Chapter Thirteen: A Few More Shots

Yang Le dialed the number, and the phone rang continuously.

“Sorry, the number you have called is not available.”

He figured his father must be busy with something and decided to try again later. With nothing else to do, Yang Le opened WeChat, curious to see if Xia Tingting had posted anything on her Moments. As he checked, he saw someone had sent him a friend request.

“Yang Le, this is Song Feier.”

That was the message attached to the request.

Yang Le swiftly accepted.

“What were you doing just now? I’ve sent you a friend request for so long, why did you only accept it now?”

The moment they became friends, Song Feier messaged him.

“I just got home, was about to call my dad,” Yang Le replied, explaining his situation.

“I want to ask you something… Can you answer me truthfully?”

Song Feier’s reply came almost instantly.

“Go ahead…”

Yang Le was curious—what could Song Feier possibly want to ask him?

“How long have you been dating Xia Tingting?”

The question left Yang Le a bit bewildered. Why was she asking this out of the blue? Still, he answered honestly.

“A year. We started in the first semester of our second year of high school.”

“So it’s been a year! Have you two… you know…”

Yang Le was thrown off by her question.

“What do you mean, ‘you know’? Be more specific!”

He waited a long time, but this time Song Feier didn’t reply.

Yang Le finally had time to check Xia Tingting’s Moments, but when he opened the page, nothing showed up.

After a brief internal struggle, Yang Le sent her a message.

“Are you there?”

It was just a polite inquiry.

“I Love Young Master Pan has enabled friend verification. You are not her friend yet. Please send a friend request. Once she accepts, you can chat.”

The message appeared clearly on his screen. Honestly, Yang Le had already expected this outcome, but he wanted to confirm it.

If Xia Tingting hadn’t deleted him and actually responded, he wouldn’t have known what to say. Relieved, Yang Le nevertheless felt a touch of disappointment. He went to take a shower, and the fresh water instantly cleared his mind.

Afterward, seeing the notification light blinking on his phone, he knew someone had messaged him. Opening it, he found five messages from Song Feier.

The first was a voice message.

“I just wanted to ask how far you and Xia Tingting have gone—holding hands, kissing, or, you know, something more.”

Song Feier’s tone was not especially friendly, but it was understandable. She had already asked so directly, and Yang Le had pushed her to clarify. For a girl to say such things was already quite bold; it was too much to expect her to be gentle about it.

“Why aren’t you replying? Did I scare you? Are you angry?”

“At least say something!”

“Why are you ignoring me?”

“Did you fall asleep?”

Reading her messages, Yang Le realized Song Feier must be interested in him. Having just gone through a breakup, he didn’t know how to handle a new relationship, so he could only play dumb.

“Sorry, I was just showering.”

“We only held hands, nothing else.”

He apologized and answered her question.

Upon seeing his reply, Song Feier let out a long sigh of relief.

“Did she ever send you any photos on WeChat?”

Her question puzzled Yang Le, but as far as he could remember, Xia Tingting had never sent him any photos.

Before he could reply, Song Feier sent another message—this time, a photo.

Looking at the picture on his phone, Yang Le silently chanted, “Merciful Buddha, have mercy, just a few more.”

The photo was of Song Feier herself, dressed in a short nightdress—so short it barely covered half her thighs. She struck a provocative pose that made Yang Le react instinctively.

“This is a little compensation for you risking your life to save me today, don’t overthink it,” she wrote, adding a shy emoji at the end.

“I see…”

Yang Le thought she might send more photos, but her next message was a cold shower.

“She never sent me any photos.”

He replied to her earlier question.

“Remember to pick me up at my place tomorrow, and you have to go shopping with me. If you behave well, there might be more photos tomorrow night.”

Song Feier’s message instantly lifted Yang Le’s spirits. The photo she’d sent him was already saved on his phone, almost by reflex.

“Okay, I’ll be at your place at eight and call you when I arrive. It’s late, you should get some sleep. Goodnight…”

Yang Le intended to get up early, so he needed to sleep soon.

“Goodnight.”

Looking at Yang Le’s message, Song Feier replied with a helpless “Goodnight.” In truth, she had many more questions for him, like how he ended up eating with her father and why her father was so warm toward him. That alone was enough to make her suspicious.

Her father, after all, was the Director of the city’s Land Resources Bureau—not just anyone could have dinner with him. And if Yang Le were her father’s illegitimate son, he certainly wouldn’t be pushing her and Yang Le together. Song Feier couldn’t figure out how the two had crossed paths. She decided to ask Yang Le in person the next day.

After finishing his chat with Xia Tingting, Yang Le called his father again.

The phone had barely started ringing when the call was answered.

“Son, do you need money?”

His father, Yang Jiayun, had told him before: if he ever needed money, just call; if not, don’t.

“Not so fast! That’s five million we’re talking about. I just wanted to check how you’re doing.”

Yang Le hadn’t expected his father’s first question to be about money.

“Then why are you calling? I’m doing great over here—plenty of pretty women, so don’t worry about your old man. I heard from Song Yiming that you’ve hit it off with his daughter. Did you book a room tonight?”

Yang Jiayun was nothing if not direct.

“But it’s late, and since you’ve got time to call me, I can guess you didn’t seal the deal. You should learn from your old man—if you’re together, getting a room is normal, right? You ended up like Xia Tingting, working all summer and winter and spending half your earnings on her, and you didn’t even get a night together.”

Hearing his father, Yang Le realized he’d known about him and Xia Tingting for a while.

“I’m not even eighteen yet! Unlike you, you old fox, always thinking about getting a room. Can’t you think about anything else?”

Tired of his father’s constant talk about hotel rooms, Yang Le couldn’t help but call him out.

“You’re getting more and more disrespectful. Be careful, or I’ll freeze your bank card. What else can I do? You’re my only son. I just want a grandson so I can settle down. Otherwise, I’m single and alone and might as well have fun for a few more years. Give it ten more years, and I’ll be too old to do anything.”

Yang Jiayun threatened to freeze his card to make Yang Le show more respect, and then launched into a long, emotional lecture.

“You’re my dad—you can do whatever you want. Just don’t end up giving me a little brother or something. I won’t acknowledge him!”

Yang Le could only tell his father not to give him a new sibling.

“No little brother? How about a little sister?”

Yang Jiayun joked.

“Do whatever you want. I’m going to sleep. Hanging up now.”

Yang Le had barely finished speaking before his father hung up. He admired his father’s speed—single for over a decade, after all.

The next morning, chaos erupted in Qianjiang City’s Longhu Gang. Their boss, Li Yanhu, and his right-hand man, Liao Xiangdong, had disappeared, and the rest of the core members were all arrested.

And it wasn’t just the Longhu Gang: the city’s Deputy Chief of Police was taken away by the disciplinary committee, along with Tan Jianye and eight other police officers. All nine had varying degrees of power.

But Yang Le, waking up at half past six, knew nothing of this. He’d set an alarm to get up early.

After a quick wash, he skipped breakfast and took a taxi straight to Peaceful Garden Community.

He arrived at the community at 7:40 and messaged Song Feier.

“I’m outside your building. If you’re ready, come on down—I’ll wait here.”

She replied with a single word.

“Okay.”

Yang Le expected her to come down soon, but after waiting for an hour, there was still no sign of her.

He didn’t get impatient; he simply stood outside, glancing around, attracting the attention of the community’s security guards.

Yang Le realized they probably thought he looked suspicious, but since he remained outside the gates, the guards couldn’t say much.