Despite knowing that Zhou Wang had experts guarding him, she impulsively bought a ticket on the same flight as Zhou Wang, and from the moment she arrived in Peng City, she had already anticipated today would come.

No, perhaps it didn’t even require boarding the plane; maybe he had already noticed in Magic City.

When she "escaped" from the Magic City Club, a calm Qu Peining realized that Zhou Wang was not an ordinary person at all.

The "encryption level" she had seen earlier was not a coincidence, and since she could trace his whereabouts, he could certainly trace hers as well.

After the experiences at the Magic City Club, any sane person’s first reaction should have been to escape that city, but from the moment she chose to linger, it showed that she had already become abnormal...

But why?

Qu Peining could not explain it herself.

She didn’t want to return to Beidou because she had no idea how to face Jiang Mo.

Although she had come to Magic City to seek justice for Senior Sister Jiang Mo, in the end, not only did she fail to achieve that justice, but she also ended up having a series of intimate encounters with her senior sister’s boyfriend...

Qu Peining, unwilling to admit it and lacking experience, knew that it had already gone beyond common boundaries.

Her pure body, never shown to others, was seen completely, not to mention the countless kisses, especially those one or two times when Qu Peining was clearly sober but still indulged...

Yes, indulged.

Qu Peining didn’t want to use that word to describe it, but in the past half-month, she had more than once become distracted at the thought of those moments and even subconsciously touched her lips.

No matter how much she tried to avoid those feelings at the time, Qu Peining at least knew she... was not repulsed by it.

Qu Peining’s mind was in chaos.

She was avoiding returning to Beidou, while deliberately neglecting a fact... that the real person she should avoid was actually in Magic City.

"I just want closure for this matter. That day, it was too rushed to leave, I can’t just leave it like that without clarity, right?"

In the end, Qu Peining found a legitimate reason for her inexplicable behavior.

So when she learned that Zhou Wang was going to Peng City, she almost without thinking immediately bought the same flight as Zhou Wang.

It wasn’t until she sat on the plane that Qu Peining fell into great regret, questioning what exactly she was doing, and what this behavior amounted to now?

While she couldn’t explain the question, she couldn’t help but follow Zhou Wang all the way.

There were even a few times when she saw Gao Xing deliberately circle in front of her, as if reminding or warning her.

At that time, Qu Peining thought she might as well start a fight.

In the past during training, she often used some "self-abusing" behavior to impose physical pain on herself to become more alert.

But then, after Gao Xing circled in front of her a few more times, he disappeared without any other actions.

Qu Peining didn’t know what Zhou Wang was thinking, and she later simply treated this strange trip as a leisure outing.

When Zhou Wang was shopping at Wanxiang City with four girls, Qu Peining sat in the mall’s Starbucks, drinking her first cup of coffee in her life.

... Due to strict family rules, her brothers and cousins at home never touched these "foreign things," and this was also her first attempt.

But why wasn’t it bitter at all?

The "vanilla latte" recommended by the staff turned out to be so sweet that it was almost cloying, bringing her back to that hazy night for a moment.

When Zhou Wang was casually exploring the museum, Qu Peining curiously rode the "capsule elevator" up and down, secretly taking a few photos of herself.

She found her smile was stiff and that she looked more natural when not smiling.

There was one photo that didn’t turn out well, but Qu Peining couldn’t delete it, perhaps because it happened to capture Zhou Wang’s silhouette in the distance.

When Zhou Wang strolled on Jiedao Sha Beach, she bought a swimsuit but never had the courage to put it on.

When Zhou Wang watched the sunrise on Wutong Mountain, she watched the dawn gradually dye the sky red and felt a type of relaxation she had never experienced before.

When Zhou Wang watched the sunset, she followed suit.

When Zhou Wang had morning tea, she had morning tea too.

When Zhou Wang ate flambé drunken goose, she also bought a goose leg to taste...

During those two or three days, following Zhou Wang’s eating, drinking, and playing, the unconscious smiles she showed were probably more than the past two or three years combined.

She discovered that when she looked at Zhou Wang surrounded by those four flamboyant girls, she felt differently.

There was initially some resentment because she found Zhou Wang to be even more of a scoundrel than Senior Sister Jiang had described.

Outsiders can see clearly.

Intuition told Qu Peining that the way these four girls looked at Zhou Wang was unusual.

But somehow, after those few days of closely following the itinerary, watching these four girls chirp and be happy every day, the feeling that prevailed in Qu Peining... was envy.

After silently observing for so many days, Qu Peining had gained more understanding of Zhou Wang.

Beyond his annoyances, Zhou Wang seemed to be quite interesting.

For instance, she saw a lost little girl on the beach. Normally, one would immediately look for her parents or seek help from the staff...

But Zhou Wang didn’t do that.

He and those four girls spent the entire afternoon playing with the little girl on the beach, buying her numerous toys. When the girl’s parents rushed in, not having a chance to reprimand yet, they were met with Zhou Wang’s stern scolding:

"What kind of parents are you, letting your girl out of sight? If I were a trafficker, your daughter would have been taken to Malaysia by now..."

Perhaps Zhou Wang’s aura, clearly that of a rich person, was too strong, leaving the couple submissively cowed with not a trace of retort.

Qu Peining watched this scene from afar, finding it amusing.

If you call him a good person, he’s so fierce, though he was the one hanging around with the little girl all afternoon, causing her parents to search everywhere, and yet he seemed so justified...

But if you say he’s a bad person, that doesn’t seem right either, because the little girl did look very happy, and left reluctantly, while Zhou Wang also faced the girl with a full smile, seeming easy to get along with.

There were many similar small details; this man would smoke in public but would also pick up plastic bottles beside trash bins and throw them in from time to time.

The more she learned about him, the more confused Qu Peining became.

She couldn’t determine what impression Zhou Wang left on her anymore.

So when faced with Zhou Wang’s calm inquiry, the various responses she had imagined, such as righteous questioning, feigned angry outbursts, or finding a reason based on her own identity, suddenly became inapplicable...

She could only slightly open her light but bright red lips without knowing how to respond, her grip on the milk tea cup tightening.

"Qu Peining, you seem a bit off."

And just at that moment, Zhou Wang lightly commented, making Qu Peining’s ears turn completely red.

Did... he notice something?

As Qu Peining was about to get up and escape, Zhou Wang suddenly leaned back and smiled:

"Since you’re here, want to take a stroll together?"

Qu Peining didn’t know why Zhou Wang suddenly let her off, but she let out a long sigh of relief, and the urge to flee disappeared along with it.

When Qu Peining came to her senses amidst the noise, they were already inside the shopping park mall.

Surrounded by a blur of bright lights, non-traditional music, the pervasive smell of alcohol, and trendy dressed young people, Qu Peining felt uncomfortable.

"You haven’t been here before, want to take a look?"

Zhou Wang asked with a smile.

Qu Peining wanted to refuse, but the action she ended up taking was a slight nod of her head.