Chapter 130: What Play
Xiao Lian raised her head and glanced at Sister Su who was smiling and handing her the mirror. The encouragement in her eyes gave her heart, which had been hesitating to reach out and take it, immense courage.
She took a deep breath, then took it and looked intently at herself in the mirror.
Without the scar connecting and squeezing her face into wrinkles, so this was what she originally looked like.
“Sister Su, thank you… thank you…”
—Thank you for giving me the opportunity for a new life, and thank you for deciding to help me without hesitation or concern right from our first meeting.
Xiao Lian held back tears and gripped the mirror tightly with her hand. Her eyes showed both gratitude and anxiety. Tongue-tied, she didn’t know how to express it, and in her urgency, teardrops fell pattering down.
Su Ning patted her shoulder soothingly. The smile on her face deepened involuntarily, as if she already understood the words Xiao Lian hadn’t voiced from the bottom of her heart.
“This is a happy thing, so no tears allowed.”
“Yes, yes, yes, Xiao Su is right. Lian Wa, no crying!”
Worried that she would cry too hard and affect the ointment just applied on her face, Gao Fen chimed in to persuade her. Seeing her daughter nodding with a smile, she relaxed.
She wiped her face with relief and continued to sigh, “If your grandma, your dad, your brother and them saw this, who knows how happy they’d be!”
Mother and daughter thought of their family at home and simultaneously showed warm smiles.
At this recovery speed, probably no need for half a month—ten days, in ten days she should be fully healed, right?
The ointment was so effective, yet why did it feel like Xiao Su had taken less than half the money and suffered a big loss?
Slowly restraining the smile on her face, Gao Fen turned to her, “Xiao Su, that money…”
“It’s getting late, I have to go to work tomorrow, and today’s ointment is used up. Aunt, Xiao Lian, I’ll go rest first, and we’ll continue tomorrow evening?”
Hearing this, Su Ning secretly thought it was bad. Her eyes turned, and she immediately spoke to change the topic, “With this Jade Visage Paste, I can only make this much at a time, so we can only go slowly.”
“Ah.”
Gao Fen was interrupted by her words and instantly forgot what she wanted to say. Seeing the tired look inadvertently on her face, she hurriedly stood up and said.
“Is making this ointment tiring? Xiao Su, go quickly get a change of clothes. I’ve boiled hot water in the kitchen for bathing. Take a bath and go to bed to rest!”
“Okay, I’ll go get clothes first.”
While she went back to the room to get a change of clothes, Gao Fen quickly went to the kitchen, filled the water bucket with the boiled hot water, and carried it to the bathroom for her.
After she finished bathing, the light in the room went out.
Gao Fen, who returned to the guest room with Xiao Lian, belatedly felt vaguely that something was off, but for the moment, she just couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong.
What was it she wanted to say before?
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
“Lian Wa, from now on, treat your Sister Su like a real sister. Spend your whole life being good to her and repaying her, got it?”
“I know, Mom. I will do it!”
……
The next morning.
Upon waking, Su Ning was not at all surprised that Gao Fen and Xiao Lian, the mother and daughter, had gotten up even earlier than her.
After eating the ready-made breakfast, she repeatedly instructed the two: absolutely do not hesitate or feel embarrassed to use the things in the kitchen.
“Aunt, use them boldly and without worry. Don’t forget you paid for food.”
“Hahaha, you little one, so you were waiting for me here. Alright, no more nagging, hurry to work, don’t be late!”
“Then I’ll come back early after work. I’m off!”
“Hey, be safe, Ning Wa!”
Gao Fen’s smile lingered on her face until she rode away on her bicycle.
“Lian Wa, Lian Wazi, quickly get the back basket from the kitchen!”
“Coming.”
Xiao Lian went to the kitchen, picked up the back basket with one hand, and quickly walked out of the yard. “Mom, what for the back basket?”
“Lock the door, we’re going to buy some things.”
……
Su Ning had no idea that they had agreed so readily in front of her, but as soon as she left, the mother and daughter went out shopping right away.
She arrived at the factory gate without incident. Just as she put her bicycle in the bicycle shed and locked it, she saw the crowd swarming toward the same spot.
“What are they doing this early in the morning?”
“No idea, something must have happened. Come on, while there’s time, let’s go join the fun!”
“Then hurry up, let me see what’s going on!”
With an inexplicable expression, Su Ning shook her head and didn’t squeeze over like the people around her.
Given the speed of gossip spreading in the factory, by the time she reached the office, she could probably hear Hu Yong telling the whole cause and process of the matter.
Passing by the encirclement, she faintly heard sobbing complaints from inside and consolations from kind-hearted people.
“Su Ning!”
Even though she was often called by his loud voice, her heart still skipped a beat uncontrollably.
Turning around, sure enough, she saw Fu Jiaming standing not far away, grinning with his big white teeth, silly-smiling and waving vigorously at her.
Yan Bei, whom she had just met yesterday and who was carrying two bags, was beside him.
“Does this guy have to yell my name so loudly every time?”
Grumbling irritably, her feet honestly turned the corner.
Before she took two steps, a figure quickly ran out from the crowd.
Caught off guard, she was hugged from behind at the waist, with no chance to react as the person wailed loudly.
“Woo woo, Ning Ning, you’re finally here. Why did you take so long!”
He Yue?!
Even without seeing the face, she knew who it was from the voice.
Looking down at the hands tightly gripping her waist, a surge of nausea and disgust welled up.
“Let go!”
“No, Ning Ning, woo woo, you… have no idea… woo woo what I’ve been through, Ning Ning…”
Seeing this, Fu Jiaming and Yan Bei exchanged a glance, put away their smiles, and strode up to her.
“Who the hell are you? Didn’t you hear Su Ning tell you to let go? Let go now!”
Seeing her face looking unwell, as if enduring something intensely, Fu Jiaming pulled a stern face that was quite intimidating. With a fierce look, he roared at the woman who wouldn’t let go and just kept whimpering and crying, “If you don’t let go, I won’t be polite!”
Through the bangs half-covering her face, He Yue sized up the two tall, handsome men opposite her. Her heart pounded just from one look, quickly concluding that these two must come from good families.
What luck did Su Ning have, to meet such top-quality men even in this poor, remote gully?
Heaven really was unfair!
Seeing the man making a fierce face at her actually reach out toward her, He Yue had to temporarily put aside her extra thoughts.
“What are you doing? Hooligan! Someone’s being a hooligan!”
“Heh, me a hooligan? You?”
Fu Jiaming showed no mercy in his grip. Hearing this, he used even more force, clamping her hand hard, twisting and wrenching it.
“Ah! It hurts! Woo woo…”
Once she was forced to let go, Fu Jiaming, as if touching something dirty, quickly released her hand too, pulling a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and wiping nonstop.
His expression and mannerism nearly made He Yue pass out from anger.
“Ning Ning, look at him, I…”
“Enough, He Yue. What drama are you causing today?”
Freed, Su Ning immediately turned around, retreated to the two men’s side, and directed her gaze at the person who had quieted down for a bit but suddenly popped up again.
Only now did she clearly see He Yue’s disheveled state all over.
Her two braids were loose and messy, with scattered hair covering half her face.
The top two buttons of her shirt seemed popped off, exposing the white vest inside. The trouser legs below and her leather shoes were covered in mud stains.
There were even clear bruises on her neck and arms.
Seeing this, her brows furrowed tightly: This… was she really bullied?
“Ning Ning…”
He Yue’s eyes were already swollen red from crying, bloodshot whites like a rabbit. Her face was full of words she held back, emanating thick sorrow and despair.
Even at this time, she couldn’t help but put on a pitiful act to gain sympathy!
Even if she was really bullied, Su Ning felt not a shred of pity facing this face.
“Can we talk privately? I really need your help… Ning Ning, you’re my only friend here… woo woo woo Ning Ning…”
Anyone with eyes could see what had happened to her. Watching her cry until she choked and gasped for breath, still such a young girl, people couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. The more emotional ones even cried with her.
“Cadre Su, since she’s a friend, help her!”
“Yeah, you can’t ignore it. If she thinks of something desperate, that’s a living life!”
“Wasn’t she talking about friends? When a friend encounters this, why does she show no reaction? Not even as good as us strangers.”
