C City.
A little after seven in the evening, the police station received a report.
The caller was the young girl sitting on the stool, dressed in a cotton nightgown.
As for the accused… Officer Chen secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Lu Jingyuan.
The eldest son of Commander Lu's family, the CEO of Nanyuan Group.
In C City, who didn't know this towering figure?
But the rookie officer on duty had just been transferred from out of town and didn't recognize Lu Jingyuan—so he had brought him straight to the station.
When Officer Chen saw Lu Jingyuan appear here, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Only after forcing himself to ask a few questions did he finally understand what had happened.
It turned out that the reason the girl had called the police was that a pair of the young master Lu's underwear had fallen from upstairs—landing squarely on her face. She had then taken the "weapon" upstairs to confront him, but Lu Jingyuan refused to admit it was his. The argument escalated until the two ended up at the police station.
Looking at the "evidence" on his desk, Officer Chen really wanted to laugh.
In fact, he very much wanted to laugh.
But seeing Lu Jingyuan's dark expression and the oppressive aura surrounding him, Officer Chen immediately lost the urge.
Clearing his throat, he turned to the girl. "Miss, how about we just let this go? After all, you haven't suffered any real harm…"
"What do you mean no real harm?!" Ruan Xingchen's doll-like face flushed red with anger, making her look even more vivid. "My fragile heart has been hurt, okay? And that perverted old man even… even…"
The rest seemed too embarrassing to say aloud. She struggled for a long time but couldn't finish the sentence.
Perverted old man? Officer Chen twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Well, it was understandable for the girl to be upset. Anyone would be unhappy getting hit in the face by something like that.
And it was… a bit perverted.
Just as Officer Chen was at a loss for what to do, Lu Jingyuan—who had been sitting silently on the sofa—suddenly moved.
He took out a checkbook from his jacket pocket, swiftly wrote down a string of numbers, signed his name, tore off the check, and pushed it toward Ruan Xingchen. Then he stood up and uttered two cold words:
"Settle privately."
Ruan Xingchen's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at his retreating back.
He says it's settled privately, and that's it?
Did she agree?!
She got up to chase after him, but Officer Chen quickly stopped her, stuffing the check into her hand and earnestly persuading her, "Miss, since Mr. Lu has proposed a private settlement, let's just leave it at that. Look at this check—five zeros! If someone gave me a hundred thousand, I wouldn't mind getting hit a few times!"
Ruan Xingchen: "…"
———
An hour earlier—
Wutong Apartments.
Ruan Xingchen stood on the balcony, pulling out her constantly vibrating phone.
She opened WeChat.
More than a dozen explicit photos of a man and woman entangled together instantly filled the screen.
Her expression darkened. Her fingers flew across the screen as she typed a reply:
—Too small. Not worth looking at.
The other party quickly responded with two words: Slut!
Ruan Xingchen didn't bother replying. She stuffed her phone back into her pocket and was about to head inside.
Suddenly, an unknown object fell from the sky, flying straight toward her face.
Hmm. It didn't hurt.
She sniffed at the thing blocking her vision.
It smelled like laundry detergent.
From the texture, it felt like some kind of fabric.
She pulled it off her face and unfolded it.
"Ah!!!"
She screamed and threw it away.
Who on earth was so shameless as to throw underwear down like this?!
And of all things, it had to land on her face!
And it was men's underwear!
So disgusting!
She was still a delicate young girl!
A pure, newly turned eighteen-year-old girl who had just had her birthday three days ago!
Sitting on the ground, Ruan Xingchen frowned at the object she had thrown aside, her cute face filled with resentment.
The Wutong Apartments had twelve floors. She lived on the eleventh, one of three households on that level. The twelfth floor above was occupied by a wealthy resident who had taken the entire floor.
The upstairs neighbor had moved in just a few days ago. Ruan Xingchen had never seen him, only heard from neighbors that he was a man.
The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't swallow her anger. Scrambling to her feet, she rushed over, pinched the piece of fabric between her fingers, and stormed out the door.