Chapter 13

The headlights were broken, and I said we couldn’t go to the 4S shop or my dad would find out.

He didn’t say anything, just drove straight into a little alley and stopped in front of a tiny shop: Galaxy Auto Repair. The sign was crooked and the paint was peeling.

I watched him take off his jacket. Underneath, he was actually wearing a black tank top with big white letters on the back: “Galaxy Auto Repair.”

“It’s your shop?”

“Opened it with a friend.”

He clamped a flashlight between his teeth and started inspecting the car.

“Hold this.”

I took the flashlight from his mouth and squatted to the side, watching his fingers move deftly through the wiring. Before long, beads of sweat were shining on his forehead, and a streak of black motor oil was smeared on his cheek.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Bai Zifan.” He didn’t even look up.

The fluorescent tube above us suddenly flickered. He cursed, and the next second-

The whole garage sank into darkness.

I jolted in fright.

“Keep the light steady. What are you screaming for?” he snapped at me.

“I’m scared of the dark,” I muttered, feeling wronged.

“You’re not even scared of dying. What’s there to be scared of in the dark?”

I was choked speechless. After a long while, I finally squeezed out, “It’s all my dad’s fault!”

I told him how my dad used to be really good to me. Whatever I wanted to do, he’d spoil me and back me up. Then, when I was in middle school, my older brother had an accident. After that blow, my dad suddenly decided to “cultivate” me and started interfering with my freedom. But I didn’t want to be his so‑called heir at all, and I’m not cut out for it anyway. I just like music. Becoming a piano teacher in the future sounds pretty good to me.

“You don’t know how good you’ve got it,” Bai Zifan said bluntly. “I don’t have parents. I got expelled from high school for fighting, now I’m a grease monkey, still have to moonlight as your driver, get into fights for you, and I almost died because of you! If I had even a halfway decent dad, I wouldn’t be this miserable.”

I fell silent, shame flooding over me.

I’d already missed class, so I kept begging him to lie to my dad for me. “Please, I’ll treat you to a big feast?”

“Then that food stall next door.” He was not shy about it at all. “And my friend’s used motorcycle-you’re paying for that.”

I nodded again and again.

When we walked out, I was limping.

“Still putting on an act?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

I was embarrassed. “I really twisted it when I ran just now.”

He looked thoroughly displeased but still scooped me up in a princess carry. I instinctively grabbed his collar, panicked for a moment, then went quiet and stayed still, feeling like a little bird nestled in his arms.

“You’re heavy. Like a… big penguin.”

My face flushed red. “You’re the big penguin!”

He tightened his arms around me and hitched me higher. “You were wobbling all over the place just now. If not a penguin, what would you be?”

Plenty of guys at school were chasing after me. In front of them, I was the proud little princess. But in front of Bai Zifan, I somehow turned into a clumsy idiot.

The Audi rolled to a stop at the school gate. Bai Zifan hopped out, came around to my side, lifted me out, and carefully set me in the wheelchair, drawing curious looks from all around.

“Is that Lili’s boyfriend?”

“He’s so handsome!”

“He looks like a rich second‑gen. They really suit each other!”

…

My heart felt secretly sweet.