After the traffic police arrived, they questioned Zuri about what had happened. Zuri truthfully described the situation, and several witnesses around also corroborated the events.
When the ambulance arrived, the two injured people were loaded onto it. The truck driver, who was later pulled out of the vehicle, had already succumbed to the accident, his body emitting a burnt odor.
Onlookers shook their heads in pity as they watched the driver and the two bloodied victims.
One person said to Zuri, "Young lady, it's a good thing you dodged quickly, or else you would've been..."
"You're really lucky; you should go to a temple and pray for good fortune."
"That was too close. If it weren't for this young lady, that little girl might've been hurt."
Zuri paid no attention to the murmurs around her. She took out her phone, intending to call Lei Ting, but before she could dial, her phone rang—it was the delivery man who had called her earlier.
"Miss Zuri, I'm at the bus stop now, but it seems like there's been an accident. Where are you?"
"I'm right here at the scene," Zuri replied as she scanned the crowd. Soon, she spotted a man holding a phone, looking around anxiously.
Zuri walked toward him.
"Where are you?" the man asked.
Zuri tapped his shoulder. The young man turned around and, upon seeing the blood on Zuri's arm, looked at her in surprise. "Are you Zuri?"
"Yes, I am. Where were you earlier?" Zuri asked in a stern tone.
The delivery man looked embarrassed and apologized, "I'm really sorry. That client wanted me to deliver his package immediately, and since it was close by, I thought I could make it there and back quickly. I really apologize."
He bowed deeply in apology.
Zuri narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized him. Then, she glanced over at the truck and the pool of blood on the ground, a flashback of Jonah's accident surfacing in her mind.
The scene was eerily similar, almost too much so, making her wonder if this was all orchestrated.
Was it a coincidence? Or was it deliberately planned?
Zuri couldn't shake the question from her mind.
The delivery man scratched his head and, seeing her silence, nervously pleaded, "Please don't file a complaint against me. I've already had three complaints this month. If I get one more, I won't have any salary left."
Zuri didn't directly respond. "Where's my package?"
"Oh, right!" The delivery man quickly handed her a package. "Please sign for it."
Zuri took the package and signed her name.
"What's your name?" Zuri suddenly asked.
"My name is Li Nan. If you need anything in the future, you can reach out to me," Li Nan said shyly.
Zuri watched him leave after she took the package.
Li Nan, huh?
It wouldn't be hard to find out if her suspicions were correct.
Perhaps due to the scare from the accident, Zuri felt restless and anxious on her way back home.
She pulled out her phone and called Lei Ting.
"Lei Ting, help me look into a courier from Fengyun Express named Li Nan. Also, I want details on the truck driver from today's traffic accident on Fushan Road."
Sensing something amiss, Lei Ting asked, "Zuri, did something happen?"
Zuri couldn't bring herself to describe her feelings, so she merely said, "Nothing major, just a close call with an accident. Please look into this quickly..."
Before Zuri could finish her sentence, a sudden force from behind shoved her forward.
Caught off guard, she stumbled forward a few steps. As she turned around to see who had pushed her, a flower pot came crashing down from above, shattering right next to her feet, with dirt scattering all over her legs.
Zuri froze, looking up at the quiet apartment building, seeing no one around.
When she turned back, she saw a man standing in front of her. "Leo, what are you doing here?"
Leo walked up to her, his eyes scanning her before landing on the bandaged wound on her arm. His gaze darkened slightly when he noticed the shattered pieces near her feet.
He knelt down, took out a silk handkerchief from his pocket, and gently wiped away the dirt from the small cut on her leg caused by the shards.
Zuri was surprised to see this usually proud man kneel down for someone.
"I can do it myself," Zuri said as she squatted down, trying to take the handkerchief from him, but Leo held onto her hand.
"It's done," Leo said, tying the handkerchief around her ankle, making it look like a decorative anklet.
The shop owner downstairs, seeing the smashed flower pot, grumbled, "So inconsiderate! Throwing something from that height could kill someone."
"Does this happen often?" Zuri asked.
The shop owner sighed, "Yes, it does. People spit, toss cigarette butts, or throw used tissues out of the window—it's disgusting. But this time, throwing a flower pot is just too much."
"Doesn't anyone take action?"
"How can you, when you can't find the culprit? There's no surveillance in these old buildings, and when the property management asked around, everyone denied it. You can't do anything without proof. All you can do is put up with it. These days, you run into all sorts of people."
Zuri glanced up at the residents above, then turned back to Leo. "Why are you here?"
"I happened to be passing by," Leo replied, looking at the bandage on her arm. "How did you get hurt?"
Zuri glanced at her arm. "A car lost control earlier, and I got hurt while dodging it."
Her casual tone didn't convey the danger of the situation at all. If she hadn't dodged in time, she might have ended up as a corpse.
"A car accident?" Leo frowned.
"Had you not pushed me earlier, I might've ended up with a cracked skull. I think today's been rather unlucky for me. No wonder my eyelids have been twitching all day," Zuri said lightly, though she was still shaken.
"It does seem like bad luck," Leo said as he walked beside her. Suddenly, he reached out and covered her head with his hands.
Zuri looked at him in confusion.
"To block the bad luck," Leo said seriously.
"What kind of superstition is that?"
"It's an old saying from my hometown: when bad luck hangs over you, you just need to cover it up."
"That's just superstition," Zuri said with a smile. "You can put your hands down now."
But Leo didn't move, keeping his hands over her head. Passersby started staring at them, their heads turning as they walked by, the couple drawing a lot of attention.
"Mommy, what's that big brother doing?" a little girl asked curiously.
The child's mother was equally puzzled. What were those two young people up to? The weather was clear, so what was the point of covering her head?
The mother, although inwardly perplexed, calmly replied, "That brother is shading the sister from the sun."
"But there's no sun," the child said, eyes wide with confusion.
The mother: ...
The child, unsatisfied with the explanation, tugged on her mother's clothes.
The mother, exasperated, muttered through gritted teeth, "They're just being lovey-dovey."