Fill Up the Coffers

"Ah?"

Tang Manman's rosy lips parted slightly, her peach-blossom eyes glistening with curiosity as she looked at Lin Yu, her expression adorably dazed as if she hadn't fully processed his questions.

"I said, where is this place?"

"How did I get here?"

"And one more thing."

"Why are you here?"

Lin Yu gritted his teeth, fighting through the throbbing pain in his head as he repeated his questions.

This time, Tang Manman understood. She took a deep breath, suppressing the strange, boiling emotions in her chest, and answered softly:

"I found you on the side street."

"You were covered in blood and unconscious, so I took you to the pharmacy and had the nurse there treat your wounds."

"After that, I tried calling your friends using your phone so they could take you home."

"But there were no numbers saved in your phone."

"The only number I found... didn’t go through."

"So, I had no choice..."

At this point, Tang Manman’s cheeks, which had just cooled from her earlier feverish flush, turned red again. She lowered her voice to a near whisper:

"...I brought you back to my place."

Listening to her explanation, Lin Yu began piecing together his memories before losing consciousness.

He remembered the new phone he had just gotten yesterday, the barbecue he had at dusk, the brutal strike of a brick to his head, and the cramped alley he had stumbled into before passing out.

Now that he had sorted things out, Lin Yu no longer lashed out at Tang Manman or tried to provoke her disgust. Instead, he fell silent.

At this point, even if he had been determined to make Tang Manman loathe him, he couldn’t bring himself to act harshly anymore.

Seriously!

This was practically a life-saving favor!

If he had stayed unconscious in that alley...

There was a 90% chance the Fire Scorpion Gang would have found him, right?

Lin Yu’s headache worsened.

What was he supposed to do now?

Was he really about to become the kind of person he despised the most?

Sabotage Tang Manman’s relationship with her childhood sweetheart?

A "Pure Love Forum" moderator turning traitor?

A fallen NTR villain?

No way!

Absolutely not!!!

The pure-hearted little voice inside Lin Yu wailed in despair. He refused to let the absolute justice he had always upheld crumble like this.

Encouraged by this inner voice, Lin Yu took a deep breath, mustering as much anger into his eyes as he could before turning to Tang Manman—only to freeze on the spot.

The bitter words he had prepared got stuck in his throat, unable to escape.

What did he see?

He saw the shy, timid, yet utterly focused gaze of a girl who quickly averted her eyes the moment she noticed him looking back. He saw the budding innocence of first love.

And to his utter despair, Lin Yu realized he could no longer bring himself to say anything hurtful to her.

"I—I need to leave!"

Lin Yu struggled to sit up, knowing full well he couldn’t stay any longer.

The battle wasn’t going well—strategic retreat!

Withdraw!

"Take it slow."

Tang Manman instinctively reached out to steady him, afraid he might collapse again from moving too abruptly.

"Don’t touch me!"

Lin Yu recoiled as if avoiding a venomous snake, jerking away from her delicate, pale hand.

"I can manage on my own!"

He stood up, steadied himself against the dizziness in his head, and fled the small but tidy room without looking back.

Tang Manman stood motionless, her complicated gaze lingering on the doorway long after Lin Yu had disappeared. Finally, she lowered her eyes, staring at the hand he had avoided like a curse, her expression dimming like fading dust.

Does he...

hate me?

...

After taking a cab home, Lin Yu could no longer fight the dizziness in his head and collapsed onto his bed, sleeping straight through until noon the next day, when the relentless ringing of his phone finally woke him.

"Hello?"

Lin Yu answered, his voice laced with irritation at being disturbed.

"Xiao Long, where are you now?"

"How’s your condition?"

"Are you okay?"

Li Yuan’s unmistakably loud voice boomed through the phone. Hearing him, Lin Yu immediately perked up and put on his best weak, suffering act.

He coughed violently twice before replying in a frail, trembling voice:

"Uncle, I just got out of the hospital."

"I’m not doing well—my head hurts, I’m dizzy, and I can barely walk."

"What?!"

"Then why the hell did you leave the hospital?!"

"If you’re that badly hurt, you need to stay there and recover!"

Li Yuan’s voice was frantic with concern.

"Uncle, it’s not that I don’t want to stay..."

"I just don’t have the money."

"I couldn’t pay the deposit."

"They kicked me out!"

Lin Yu’s voice cracked with the perfect mix of misery and despair.

"What?!"

Li Yuan exploded.

"What hospital dares to throw out my nephew?!"

"Who the hell do they think they are?!"

"Tell me where you are—I’m coming to teach them a lesson right now!"

Lin Yu was about to name a hospital outside Li Yuan’s jurisdiction when another man’s voice suddenly cut in from the other end of the line.

"Brother Yuan, calm down. You’re not in any state to go out right now."

Seizing the opportunity, Lin Yu quickly chimed in:

"Yeah, Uncle, don’t come."

"Just rest up. Don’t worry about me."

"...Fine."

After a brief silence, Li Yuan reluctantly relented. But he didn’t forget about Lin Yu’s injuries.

"Xiao Long, get back to the hospital right now. I’ll send you the money for the deposit in a bit."

"Once you’re healed up, we’ll go settle the score with that bastard Huang Laohei!"

"That sneaky piece of trash, daring to pull this crap on me!"

"I’ll make him regret it!"

Li Yuan’s temper flared again as he cursed.

"Got it, Uncle. I’ll head back right away."

Lin Yu suppressed a grin, keeping up the weak, raspy voice.

Not long after hanging up, a transfer notification popped up on his phone. Seeing the neat row of four zeros on the screen, Lin Yu couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.

"Ten thousand yuan!"

"Now my college fund’s up to twenty-two thousand!"

"At this rate, saving up enough for four years of university in a year isn’t just a dream!"

As he calmed down, Lin Yu grew even more pleased.

This injury was the perfect excuse—not just for this ten thousand, but for future treatments too.

He could keep milking Li Yuan for more!