This was Zhu Fei's fiancé, Zhou Liang, who had been chosen by her stepfather, Li Jianbin.

 

As soon as he got off the plane, he received a call from Li Jianbin, "Liang, are you there?"

 

"I’m here, Uncle Li."

 

Zhou Liang stood in front of the exit from the terminal. He hailed a taxi and said, "I can’t get through to Zhu Fei's phone. Did she change her number after coming here?"

 

"I have just asked her mother for her telephone number. I'll text it to you later.” After a short pause, he added: “When you see her, help me teach her a good lesson. The girl is too spoiled. I have now blocked all her UnionPay cards. Let’s see how well she does on her own now!"

 

"Uncle Li, don't worry. I'll bring her back in a few days." Zhou Liang flashed a cunning smirk. "You said she came here to see her biological father?"

 

"Yes, a waste of space called Zhu Fangguo. If he dares to get involved with Zhu Fei, let me know. I will immediately send someone to ‘talk’ to him," Li Jianbin said maliciously.

 

"Oh, I wouldn’t bother you with that. Your nephew will take care of everything," Zhou Liang said. "Well, I will contact Fei Fei now. It’s been a long time. I miss her."

 

"Well, I'll call you back." Li Jianbin hung up.

 

---

 

At the same time, Zhu Fei was in the supermarket, buying some daily necessities for her father. She had been to his apartment and seen how frugally he was living. He didn't want to buy anything. His socks had more holes than threads and he darned them all himself, as well as his pants and shoes. It was a sad sight.

 

Her phone rang.

 

"Hello? Who’s this?"

 

She did not have Zhou Liang's number in her contacts. The two only met twice or thrice and were not that familiar. Even knowing that her father intended to marry her off to him, Zhu Fei never thought about what would happen with him after she left.

 

"Fei Fei? This is Zhou Liang. Haha, I finally found you. Guess where I am?" Zhou Liang laughed excitedly when he heard Zhu Fei’s voice.

 

"Zhou Liang? You're not really coming to Tianhe, are you?” Zhu Fei stopped in her tracks in the supermarket aisle, amazed. "Where are you now?"

 

"Ha-ha, you know it!” Zhou Liang said. “It was supposed to be a surprise but I just couldn’t wait to hear your voice. How's it going? Excited? I'm in a taxi, headed downtown. Tell me where you are. I have to see you right now, at once, immediately!"

 

"What do you want to see me for?" Zhu Fei hesitated for a long time before speaking. Although she knew her words were hurtful, she had to say them. She didn't want to be involved with this rich guy. It was all about her stepfather's business plan, and her role in it was nothing more than as a bargaining chip.

 

Zhu Fei would never let herself become someone else's pawn.

 

Her mother was vain. Her life seemed flashy, but bitter tears hid behind her eyes. Zhu Fei wanted to have her own full, free and easy life. Especially when it came to marriage, her early childhood’s familial experiences made her particularly sensitive. No one else could control her for the rest of her life. She had to be responsible for herself.

 

Zhou Liang on the other end of the line was embarrassed. At a loss, he said, "Zhu Fei, I am already in town. Why are you so cold-hearted? I know our engagement was a bit abrupt, and also a bit unrealistic. After all, we need to go through a process of adaptation and understanding. We’re just friends getting together to have good time. I would never do anything excessive or difficult for you. You can rest assured that if I ever step out of bounds, I..."

 

When she heard this, she interrupted him, thinking that, after all, he came from far away to see her. She couldn’t justify ignoring him. Even if she could ignore her stepfather's face, her mother was still living with him. If she went too far, her mom was sure to become a target for her stepfather to vent his temper against. That would be nothing new. "I am in the Dafuhao Supermarket. Come over - there's a Hajike Café across the street. I'll wait for you there."

 

"Good! I'll be right there." Zhou Liang exclaimed excitedly before hanging up.

 

After coming out of the supermarket, Zhu Fei went to the Hajike Café with a lot on her mind. She ordered a hot coffee and some fries, dipped them in ketchup, and ate halfheartedly.

 

Sunlight came in through the windows, shining in Zhu Fei's eyes. She was slightly disturbed by Zhou Liang's arrival. She did not know why, but she had always felt that she could not accept him. She felt that her stepfather’s plan for her was like a grave - If she jumped into it, she would be bound to it for the rest of her life.

 

Zhu Fei did not really know Zhou Liang yet. After seeing him a few times, she only got the impression that he was not as bossy and arrogant as most rich guys. He was quite cultured, but that wasn’t enough to incline her to give her heart to him. The foremost thing on her mind was to take care of her dad. She didn’t want to bother with anything else.

 

When she opened WeChat, she saw an unread message.

 

Qin Feng had sent it over an hour earlier. "Zhu Fei, how's your father? Feeling better?"

 

"He’s better. Thank you for your concern."

 

After a moment’s thought, Zhu Fei added a smiley emoji. Then, since she felt bored anyway, she opened Qin Feng’s WeChat Moments. There were many pictures inside. He shared Moments quite frequently, roughly every week or two.

 

Her phone vibrated and Zhu Fei quickly returned to the dialog box. What Qin Feng returned was a voice message: "I have some folk medicine that’s very good for physical trauma. I will take it to the hospital later."

 

Hearing Qin Feng’s voice inexplicably made Zhu Fei's heart momentarily tremble. Although she didn't know him for a long time, she already felt very familiar with him, even though her fist impression of him wasn’t so good. He was a pervy bad boy, but now...

 

Zhu Fei typed, "Thank you. I didn't expect you to be a man of good heart. You don’t have to go to the trouble of coming to the hospital. I'll go back to the apartment tonight. You can just give it to me and I’ll take it to my father when I visit him next time."

 

"I work late. I don't get off work until after two o'clock in the morning."

 

At that time, Qin Feng was at work at the Free Man Bar. This was an unusual day. Meng Zhaolin's people did not succeed last time, but they would probably try something sneaky again. Qin Feng had to keep watch at the bar, or Sister Flower would be in trouble. "I am not busy right now. Why don't I drop it off in a little while? It's not far, anyway."

 

"Well, thank you," Zhu Fei politely replied and hung up.

 

Just then, her cell phone rang again. It was Zhou Liang.

 

"Hello." Zhu Fei picked up her phone and looked around, assuming he had arrived.

 

"I am at the door of the supermarket. Is that the Hajike to the west?" Zhou Liang laughed. "I thought it was something special, but it’s just a hamburger joint. Oh well, I’m starving!"