from her imagination. Last night, she really had taken a man into her apartment.

When she came to herself, she found that he was already awake. His beautiful eyes were fixed on her.

"Sorry." Her face suddenly turned red. "I... I just... that... If you don't have anywhere to go, you can also live here."

She spoke in a hurry, but after she had said it, she felt relieved.

Her red face was reflected in his obsidian pupils, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"If you don't want to, just pretend that I didn't say anything," she added, biting her lip.

His thin lips finally opened slowly. "Do you want me?" His voice was clear, like a spring in winter.

If this had been said by some other man, it would've sounded like they were flirting with her.

But when the words came from him, it was like he was just asking a simple question of "want" or "don't want". There was no ambiguity to his words, and even his eyes were calm.

Ling Yiran pursed her lips. "Yes, I do." This was her answer.

He stared at her, and a smile slowly formed on his thin lips. "Good."

This was the first time she had seen him smile. Although it was very light... it looked extremely beautiful to her.

—

Ling Yiran went to work and left 20 yuan for him to buy some food for himself.

When the man left the apartment, there were already people waiting for him outside. After seeing the man come out, they respectfully greeted him, "Young Master Yi."

"Let's go," Yi Jinli responded faintly.

A black Bentley was parked in front of him. Yi Jinli got into it and looked at the 20 yuan in his hand. It had been many years since someone had given him money like this, and it was even a 20 yuan bill.

"Young Master Yi, the woman who was with you last night is a contract worker of the Sanitation Service Center. She started renting her current residence here a month ago, and was just released from prison two months ago."

As the personal secretary of Yi Jinli, Gao Congming immediately began to report all the information he found as soon as they got in the car.

"Prison?"

"Yes, her name is Ling Yiran. She's the ex-girlfriend of Xiao Ziqi of the Xiao family. She was convicted of drunk driving and killing Miss Hao Meiyu three years ago. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and had her lawyer's license revoked," Gao Congming said as he carefully observed his boss's expression.

"Ling Yiran..." Yi Jinli muttered this name softly. His thin lips curled up into a playful smile as he said, "Well this is interesting."

Back then, considering how Hao Meiyu had been set on marrying him and that she was also a good political marriage candidate, he thought that if he had to marry someone, then she wouldn't be that bad of an option.

However, who would've thought that Hao Meiyu would end up dying in a car accident?

If Lin Yiran knew about the past relationship between Hao Meiyu and him, what kind of expression would she show?

Speaking of which, it was the first time ever that a woman had taken his hand, brought him into her home, and said with a slightly trembling but affirmative voice that she wanted him.

"Congming, what kind of woman do you think would want me?" Yi Jinli threw a question out of nowhere.

"What?" Gao Congming didn't know how to answer for a moment. "I think that depends on what kind of woman you want, Young Master Yi."

Yi Jinli then faintly said, "Send Ling Yiran's information to my desk later."

"Of course," Gao Congming said. "Is Young Master Yi suddenly... interested in Ling Yiran?"

—

When she got off work, Ling Yiran got a call from her father asking her to go home. He said that since she had been released from prison, she should go home to burn some incense for her deceased mother.

Ling Yiran was a little worried. Ever since she had been put in jail, her family had been more than eager to break all ties with her. In the past three years, they had never visited her in prison. It seemed as if she had nothing to do with her family anymore.

Her mother had passed away early when she was three years old.

Three months later, her father had married her stepmother, and her stepmother had then given birth to another daughter, Ling Luoyin.

When Ling Yiran was very young, she had already known that her father's and stepmother's hearts were biased, so she had worked hard to make herself appear to be a sensible child. She made sure to get good grades all the time.

Nobody had ever needed to worry about her studies since she was a child, and her father had eventually started to show off to others that he had a smart daughter.

When she and Xiao Ziqi started dating, her homelife became the best it had ever been. Her father regarded her as an honor, and her stepmother cared about her well-being, even if only out of pretense. Even her stepsister tried to get on her good side all the time.

She understood that it was because of Xiao Ziqi, the young master of the Xiao Group. However, at that time, she still couldn't help but long for familial affection.

However, after the car accident, she realized that everything was just her wishful thinking.

At this moment, Fang Cuie told Ling Yiran that it was not easy for Ling Luoyin to enter the entertainment industry and that many things needed to be taken care of if she were to get to play good roles.

"Yiran, you also know that our family isn't very rich, but your sister just happens to need money right now. How about... you lend some money to us first, and when your sister becomes a big star in the future, we will return it to you after she makes a lot of money?" Fang Cuie said earnestly.

"I don't have any money," Ling Yiran answered briefly.

Fang Cuie's expression turned stiff, but then she smiled slightly and said, "You don't have money, but Xiao Ziqi does. You dated him before, but as soon as you had an accident, he broke up with you. Shouldn't he make it up to you somehow?"

"Aunt Xiao, didn't you, Father, and Luoyin, also pretend like you didn't know back then and run far away?" Ling Yiran asked.

Her father said angrily from the side, "So what? Are you here to get even with me? If you hadn't killed someone back then, your sister would have already been cast as a main actress a long time ago and would've already become a big star by now!"

Ling Yiran smiled sarcastically. Back then, when Ling Luoyin had been chosen as the leading actress, it was because the Xiao Group had been one of the investors of the TV series, and Xiao Ziqi had asked for Ling Luoyin to be the leading actress.

Later, after she broke up with Xiao Ziqi, Ling Luoyin's role naturally went up in smoke.

"Sister, are you still resentful that we didn't do anything for you when you were in jail?" Ling Luoyin asked faintly.

"But at that time, you offended the Hao family and Yi Jinli! Even the Xiao family was so afraid of the possible consequences that they had Xiao Ziqi break up with you immediately. What could our family even do? If, back then, we had really stood by your side and helped you file a lawsuit, our whole family would've also offended the Hao family and Yi Jinli. How could an ordinary family like ours withstand their retaliation?"

"You're right." Ling Yiran suddenly smiled gently and looked straight at Ling Luoyin. "But since you couldn't stand by me when I was at my lowest, why should I bother helping to make you rich?"