Shadow Rogue

In the eyes of an assassin, there is only the target. Man or woman, old or young–it doesn’t matter.

Chu Rui was willing to hurt a woman. He wasn’t one of those old-fashioned men sitting on their high horses, convinced that any man who hit a woman wasn’t a real man. Women weren’t at any kind of disadvantage at all.

Throughout history countless men had fallen at the hands of women–not just emperors and ministers, but also businessmen, billionaires, those with insurmountable reputations and abilities. Now, of course, it went without saying that little had changed in favor of men. Women weren’t just capable of holding their own; in many more places, they were almost masters over men. Too bad that this damn world had too many men with soft hearts and open ears.

Now with the goddamn gender imbalance, plus how many men had lovers on the side meant that the already limited resources were being taken up more and more. Some men had no choice but to live the single life forever. What could you do about it? Nowadays it was harder for a normal guy to get married than to travel to the moon. Chasing after women before marriage, then pampering them after marriage–no matter when or where, men were getting screwed over.

Even though Chu Rui was willing to hurt a woman and had even killed a few famous ones, he wasn’t willing to take a chance on doing it in such a public place. This woman was clever, and Chu Rui liked interacting with clever people.

After a meaningful smile, Chu Rui flashed the seductive woman a look and turned to leave, pulling Su Meimei, whose eyes were still wide with curiosity, with him.

Startled by Chu Rui, the young man immediately shriveled, not daring to say another word. All he wanted now was for this grim reaper of a man to get away from him.

Chu Rui didn’t really care that something like this had happened, but it had killed his mood. Walking to the normal underwear section, he let Su Meimei pick four more sets of underwear in addition to the one she had picked out beforehand. Five in total; they paid and left.

They shopped from four in the afternoon all the way until ten p.m, buying all the clothes, underwear, shoes, and other daily necessities that they needed. Chu Rui only gave up when his arms gave out from carrying all the bags.

After hailing a cab home, Chu Rui moved all the stuff home before moving out quickly again to buy a mountain of food at the local supermarket.

When he came home, he found that Su Meimei had already finished cooking some rice and several small dishes.

After such a long day, Chu Rui was starving. He was originally planning to propose that they eat out, but since Su Meimei had already cooked for them he held his tongue on the matter.

“Go ahead. I’m going to go make another dish.”

Going through all the food Chu Rui had bought, Su Meimei organized it, putting everything that needed to be kept fresh into the fridge. After a while of gazing at the simple vegetable dishes on the table, she took out a slab of meat and walked into the kitchen.

Hearing that there would be more food to come, Chu Rui immediately slowed down the speed he was eating at.

Chopping up the meat, turning on the stove, adding oil to the pan…

It didn’t take long for the scent of cooked meat to fill the room. The enticing smell made Chu Rui’s sensitive nose twitch.

“Ding…ding…”

Just as he felt the anticipation building in his chest, the doorbell suddenly rang.

What the hell?

Chu Rui frowned. He didn’t have any family or relatives in the area. Who could it be? It was so late too, almost eleven p.m.

Could it be some kind of paid muscle called over by that little brat from earlier? He had mentioned that his dad was the police chief, after all.

A dangerous glint flashed through Chu Rui’s eyes. If that bastard was determined to rile him up, there was no blame on him for any sort of ruthless retaliation. Killing him certainly wasn’t going to induce any guilt in Chu Rui; the little dickhead was a useless waste of air and food anyway.

Striding to the door, a single look through the peephole killed all his anger. It wasn’t a cop, just Chen Xiaofei.

“Xiaofei, what are you doing here? Is there something going on at the restaurant?” Chu Rui asked with a smile as he quickly opened the door and greeted her.

“No. Mom mentioned that you hadn’t gone over to eat, and asked me to send you some food,” said Chen Xiaofei softly, lowering her head in slight embarrassment.

Seeing the lunchbox in Chen Xiaofei’s hands sent a shiver of emotion through Chu Rui. After years making his way through the constant darkness of the hard streets and kill after kill, this gentle concern that reminded him someone was thinking of him was worth more than anything to him.

“You don’t have to be so courteous with us,” said Chen Xiaofei quietly, “If it weren’t for you, the restaurant would be gone a long time ago. I don’t know what Mom and I would do.”

Chu Rui forced a smile. Even though he had helped the two of them twice now and didn’t have to pay for meals anymore, that wasn’t why he hadn’t gone. It was just that today had gotten so busy. He was planning to go alone today, but Su Meimei had already cooked for him and he couldn’t turn her down.

“That’s not what I meant at all! You know, I love Qin’s cooking,” he said, rubbing his head as he stood in the doorway, fumbling with the lunchbox. An idea came to him and he smacked his own forehead with a smile: “I’m not quite full yet, though, so you came at the right time. Come on in and eat!”

“Okay!” Chen Xiaofei nodded, even though her cheeks had blushed slightly red.

“Wow, it smells so good in here. I didn’t know you were so good at cooking.” The scent of the meat filled the room. Chen Xiaofei glanced at Chu Rui with some surprise in her eyes. As someone in the industry, of course she knew what kind of cooking skills it took for someone to make a dish not only taste good, but smell so good as well. Why would anyone go out to eat at the restaurant everyday if they could cook like this?

Chu Rui smiled, but said nothing. They were already at the dining room, after all.

Seeing Chu Rui and a little girl come in, Su Meimei stood up, even though she had just sat down from finishing the last dish. Her head was lowered, almost like a maid seeing her master come home.

“Chu Rui, she…” This unusually pretty golden-haired beauty reminded Chen Xiaofei of a doll, stunning her in her steps.

“Oh, her name is Su Meimei. She’s my…my…house guest!” Chu Rui said with some effort. Of course he couldn’t just say that he’d saved her from some punks on the street, right?

House guest?

Chu Rui’s hesitance brought up another line of thought in Chen Xiaofei. A man living with such a beautiful woman who was cooking for him…they lived under the same roof, ate at the same table…was this still just a “house guest”? Who could believe that a man and woman living together like this had a purely platonic relationship?

“Meimei, this little beauty here is Chen Xiaofei,” Chu Rui continued, failing to notice Chen Xiaofei’s expression.

“H-hello!” Su Meimei answered, with some trepidation.

Chen Xiaofei felt her heart twist. The best she could manage was a forced smile.

“You two go ahead and eat. I’m going back for now.”

Chen Xiaofei put the lunchbox down and turned to leave.

“What’s wrong, Xiaofei? Are you feeling sick or something?”

It was strange that Xiaofei was reacting so oddly. Seeing her pale face, Chu Rui was immediately concerned.

“No, I’m fine. I’ve just been busy all day, and I’m feeling a little tired now.” She smiled again.

“How about I see you out?”

Chu Rui nodded, and was about to follow her out.

“No need for that! You stay and eat, or your meal’s going to get cold!”

Chen Xiaofei pushed Chu Rui back into the doorway, and then went downstairs without looking back.

Watching Chen Xiaofei vanish down the stairwell, Chu Rui felt a strange heaviness in his heart.