I didn't hear anything, don't kill me.

"What do you know?!"

Yun Ting's shrill voice shattered the silence of the room.

She grabbed Yun Huang's arm, her nails digging into the flesh with such force that Yun Huang's arm instantly went numb. "That's not emotional blackmail—it's what we deserve!"

"Your father gave his life for Great Xia! Look at how we're living now! Those so-called comrades of his—what have they ever done for us besides sending worthless condolence gifts during holidays?"

Yun Ting's eyes were bloodshot, her face twisted with jealousy and resentment—a madness born of desperation.

"Now, finally, we have a chance! Elder Feng! Even your father could only look up to someone like him in his time! That brat Su Qi—what kind of dumb luck does he have to catch the eye of such a powerful man? If we can just latch onto this connection, no one would dare mess with the Yun family!"

She shook Yun Huang violently, as if trying to force her will into her daughter.

"I told you to reconnect with him, and what did you do? Just treated him to a meal of tomato and eggs? Don’t you understand? If you shed a few tears in front of him, told him about our struggles—how could a hot-blooded young man like him possibly refuse you?"

Yun Huang, pale and unresisting, let her mother’s force rock her. Her gaze drifted past her mother’s shoulder, settling on the black-and-white photo of her father on the wall. Her voice was as faint as a wisp of smoke.

"Dad wouldn’t have wanted me to do this."

"Your dad! Your dad! Your dad is dead!" Yun Ting finally lost control, screaming. She released Yun Huang, staggering back before collapsing onto the couch, her hands covering her face as muffled sobs escaped between her fingers.

"He’s dead, but we still have to live…"

"Huang’er, I’m begging you… I can’t hold on anymore…"

Yun Huang stood silently, the dim light casting her thin, lonely shadow against the wall. She raised a hand, gently touching the numb arm where red marks had already formed.

"Su Qi… he’s smart."

She repeated it, as if trying to convince her mother—or herself.

"Smarter than we think… much smarter."

Yun Ting jerked her head up at this, her face streaked with tears. Her shrill voice was like a blade to the ears as she pointed accusingly at her daughter, her features twisted with fury.

"What’s smart got to do with it? Men are all the same!"

"Controlled by their little heads, can’t take their eyes off a pretty face."

"When do they ever stop lusting? When they’re dead!"

"And now, when we finally have a chance right in front of us, you’re playing the innocent saint?"

Yun Ting grew angrier, her chest heaving. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped Yun Huang hard across the face.

Crack!

The sharp sound echoed through the silent room, drowning out even her own cries.

Yun Huang’s head snapped to the side, five vivid finger marks blooming on her pale skin, her ears ringing.

She didn’t cry. She didn’t argue. She just slowly turned back, her eyes lifeless as she stared at her mother.

No hatred, no resentment—only an unfathomable sorrow and exhaustion.

Her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

"Dad… was a hero."

"A hero? Can heroes put food on the table?" Yun Ting exploded, her voice hysterical. "He played the hero and died out there! Left us behind, a widow and an orphan—and this is how you repay me? Is it so hard to seize the one chance we have to turn things around?"

"You think he’s some kind of saint? Anyone noticed by Elder Feng is no simple character! He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing! If you don’t throw yourself at him, some other vixen will! And then we won’t even get scraps!"

Yun Ting trembled with rage, her chest rising and falling violently as she glared at her daughter’s unyielding expression.

Then she pointed at the portrait on the wall.

"Look at your precious daughter! Just like you! Stubborn fool! You got to be the hero, resting easy up there while we suffer down here! I must’ve been blind to marry you!"

Her curses reverberated through the empty room, mingling with the heavy scent of lilies—a haunting, eerie contrast.

Yun Huang stood motionless. Tears finally escaped, sliding silently down her cheeks and splashing onto the floor.

She watched her mother’s deranged outburst, then the silent portrait of her father. This so-called home felt like a prison.

......

The taxi glided smoothly through the night, neon lights flickering across Su Qi’s face through the window.

Liu Yuan leaned against him, still chattering excitedly about dinner, her expression full of sympathy.

"Yun Huang-jie is so pitiful, living all alone in such a remote place."

"And her home was so fragrant—full of lilies—but it felt… cold."

"Ge, where was her mom? You said she monitors Yun Huang-jie really strictly, but she wasn’t there during dinner."

Su Qi didn’t respond, his gaze fixed on the passing cityscape.

Cold?

No—that wasn’t cold.

It was deathly stillness.

A home for the living, yet arranged like a meticulously prepared funeral parlor.

And…

All for show.

That woman, Yun Ting, had never shown herself.

But Su Qi’s hearing was far sharper than most. The moment they stepped out, the argument had erupted inside.

Too distant to make out the words, but the sharp, unrestrained fury—he had caught traces of it.

Now, thinking back, she must have been hiding in some room, watching the entire dinner unfold through a crack in the door—like a clumsy director, scrutinizing her actor’s performance.

"By the way," Su Qi asked casually, "how did you just ‘happen’ to run into her at the mall today?"

"Oh! Let me tell you!" Liu Yuan immediately perked up, sitting straight and gesturing animatedly. "I was looking at clothes when my phone died! I didn’t know my way around, so I was panicking, searching everywhere for a charging station—and then I bumped into Yun Huang-jie!"

"She asked if I was lost and even helped me find a charger! She’s so nice! Ge, isn’t that such a coincidence?"

Su Qi’s eyes remained calm.

A chance encounter. A dead phone. A kind stranger’s help.

The whole sequence was a script written in advance.

If he were just an ordinary eighteen-year-old, untouched by the harshness of the world…

He might have believed it was just a happy accident.

But he wasn’t.

The world didn’t work on coincidences—especially not when a 500-million-yuan competition was about to begin.

It really was as the saying went.

If you’re poor, even your neighbors ignore you; if you’re rich, distant relatives come knocking.

That dinner wasn’t hospitality.

It was a poorly staged play.

With Yun Huang as the lead.

And him as the audience.

The core idea the script wanted to convey was clear: I'm miserable, I'm beautiful, and I need help.

But she herself didn’t seem fully invested in this act.

Those clear eyes held exhaustion and resistance, not calculation or desire.

A terrible actress performing an even worse play.

Su Qi leaned back in the car seat and closed his eyes.

Trouble.

He didn’t like trouble.

But since trouble had come knocking, he needed a permanent solution.

Just then, his phone vibrated.

It was a call from "Mediterranean." Su Qi answered and put it on speaker.

Immediately, Mediterranean’s voice came through, eager and slightly boastful: "Brother Su! Brother Su! Mission accomplished! Those nine students are all settled. When they heard my proposal—especially the part about joining your team—they all agreed to cooperate in the… ahem, I mean, participate in the competition!"

"But…" Mediterranean’s tone turned odd, "we’re still one person short."

"My original plan was to wait until the competition was about to start before dropping the news in my own circles. By then, forget one spot, ten or eight people would be fighting to squeeze in. But… something unexpected happened today."

Su Qi opened his eyes but stayed silent, waiting for the rest.

"Today, someone approached me… a middle-aged auntie. I don’t know where she got the info, but she claimed to have some connection with you and wanted the last spot." Mediterranean lowered his voice, tinged with gossipy excitement. "Brother Su, you wouldn’t believe it—this auntie acted all mysterious, like some underground spy, and even tried fishing for info on what kind of girls you like."

"Right then, I knew something was off, so I flat-out refused. I said, ‘Who does she think Brother Su is? Someone she can just climb up to?’ If she really had ties to you, she’d go straight to you, not waste my time!"

"But later, lying in bed, I started second-guessing. What if—just what if, Brother Su—she really is some relative of yours? Then I’d have messed up big time. I tossed and turned all night, couldn’t sleep, so I had to call and report this to you. Please, Brother Su, you decide!"

Wait, since when did Mediterranean talk like some underling?

A figure flashed through Su Qi’s mind.

Yun Huang.

Honestly, she might be a perfect fit.

All three of her supernatural professions were at the seventh tier.

Her personal strength was undeniably among the top in the entire Magic Card Academy.

Trustworthy? Not yet.

But from another angle, someone who needed his help—a pawn pushed forward by her mother—would be easier to control within his team.

At the very least, she’d follow orders and wouldn’t cause trouble during the competition.

More importantly, keeping her under his watch would cut off any schemes her mother, Yun Ting, might try outside.

A permanent solution.

"Brother Su? Brother Su, you still there?" Mediterranean grew anxious at the silence.

"I know her," Su Qi replied, his tone indifferent.

"Ah?" Mediterranean was stunned. "Brother Su… so I did offend someone?"

"It’s fine. We’re not close. I can’t be bothered to find someone else. Next time she approaches you, hint that she should pay up, then reluctantly agree."

Mediterranean balked: "Wait, bro, you’re telling me to take bribes? Getting caught means suspension. If I were that kind of guy, would I still be paying off my mortgage after all these years?"

Su Qi replied leisurely, "Relax. I am that kind of guy."

"Have her wire it to my account."

"And cut the ‘bribery’ talk."

"Where’s the finesse?"

"Can’t you just say it’s ‘complicated’?"

"Can’t you say you’re ‘going through a rough patch’?"

"Can’t you say ‘strike while the iron’s hot’?"

The barrage of "advice" left Mediterranean stammering: "S-so, Brother Su, how much are we talking?"

Su Qi said casually, "Fifty million. Any more, and she might not afford it."

That Yun Ting, trying to use him as a lifeline… Su Qi felt it necessary to teach her a lesson.

If you want to snatch meat from a wolf’s jaws, you’d better be ready to pay the price.

The Didi driver couldn’t quite hear Mediterranean’s side, but Su Qi’s words alone made his palms sweat.

Was this something a Didi driver should be hearing?

Bribes? "Finesse"? Fifty million?

Real or not?

Even in a game of Fight the Landlord, he couldn’t scrounge up that many "Happy Beans."

Was he about to get "disappeared" for knowing too much?

Another ten minutes passed.

Finally, they reached the alley.

"Driver, we’re here. Stop right here," Su Qi said.

But the Didi driver showed no intention of stopping.

He kept driving straight ahead.

Su Qi: ???

What’s going on?

He had no choice but to tap the driver’s shoulder lightly.

"Driver, you overshot."

The driver hit the brakes and turned back: "Huh? What’s up, young man? We there?"

"My ears have been acting up lately—suddenly can’t hear stuff. Gotta see a doctor tomorrow."

"You already passed it. Stop here."

"Oh, next left, right? Got it."

The driver prepared to floor the gas again.

Su Qi: …

He grabbed the driver’s arm.

If he let him accelerate now, who knew when they’d actually get home?

The driver, a middle-aged man in his forties, instantly broke into a sob: "Brother Su, my ears really are bad! I didn’t hear anything! Just let me go, please! I’ve got an 80-year-old mother to feed, a kid who—"

Su Qi: …

"Bro, I was just messing with my teacher. You actually believed that?"

"Who the hell talks about fifty million and then takes a Didi?"

The driver thought about it… and yeah, that made sense.

He’d just panicked in the moment.

"Should I… turn back?"

"Obviously turn back."

Finally, the driver dropped Su Qi and Liu Yuan off at the alley entrance.

He muttered, "I won’t call the cops. Don’t kill me."

Then he slammed the gas and sped off.

[Delight +999]