Chapter 99: The Rabbit Had Made Up Its Mind

Jiang Chengyan had always been like this. When he was silent, his face was cold and indifferent, and it was rare to see him smile.

Barefoot, Bai Yan stood among the shrubs. The young girl did not know how to beat around the bush; when she heard Jiang Chengyan ask that, she obediently nodded. “I... I’m going back to the mountains.”

She stammered whenever she was nervous, and Jiang Chengyan could tell.

“You want to break it off with me cleanly?” Jiang Chengyan took a step forward. As he moved closer, he clearly saw the little girl’s already frost-bitten ears twitch uneasily.

“Yes.” Bai Yan nodded.

Then, as though afraid he would chase after her, she hurriedly added, “I’m leaving. You should go.”

Jiang Chengyan did not know how to describe the feeling in his heart at that moment. He suppressed the tangled emotions rising within him and took another step forward, even the way he walked carrying a full, aggressive force.

“You want to sever all ties with me, and yet you’re still wearing my family’s clothes. Little darling, when we first met, you didn’t have a stitch on you.” A faint curve touched Jiang Chengyan’s lips as he looked at Bai Yan with leisurely composure.

Bai Yan lowered her head and looked at the thin clothes wrapped around her body. She froze, her fingers tightening hard around the hem of her skirt.

Jiang Chengyan said nothing more, simply standing there and watching her. Seeing him like that, Bai Yan steadied herself, and then, right in front of the man, she truly began to undo the ties of her clothes.

The moment this happened, Jiang Chengyan’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

It seemed she was determined to leave him no matter what.

“So angry because of what happened yesterday?” Jiang Chengyan asked. By now, the distance between them was almost gone; he could have reached out and gathered the rabbit to him by the shoulder.

The moment Jiang Chengyan mentioned yesterday, Bai Yan’s body began to tremble again, unable to stop itself.

The man’s gaze paused once more.

“You clearly saw me. Why... why did you still let them take me away?” Bai Yan looked up, her eyes red-rimmed as she gazed at Jiang Chengyan.

Yesterday, she had clearly seen him, but even after she was dragged off until she was no longer in sight, he still had not made a move. It was only when Boss Jin was almost upon her that he finally appeared.

Thinking of what had happened in the pleasure house yesterday made Bai Yan feel sick all over. She could not help crouching down, arms wrapped around her knees, looking thoroughly unsafe and frightened. It had only been the first time she had seen such a bustling scene... and she had only been a human for a short while. She knew far too little of the world.

The man crouched down in front of her as well. “What did I tell you yesterday? No running off. You were to remember to come back and find me. I told you, people’s hearts are vicious. This isn’t the mountain. Do you understand?”

“I really did mean to teach you a lesson, so you wouldn’t keep running around. What if one day I couldn’t find you again?”

When Jiang Chengyan said this, his expression was extremely stern.

Bai Yan still looked at him with that empty gaze of hers. Then she suddenly reached out and touched the side of Jiang Chengyan’s face.

“So, what you said back then was true.” Bai Yan’s voice came out soft and delicate.

“What?” Jiang Chengyan did not quite catch up with her meaning.

“When you took me away, you said that if I followed you, I’d have a nest, food to eat, and clothes to wear.” Bai Yan looked at him again. “But you could only do those things, couldn’t you?”

“Now that I know a little about human things, I can earn money myself. I can buy my own clothes to wear.”

What happened at the brothel yesterday had left her with too deep a shadow.

She could have struggled, but remembering what Jiang Chengyan had said—that she must not reveal how strong she was—she had truly allowed herself to be slaughtered without resistance.

She could not run. She could not be strong.

It was her first time being human, and she was already doing it so badly.

“I don’t want to be human anymore. I don’t want to go back.”