Chapter 14
“So you’re the one who hit my sister?”
The gang leader wearing a thick gold chain spoke around the cigarette between his lips.
“Bitch! Don’t you dare deny it!” the red-haired girl interrupted before Ruan Xin could answer.
???
Was this guilt by association?
Ruan Xin truly admired the cannon fodder’s thought process. She first assessed the situation before replying, “I wasn’t the one who hit her. What the hell does it have to do with me?”
“Little girl, I suggest you stop acting so arrogantly,” a lackey as thin as a monkey sneered.
“I’m not that arrogant. Certainly not compared to you.”
Ruan Xin’s expression remained unchanged.
The autumn rain in H City carried a gloomy chill. Once someone became soaked, the cold could numb their entire body.
“So, what do you want?”
Only then did the red-haired girl reveal a triumphant smile, looking so smug that she might float into the sky.
She would deal with Ye Muyan’s younger sister first, then go after Ye Muyan herself.
In her opinion, neither sister was any good. They both deserved to be beaten and stripped!
“Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that? What do you think we want?”
The red-haired girl snorted and strode toward Ruan Xin, raising a hand to slap her.
Ruan Xin caught her wrist.
Since she refused to hit a girl in the stomach, she changed the angle of her strike and slapped her across the face instead.
Smack!
The sound was exceptionally loud.
The gang leader’s expression twisted when he heard it. He exhaled smoke, cursed under his breath, and immediately swung his steel pipe at Ruan Xin.
Ruan Xin snapped her long-handled umbrella shut and thrust it toward the man, who was several times taller and broader than her.
Even so, the steel pipe struck her shoulder.
Ruan Xin frowned. Enormous strength erupted from her slender arm, and she instantly knocked the gang leader to the ground.
Without hesitation, she rolled up her sleeves and began pummeling his face.
The sky was dark, and the rain grew heavier.
Blood blurred the fallen man’s vision. Through the crimson haze, he saw an incredibly vicious gaze that appeared almost distorted.
Seeing their boss knocked down, the lackeys surged forward.
It was a frightening sight, like ants covered in black mud swarming over a tiny white speck.
When surrounded by a group, anyone without a weapon would inevitably be beaten. Even Ruan Xin was no exception.
The umbrella couldn’t withstand repeated blows. Reacting quickly, she snatched up the gang leader’s steel pipe.
The attackers had formed a circle, preventing some of them from reaching her. In other words, only a few could attack her directly at any given moment.
Ruan Xin raised the pipe and began swinging it wildly.
“Class monitor!”
A familiar voice shouted.
The crowd surrounding Ruan Xin was suddenly scattered by an external force. One of the men was even kicked several meters away.
Ruan Xin turned her head.
It was Ye Muyan.
She had no umbrella, and there wasn’t a single dry spot on her body. Rainwater flowed down her fair cheeks, along her neck, and into her thoroughly soaked clothes.
She looked rather bedraggled, yet somehow resembled a celebrity filming a water-themed commercial.
For reasons Ruan Xin couldn’t explain, the sight filled her with sadness and guilt.
Yet squeezed between those two emotions was also the tiniest trace of joy.
Ye Muyan’s body had been chilled until it held almost no warmth. Her cold hand touched Ruan Xin’s numb face, and her fingertips gently wiped at the bleeding scratch on her cheek.
Then she turned toward the delinquents, her voice grim.
“I’ve already called the police.”
Everyone’s expression changed dramatically.
One by one, they scattered and fled.
The red-haired girl remained frozen in place. She watched Ye Muyan slowly approach, anger smoldering in her eyes. Every step filled the girl with increasing terror.
Smack!
Now that was a truly resounding slap.
Ye Muyan said nothing. Expressionless, she struck the red-haired girl again and again.
She didn’t understand why she cared so much about this younger sister who had betrayed her.
Yet an uncontrollable fury burned inside her. She wanted nothing more than to kill these people to vent her rage.
A few slaps weren’t nearly enough.
“Class monitor.”
Holding an umbrella, Li Zishu approached Ruan Xin.
“Are you all right?”
Ruan Xin wiped the rain from her face.
“How did you know?”
Li Zishu fell silent for two seconds.
“I arrived at school early today and heard them discussing the fight from last time. I couldn’t hear everything clearly because they stopped talking as soon as they saw me.”
“I heard that the high school girl knew some gang members. I was afraid she might cause trouble for you, so I followed you after school…”
Ruan Xin intended to pat Li Zishu’s shoulder, but when she remembered that her hands and clothes were drenched, she stopped herself.
She could only praise her verbally.
“You made the right decision. Thank you. Student Zhong also warned me this afternoon.”
Student Zhong?
Li Zishu thought for a moment before realizing that Ruan Xin meant the leader of the small clique.
“Actually…”
Li Zishu took out some tissues as she spoke.
“If you hadn’t come outside, they never would have found you.”
Ruan Xin accepted the tissues without replying and silently wiped her face.
She turned toward Ye Muyan.
Ye Muyan happened to be looking at her too.
Ruan Xin quickly withdrew her gaze and asked Li Zishu, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll retaliate against you?”
Li Zishu inhaled the cold air and smiled.
“Didn’t you tell me I wasn’t alone?”
“To be honest… I was afraid. But if I saw something like this and did nothing, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.”
No one understood that sense of despair and helplessness better than she did.
But the original Ruan Xin never would have helped.
Ruan Xin knew how Li Zishu’s original life ended.
“I need to go home.”
Li Zishu checked her watch. It seemed she still had other responsibilities waiting for her.
“Goodbye, class monitor.”
“Goodbye.”
Ruan Xin picked up the umbrella from the ground.
“Let’s go home,” Ye Muyan said, clearly in a poor mood.
Ruan Xin nodded without speaking.
After returning to the apartment, they first took towels and began drying their hair.
Ye Muyan was fine, but it was more difficult for the injured Ruan Xin.
She didn’t know what she had struck when she fell that day, but a large bump had formed on her head. It was fine if left untouched, but even the slightest contact hurt.
“How useless.”
Despite her words, Ye Muyan took the towel from her. She gathered Ruan Xin’s hair in small sections and gently dried each strand.
There was barely a palm and a half of space between them.
The room was completely silent, making the sound of their breathing unusually clear. A fresh shampoo fragrance filled the air.
Because both of them had been caught in the rain, their clothes clung to their skin and the cold had stolen away their body heat. Yet standing so close together made the warmth between them unmistakable—
Of course, Ruan Xin was making that up.
In any case, the closeness made her deeply uncomfortable. No normal person would stand this near someone else.
After a while, a heated blush gradually spread across Ruan Xin’s pale face.
“You’re the useless one,” she retorted.
Whirr!
Ye Muyan switched on the hair dryer and aimed it at her.
“Xin, why do you talk so much?”
“I don’t talk that much.”
Ruan Xin narrowed her eyes, certain that her hair now resembled corn silk flying in every direction.
Ye Muyan used the medium warm setting, carefully smoothing Ruan Xin’s fine, soft hair with her fingers.
There was no helping it. Her younger sister’s foolish head was currently injured, so she couldn’t rub it vigorously.
She had to be careful.
The sensation was so pleasant that Ruan Xin nearly fell asleep.
“Pig, go change your clothes.”
Just as she began drifting off, Ye Muyan patted her shoulder.
“Aah! That hurts!”
Ruan Xin screamed.
Ye Muyan’s hand froze. She pulled open the collar of Ruan Xin’s school uniform and looked—
A huge bruise covered her shoulder.
“Your classmate said none of this would have happened if you hadn’t gone outside.”
There was a trace of self-blame in Ye Muyan’s voice.
If she had returned with Ruan Xin…
Then this wouldn’t have happened.
“You should have been drenched to death!” Ruan Xin snapped. “If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone out to bring you an umbrella!”
Ye Muyan’s heart softened.
She felt both confused and warm, yet she could no longer express her concern to this person.
I would worry.
Those words now felt unbearably heavy, something she had to approach with extreme caution.
She was afraid.
Afraid that she would be deceived again.
Rain continued pouring outside as muffled thunder rumbled repeatedly.
“Ruan Xin,” Ye Muyan suddenly called.
“What?”
Ruan Xin turned around.
Standing beside the sofa, Ye Muyan stared at her with pale brown eyes.
“Give me a hug.”
“What—what?!”
Ruan Xin lost her balance and nearly fell over.
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