Chapter 528: Chapter 526: Cui Hao, You Really Are Hungry

Si Wen had thought Lin Xi was so carefree that she wouldn’t worry at all. She had reminded her about this more than once, but each time, Lin Xi’s expression just said, I, of course, trust him.

"Of course I worry."

"Looking at how you usually act, it doesn’t seem that way."

"Because these are my own private feelings. Xue Yang doesn’t even know about them."

"You know, you should just show him how you feel. Otherwise, if he really thinks you don’t care and starts messing around, it’ll be too late for tears."

"Hey, we were talking about you. Why drag me and Xue Yang into this? So, you really do like Xue Xing, you’re just worried you can’t go the distance with him," Lin Xi said, looking at her.

Si Wen chuckled self-mockingly. "It’s just a thought. Liking someone doesn’t mean you have to be with them. Sometimes, just seeing him doing well is enough to make me happy."

Si Wen seemed to have matured all of a sudden. Her eyes held a depth that Lin Xi couldn’t comprehend.

"If you like him and he likes you, then you can be together."

"I don’t have your ability to convince my father to let me be with an ordinary poor guy."

"Xue Yang is not a poor guy! He works really hard," Lin Xi retorted, displeased.

"Alright, alright, I know your Xue Yang is impressive."

"Of course!"

***

Not long after Xue Yang got home, his phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. He answered the call. "Hello?"

A stern, formal voice came from the other end. "May I speak with Mr. Xue Yang?"

"Hello, yes, this is he. May I ask who’s calling?"

"Hello, this is the Yannan Road Police Station..."

An hour later, Xue Yang rushed to the Yannan Road Police Station. The moment he walked in, he saw a pitifully familiar figure sitting in the lobby.

The moment the figure saw Xue Yang, he shot to his feet as if he’d spotted a lifeline. "Godfather, you’re finally here!"

Xue Yang sized up Cui Hao from head to toe. Seeing he wasn’t injured, he immediately asked, "What happened? Why are you at the police station?"

"I..."

Just as Cui Hao was about to speak, a uniformed police officer walked out from inside. He looked at Xue Yang and asked, "Are you Mr. Xue Yang?"

Xue Yang recognized the voice from the phone call.

"Hello, yes, I am."

"Here’s what happened..." The officer then explained the evening’s events to Xue Yang.

With every word from the officer, Xue Yang’s expression grew a shade darker.

Cui Hao practically buried his head in his chest, not daring to look up.

He wished Xue Yang would say something, but his godfather remained silent, only nodding his head occasionally. The last time he’d felt this scared was back in middle school when his parents were called to the school. Sitting in the teacher’s office back then, he had wished he were a quail, able to just shrink into himself. Now, he wished he could dig a hole and bury himself. It was just too embarrassing. How could he have known he’d be so unlucky? He had just walked up to the red-light district when he ran into a police raid... If he had known, he wouldn’t have let his curiosity get the better of him.

"Given that Mr. Cui Hao is a first-time offender and the act was not completed, we’ve taken his status as a university student into account. We don’t want to leave a negative mark on his record, so we’ve decided to handle this with a formal warning. See that it doesn’t happen again. He mentioned that in Yancheng, you’re the person he knows best, so we gave you a call. If you’ll just vouch for him, you can take him with you."

Xue Yang followed the officer to complete the necessary procedures. Ten minutes later, the two of them left the police station.

Xue Yang’s car was parked right next to the station. Cui Hao followed him silently, and as soon as Xue Yang got in, he quickly opened the back door and slipped inside.

As soon as the door closed, the car started.

Cui Hao quietly sighed with relief. If he had been a second later, he’d probably be taking a taxi back by himself.

Half an hour later, the car stopped on a pedestrian street near the university.

Xue Yang rolled down the window and rested his elbow on the frame. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and lit it. Soon, smoke was swirling around him.

It was already nearing 5:00 AM.

The September air in Yancheng already carried a slight chill. The swirling white smoke added a strange quality to the atmosphere.

Cui Hao carefully rolled down the rear window and imitated Xue Yang, sticking his head out. The morning breeze instantly cleared his foggy head. But soon, he couldn’t smile anymore.

"Godfather, stop smoking."

They had been parked for half an hour, and Xue Yang just kept smoking, one cigarette after another, as if his life depended on it.

After a while, Xue Yang still hadn’t spoken. Cui Hao was getting genuinely scared. "Godfather, why don’t you just hit me instead?"

He hadn’t felt like crying when the police caught him, nor during the interrogation. But seeing Xue Yang’s oppressive silence now, he was frightened to the point of tears.

This version of Xue Yang was terrifying—far more frightening than his own father. It was the first time Cui Hao had ever felt such an invisible, formidable pressure emanating from him.

"Cui Hao, you must be really hard up to even think of going to a place like that."

"I..."

"From now on, don’t tell anyone you know me."

After saying that, Xue Yang rolled up the window, started the car, and prepared to leave.

Seeing this, Cui Hao completely panicked. He lunged forward from the back seat and pleaded, "Godfather, I was wrong! I really was! Please don’t ignore me." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Get lost!"

"I’m not leaving! You can beat me to death, but I’m not leaving!"

"If you want a woman, aren’t there a million other ways? Why did you have to go to a place like that?"

"Do you think I wanted to?" Cui Hao shouted, the first time he had ever raised his voice at Xue Yang. He regretted it the moment the words were out, but his heart ached with bitterness.

"From the first day of university, I’ve wanted a girlfriend! But now sophomore year is over, and where is she? I finally found one, and what happened? She lured me to a hotel and beat me up all night! Then I met my ’Bai Yueguang’ in the game and thought I had a chance, but what was the result? She’s so much older than me and is completely a type I can’t handle at all! I know I’m not as handsome as you, but my family isn’t poor! Why doesn’t a single girl like me?"

Cui Hao truly couldn’t understand it. Why wasn’t there a single girl who genuinely liked him?

He huddled in the back seat, feeling utterly helpless. If it weren’t for Xue Yang, he would never show such vulnerability to anyone else.

"Stop crying," Xue Yang said, his voice laced with irritation.

"You may have been burned for six years, but you found true love in the end, didn’t you? Lin Xi is so wonderful. I probably couldn’t find a girl half as good as her in eight lifetimes! I just want to find someone who genuinely cares about me. She doesn’t even have to be perfect. Why is that so hard?"

His family’s circumstances weren’t bad. And now, thanks to his own abilities, he was doing better than most of his peers. He met plenty of people every day, but still, no girl ever seemed to notice him.

Why was that?