At the dinner table, Lynn Chen quietly ate her meal, not looking up at Evan Lin sitting across from her, nor saying much. Inside, she felt a mix of strangeness and grievance.
Charles Chen talked a lot at the table, still trying hard to persuade Evan Lin to stay. But Evan’s determined attitude about moving out made Charles sigh.
After dinner, Evan Lin left first.
Once Evan was gone, Lynn Chen, who’d kept her head down the whole time, finally looked up and glanced at his departing back. She pouted, her eyes slightly red, but quickly hid her feelings.
“This kid, sigh, how can he just decide to move out like that? Wasn’t he living here just fine? Or maybe his room isn’t quiet enough?” Charles Chen sighed, took a sip of tea, then suddenly seemed to remember something: “Wait, could it be that Evan’s met a girl outside? Is that why he’s so eager to move out? Don’t tell me he’s in love!”
Charles Chen’s face turned serious, as if he’d stumbled onto something big. But as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Lynn Chen grab several chopsticks’ worth of green peppers and dump them into his bowl, glaring at him: “You done eating? If not, eat more!”
“Hey, you know your old man doesn’t like spicy food,” Charles tried to protest, but under the table Lucy Lu stomped hard on his foot, making him suck in a breath. Then, noticing Lynn Chen’s mood was off, he hesitated, stretched his neck, and quietly asked, “Lynn, do you like Evan?”
“Your mom and I were young once too, you know. If you like him, just tell me. Honestly, I used to think Evan was a bit slow, but he’s getting smarter and more likable by the day. If you…”
Before Charles could finish, Lynn Chen slammed her chopsticks down and stood up: “I’m done! And who would ever like that guy? Dream on!”
Lynn, fuming, glared at Charles. She felt awful inside—Evan had completely ignored her during dinner, treating her like she was invisible. He’d never acted like that before.
“Just eat and talk less!”
Lucy Lu shot Charles Chen a look and dumped several more chopsticks’ worth of hot peppers into his bowl, making him eat them all. She warned that if he didn’t finish, he wouldn’t get to sleep in bed tonight. Charles groaned and chewed, regretting his loose tongue.
That evening, Evan Lin skipped evening self-study.
“I need to find a place to settle down long-term first.”
With his backpack on, Evan wandered the streets, checking several real estate agencies but couldn’t find an apartment near Capitalview First High. It left him a bit frustrated.
As night deepened, Evan aimlessly roamed the city and took the chance to call Joy Zheng. She sounded upbeat—her professional title had just been approved, and with her students keeping her busy, life felt fulfilling.
On the phone, Joy Zheng reminded Evan to call home if anything came up or if he ever ran out of money.
After hanging up, Evan passed a side alley and saw a woman in a short skirt, hair flying, sprinting toward him.
“Move! Move! Get out of the way!”
The woman shouted loudly, her face tense. But at the corner, she didn’t have time to stop and crashed straight into Evan Lin.
The woman’s head throbbed—smacking into Evan felt like hitting an iron wall. She cried out, fell backward to the ground, landed on her rear, twisted her ankle, and winced in pain.
Before she could get up, five or six rough-looking men burst out behind her, all with vicious faces and aggressive demeanors.
“Damn it! Run, go on, run! You little bitch, coming onto my turf to make trouble? You tired of living?” The leader was a fat man in a black tank top, left arm tattooed with an Azure Dragon, right arm with a White Tiger, forehead beaded with sweat.
“Impressive. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard they risk their life. I thought people like that only existed in movies. Learned something new today!” sneered a rat-faced skinny guy next to him.
“Quit yapping and grab her camera! Delete the footage! Damn, this chick looks pretty good—after we’re done playing with her, sell her off in another city. Dare to mess with me? You’re asking for it!” the tattooed man barked. His cronies grinned with ill intent.
The woman, still sitting on the ground, turned pale with fear and shouted, “Don’t you dare! I’ll call the police right now! Stay away!”
“Police? Go ahead, call them! See if they can even find you after!” the tattooed man sneered. Only then did he notice the teen standing at the alley entrance, and his face darkened. “Hey, kid, what are you staring at? Looking for trouble? Get lost!”
“Scram! One more look and I’ll gouge your eyes out!” one of the tattooed man’s cronies yelled.
“Just some truant loser. Get out of here!” Another thug with purple hair swaggered forward, aiming a kick straight at the teen at the alley entrance, trying to boot him away.
“Gouge out my eyes?” Evan Lin raised an eyebrow.
“Damn it, get lost!” The thug stepped up, but before he could even kick, a surge of force sent him flying.
Whoosh!
Everyone stared as the thug arced through the air and crashed headfirst into a trash bin at the far end of the alley.
“What just happened?”
“Hey! Fist!”
“Holy crap, kid, you looking for trouble? You got a death wish!”
The tattooed man glared coldly at the teen standing there.
The woman lying on the ground stared in shock at the backpack-wearing teen at the alley entrance. Only now did she realize something was off—she’d crashed into him head-on earlier, yet the supposedly skinny teen hadn’t budged at all. His footing was rock-solid.
“All of you, get him!”
With a shout, the tattooed man sent his crew charging at Evan Lin.
From the woman’s perspective, the backpacked teen walked forward calmly, his face expressionless. With just a few kicks, he sent every thug flying, screams echoing around them—it looked like an action movie.
“So, you said you wanted to gouge out my eyes?”
Evan strode over and planted his foot on the purple-haired thug’s neck, raising an eyebrow.