Chapter 89: It Was the Law That Saved You

Three hours after the kiss, at three in the morning.

Bian Yang lay on the bed, wide awake and more energetic than usual.

He was thoroughly insomniac.

He tossed and turned, not the slightest trace of sleepiness in sight.

The sweet taste lingering on his lips, like a brand, refused to fade—instead, it only grew stronger and more intense as time went on.

All the more so because the girl he loved so dearly was lying right beside him. Even though they were separated by frosted glass, unable to see or touch each other, simply watching her shadow was enough to send a wild, uncontrollable surge of emotion crashing through his body, impossible to quell.

He was still painfully aroused.

Damn it, he just couldn't help himself.

She was simply too irresistible to kiss.

Qin Mingyu had been wrong—he might have brought her home with bad intentions, but in the end, he was only making things harder on himself.

Idly fiddling with his phone, he scrolled through a jumble of news stories, trying to distract himself, but the restlessness persisted.

Meanwhile, the girl next door was sleeping soundly, utterly carefree, deep in sweet slumber.

Bian Yang pressed his forearm over his forehead and let out a barely audible sigh.

He waited a while, but it did no good.

Finally, he rubbed his brow, gently lifted the covers, grabbed his clothes, and slipped quietly out of the bedroom.

After dressing in the living room, Bian Yang leaned back on the sofa and tilted his head up.

A moment later, he picked up his keys and left the apartment.

A night wind had risen, chill and refreshing as it swept across his body.

Dressed in a dark windbreaker, Bian Yang lounged lazily against a wall, his zipper undone at the collar, loosely exposing a cold, pale collarbone in the shadows. The lollipop in his mouth—a strawberry flavor filched from the coffee table, the same kind the girl liked—explained why her kisses tasted so sweet.

At this hour, even the busiest food street was nearly deserted. The cool breeze spun dried leaves in little eddies around his feet.

He wandered aimlessly to clear his mind, the restlessness slowly ebbing away. Just as he was about to head back, he caught the faint sound of voices not far away.

"Let me touch you. Lift up your shirt. I can't get my hand in if you keep blocking me."

A woman's half-reluctant, half-accepting voice followed: "We're on the street—what if someone sees?"

"Who's going to be out here at this hour?"

The man's hand crept up under the woman's skirt.

Bian Yang looked away, face expressionless, and walked straight ahead without a glance. But after the man said a few more words, he realized the voice sounded oddly familiar. Hands in his pockets, he lazily retraced his steps.

"Look, someone is watching us!"

The woman, dressed provocatively in a sequined red miniskirt—the kind favored by nightclub girls—smacked the man's hand away and warned him.

The man turned around impatiently, but when he saw Bian Yang, he froze, then a flash of hatred flared in his eyes.

If it weren't for him, would he have suffered so much recently?

He had finally gotten out of the hospital and could enjoy himself, only to run into him again!

Bian Yang stood there, face impassive, eyes dark as ink, lips curled in a faint, mocking smile. He crooked a finger at him.

Liu Yaojie withdrew his hand from the woman's clothes, eyeing Bian Yang warily, clearly a little frightened. "What do you want? Bian Yang, about last time… let’s just call it even. From now on, we’ll stay out of each other’s way. You leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone!"

He was alone tonight, and knew he couldn’t beat Bian Yang, so he chose to back down.

"You think you can just call it even?" Bian Yang lowered his eyes, his tone insouciant. "That’s not nearly enough."

"W-what do you mean by that?"

Liu Yaojie took a step back.

The woman, sensing trouble, straightened her clothes and ran off without a word.

Liu Yaojie cursed and turned to bolt as well, but Bian Yang lazily called after him, "Take another step and see what happens."

He stooped to pick up a brick from the roadside, weighing it in his hand.

Liu Yaojie didn’t believe he would actually do it, but the moment he moved, the brick came flying and struck him square in the back of the knee.

He collapsed in a graceless heap.

Bian Yang strolled over, slow and unhurried, and stood over him. Even dressed all in black, he couldn’t hide his air of casual arrogance; he pressed his foot to Liu Yaojie’s chest, his eyes hooded, every inch of him exuding cold disdain.

He pressed harder and harder, leaving Liu Yaojie gasping for breath.

Terror surged in Liu Yaojie’s heart. Clutching at Bian Yang’s foot, he tried to pry it away, but it was no use.

"Bian Yang, let’s talk this out! We’re classmates—I didn’t press charges, I was punished too. Just let me go this once!"

Bian Yang bit down on his candy, a cold smile curling his lips. "If you’re ignorant, you can learn. If you’re ugly, you can fix it. But a rotten heart—there’s no cure for that. When you bullied Tang Yu, did you ever think this day would come? This is just the beginning."

Looking at Liu Yaojie's disgusting face, the memory of his first encounter with Tang Yu resurfaced.

He regretted not stepping in back then.

Regretted not teaching those three bastards a harsh lesson.

Maybe if he’d been more ruthless, they would have been more afraid, and she wouldn’t have suffered so much after…

Bian Yang, as if finding an outlet for his pent-up rage, bent down, grabbed Liu Yaojie by the collar, and tossed him into a dark alley.

Liu Yaojie landed on the ground, shrinking his neck in fear, haunted by thoughts of what had happened to Fan Yuebing.

Fan Yuebing had been beaten so badly he still hadn’t left the hospital.

He didn’t know what methods Bian Yang had used, but it forced Fan Yuebing to transfer schools—and even got his father reassigned out of Liangcheng.

"Bian Yang! I’ve been in the hospital this whole time—I didn’t lay a hand on Tang Yu! If anything happened… it was Meng Shirui, not me! It has nothing to do with me!"

The young man looked down at him, flexing his wrist, face cold and indifferent. "Don’t worry. She’s next."

Liu Yaojie grew even more terrified. He scrambled up and tried to run.

But Bian Yang slammed him against the wall from behind, then, without warning, drove a knee into his gut.

He howled in pain, curling up like a shrimp, veins bulging on his forehead as his vision swam.

Bian Yang rolled his neck, lifted his chin, and ordered, "Stand up."

Liu Yaojie, furious, tried to fight back, only to be kicked in the face this time.

He spun through the air and crashed to the ground, blood streaming from his nose, unable even to crawl.

He struggled to look up and met Bian Yang’s eyes—dark, pure, and cold as night.

A cold sweat broke out on Liu Yaojie’s back as he began to beg, "I—I was wrong, I swear I’ll never bully Tang Yu again, please, stop…"

Bian Yang gave a short, derisive laugh. "If you’d said that the first time we met, maybe I would’ve believed you. Now? It’s useless."

He crouched down, his gaze icy as he looked at Liu Yaojie.

"Why do you think this world has laws?"

Sweat poured down Liu Yaojie’s forehead; his lips trembled in fear.

"Don’t look at me like that. I’m just treating you the way you treated others—so what are you afraid of?"

Liu Yaojie shrank back, shivering all over.

Bian Yang spoke coolly, "If there were no laws, the world would be ruled by the strong—just like when you bullied Tang Yu. I could kill you here and now and no one would bat an eye, no one would hold me accountable."

"But unfortunately, this world does have laws. Here, everyone has to follow the rules. So don’t worry—I’ll only make you hurt. I’ll make sure you remember this pain, so that every time you think about bullying someone again, you’ll recall tonight."

He straightened up, eyes hooded, his whole posture weary.

"Remember this well: it’s the law that saved you. It’s my humanity that saved you. You should learn to be grateful."