SAHBQT 09

Until a spotlight landed on one person. The lights came back on, and Jiang Huai sat on stage, smiling as he looked at You Mingming, a hint of playfulness in his eyes. “That’s you, sister.”

……

You Mingming stood on the stage, frowning at the microphone as she thought about what song she should sing.

“Don’t forget, your brother might be watching you right here,” the system said coolly.

You Mingming snapped back to reality and cleared her throat, which piqued the curiosity of the men and women watching her. To be honest, they were both envious of her luck—being chosen by Jiang Huai to share the stage with him—and also felt she seemed like a lily glistening with morning dew, completely out of place in this place teeming with darkness and filth.

Night Color was a haven for fugitives, and she didn’t seem to know that.

But that didn’t dampen their curiosity. Everyone fell silent, watching the girl on stage lower her gaze and slowly speak—

“Brother,” You Mingming said, “are you here?”

“I’ve come to take you home.”

Everyone: “?”

The smile on Jiang Huai’s face deepened. He suddenly stood up, draping an arm around the girl in a half-embrace, took the microphone, and laughed, “Sister, now that you’re on my turf, you should really just enjoy yourself.”

“Since you’re not ready yet, I’ll sing one more song for you.”

He switched to a gentler tune, his deep, magnetic voice unhurried, drumming against You Mingming’s eardrums like a predator stalking its prey.

The young man’s body heat radiated toward her.

The temperature around them kept rising—humid, sticky air, a heart beating too fast, her thoughts drifting somewhere unknown along with that soothing voice.

You Mingming suddenly felt a little warm.

It was at that moment that Jiang Huai caught a clear fragrance of mixed flowers.

He smiled like a sly fox, tossed the microphone to his companion beside him, and asked, “Sister, do you need an extra boyfriend?”

The crowd below was stunned. The restless audience woke from the trance the young man had just woven, their expressions twisting in disbelief. Before they could react, Jiang Huai scooped You Mingming up and leaped off the high stage, then grabbed her hand and ran out the back.

You Mingming: “Are young people these days always this direct?”

The system had another mental infarction: “In this mission, only the stepbrother romance line is allowed. Pursuing anyone else is against the rules.”

You Mingming: “Look into who this Jiang Huai is. I feel like something’s off about him.”

It was as if… he’d known her long before.

The system was startled for a moment, then quickly acknowledged and went through the relationship web of all the key characters in this world. Sure enough, it found Jiang Huai’s name on Bai Qiyao’s branch.

“Jiang Huai is Bai Qiyao’s cousin,” the system said. “He’s been close with Bai Qiyao and Bai Junmin since childhood.”

“Neither Jiang Huai nor Bai Junmin approve of your engagement to Bai Qiyao. They think you’re… not good enough for him.”

“I see,” You Mingming smiled. “Whether I’m good enough isn’t for them to decide.”

So that meant the little wolf cub had recognized her from the very first glance and was trying to lead her astray in a roundabout way.

Still, since he’d delivered himself to her doorstep, it seemed a shame not to accept the gift—after all, it’s the thought that counts, right?

“See?” she said to the system with great interest. “This isn’t a seduction—it’s a counterattack against a targeted conspiracy!”

The system didn’t quite get it, but nodded along anyway.

Jiang Huai suddenly heard a soft grunt. He turned around and saw the girl biting her lip, her face pale as if she were in pain. His gaze swept over her and he noticed she seemed to have twisted her ankle.

“Foot hurt?”

Jiang Huai scooped her up and set her down on a stone statue carved in the shape of a *pixiu*. He crouched down, pressed a key spot, and asked, “Is it here?”

“How does it feel? Any better?” Jiang Huai looked up with a smile, his eyes meeting hers. “Promise me you’ll let me be your boyfriend, and I’ll walk with you no matter how long the road is from now on.”

“If your feet hurt, I’ll carry you on my back—wherever you want to go.”

“Thank you,” You Mingming said with a nod, pulling her foot back. “But I already have a fiancé.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Huai raised an eyebrow, unsurprised. “Having a fiancé doesn’t stop you from having one more boyfriend, does it?”

You Mingming: This scheming little wolf pup.

She shook her head, then caught a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye—it looked like Pei Jingzhi. There were less than two weeks left until the original host’s engagement to Bai Qiyao, and if she didn’t complete the second task in time, those twenty million would be gone for good.

With that in mind, she jumped off the *pixiu* statue and ran in the direction Pei Jingzhi had gone.

But Pei Jingzhi never noticed her. He got into a car and disappeared around the street corner.

“Get on,” Jiang Huai said, pulling up beside You Mingming on a motorcycle, a slight smile curling at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll take you to catch that car.”

In the end, they still couldn’t catch up to Pei Jingzhi’s car. Not that Jiang Huai was slow—quite the opposite; he drove so fast that he took the wrong turn from the very start. By the time they doubled back, Pei Jingzhi was long gone.

You Mingming reasonably suspected the little wolf pup had done it on purpose. But seeing him hang his head apologetically after dropping her off at home, she didn’t say anything.

“Here, this is for you,” Jiang Huai said as he was about to leave, producing a bouquet of lilies from somewhere. “Call it… a memento of our first meeting.”

“Don’t rush to turn me down,” he waved at You Mingming, swung back onto the motorcycle, and put on his helmet. “I’m off now. Next time you want to go somewhere fun, just let me know.”

Jiang Huai watched the young lady standing in the garden, seeing him off. A wicked smile tugged at his lips. Only when she could no longer see him and had gone back inside did he pull out his phone and call his cousin—

—

“What, you still don’t believe me?”

“I know time is tight, but that young lady is nothing special… A week is enough. Alright, alright, I’ve got things to do. Talk later.”

Jiang Huai let out a scoffing laugh and tossed his phone casually onto the sofa.

Maybe it was because he’d spent a while with that young lady, but his jacket seemed to have picked up that intoxicating fragrance of a hundred flowers.

Jiang Huai furrowed his brow, tempted to throw the jacket away. After thinking it over for a long while, he suppressed the strange feeling stirring in his chest, leaned closer to the jacket that still held the lingering floral scent, and took a deep breath.

The moment he realized what he was doing, Jiang Huai’s face darkened.

You Mingming placed the lilies on the living room table. She knew the little wolf cub had ulterior motives, but flowers were still quite valuable in this era. Rather than throwing them away, she might as well give them to the maids.

It was currently the Prayer Festival. Every day once 7 PM hit, the butler and the maids would all head out and wouldn’t return until one or two in the morning.

You Mingming glanced at the clock hanging on the living room wall—it was only 11 PM.

She went upstairs, and as she passed by Pei Jingzhi’s room, she noticed the door was slightly ajar.