Sort Out Your Shitty Life. We're Rolling, Girl!

There will always come a beam of heavenly light that pierces the quiet shadows before cold iron turns dull, just as it did at this very moment. The door swung open with a heavy thud, and crisp, dark boots beat a firm, measured rhythm against the floor. The newcomer wore an ink-black trench coat whose flaring hem brushed his calves. A Patek Philippe peeked out from his wrist. His tall, slender silhouette was backlit, casting a long shadow into the room. Yet this overbearing, aristocratic young master possessed a pair of remarkably clear eyes, making one feel as though the deep spring in his gaze could forge blades of bone-chilling brilliance. Everyone fell completely silent. Some people truly made you realize that sheer presence was a real thing; before him, everyone else faded into mere background scenery, overwhelmed by a brilliance so domineering that no one dared utter a peep. Yet he was not here to steal the spotlight. Instead, he willingly chose to play the supporting foil. "Have you had your fill of fun, Miss?" The young man looked straight toward Fang Xiaoxia in her white dress. The overhead light cascaded down, illuminating the young girl’s bewildered face, looking just like a lily blossoming out of a trash heap. "Many people are waiting for you. Are you going to keep wasting your time here?" Casually revealing the Patek Philippe Nautilus 7128 on his wrist and the thorn-patterned gold ring on his index finger, Bai Zhou spoke in a voice that carried clearly to every ear in the room: "We don't have much time left. Now then—do you wish to continue these boring pastimes, or will you go attend to what you ought to be doing?" "...Huh?" Fang Xiaoxia almost blurted out to ask what this bro was babbling about. Her mind had gone entirely blank. "Do-do-doo, do-do-doo, do-do-doo…" Just then, the song over the KTV speakers reached its climax, the swirling drumbeats dazzling the senses. "Oh I want something just like this—" On the massive screen, beneath a tilted cross, three steel claws burst out from the earth. At this moment, for the very first time, the prayer in the girl's heart received an answer from destiny. A mysterious man had picked up her SOS signal, descending from the heavens clad in black. She wished for it, and so she received it. *A thousand years of cold mantle the snow-capped peak, yet the solitary moon shines only upon Mount Emei.* That high-hanging moon cared not for anyone else, shining solely on you. Never mind how long it would last—right now, its light was yours and yours alone, blazing bright enough to blind you! In truth, this was not Fang Xiaoxia's first time enduring such social death. Once you experienced humiliation enough times, you slowly grew numb to it. Fang Xiaoxia, having no real friends, had simply set her expectations too high today. People often said that every predicament you encountered was tailor-made by fate to target the weaknesses in your character, and it was certainly true—so long as you had not given up hope entirely, you would keep tripping into the exact same pit over and over again. Yet there was a second half to that saying. *And so, fate presents the problem again and again, until you offer a new answer.* The exact same experience had yielded a different conclusion today—or perhaps, a new beginning. In this instant, the shame and grievances from just a moment ago vanished without a trace. Fang Xiaoxia felt so weak she nearly collapsed, only for the youth in black to reach out and steady her. "Your white dresses always look lovely, but..." He furrowed his brows and cast his eyes around the room. His gaze swept briskly over the two awkwardly paired cakes, the pizza and fried chicken on the coffee table, and the casually discarded chibi figurines wearing their little birthday crowns. "Such a foul environment is unworthy of this color." His gaze was tranquil. There was no anger, no contempt, not even an identifiable flicker of emotion, yet it made everyone he looked upon instinctively avert their eyes. Their hearts thumped wildly, as though prey encountering a predator from a higher tier of life. Everyone who caught Bai Zhou's eye bowed their heads, yet they simultaneously felt as if they were entirely beneath his notice. After a brief pause, he added: "Furthermore, I do not believe they possess the taste to appreciate it." "The handmade custom dresses from Milan are piling up like mountains at home. I hope that next time you step out, you will listen to the styling advice of us butlers." "...?" Fang Xiaoxia's eyes widened dramatically. She stared at the familiar young man before her, stammering, at a complete loss for words. "Yes, yes... I know this is your little quirk, but if you play the pig to catch the tiger for too long, you will easily be looked down upon by fools." Nodding, Bai Zhou sighed with an air of helpless resignation, offering a reminder: "Keeping a low profile does not mean forgetting your own identity, Miss Fang." Such a haughty, dismissive attitude ought to have infuriated these reckless teenagers, but the unexplainable pressure in the room was suffocating, smothering any stirrings of anger before they could even take form. What made it worse was that his every mannerism, gesture, and word were elegant beyond reproach, exuding a charisma that commanded deference. He bowed slightly to Fang Xiaoxia in respectful deference, the picture of an aristocratic family's head butler. It conjured the image of a drizzling rain outside, where a butler in a black trench coat strolled gracefully from the far end of an alley beneath a black umbrella, arriving to escort a willful, incognito young lady back home. "They're playing you, Charmander," Bai Zhou whispered into Fang Xiaoxia's ear as he leaned in, yet his stern expression made it seem as though he were reporting state secrets. *What do you mean, Charmander... and why is it you?* Fang Xiaoxia's mind was in utter turmoil. "Just lending a chivalrous hand. No need to thank me." Bai Zhou winked at her. "Besides, isn't this the birthday scene you wanted to see?" "What?" Fang Xiaoxia was stunned. Before she could process anything, however, all her thoughts ground to a halt. With a light clap of Bai Zhou's hands, the private room's door, which had only just closed, swung open once more. *There's more?!* It wasn't just Fang Xiaoxia; everyone present shared the exact same thought. Suddenly, they felt as though the door were Doraemon's Anywhere Door—no one could guess what might walk through it next. Two rounds ago, it had been a little cake cart; last time, it had been a domineering butler in black. What now? A dinosaur from the Jurassic period? Bai Zhou winked at Fang Xiaoxia, a trace of mischief dancing at the corners of his eyes as he signaled for her to stay calm. Next, six exceptionally burly men in suits and sunglasses filed into the room. Moving in unison, they entered swiftly and in silence, effortlessly securing key positions beside the door, along the windows, and across the room, subtly forming a loose yet effective cordon. Dark sunglasses hid their eyes; only their taut jawlines and professional, stony expressions betrayed their disciplined training. Though their gait was slightly stiff, clearly none of the teenagers could tell there was anything amiss. Unlike the aloof elegance of the butler before them, these men radiated the overt, seasoned aura of professional security operatives. The very instant they stepped through the door, their first action was to bow respectfully toward Fang Xiaoxia. They did not make a sound, but their movements were in perfect sync, as if practiced countless times. The classmates stood dumbfounded, forgetting to sip the drinks in their hands, their mouths hanging slightly open. They stared back and forth between the group of dark-suited men who seemed to have stepped straight off a movie set, Fang Xiaoxia flanked in the center, and Bai Zhou beside her, wearing an effortless smile as the 'head butler.' The scene before them was entirely beyond their realm of comprehension. At this moment, Fang Xiaoxia's status was set in stone. No one would ever again think that Fang Xiaoxia's white dress was an accidental match with the receptionist's uniform, nor did anyone dare show the slightest sneer or ridicule. Everything transpiring before their eyes formed an invisible barrier, severing the white-dressed girl from them entirely and elevating her to a plane they could neither touch nor comprehend. Every single person held their breath. Li Wanwan had long since huddled into the corner with her clique of sycophants. Her face was paler than Fang Xiaoxia's had been just moments ago—so pale that even her thick under-eye aegyo-sal makeup failed to cover it, making her look like a shivering ghoul. None was more terrified than she. Her heart thumped like it was raving in a nightclub, her pulse spiking straight to 280, teetering on the brink of cardiac arrest. *Say it sooner! If you had this kind of background, why didn't you say it sooner?!* *So, it turns out that I don't have friends because people say my character is trash, while you don't have friends because you genuinely look down on everyone else?!* *If you'd said so earlier, I wouldn't have deleted you from my friends list when I saw your Moments, and I sure as hell wouldn't have held a grudge...* It felt just like bullying a good-looking but socially anxious kid at school, only for the kid to turn around the very next day and say, 'I'm done hiding. I'm laying my cards on the table.' Then, a family butler named 'Alfred' would pull up in a luxury limousine outside your front door, announce that your family was going bankrupt today, and hand the kid a Rolex to use as brass knuckles while beating your face into a pulp. *You introduced yourself as Bruce, a name more common than Dirt, but why didn't you mention your last name was Wayne?!* Yet there was no medicine for regret in this world. Surrounded by six suited bodyguards, Li Wanwan not only realized she was wrong, but she also knew she was utterly finished... However, things unfolded somewhat differently from what she imagined. Bai Zhou merely spared her a fleeting glance. Just as he had looked at the others, his eyes held no emotion, nor did they linger. That impartial indifference did not feel like a human looking at another human; it was more like a human watching an ant run in circles. "Could it be..." Even as she breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief, cold sweat soaked Li Wanwan's back, and a bewildering swirl of emotions churned within her. There was shock, indignation, and a hollow emptiness. It was as though she had agonized and trembled in dread for an eternity, only to realize she had never existed in their eyes to begin with. They simply lived in entirely different worlds. Whether she gloated or trembled, she was as laughably insignificant as a monkey putting on a show inside a cage. She stared blankly at the back of the girl in the long white dress, who somehow suddenly appeared immensely tall, losing herself in the sight. *Did Fang Xiaoxia... see me this way all along?* Bai Zhou withdrew his gaze. In truth, if Fang Xiaoxia had stood up for herself right now, Bai Zhou would have fully supported her slapping that woman whose back looked like it had been mauled by a bear. Yet Fang Xiaoxia had been in a daze the whole time, seemingly stripped of all cognitive function. Right now, even if Bai Zhou abducted her and sold her off, she would probably help him count the cash and throw in a goofy 'thank you' for good measure. When he looked at Li Wanwan, Bai Zhou had wanted to say: *If someone willingly presents themselves to you as a soft persimmon, you should count your blessings. It is because they want you to taste their sweetness, not because they are yours to squeeze at will.* *If you fail to cherish that, you deserve to rot.* ...In the end, though, Bai Zhou said nothing at all. They were not close. In fact, they were complete strangers. He had no obligation to teach her a lesson. Moreover, for a snobbish, calculating person who fancied herself charming and indulged in petty malice, showing her the kind of backing she had just lost out on—and then ignoring her entirely—hurt far worse than killing her. "Mingling with the common folk is a fine experience, but now, it is time for you to return to your world." Bai Zhou stepped aside, speaking clearly beneath the watchful eyes of the room: "The true birthday banquet is about to begin. As the guest of honor, you cannot be absent." With that, he turned back to the silent background props behind Fang Xiaoxia. Youthful faces had tried so hard to act like mature adults, yet now their true colors were laid bare, reducing them to a pack of stunned simpletons. "Good day, classmates." Bai Zhou bowed slightly to them, his etiquette impeccable. Yet that rehearsed smile was cold, artificial, and aloof, inspiring sheer dread. It made them think that this was precisely what the high and mighty figures of their imaginations looked like. "Our family's young lady must take her leave now. May all lovers find their way to one another, and may the rest of you enjoy your gathering and have a pleasant time." Had anyone from the Special Control Bureau been present, they would have realized with shock that this 'regal' smile looked remarkably familiar—bearing an uncanny resemblance to the smile the Major usually wore when addressing his subordinates. Turning around, Bai Zhou gently brushed Fang Xiaoxia's slender shoulders twice, as though dusting away some lingering bad luck. "Let's go, Charmander." "Don't just stand there like a statue. Bring this play to a perfect close." Bai Zhou spoke softly: "Picture them all as cabbages and radishes. Chest out, chin up, show a little pride." "Just walk right out with your head held high." The girl remained dazed. She couldn't remember whether she had taken a step, nor could she recall how she had moved forward. Everything was a blur. Perhaps every eye in the room was fixed on her, and she didn't even know if she had embarrassed the youth beside her. By the time her senses returned, she was already standing before the closed double doors of the private room. In that instant, an indescribable, bizarre feeling washed over her— The moment she pushed this door open, this departure would place her and the people behind her into two entirely different worlds. Yet why would she feel that way? The mysterious boy had merely lent a helping hand. Tomorrow was Monday, and she would have to go to school just like any other day. Everything would slowly return to its normal track, and her damnably lingering youth, like endless plum rains, stretched out before her for a long time to come. Yet she also felt that even if her youth ended right at this very moment, it wouldn't matter. As long as she had this single instant, that damn youth of hers didn't seem quite so hideous anymore. Someone had made a dazzling entrance at her lowest, most pathetic hour—just as she had dreamed countless times before: while her parents quarreled, a knock would sound at the door, and opening it would reveal a teddy bear and Usagi standing outside, saying, *Sorry we're late, but thankfully, there's still time.* *"The car is waiting outside. Let's go,"* they would say. *"This time, we will make a clean escape from this hateful life."* Fang Xiaoxia did not know what kind of emotions were surging within her chest; her tangled thoughts were cluttered with far too much daydreaming. Yet on one point, she was absolutely certain. She was happy. The girl liked to pat herself on the shoulder every now and then; she liked to reward herself with an ice-cold Coke, even if the supermarket was sometimes sold out of Coca-Cola and only had Pepsi left. She was simply used to pampering herself, coaxing the little kid living inside her body. Yet in truth, she felt she owed that little kid an apology, because through all these years, Fang Xiaoxia had never once managed to make her genuinely happy for even a single day. Until today. Happy. She was certain that the emotion flooding her heart was something called happiness—a surge of energy so immense that if someone handed her a transformation device, she could turn into Happy S on the spot and battle a little monster for eight hundred rounds. Then, in the very next instant— The doors opened. Bai Zhou pushed the heavy doors open for Fang Xiaoxia with his own hands. Just as Bai Zhou had instructed, under the gaze of everyone present, the young girl straightened her back. With her chest out and her chin held high, she strode through the doors of the private room. She did not look back. The foul stench of the KTV receded into the distance, and the dazzling neon lights of the corridor slowly fell behind them. Flanked by the men in suits, and under the distant, curious gazes of her classmates who had followed them downstairs but dared not draw close... Bai Zhou led Fang Xiaoxia across the street. Parked there was a goose-yellow Maserati MC20, poised like a swan with its neck arched—so utterly elegant and gorgeous that Fang Xiaoxia was left staring in pure disbelief. *Vroom!* A thunderous roar shook the air as the fifth-generation Nettuno engine came to life. With a series of soft hums, the butterfly doors rose automatically. Sliding into the driver's seat, Bai Zhou turned to Fang Xiaoxia and gestured. "Get in." Even as he spoke, Bai Zhou's peripheral vision stayed locked on the rear-view mirror, keeping watch on the Maybach in the distance where 'Luo Si' seemed on the verge of making a move. Amid his tense alertness, seeing the open butterfly doors inexplicably reminded him of the scene where Brother Liu had once told him to get into the car. Once the dazed girl obediently climbed inside and settled into the passenger seat, she heard the boy beside her ask: "Are you ready?" "For what?" Amid the rolling roar of the engine, Bai Zhou let out a slow, long breath. Placing both hands firmly on the steering wheel, the boy wore a serious expression as he slammed his foot on the accelerator: "Sort out your shitty life. We're rolling, girl!"