seems to be just my own illusion.

Yu Fuli gave him a reassuring look, then looked at the fat boss, her tone flat but carrying an invisible pressure: "Is the reason he gave for the late shift handover true?"

The portly boss was taken aback by the sudden appearance of this distinguished young man, and instinctively tried to explain, "Yes...that's true, but the rules..."

"Since you were covering for a colleague and you knew this beforehand, the penalty for handing over the shift late is invalid. Deducting that portion of your wages is unreasonable and illegal." Yu Fuli interrupted him, speaking quickly but clearly. "Furthermore, breaking goods and causing damage should be compensated at market value, but the compensation amount needs to be clearly listed in detail, not just deducted arbitrarily. Settle his wages according to actual attendance and reasonable deductions."

The fat boss felt a little intimidated by his gaze, especially when the other party mentioned that it was illegal; his eyes visibly shifted.

He sized up Yu Fuli. Although he was dressed plainly, his calm demeanor and outstanding appearance made him seem unlike any other character commonly seen in the lower city.

His heart was pounding, but he remained defiant: "Who...who are you? This is our shop's business, what right do you have to interfere?"

Yu Fuli took a step forward, her gaze sweeping over the simple employee badge pinned to the boss's chest and the shop sign, and said calmly, "I'm family. As for whether I have the right to interfere..."

He paused, his gaze darkening. "Should I call the labor inspector now, or hire a lawyer to discuss the regulations with you in detail?"

"Labor... labor inspectors? Lawyers?" The fat boss's expression changed. He was most afraid of getting involved with officials and troublesome people in his small business.

Moreover, most people who can afford to hire lawyers are from the Upper East Side, and he simply can't afford to offend them.

Yu Fuli stopped talking and just quietly looked at the boss.

After a few seconds of stalemate, the fat boss, sweat beading on his forehead, finally clicked his tongue in annoyance, glared at Lin Xun, and muttered "troublesome" under his breath. Reluctantly, he took the banknotes he had just taken from his pocket, carefully counted them, and then, together with the previous few, recounted them. This time, the amount was noticeably thicker. He stuffed them into Lin Xun's hand: "Here you go! Good luck! Don't come back again!"

Lin Xun held the stack of money, his fingers trembling slightly. He looked at Yu Fuli, his eyes quickly reddening. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Yu Fuli didn't look at the shopkeeper again, but turned to Lin Xun and said, "Take your things and come with me."

Lin Xun suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly stuffed the money into his inner pocket.

Yu Fuli didn't say anything more, and led him to her car parked by the roadside. She opened the car door, let Lin Xun sit in the passenger seat, and then went around to the driver's seat.

Lin Xun huddled tightly in his seat, his head bowed low, revealing only his slightly trembling eyelashes and his bitten-white lower lip.

Yu Fuli gripped the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. After a long while, she spoke in a low voice, breaking the suffocating silence:

"I'm back."

"For the past two weeks, you've been...doing this kind of work in a place like this?"

His voice was deep and filled with pity, and his knuckles were slightly white as he gripped the steering wheel.

In the cramped space, Lin Xun's soft sobs finally broke out. He hurriedly raised his hand to wipe them away, but the more he wiped, the more tears fell, and his thin shoulders trembled slightly.

Yu Fuli tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her gaze still fixed on the road ahead, but her voice softened slightly: "Don't cry. We've got the money back, we just won't go to places like that again."

"...I'm not crying because of money." Lin Xun sobbed, his voice muffled and nasal. "Teacher, I...I thought you were really not coming back. For the past two weeks, I've been waiting every day..." His words trailed off, as if there were more unspeakable worries and fears to come.

"I couldn't find you anywhere after that day. I was so scared." Lin Xun's voice lowered, trembling slightly. He lowered his head, his fingers clenching the hem of his clothes. "Later... later I really had no choice but to secretly go back there to check. I heard people nearby saying that something had happened. I went to the police station to ask, wanting to report it, but they..." He pursed his lips, not finishing his sentence, but the helplessness of being easily dismissed and having nowhere to turn was already evident.

He raised his eyes again and looked at Yu Fuli. His eyes, which were always moist, were now filled with lingering fear and relieved relief. His voice was soft, but full of sincerity, seemingly without any effort: "Teacher, it's so good that you're back safely."

Yu Fuli felt as if something had gently pierced her heart.

The cold, mocking gaze in the dream contrasted sharply with the intermittent sobs and dependence in reality.

He was silent for a moment before saying, "Something came up and I was held up. I should have left you a message before I left; it was my oversight."

Yu Fuli handed over the tissue, the strange feeling in her heart caused by the dream now completely covered by a more real pity.

When you're cornered and helpless, you're still just a kid at heart. How terrified you must be to face the recent tragedy and the cold reality all by yourself.

They even have to come to places like this, earning meager wages, and still encountering the typical trope in sweet romance novels: being bullied while working.

Even if others speak out in defense, they seem powerless in the face of absolute power inequality.

What a pitiful child.

"Is there anywhere else to go?" Yu Fuli asked, her voice even softer.

Lin Xun held the damp tissue, shook her head, and said in a very soft voice, "...No."

Looking at his lowered head with its soft hair, Yu Fuli made the perfectly logical suggestion almost without hesitation:

"Then, come home with me first."

Lin Xun looked up, her eyes still red-rimmed, a hint of unease in them: "But...wouldn't that be too much trouble for the teacher...?"

Looking at the overly sensible "little white flower" in front of her, always afraid of causing trouble for others, Yu Fuli felt a tenderness in her heart that almost overflowed.

He curved his lips into a smile and said in a deliberately relaxed tone, "How could it be troublesome? It's not like I'm letting you stay for free—" He paused, a gentle smile in his eyes, "I still need you to help me clean. You know, the housekeeper I hired isn't cheap."

He made a small joke, trying to dispel the cautious unease in the boy's eyes.

Lin Xun burst out laughing, a wide, untroubled smile spreading across his face, his eyes curving into crescents.

He tilted his head back, staring intently into Yu Fuli's eyes, and said, word by word:

"Teacher, you're so kind!"

That smile was bright, dependent, and full of complete trust.

In that instant, Yu Fuli’s breath caught in his throat almost imperceptibly.

The smiling face before me unexpectedly overlapped perfectly with the cold, mocking face in my dream!

Extreme warmth and extreme cold collided violently in my mind.

An indescribable sense of dread suddenly gripped him, his heart feeling as if it had been squeezed tightly by an invisible hand.

His hand gripping the steering wheel trembled involuntarily, and his fingertips pressed down hard uncontrollably—

"Bang—!!"

The sharp, piercing sound of a car horn suddenly shattered the brief warmth inside the car and the chilling illusion in Yu Fuli's mind.

Lin Xun was startled by the sudden, piercing horn. Her smile froze on her face, replaced by confusion and a hint of helplessness: "Teacher?"

Yu Fuli snapped back to reality, quickly removing his fingers from the steering wheel as if it had suddenly become too hot to handle.

The piercing horn blared and echoed in the cramped carriage, further highlighting his momentary loss of composure.

He closed his eyes briefly, forcibly suppressing the absurd yet persistent chill in his heart. When he opened them again, a familiar, reassuring smile quickly appeared on his face, though the smile at the corner of his mouth was somewhat stiff.

"It's nothing," he cleared his throat, his voice slightly lower than usual, "My hand slipped. Did it startle you?"

He gripped the steering wheel firmly again, but a slight tension remained in his fingertips. His gaze swept seemingly unintentionally over Lin Xun's face, which was still filled with dependence and concern.

That bright, sunny smile seemed perfectly normal now, as if the eerie overlap just moments before was merely a hallucination born from his excessive tension.

"No, no," Lin Xun quickly shook her head and said softly, her attention seemingly successfully diverted. "It just rang suddenly, and I didn't react in time."

"That's good." Yu Fuli was silent for a moment, her gaze fixed ahead, but she finally asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for so long: "After what happened that day, you stayed in the same spot waiting for me? You didn't go anywhere else?"

He kept an eye on the boy's reaction beside him.

Lin Xun turned her head, a hint of confusion on her face, and tilted her head slightly: "No, teacher, didn't you tell me to stay around the corner and not move? I waited until I felt something was wrong before..."

He seemed to recall some unpleasant memory; his voice lowered, and his eyelashes trembled slightly. But then he raised his eyes again, looking at Yu Fuli with concern, his gaze clear and unwavering. "What's wrong, teacher? Is there a problem?"

His answer was fluent, his demeanor natural, and his concern genuine.

Yu Fuli loosened her grip on the steering wheel slightly. Yes, this child has always been very obedient.

He shook his head, his tone returning to its usual gentleness: "It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of it and asked casually. I was worried you might get into trouble running around like that."

"No, I remember what you said, teacher." Lin Xun answered earnestly, her face regaining that expression of complete trust.

But... is that really all there is to it?

The lingering doubt in Yu Fuli's heart, like a pebble thrown into a still lake, did not completely subside.

The cold, icy gaze in my dream and the gentle, innocent face before me in reality can never perfectly overlap.

Everything points to the fact that it was just my own illusion.

But why does that lingering sense of unease always follow me like a shadow?