Chapter 19: Change
“Ying Ying?”
What’s going on? Are little girls in the city no longer safe now?
Zhang Ze looked at her in confusion, then thought of Old SZ’s instructions from last night and nodded to show he understood.
“Brother Zhang, especially on the way home from school today until tomorrow ends, you absolutely cannot let Ying Ying leave your sight!”
“Good.”
Although he had left BD, he had never stopped exercising for a moment, and even now with his age increasing, his skills had not retreated much.
Therefore, Zhang Ze answered without the slightest hesitation. If he couldn’t even protect a high school student now, he shouldn’t dream of coming to the city for such a high salary; he might as well go home and continue farming!
“What about me?”
Mao Jinqian asked unwilling to lag behind, afraid he would have no chance to be useful.
A monthly salary of sixty with various benefits and subsidies—he wouldn’t even feel right reaching out for it without working desperately.
“Brother Mao rest assured, there will only be more things waiting for you.”
Hearing her words that were half serious and half joking, Mao Jinqian was not unhappy at all; on the contrary, he was very happy, grinning and scratching the back of his head as he repeatedly replied, “That’s good, that’s good!”
Tomorrow was her coming of age birthday, and at that time her maternal grandfather’s other good friend would surely bring the will and rush to Beijing City.
Before signing the documents, she had to move out her household registration one step ahead.
Luckily the job was already confirmed, so the grain and oil connection, household registration, and such could all be settled in advance.
Once the will took effect and she retrieved the things her maternal grandfather had stored in the bank, and got her mom’s dowry, that would be the time for her to truly tear face with Xu Zixin.
It would also be the time for her to thoroughly change her own fate!
The two people who had received their respective tasks couldn’t stay for a moment and immediately split up to act after leaving the Xu family.
Zhang Ze, who arrived first outside the school to wait, soon keenly noticed something was wrong.
The roads from the school to the Steel Factory Family Courtyard not only had increased JC patrol times but also several batches of plainclothes officers cross-guarding.
A solemn expression appeared on his resolute face as Zhang Ze secretly speculated: It seems Ning Ning really wasn’t overthinking…
……
After proactively working for a day in the space, as the time of the incident drew closer, Su Ning, who wanted to distract herself, found it harder and harder to concentrate.
Palpitations came from her chest from time to time, making her unable to continue suppressing the idea of not causing trouble.
She simply washed the mud off her hands, flashed out of the space, changed into a set of clothes, and hurriedly went out the door.
The kids who got out of school early were now gathered in the widest concrete square in the courtyard, playing tops, marbles, and jump rope, their joyful laughter carrying far.
“Sister Ning!”
“Sister Ning Ning!”
Nodding and smiling at them, Su Ning unconsciously quickened her pace, and in the end even directly ran up.
By the time she panted to the school gate, the bell for dismissal was ringing.
The silent campus instantly turned into a boiling cauldron.
Looking around, she didn’t see Zhang Ze’s figure. Although students had just started running to the gate, her heart felt even more uneasy.
As more and more students surged out, after searching everywhere without seeing Fu Ying’s figure, this unease instantly reached its peak.
“Yingzi sister?”
“It’s really that pretty sister from this morning!”
Hearing their dialogue amid the pushing and shoving, Su Ning didn’t give them time to react and directly flashed in front of the group to block them.
“You guys are… Fu Ying’s classmates? Where is Fu Ying?”
The several boys looked at each other, frantically exchanging eye signals: What to do? Tell the truth to win the sister’s good feeling? Or betray the iron brothers and good bros?
Is this even a question?
Are you sure these aren’t the same answer?
“I know!” “I, I know too!”
“Hey shut up all of you, listen to me!”
The boy who seemed to have the best relationship with Fu Ying—cough—Su Ning, who knew her friend-making principles, precisely locked her gaze on the best-looking one among them, who was also the one shouting loudly.
Chen Jingyu’s ears quietly turned red, but his expression remained calm, “Yingzi left early.”
“When? Do you know why?”
Her heart startled, the anxiety in Su Ning’s eyes seemed to materialize, and her tightly clenched fists made cracking sounds.
Unobtrusively stepping back a small step, Chen Jingyu felt a bit timid in his heart: This Yingzi sister won’t… actually hit someone, right?
“Right before dismissal, Yingzi sneaked over the wall half a class early, as if something happened, but she didn’t say what exactly.”
“Yeah, Yingzi’s eyes were red, I saw it! It must be because of something urgent; she didn’t skip class on purpose, sister.”
“Thanks, classmates! Which side do you usually climb over?”
“That side, the wall near the grove behind!”
After asking clearly the position of the wall they often climbed, Su Ning turned and ran toward the outside of that wall.
The classmate who had just pointed the direction had his fingers gripped one by one by the remaining few, “Wha… what are you doing?”
“What do you think, brothers, get him!”
Pointing without thinking like that wasn’t basically telling Yingzi’s sister that they were all bad students who often climbed walls to skip class?!
If not beat him now, save him for New Year?
Unaware of the small-scale ‘fight’ happening behind her, Su Ning was running desperately forward, hating her own stamina for the first time.
Why couldn’t she run faster, even faster?
……
Nightfall arrived as scheduled, with thousands of lights lighting up one by one like fireflies in the dark.
“Huff huff… huff~”
She could only compare and eliminate one by one the roads near the school based on the future scene she had seen.
Sweat soaked the clothes on her entire back, and her legs trembled uncontrollably.
Relying solely on one breath of energy and willpower to hold on, Su Ning finally found the alley entrance that highly matched the scene she had seen.
Bending down to pick up half a red brick dropped at the corner of the wall, she approached step by step.
“Who?”
Zhang Ze, supporting Fu Ying, suddenly pulled her behind him and coldly shouted toward the dark alley, “Come out!”
“Ning Ning?”
“Brother Zhang, it’s me.”
Answering while quickly scanning, Fu Ying was hidden behind him and not clearly visible, but since he was there, he surely wouldn’t let Fu Ying get hurt.
Not far from the two lay an unidentified mass, occasionally emitting pained groans, with a dagger dropped on the ground reflecting eerie cold light.
“Sister Ning Ning, wah~”
Hearing the familiar voice, Fu Ying could no longer hold back and burst into tears, while her two legs, soft like noodles, groped toward her.
“Ying Ying wait a moment, good girl~”
Seeing Sister Ning Ning mercilessly avoid her hands, Fu Ying was dumbfounded in disbelief, even choking mid-cry.
“Sister Ning Ning you…”
“Bang—”
“Bang bang bang—”
The half red brick in her hand truly shattered into four or five pieces this time, and the person groaning on the ground completely shut up.
The two who had been stunned came back to their senses only after she stopped.
“Don’t be afraid, Ying Ying.”
Tears suddenly streamed down, and Fu Ying tightly hugged her, feeling both aftershock and moved: The person who always said violence couldn’t solve problems had actually hit someone for her for the first time!
Wu wu, Sister Ning Ning really loved her the most!
Zhang Ze, with a similarly complicated expression, went to the person, checked his neck and felt a faint pulse, then breathed a sigh of relief.
