I couldn't take it anymore; when I went home for Chinese New Year, the family genealogy book ha

The provincial capital, the university town.

A bright pink Mercedes-Benz G-Class stands out conspicuously among a cluster of shared bicycles and electric scooters for the elderly.

This attracted envious glances from countless students on the roadside.

This car is naturally Su Qing's personal vehicle.

Su Qing sat in the passenger seat, her cheeks still slightly flushed.

"This is it."

Jiang Chen parked the car steadily at the entrance of an alley that looked like it had a lot of "story".

The alley was narrow and deep, and the walls on both sides were covered with small posters for "drain cleaning" and "painless abortion".

The air was filled with a damp, musty smell mixed with the odor of gutter oil.

According to the location sent by Jiang Tao, he is currently hiding in a cheap hotel called "Tongfu Inn" deep in this alley.

Su Qing looked at the scene before her and frowned with disdain.

Jiang Chen remained calm as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Wait for me in the car."

"I'll go with you."

Without a second thought, Su Qing got off the bus as well.

The two walked into the alley side by side.

The further you go in, the dimmer the light becomes, and the stronger the unpleasant smell grows.

Finally, at the deepest part of the alley, they saw the "Tongfu Inn" with half of its signboard peeling off.

At the hotel reception desk, a plump middle-aged woman was dozing off.

Jiang Chen directly gave Jiang Tao's room number—302.

The plump woman didn't even lift her eyelids, and casually tossed a room key over.

The two went up to the third floor.

The hallway was covered with a greasy red carpet that was sticky to the feet.

The wallpaper on the wall had turned yellow and black, and the edges were peeling up.

Su Qing suppressed her nausea and followed behind Jiang Chen.

Finally, they stopped at the entrance of 302.

Jiang Chen didn't knock; he just swiped his card.

With a "beep", the door lock opened.

He pushed the door open.

With a loud "boom!"

A strong, almost suffocating odor, like a tangible shockwave, suddenly rushed towards us!

It was a mixture of the smell of leftover instant noodle soup, the stench of feet that hadn't been washed for days, and the sour, rotten smell of burning cheap tobacco.

Caught off guard, Su Qing was choked by the smell and had to back away, her stomach churning.

She quickly covered her mouth and nose with her hands, her pretty face turning deathly pale instantly.

The room was dimly lit, and the curtains were drawn tightly shut.

The only light came from a laptop with an oily screen.

In front of the computer, a young man with greasy, matted hair, stubble, and dark circles under his eyes like a panda was wearing headphones and staring intently at the screen.

It was Jiang Tao.

He didn't even notice that someone had come in.

"Wow--"

Until Jiang Chen's figure blocked the light from the computer screen.

Jiang Tao looked up as if waking from a dream.

When he saw that the person who came was Jiang Chen, his haggard face was instantly filled with shock, shame and grievance.

His lips trembled, and the fear and pressure that had been building up for days finally erupted at that moment.

With a "waaaah," she burst into tears!

Jiang Tao scrambled off the chair, grabbed Jiang Chen's leg, and cried with snot and tears streaming down his face.

"Brother! You've finally come! Help me!"

"Those debt collectors... they said if we don't pay up today, they're going to come to our school and put up banners!"

"I'm so ashamed to face anyone, bro!"

He cried his heart out, his whole body trembling like a leaf.

Su Qing stood at the door, looking at the scene before her, her brows furrowing even more.

Although she disliked the environment, she still felt a pang of pity when she saw Jiang Tao's pitiful and pathetic state.

She took a bottle of Evian mineral water from her Hermès bag, unscrewed the cap, and handed it over.

"Don't cry yet."

Su Qing's voice still carried a hint of detachment.

"What exactly is going on?"

"It's just 30,000 yuan. That's nothing to your brother, not even a drop in the ocean."

"Did it really come to the point where he had to sell his kidney?"

Jiang Chen was speechless after hearing Su Qing's words.

He looked down at Jiang Tao, who was clinging to his leg and crying like a 300-pound child, and felt a surge of anger.

He raised his foot and, without any hesitation, kicked Jiang Tao away.

"Get out of my way!"

Jiang Chen's voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.

He walked over to the bed with its yellowed sheets and suspicious stains, and sat down without a care in the world.

He stared at Jiang Tao, his eyes sharp as knives.

"Thirty thousand yuan is a small matter."

"But I need to know exactly where this money went."

"If you dare to use it for gambling, or touch anything you shouldn't touch..."

"Not only will I not help you today, I'm also going to break your legs myself and hand you over to my parents to deal with!"

Jiang Tao trembled at Jiang Chen's icy gaze, and his crying stopped abruptly.

He shakily got up from the ground and pulled his domestically made mobile phone with a cracked screen from his pocket.

He trembled as he opened a voice chat app called "Momo".

He pointed to the software's homepage, to an account with a profile picture so heavily photoshopped that even her own mother wouldn't recognize her, and spoke in a barely audible voice.

"It's...it's her."

"I spent all my money... as gifts for her."

"She said her name was... Feifei."

Jiang Chen took the phone and looked through the chat history between Jiang Tao and that "Feifei".

Upon seeing this, he almost vomited up his leftovers.

It turns out that Jiang Tao, this simple-minded young man who had just come from the countryside to the big city, was targeted by a female anchor named "Feifei" as soon as he entered the school.

The other person's voice, enhanced by the sound effects card, was so sweet it was almost palpable.

Every night, she would punctually check on him, calling him "Little Dragon Brother" repeatedly.

Add to that a fabricated tragic backstory script—that her parents are divorced, her grandfather is seriously ill, and she has to work alone to support her younger brother's schooling.

A series of combined punches completely overwhelmed Jiang Tao, a country boy who had never been in a relationship, leaving him utterly bewildered and utterly captivated.

The other person said, "Honey, I'm so sad today, could you send me a little rocket to cheer me up?"

Jiang Tao swiped his entire month's living expenses without batting an eye.

The other person said, "Honey, I want to get to number one on the leaderboard this week, can you help me?"

He foolishly went and took out an online loan.

Looking at the chat history, there was a string of nauseatingly sweet "husband" messages, followed by glaringly obvious money transfer records.

Jiang Chen was so angry he laughed.

He tossed the phone back into Jiang Tao's arms, looked at his foolish face still tinged with a hint of delusion, and said mockingly:

"Jiang Tao, you're truly single by choice."

"Why don't you use your brain, which's been stuffed with instant noodles, to think about this?"

"Is she after you?"

"They're after your kidneys!"