The Night of Shelter, Her Submission and Struggle

On a late autumn street, fallen leaves and a biting chill swept through every corner of the city. Lin Yuan had always believed compassion was the most useless thing in this world, until that damp, cold alleyway, where he came across a pair of eyes—wary, yet filled with a desperate, all-or-nothing plea. Her name was Shen Xingchu, a castaway of fate, homeless, her worn trench coat still trying to hold on to a last shred of dignity. She opened her mouth and asked him to take her in for the night. The trembling in her voice, he couldn’t tell if it came from the cold or from despair. He led her through the door—whether it was a sudden kindness, or something else, he himself couldn’t quite say.