After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, the fake heiress binds herself to a rough-looking man

For the next five days, Jiang Yu lived like a guardian lion in the villa on the hillside.

They never leave the main gate, nor step outside the inner gate.

Even the bird's nest served every morning was brought into the room by the housekeeper.

Jiang Ruoruo, unwilling to be left out, would find different ways to loiter in front of her door every day, trying to pick a fight.

That afternoon, Jiang Ruoruo, holding a glass of juice, leaned against the doorframe and said in a sarcastic tone:

"Sister, why haven't you gone out these past few days?"

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, other socialites are out partying.

"Did you dress too shabbily at the banquet that night and people laughed at you behind your back, making you too embarrassed to show your face?"

Jiang Yu was sprawled on the beanbag chair, munching on an apple, not even sparing her a second glance.

"Yeah, yeah, nothing compares to your sister's glamour. I heard that your two-meter-long, heavily embellished train dress got stepped on several times at the restroom entrance, almost causing you to tumble into the men's room, dress and all. Was that fun?"

"You!" Jiang Ruoruo's face turned green, juice spilled all over the floor, and she stormed off in her slippers.

The room is quiet now.

Jiang Yu tossed aside the leftover apple core and stared at the system panel in the void.

[Current life expectancy: 20 days.]

They'll just sit around and eat their savings away.

She hadn't stopped sending messages to Huo Li these past few days.

But each one is like a stone thrown into the Pacific Ocean.

---

Old Li's car repair shop in an urban village.

The July winds couldn't penetrate this narrow alley at all.

The factory was as hot as a giant steamer.

Huo Li, shirtless with a tattered towel soaked in sweat and yellow around his neck, was using a grinder to polish the chassis of a beat-up Jetta.

Sparks flew everywhere, hitting his solid muscles without leaving a mark.

The little Russian boy was squatting on a discarded tire, munching on an ice pop, making noises nonstop:

"Brother Li, why hasn't that fairy sister come for several days?"

The owners of all the late-night food stalls on this street have been complaining about her absence.

Fatty said you ate a whole plate of oysters, shells and all, that night. Have you been feeling too irritable lately and have nowhere to vent your frustrations?

The harsh noise of the grinding machine stopped abruptly.

Huo Li straightened up, took off his goggles, and tossed them onto the toolbox next to him.

He wiped his face, which was covered in engine oil, lifted his eyelids, and glared at the Russian.

"Shut up. Go drag that pile of scrap metal in the corner out and sell it."

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a strong sense of tension.

The Russian was glared at by his murderous eyes and quickly threw down his popsicle and ran away.

Huo Li walked to the dirty sink, turned on the tap, and splashed water on his hands.

I've scrubbed that patch of skin on the side of my neck with soap at least ten times already.

But that would be a waste of effort.

It's been five days.

That night, when the woman came close to me, her body smelled sweet and creamy with the scent of roses.

It was like it had taken root in his nose, and he couldn't wash it off no matter what.

It's so soft it's like it has no bones.

He picked up the phone from the shelf.

The screen turns on.

The profile picture pinned to the top of my WeChat profile is a little fox with its claws outstretched.

No new message notifications.

Open the dialog box.

The last message was from three days ago.

Jiang Yu: [My brother has gone crazy lately, locking me in the house and not letting me go out. Have you missed me even a little bit?]

Huo Li stared at the line of text, his thumb hovering over the keyboard.

Type a few words, delete them. Type again, delete again.

Finally, I locked the screen, threw the phone back onto the metal rack with a thud.

miss her?

This woman talks a lot of nonsense; she never tells the truth.

They tease him and then run away, as if he thinks his auto repair shop is an amusement park.

But his gaze never left the black-screened phone.

Her phrase "staying at home"

Huo Li's brows furrowed lower and lower.

Last time she said her brother was too nosy.

Was he locked up at home this time? Or was he beaten?

The moment this thought popped into my head, my heart felt like it was overgrown with weeds, tugging at my nerves.

I'm so frustrated I want to smash things.

He retrieved the phone.

---

Back at the villa, Jiang Yu was so worried about her lifespan that she was losing her hair.

The days without school are making me feel so restless; if I keep going like this, I'll die.

She was just about to go to Jiang Yu'an's study to play the victim when her phone dinged.

The crisp notification sound was like heavenly music in the quiet room.

She grabbed her phone, saw the name on the screen, and her heart clenched.

It was sent by Huo Li.

There are no words, only a photograph.

The photo shows an old car door with a stick figure painted crookedly in red spray paint on it.

It was drawn terribly ugly.

Immediately afterwards, a second message came in.

[Friday night. The same stall as last time. Dare to stand me up?]

Jiang Yu stared at the stiff words, slowly grinned, and rolled around on the bed twice.

This rough-looking guy actually asked her out.

That marriage proposal wasn't in vain.

She quickly typed back: "Okay, Master Huo, get your kidneys ready. Friday afternoon at 4 PM, Wanda Plaza underground parking garage, level B2, near elevator B. You'll be the one to meet me."

After sending, lock the screen immediately.

Regardless of whether the other party replies or not, he will definitely go.

Since school hasn't started yet, I need to find a foolproof excuse to go out.

Noon the next day.

For the first time ever, Jiang Yu went downstairs.

She ran up to Jiang Yu'an, who was drinking coffee, and begged her to go to Wanda Plaza to buy autumn clothes and get a full-service spa treatment since school was about to start.

Jiang Yu'an looked at her for two minutes and unexpectedly relented.

However, the conditions were still stringent: Old Chen would provide transportation throughout the entire trip, and bodyguards would wait on the first floor of the mall.

3:30 p.m.

Wanda Plaza.

Jiang Yu picked out more than a dozen outfits in the high-end boutique on the third floor and handed them all to Old Chen, who was standing outside the fitting room.

"Uncle Chen, please hold this for me for now. I'm going to the restroom and I'll be right back to continue trying."

He turned and entered the internal passage.

She took off her cumbersome coat, put on the canvas shoes she had already changed into, and ran wildly down the stairs of the emergency exit.

3:55 PM.

The underground parking garage on the second basement level.

The place was dimly lit, and the air was thick with the smell of car exhaust and damp, musty fumes.

The exhaust fan was whirring overhead.

Jiang Yu hid behind a load-bearing pillar at the entrance of the elevator in Zone B, peeking out cautiously.

According to the plan, she would shake off Old Chen's surveillance here and then get into Huo Li's car.

Three fifty-eight.

A dilapidated Wuling Hongguang turned a corner and stopped not far from the elevator entrance.

The car window rolled down, revealing Huo Li's cold and hard face.

Today, for the first time ever, he wore a black short-sleeved T-shirt instead of a vest.

Jiang Yu's eyes lit up, and she was just about to run out from behind the pillar.

Suddenly, I heard unhurried footsteps behind me.

The leather shoes trod on the cement floor in a very regular pattern.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

In the empty garage, it felt like being hit on the top of one's head.

The hairs on Jiang Yu's back stood up with a "whoosh".

She knew the rhythm of those footsteps all too well.

"Jiang Yu".

A male voice sounded from behind her, not loud, but it froze her in place.

She turned her head stiffly.

Jiang Yu'an stood less than five meters away from her.

He wasn't wearing a suit jacket today, just a white shirt, and his tie was undone and tossed into his arm.

The eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses looked past Jiang Yu and straight ahead at the Wuling Hongguang parked in front of them.

His gaze pierced through the dim light of the garage and met Huo Li's, who was sitting in the driver's seat.

No one speaks.

The exhaust fan overhead whirred with a dull hum, spinning round and round as if counting seconds.

Jiang Yu'an, with one hand in his trouser pocket, glanced at the beat-up bread truck before turning his gaze back to Jiang Yu's head, which was wearing a baseball cap.

"Is this the spa treatment you wanted?" he asked in a very soft voice.

Jiang Yu felt that this time she really would only weigh five pounds, including the box.