He suddenly grabbed Li Yaru’s wrist and pinned her hard to the tatami, his iron-like legs pressing down to stop her from moving.
He was like a black python, flicking its red tongue, or a vicious dragon, staring at her with a predatory gleam. “Let me tell you, Li Yaru— if I’d known you were this wild and unruly, I should have clipped your wings the very first time I met you, so you wouldn’t keep stabbing at my heart.”
“Being too indulgent with you is the one thing I, Zhuang Qiting, regret most in my life!”
Looking back on all these years, Zhuang Qiting truly felt he’d taken the wrong path.
When nineteen-year-old Li Yaru had come to him, pitiful and pleading, he should have clipped her wings, blunted her claws, and then carefully raised her.
Instead, every time she shed a few tears, his heart softened and he let her be as wild as she wanted.
All these years, he’d painstakingly taught her manners and etiquette, how to invest and earn money, how to navigate social circles, how to thrive in the world of fame and fortune, and how to hold her position as the Zhuang Family’s matriarch. In the end, he’d only dug his own grave.
He regretted it.
.
The first time Zhuang Qiting met Li Yaru, she had just turned eighteen.
It was the golden age of soaring property values in Hong Kong that year.
Real estate and stocks were booming, everything was unstoppable, and even the air felt thick with the scent of money.
When night fell, the city’s decadent side would become even more blatant.
When Li Yaru was fifteen, she and her parents moved from the chaotic Shu Jing Jie ‘Dormitory-style apartment’ building to a new development in Shatian New District built by Shenghui Group.
The new apartment building had no shantytowns at its base, only beautiful landscaping.
The 1,700-square-foot home housed just five family members— pacious beyond belief. She finally had a bedroom of her own.
It felt like a dream.
Li Yaru had never thought she’d live in such a big house. As long as the family Restaurant business kept growing, she could one day live in an even bigger place— maybe even a garden villa!
Heaven didn’t let her down. During her high school years, Wangzhen Restaurant’s reputation grew and grew.
Li Fu invested all his savings and took out a loan from Yinbank, finally securing a 200-square-meter prime shopfront in Jianshazui, the most expensive district.
The grand opening was a roaring success— the place was packed every day.
After graduating high school, Li Yaru planned to help out at home, but Li Fu refused. He insisted she go to college, which made her wail in protest.
She crossed her slim legs, deftly shelled pine nuts, and munched with her rosy little mouth: “All my classmates are going out to work after high school. College is so hard to get into, and just because I take the exam doesn’t mean I’ll pass… I’m just an average student.”
“And Li Chengxiang went straight to work at the Restaurant after graduating, Uncle didn’t make him go to college. He’s been at the Restaurant for two years now. If I start later, won’t he end up bossing me around? He lazes around all day and can’t even use a calculator properly, gets five thousand a month for nothing, and wants to order me around? No way!”
Lirongliang was too exasperated by his precious daughter to speak, but couldn’t find a reason to refute her.
Wangzhen Restaurant was founded by the two Li brothers, each investing fifty percent.
But Lirongyin wasn’t a chef, just good at talking, so in the early days, the Restaurant relied on Lirongliang’s skills— prepping, cooking, managing the kitchen, working hard.
Li Yaru thought it was unfair. Her uncle only greeted guests and did the accounts, barely bringing in customers. Her own dad did all the hard work, yet still had to split the profits evenly.
“A girl should go to a good university, become a white-collar worker at a big company, work in fancy office buildings. Isn’t that better than slogging away in a Restaurant?”
“Dad, that’s not easy. Big companies are harder to get into than good universities. Shenghui, Yufeng— which of them doesn’t prefer overseas graduates? I’d have to go abroad, and that costs a fortune.” Li Yaru mumbled, thinking the money would be better spent on a Chanel bag.
“It doesn’t have to be such a huge company.”
Lirongliang sighed. He couldn’t win against his daughter, but he didn’t want her mixing with the Restaurant crowd at just seventeen, especially since she was so pretty…
In the end, they compromised: Li Yaru still had to take the college entrance exam. If she passed, she’d get a 20,000 yuan reward and a trip to Europe. If not, she could come back to work at the Restaurant.
Li Yaru’s eyes sparkled. Twenty thousand! That was a lot!
For the next few months, she settled down and studied hard.
Last year, she’d already been accepted to University of Hong Kong Chinese, and Fan Zizhuo, who had volunteered to tutor her in English and physics, was helping her out.
Li Yaru complained, but was secretly delighted.
Fan Zizhuo was the same age as Li Yaru— delicate features, refined and handsome. Even a plain white shirt looked amazing on him, like a movie poster.
Li Yaru and Fan Zizhuo had known each other since childhood— their families lived just a few meters apart, and they’d often eat at each other’s homes.
Even after she moved, they went to the same high school and never drifted apart.
On weekends, Li Yaru often took the tram to the university to find Fan Zizhuo, sitting in the quiet classroom.
Outside, red walls and white columns were shaded by green trees, and the flame trees blazed bright. She loved those summer days.
After finishing two English essays, Fan Zizhuo carefully corrected her work while Li Yaru poked at her eraser with a 2B pencil, yawning. “Next Saturday’s my birthday, I’m inviting friends to eat at Wangzhen Restaurant. You have to come!”
Fan Zizhuo said, “You’re turning eighteen, of course I remember. I’ve already prepared your gift.”
Li Yaru winked at him in the bright sunlight. “What kind of gift?”
Fan Zizhuo blushed and didn’t dare look at her, lowering his head to correct her mistakes. “It’s something you’ll like.”
He knew Li Yaru loved beautiful, expensive things —she always had, even when her family wasn’t well-off.
She’d wear faded pink floral dresses and stand transfixed in front of luxury shop windows, clutching her little fist, declaring that when she made money she’d buy all the prettiest clothes.
The adults would laugh and say she was a little phoenix in a chicken coop, destined for Qianshui Bay.
After tutoring, Li Yaru shoved her books into her LV Postman Bag— a purchase she’d saved half a year’s pocket money for— and flashed Fan Zizhuo a bright smile: “See you next week, Zizhuo!”
“Eighteen, see you then, Arong.”
A few days later, Li Yaru’s deskmate and best friend at school, Chen Shien, pulled her into a corner and whispered about doing something big for her eighteenth birthday.
“What’s the big plan?” Li Yaru was intrigued.
Chen Shien snickered, “I knew you’d be interested. Zhou Xuanxuan is coming to sing at Emperor Haocheng on your birthday. My cousin just got promoted to deputy manager and can save us a table— no entry fee. But we’ll have to order some drinks. Are you in?”
Emperor Haocheng… wasn’t that a nightclub? The most famous and luxurious one in Hong Kong now, even foreigners called it the “Eastern Den of Gold”.
Li Yaru had heard customers at the Restaurant rave about Emperor Haocheng— its walls were made of crystal, with imported European sculptures and fountains running day and night.
The cost of flowers alone each month supported a dozen florists. The patrons were all big bosses, spending tens of thousands a night wasn’t unusual.
“I don’t have that kind of money!”
Li Yaru wasn’t broke— her parents gave her a generous two thousand a month— but she wanted to spend her money on herself. “But it’s a nightclub!”
“Come on, Miss Rich Girl, who bought new shoes last week? Let’s just order a cheap bottle, maybe eight or nine hundred. I’ll have my cousin set out a few watered-down bottles for show, and send over a big fruit platter! Zhou Xuanxuan is super popular now—even her tapes are sold out. I heard just the entry fee for her show is…”
“Eight hundred?”
“Eight thousand! My goodness!”
Li Yaru bit her lip, her mind racing. If she went, she’d save eight thousand right away and get to see Zhou Xuanxuan sing… She really wanted to go. She was a girl who loved the glitz and glamor.
Besides, she was turning eighteen.
“I’m in!” Li Yaru made up her mind. “But we have to go secretly. If my mom finds out, I’ll be in big trouble.”