Scarred Hearts — A Girls' Love Tale - Chapter 12
The main Yan family had never cared much for the profits from nightlife businesses, considering them unorthodox and inappropriate. So, they had always left such matters to the collateral branches. Yan Qi, a long-time member of a collateral line, was in charge of overseeing them.
Although Yan Yudie was Yan Qi’s daughter in name, their relationship was extremely strained. The reason was simple—Yan Yudie was the result of a one-night stand. Her mother had been a fairly attractive hostess working under Yan Qi. Because too many people knew about the affair, Yan Qi had no choice but to acknowledge the child as part of the Yàn bloodline. That was the only reason Yudie survived. As for her mother, given Yan Qi’s usual way of avoiding trouble, the outcome was obvious.
Besides that, their relationship had always been tense because, although Yan Qi didn’t kill his daughter, he never treated her well either. He left her to fend for herself. The Yàn family was huge, and it was impossible to take care of every single branch. Among their generation, no one could compare to someone like Yan Shuangfei, who had long been favored as the heir apparent by Yan Huaiyuan and was treated like a star. As for a girl like Yudie with no power or backing, surviving in this environment was unimaginably difficult.
And so, under such circumstances, Yan Yudie became an emotionally twisted and unique woman.
It seemed she had inherited her parents’ “romantic” tendencies. When the Yàn family assigned her to manage a nightclub, her dramatic behavior shocked everyone.
She changed boyfriends at lightning speed—though “boyfriend” might not be the right word. Most people called them bedmates instead. The age and ethnicity of her partners varied wildly.
In the underworld, everyone had heard the stories—Yan Yudie, glamorous and flirtatious, partying every night.
If not for the fact that her businesses were still running well, even Yan Shuangfei, who also had a weakness for physical desires, would’ve reassigned her a long time ago.
Yan Yudie had quite the reputation—a destroyer of innocent young men.
Yan Shaoqiu nervously made a call, holding his breath as he waited for someone to answer on the other end.
“Hello.”
A calm, gentlemanly voice came through.
Yan Shaoqiu sighed in relief. Thankfully, this time there weren’t any… “strange” sounds in the background.
“Yan Yudie, do you have a moment?” he asked carefully.
“Do I have a moment?” Her tone turned exaggerated. “Yan Shaoqiu, why the hell are you calling me out of nowhere asking if I’m free? You must be bored out of your mind. If you’re lonely and want company, pay someone for it—don’t waste my time. I’m very busy, okay? Qian Mu has been waiting for a long time!”
Yan Shaoqiu’s brain, which processed things like an old Internet Explorer browser, couldn’t keep up with her rapid-fire rant. Her long string of words flooded into his head, but he still hadn’t figured out what she was actually trying to say.
Qian Mu? That was the only name he caught. “Wait a minute! Who’s Qian Mu? Isn’t your boyfriend that Korean guy? The one who can sing and dance? Pale, soft-looking, like a K-pop idol?”
“He was too girly, I dumped him yesterday. Qian Mu is someone I just met—he’s got muscles for days,” Yan Yudie said sweetly, sending chills down Shaoqiu’s spine. Then her tone flipped again as she barked, “Why do you care who my boyfriend is? If you’ve got nothing better to do, go entertain yourself! Stop bothering me!”
“Oh,” Yan Shaoqiu mumbled, obediently ending the call—only to see Yan Shuangfei giving him a despairing look.
“You two talked for a while,” Shuangfei said dryly. “Did you even mention why you were calling her?”
Yan Shaoqiu slapped his forehead like he had a revelation. “Ah, the topic got sidetracked, and I forgot.”
He shrugged innocently.
Shuangfei had seen enough. This guy was clearly useless. With a sigh, she said, “Forget it. I’ll go find her myself this afternoon.”
Later that afternoon, based on the address Shaoqiu gave her, Yan Shuangfei wound her way through backstreets to the place where Yan Yudie was temporarily staying.
It was a dingy, chaotic part of town, filled with heavy makeup and loud people. One man, dressed in rags and looking dazed, was openly staring at a woman’s exposed cleavage like he was about to drool.
Shuangfei instantly regretted coming in person to show her sincerity.
A Yàn family member in a place like this? No matter how bad things got, it shouldn’t be this bad. What the hell was Yudie doing?
With these questions in mind, Shuangfei sneaked her way to the door of Yudie’s room.
It was a hotel-like place, and things became noticeably quieter inside.
She raised her hand to knock, but before she could finish the motion, a soft moan came from the room. To be exact, it was the kind of breathy, blissful sound that made Shuangfei instantly freeze.
She quickly stopped herself. This place had terrible soundproofing!
Thinking from another perspective, if she were doing something intimate with Luo Qinghan and someone interrupted, she’d be pissed too. So, being thoughtful, Shuangfei sat down against the wall to wait patiently.
Each rising moan assaulted her ears. Only when she heard the final cries of ecstasy did Shuangfei finally stand to knock again—only for the sounds to start up again.
Her face darkened.
That much stamina? Seriously?
Annoyed, Shuangfei slumped back down and reached for a cigarette out of habit, only to find nothing. Then she remembered—she had promised Qinghan she would quit smoking. That made the wait even harder.
She couldn’t help but admire Yudie’s astonishing endurance. Round after round, barely a pause in between.
Just as Shuangfei was about to fall asleep, the door finally opened.
She stood up and stepped forward—only to see a green-eyed, blond foreign man walk out.
Yan Yudie was just turning to shut the door when Shuangfei lunged forward and blocked it.
“Yan Yudie, we need to talk.”
Yudie seemed to notice her for the first time and blinked in surprise. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned about her ridiculously skimpy outfit.
Instead, it was Shuangfei who blushed and looked away awkwardly like some innocent girl.
Which, to be fair, she kind of was. She’d never actually experienced intimacy firsthand.
“Qian Mu is a foreigner?” Shuangfei asked, trying a roundabout way of starting the conversation.
“You were next to Yan Shaoqiu when he called?” Yudie shot back, already crossing a line. “That guy wasn’t Qian Mu. That was Sean.”
“Oh.” Shuangfei was speechless. It had only been a day, and she’d already switched partners?
“You need something?”
“Yes.” Shuangfei was grateful the topic was finally getting back on track.
“Yan Qi?”
“Smart.”
“He’s been way too obvious. Everyone’s already suspicious.”
“You want my help?” Yudie cut to the heart of it.
“Exactly.”
“Payment?”
Yudie had clearly seen it coming. Shuangfei wasn’t surprised.
“You take over his business assets.”
“Deal.”
Quick and clean. Mission accomplished.