Night fell.
Waves crashed against the shore, churning up foam. In the cool sea breeze, Lin Chu ambled along the beach.
He planned to leave tomorrow.
After getting his dad settled, a sense of peace settled over Lin Chu. Next, it was time to return to Peng City and embrace his brand-new life.
At that moment, Lin Chu was pondering his life's ambition.
It was a rather extravagant word, much like "love"—a sublime spiritual experience, one of life's ultimate highs.
But since it was a luxury, that naturally meant it was hard to attain.
Just trying to make money and survive already took all your effort. Who had the energy to talk about life ambitions?
But now... Lin Chu felt he had earned the right to consider the question.
He suddenly felt that life was a vast, uncharted sea. An ambition was the lighthouse standing tall in one's heart, or the anchor that let a great ship find its mooring. More than that... it was a place of inner peace.
No matter how much you indulged, no matter how debauched your life became, if you had that light in your heart, you would always know where you were.
However...
After thinking for a long time, Lin Chu realized he couldn't come up with a single life ambition for himself.
'What the fuck?'
Lin Chu recalled some memories from his past. His childhood dream, of all things, had been to become a sailor!
Only because the sailor's family in his village got to eat seafood most of the time.
"Heh, I've had no ambition since I was a kid. Just a common man."
Lin Chu couldn't help but laugh at himself.
Just then, following this train of thought, he suddenly remembered the diary of that famous classical scholar—the one who just wanted to sleep with more women.
And just like that, he felt a lot better about himself.
'Ha, so even a master was lost and directionless in his youth. His life's ambition was just his biological urges.'
But people always grow up.
With that in mind, Lin Chu gradually made up his mind. First, he'd open a gym. He'd use it as a home base to rake in money while expanding his network and exposing himself to all sorts of new things. In the process, he would gradually awaken his own ambition.
Of course, this confidence came from his money.
...
Completely lost in his brainstorming session, Lin Chu finally snapped out of it once he'd sorted out his thoughts. He suddenly realized he had walked quite a distance. The village lights were almost completely swallowed by the night, and a faint sobbing sound, carried by the wind, reached his ears.
He jumped in fright, goosebumps instantly breaking out on his skin.
Composing himself, he looked toward the source of the sound and saw a girl sitting on a reef on the beach not far away, crying. She was wearing a white T-shirt, beach shorts, and had a pair of long, pale legs.
It was too dark to see her face clearly, but she seemed young, and probably not bad-looking.
'Who could that be?'
As a staunch atheist, Lin Chu was certain she wasn't a ghost.
'She might be a tourist.'
These days, there were lots of travel bloggers who liked to drive around the country looking for obscure destinations.
"Hello, miss! Hey there!"
"What's wrong? Why are you crying out here?"
"The wind's strong by the sea! If something's wrong, just say so!"
Lin Chu shouted with a smile as he walked toward her.
She looked up, and in the hazy moonlight, a fair, innocent, and pretty face was revealed. Perhaps it was because of the light, but Lin Chu found her breathtakingly beautiful, even ethereal.
'Ho... ly... shit...'
'How can someone be so beautiful?'
Lin Chu was stunned.
He drew closer.
"What are you doing? What's wrong? Why are you crying out here?"
He asked again.
She quickly wiped her eyes, forced a smile, and stood up. Patting the sand off her butt, she managed another strained smile. "Brother Lin, it's you."
'Huh?'
'Someone from the village?'
Lin Chu stared at her intently. "Who are you?"
"I'm... Jiang Ya. Yaya."
She said softly, pouting.
Lin Chu stared at her face again. After more than ten seconds, he could faintly make out the shadow of that scrawny little girl from the past.
'A girl really does change completely by the time she's eighteen. It's only been a few years, and she's blossomed like this.'
"What are you crying about? Where's your brother?"
Jiang Ya's brother, Jiang Tao, was his elementary school classmate. Later, his family moved across the strait to Haikou to open a breakfast shop, and they gradually lost touch. However, their old family home was still in the village, and they would still come back for the New Year.
Last year, Lin Chu had been broke and too ashamed to return home for the New Year.
He had come back the year before. On New Year's Eve, while playing Fried Golden Flower, Jiang Tao had gotten three sixes, but was beaten by someone with three Jacks. He lost nearly twenty thousand yuan in that single hand. On the first day of the New Year, he'd packed his bags and fled back to Haikou overnight.
"My brother..."
She sniffled, fresh tears welling in her eyes, her face a picture of tear-stained beauty. "My brother... he was drunk driving on his scooter and crashed into a stone pillar. He's been in the ICU for five days now."
"My mom and I came back... to raise money for him."
Lin Chu: ...
"Fuck! What an idiot!"
He cursed, his tone laced with frustration at someone failing to live up to their potential.
Jiang Ya looked at Lin Chu pitifully, but didn't dare to object.
She also thought her own brother was a total idiot.
But what could she say now that he was in this state?
Cursing him out wouldn't help.
They still had to do everything they could to save him.
"Let's go. To your house."
After his curse, Lin Chu turned and started walking back. Jiang Ya froze for a moment, then broke into a jog to quickly catch up.
"How much money do you need, roughly?"
Lin Chu asked.
"The ICU costs over eight thousand a day. My mom already sold the shop, but it's not enough. We came back this time to see my grandpa and my uncle, to see if we can borrow some money."
"Also..."
She spoke softly, her head drooping slightly as her voice trailed off.
"Also what?"
Lin Chu asked.
"My mom wants me to get married and collect a bride price."
"I haven't even graduated yet. I'm not supposed to graduate and start working until next year, but... there's no other way."
She mumbled, feeling deeply ashamed. This was a large part of the reason she had been crying earlier.
But there was nothing to be done.
Her dad had died young, and her brother was the only male heir in the family. They had to save him, even if it meant bankrupting themselves.
There was a strong preference for sons over daughters here; it had always been this way.
"A regular Voldemort, huh?"
Her face flushed dark red. She bit her lip, lowered her head, and fell into a sad silence.
His words had stung her deeply.
Lin Chu sensed this and changed the subject. "What school are you attending?"
"The Civil Aviation Academy."
She said softly.
'Hm?'
Lin Chu glanced at her, a hint of surprise on his face. "So, a flight attendant?"
"What flight attendant? I'm about to become a school dropout... My mom told me yesterday that with our family's situation, it might be hard to even marry me off. She told me to consider... working at a nightclub. She said the money is fast, several thousand a night."
Lin Chu: ?
He was stunned too.
'Holy fuck, her mom... what kind of twisted logic is that?'
'A real idiot.'
"Brother Lin, are you very rich now?"
"I heard you bought your dad an Audi."
"Can... can you help me? I don't want to work in a nightclub. I've never even been in a relationship. I don't want to go to a place like that."
She bit her lip, her face so red it looked like it might bleed, but she still mustered up the courage to speak.
Lin Chu was stunned for a moment, then looked at her with a calm gaze. "So, you're asking me to be your sugar daddy?"
Lin Chu suddenly realized this arrangement could be very beneficial for him—
First, spending money to treat his childhood friend from the same village who was in the ICU might save his life.
Second, he would get a rebate.
Third, he'd gain a "little sister" with a perfect 10 for looks.
'This money would be well spent. Not only would there be benefits, but it would also be a noble act.'
Hearing Lin Chu's words, Jiang Ya also froze. She had meant to ask to borrow money, which she would slowly pay back once she started working.
She never expected him to interpret it this way.
But... his interpretation didn't seem wrong, either.
They weren't related in any way. Why would he lend her money, and so much of it at that...?
...
...