Morning came and Chen Xiaolian felt hungry. However, he did not feel like eating instant noodles. Thus, he chose to leave the internet café and walked outside.
The sky was turning light and some food hawkers, who operated with pushcarts, had started their business.
Chen Xiaolian stood in the street and randomly found a stall and sat down. On the simple, square table with benches, he ordered a bowl of bean curd – oh, he was of the Salt Faction. [1] He also ordered two warm Chinese donuts. Tearing them with his hands, he stuffed them into his mouth and munched down on them.
His current location was not too far from the school’s side door, a place that was located within an alley.
A dilapidated metal door located by the side of the school slowly opened up and a thin and short figure shambled out while pushing a garbage cart.
Chen Xiaolian recognized that person. He was the thin and stiff looking fellow that Chen Xiaolian had saved yesterday – ermm, he still did not know that fellow’s name.
The fellow parked the garbage cart at the side of the door before raising his head to look around. He moved over, greeted the hawkers, shakily produced a few coins and bought a fried pancake. Then, he walked back toward the door, his head lowered as he munched down on his food.
A black coloured sedan halted before the school entrance and Yu Jiajia alighted from the sedan.
She was still wearing that white coloured wool sweater from yesterday – looking at the bleary expression on her face, Chen Xiaolian determined that this girl must have stayed up all night.
Sigh… it appears that being a sugar baby is not an easy job either.
Chen Xiaolian had no ill feelings toward Yu Jiajia. Looking at the flower like beauty, he felt rather sorry for her.
After Yu Jiajia got off from the sedan, the sedan drove off. However, Yu Jiajia did not walk into the school through the entrance. Instead, she stood at the entrance and considered something before walking toward the side where the morning hawker stalls were.
Chen Xiaolian quickly lowered his head to eat his food. In his heart, he was hoping that Yu Jiajia would not notice him.
His wish was fulfilled and Yu Jiajia did not walk over to his table. She bought a packet of soymilk and left.
At that instant, two fellows walked out from the internet café located by the side.
The two fellows had the words ‘I am a loser’ etched on their faces.
Staying up through the night, their complexions were ashen green. Their hairs however, were dyed red and yellow. With a cheap cigarette between their fingers, they walked out, yawning. Out of habit, their shifty eyes darted around.
Naturally, after catching sight of Yu Jiajia, their eyes remain glued onto her.
Yu Jiajia possessed a very good figure. The jeans she was wearing accentuated the beautiful curves of her hips and thighs while the white coloured wool sweater exuded an aura of purity. Moreover, her face was also beautiful…
In the early morning when the sun had yet to rise up, the streets were filled with the colour of greyness and not many people could be seen. For a beautiful girl to appear at a time like this, her existence became something of an inevitable attraction.
The two fellows muttered a few words. Then, they tossed away the cigarette and moved to follow her.
Chen Xiaolian noticed all those happening. He then looked at the half-eaten bean curd before him and gave a sigh.
He could not simply ignore it… even if he was to put aside the relationship between Yu Jiajia and Qiao Yifeng, Yu Jiajia was still one of his hard-core readers, one that had supported him up to Hegemon.
Chen Xiaolian stood up and stretched his waist – I will just take this as an after meal exercise.
…
A sharp scream soon pierced its way out from the alley by the side of the school.
However, due to how short and weak the scream was, the people in the vicinity did not notice it. For Chen Xiaolian on the other hand, his sharp senses allowed him to clearly hear the scream.
He frowned and walked into the alley.
…
Just a glance was sufficient to tell that the two of them were delinquents. They were the bullies in society. Truthfully, they were not thinking too much about it. They had been spending their time inside the internet café for the whole night, wasting away all their money. As of now, the combined amount of money available in their pockets was only enough to buy them a pack of cigarettes.
When they first set their sights on Yu Jiajia, their intention was simply to extort some money from her.
They were currently in the vicinity of a high school. It was apparent that this was not the first time the two fellows had engaged in the act of extorting a student’s pocket money. Considering how minor of a crime this was and how hard it was to pursue the criminals, this became one of their sources of income.
They followed Yu Jiajia because they saw that she was alone without any methods of fighting back. In addition, it was currently early in the morning where there was almost no one on the streets.
These two fellows then cornered Yu Jiajia within the alley. However, when they caught sight of Yu Jiajia’s appearance…
They temporarily changed their mind.
When they were in the internet café last night, they must have downloaded and watched a certain type of Japanese movie, resulting in a surge of hormones. After leaving the internet café in the early hours of morning, they then encountered a pleasant looking, delicate beauty. Before them, this beauty was exhibiting an indisputable look of helplessness and terror.
It was clear that their hormones were now driving them.
Not that they would actually commit any outrageous acts within this alley – they do not quite have the courage to commit things like XXXX-ing – though things might be different if this was the middle of the night. However, it was currently morning. Thus, they had some scruples about doing so.
However, they were still very interested in flirting around and copping a feel.
One of the fellows gave Yu Jiajia a hug from behind while grabbing both her arms. The two hormone driven fellows did not even bother to pick up the purse that Yu Jiajia had dropped onto the ground.
The other fellow wanted to move forward to cop a feel. He extended his outstretched hand in the direction of the girl’s breast.
“Damn it! Hold her tight! She kicked me!”
“Hurry up! Someone will be coming soon!”
Yu Jiajia screamed out desperately, but a hand slid over to cover her mouth. Her legs lashed out back and forth, only to have a stinking mouth move toward her. She felt so fearful that her body turned limp and her mind entered a state of shock.
Yu Jiajia who was like the moon among the stars within the school could never have dreamt that she would end up being sexually assaulted by the side entrance of the school.
It was at that moment that the metal door beside them suddenly pushed open. A head emerged out and asked. “What is going on?”
Yu Jiajia seemed to have found a lifesaver. She quickly broke free from the hand covering her mouth and struggled to shout. “Help! Help!”
“Damn it!” The hormone driven fellow who had wanted to fondle her breast was enraged and he stared at the head sticking out from the door. “If you do not want to die, then scram back inside!”
As he said that, he pulled out a switchblade from his pocket.
The face on the head was stiff and wooden, its eyes indifferent – Yu Jiajia recognized who that person was and her heart sank.
It was the youngster who was always getting bullied… this person’s cowardice was something that everyone in school knew.
Sure enough, his head quickly shrank back inside and Yu Jiajia fell into despair.
However, two seconds later, the door was pushed open once again. The thin and short youngster charged out!
In his hand was a broom!
“You, you guys… let her go!”
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and nose. Despite the redness on his face, there was firmness in his eyes – however, his hands shakily held onto the broom.
“Damn it!” The fellow with the switchblade cursed out as the broom was swung down onto him.
The broom was the type used to sweep the streets. It descended in an arc and the switchblade was incapable of blocking it.
As it so happened, the fellow had let out a curse at the same time. He felt several of the broom fibres poking into his mouth and the smell of soil invaded his mouth. He quickly took several steps back. After suffering from the broom slap, the pain he felt was not particularly severe. However, surprise and rage welled up from inside him.
The fellow was enraged. He stepped forward and used one hand to pull away the broom. Then, he delivered a kick onto the youngster’s lower abdomen.
As expected, the youngster’s thin and short figure fell down. Next, the fellow pounced forward. Seemingly riding the youngster’s body, the fellow began showering the youngster with his fists.
Blood flowed out from the youngster’s nose and he held up both hands in an attempt to protect his head. However, the other fellow had loosened his grip on Yu Jiajia and rushed forward as well. He then delivered a kick at the youngster’s loin area.
Being on the receiving end of those fists and kicks, the thin and short figure was soon curling himself up into a ball like shape on the ground.
“This senior is going to make you bleed!” The fellow who had his fun interrupted was filled with rage. Wielding the switchblade in hand, he moved forward and stabbed it forward. His accomplice was still able to maintain a sense of reason. However, having participated in the beating, he was feeling spent and thus, he did not stop the enraged fellow.
Seeing the blade of the switchblade descending, Yu Jiajia could only let out a scream.
However, before the blade could stab into the youngster’s cloth, the enraged fellow’s hand was grabbed.
Next, the fellow felt a powerful force lifting his body up into the air and was sent flying away. His body then slammed heavily onto the walls of the alley. His head struck a trashcan beside the wall and his face became covered with blood.
Standing by the side, Chen Xiaolian raised a foot and kicked the other fellow out of the way.
“Are you all right?” Chen Xiaolian extended his hand toward the youngster who was on the ground.
The other party however, appeared to have been beaten to the point of suffering from disordered thoughts. His first reaction was to slap the hand away before moving to defend his head.
Chen Xiaolian sighed and turned around to look at the two delinquents.
“I hate this kind of trash the most,” Chen Xiaolian did not hesitate as he moved over and extended his hands to grab onto their wrists. Then, he twisted forcefully.
Ka ka!
A very clear and blunt sound accompanied by two miserable screams echoed out.
Clearly, the two fellows’ wrists had been twisted.
Chen Xiaolian swiftly extended his hands yet again and two “ka” sounds could be heard once more!
“Go to the hospital by yourselves,” Chen Xiaolian said coldly.
The intense pain caused the two of them to sober up. With both their wrists fractured, they lost whatever desire or courage they have to fight back. They hastily got up and staggered out of the alley before running away.
Chen Xiaolian turned around and helped the thin and short youngster up from the ground. He also helped to dust off the dirt from the youngster’s body.
The youngster raised his eyelids and looked at Chen Xiaolian coolly, biting down on his lips.
“You are a real man,” Chen Xiaolian gave him a thumbs up.
With tears smearing her face, Yu Jiajia gingerly leaned over. “It, it is you?”
“En, how are you,” Chen Xiaolian looked at Yu Jiajia and determined that she did not recall what happened last night…
“Just now, thank you…” Yu Jiajia nodded repeatedly. Without waiting for Chen Xiaolian’s reply, she bowed toward the thin and short figure. “Thank you as well. You…” She looked at the blood trickling down the youngster’s nose. “Are you all right? Do, do you need to go to the hospital?”
“It is nothing,” The youngster woodenly shook his head.
“A girl should not be walking around the street in the early morning hours,” Chen Xiaolian softly said.
“I… I came to the school for morning exercise.”