Chapter 10 Straightforward Dog: My Trump Card

More than a year had passed since she last sent her location to Shen Zhui. Just like last time, he reacted quickly and judged her situation, telling her not to be afraid. A surge of warmth welled up in Cheng Guo's heart, so much so that she didn't think about the rumors that started after Shen Zhui finished speaking.

She felt much calmer at that moment and stopped talking. She quickened her pace and listened carefully to the sounds behind her. When she realized that the footsteps were getting closer, her hair almost stood on end.

How long does it take for Shen Zhui to arrive "soon"?

Would she be able to see him faster if she ran now?

About 100 meters ahead is a side gate of the residential area. Although the guardhouse is dark, there should be someone on duty, right?

Cheng Guo didn't know whether to place his hopes on Chen Zhui, on his own running speed, or on the unknown whether anyone was on duty at the gatehouse.

Without time to think further, she ran as fast as she could.

The cool air after the rain rushed into my lungs like a knife piercing through, and then instantly evaporated into a scorching heat as it flowed back out of my trachea.

Cheng Guo was breathing heavily.

Ninety meters.

The footsteps are getting closer.

Eighty meters.

The footsteps were almost behind her.

Seventy-five meters.

A hand gripped my shoulder, and the stench of alcohol wafted over on the wind.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cheng Guo saw a figure fly out from the side gate of the residential area ahead. She gritted her teeth, turned around, and shouted for help. Without hesitation, she turned on her powerful flashlight and shone it in the face of the man behind her!

"ah!"

The man was stabbed and raised his hand to cover his face. He finally stopped and called out, "Dr. Cheng."

Cheng Guo turned to run, but was stopped in her tracks by the call.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

The man tried to lift his face, but the bright light shining on him again prevented him from moving his hand.

Cheng Guo gasped for breath, staring intently at the man following her. He wasn't very tall, but he was lean and wiry—

"Dr. Cheng, it's me, Yuan—"

To let her see clearly, Yuan Man closed his eyes and moved his hand away, his face flushed from drinking.

The next second, Shen Zhui grabbed him by the collar and knocked him to the ground with a punch!

Yuan Man cried out in pain, clutching her chin, and explained incoherently, "It's me, Dr. Cheng, it's me, Yuan Man!"

Cheng Guo stood there, still shaken, his heart pounding. When he came to his senses, Shen Zhui had already pressed his knee against Yuan Man's chest, pinning him down so he couldn't move at all. Then, another punch landed on Yuan Man's left cheek, instantly causing his mouth to bleed.

Seeing Shen Zhui raise his fist again, Cheng Guo quickly went up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up, saying, "Stop hitting him, he's Yuan Man."

Shen Zhui was like an angry lion, staring intently at the person on the ground. His muscles were tense, his chest heaving violently, and his face, which wasn't wearing a mask, was filled with murderous intent. Cheng Guo could clearly see the fury in his eyes and his taut jaw. Worried that he would rush forward again in the next second, she hugged his waist tightly, her T-shirt under her hands half-soaked with his sweat.

The flashlight beam shifted as she moved, and Hara was finally able to open his eyes. He sat on the ground and repeated, "I am Hara."

Upon hearing him give his name, Shen Zhui leaned forward again. Cheng Guo wrapped one arm around his waist even tighter, while the other reached down to grab his hand, which Shen Zhui then held tightly. Shen Zhui's hand was trembling.

Cheng Guo's fingers ached from being gripped so tightly, but Shen Zhui finally calmed down, allowing her to ask Yuan Man, "Why are you following me?"

Whether he was drunk or stunned from the beating, Yuan Man sat on the ground and mumbled, "I saw you go to the barbecue restaurant while I was drinking, so I followed you. Dr. Cheng, I've reconsidered. I can, I can pay your tuition, but you must," he wiped the blood from his lips, paused for two seconds, and continued, "you must live in my house, you must—"

Yuan Man didn't have a chance to say what followed.

Shen Zhui released Cheng Guo's hand and rushed forward.

The 1.75-meter-tall Yuan Man was lifted up like a chick by him, his collar grabbed and fists landing squarely on his skin. Yuan Man cried out in pain, finally realizing something was wrong. He recklessly returned two punches, threatening, "Who are you? It's illegal for you to beat me up in the street like this! I'll call the police, I'll call the police and have you arrested!"

"We'll go in together." Shen Zhui's arm muscles bulged as he pinned him down with one hand. "Which hand was on her shoulder? This one?"

Yuan Man cried out in pain and continued shouting, trembling, that he would call the police.

Cheng Guo turned off her flashlight when Shen Zhui rushed up. In the dim light, the boy's back muscles bulged as he vented his anger, while her eyes welled up with hot, burning desire.

Taking a deep sniff, Cheng Guo stepped forward and hugged Chen Zhui's arm again. "It's ready."

Shen Zhui breathed heavily, slowly calming down, and got up from Yuan Man's body.

Yuan Man lay on the ground, panting heavily, his face swollen in the dim light.

Cheng Guo squatted down beside him, helped him up, stabilized his arm, and calmly and smoothly stretched his wrist joint back into place.

“Don’t run away,” Yuan Man said, turning his wrist to reach for his phone. He first turned on the camera and looked at his own face. “I’m calling the police now. My face is the evidence.”

Shen Zhui stared at him coldly without saying a word.

“I’ll call the police,” Cheng Guo stood up. “I will tell the police the truth about how you followed and sexually harassed me.”

Yuan Man was stunned, and looked up at her in disbelief. "Dr. Cheng, he hit me! He dislocated my wrist!"

“You hit him too,” Cheng Guo pointed to Shen Zhui’s lips. He was standing with his back to the light, so only his general outline could be seen. “Your hand is perfectly fine.”

A few seconds of silence fell over the air, and Yu Guangzhong's gaze was intense as he looked at her.

Cheng Guo looked down and took out her phone, her voice calm, "Don't rush, we'll talk about it one thing at a time after we call the police."

“Stalking and sexually harassing women, and fighting in the street, together they would probably lead to about ten days of detention,” she kindly reminded him. “The PhD student needs to think about how to ask the school for leave first.”

He added, "Administrative detention records will not be recorded in personal files, but University A has strict requirements for teachers' ethics and conduct, so former PhDs will have to put in more effort when applying for promotions."

The words, half warning and half threat, were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, and Yuan Man sobered up completely. He gritted his teeth, stood up from the ground, gave the two of them a few deep looks, turned his head, and walked away looking dejected.

The night wind rustled through her thin clothes, and a chill ran down her back. Only then did Cheng Guo realize that she was covered in sweat.

Finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, she looked at Chen Zhui. Chen Zhui had run very fast, his forehead was covered in sweat, and he looked at her with trepidation.

"Do you think I went too far?" he asked.

A figure flashed by at the entrance of the residential area not far away, and after a click of the door closing, the surroundings returned to silence.

It was probably a security guard who was watching all of this.

Cheng Guo shook his head.

The moment he rushed up to her, she felt completely enveloped in a sense of security, and her heart, which had been pounding in her chest, finally settled back down.

She knew that the only ones who could help her were herself and Shen Zhui.

Whether passersby will step forward to help is unknown and depends on luck.

Were you waiting for me at the side entrance of the hospital after get off work?

The side gate is on the other side of the community, so Chen Zhui must have come through the community.

Chen Zhui hummed in agreement, then corrected himself, "To pick you up from get off work."

His face was exposed to the light. Cheng Guo looked up and laughed. When she saw the red marks on his lips from where he had been punched and the slightly red corners of his eyes, her heart ached.

“Go home,” she said.

The night was still, and two figures moved alternately, their shadows long and short under the streetlights, drawing closer, overlapping, separating, and then drawing closer again.

The cycle repeats itself, much like their relationship.

The two remained silent, neither speaking, but Cheng Guo knew that something was subtly changing.

As they turned onto the main road and stood under the streetlights waiting for the green light, their shadows became two dots, one large and one small.

Shen Zhui stopped, turned to face her, his eyes sincere, his tone solemn.

“I’ve been thinking about these words for a whole day and night. I originally wanted to tell you when I got home, but now I can’t hold back anymore.”

Cheng Guo was affected by his emotions, so she turned around and took a soft breath.

The two walked slowly, and after a few minutes, the sweat on their bodies had subsided somewhat, but Cheng Guo could still feel the heat coming from the direction of Chen Zhui.

"Last night I said I would date sooner or later, and if not you, I would date someone else. That was just me saying it in anger. I saw you keeping your ex's things and I was jealous and acting like a jerk. I admit I want to throw all his things away so that your home is only mine and you only have me in front of you."

The intersection was unobstructed, the tall trees were gone, and the light became brighter. Chen Zhui lowered his head, his gaze under the streetlights both aggrieved and clear.

Cheng Guo knew what he was saying. She understood after he said "I want you to look at me more" last night.

Every childish thing he did was actually a test of her.

As the red light turned green, the little green figure on the indicator strode forward. Chen Zhui glanced at her and said, "I put those things away; I didn't throw them away. If you don't like the new decorations in the house, I'll put them away when I get back."

Cheng Guo looked at him in surprise.

Shen Zhui looked away, then looked back and continued speaking.

"The fact that you thought of me first when you encountered something today, and that I was able to come over, is more valuable than anything else. I won't force you to say anything more."

"Cheng Guo."

He suddenly called her name.

Cheng Guo's heart pounded.

"Listen carefully, these are the last things I'm saying before you want to be in a relationship, and they're my trump card."

Chen Zhui's Adam's apple bobbed, his gaze shifting uncomfortably to one side. "I only like you. I only want to be in a relationship with you. If you don't want to, I'll wait. But if you do want to be in a relationship and that person isn't me, I'll definitely snatch you away—"

As the green light entered its countdown, the little green figure on the indicator light, like a human heart, beat thump by thump, urging pedestrians to hurry forward.

Cheng Guo felt a surge of heat in his chest as he spoke amidst the countdown.

"good."

Shen Zhui stopped speaking abruptly, turned to look at her, and his eyes gradually lit up, as if he had been struck by surprise. His mouth opened for two seconds before he remembered to close it.

Cheng Guo tilted her head slightly and looked at him with a smile.

He opened his mouth again, revealing a big smile, and looked up at the sky.

The rain had long since stopped, and in the quiet of the night, the dark clouds drifted away silently, and the stars peeked out.

The red light turned green again, and the little green figure moved briskly, as if it were about to run.

Just when Cheng Guo thought she could be carefree like this, life presented her with a new test.

A note from the author:

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Waaaaah, I'm finally about to fall in love! Congratulations to our straightforward puppy today! [Let me see!]

Hehe, didn't expect that, did you? So early today. Next chapter, see you tomorrow.