Chapter 17

Take seventeen bites.
“You’re talking nonsense. How could I possibly—”
She didn’t believe it for a second.
But before she could finish—
Scattered memory fragments suddenly flashed back.
In those blurred shards of memory, it was her who’d wrapped her arms around the man’s waist. Her hand had even been shameless, slipping into his clothes to take advantage, fingertips brushing along the ridges of muscle—
As if the touch still lingered.
Hot.
And hard.
Ying Tao’s cheeks flushed instantly, all the way up to the tips of her ears.
He Mingye lifted a brow. “Remember now?”
Ying Tao shook her head hard, playing dumb while she knew perfectly well.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Remember what?”
“I just drank too much and went crazy, that’s all…”
He Mingye narrowed those long phoenix eyes slightly. His gaze sank, his voice thick with threat.
“So what you’re saying is—you’re going to take what you want and pretend you don’t know me afterward?”
“What do you mean ‘take what I want’?” Ying Tao protested. “Can you not make it sound so awful?”
“I didn’t even do anything to you.”
“A-And even if I did something… inappropriate…”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“I didn’t have any awareness at all…”
Her voice got smaller and smaller, her confidence collapsing completely.
The moment she thought about what she’d done last night, she couldn’t act tough anymore.
Red-faced and flustered, Ying Tao lowered her lashes. Her hands didn’t know where to go.
Yet her eyes still couldn’t help flicking once—toward the man’s waist and abdomen.
He Mingye’s eyes narrowed. His tone turned cold and heavy.
“So you mean… you’re not going to take responsibility?”
“Are you the one who’s losing out?” Ying Tao’s mind was a mess, but her mouth still argued righteously.
“I’m the one losing out, okay?”
“We’re both adults. Even if something did happen, that’s normal.”
“It’s not like you’ve never been touched before.”
…
“Wow—”
After hearing the whole story, Miao-miao couldn’t help sighing. “You’re really… kind of scummy.”
“…Am I?” Ying Tao honestly didn’t realize what was wrong with her.
Her brain was still tangled. She didn’t even dare revisit last night.
The moment she pictured herself getting handsy all over He Mingye while drunk, her head started to ache.
Miao-miao nodded hard, face serious. “Scummy. Exactly like one of those deadbeat guys who starts something and then dumps the girl.”
“But—”
Miao-miao looked excited instead. She slung an arm over Ying Tao’s shoulder, grinning mischievously.
“Didn’t expect it. Our Peach actually has talent for being a ‘sea empress.’ What is this—natural-born scum?”
“…”
Ying Tao didn’t even know how to face He Mingye now.
They’d finally just made up.
And in the morning, with words chasing words, she’d probably said some pretty awful things.
Sure, He Mingye really did attract girls. Maybe he’d even dated some blonde, blue-eyed beauties abroad.
But at the end of the day…
This time, she was the one at fault.
Alcohol really was a disaster.
Ying Tao sighed.
Miao-miao comforted her. “Don’t sigh. Alcohol-driven impulsiveness is normal. Adults see eye to eye—sleeping together isn’t weird.”
Ying Tao corrected quickly, “We didn’t sleep.”
They… didn’t, right?
She was muddled, couldn’t remember details. But her being a little hooligan was definitely real.
“Fine, fine. If you say you didn’t, you didn’t.” Miao-miao didn’t argue.
She only said, “But what you did is pretty not-okay.”
“Of all people, who did you have to lay hands on?”
“You had to go after the brother you grew up with.”
“Even rabbits don’t eat the grass near their own burrow.”
“Then what do I do now?” Ying Tao looked miserable. She hadn’t meant for things to turn out like this.
Miao-miao said, “Easy. Play dead. Give it time. Once it cools off, it’ll be fine.”
“…That doesn’t sound very reliable,” Ying Tao said, troubled.
“Our families live so close. If I go home, it’s hard to guarantee I won’t run into him.”
The main problem was—He Mingye didn’t look like he was leaving the country anytime soon.
The final stop of his world tour concert was in China, which meant he’d probably be in Jingbei for a long time.
And Jingbei’s circle wasn’t big. Their social circles overlapped heavily.
Not to mention—Aunt He was coming home too in a couple of days, ending her “traveling the world” trip.
Once Aunt He returned, He Mingye would definitely be called back to live in the compound.
Seeing each other every day… so awkward.
For the first time, Ying Tao felt that living too close was a huge problem.
Miao-miao shrugged, wearing a helpless expression. “Then I’ve got no other solution.”
“Your families know each other inside out. And it sounds like he’s pretty traditional and conservative.”
“This… is going to be hard.”
Ying Tao grew even more depressed. Head drooping, she wanted to bury herself alive.
Miao-miao thought for a moment. “I mean, it’s not like there’s zero ways.”
“Didn’t you say your families live super close?”
“If you just don’t go back to live there, wouldn’t you reduce the chances of seeing him?”
“But it’s almost vacation…” Ying Tao said.
She couldn’t keep living in the dorm. Ying Zhaohui wouldn’t agree to her moving out alone.
In his worldview, girls should follow rules and do what their parents arrange.
“That’s fine.” Miao-miao laughed.
“Didn’t that senior ask you to think about joining that variety show?”
“If you say yes, wouldn’t you have a reason not to go home?”
Ying Tao’s eyes lit up.
Right.
If she joined the program, there’d be at least two or three months of filming. During filming, she’d have a perfectly valid reason not to go home.
Ying Zhaohui wouldn’t have anything to say.
By the time filming ended, school would be starting again. She could go back to the dorm.
As long as she didn’t go back to the compound, it’d be unlikely she’d run into He Mingye again.
…
Before the show began filming, Ying Tao made up her mind to play dead at school no matter what.
No matter who called, she wouldn’t show her face.
Zhou Lubai had meant well.
He’d seen them cold-warring for years, still not acknowledging each other, so he’d deliberately tricked Ying Tao into coming—giving them a great chance to break the ice.
He’d thought: even if he didn’t get credit, he’d at least suffered for it.
They weren’t enemies with a blood feud. There was no need to keep up the “you ignore me, I ignore you” thing forever.
Who would’ve thought—
The moment he messaged Ying Tao, asking if she wanted to come out and watch their race…
Before he even got a reply, she blocked him.
Zhou Lubai: ?
Freshly changed into racing gear, Zhou Lubai was completely confused.
“What the hell? Why did Peach block me?”
Shen Minglin wasn’t racing. He was resting at the best viewing spot on the second-floor platform.
Hearing that, he glanced at Zhou Lubai. “When the city gate burns, the fish in the pond suffer.”
“…What does that mean?” Zhou Lubai stared. “You mean Little Taozi and Young Master got into it again?”
Shen Minglin raised a brow, neither confirming nor denying.
Zhou Lubai couldn’t understand. “But even so, why drag me in?”
“I was doing it out of kindness, wasn’t I?”
“What kind of hurdle could they possibly not get over?”
“There’s no need to fight like this, right?”
Before He Mingye left the country, those two used to fight every three days, with a big fight every five. Everyone was used to it.
But fighting to this extent was rare.
Ying Tao even blocked him—something was obviously wrong.
Shen Minglin calmly took off his glasses and wiped the lenses clean. He only said one word.
“Idiot.”
Zhou Lubai gritted his teeth.
But thinking of the supercars in the garage that Zhou Chaoli had confiscated, he could only swallow the anger.
“Fine. You’re smart,” Zhou Lubai sat down, tapping the table with his fingertips.
“Then you come up with a way to break the deadlock. Anyone can say cold words.”
“Soon,” Shen Minglin said.
Zhou Lubai frowned. “Soon what?”
Shen Minglin looked at him. “You’re about to have a sister-in-law.”
“Sister-in-law? Where the hell would I get a sister-in-law?”
Zhou Lubai’s brain suddenly clicked. “You mean… Young Master has a girlfriend?”
“Holy shit. Who? How come I never heard anything?”
“Foreign? No way.”
“I never heard Young Master dated anyone during those years abroad—”
Shen Minglin looked at him with faint pity. “Stop guessing. Brain work isn’t for you.”
“…”
…
He Mingye wasn’t racing either.
Ying Baiqing went up and ran two laps. When he got out of the car, he took off his helmet.
Seeing He Mingye standing in the spectator area, he handed the helmet to the staff and walked over.
“Not going up for a couple laps today?”
He Mingye lounged there. The bandage on the hand he’d been resting by his side had already been removed.
Ying Baiqing smiled. “I almost forgot—your hand’s injured.”
“What’s wrong? You don’t look like you’re in a great mood today. Who pissed you off?”
He Mingye glanced at him lazily, eyes empty of emotion.
Ying Baiqing guessed immediately. “…Tao-tao?”
“You two fought again?”
Fought?
Thinking of how matter-of-fact she’d been, He Mingye couldn’t help but sneer.
Ying Baiqing tried to soothe him. “Tao-tao’s always been like that. You know it. She just has a sharp mouth.”
He Mingye let out a low laugh. “Yeah. She’s sharp.”
Razor-tongued.
Not conceding an inch.
She said whatever hurt most.
“…It’s also on us,” Ying Baiqing said after a long silence.
“We didn’t take good care of her.”
He sighed. “My mother had postpartum depression, so not long after Taozi was born, she was sent to be raised by Grandma.”
“She stayed there until she was two and a half before she was brought back.”
“I thought once she came back it would be fine.”
“I didn’t expect my mother to blame everything on Taozi—forcing her to learn, forcing her to train.”
Ying Baiqing felt guilty. Back then he hadn’t been mature enough either.
Toward the little sister who suddenly appeared, he hadn’t been warm.
Naturally, he didn’t care whether she was doing well.
He didn’t know that when they weren’t home, Wen Yalan often beat and scolded her.
Wen Yalan’s hostility toward Ying Tao came out of nowhere.
No one knew why she was so ruthless to her own daughter.
Parents who end up divorcing both have their issues.
But it wasn’t impossible that her abuse of Taozi was one of the reasons.
Ying Zhaohui couldn’t accept her cruelty to their biological daughter.
He couldn’t endure her dumping all her resentment onto the child.
So they fell out completely. The marriage reached the end.
And the irony was—
Ying Zhaohui claimed again and again that he divorced Wen Yalan because she abused Taozi,
Yet when they divorced, he gave up Taozi’s custody.
“Actually, Taozi knows everything,” Ying Baiqing said bitterly.
“In a family this twisted, both parents treated her like baggage.”
“That’s why she ended up with this stubborn, hard-mouthed personality.”
On the day Ying Zhaohui and Wen Yalan divorced, Ying Tao chased Wen Yalan’s car all the way to the alley mouth and still couldn’t make it stop.
When she got home, she hid in the study and cried in secret, too afraid to let anyone see.
When He Mingye found her, her eyes were swollen from crying. She was filthy all over, and the skin on her forehead and knees had been scraped open.
She curled up in the corner and looked up at him through watery eyes.
Thin.
Fragile.
He Mingye pressed down his emotions and asked as if it were nothing,
“Little runt, what are you crying for?”
She said her parents didn’t want her anymore.
How could a child that sensitive not sense her parents’ cold indifference?
In that instant, He Mingye felt as if his throat were choked with a bone, a sudden bitterness rising.
They didn’t want her—
So he would.
She was his.
…
Ying Baiqing sighed. “I have to thank you.”
“If you hadn’t been taking care of Taozi for me all these years, who knows whether she could’ve grown up safely in Jingbei.”
He knew how heartless their parents could be.
Maybe Ying Zhaohui felt some guilt toward Taozi, but not enough—not enough to fight against the long erosion of years.
After the divorce, Ying Zhaohui didn’t refuse the introductions others pushed at him.
He met several women.
In the end, he remarried—marrying Tang Mingfei’s mother.
The absurd thing was—
Before marrying again, Ying Zhaohui had even thought about sending Taozi back to her maternal grandmother’s home.
His excuse was that Taozi had grown up there and would live better there.
And because he was building a new family, he needed more “space” to live.
He and his new wife needed time to cultivate feelings.
He was selfish enough to never consider that Grandma was already old, barely holding herself up—how could she have the energy to raise Taozi again?
And her uncle’s family was just average. How could they agree to raise their sister’s child?
If it weren’t for the He family’s pressure—
If it weren’t for He Mingye bringing Taozi home—
Ying Baiqing couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if Taozi had been sent back to Jiangnan.
Ying Baiqing gave a bitter smile. “All these years, I’ve failed as her brother.”
“I haven’t done anything for her.”
He knew Taozi didn’t want him to go to Liaobei because she had no sense of security.
She couldn’t bear for him to leave. She didn’t want to be left behind alone again.
But he still went.
Between dreams and family, he chose the dream.
He chose to stay at the border.
All these years, he still hadn’t done what an older brother should.
“I have no right to manage her affairs, and no right to play mediator.”
“But I know—” Ying Baiqing looked at him deeply, unusually serious.
“Mingye… you care about her more than anyone.”
Even though those two bickered every day, Ying Baiqing could tell their bond couldn’t be fought apart.
He Mingye’s care and protection for Ying Tao had already far exceeded his, her biological brother.
“Uncle He and Aunt He treat Taozi like their own daughter.”
“And you… like Zhou Lubai and the others—you treat Tao-tao like your own little sister.”
“Taozi is lucky, to meet such a good big brother like you.”
“Big brother?” He Mingye laughed faintly, mocking in a way that was hard to name. “Who wants to be her big brother?”
What he wanted—
Had always been her.