Chapter 8: The Night Market Guardian

Lin Ci came to the night market without a sound.

The street ground was covered in grease and puddles.

Lin Ci wrapped himself in a loose black hoodie. The hood was pulled low, and a black mask covered his face.

He thought his disguise was flawless. No one in the crowd would recognize him.

He lifted the greasy plastic door curtain of Old Zhao’s BBQ. Heat and charcoal smoke rushed out.

But as soon as he stepped half a step inside, the noisy drinking games in the shop stopped.

The eyes of the customers at three tables turned toward him at once, fixed on him.

The wide hood hid his forehead and the mask covered his mouth and nose, but not those cold, long eyes.

Black, soft long hair slipped from the edge of the hood, hanging down both sides of his straight back.

Worse, even surrounded by heavy cumin and chili oil smells, the natural milky scent on him was still clear.

A shirtless worker in the corner put down his beer glass and rubbed his eyes.

“Damn, where did this beauty come from?”

Lin Ci’s eye twitched. He pretended not to hear and walked straight to the empty table at the back.

In his mind he cursed these country bumpkins a dozen times.

‘When I was a man, how did I not notice the drunks at the night market had such sharp eyes?’

Lin Ci sat down on the plastic stool with his legs spread, and pulled over the greasy menu.

“Boss, ten beef skewers, five tendon skewers, two grilled buns.”

His voice was deliberately flat, with a natural coldness.

Behind the counter, Gu Mianmian suddenly looked up.

When she saw the black figure sitting in the corner, the bamboo skewer in her hand almost stabbed into her palm.

Gu Mianmian stood there stunned for two seconds, her obsidian eyes widening slightly.

She hadn’t expected Lin Ci to actually come find her.

Lin Ci turned his head and glanced at her as if casually, signaling her to get to work.

The charcoal in the kitchen was burning bright. Zhao Dayong moved fast, and in less than ten minutes the skewers were ready on a plate.

Gu Mianmian picked up the heavy iron tray and walked quickly toward Lin Ci.

Before she got close, Zhao Peng, who was smoking at the next table, stood up.

Zhao Peng stamped out his cigarette on the floor and swaggered two steps to Lin Ci’s table, then plopped down across from him.

“Beauty, eating BBQ alone?”

Zhao Peng rubbed his greasy hands together and put on a smile he thought was handsome.

“This meal’s on me. Order whatever you want. Big brother’s treat.”

Lin Ci leaned back against the plastic chair, not even lifting his eyelids. He had no interest in responding.

He had seen this cheap flirting routine back in his freshman year.

Zhao Peng hit a soft wall and couldn’t save face.

Just then Gu Mianmian came over with the iron tray and set the skewers on the table, head down.

Zhao Peng’s eyes shifted. He turned to Gu Mianmian.

“Xiao Gu, this your schoolmate? You know her? If you do, introduce us.”

As he spoke, Zhao Peng reached out his right hand and tried to wrap it around Gu Mianmian’s thin shoulder.

Gu Mianmian froze, her back stiff, her left hand clenched into a fist at her side.

Just before Zhao Peng’s hand could touch Gu Mianmian’s shoulder, Lin Ci moved.

Lin Ci’s hand moved faster than his brain.

Acting on pure male instinct, he raised his hand and caught Zhao Peng’s wrist, then shoved it away hard.

Even though this body had become a woman’s, it still kept his twenty-two years of athletic training and strength.

Lin Ci put full force into that shove.

Zhao Peng never expected a weak-looking girl to have that much strength.

He lost balance, his feet slipping on the greasy tiles, and he stumbled back several steps.

His lower back slammed squarely into the corner of a folding plastic table, knocking over two empty beer bottles.

The bottles hit the floor and shattered with a sharp crack.

“f*ck!”

Zhao Peng clutched his sore back, disbelief all over his face.

A woman had shoved him off balance?

How could she have that much strength?

The other customers in the shop looked over and whispered.

Lin Ci slowly pulled his hand back, staring coldly at Zhao Peng.

“She’s a young girl working for you. Keep your hands to yourself!!!”

Lin Ci’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word was ice.

Zhao Peng rubbed his lower back and straightened up, his face shifting between pale and purple. He looked terrible.

He wanted to explode on the spot, but several regulars were still watching.

And the masked woman across from him had such cold eyes that her presence crushed him down.

Zhao Peng gritted his back teeth and forced out an ugly smile.

“Fine, you’re tough.”

He threw down the sarcastic remark and slunk back toward the kitchen.

When he lifted the door curtain to the kitchen, Zhao Peng paused, turned, and glared hard at Lin Ci. His eyes were full of resentment.

Lin Ci rolled his eyes, totally unconcerned about that kind of trash.

After Zhao Peng walked away, Lin Ci turned to look at Gu Mianmian, still standing by the table.

Gu Mianmian kept her head down, heavy bangs covering most of her face.

“Has he always been handsy like that?”

Lin Ci pulled down his mask, his tone angry.

Gu Mianmian was silent for a moment, then spoke very quietly.

“Sometimes.”

Lin Ci let out a breath, pulled a steaming beef skewer from the tray, and pushed it into her hand.

“Take it. Eat.”

Gu Mianmian held the bamboo skewer, her fingers awkward.

“Senior, I’m working. I can’t eat customers’ food.”

Lin Ci glared at her without patience.

“I said eat, so eat. Where do all these stupid rules come from?”

“You need to fill your stomach even at work. Look at you. A gust of wind could blow you away. If you don’t eat more meat, how will you have the strength to dodge scumbags like that?”

Gu Mianmian looked down at the oily beef skewer in her hand.

The rich cumin aroma rose with the steam.

She pressed her pale lips together, opened her mouth, and nibbled the beef off the skewer in small bites.

The meat was covered with coarse chili flakes. The heat shot straight to her throat.

Gu Mianmian’s eyes reddened from the spice, and fine sweat appeared on her nose. But she didn’t make a sound, and finished the whole skewer.

Lin Ci pulled a cheap tissue from the table and handed it over.

“You got chili oil on your mouth. Wipe it.”

Gu Mianmian took the tissue, but didn’t use it on her mouth.

She took a clean handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the corner of her lips. Then, in front of Lin Ci, she folded the cheap tissue he’d given her into a neat square.

Her movements were slow. Then she tucked the folded tissue carefully into the deepest pocket of her jeans.

Lin Ci watched and scratched his head.

This girl was really possessed by saving money. She wouldn’t even throw away a tissue.

That night at twelve, Gu Mianmian finished her late shift.

Lin Ci walked ahead with big strides. Gu Mianmian followed two steps behind, head down.

Most of the streetlights on the night market street were broken. They stepped through the dim light all the way back to the dorm.

From that night on, things fell into a pattern.

Every night at 11:30, Lin Ci would appear at Old Zhao’s BBQ on time.

He always sat in the corner farthest back, ordered one skewer of grilled bun slices for two yuan, and chewed slowly.

With that cold, gorgeous face sitting there, he gave off an air that kept people away.

Zhao Peng had been cowed by that shove. And with Lin Ci showing up every day, Zhao Peng held back a lot. He never dared openly take advantage of Gu Mianmian again.

On the fourth night, Gu Mianmian came over with the grilled bun and spoke quietly.

“Senior, you really don’t have to come pick me up every day.”

Lin Ci bit into the dry, hard bun slice and chewed without expression.

“Who came to pick you up? I just like grilled buns fresh out of the oven at midnight.”

Gu Mianmian raised her eyes. A flicker of helplessness passed through her obsidian eyes.

“Senior, you’ve come to eat grilled buns five days in a row.”

Lin Ci’s expression didn’t change. He swallowed the food in his mouth.

“I’m dedicated to food. Is that a problem?”

Gu Mianmian stood by the table, the corner of her mouth twitching up slightly.

The curve was tiny. If you weren’t staring carefully, you couldn’t tell she was smiling.

Lin Ci looked at her meek expression and secretly let out a breath.

As long as this girl wasn’t bullied while working off campus, his days of chewing buns weren’t wasted.

Zhao Peng stood at the kitchen door, hands in his apron pockets, gaze stuck to Lin Ci’s back.

His eyes moved over Lin Ci’s slender waist and long straight legs. His face grew darker and darker.

By the evening of the seventh day.

In Nancheng, the sky had already gone completely dark just after five.

Heavy, oppressive lead-gray clouds filled the entire sky. The air was so stuffy it was hard to breathe.

Then, without warning, the biggest rainstorm since the start of autumn crashed down. Gale winds and bean-sized raindrops pounded violently against the dormitory windows.

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