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

Chapter 97 Will-o'-the-Wisp—That's Faith

Lin Ye leaned against the door of the VIP room, a freshly lit cigarette between his fingers.

He glanced around at the group of girls who were flipping through catalogs and picking out furniture, and suddenly asked a question.

"How did you guys usually hang on the wall before you met me?"

The blond-haired boy was lying on a picture book on a leather sofa, his honey-brown pigtails drooping down and brushing against the glossy pages.

She spoke without even thinking.

"Where else can we go? Besides going to the Snow King to enjoy the air conditioning, we can go to the billiard hall to use the cues."

She turned a page in the catalog, pointed to an electric sofa with a massage function for her tattooed arm to see, then looked up, a sense of relaxation reminiscing about the past surfacing in her deep brown eyes.

"If you're out of money, just stroll around the pedestrian street. You can even take a ride on a tram while you're at it."

Lin Ye took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"What is 'Bong Lao Deng'?"

Yellow Hair sprang up from the sofa, threw the picture book aside, put his hands on his hips, and raised his chin high.

"Brother, you don't know how lively the pedestrian street is at night. Those old men in their forties and fifties stroll around in tight pants and loafers, thinking they're so cool. When we walk past them, they start whistling. And then we—"

She made an extremely exaggerated hip-swaying move, imitating the social dance, and her honey-brown pigtails swung around twice.

"Jump and run! They can't catch you!"

The man with the tattooed arm took the cigarette out of his mouth, tapped the edge of the coffee table with the temple of his sunglasses, and spoke with undisguised pride.

"Yes, yes, yes! You have to show off your tattoos, that's how you exude domineering aura! I always roll up my sleeves to my shoulders, and the koi fish on my arm reflect the light under the streetlights. Those old guys who chase me only get halfway through when they see my arm tattoos and then they don't dare to continue."

She rolled up her sleeves on the spot, and the koi fish on her tattooed arm shimmered with a faint blue light under the crystal chandelier, its scales trembling with the movement of her tensed muscles.

"Once, an old man chased us for half a block. I ran to a streetlamp and braked suddenly, turned around and showed off my tattooed arm. He immediately turned around and ran away. One of my shoes even flew off."

The woman with the floral tattoo sat with her legs crossed, the side slit of her floral dress slipped to the side, revealing a rose tattoo on her leg.

She looked up from the mirror, her tone nonchalant.

"I don't need to show my tattoos, I can run fast."

Green Hair and Pink Hair raised their hands at the same time in the corner of the sofa, their ear loops on their heads rubbing together.

"We're fast too! We came in second place in the relay race at our school's sports meet!"

Qi Liuhai nestled on the sofa armrest, hugging Wangcai. He spoke up for once, though his voice was soft and every word was incredibly clear.

"I was holding their bags for them. When they ran, they threw all the bags to me, so I squatted behind the flower bed with three bags in my arms and waited for them to come back."

Wangcai meowed in her arms, probably as if to testify for her.

Huang Mao sat back on the sofa, retrieved the picture book, flipped to the previous page, and looked up at Lin Ye, a mischievous glint in the corner of his mouth.

"Brother, why are you asking this? You're not planning to take us to a treacherous place, are you?"

Lin Ye took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked off the ash.

"Is that not allowed?"

The blond-haired man sprang up from the sofa, his honey-brown pigtails swaying twice in the process.

"Brother, you're taking us to a cliffside resort?! A villa to a cliffside resort?! This is too surreal! I love it!"

The man with the tattooed arm pulled his sunglasses off his forehead and put them on. He crossed his arms, his tongue pin flashing between his lips, his tone full of approval for the suggestion.

"Sure, sure, it's been a long time since I've gone for a walk. Before, I had no choice but to walk, but now it's a way to reminisce about the past and appreciate the present."

Hua Tui put the nail file back into her bag, slid off the sofa armrest, stood up, and straightened the side slit of her floral dress.

"The rose on my leg hasn't been in the sun for days, so I'll go for a walk."

Green Hair and Pink Hair had already jumped up from the sofa and gone to the door to change their shoes, their earrings on their heads shining brightly under the light.

Qi Liuhai put Wangcai into the space capsule cat carrier, stood up, and followed him towards the door.

The tattooed man picked up a small fan from the sofa, preparing to catch up with the group, when he suddenly remembered something and turned around.

The blond-haired girl straightened the hem of her Lolita dress, and her honey-brown twin ponytails swayed twice as she tilted her head. A light suddenly shone in her dark brown pupils, alerting Lin Ye.

"Bro! Let's get a ghost fire! It'll be super cool to go out and race around tonight!"

The cigarette he was holding on his tattooed arm almost fell to the ground.

She turned her head abruptly, her tongue flashing between her lips, her voice filled with ignited passion.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Will-o'-the-wisps! Back when we lived in the urban villages, we were so envious of those spirited young men riding will-o'-the-wisps! They'd chug along the alleys, and the whole street could hear them!"

The woman with the flower-like legs looked up from the small mirror, her voice so excited that even the rose tattoo on her leg trembled.

"You can even carry people on the back of a 'ghost fire' bike! Back then, the six of us would hitch a ride on one, the tattooed guy driving, me in the back, blond in the middle, green and pink squeezing onto the footrest, and Xiaoyue crouching in front with her cat—you didn't see that scene, bro! All the traffic cops on the street pretended not to see us!"

Green Hair peeked back from the doorway, his mint green earrings slipping down from behind his ears and covering half his face. His voice was as shrill as a boiling kettle.

"Bro! I saw a pink one on a short video platform last time, with LED light strips, and the whole wheel lights up when you drive it at night!"

A pink-haired girl peeked out from behind her, her peach-pink hair swaying slightly at the ends.

"I want the green ones! The wheels will glow green! We'll each have one, and when we go out at night, one will be pink and the other green, and if we drive side by side, we'll be a matching couple!"

Qi Liuhai stood at the door holding a space capsule cat carrier, unusually not silent, her voice soft but full of anticipation.

"The footrest in front of the will-o'-the-wisp is just big enough to fit Wangcai's cat carrier."

Lin Ye leaned against the door frame of the VIP room, the cigarette in his hand almost burning down to the filter.

He watched as the eight girls instantly switched from choosing furniture to discussing will-o'-the-wisps, a switch so fast it was smoother than a system loading a McDonald's module.

Sure enough, in the world of the "spirited young woman," no luxury car can compare to a ghost fire.

Ferrari? I don't know that.

Lamborghini? Never heard of it.

Phaeton W12? That thing is too business-like; you'd be embarrassed to even greet people on the pedestrian street if you drove it.

But will-o'-the-wisps—that's faith.

Lin Ye stubbed out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray and took out his phone from his pocket.

He doesn't have a channel to buy ghost firecrackers; 4S stores don't sell them, but they are available on the second-hand market, though he's too lazy to look for them.

He scrolled to Wang Xiaoying's WeChat, where the last chat history was still at that location message.

Press and hold the voice button.

"Those brightly colored, ghost-fire electric bikes, they cost between 1,500 and 2,000 yuan, could I get one?"

Release, send.

Three seconds later, Wang Xiaoying's reply popped up.

"Our company doesn't sell ghost firecrackers."

A period. Indifferent. Professional. Consistent with her usual style of berating people in the office.

Lin Ye looked at the screen, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

Just as he was about to type, another message popped up.

Wang Xiaoying retracted her previous message.

Then a new message pops up.

"There's a repair shop in the alley behind the back gate of our park. The owner used to fix motorcycles. I can go ask him for you, but I won't go there specifically; I'll just ask on my way home from get off work. How many motorcycles do you need?"

Lin Ye leaned against the door frame, looked at the line of text on his phone screen, and chuckled.

He pressed the voice button.

"Nine cars. One for each of the eight girls, and one for myself."

Release, send.

Wang Xiaoying did not withdraw this message.

About five seconds later, she replied with a text message.

"Are you really not afraid of getting stopped by the traffic police?"

period.

But this time, the period was followed by an emoji—a cat wearing sunglasses, with the words "I've got it figured out" next to it.

Lin Ye put his phone back in his pocket.

The blond-haired man peeked out from behind, his honey-brown twin ponytails cascading down and brushing against his shoulders.

"Brother! What do you mean! When are the will-o'-the-wisps arriving?!"