"The three of you…you're from the same school as Qin Ying, aren't you?"
The bar owner surprised the three of us when we finished our dinner and went to the cashier to pay. Since he was handling the cashier machine, he could directly speak to us before we left the store.
"Um, yes, sir." I nodded, a little intimidated by his muscular frame. And before the existences from beyond the fourth dimension could call me a pathetic beta wimp or whatever insults they loved, this guy was at least an Earth ranked cultivator while I was only at peak Yellow Rank. Of course I was going to feel intimidated by his imposing presence.
"Could you guys stick around for a bit and wait for Qin Ying? She's about to finish her shift. I was hoping you guys could walk her home." He jerked his chin toward the now closed entrance. "I don't know if that punk is still waiting outside, wanting to take revenge for what happened earlier. He probably wouldn't dare to touch my store again, but I can't be everywhere at once. If he spots Qin Ying going home alone…"
"I don't know…" Tong Xue gulped. "We're just ordinary students. I don't know what we can do against that Han Yi Qian if he calls a gang on us or something."
"I'll do it," I said, ignoring Tong Xue. "I'll make sure class rep…uh, I mean Qin Ying gets home safely."
"I'll be with you," Hao Ren said. Tong Xue groaned, looking deflated.
"Fine, if we're going to die, we'll die together. Brothers to the end."
"Don't be so pessimistic," Hao Ren snapped, smacking him. "Nobody's going to die!"
"You'll be fine." The bar owner focused his dark gaze on me before he smiled. "You were the one who stood up to help Qin Ying when that punk was trying to hit on her. I also sensed your qi. You're not bad at all. I won't have to worry if you're sending her home."
"Are we just extras then?" Tong Xue whined. Hao Ren sighed.
"You were the one who almost chickened out and made excuses earlier…"
After her shift, Qin Ying went to the back and changed out of her waitress uniform. She emerged, dressed in our school uniform, though I had to admit that the uniform skirt was only marginally longer. At least she didn't look as embarrassed as when she was in the other outfit.
"Why are you guys here?" She hissed. She glanced at the bar owner, who gave her a disapproving look. "I know the boss asked you to walk me home, but how did you even end up here in the first place?!"
"It was just a coincidence," Tong Xue replied, holding up his hands defensively. He pointed at me. "Song Jun Wen came to sell stuff in the commercial district, and Hao Ren and I just tagged along. We were about to go for dinner when we saw you coming in here."
"Please don't tell anybody at school that I work here!" She pleaded. Tong Xue grinned mischievously, but I cut in.
"We have no intention of doing that."
"Yeah," Hao Ren agreed wholeheartedly, giving Tong Xue a warning glare. He sighed and said nothing.
"Why are you working there, anyway?" I asked as we walked out of the bar and along the commercial district. It was a little late, but we were able to catch the last train. Fortunately, we all lived in the same neighborhood, so I could just walk home after sending her back. "Do you need money?"
"That's…" Qin Ying looked uncomfortable. I sighed.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But if there's anything I can help with, please let me know."
"Heh! That's right!" Tong Xue crowed. "Song Jun Wen's pretty rich now!"
Hao Ren smacked him again. "Don't go around saying that nonsense, you moron!"
"Ah, sorry." Tong Xue held his head and moaned, looking sheepish. He lowered his head apologetically when he saw that I was not amused. Cultivator or not, letting the public know that I had a good amount of money was the equivalent of painting a huge target board on my back and inviting people to rob me.
Even though this was a modern-day city with low crime rate, apparently there were always criminals randomly showing up at every opportunity just to attack the protagonist, going as far as attempted murder. You know, so that the protagonist was justified in killing them all and becoming a murder hobo. And the fourth dimensional existences will praise him for his "ruthlessness."
Fortunately, as we left the train and headed to Qin Ying's home, nobody showed up to rob me. Reality wasn't as…uh, exciting as web fiction or manhua, after all. Realistically speaking, the odds of a random group of thugs showing up to mug me in the middle of a modern city in Hua Xia were close to zero. It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't as frequent as Qidian web novels and Tencents manhua would have you believe either.
"My house is right over there. You don't have to send me all the way. Thanks for escorting me."
Once we rounded a corner and toward a row of old and dilapidated looking houses with peeling paint, gardens overgrown with weeds, rusty pipes and broken tiles, Qin Ying stopped and bowed toward us. It resembled the commercial district we had just left behind, except that it was older, moldier and emptier.
"Nah, your boss charged us with a mission. We're not going to give up right at the last mile." I waved her off and continued following her. Qin Ying grimaced before nodding.
"Right, before you three leave, you want to come in for a drink? I should at least give you guys soda for the trouble."
"No need for that," Hao Ren assured her. "It's our pleasure to help out."
"Even so, I can't let you come all this way and leave emptyhanded."
"What are classmates for?" I asked. "We aren't going to leave a friend in the lurch. Don't need to be so courteous."
"Fine." Qin Ying sighed and approached a shophouse that resembled a restaurant. Qin's Delicacies, or so the text from the giant signboard hanging above said. However, she paused when she caught sight of the entrance, and her hand flew to her mouth. "No!"
I immediately saw the cause for her shock. The glass entrance had been smashed, shards laying dangerously about. Qin Ying rushed in, her shoes crushing the broken fragments, and all but dove inside.
"Dad! Mom! What happened?"
"What happened here?!" Tong Xue demanded, but Hao Ren and I were just as clueless. I didn't hesitate to follow, though, my senses heightened. Even though I was preparing for combat, I didn't sense the presence of any enemy.
Whoever did this was long gone.
"Dad! Mom!"
Qin Ying was crying when she found her parents. Her father was sitting on a half-broken stool, his face a little bloodied. A man in his late forties, he had graying hair, a slender build and a slightly good-looking face. Red stained his long, white apron, which he had left on. From his attire, he seemed to be a chef. Was he attacked during working hours? Even so, he grinned and patted his daughter's head.
"It's fine. It's just a scratch. They let us off easy. See? No biggie."
"You're finally home, Xiao Ying." Her mother, a beautiful lady in her forties with her hair tied into a ponytail and a pink apron, hugged her. Qin Ying sobbed.
"We got to call the cops!" Tong Xue exclaimed as he joined me, horrified at the scene. The interior of the restaurant had been smashed up, with tables overturned and chairs lying about. A few plates and bowls had been smashed in the turmoil.
"No," Qin Ying's father said firmly. He wiped the blood from his face and sighed. "We already did that, and they didn't do anything. Also, it's partly our fault."
"What do you mean?" Hao Ren asked.
Qin Ying's father grimaced and looked away. "I was the one who borrowed money from…the wrong people. It's my fault that I can't pay them back."
I think he meant loan sharks. That made sense.
"Are these your friends?" Qin Ying's mother asked her. She nodded hesitantly.
"My classmates from school."
"My. Sorry that you have to see such an embarrassing sight." Qin Ying's mother tried to smile, but her eyes were red. "Please come in. Xiao Ying, get them some drinks, would you? I'm sorry, we won't be able to host you when the restaurant looks like this, but…"
"It's fine." I began righting up the tables and chairs. Tong Xue and Hao Ren gaped at me, but I ignored them. "I'll help with cleaning up."
"No, you don't have to!"
"It's fine. It'll be faster if we all help, right?"
"Yeah!" Hao Ren agreed, looking around and grabbing a broom. "Don't mind if I borrow this? I'll be sweeping up the glass."
It took an hour or two, but we finally managed to clean up the restaurant and make some rudimentary repairs on the furniture. The chairs and tables, thankfully, weren't broken beyond salvation, but the glass doors were another thing.
"Sorry for all the trouble. You already helped my daughter so much, yet you ended up having to assist us in all this cleaning up." Qin Ying's mother was beyond apologetic.
"You know what, let me treat you guys to a meal, at least!" Her father was more enthusiastic. "I'll cook something right up!"
"Um, it's late and we have to go home. Maybe next time." I had sent a text message to my parents earlier, informing them that I was at a friend's house, but I had an unspoken curfew. It wasn't good for high school students to stay out so late, after all.
"It's a promise! I owe you three!" Qin Ying's father grinned. Despite his injuries – and I could see visible bruises on his face and arms, turning purple after a while – he remained in good spirits. He lowered his voice to a whisper as he leaned against Qin Ying. "So, my dear daughter, which of the three are you interested in?"
"Dad! Don't talk nonsense!"
"That's enough, dear. Let's not keep the gentlemen. I'm sure their parents are also worried."
With that, we parted ways. As the three of us strolled toward our respective homes under the quiet night sky, Tong Xue sighed.
"Man, what a mess. I didn't know the class rep was going through so much."
"I wish I could help her," I said.
"Me too," Hao Ren agreed. "We should call the cops, but from what the class rep's parents said, they can't do anything about it."
"Damn. It's really a pity." Tong Xue wrapped his hands behind his head and whistled. "You know, I always thought the class rep would go far. She clearly has talent in cultivation, you know? I always wondered why she was stuck in the regular class with us. But I see why now. With her family situation like that, and her working a parttime job, she has no time to focus on cultivating. No wonder she's stuck at ordinary rank. If she has an opportunity, I'm sure she'll improve by leaps and bounds."
"That's why she's working parttime, right?" Hao Ren asked thoughtfully. "In order to make money to help her dad pay off the debt he owes the loan sharks. She did say something that she needed the high pay there, which was why she chose the job at that bar over other parttime jobs."
I thought back to the 950,000 yuan I had just earned from selling spirit stones, and wondered how much her dad owed the loan sharks. Maybe I could help them pay back the debt, though I knew for sure that the Qin family would refuse any help I had to offer. They had their pride, and honestly, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting such aid from a mere classmate who wasn't even close to their daughter in the first place.
Never mind Mr. and Mrs. Qin, who I had met for the first time tonight. Even Qin Ying was someone I barely knew, having only met her acquaintance about two months ago when I first dropped into the regular classes.
Still, I wanted to help. Seeing the pain that they were suffering through right now struck a chord, and I couldn't help but feel anger at the loan sharks who tormented them like that. Sure, they owed you money, but that didn't give you the right to enact violence on them.
But what could I do? Beat them up? This wasn't some cultivation power fantasy story. Surely things wouldn't be that simple.
-Or is it? –
I frowned when I saw the message from the system. I didn't know if it was trying to be funny or if it was hinting that I was overthinking things. Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose and continued toward my home.
I guess I could think about all this in detail later.