Eighty-one. You, so fickle and indecisive, I truly cannot bear to endure any longer.

The three of them were like rival kingdoms.

Isha would not let herself stray from Bai Haonan’s sight, and the reverse was just as true.

In the end, Isha came back with a bag of fried pumpkin cakes, sat cross-legged on the sofa, and practically draped herself over Bai Haonan, boneless and languid, nibbling at the little cakes with delicate fingers, occasionally feeding him a bite as well.

At that rate, if anything decent came of the conversation, it would be a miracle.

Bai Haonan was clearly the sort of man whose belt sat a little loose; he had no principles in such matters. On the road, he had still been fairly normal, even suggesting that Isha ought to strike out on her own and stop blindly following him around. But now he felt that a little dalliance and drifting about first might not be so bad after all. While he answered Chen Sufen’s accusations with careless indifference, he slipped a hand under Isha’s jacket and into the waistband of her trousers with such practiced ease it was almost obscene.

Naturally, Isha played along with eyes soft as silk. Who knew how old she was? In truth, her practical experience was not even as much as Chen Sufen’s, and yet she somehow managed to exude a bewitching charm.

Perhaps that was what they meant by born allure.

Chen Sufen was so angry she was nearly out of her mind, and she threatened him. “Bai Haonan! If you keep this up, I’m really leaving!”

Bai Haonan finally lifted his head amid all his busyness. “Fen’er, you ought to go back to school in the first place, back onto the proper road you should be walking. You spend all day watching over me—if you’re not sick of it, I am!”

When it came to heartlessness, Bai Haonan was truly a first-rate specimen. Yet Chen Sufen still entertained a glimmer of fantasy. “Are you doing this on purpose, acting so cruel just to force me away?”

Bai Haonan was both amused and exasperated. “If I had that much brains, would I have ended up like this?”

Isha was exactly like one of those favored imperial consorts in a television drama. To make it convenient for the man, she lay across Bai Haonan’s thighs, her long hair spilled loose, setting off her fair face and those deep, lively eyes as she listened intently without joining in.

That posture made Chen Sufen feel like some stubborn old minister pleading in vain before a foolish ruler. How had it come to this?

She was clearly a fresh, pretty young girl with a baby face herself.

Had she only become a woman in the last few days?

And yet here she was, watching a man flirt openly with another woman before her very eyes, somehow stripped of dignity and shame. Worst of all, Bai Haonan wore his brazenness like a badge of honor.

Chen Sufen felt she might as well question her own character and intelligence. She sat huffily on the sofa opposite them, looking at the pair of shameless lovers across from her, and truly had little left to say.

Bai Haonan, stroking the lazy cat on his lap, was shameless enough to keep talking. “Isha, don’t think I’m making a fool of you. Fen’er and I are like your brothers and sisters. Just as brothers and sisters want you to have a good future, I want that for Fen’er too. You have it. I don’t. First, I’ve already stirred up a string of troubles and can’t possibly be a proper man. Second, just like in any family, somebody has to be the one who can’t climb ashore and ends up being the stepping stone. I’ve never had much hope for this society. Other than knowing a thing or two about the pitch, I really am the kind of fellow you described—slick-tongued, dishonest, useless, idle, and fond of chasing girls and sleeping in other people’s beds. You don’t even need to ruin yourself over a man like me. You’re beautiful, smart, and fierce. Given the chance, you’ll surely make something of yourself. As for us temporary husband and wife—well, just like that kind of trial marriage you mentioned, let’s part at daybreak.”

The cat gave a gentle shake of her head. “No. My man will surely be a hero.”

Bai Haonan let out a snort. “A hero? You’ve watched too much television. Where are there any heroes left these days? They’re all fake—packaged and polished to fool people. Just like the winner of a talent show. You still want to enter one?”

Isha said softly, “Even the granny watched you. She said you must be a hero. I believe in that, which is why I decided I must follow you. I want to stay with you properly and help you.”

Bai Haonan looked as if he had just heard the world’s funniest joke. “The granny must have glaucoma. Seducing women and squandering money is my true specialty. Everything else I’m mediocre at best. Don’t believe me? Just watch.”

Listening to what seemed almost like a conversation directed at herself, all of Chen Sufen’s earlier indignation and emotion slowly drained away. She rested her chin in her hand and watched Bai Haonan chase women. Yes, that was exactly the sort of scoundrel he was. She had known it from the start—no, to be precise, she had known it since childhood. Why had her feelings changed so drastically now? Was it really only because they had gone to bed together, because once the body’s relationship changed, the heart changed with it?

Just as Bai Haonan had forced Qiao Yingna to keep building up her mental defenses, Chen Sufen now had no choice but to look at herself again, to reexamine this affection she had thought so steadfast since she was a little girl. Had this been the destination all along? Had she finally reached the place she dreamed of as a child, only to find that even after taking this step she could still see no hope and could only feel disappointed?

There was no way forward anymore, was there?

Isha seemed to want to say more, but Bai Haonan patted her on the rear and signaled for her to get up. “Dinner. Your Brother Haonan never wastes breath. First I’ll empty my pockets and show you what I’ve got...” He turned out his clothes, his wallet, and the rest. Since they had been wandering about in county towns, he truly hadn’t spent much. All Bai Haonan’s worldly possessions together came to less than thirty thousand yuan. For an ordinary family that might not have been a small sum, but to him it was mere pocket change.

“Either you take it and use it, or we spend it all here and then leave. How about roast lamb tonight? I already ordered it at the front desk. We have to dig this money out somehow.”

Chen Sufen seemed to have made up her mind. “Fine. Then we’ll stay here and spend it all before leaving...” With that, she rose to find her clothes and go bathe. She had decided to wash the new clothes first and rinse them before wearing them; as for the underwear, that was even more so.

At last, with the two of them finally alone, Isha no longer seemed so clingy as before. She turned and sat demurely in front of Bai Haonan. “A Zhu, can you tell me what kind of man you really are? What is betting on football? How did someone die? Why do you have to run?”

Despite the hard days she had lived through, she did not so much as glance at the scattered bills on the table. Her foreign-looking eyes remained fixed only on the man.

Bai Haonan leaned back comfortably into the sofa. “I don’t mind telling you. I only hope you won’t end up harming me later. The reason I’ve landed in this mess has something to do with women too... yes, it started when some girl stole my phone...”

Isha gently lay down against his chest, her deep eyes turning especially alluring against her fair face.

By the time Chen Sufen came downstairs with damp short hair, what she saw was the pair already sleeping together on the sofa. Isha was curled up on Bai Haonan’s thighs again, while he held her much like one would hold a cat. After all, they had spent the whole morning fighting, killing, fleeing, and being dragged through one thrilling danger after another. Even after eating and moving around some more, it was only natural that they should be tired.

Still, they looked more like two feral cats or dogs pressed together for warmth than anything remotely amorous.

Chen Sufen stood on the steps and watched them for seven or eight minutes before she finally stormed over and kicked them each once awake. “You! Go take a bath. One look and I can tell you never washed much in the village. And you too—filthy from head to toe!”

Bai Haonan muttered a few complaints, but did not resist. He simply hoisted Isha over his shoulder and carried her off. The girl could not even be bothered to open her eyes, though she clung to him a little tighter; still, her humming complaint made her face flush red.

Chen Sufen once again wondered what in the world she was doing. Should she just grab the car keys from the table and head back to Rongdu?

And yet everything this man said and did seemed, strangely enough, to be for her own good.

Was there really such an absurd thing under heaven?

And still, a part of her refused to let it go.