Chapter 9: Fiery Heat

Luo Tianyou dropped Lin Yi off downstairs and didn’t follow him up.

Instead, she drove her car around the block before returning to the parking garage, parking it in a secluded spot.
Only then did she quietly go upstairs, use her key to open her new home, and quickly make her way to the bedroom.

Two women in blue work uniforms were already standing there, wearing masks and holding what looked like sophisticated mechanical tools.

“Hello, Ms. Luo.
We have everything ready.
How would you like to position the cameras?”

“I want to see all the movements on the bed, and see everything in the bedroom clearly.”

Luo Tianyou said quickly.

“Understood.”

The two women in blue work uniforms exchanged a glance, quickly opened the black briefcases they were carrying, and took out precision tools and pinhole cameras.
They opened a telescopic ladder and began installing what Luo Tianyou wanted on the bedroom ceiling.

Before this, they had already used instruments to survey the layout of all the furniture in Lin Yi’s room and had cleverly avoided any locations where water might be present, drilling extremely small holes in various corners.

By placing the pinhole cameras, the images captured by each would be brought together and integrated by AI, which could effectively fulfill the request Luo Tianyou had just made.

As for the living room, they had already completed the setup there.
Only the most important room, the bedroom, awaited Luo Tianyou’s specific instructions.

In just five minutes, the two capable women in blue work uniforms had finished the installation.

“Many thanks.”

Luo Tianyou solemnly took two thousand yuan from her small leather bag and handed it to them.

“Helping a comrade of the club is our duty.”

Beneath the masks of the two women in blue, their voices were filled with conviction.

Their name tags read “Xiao Zhu 99” and “Xiao Xi 66” respectively.

The Feminist Club was a women’s club for the new era, dedicated to creating a more valuable society, gender equality, and pursuing men who were gentle, kind, and also possessed era-defining ideas.

Every member who joined the club was, without exception, a woman with progressive ideas from all walks of society.

To facilitate the club members in achieving their ideals, the club’s founder had specifically established a subsidiary organization called “Zhu Xi.”¹

They wore blue work clothes, masks, possessed a variety of skills, and could only join after being trained by the club and accepting its philosophy.

Club members could commission the “Zhu Xi” organization to do all sorts of things.
As long as it was in the club’s interest and they were paid the corresponding remuneration for the club’s tasks, “Zhu Xi” would complete it.

The club referred to such actions as—Female Fist!²

What they were attacking was this distorted world that must be changed.

After the “Zhu Xi” members left, Luo Tianyou rubbed her hands together, looking excitedly at the computer placed in front of her.

She opened the network connecting to the now-installed cameras.

[Calibrating]

[All cameras will be synchronized in one minute. Please wait.]

Luo Tianyou quickly put on her slippers, pattered over to the fridge, took out a Coke, a Sprite, some boneless chicken feet, and braised snacks.
She then grabbed some potato chips from her snack cabinet and returned to her seat.

The camera calibration was also complete.

“Alright! Time to start ogling Lin Yi!!”

Luo Tianyou happily bit into a potato chip.

‘Pure bliss.’

Lin Yi stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor in front of his apartment.

He used his key to open the door and was surprised to find Zhuang Yayun already standing at the entrance, her pretty face flushed crimson.
She was wearing a provocatively pink little dress that made his eyes light up, with a slit on the side of her waist that offered a clear view of her fair little belly and pert bottom…

Black stockings clung tightly to her thighs, so much so that one’s fingers would seem to sink in upon touching them.

Zhuang Yayun smiled sweetly, her arms wrapping around his, her head tilting onto his shoulder.
Her gaze was devastatingly beautiful, tinged with the scent of alcohol.
She exhaled a warm breath, an aroma so tantalizing it stirred one’s imagination.

“Yiyi, I missed you a lot too, you know!”

“Mhm, I know.”

Lin Yi felt Zhuang Yayun’s soft body press completely against him, her arms wrapped around his neck, as he breathed in the faint scent of camellias.

Zhuang Yayun gently planted a kiss on his cheek.
Standing on one foot, she hooked the door with the toes of her other plump leg, closing it with a bang.

“Yayun, are you drunk?”

“I’m not drunk!”

Zhuang Yayun’s eyes were hazy with drink, her face flushed as she exhaled her warm breath.

Lin Yi frowned slightly.

‘Yayun drank alcohol?’

He remembered that she never used to drink.

Even when they were together at some high-end restaurants and ordered alcoholic drinks, she would only take a small sip, never more, and certainly never to the point where she was obviously drunk like she was now.

“Yiyi, has it been a long time since we’ve been to a hotel? I still remember the first time we went, Yiyi had saved up a lot of things… Who knew what Yiyi had saved up was…”

Lin Yi held Zhuang Yayun’s soft waist, helping her to the living room.

That was six months ago.

His and Yayun’s relationship had naturally progressed, and they had gone to a hotel together, where they made the sound of a slice of buttered cheese being slapped onto bread.

But, why bring this up now?

“Yiyi…”

Zhuang Yayun murmured, her head aching slightly, her heart itching.

She gazed at Lin Yi’s elegant and cool profile, which held a hint of charm, his calm eyes looking at her.
An intense craving, like a potent liquor, like a poison, tempted Zhuang Yayun.

That dazed and abstinent aura was like a cat scratching at her heart, a craving unfulfilled, growing itchier with every scratch.

Her body went limp, almost completely melting into Lin Yi’s arms.

Lin Yi was comforting his wife in his arms as he went to the kitchen to pour her a glass of hot water.

He had heard that drinking milk was a quick way to sober up, but unfortunately, there was no milk at home at the moment.

He could only have her drink some hot water first, and then he would go out to buy milk.

He returned to the living room with the hot water and saw his wife, her face flushed with alcohol, lying messily on the sofa.

Lin Yi felt no disdain.
He helped his wife sit up properly.

The temperature of the hot water was just right, warm to drink.

“Yayun, drink some water…”

Zhuang Yayun suddenly looked up, unable to stop herself from hugging Lin Yi’s body, fumbling with his clothes, as if she were poisoned, crying out anxiously:

“Yiyi, Yiyi, Yiyi…”

Lin Yi was a bit bewildered.

Zhuang Yayun kissed him, tugging at his white shirt, her actions overflowing uncontrollably…

‘What on earth is wrong with Zhuang Yayun today, to be this fervent…’

Lin Yi was completely bewildered as he was pushed down onto the sofa by Zhuang Yayun.

Translation Note:

¹ The name “Zhu Xi” is a famous Neo-Confucian philosopher from the Song dynasty. His philosophy is complex, but in some modern contexts, he is associated with patriarchal and repressive social norms. The author’s choice of this name for a feminist “enforcement” group is likely ironic, subverting a historical figure associated with traditional hierarchies.

² The term  (nǚ quán), literally “Female Fist,” is a term often used pejoratively online in China to refer to radical feminism, similar to how “feminazi” is used in English. Here, the author reclaims the term, having the club use it proudly to represent their fight against a “distorted” world.