As soon as dawn broke, Jiang Yu had no choice but to get up and prepare breakfast.

He spread the eggs and batter evenly across the frying pan, where the oil crackled and popped around the edges.

Once the surface had taken on a little golden-brown color, he flipped out three egg pancakes, filling each with lettuce, strips of sausage, and bacon, then brushing two thick layers of sweet sauce on the inside.

He rolled up the egg pancakes and sprinkled black sesame seeds over both sides.

Jiang Yu brewed himself a pot of barley tea, while Li Yuanxi and Qiu Shihuan each got a cup of hot milk.

Under normal circumstances, he certainly wouldn't have been willing to get up early to cook.

But now there were two clueless little brats in his home, and he had no choice.

He pulled out a chair and turned on the morning news.

Li Yuanxi was already sitting across from him, quietly eating breakfast.

Jiang Yu glanced at the time. There were still more than ten minutes before the home-products commercial ended and the morning news broadcast officially began.

“How did you sleep last night?” He glanced at the thin blanket on the sofa and folded his arms. “Summer's almost here, but I haven't even installed the air conditioner yet. Don't take it personally.”

“Thank you.” Li Yuanxi shook her head indifferently. “I'm already very grateful that you were willing to take me in, Uncle.”

“Since I've accepted your money, I'm obligated to protect your life until the employment arrangement ends,” Jiang Yu said bluntly. “That's the rule. There's no need to thank me.”

“But you still saved my life.” A smile appeared on her face for the first time in a long while. “If it weren't for you, I might have died in that bar.”

Jiang Yu couldn't help glancing toward the bedroom. The person inside was probably still asleep.

It was almost ten o'clock.

He sighed helplessly.

“Take your time eating.” Jiang Yu stood up and said to Li Yuanxi, whose lips were pale from drinking the milk, “I'm going to wake up the Young Master. Otherwise, his breakfast will get cold.”

Li Yuanxi obediently nodded, still holding her milk cup.

The bedroom door was only ajar, and it opened with a gentle push.

The door scraped against the curled edge of the carpet, producing a faint rustling sound.

Jiang Yu kicked aside the clothes that had been discarded on the floor and slowly made his way to the bed. The window was open by only a crack. With just a slight tug of the curtains, the noisy cicadas, sunlight, and the rumble of outdoor air-conditioning units from the floors above and below filtered through the screen, stirring up tiny particles of dust in the room.

Qiu Shihuan was clutching a blanket tightly.

Almost all of his clothes had come off. One long leg lay carelessly across the bed, while his firm, taut abs were buried beneath the quilt. The curve of his lower back had a strangely alluring quality, while the lines farther down were unconsciously concealed.

His arms, stretched outward on either side, had red marks where they had been pressed against the bed, and his hair was an absolute mess.

“Young Master.”

Jiang Yu leaned toward him and moved his fingers away from the blanket.

“…Young Master?”

“Mm…” The blond head groaned and burrowed back beneath the blanket, his toes curling together.

Jiang Yu couldn't help patting him twice on the shoulder.

“It's almost ten.” He softened his voice as he slowly pulled the crumpled edge of the blanket out of his arms. “Come on, Young Master. Stop sleeping. Breakfast is going to get cold. We're having egg pancakes and hot milk this morning. Want some?”

“What did you put inside?”

“Let me think. Sausage, bacon, and lettuce. And I put on a really thick layer of sweet sauce.”

“Ah, bacon. I want some… but I'm still sleepy… Uncle, give me the blanket back…”

Qiu Shihuan whimpered sleepily, his eyes unfocused as he tried to reclaim the blanket.

“All right.” Jiang Yu slipped an arm around his shoulders and supported his back, forcing him into a sitting position. “Go wash your face. It'll wake you up.”

Qiu Shihuan staggered to his feet. Jiang Yu gathered all the clothes scattered across the floor and stuffed them into his arms.

“Go brush your teeth and wash your face. Young Master, wake up. Don't forget—you were the one who insisted on going to the club on Dawèi Third Street today. I'll ask a friend to lend me a car later.”

Jiang Yu pulled him toward the bathroom by the arm.

“There's a new toothbrush in the cabinet, and a new cup too. Make sure you don't use the wrong one.”

“I vaguely remember something like that.” Qiu Shihuan yawned, finally becoming a little more alert. “Uncle, it was so hot last night. My chest and neck were covered in sweat. I tossed and turned until midnight and couldn't fall asleep.”

“My place doesn't have air conditioning. And weren't you the one who insisted on staying the night? Complaining won't change anything,” Jiang Yu said. “I spent the whole night sleeping on the living-room floor.”

“Because Uncle is the best—”

A strong arm suddenly wrapped around Jiang Yu's waist from behind, happily jostling him up and down.

“Are we going to the club today? Then I need to take a shower first.”

Before Jiang Yu could respond, Qiu Shihuan hugged his clothes and ran all the way into the bathroom, turning around to shut the door behind him.

He'd run too fast and kicked one of his slippers all the way into the living room.

Jiang Yu couldn't help laughing. He bent down and picked it up.

Then he sat at the dining table and waited for the morning news to begin.

FR Federal First Radio was the largest and most comprehensive television station under the control and jurisdiction of the Federation. Any news certified by the authorities or relevant departments could be obtained from its daily ten o'clock morning broadcast.

The same opening as always. The same two anchors as always. Behind them was a completely fictional satellite map of the Federation's seventy-nine major administrative regions.

The news began with increases in stocks and food prices, grain and cooking-oil prices, followed by the greenhouse-effect mitigation strategy reached with the New Nordic Union Meteorological Council.

Then came various stories about people's everyday lives, along with extensive condemnation of illegal activities.

Finally, there was a brief mention of the fire.

[At 23:16 last night, authorities received a public report that a fire had broken out on the second floor of a bar, located southwest of Highway N-660 in District 19.]

[Due to the severe deterioration of the building and its lack of fire-safety measures, the fire spread over a large area. The specific cause of the accident is currently under investigation.]

The next report was about the election of new legislators.

Jiang Yu stopped paying attention to the rest.

His index finger unconsciously tapped against the table while his eyes remained fixed on the pattern of the tablecloth.

They didn't report the bodies?

Was it because they didn't consider it necessary to inform the public, or were they deliberately concealing it?

He took a sip of warm barley tea, but it didn't taste the way he wanted it to.

For now, all he could do was pray that no other evidence had been left behind in that room.

“Are we safe for the time being?” Li Yuanxi asked quietly as she watched the news.

“The police always know more than they reveal to the public.” Jiang Yu rested his chin in his hand and leaned forward. “I just don't know how far they've gotten.”

He was about to find a cigarette when he pulled the lighter from his pocket.

The landline rang.

With the unlit cigarette between his lips, Jiang Yu turned the television volume almost all the way down and got up to answer.

The moment he picked up, a familiar voice exploded in his ear.

“Mr. Jiang, are you all right? I heard there was a fire on the second floor last night. Since you can still answer the phone, that means you're alive? Thank God.”

“What's there to thank God for?” Jiang Yu immediately became angry at the memory of the previous night. “Wasn't it you who drugged my drink?”

On the other end, Bolang laughed without the slightest trace of guilt.

“That was good stuff I specially picked up on the black market. I originally wanted to give it to Little Loan Shark, but I didn't get the chance to use it.”

“And then you decided to use it on me?”

“What do you mean, use it on you? Weren't you trying to get that young master to talk? Men are always more willing to talk in bed, aren't they? Though it looks like he didn't actually drink much of it.”

“So I should thank you?”

“Actually, yes.” Bolang thought about it. “Go ahead and thank me.”

Jiang Yu suppressed the urge to curse him out and slammed his fist onto the table, making the dishes and cups rattle.

“Oh, Mr. Jiang, after Young Master Qiu took you upstairs that night, Little Loan Shark had someone come and drag me away. So? Did you have a good time last night?”

He actually dares to bring that up?

The moment Jiang Yu thought about his tongue, he felt like swearing again.

But Li Yuanxi was still there, so he couldn't lose his temper.

“Thanks to you,” he said through clenched teeth. “All I want to do right now is beat you up.”

“Don't get so angry. Did it work or not? Did it work? Did you and the Young Master of the Qiu family get together?”

“No.” The veins on Jiang Yu's forehead bulged. “He's eight years younger than me. Me, get together with him? Do you think I'm a beast?”

“Tsk. I just thought he seemed pretty interested in you. If you'd gone on your own, maybe you really could have gotten something out of him.”

Jiang Yu thought of Bolfa, and his headache grew worse.

“Don't get any weird ideas.”

“Oh, right. Remember Bolfa? Little Loan Shark says she's apparently been missing since last night.” Bolang muttered. “The police wanted to question her, but they couldn't find her anywhere. And apparently the most ridiculous part is that all the surveillance footage from that night is gone.”

Jiang Yu had already anticipated that.

Anyone bold enough to come at them with real weapons would certainly have prepared for the possibility that their actions might be captured on surveillance.

There was a very good chance the surveillance footage from that night had been hacked and erased.

Jiang Yu took a deep breath.

“Have they figured out what caused the fire?”

“Apparently a cigarette butt fell onto the carpet? Anyway, the place didn't have any fire-safety equipment, so I guess it wouldn't have taken long for the flames to spread.”

“All right. Call me if anything new comes up.”

Bolang laughed.

“Don't worry, Mr. Jiang. I know our line of work makes things pretty troublesome once we're involved in something like this. I'll have Little Loan Shark protect you.”

“Thanks. Oh, there's one more thing.”

“What?”

“Lend me your car.”

“Sure, but what are you taking it for?”

“Just once.” Jiang Yu kept the cigarette between his lips. “I promise it'll go back into your garage exactly the way it came out. I don't have a choice. The Young Master insists on going out to have some fun. He even looked it up online yesterday—walking there would take eight and a half hours.”

“Then it's settled. I'll drive it downstairs later and leave the keys in your mailbox. Little Loan Shark asked me to go out with him today, so I need to get ready early.”

“I'm hanging up.”

“Bye-bye—have a happy honeymoon, Mr. Jiang!”

Jiang Yu rubbed his forehead and slammed the receiver back onto the phone.

The call ended just as Qiu Shihuan finished showering.

He had not only washed his hair and gotten dressed; he'd gotten himself completely ready to go out at a moment's notice.