"I've learned some techniques from an old man for treating sprains and fractures. How about I take a look at your ankle?" Summer Yunjie hesitated before speaking.
"Really? Why didn't you say so earlier…? Then hurry up and check it for me, or I won't be able to work tonight." Cheng Ping was initially surprised, then rolled her eyes. She suddenly remembered that Summer Yunjie had mentioned this before, but she had misinterpreted his words. Her face flushed slightly.
Summer Yunjie knelt down in front of her ankle at her urging.
In all honesty, when Summer Yunjie knelt down, he was purely trying to help Cheng Ping with her sprained ankle, but he forgot she was wearing denim shorts. The fabric was tight and stiff, barely covering the sides of her full thighs, with a clear gap in the middle. As he knelt, his gaze was directly aligned with that gap.
Women are sensitive to certain parts of their bodies, and when Cheng Ping noticed Summer Yunjie's gaze on her legs, she immediately felt uneasy. She quickly pressed her hands down on her skirt and pointed a finger at his forehead, blushing, "Hey, where are you looking?"
"Ahem!" Summer Yunjie quickly lowered his head, feeling guilty, and hastily grabbed her foot.
"Ah! Be gentle!" Cheng Ping winced as Summer Yunjie handled her ankle roughly.
"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean it!" Summer Yunjie apologized quickly, sweating nervously. He hadn't expected that helping a woman with her ankle would be such a challenging task.
Cheng Ping knew he didn't mean any harm. Otherwise, a man wouldn't dare kneel and peek under a woman's skirt, and she would've kicked him in the head by now. But knowing something was one thing, saying it aloud was another.
"Hmph, let's see how you perform. If you can fix my ankle, it means you're innocent. If not, then you were up to no good from the start." Cheng Ping pointed at his forehead again, warning him with a playful tone.
Summer Yunjie couldn't help but smile wryly. Next time, if a girl sprains her ankle, he'd better hold back his kindness, or he might end up being mistaken for a pervert.
Luckily, despite his current situation, needing to work at a bar to make money, Summer Yunjie was still the descendant of the great witch Summer Yu, and had been practicing witchcraft since childhood. So, this sprained ankle was nothing to him.
Summer Yunjie gently held Cheng Ping's foot, which was very delicate. It had a smooth ankle and pearly, jade-like toes. The calf was round and firm, leading up to her full thighs. However, her ankle was slightly swollen and red, likely from the earlier sprain. If not treated, she might not even be able to work tomorrow.
"It might hurt a little at first. Just bear with it," Summer Yunjie said, not daring to look at her legs too much. He then carefully began massaging the injured area.
As he massaged, Cheng Ping felt sharp pain at first. But because Summer Yunjie had warned her, she didn't scream out, although her brows furrowed in discomfort. Her face showed a faint expression of pain.
However, after a while, Cheng Ping began to feel the sharp pain transform into a warm sensation, as if she were soaking in warm water. It felt so soothing that she almost moaned in pleasure, and her tense muscles began to relax. Even the hand that had been pressing her skirt down unconsciously loosened.
As soon as she relaxed, the denim fabric shifted again, and it opened right in front of Summer Yunjie.
But Cheng Ping quickly realized this, and she hurriedly pressed it down again while glancing at Summer Yunjie. She saw him focused and gentle as he massaged her foot, and for a moment, she just stared at him in a daze.
"Alright, stand up and walk around. It should be fine now." As Cheng Ping was lost in thought, Summer Yunjie suddenly stood up and smiled.
"Uh, is it really healed?" Cheng Ping was startled, and instinctively stood up.
As soon as she stood, Cheng Ping was surprised to find that her left foot, which had felt like it was pricked with needles earlier, was now completely pain-free. She couldn't believe it and exclaimed, "Wow, it's really healed! It doesn't hurt at all! Ah Jie, I didn't expect you to be so skilled!"
"Hehe, as long as you're fine. I'll go wash my hands." Summer Yunjie, though lacking confidence in finding a job, was confident in his witch doctor skills. He wasn't surprised to see Cheng Ping feeling better, and with a smile, he turned and walked to the restroom.
Cheng Ping watched him leave and suddenly remembered how he had been kneeling in front of her earlier, facing her open legs. Her face flushed with a faint heat.
After washing his hands, Summer Yunjie and Cheng Ping confirmed they would meet at the BLUENIGHT bar at 5 PM, and then parted ways outside KFC.
After confirming the job arrangement, Summer Yunjie no longer had any interest in wandering around. He wasn't in the mood to just wander aimlessly anymore, knowing that he had some hope for a job. As he boarded the bus, he saw the bag thief from earlier lying on his motorcycle under a tree in the distance. The thief watched the No. 35 bus with a cold smile on his face. As the bus started moving, the thief revved his motorcycle and followed it from a distance.
"Damn it, you think you can ruin my plans and just walk away with my money? This isn't over!" The thief thought angrily to himself.
Summer Yunjie got off the bus at Deya Community and walked leisurely towards the entrance of the community, carrying his shoulder bag. From a distance, the bag thief, seeing Summer Yunjie heading into Deya Community, shot him a hateful glare. He quickly pulled out a Motorola phone from his pocket and began dialing.
Deya Community was an older residential area near Shengli River. Though the buildings were old, the environment was peaceful, and the rent was relatively cheap compared to other places. When Summer Yunjie first came to Jiangzhou, he still had 2,000 yuan in his pocket and felt confident about finding a job. However, due to his training, there were many inconveniences, so he chose not to live in the company dormitories or in a rural rental house. Instead, he decided to rent an apartment in a residential area.
Though Jiangzhou was one of the most economically powerful cities in Jiangnan Province, the rent for apartments in communities like Deya was still quite high. One-bedroom apartments cost around 600 yuan per month, while two-bedroom apartments went for over 900 yuan. The rent was usually paid every quarter or even half-yearly. At the time, Summer Yunjie couldn't afford a one-bedroom apartment, so he found an ad online for a shared two-bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom for 900 yuan per month. The cost was divided among the tenants, so each person only paid 450 yuan per month, which worked out for him. He paid for one quarter's rent, leaving him with 650 yuan, which he hoped would last him until he found a job. The environment was quiet, so he contacted the person who posted the ad, who turned out to be a straightforward young man. They quickly agreed to share the rent.
Walking in the familiar community, Summer Yunjie thought about how he had been living here for a month and a half, and finally, there was some hope for finding a job. He felt a sense of relief, as if the clouds had parted and the sky had cleared. Unlike before, walking along the community's tree-lined paths, he thought about how he had lived as a laborer, moving bricks on a construction site, and yet had "luxuriously" rented an apartment here. He had always felt awkward, as if he were pretending to be someone he was not.
The roommate Summer Yunjie shared the apartment with was Zhang Wenbin, a salesman for a beer company in Jiangzhou. Last week, Zhang was suddenly sent to Jiangbei Province for business, so for the past few days, Summer Yunjie had been living alone in the two-bedroom apartment, enjoying the space.
Returning to his room, Summer Yunjie washed his face, then picked up a book on management principles and lay down on his bed to read.
In the past, due to his practice of witchcraft, Summer Yunjie had neglected his studies and only completed secondary school in his hometown. Now that he was out in society, he realized how important a diploma was. After wasting more than half a month at the job market without success, Summer Yunjie went to Xinhua Bookstore to buy self-study materials for a business management associate degree, planning to take the self-examination to advance from secondary school to a higher degree next year.
Deya Community was a bit far from Nanshan Road. When Summer Yunjie saw the time was already 4:15 PM, he decided to head out.
At 4:15 PM, the sun was still scorching the earth. The streets, though busy with traffic, had few pedestrians.
Summer Yunjie had just walked out of the community entrance when, a few meters away, the door of a Jinbei van suddenly opened, and four men holding steel pipes jumped out. One of them was unmistakably the bag thief.
However, it was clear that the thief was not the leader of this group. The leader was a tough-looking man with a bald head and a face full of scars. His head gleamed under the sunlight, with a scar running from his forehead to the middle of his skull, resembling a hideous centipede crawling across his head, making anyone who looked at it feel uneasy.
"Get in the car now, or I'll smash your skull!" The bald man lightly tapped the steel pipe against his palm, showing his teeth in a sinister grin as he spoke threateningly.
Summer Yunjie glanced at the steel pipe in the bald man's hand. Without saying a word, he quickly climbed into the van.
"Damn it, this guy actually listened!" The bald man saw that Summer Yunjie didn't resist and climbed into the car obediently. He spat on the ground, cursing to himself, but secretly relieved.
Though there were few pedestrians on the road and most people were used to keeping their heads down, not daring to interfere with others' business, hitting someone in broad daylight still carried some risk. It was better not to make a scene in public if they could avoid it.
Once Summer Yunjie got into the van, the bag thief and another man squeezed him into the middle of the seat. The thief's eyes were bloodshot, and he smirked, "What a coincidence, little guy. Didn't expect to see you again, huh?"
"Didn't expect it. I even let you off at lunch, but now you're back at it. You're not only ruining yourself but dragging your friends down with you!" Summer Yunjie shook his head regretfully as he looked at the thief.
"You damn idiot, do you not know the situation? Looks like you need to see just how powerful I am!" The thief, already boiling with anger, raised his steel pipe and swung it toward Summer Yunjie's head.