Dusting off his hands, Zhang Xianyu squatted down, expressionless.
“I told you, you couldn’t beat me. Why didn’t you listen?”
The man ground his teeth and signaled to the tall one.
The tall guy let go of the woman and moved as if to help his buddy.
But as he passed Zhang Xianyu, he suddenly pulled a watermelon knife from behind his back and stabbed viciously toward Zhang Xianyu’s stomach, snarling,
“Try being a hero now, motherfucker!”
The blade gleamed coldly in the dark, but stopped abruptly just an inch from Zhang Xianyu’s belly.
The tall thug looked at him like he’d seen a ghost.
He didn’t believe it and gripped the knife with both hands, trying to force it in, but no matter how hard he pushed, the sharp tip wouldn’t go any farther.
A faint golden light flashed around Zhang Xianyu.
He grabbed the man by the back of his collar and lifted him effortlessly, coldly saying,
“Attacking someone with a knife? That’s attempted murder.”
The thug shuddered.
There was something terrifying in Zhang Xianyu’s eyes—it didn’t feel like being looked at by another person, but more like…an ant about to be crushed.
Fear slowly spread through him.
His grip weakened, and the watermelon knife clattered to the ground.
Not far away, Lin Wushui watched this scene, his eyes flickering.
He quickly buried his face in his arms again, feigning delicate weakness.
Zhang Xianyu tied the two thugs up with their own belts.
There was a police station nearby—he planned to drag them over.
Once they were bound, he glanced at the woman still curled up and unmoving, feeling a bit troubled.
What about her?
“It’s okay now. Hurry up and get a taxi home—be careful on the way,”
Zhang Xianyu finally squatted down beside her and tried to comfort her gently.
“I…can’t go home anymore.”
The woman raised her head, revealing a bloodless yet strikingly refined face.
She was very beautiful, but not in an ordinary way—her beauty carried a touch of heroic sharpness.
In modern slang, she was the “domineering older sister” type.
Considering she was even taller than the two muggers, it actually fit quite well.
Zhang Xianyu found himself thinking irrelevant thoughts.
But he wasn’t dumb enough to ask,
“Why can’t you go home?”
Instead, he suggested,
“There’s a budget hotel nearby. How about staying there for the night?”
Lin Wushui froze, recalling the advice from his online searches.
His expression grew even more pitiful, and he even squeezed out two teardrops—
“I…I don’t have any money on me.”
Zhang Xianyu scratched his head.
He really had no experience dealing with women, so he tentatively suggested,
“Then…should I take you to the police station?”
It happened to be on his way anyway.
“…”
Lin Wushui fell silent.
Why wasn’t this playing out like the online guides said?
Wasn’t this where the guy was supposed to say,
“Then come stay at my place for the night,” or something like that?
The situation had clearly exceeded the scope of what he’d prepared for.
Lin Wushui paused for a moment, then decided to improvise.
He first glanced up at Zhang Xianyu, then lowered his lashes in a disappointed, pitiful way.
Finally, he bit his lip and said softly,
“Could I…maybe stay at your place for the night?”
His voice trembled slightly, and with his downcast eyes he looked especially fragile and pitiable.
If it were any other man, they’d probably say,
“Sure sure sure, stay as long as you want!”
But Zhang Xianyu wasn’t just any man.
He frowned and politely refused,
“How about…we still go to the police station first?”
Lin Wushui secretly ground his teeth.
Unwilling to give up, he pinched himself hard behind his back, forcing out another round of tears, then looked pitifully at Zhang Xianyu.
“I really…have nowhere else to go…”
Zhang Xianyu: He hesitated for a moment.
Seeing how pitiful she looked crying, he finally sighed,
“…Alright. You can come stay at my place for the night.”
Lin Wushui’s lips curled up in a quick smile, which he immediately hid.
He adjusted the collar of his shirt slightly and softly said,
“Thank you.”
Zhang Xianyu first delivered the two muggers to the police station before taking Lin Wushui home.
It was already past two in the morning.
The neighborhood was quiet.
They moved lightly upstairs, but as soon as they approached the door, Zhang Xianyu heard a faint sound of someone crying.
He frowned, glanced at the person trailing behind him, then took out his key to unlock the door.
As soon as the door opened, the crying stopped.
Zhang Xianyu switched on the light and told Lin Wushui to wait at the door while he went in to check.
Apart from the earlier crying sound, there was nothing unusual inside.
Only then did he let her come in.
With the lights on, he finally got a good look at the woman.
Her complexion wasn’t as deathly pale under the bright lamp, and she was tall—probably even a bit taller than him.
“I’m Zhang Xianyu,” he introduced himself.
“I only moved in today. You can just make do in the second bedroom for the night.”
“I’m Wushui.”
She spoke in a low, husky voice with a slight magnetic quality.
Only then did Zhang Xianyu realize this was her natural voice, not just a throat gone hoarse from crying.
Bringing a stranger—especially a woman—home made Zhang Xianyu quite uneasy.
After exchanging a few brief words with Wushui, he went to wash up and get ready for bed.
Right before sleeping, he remembered the apartment wasn’t exactly peaceful, so he warned her seriously,
“If you hear anything strange tonight, just shout for me.”
Lin Wushui nodded obediently.
By now, he had already taken a shower and changed into Zhang Xianyu’s T-shirt and shorts.
But he was so tall that the shorts, which normally reached Zhang Xianyu’s knees, had turned into hot pants on him, leaving a pair of long, pale legs exposed, swaying there.
Unfortunately, the only audience here was a total blockhead.
Zhang Xianyu didn’t even pause his gaze for a second.
He just yawned, his eyes watery from sleepiness, and repeated one last time,
“If you hear or see anything, make sure you call me loudly.”
Then he yawned his way back to his room to sleep.
Lin Wushui gave a light humph, pulled back his intentionally stretched-out long legs, and returned to the second bedroom with a belly full of frustration.
From the very first meeting, this man had had an inexplicable pull on him.
It was that strange feeling which sparked his curiosity, prompting him to deliberately disguise himself as a woman to get close.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be easier to get close if you were a beautiful woman…”
Sitting in the dark room, Lin Wushui muttered to himself in confusion.
“Why does it seem like it doesn’t work at all? Am I not pretty enough?”
He suspiciously touched his own face, then pulled out his phone to keep browsing those daytime forum posts.
In the middle of the night, just when sleep was at its deepest, a sharp scream woke Zhang Xianyu up.
The door was knocked on with a loud thump thump.
Zhang Xianyu stumbled out of bed, still drowsy.
“What is it?”
Outside, the voice carried fear, a bit of a sob, and a hint of grievance.
“It…sounded like someone was crying in the room.”
The sleepiness vanished instantly.
Zhang Xianyu slipped on his slippers and opened the door, finding Wushui standing there clutching a pillow, looking pitiful.
“Someone was crying?”
Zhang Xianyu went straight to the second bedroom.
Click.
He turned on the light.
The room was empty except for a bed and a wardrobe—no people, no ghosts.
“It sounded like it was coming from the wardrobe.”
Zhang Xianyu walked over and pulled it open.
Still empty.
He inspected it carefully.
This wardrobe wasn’t newly replaced—inside there were still scratch-like marks.
Not finding the source of the crying, he looked at Wushui who was too scared to come in.
Then he took a talisman from the TV cabinet drawer, stuck it by the headboard of the bed, and even put one on the door.
“Alright, go to sleep. That sound probably won’t dare show up again.”
Lin Wushui, who had been all ready to crawl into Zhang Xianyu’s bed: “…………………”
Why does this guy never follow the script?