After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

"Stop...please stop, please stop talking..."

Bai Jie knelt at Lin Ye's feet.

She grabbed his trouser legs with both hands, her face covered in snot and tears.

The handprint on his right cheek had changed from purplish-red to dark purple.

The mascara smudged completely, leaving two long, grayish-black streaks on my lower eyelids, which mixed with my tears and flowed down to my chin.

Her chestnut-brown, wavy hair was so messy it looked like it had been blown up by firecrackers, with a small clump of dust from under the coffee table stuck to the ends.

She looked up at him, her peach blossom eyes so red and swollen she could barely open them.

The rosy red on her lips had long since been rubbed off, revealing the swollen, bloodshot lips underneath.

The top button of the white shirt had somehow come undone, the collarbone chain was askew, and the ruby ​​pendant was flipped over to the back.

The hem of the pencil skirt rolled up to her upper thighs, and her knees, encased in black stockings, showed two shallow pilling marks on the carpet.

"Every single thing you just said—it's all true—absolutely true—I can't live without it—"

Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against a wooden board.

Lin Ye looked down at Bai Jie from his high vantage point.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth, flicked the ash, and it landed on the edge of the crystal ashtray.

"What, you can't even stand it already?"

Bai Jie tightened her grip on his trouser leg.

His knuckles were slightly white from the force he exerted, and his fingernails left several shallow crescent-shaped marks above his ankle through the cotton fabric of his casual shorts.

She lowered her head, her forehead resting against the top of his canvas shoes.

"You called me despicable—you called me to get orders by leeching off clients—you called me to take credit for other people's sales—you called me to pretend to be innocent and steal Zhang Xue's clients—you even said that if I didn't have this face, I would have been fired long ago—"

When she said the last few words, her voice split into a strange tone that was a mix of crying and laughing, which she couldn't control.

"Okay, I won't say anymore."

Lin Ye put the cigarette back in his mouth, bent down, and reached out to pinch her chin.

Her chin was pointed, her skin smooth, and still slick with the traces of tears she hadn't wiped away.

He lifted her face, making her look into his eyes.

Her peach blossom eyes were red and swollen, with a few glistening water droplets clinging to her eyelashes, and her right cheek was swollen.

"You're still pretty good."

Bai Jie was stunned.

His swollen, red eyes widened, his lips twitched slightly, and then, as if his last support had been removed, he loosened his trouser legs and plopped back down on the carpet.

"Mr. Lin, you—"

"Literal meaning."

Lin Ye straightened up, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and reached out to pull her up from the floor.

When Bai Jie was pulled up, her knees were still weak, and she staggered, instinctively grabbing his arm for support.

She looked up at him, the tears still glistening in her peach blossom eyes, but the corners of her mouth had already begun to turn up.

When they came out of the VIP room, Bai Jie walked behind Lin Ye.

She reapplied her lipstick, fixed her hair, straightened her crooked collarbone chain, and buttoned up her white shirt again.

The hem of the pencil skirt stopped neatly above the knee, and the high heels resumed their crisp and even rhythm on the marble floor.

Huang Mao was the first to jump up from the leather sofa.

Honey Tea Brown's twin ponytails swung like two propellers as she ran to Lin Ye in two quick steps.

She first looked up to check Lin Ye – his clothes weren't wrinkled, his expression was normal, and the curve of his mouth was still the familiar "brother has everything under control" curve.

Then she tilted her head, her gaze passing over Lin Ye's shoulder and landing on Bai Jie.

Bai Jie was standing two steps behind Lin Ye, her eyes still red.

The blond-haired man took the chewing gum out of his mouth, wrapped it in a tissue, and leaned close to Lin Ye's ear, asking in a low voice, "Brother, what were you doing in there with her? You made her like that?"

There was no jealousy in her tone, only pure, heartfelt curiosity.

The tattooed man stood up from the sofa, crossed his tattooed arms to his chest, and flickered his tongue between his lips. His gaze swept from Bai Jie's swollen eyelids to the two pilling marks on her stockings on her knees, and then he made an extremely accurate judgment: "She's been crying."

Hua Tuo looked up from the small mirror, her rose tattoo standing out brightly red under the light.

She glanced at Bai Jie, then at Lin Ye, before lowering her head to continue manicuring her nails, saying casually, "Brother, be gentle, I still have to go to work."

Lin Ye took out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time.

It was exactly 3 p.m.

Have you chosen the furniture for your rooms?

"All chosen!"

Huang Mao was the first to raise his hand, then snatched a picture book from the hand with the tattooed arm, flipped to the marked page, and handed it to Lin Ye.

"My friend and I both liked a bunk bed—she would sleep on the bottom and I would sleep on the top. But then we thought about it again, this villa isn't a shared apartment, why would we need to sleep in bunk beds? So we changed it to two single beds side by side, with a bedside table in the middle, a lamp on the bedside table, and an ashtray under the lamp—that ashtray is for you."

When she said "for you," her deep brown eyes were full of self-satisfaction.

The tattooed man added, "I tried eight mattresses, and the one I finally chose was a combination of memory foam and latex. Lying on it felt like lying on a cloud."

Hua Tui turned to another page in the catalog and pointed to a dressing table with a full-length mirror: "I want this one. The mirror has an LED light strip that can be adjusted to warm or cool light. I won't have to squat by the window with a small mirror to groom my eyebrows anymore."

"The curtains need to be changed too."

Qi Liuhai peeked out from the corner, holding Wangcai. His eyes, unusually open, didn't flinch. His voice was still soft, but every word was crystal clear: "The current gray is too cold. I want to change it to cream yellow. I saw a cream yellow blackout curtain in the catalog with small floral patterns on the edges. Wangcai should like it."

Wangcai meowed in her arms, probably agreeing.

Green Hair and Pink Hair were huddled together on a single sofa, their earrings rubbing together.

They simultaneously held up the brochures, pointed to the same combination desk with a bookshelf, and shouted in unison, "We want this! One for each of us! As long as the color is different!"

"It's expensive, but so be it."

Lin Ye took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"The sales staff will give us a discount."