Chapter 24: Where Will You Be Ten Years From Now?

Carrying his newly purchased computer on his back, Hua Shi'er rode his motorcycle toward the school where Chen Nian studied. He planned to wait for her to get out of class, but to his surprise, he spotted her walking briskly along the sidewalk halfway there.

Beep-beep!

Hua Shi'er pulled up behind Chen Nian and tapped the horn twice. The girl flinched as if startled, taking a few steps back. Once she realized it was him, she didn't wait for an invitation; she walked over and climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.

As Chen Nian sat down, Hua Shi'er clearly saw the tears in her eyes and the unconcealable anger on her face. She seemed to be nursing a deep sense of grievance, a fire burning within her.

Hua Shi'er didn't ask why she was crying. He could easily guess the cause: the trio led by Wei Lai had likely exposed at school that Chen Nian’s mother sold counterfeit face masks and was a deadbeat debtor, leading to ridicule from her classmates.

"Where to?" he asked simply.

Chen Nian answered just as concisely: "Anywhere!"

Hua Shi'er raised an eyebrow, twisted the throttle, and the motorcycle surged forward. This time, Chen Nian gripped his waist tightly. Listening to the faint sound of sobbing behind him, Hua Shi'er knew he had to do something soon.

The motorcycle stopped in front of Liu Beishan’s house. Hua Shi'er signaled for Chen Nian to get off, opened the door, and gestured with his head. "Come in, this is my place."

Without checking if she followed, he walked in, set his computer on the coffee table, threw himself onto the sofa, and watched Chen Nian at the door with interest.

Chen Nian hesitated, but ultimately followed him in. She had nowhere else to go; she didn't want to return to that home—a place where debt collectors knocked daily, a place devoid of security, and the very place that had brought her humiliation today.

"Sit!"

Hua Shi'er flashed a smile, pointed to the opposite sofa, and straightened up. "Since you’re a guest in my home, do me the honor of having dinner here today."

He took out his phone, found a restaurant Liu Beishan had ordered from before, and placed an order for six dishes and five bowls of rice.

Chen Nian felt flustered and waved her hands. "You, don't..."

"Don't order food? Are you going to cook?" Hua Shi'er stared at her with piercing eyes, a hint of mischief flashing across his face. Under his gaze, she lowered her head and whispered, "Then don't order so much. I don't eat much..."

"I do!"

After hanging up the phone, Hua Shi'er waited for Chen Nian to tentatively sit across from him before asking, "Is something weighing on your mind, or is someone bullying you?"

Chen Nian sat on the sofa, twisting the hem of her school skirt with both hands, lowering her head in silence, only shaking it slightly.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't."

Hua Shi'er propped his feet up on the coffee table and lit a cigarette, puffing out clouds of smoke as silence filled the room.

After a while, the awkwardness began to fade. Chen Nian looked up and began to curiously survey the room. A long time later, she asked, "Do your parents not live here?"

Hua Shi'er, lounging in a relaxed posture, lazily blew a smoke ring. "I live alone."

He didn't discuss Liu Beishan’s parents. Having inherited those memories, thinking of them left him feeling uneasy. Just as he didn't have strong feelings for the actress who played Chen Nian, the influence of Liu Beishan’s memories made him naturally inclined to favor the real Chen Nian.

Hearing that he lived alone, Chen Nian nodded. Seeing that the home, while shabby, was incredibly neat, her perception of this delinquent-like youth shifted slightly.

The two chatted aimlessly until someone knocked on the door—the delivery from the restaurant.

Hua Shi'er moved his computer to the bed and spread the dishes across the coffee table. Chen Nian held a bowl of rice and ate in small bites, while he devoured the food like a whirlwind, finishing four big bowls of rice.

Chen Nian watched, stunned. It felt like in the blink of an eye, the guy across from her had wiped out two bowls.

As Hua Shi'er picked up his third bowl, he noticed Chen Nian staring at him in amazement. He chuckled, "I know I’m good-looking, but staring at me won't satisfy your hunger. Hurry up and eat!"

Chen Nian blushed, muttered an "oh," and hurriedly lowered her head to eat. But before she could finish her first bowl, an awkward situation arose: there were no dishes left.

Of the six dishes, eighty percent had ended up in Hua Shi'er’s stomach. He leaned back on the sofa, looked at Chen Nian, who was holding half a bowl of rice with no sides left, and laughed.

"That's how the world is. The fast get the food, and the slow get nothing. You have to fight for everything yourself. Look, I ate fast, and now you’re the unlucky one. You’ll just have to soak your remaining rice in the sauce... Hehehe..."

Watching Hua Shi'er leaning back with a smug grin, Chen Nian really wanted to dump the half-bowl of rice over his head.

Hua Shi'er lit a post-meal cigarette and said with a calm, sage-like air, "Also, when it comes to living, you need to be tougher. Look at you—you can’t even get a word out when pushed. You look like you were born to be bullied!"

Chen Nian wanted to retort, "Aren't you the same? You got jumped by a gang the other day," but remembering how he had immediately called the police and sent them to jail, she swallowed the words.

Thinking of her own recent experiences with bullying, she felt his last comment was pointed. She pondered for a moment and argued, "A moment of weakness doesn't necessarily mean I am weak. I just want to focus on my studies and get into a university in the capital. I have a bright future. I will use what I learn and my own hard work to escape this life."

"Ten or twenty years from now, when I look back, those who bullied me will certainly not be living as well as I am!"

Her voice was soft, but her tone was incredibly earnest.

Hua Shi'er scoffed, "Ten years? Who knows what will happen in ten years? I prefer to take my revenge on the spot to find peace. Otherwise, hunching your neck and playing dead—isn't that just acting like a dog, or maybe a turtle..."

Stung by his words, Chen Nian suddenly shouted, "You took revenge the same day you were bullied, but that’s just mindless behavior! Do you have a future? Do you have prospects? Where will you be in ten years? Still stealing phones, or sitting in a prison cell caught by the police?"

After shouting, she realized she had gone too far. She held her bowl, lowered her head, and said weakly, "I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that..."

Though she felt the apology was thin, she offered it nonetheless.

Hua Shi'er pulled a sausage and a salted duck egg from under the coffee table and set them down. "Before your 'happy ten years' arrive, let me, the guy destined for prison, solve the problem of you having no sides for your remaining rice. It seems your knowledge and hard work can't get you a dish to eat with your rice right now..."

Hearing his teasing, Chen Nian blushed, but still argued, "I told you, this is only temporary..."