Chapter 5: Enemy’s bravery

It was said that the whistleblower was called in by their advisor for a reprimand, and all the posts on the confession wall were deleted.

This incident sparked considerable discussion on campus.

For at least a year, the whistleblower would have to keep their head down among their classmates.

During this time, Jiang Xiaoying dropped the calligraphy elective she had taken with Tong An’yu and switched to “Introduction to the Frontiers of Physics” offered by the School of Science.

In a flash, it was Friday, and Tong An’yu rarely had classes.

“Xiao Yu, there’s a new spicy grilled meat place at the Workers’ Club.”

“I got two discount coupons from the student union.”

“Let’s go try it,” Zhu Yan said.

This newly opened restaurant was already an internet sensation.

Despite the average price of one hundred and twenty yuan per person, it was packed every day.

“Let me change my clothes,” Tong An’yu said, holding a hair tie in her mouth as she twisted her hair into a bun at the back of her head, tying it up in a few quick motions.
Then she took off her light-colored skirt and changed into a black T-shirt.

The T-shirt was old and she wasn’t afraid of getting it dirty.

She could just toss it in the washing machine when she got back.

It was six o’clock in the evening when they arrived at the restaurant.

There was already a long line at the entrance.

With the positive attitude of “since we’re already here,” Tong An’yu took a number, grabbed two chairs, and sat down with Zhu Yan next to the line to wait.

The air quality had been average recently, and it hadn’t improved much at dusk, but the sky was lined with a deep red, inexplicably making the plants, bricks, and stones look very gentle.

She cupped her hands as if she could also scoop up the scattered, gentle light.

After waiting for a full two hours, they were finally seated at a small table.

The taste of the grilled meat could only be considered passable, and it wasn’t very cost-effective for being near the university town.

This meal lasted until ten o’clock at night.
Tong An’yu really couldn’t eat another bite.

There was no one lining up at the restaurant entrance anymore, and only four or five shops in the once-bustling alley were still open.

Zhu Yan was completely satisfied.

She picked up their bags, “Let’s go, let’s get two cups of milk tea for the two slackers back in the room.”

Jiang Xiaoying and Sun Han had a lab class tonight that didn’t end until nine-thirty.
By now, the two of them were so tired their eyes were glazed over, waiting in the dorm room to be fed.

The nearest milk tea shop was at the other end of the alley, next to a few old houses from the seventies.

Tong An’yu looked into the depths of the alley, a sudden chill running down her spine: “Isn’t it a bit dark?”

These few buildings didn’t even have property management, let alone proper lighting.

There was only a single red-hot tungsten light bulb hanging in front of the unit door, swaying as insects bumped into it.

“This area is full of universities, what’s there to be afraid of?”

“Hurry, hurry, I’m collecting stamps for their ‘buy more, get more’ card,” Zhu Yan said.

She had bought milk tea from this shop many times, and one of her cards was almost full of red stamps.

Tong An’yu thought about it and agreed.
With Jing City’s level of public safety, it was unlikely that anything would happen.

The two of them held their bags in front of them and walked into the alley.

A north-south wind blew through the alley, hitting their bodies and carrying the scent of grilled meat behind them.

Zhu Yan ordered two cups of half-sugar taro boba, had the shop owner stamp her card, calculated that she was only three cups away from getting a little elephant bag, then tucked the card away and headed back with the milk tea.

On the way back, the smell of alcohol suddenly drifted in the wind.

A burly figure stood in the alley, bare-chested, with a round belly and pants hanging precariously low.

Tong An’yu stopped abruptly, cast a cautious glance, then pushed Zhu Yan away from the man, sticking close to the other wall.

Zhu Yan wasn’t stupid either; she understood this was a drunkard and it was best to avoid him.

Unfortunately, their deliberate actions still caught the man’s attention.

His head swayed from side to side, and he pointed his glass bottle at them, shouting drunkenly, “What are you looking at?”

“Did you look at me?”

“You have to pay to look at me!”

Tong An’yu could hear her own heart suddenly accelerating, but she wasn’t the type to sit and wait for death.

She exchanged a look with Zhu Yan and said in a low, firm voice, “Run!”

The two of them tacitly broke into a run.
There was no reasoning with a person like this.

Unfortunately, compared to a tall and sturdy adult man, their speed was still too slow.

The man chased after them like a mad dog, cursing, “Pay up for looking at me, or I’ll beat your f*cking mothers to death!”

The echoes grew closer and closer in the alley.

Zhu Yan screamed and threw the milk tea in her hand at him.

One cup missed, but the other hit the drunkard on the forehead.

The plastic lid burst open instantly, and the cold, sweet liquid flowed down his round head and onto his fat body.

“How dare you throw things at me! B*tch!”

The drunkard was furious.

He actually raised the glass bottle in his hand high.

He was completely controlled by his emotions, not knowing the difference in destructive power between a cup of milk tea and a glass bottle, and was about to throw it at Tong An’yu and Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan had nothing left to throw.

She regretted walking into the alley to buy milk tea, but it was too late.

Tong An’yu subconsciously used her bag to shield her head, her heart already cold.
She was still a student, after all, well-protected by her parents and brother.
This was the first time she had faced such a situation alone.

The drunkard’s first blow happened to land on Tong An’yu’s bowling bag.

The top-grade calfskin leather absorbed the impact.

Tong An’yu only felt a jolt in her forehead and fell backward.

The moment her hands hit the ground, she realized it was over.

The bottle might shatter her skull, it might disfigure her.

She might end up in the ICU, forced to drop out of school.

The alley was so dark, and the other party was a burly, middle-aged man who had lost his mind.

No one would risk helping her.

The drunkard did indeed swing the bottle at Tong An’yu’s head.

Tong An’yu squeezed her eyes shut.

At the critical moment, a swift figure suddenly pounced on the drunkard from behind.

He deftly grabbed the drunkard’s arm, pulled back with his waist and abdomen, and then bent it sharply.

Crack!

The painful sound of bone breaking could be clearly heard in the alley.

“Ah! Ah!” the drunkard roared, but the alcohol quickly numbed his pain.

He swung his fist at the person.

That person was lean but tall.

He dodged the drunkard’s punch and, playing to his strengths, aimed for the drunkard’s fragile nose.

This blow was decisive.

The drunkard clutched his nose and slammed into the back wall, his nose bleeding profusely, and he also tripped over a pile of garbage bags.

That person didn’t give him time to breathe.
He raised his leg and kicked the drunkard’s thick belly.

A “thump” sound was heard as flesh hit flesh, and the drunkard spat out yellow bile.

“Fck you, you son of a btch!”

The glass bottle was smashed against the stone wall, creating a jagged opening.
He spat out sour liquid and actually swung the bottle, which was now a weapon, at the person!

The alley was really dark.

The person had already dodged quickly enough, but his palm was still grazed by the sharp glass.

While staggering and dodging, the person kicked a bag that had been dropped during the fight, and the documents inside scattered all over the ground.

“There’s a pervert in the alley! Everyone, help!”

Zhu Yan was terrified, but Tong An’yu could still think.

She could see that the person was not used to fighting.

He was only gaining the upper hand now because the burly man was drunk.

She scrambled up from the ground and ran straight to the nearest barbecue restaurant, shouting for help from the diners and staff inside.

There were still many kind-hearted people.
A crowd rushed out, and a few waiters brandishing stools subdued the drunkard in a few moves and took him to the nearby police station.

Someone recognized him.

This man lived in one of those old buildings.
He was an alcoholic who abused his family, constantly waiting for a demolition to make him rich.

But the government had yet to make a decision, so he cursed the heavens and the earth, complaining about the injustice of the world.

The people around were discussing it among themselves, but the person who had single-handedly stopped the drunkard remained silent.

He picked up his dust-covered backpack, then squatted down to pick up the documents that had been trampled and dirtied.

His right hand was dripping with blood, and the bright red fingerprints covered the documents, soaking through the paper, becoming the brightest color in the alley.

Tong An’yupanted heavily, her heart almost jumping out of her chest.

She didn’t know if it was the suspension bridge effect or something else, but that sweaty face, that bleeding hand, that bent back, even the bulging veins on his neck, all accelerated her blood flow.

He had become a different type of man, distinct from the well-dressed celebrities and flamboyant male models, a type that had looks but was not defined by them.

Lin Huaixu.

He was still wearing that same white sweatshirt and jeans, only they had faded a little from washing.

Even though he was injured, his eyes were still calm and proud, like a moonless lake in the dead of night.

Tong An’yu wasn’t sure if he still recognized her, so she looked at the dripping blood, her lips pursing and unpursing, and then said, “Thank you.”

Lin Huaixu’s hands didn’t stop moving, his voice deeper than the night itself: “It’s nothing.”

He didn’t seem to care who Tong An’yu was, his energy completely focused on the scattered documents.

Tong An’yu and Zhu Yan quickly helped him pick them up.

Looking at them in the dim light, they realized they were junior high school physics test papers, which had been graded.

“You were tutoring tonight? No wonder you didn’t have time for the freshman ball,” Zhu Yan said, a slow dawning of realization on her face.

Only then did Lin Huaixu look up and scan the awkwardly smiling Zhu Yan, and Tong An’yu, who was trying hard to stare at him.

His gaze lingered on Tong An’yu for a moment longer, and then he recognized her.

This little bear T-shirt was the first to run for help, and the first to run back.

She was clearly scared, but she rushed to the front in one breath to stare at him.

First at his face, then at his hand, her gaze like a stubborn little clip, latching onto him and not letting go.

“Your hand is injured.”

“I… we’ll take you to the hospital,” Tong An’yu said, carefully handing him the crumpled exercise papers, unwilling to touch his bleeding right hand, insisting on giving them to his left.

Lin Huaixu found her stubbornness a bit ridiculous, as if not using his right hand at this moment would allow it to rest.

“No need.”

The wound hadn’t damaged any tendons or bones, he knew that in his heart.
Saving her was an instinctive reaction, but he didn’t want to waste any more time on this matter.

“The pharmacy, the pharmacy is fine too!”
Seeing that Lin Huaixu was about to leave, Tong An’yu grew anxious.

On an impulse, she blocked his path, her arms spread wide.

Luckily, Lin Huaixu stopped in time.

He almost got a full hug from the little bear T-shirt.

The night wind was blowing again, carrying Lin Huaixu’s scent over.

Tong An’yu subconsciously sniffed.

It was the clear scent of spring water, faint but clean.

“I said no need,” Lin Huaixu’s tone was cold, but not hurtful, just very distant.

He was already very experienced in refusing people.

Tong An’yu gritted her teeth and quickly rummaged through her bag for a packet of Kao disinfectant wipes.

She tore open the package forcefully and pulled out a handful, “At least disinfect it.”

“Who knows what was in his bottle?”

“What if you get an infection and end up in the ICU?”

“…”

Could there be a more vicious curse than this?

After saying that, she didn’t wait for Lin Huaixu to refuse.

She reached out, grabbed his right wrist, and wiped it with the wet wipe.

Although Lin Huaixu was lean, she couldn’t actually get a firm grip on his wrist.

A boy’s bones were heavy, and his skin clung tightly to the bone, with no excess fat.

A pulse danced under her fingertips, with the speed of someone who had just engaged in strenuous exercise, so strong it felt like it could flick her fingers away.

Fortunately, Lin Huaixu just watched her faintly and didn’t continue to resist.

Lin Huaixu was mostly surrounded by people his own age.

He temporarily didn’t know how to deal with a girl who was so obviously young and sharp.

The girl’s bun was crooked again, but her cheeks were puffed up like two little buns, her red lips pressed tightly together, anxious because of his repeated refusals.

He was the one who was injured, yet she was the one who was so anxious.