After being kicked out of the wealthy family along with her yandere childhood friend

It rained heavily last night, but that didn't stop the sun from being blazing hot today.

Rain and sunshine mingled together, making the air humid and hot, like stepping into a giant steamer.

While shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, Bai Tao chattered on and on.

"Although it's a small basement, the location is great, you know the location, right?"

Pei Jin remained silent.

He had observed it and found that the location was indeed quite good.

"The monthly rent is eight thousand."

Bai Tao held up eight fingers, making an "eight" shape, then bent back to four fingers.

"Just give me four thousand."

Pei Jin hummed in agreement.

"The medical bill just came to 800."

Bai Tao continued calculating, "And if you also count the two outfits I bought for you—"

She paused, her eyes darting around.

"Just give me back ten thousand."

Pei Jin paused, frowning as he looked at her.

"These two outfits cost five thousand two?"

Bai Tao immediately made an exaggerated "you don't believe me?" expression, her eyes widening and her mouth slightly open, her whole face saying, "How could you doubt me?"

"Yes, I was worried you wouldn't be used to wearing cheap clothes, so I specially bought you luxury items."

Although it looks very understated, like an ordinary old man's T-shirt, it is actually...

She held up her fingers and counted them one by one.

"This T-shirt costs 1,990. These pants cost 2,990."

And your underwear, that adds up to five thousand five. I even gave you a three hundred yuan discount, don't be ungrateful.

Pei Jin looked at her.

Sunlight fell on Bai Tao's face, and her expression was so serious that it didn't seem like she was joking, but there was clearly a smile she was trying hard to suppress hidden in her bright eyes.

Then Pei Jin smiled.

It's the kind of laugh that's made you laugh out loud, but not completely angry; a laugh tinged with helplessness and a hint of resignation.

The icy coldness on his face, as if keeping strangers at bay, seemed to have been pried open by something, revealing a thin, somewhat unskilled warmth underneath.

He lowered his eyes and pulled the hidden price tag from his waistband.

Several lines of text were clearly printed on the white cardboard.

Special offer from RT-Mart: Pure cotton T-shirt, price: 29.9 yuan

Bai Tao's gaze fell on the 29.9, and she remained silent for half a second.

Then she turned around, faced Pei Jin, and began to walk backwards.

She wore an awkward, guilty smile that she was trying to maintain.

"Hahahaha,"

Bai Taoqian chuckled a few times.

"Isn't my joke funny? Okay, then give me back my five thousand."

Pei Jin walked behind Bai Tao, one hand in the pocket of his shorts.

He watched as the tiny white peach walked backwards, sunlight falling on her shoulders, the ends of her hair, and the tip of her nose, bathing her in a pale golden glow.

Her hair was blown up and down by the wind, with a few stray strands sticking up by her ears.

That stupid woman.

Why is it different from what he expected?

He lowered his eyes, shifting his gaze from Bai Tao to the road ahead.

The sunlight cast long shadows of the two people, one in front of the other, sometimes overlapping.

"Don't walk backwards, you'll fall."

Bai Tao paused for a moment, turned her head, obediently straightened up, and walked side by side with him.

A mechanical female voice came from the phone's navigation app.

"Turn right in 100 meters ahead."

Pei Jin raised an eyebrow slightly as he followed Bai Tao into the residential area.

Although the community looks simple, the security system at the entrance is decent.

It's probably because it's located within the Third Ring Road. Although the buildings are a bit old, the people who live here are all wealthy and influential, so the property management company doesn't dare to be careless.

Bai Tao walked ahead, swiped her access card, glanced back at him, and smiled somewhat guiltily.

"Let's go, let's go, this way."

Pei Jin followed behind her, passing through a passageway that was neither too long nor too short. The cement floor under their feet looked quite old, with a thin layer of moss growing in the corners.

Bai Tao entered a building and stopped in front of an iron door in the basement.

Bai Tao had told him before he came that it was a basement, and he was mentally prepared, but when he saw the layout inside, he was still shocked by the room's excessively simple layout.

It ends there when you look at it.

Really, it's over.

There's a small sofa right by the entrance, and behind the sofa is a bare wooden bed without even a curtain.

The entire space is only about ten square meters, with the kitchen, living room, and bedroom all crammed together.

The clothesline on the wall was still hanging empty, and the light bulb wires overhead were exposed and swaying in the air.

Pei Jin subconsciously raised his hand.

My palm just touched the ceiling, which was wet. The cement wall felt cold and rough to the touch, and it carried the unique dampness of the rain.

He withdrew his hand and looked down at his fingertips. This was the first time Pei Jin had stood in such a simple room.

The things belonging to the Pei family seem like things from a past life, separated by a thick, blurry pane of glass, impossible to see clearly.

Bai Tao stood to the side, her hands clasped together, and smiled shyly at Pei Jin.

"How is it? Is it okay?"

Her voice was much softer than usual, carrying a cautious, tentative tone.

"If you'd like... you can sleep in the bed, and I'll sleep on the sofa."

As she finished speaking, her gaze drifted to the sofa, and she mentally gave herself a thumbs up:

White Peach, you are amazing.

You let Pei Jin sleep in the bed not because the bed was too hard for you to sleep on, but because you are kind-hearted, helpful, and a naive, lovely, simple, kind, beautiful, and brave girl.

...Okay, the bed is indeed too hard.

The sofa is at least passable.

When Bai Tao was alone, she didn't think the house was that simple. She would stretch after waking up and think that life was alright.

But now that another person has come in, the small space suddenly feels crowded.

Pei Jin frowned and glanced around.

The air in the basement didn't smell very fresh; it had a musty smell, but thankfully it wasn't too strong. After a while, you got used to it, and it wasn't nauseating.

He's penniless now, so he can't be picky about accommodations; just having a place to stay is already a blessing.

If Bai Tao hadn't taken him in, he might have even gone back to that bicycle shed where he started, and made do for a couple of days.

But… Pei Jin’s gaze swept back and forth between the bed and the sofa.

Isn't this a bit too lacking in personal space?

The bed and sofa are too close together, with no partition between them.

He lives here, and Bai Tao sleeps there, with only two or three steps between them.

There wasn't even a curtain.

Bai Tao stood next to Pei Jin, feeling a sense of dread.

The girl who picked up Pei Jin in her past life must have lived a better life than her, right?

It should at least be a proper single room with a private bathroom, a water heater, and a balcony for drying clothes, instead of something like hers where the toilet is so small you can barely turn around, and you have to heat the water yourself to take a shower.

Bai Tao suddenly regretted renting this place.

Although it's inconvenient to find a job or commute to work in the suburbs, you can at least rent a one-bedroom apartment for the same price.

She glanced at Pei Jin's back, then at her own sofa covered with a trench coat, and suddenly felt a little deflated.

Does it mean it still won't work in the end?

Pei Jin stood outside the door, looking at Bai Tao who was standing obediently inside.

She lowered her head, her hands hanging at her sides, like a student who had made a mistake and was waiting for the teacher's criticism.

The scrape on my arm from yesterday, which he had injured, had scabbed over with a dark red scab, but it was still very noticeable against my fair skin, making me look pitiful.

Pei Jin's gaze lingered on her arm for a moment.

that's it?

Should I still get closer to him?

Bai Tao's every move was very abnormal.

When she was little, she cautiously approached him to play, holding a Barbie doll in her hand, her eyes sparkling, and asked him if he wanted to play house together, with her as the mother and him as the son.

He was in a bad mood at the time and snapped at her. Bai Tao's eyes turned red, and she ran away crying.

She never came to see him again after that.

But now—

He grabbed her by the neck, pinned her against the wall, making it hard for her to breathe, but she braved the heavy rain to come back to him.

They dragged him from next to the trash can to the pharmacy, stayed with him all night, and even gave him half of their own place.

Pei Jin thought about it for a long time, but he didn't know how to explain it.

Finally, he spoke in a low voice, "Do you still have any money?"

Bai Tao paused for a moment, then turned around, her eyes filled with a hint of trepidation and surprise. If Pei Jin didn't want to stay here and wanted to borrow money from her to rent a place, she could accept it.

"Oh? Yes, there are." She nodded.

Pei Jin looked away, as if he was carefully choosing his words.

"Let's go out and buy a curtain later, at least to separate the bed from the sofa."

He paused for a moment, then said, "The money was all borrowed from you."

"Ah...ah, okay, alright."

Bai Tao's voice suddenly became cheerful.

"It's alright, I can cover the cost. After all, I'll need it too."

"Um."

Pei Jin followed Bai Tao to the RT-Mart outside the residential area.

The air conditioning in the supermarket was blasting, a stark contrast to the sweltering heat outside. Bai Tao shivered as soon as she entered and then pushed a shopping cart.

The two of them wandered around the supermarket for more than half an hour, picking out two sets of the cheapest bed sheets and duvet covers, solid colors, one light gray and one light blue, which felt okay to the touch.

She bought two more pillows, one firm and one soft. Bai Tao put the soft one into the shopping cart without saying who it was for.

Finally, I took two more summer blankets. They were thin, and when folded up they were only a small ball, but when unfolded they were just enough to cover one person.

As Bai Tao pushed her shopping cart to the checkout, she silently did the math in her mind. Luckily, it was summer, and the blankets weren't expensive.

In winter, just two thick quilts would make her so distressed that she couldn't sleep for three days.

Back in the basement, the two began to tidy up.

Pei Jin made the bed sheets very efficiently, smoothing out the corners and wrinkles, much neater than Bai Tao.

Bai Tao watched for two seconds and felt inferior, so she deliberately folded the blanket on the sofa into a crooked square, pretending that she was also good at tidying up.

Then there's the curtain.

Pei Jin stood next to the wooden bed and gestured to indicate the height.

Bai Tao rummaged through the drawer and found a box of nails, probably left by the previous tenant. They were quite rusty, but still usable. Pei Jin took the hammer and hammered the nails into the wall in a few strokes.

Bai Tao unfolded the large floral fabric, revealing large white peony flowers printed on a dark blue background—it was rustic yet distinctive.

She hung the floral fabric on the nail, took two steps back, and looked at it.

It's a bit old-fashioned, but at least it separates the bed from the sofa.

Bai Tao nodded in satisfaction.

After doing all that, Bai Tao was so exhausted that she collapsed onto the sofa and took out her phone to start scrolling.

She had one leg draped over the sofa armrest and the other leg curled up, lazily nestled in that small corner.

Pei Jin entered the restroom, and as soon as he went in, he saw two small pink pieces of fabric hanging on a rope in the air. He froze for a moment, and his ears turned bright red.

The rope was held low by the clothes, right at the height of his nose, and the fragrance from the little clothes wafted into his nose, making it impossible for him to resist the smell.

It's sweet and cloying, an indescribable scent, smells wonderful and is incredibly addictive...

Pei Jin shook his head, realizing that his thoughts were starting to get a little vulgar, and quickly turned around.

The next second, Bai Tao remembered the two little clothes hanging in the air, and suddenly stood up and rushed over, just in time to meet Pei Jin's gaze as he turned around.

Pei Jin's ears turned noticeably red, which made Bai Tao, who had initially felt shy and embarrassed, suddenly feel no problem. So she spoke in a tone that seemed to be teasing a respectable man.

"It's okay, what's the big deal? This is the only place I can hang my little clothes to dry. I can't exactly hang them outside, can I?"

Pei Jin nodded, washed his shoes and clothes, including his CK underwear, and hung them in the place furthest away from Bai Tao's clothes.

Just looking at him made his ears turn red again.

Pei Jin had never been in a relationship, but he had masturbated before. It wasn't that he didn't have that kind of desire, but for some reason, just looking at the three small pieces of clothing hanging in this tiny bathroom made him feel incredibly erotic.

However, the pants he wore had two holes in them. Bai Tao suggested that he could wear them as ripped jeans, but he refused. Bai Tao told him to fold them aside and that she could buy a pair of scissors next time they went out to use them as rags.

Because Bai Tao said she would sleep on the sofa from now on, Pei Jin didn't sit on the sofa after he finished washing up. Instead, he brought a stool, sat next to Bai Tao, and watched her play on her phone.

The two people were about a meter apart, and the large floral fabric swayed slightly behind them.

Bai Tao felt uncomfortable when Pei Jin's gaze fell on her phone screen.

She scrolled through several posts, then exited and then re-entered, her fingers poking around on the screen, but she didn't actually absorb anything.

She wanted to ask you why you weren't using your phone, but then she remembered that Pei Jin's phone had been stolen.

"By the way, who stole your phone?"

She turned to look at Pei Jin, her eyes lighting up. "Let's call the police!"

Pei Jin stared at her, also thinking about this. He nodded, about to say something, when Bai Tao stood up and started looking for her coat.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, let's go now."

"No rush," he said.

Bai Tao peeked out from the toilet door, a rubber band dangling from her mouth, and mumbled:

"Why aren't you worried? The sooner you call the police, the sooner you can get it back. What if those people sell your phone?"

Pei Jin wanted to say, "It's just a cell phone, you should rest before you go," but he swallowed the words back.

Now, it's more than just a cell phone to him.

That was his connection with the outside world.

Without a cell phone, he couldn't find a job, he didn't even have a place to stay, and he couldn't even receive money, although he didn't have much money to transfer.

Pei Jin stood up and put the stool back under the table.

"Let's go."

The two of them went out the door one after the other.

Bai Tao walked ahead, looking down at the navigation.

"Where is the nearest police station again... Oh, go 800 meters to the left first... It's pretty close."

She held the phone up to her eyes, squinted to confirm, then turned around, found the direction, and led Pei Jin outside.

Pei Jin followed lazily behind her, one hand in his pocket.

The sunlight was a bit dazzling, so he squinted slightly. He casually brushed back a few stray strands of hair that had fallen across his forehead, revealing his smooth forehead.

After walking a short distance, Bai Tao suddenly turned around.

Pei Jin.

"Um."

"What if we call the police and they can't find it?" She stared at him intently, waiting for his answer.

Pei Jin thought for a moment, then said in a calm voice, "Then let's buy another one."

Bai Tao quickly retorted, "Do you have money?"

"...No." Pei Jin looked away.

Bai Tao smiled, then turned back to look at the navigation, her tone carrying a barely concealed, slight smugness:

"Then beg me, and I'll buy you one."

Pei Jin didn't speak, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly; it was hard to tell if it could be considered a smile.

The two walked forward in silence for a while. The air was stuffy and hot. Bai Tao's wisps of hair were stuck to her forehead with sweat. She wiped them with the back of her hand and continued to look down at her phone.

"White peach."

"Um?"

"Underwear size?" Pei Jin's voice was indifferent, as if he were talking about something trivial.

How did you know?

Bai Tao paused for a moment, then continued walking forward as if nothing had happened, her pace quickening considerably, and her speech suddenly becoming more rapid.

"I just grabbed it randomly. How was I supposed to know? You're so thin, so I just picked a size. Who knows if it'll fit or not? If it doesn't fit, I can't return it. Just wear it as is."

Pei Jin didn't look at her; his gaze was fixed on the road ahead. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the tips of her ears slowly turned pink, as if they had been burned by something.

He didn't ask any more questions.

There was only a very slight curve at the corner of her mouth, so subtle that it would be completely unnoticeable unless you looked closely.

Bai Tao walked quickly forward with her head down, her heart pounding. The next second, a hand suddenly reached out from behind, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back forcefully.

Bai Tao leaned back, her back hitting a warm wall.

A dilapidated electric scooter whizzed past her. The old man on the scooter looked to be at least seventy years old, with his gray hair fluttering in the wind. A bag of wilted vegetables hung on the scooter's rearview mirror.

The old man didn't even turn his head, muttering a curse as he tossed out, "Didn't you see anyone riding a bike?"

Bai Tao opened her mouth, wanting to curse back, but the old man had already ridden away on his bicycle.

"Ughhhhhh! I'm so angry! I'm so angry! I'm so angry!"

Bai Tao stomped her feet in anger, looking like a cat with its fur standing on end, her hands clenched into fists and swinging them back and forth vigorously at her sides.

She had no idea how close she was to Pei Jin.

Pei Jin glanced down at her, then silently took a step back.

The distance between the two people changed from being too close to a normal social distance.

Bai Tao was completely unaware.

She was still angry, her cheeks puffed out. She sighed and continued to look down at the navigation.

"Let's go."

It takes about 20 minutes to walk out of the detention center.

It's neither too long nor too short; it's only one bus stop away.

Bai Tao hadn't planned to take the car, thinking it would only take about twenty minutes to walk there, and she could enjoy the scenery along the way.

When she reached the entrance of the residential area, she felt as if her legs no longer belonged to her.

"Pei Jin, I'm tired." Bai Tao squatted on the steps at the entrance of the residential area, her voice muffled.

"Um."

"Let's take the bus instead."

Pei Jin looked in the direction she was pointing.

The bus stop signs are densely printed with route numbers and stop names.

Several people were standing under the bus stop sign. Some were looking down at their phones, some were standing on tiptoe to look in the direction of the oncoming bus, and an old lady was carrying a bag of steamed buns and idly drawing circles on the ground with her feet.

Pei Jin looked at the bus stop sign and frowned slightly.

He had never ridden a bus before.

The eldest son of the Pei family has always been chauffeured around by a private car since he was a child.

He had never waited by the roadside for a bus that he didn't know when it would come, nor had he ever squeezed into a small metal carriage with strangers.

Bai Tao ignored all of that. She stood up, dusted off her skirt, and walked towards the bus stop.

Pei Jin, who was behind him, was silent for two seconds before following.

The bus arrived quickly. Bai Tao stood skillfully at the front door, took out her phone, opened the QR code for boarding, and scanned it twice at the scanner.

Finished.

Pei Jin glanced at her.

The bus was already full of people. Bai Tao found an empty spot in the middle of the carriage and stood there. She put one hand on the handrail and hung her whole weight on it, swaying back and forth like she was on a swing.

As soon as the bus started moving, her body swayed slightly, but she didn't seem to mind; in fact, she was having a lot of fun.

As the bus turned, she leaned outwards with the angle of the bus's tilt, then bounced back on her own, like she was on a roller coaster, with a faint smile on her lips.

Pei Jin stood behind her, holding the handrail with one hand, standing steadily.

The bus was crowded, with about half an arm's length between two people, but they would inevitably bump into each other when the bus started or braked.

Bai Tao was completely oblivious to all of this; Pei Jin's gaze remained fixed on her for a long time.

These movements are so natural.

It felt so natural, like it wasn't the first time.

Pei Jin's eyes darkened.

He has never ridden a bus in his twenty-four years.

But why is Bai Tao, the eldest daughter of the Bai family, who has been pampered since childhood and has never lifted a finger to do housework, so skilled at these things?

She should be just as clueless about buses as he is.

The bus braked suddenly, and Bai Tao's body lurched forward. Pei Jin reached out and steadied her by supporting her shoulder.

Bai Tao turned around, smiled at him, said "thank you," and then went back to playing on her rings.

Pei Jin withdrew his hand and let it hang at his side.

He stared at the back of Bai Tao's head, his dark eyes filled with an indescribable scrutiny.

Has he never really taken this stupid woman seriously?