PAIN - CHAPTER 8:
Yinyin, they took everything.
Amo’s voice trembled with frustration as she watched the group of boys and
girls carry off every last thing from their stall.
She didn’t really care about the money it was the humiliation that stung.
She had dragged Bai Xun Yin here, swearing up and down that
no one could possibly win all their prizes.
But the truth was, she’d underestimated the world and overestimated herself.
Bai Xun Yin’s gaze lingered on the tall boy’s fading silhouette.
Then she smiled faintly and reached out to smooth Amo’s hair.
She actually thought Yu Luo Yin was… impressive.
They stood there for a while, staring at the empty space where their stall had been,
until Yu Luo Yin came back.
He walked straight toward them.
Bai Xun Yin froze. Her mind went blank.
He was too striking up close cool skin, sharp brows, dark eyes that gleamed like ink.
When he stood in front of her, his presence pressed down on her like summer thunder.
He looked her straight in the eye and asked, his tone calm but deliberate,
Do you have a second batch to sell?
Amo exploded before Bai Xun Yin could react. Her eyes practically sparked fire.
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Wasn’t it enough that he’d wiped out their entire stall?
Did he really come back to squeeze them dry again?
What kind of person was this? A gentleman? Please.
Yu Luo Yin didn’t even look at her. His gaze stayed on Bai Xun Yin.
Do you?
She felt his eyes pin her in place and could only shake her head dumbly.
He hummed softly, then pulled out his wallet and handed her five crisp red bills.
Both girls froze.
Keep it, he said quietly. Think of it as me buying everything.
And before she could protest, he turned and left.
He was tall, his stride long. She couldn’t catch up, no matter how many steps she ran.
She could only stand there, watching him disappear into the sunlight.
The money felt hot in her palm, like it was burning straight through her skin.
Her heart was chaos waves crashing against cliffs, the world tilting.
Amo finally found her voice, practically squealing.
Who was that guy? Your classmate? Oh my god, he’s so handsome!
He totally likes you, doesn’t he?
The words jolted Bai Xun Yin back to herself.
Her heart, which had been fluttering somewhere in her throat,
dropped heavily back into her chest.
She shook her head.
It had nothing to do with liking. It couldn’t.
They barely knew each other how could it possibly be that?
Whatever the reason, she couldn’t keep the money.
Otherwise… what did that make her?
Amo, calmer now, stuffed the bills back toward her.
You should give it back, she said firmly.
We only lost about two hundred yuan’s worth of stuff.
What kind of businesswoman takes a customer’s money and gives nothing back?
Bai Xun Yin wanted to return it but how? Yu Luo Yin had driven off,
clearly never intending to give her the chance.
That night, after getting home, she rummaged through
her schoolbag until she found an old piece of scrap paper tucked deep in a pocket.
It was the one with Lu Ye’s phone number on it.
He had scribbled it down himself months ago, when he was still trying to chase her.
She hadn’t thrown it away, just forgotten it.
Good thing she hadn’t.
She typed a message to him:
Hi Lu Ye, this is Bai Xun Yin. Do you remember giving me your number?
I need a favor. Your friend Yu Luo Yin left something with me at the amusement park today.
Could you give me his contact info so I can return it?
She didn’t dare mention the money. It felt wrong.
Lu Ye replied quickly, cheerful as ever:
Sure! Here’s his number: 18XXXXXXXX. By the way, what did he leave behind?
She hesitated, then lied just a small thing, she said. Her ears burned.
She didn’t know Lu Ye wasn’t actually curious. What he was really thinking was…
Yu Luo Yin, you absolute genius.
He’d chased Bai Xun Yin for weeks and hadn’t even gotten her number.
Yu Luo Yin? Barely knew her, and she was already reaching out on her own.
Different leagues entirely.
Bai Xun Yin stared at the phone number for a long time, then finally sent a message.
Hello, this is Bai Xun Yin. I’d like to return the 500 yuan from today.
Waiting for his reply was torture. She felt like a piece of ice dropped into boiling water,
half melting, half burning, suspended in some strange in-between.
Half an hour later, his reply came.
Keep it.
The boiling stopped. All that was left was the cold.
She bit her lip and typed again.
The stall goods cost less than 200 yuan, and you won them fair and square.
I have no reason to take your money.
On the other end of the screen, Yu Luo Yin chuckled.
A girl this stubborn over such a small amount how rare.
Of course, he hadn’t given her that money for the goods. It had been bait.
He flicked the ash from his cigarette and typed slowly.
Then bring it to me yourself.
There went her plan to transfer it back digitally.
She hesitated, then replied.
Okay.
He told her to meet him the next day at noon, at Linlan City Library.
By the time she arrived, after half an hour on a crowded bus,
her pale skin was flushed pink from the heat.
Yu Luo Yin was already there, standing beneath the trees.
Even from a distance, he noticed her right away
the way her black hair was tied in a messy bun, the curve of her neck like porcelain,
her posture so straight it almost looked fragile.
So thin, he thought. Like she might float away.
And yet, not frail.
He watched her for a moment, then called out,
Good student.
She turned immediately, as if his voice had tugged her by a string, and hurried over.
Without a word, she held out the five hundred yuan.
Direct. Honest. Almost painfully so.
Yu Luo Yin raised an eyebrow, a half-smile tugging at his mouth.
Bai Xun Yin, is this how you treat people?
She blinked, surprised he knew her name.
Come inside.
He led the way into the library.
She followed, confused but quiet, until they reached a table by the window.
He sat, leaned an elbow on the desk, and spoke lazily.
I remember asking you to repay me, didn’t I?
Her mind flickered to that rainy day and the note he’d left her. She nodded slightly.
She owed him something.
But how? She typed carefully on her phone:
I don’t know how to do anything.
He laughed softly.
How could someone be this earnest?
When Yu Luo Yin smiled, it was like light flashing through smoke sharp,
dazzling, impossible to ignore.
He slid a physics workbook across the table.
A red pen mark circled a problem.
Good student, I heard your physics is excellent.
Teach me.