Chapter 23: "Zhang Yanran, is there anything else?"

"Uncle, what do you think?" Xuanxuan asked, looking at Ma Long.

"This kid is no simple character," Ma Long sighed. "A young man not even twenty, not only capable in a fight but possessing such profound foresight. If we hadn't been open and honest with him, I doubt he would have ever revealed what was truly on his mind."

Xuanxuan shook her head. "But he is so young..."

"No, it is precisely because he is young that perhaps... there is truly hope!" Ma Long’s estimation of Chu Feng had reached a new height. If he had previously only been polite because he thought Chu Feng was wealthy, he now felt a genuine sense of admiration for Chu Feng's methods and temperament. At least when he was that young, he would never have dared to seek vengeance in such a manner.

Chu Feng walked outside and answered a call from Zhang Yanran.

"Chu Feng! Are you alright?" Zhang Yanran’s voice was laced with anxiety.

"I'm fine. Have you two made it back?" Chu Feng asked.

"Yes... could you come over now? I... I want to see you." Her tone had softened considerably.

Chu Feng pondered for a moment, checked the time, and said, "Alright. Do you want anything to eat? I'll bring it to you."

"Okay, could you bring some rice noodle rolls? I want something light and comforting."

...

Deep into the night, a few moths circled a streetlamp. Nearby, a spider had already spun its web on a tree branch, waiting for its prey. Suddenly, a moth, seemingly disoriented, accidentally tumbled into the web. It struggled violently, but it was met by a spider the size of a thumbnail. The spider lunged, its massive fangs quickly piercing the moth’s body to inject venom. The moth’s resistance gradually faded until it was nothing more than a midnight snack.

Under the streetlamp, Zhang Yanran sat on a bench, holding a takeout container and eating the egg and minced meat rice noodle rolls.

"Does it still hurt?" Zhang Yanran hesitated, but eventually spoke.

"It's fine," Chu Feng smiled. "Eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you."

Zhang Yanran glanced at the container in Chu Feng's hand—he had finished his portion in just two bites. "Are you still hungry?"

"I'll have a pack of instant noodles when I get back." Chu Feng mused to himself, wondering if he should tell her about his mother. Having known her for so long, he knew how close she was to her own mother. In her early years, while Zhang Fuqiang was busy traveling for work, it was her mother who had raised her. After her mother died, she had spiraled into self-destruction, her personality becoming twisted. However, Chu Feng did not yet have the evidence to prove her father had killed his wife; he knew that if he told her now, she would likely not believe him. After some thought, he dismissed the idea.

"I can't finish this." Zhang Yanran handed the container to Chu Feng; half of it remained. Chu Feng did not refuse. He had a hearty appetite, and he promptly finished the rest.

Zhang Yanran burst into a sudden laugh. She noticed that Chu Feng seemed to have become more handsome lately. "Your body seems much sturdier," she remarked.

"Working every day, how could it not be?" Chu Feng grinned.

Zhang Yanran pursed her lips. "When we got back, Xiaoyu told me a lot. I was so willful in the past. Thank you for tolerating me..."

"Yanran, what's wrong?" Chu Feng asked.

"Running away from home this time, I encountered so many things. I realized that the world is full of malice everywhere. I was truly too well-protected in the past." She toyed with her fingers. Under the streetlamp, Zhang Yanran looked especially beautiful. She had lost some of her former arrogance, replaced by a sense of melancholy that gave her an air of fragility. From his angle, Chu Feng could see her long eyelashes, her clean neck, and her delicate collarbones. The air was filled with a scent unique to a young girl—a fragrance he had never encountered before, entirely different from the married women like Li Xueli or Shi Wenjing. It was late, and the area was deserted, giving the air an intimate quality.

Zhang Yanran began, "I think..."

"Too much has happened today. Get some rest early..." Chu Feng interrupted her. She was at her most vulnerable now, like a drowning person clutching at a straw. Any decision made in a state of despair could not be counted.

Zhang Yanran froze for a moment. She felt that while the current Chu Feng was no longer at her every beck and call, he still cared for her. It seemed this version of Chu Feng wasn't bad—in fact, it was much better than the one who used to just smile fawningly at her.

However, the memory of Chu Feng chatting and laughing with Xuanxuan made her feel a pang of distress. It seemed... Chu Feng didn't like her as much as he used to.

"Chu Feng." Zhang Yanran grabbed his sleeve.

Chu Feng frowned slightly. "Is there something else?"

"Can we go back to how things were?" She looked at him with a gaze that begged for pity.

Chu Feng lit a cigarette and exhaled a long cloud of smoke. "Tell me, if a mirror is shattered, can it ever be restored to how it was before?"

At that moment, Zhang Yanran could no longer hold back, and tears began to fall. Over the past few days, since her classmates learned of the rift between her and her father, the sisters who were once close to her had drawn a clear line. *When poor, one has no visitors even in the busiest market; when rich, one has distant relatives even in the deep mountains.* She finally understood the meaning of this. Even the wealthy suitors who had pursued her, fearing that Zhang Fuqiang might vent his anger on their family businesses, had severed contact with her. Yet, Chu Feng, in the face of life-or-death danger today, had unhesitatingly stepped up to fight for her. How had she failed to see until now that the most reliable person had been by her side all along?

"It can be restored... I will use glue and piece it back together, bit by bit," she said stubbornly.

Chu Feng sighed and offered a faint smile. "Even if you glue it, the cracks remain. If you drop it again, it might shatter even more thoroughly than before..."

"Then I won't drop it! I'll hold it against my heart! Will that work?" she pleaded.

Chu Feng thought to himself that if he pushed the relationship to a breaking point now, he might lose access to the Zhang Yanran thread entirely. His true target for revenge was Zhang Fuqiang—the head of the household. In his previous life, he had learned clearly that it was Zhang Fuqiang who had forbidden anyone from making a scene. As the most authoritative figure in the Zhang family, his word was law.

"Yanran, let's wait until school starts to talk about this." Chu Feng walked away. At the corner, he encountered Yu Xiaoyu.

Yu Xiaoyu glanced at the dejected Zhang Yanran in the distance and said, "Chu Feng, want to walk a bit?"

"Sure," Chu Feng agreed.

As they strolled down the path, Yu Xiaoyu said, "Yanran knows she was wrong. I know you still like her, don't you?"