Chapter 3: The Fallen Campus Queen
The spicy beef noodles were greasy, hot, and the best thing Ye Chen had ever tasted.
He devoured the food like a starving wolf, the heat chasing away the last remnants of the bone deep cold from his time on the street. The two beers buzzed pleasantly in his head, dulling the sharp edge of his emotional pain.
He patted the bulging pockets of his ruined suit jacket. One million yuan in cash. It was a comforting weight.
"Su Yun," he muttered between mouthfuls of noodles, his eyes narrowing. "You thought you broke me. You only set me free."
While he ate, the System's mechanical voice echoed in his mind again.
[DING! Scan complete. High quality target detected within 10 meters.]
Ye Chen almost choked on a noodle. "Ten meters? Here?"
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and casually looked around the small, run down noodle shop.
It was 2:30 AM. Besides him and the sleepy boss behind the counter, there was only one other table occupied.
In the far corner, hunched over a bowl of untouched plain noodle soup, sat a woman.
Even sitting slumped in a cheap plastic chair under harsh fluorescent lighting, her beauty was undeniable. She wore a simple white down jacket, but it could not hide her elegant figure. Her long black hair fell forward, obscuring most of her face, but Ye Chen could see tear stains glistening on her pale cheeks.
She looked like a fallen angel sitting in a dumpster.
Suddenly, the System superimposed a translucent data panel over her head, invisible to everyone but Ye Chen.
[Target Name: Lin Wan'er]
[Identity: Former Campus Queen of Jiangbei University (Class of 2020). Currently CEO of failing Lin's Cosmetics.]
[Current State: Extreme distress, facing bankruptcy and severe debt.]
[Affection Score: 0/100 (Stranger)]
[System Note: Bind this target. When affection reaches 30, Host receives a reward.]
Ye Chen's eyes widened. Lin Wan'er.
He recognized the name instantly. When he was a freshman entering Jiangbei University, Lin Wan'er was the legendary senior, the reigning campus beauty queen before Su Yun took the title. She was known for being cold, aloof, and incredibly rich.
How did the untouchable goddess end up crying in a greasy spoon diner at 3 AM?
Just as Ye Chen was processing this, the door to the noodle shop banged open. Two men walked in.
They were not drunk laborers. They wore cheap black suits and had the aggressive, swaggering walk of low level gangsters or loan sharks.
They scanned the room, ignored Ye Chen in his filthy suit, and marched straight to Lin Wan'er's table.
One of the men, a bald guy with a nasty scar over his eyebrow, pulled up a chair and straddled it backward, staring at her.
"Miss Lin," the scarred man said loudly, his voice grating. "Hard to find you these days. Dodging our calls?"
Lin Wan'er flinched violently. She looked up, her beautiful eyes wide with fear. "Brother Hu... I told you, I need a few more days. The bank loan is processing..."
"Bullshit!" Brother Hu slammed his hand on the table, making her soup bowl jump. "You said that last week. My boss is losing patience. Your company is finished. The bank is not giving you a cent."
The second thug leaned in, grinning lecherously. "If you do not have the money, there are other ways to pay the interest, Miss Lin. A pretty face like yours is worth a lot in certain clubs..."
Lin Wan'er's face turned deathly pale. She shrank back in her chair, trembling. "Please... do not. I will find the money. I promise. Just give me until tomorrow."
"Tonight," Brother Hu snarled. "Two hundred thousand yuan. Just the interest payment for this month. If you do not have it, you are coming with us right now."
He reached out a meaty hand to grab her arm.
"Hey."
A calm, cold voice cut through the tense air.
Brother Hu froze. He turned his head slowly to look at the source of the interruption.
Ye Chen was standing there. He had finished his noodles. He looked like a beggar in a destroyed wedding suit, but he stood tall, his eyes intense and fearless.
"Who the hell are you, beggar?" Brother Hu spat, looking Ye Chen up and down with disgust. "Get lost before I break your legs. This is private business."
Lin Wan'er looked at Ye Chen. She did not recognize him but she saw the mud on his clothes and the desperation in his eyes that mirrored her own just an hour ago.
"Sir, please, do not get involved," she whispered, terrified for him. "These are dangerous men."
Ye Chen ignored her warning. He walked slowly toward their table.
"I could not help but overhear," Ye Chen said smoothly, adjusting his torn cuffs as if they were made of solid gold. "You said she owes two hundred thousand?"
Brother Hu laughed in disbelief. "Yeah. What is it to you? You got two hundred cents in your pocket, trash?"
Ye Chen did not smile. He just reached into his suit jacket pocket.
He pulled out two thick stacks of bright red, hundred yuan bills. Twenty thousand yuan total.
He tossed the stacks casually onto the table. They landed with a heavy thud right in front of Brother Hu.
The laughter died in Brother Hu's throat. His eyes almost popped out of his head.
Ye Chen reached into his other pocket. Thud. Another twenty thousand.
He kept reaching into his pockets, pulling out brick after brick of cash.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Within thirty seconds, there were ten stacks of cash forming a small red mountain on the greasy table. One hundred thousand yuan in cash.
The entire noodle shop was dead silent. The boss behind the counter stopped washing dishes. Lin Wan'er stared at the money, her hands covering her mouth in shock.
Brother Hu looked at the money, then at Ye Chen's dirty face, completely confused. A beggar with a hundred grand in cash stuffed in his pockets?
"That is one hundred thousand," Ye Chen said calmly. "Now, shut your filthy mouth and take your hands off her."
Brother Hu swallowed hard. He was a low level thug. He rarely saw this much hard cash at once. His aggression evaporated instantly.
"This... this is not enough," Brother Hu stammered, though his voice was much quieter. "She owes two hundred thousand just for interest."
Ye Chen reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the sleek, black Swiss bearer card Master Liu had given him. He tapped it against the table.
"This card has seven million on it. Do you have a portable POS machine?" Ye Chen asked coldly. "Or do you want me to call my driver to bring another suitcase of cash?"
It was a bluff. He had no driver. But the aura he projected, the absolute confidence of a man who had twelve million yuan to his name, was terrifyingly real.
Brother Hu looked at the black card. He did not know if it was real, but he was not willing to gamble against a man who casually carried stacks of cash in a ruined suit. This guy was obviously some eccentric young master playing games.
"Fine," Brother Hu muttered, greedily snatching up the hundred thousand cash. "This buys her twenty four hours. Tomorrow night, we want the rest."
He signaled to his partner, and the two thugs quickly hurried out of the shop, afraid the crazy rich beggar would change his mind.
They were gone.
Ye Chen turned to Lin Wan'er. She was still staring at him, her beautiful eyes filled with a mix of shock, gratitude, and confusion.
"Are you okay, Senior Sister Lin?" Ye Chen asked gently, his voice returning to normal.
Lin Wan'er blinked, tears finally spilling over her lashes. "You... you know who I am?"
"Everyone at Jiangbei University knew the legendary campus queen," Ye Chen smiled faintly. "I am Ye Chen, class of 2024. I graduated a few years after you."
He grabbed a napkin and handed it to her.
"Why... why did you help me?" she asked, her voice trembling. "That was so much money. And look at you... you seem to be in trouble yourself."
Ye Chen looked down at his ruined wedding suit and laughed bitterly.
"Let us just say I had a very bad night too. My wife divorced me on our wedding night a few hours ago and took everything." He looked into her eyes. "I know what it feels like to hit rock bottom and have no one. I could not watch them do that to you."
Lin Wan'er's heart squeezed. She looked at this strange man, muddy, injured, yet exuding a strange power and kindness.
A warmth spread through her frozen chest for the first time in months.
[DING!]
[Target: Lin Wan'er. Affection Score increased: +15.]
[Current Affection: 15/100 (Grateful Acquaintance)]