Chapter 1: The full moon hanging in the sky was like a lone…

Late at night, at Qingtang Bay in Hong Kong City.

Bai Yuanzhi exhausted all her strength to drag the boy who had fallen into the water ashore.

Throughout the entire process, the boy was quiet, neither cooperating nor resisting.

Exhausted, Bai Yuanzhi sat on a reef to rest, panting heavily.

She turned her head to look at the boy.

The boy also fumbled around and found a reef to sit on.

The dim starlight was not enough for Bai Yuanzhi to see his features clearly.

Black hair covered his eyes and brows, revealing only his gaunt jawline and deathly pale skin.

The boy wasn’t too strong, otherwise Bai Yuanzhi wouldn’t have been able to drag him for what she estimated was two kilometers in the icy seawater before finally reaching the shore.

His clothes were intact, and he wore a pair of sneakers on his feet.

She didn’t know if he was frightened, but he seemed completely wooden.

“Third Sister! Third Sister—”

Zhou Zhaodi’s panicked cries echoed from a distance.

Bai Yuanzhi paid no mind to Zhou Zhaodi.

While wringing out her sopping wet clothes, she observed the boy.

Finally, her gaze fell on his sneakers.

After a moment of contemplation, Bai Yuanzhi asked the boy, “Did you fall into the sea by accident?”

The boy lowered his head and eyes, remaining silent and motionless.

After a long while, he slowly raised his gaunt, slender hand and stared at it, lost in thought.

Zhou Zhaodi ran over, panting and on the verge of tears. “Third Sister! Third Sister, where are you!”

Seeing that Zhou Zhaodi was about to run past them, Bai Yuanzhi finally responded, “I’m here!”

“Where is this?” the boy suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse. “What… what time is it? What… what year?”

Bai Yuanzhi froze.

She abruptly looked up at the boy.

The boy’s thin lips were slightly parted, and the eyes hidden behind his messy hair were deep and bewildered.

Bai Yuanzhi was silent for a moment.

She had experienced this kind of chaotic and confused feeling before.

She did her best to calm her emotions and said to the boy in a faint voice, “It’s April 16th, 1981. This is Hong Kong City, probably near Qingtang Bay.”

The boy was stunned.

After a long pause, he asked Bai Yuanzhi again, “Who are you?”

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t answer.

Zhou Zhaodi finally ran over. “Third Sister, are you okay?”

Bai Yuanzhi said, “I’m fine… Let’s go!”

“Huh? Wait a minute!” Zhou Zhaodi said.

She looked the boy sitting to the side up and down. “Hey, why did you jump into the sea to commit suicide just now? Why couldn’t you think things through?”

The boy remained silent.

Zhou Zhaodi lectured the boy, “You don’t look that old. Your life has just begun! Why be so shortsighted?”

“Why don’t you think about your parents? It wasn’t easy for them to raise you, and for you to do something like this… how heartbroken would your parents be?”

“Do you really want them to bury their own child?”

“In the future—”

Bai Yuanzhi grew impatient. “Are you leaving or not?”

Zhou Zhaodi faltered, then explained in a small voice, “I was just… afraid he’d try again after we leave!”

Bai Yuanzhi said coldly, “Mind your own business.”

Zhou Zhaodi pouted unhappily.

Bai Yuanzhi looked at the statue-like boy and said, word by word, “Live well, eat well, sleep well, and then take revenge on those who have wronged you, and settle your grievances.”

She guessed there was more to his fall into the sea than met the eye.

But she could barely fend for herself right now, so she shouldn’t stir up more trouble.

After speaking, Bai Yuanzhi turned and left.

The boy slowly raised his head and saw the girl’s resolute departing figure.

Zhou Zhaodi stood beside him, dumbfounded.

Only when Bai Yuanzhi had walked some distance away did Zhou Zhaodi shout and chase after her. “Third Sister! Are you crazy? How… how could you teach someone to do that?”

“Hey, wait, Zhou Pandi, why are you walking so fast? Wait for me!”

“Zhou—”

“Alright, alright, I won’t call you Zhou Pandi anymore. I’ll call you Bai Yuanzhi, okay? What are you so angry about!”

“You’re really acting crazy. It’s one thing to change your name, but why change your surname too? We don’t have any relatives with the surname Bai, I really don’t get you…”

The boy watched the slender figure retreat and murmured, “Zhou Pandi… Bai Yuanzhi?”

“I didn’t commit suicide.”

“I will… live well, eat well, sleep well, and then take revenge on those who have wronged me, and settle my grievances.”

After the two sisters left, the world fell silent.

The full moon hanging in the sky was like a giant, lonely, indifferent eye, mockingly watching the ants of the world.

The waves, crashing one after another, were like painful tears streaming from eyes that had seen through the darkness of human nature, flowing furiously with anger, yet stubbornly trying to recede…

The boy’s muddled mind finally began to clear.

He squinted into the void, a sinister smile spreading across his lips. “Grandpa, Dad, Mom, I’m back!”

= =

By now, Bai Yuanzhi and Zhou Zhaodi had reached the main road.

Zhou Zhaodi complained, “Third Sister, I’m not convinced, I’m just not!”

“The entire two-hour journey by water from Shenzhen City to Hong Kong City, you just stood on the boat and watched me with a cold eye as I swam the whole way!”

“Oh, but the moment that guy jumped into the sea, you rushed over to save him?!”

“So, Zhou Pandi… oh no, Bai Yuanzhi, in your heart, is that guy more important than me, your own sister?”

Bai Yuanzhi frowned. “Then what did you want me to do? Give you my documents and boat ticket so you could come over openly on the boat, while I swam over from the sea?”

Zhou Zhaodi hemmed and hawed, but didn’t deny it. “You’re the older sister and I’m the younger sister. It’s only natural for you to take care of me.”

Bai Yuanzhi let out a cold laugh and continued walking forward along the road, her head held high.

Zhou Zhaodi had no choice but to continue, “Fine, if you wanted to save him, you saved him. But you didn’t even ask him for a reward… We just arrived in Hong Kong City, we don’t know anyone or the place, and we have no money in our pockets. What if something happens—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the two sisters indeed ran into trouble.

—A police car approached from not far away, the flashing lights on its roof making one’s heart pound with anxiety.

Bai Yuanzhi waved at the police car.

Zhou Zhaodi was terrified. “Third Sister, are you crazy! You… you… Oh my god, the police are here, let’s hide quickly! If I get caught by the police and sent back, wouldn’t all the hardship I endured on the way be for nothing! Besides, I finally made it to this dazzling world, I don’t want to go back to that poor backwater!”

She wanted to hide—

But the police car flashed its headlights twice, indicating that the officer driving had already seen Bai Yuanzhi.

Zhou Zhaodi was panic-stricken. “Third Sister, are you trying to kill me? Sob, you’re so mean! No wonder Dad and Second Sister always wanted to sell you! I think you’re also…”

“Shut up!” Bai Yuanzhi snapped.

The police car slowly pulled up beside the two sisters.

A young police officer in uniform got out of the driver’s seat. “Good evening, ladies. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Bai Yuanzhi stated her request to the officer.

The young officer sized up Bai Yuanzhi and Zhou Zhaodi. “Miss Bai, you’re saying you just came to Hong Kong from the mainland to visit relatives, but you missed the night bus, so you’re hoping I can give you a ride to your relative’s house?”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded. “Yes.”

Zhou Zhaodi trembled by her side.

The officer asked again, “Miss Bai, could I trouble you to show me your identification?”

Bai Yuanzhi handed over her documents.

After checking the documents, the officer returned them to Bai Yuanzhi, then pointed at Zhou Zhaodi and asked, “Miss, please show me your identification as well.”

Zhou Zhaodi’s face turned deathly pale.

Bai Yuanzhi said, “Sir, my sister’s documents accidentally fell into the sea, which is why we—” As she spoke, she straightened her soaking wet clothes.

Zhou Zhaodi lowered her head and also clutched the hem of her wet clothes.

The young officer frowned.

Bai Yuanzhi explained, “We’d like to go to our relative’s house first to rest and change our clothes. Tomorrow, after daybreak, we can go get my sister’s papers reissued… Or, if it’s not too much trouble, you could drive us to the Immigration Department now. We can get her papers reissued first, that’s fine too.”

Zhou Zhaodi was about to faint from fear.

—Unlike her third sister, she didn’t have any documents.

If they really went to the Immigration Department, she would be finished!

The young officer thought for a moment and asked Bai Yuanzhi, “Miss, may I ask where your relative lives?”

Bai Yuanzhi said, “Our relative lives near Kowloon Longde Road. It would be a great help if you could just drop us off in the city area, we can—”

The officer said in surprise, “Longde Road? My home is also near Longde Road.”

This time, even Bai Yuanzhi showed a surprised expression.

Yes, Bai Yuanzhi had calculated it all.

A young police officer driving a patrol car alone late at night—he was most likely a low-level grunt who had just joined the force.

Such young men were enthusiastic, warm-hearted, and passionate, but they also lacked social and work experience.

But Bai Yuanzhi hadn’t expected that this officer also lived near Longde Road.

“Get in the car!”

As expected, the young officer no longer fussed over Zhou Zhaodi’s lack of identification. “I’ll drive you to Longde Road, it’s on my way anyway.”

Bai Yuanzhi thanked him sincerely, then looked at her and her sister’s dripping clothes, troubled.

The young officer found a blanket in the car and handed it to Bai Yuanzhi.

Bai Yuanzhi thanked the officer again, pulled Zhou Zhaodi into the car, and carefully placed the blanket on the seat.

The distance from Qingtang Bay to Longde Road was not short, and the young officer started chatting with the two sisters:

“Is this your first time in Hong Kong City?”

“Where’s your hometown?”

“Wow, I heard people from your area can really handle spicy food, is that true?”

“Longde Road is very big. Where exactly does your relative live? Since it’s your first time in Hong Kong City, can you really find it? Don’t get there and not know the way. It’s already past one in the morning, there’s no one around to ask for directions.”

“If you call the police then, it’ll still be me who has to handle it…”

Bai Yuanzhi said, “We’re going to Youde Garden.”

The officer looked surprised. “Youde Garden? What a coincidence! I live in Youde Garden too.”

Beside them, Zhou Zhaodi’s feelings were complicated.

She had been scared to death, thinking that just after she had finally made it to Hong Kong City, she was about to be deported…

She never expected her third sister to so calmly build a good rapport with this police officer.

He was even giving them a free ride home!

Sitting in the high-class, stylish, and comfortable police car, Zhou Zhaodi was overjoyed.

And now, this handsome young officer was chatting with Bai Yuanzhi like an old friend?

Zhou Zhaodi’s old habit flared up—she couldn’t stand it when others paid too much attention to Bai Yuanzhi in her presence.

Or rather, Zhou Zhaodi couldn’t stand not being the center of attention.

So Zhou Zhaodi rushed to say, “We’re here to live with my mom, Zhou Xiangmei! She lives in Youde Garden, Block A, Building 13, unit 90…”

Before she could finish, Bai Yuanzhi pinched her thigh hard.

Zhou Zhaodi immediately shut her mouth.

But she was indignant.

She felt she hadn’t lied, so why wouldn’t her third sister let her speak?

Her third sister had clearly said Youde Garden herself…

How come when it was her turn, she wasn’t allowed to give the specific address?

“Screech—”

The police car braked abruptly.

The young officer turned his head and looked at Bai Yuanzhi and Zhou Zhaodi in shock. “What? Your mother is Zhou Xiangmei, who lives in Youde Garden, Block A, Building 13, unit 903?!”