Chapter 6

The alley was noisy, and a group of men and women dressed in clothes that imitated gangsters blocked Chen Yu against the roadside wall.

Most of the wall paint has fallen off, revealing the inner core made of stone bricks and cement.

Chen Yu leaned against the wall, casually tucked his hands into the pockets of his indigo denim jacket, his head slightly lowered, his fine hair brushing across his eyebrows.

His posture was relaxed, but facing a group of people surrounding him, he seemed particularly weak and alone.

Lin Wan immediately stepped forward, wanting to help Chen Yu, but was grabbed by the arm by Xu Su beside him.

"Do you know him?" Xu Su beside him asked in a low voice.

Thinking that Xu Su had just returned, Lin Wan immediately lowered her voice and responded, "Yes. I'll go first, you go find someone else to help."

Almost instantly, Lin Wan assigned the two their tasks. Xu Su looked at Lin Wan, who was clearly the leader of the gang, and sighed helplessly. He followed Lin Wan for a few steps, but inadvertently met the hostile gaze of a young man in the crowd.

Xu Su paused and twitched his lips, feeling that this was a bit outrageous. He stood not far away, watching their actions, wanting to correct them if things went wrong.

A rainstorm is coming, and the oxygen content in the air has dropped significantly, making even breathing seem sticky.

Lin Wan mustered her courage and continued forward. It wasn't her motto to stand by and watch someone die without helping. She tried her best to appear fearless. Her calves were actually trembling. She lifted her bag full of books, her steps becoming heavier.

I just need to hold on for a while, Brother Xu Su will come to rescue me.

The reason why I didn't let Brother Xu Su come over and went to find support myself was because I didn't want him to put himself in danger because of my personal heroic complex.

Amidst the astonished gazes of all the thugs, she walked straight up to Chen Yu, then turned around, stood in front of him, and asked as naturally as possible, "What's the big deal about so many of you bullying one person?"

My palms were sweating and I could barely stand.

There was a sound of scoffing from the crowd, and as if it was extremely contagious, almost the entire group of thugs started laughing.

"I'm not a little sister. Look carefully, this is not bullying." A boy with a Moganxi hairstyle and a black vest walked up to Lin Wan in a frivolous manner and said to her with his head down.

This wasn't bullying; it was just short of a gang beating. Perhaps Chen Yu had lived in this area before, and now that these people saw him being adopted, they felt unbalanced—how could Chen Yu be so miserable?

Lin Wan felt that having another younger brother to take care of was really a hassle.

"If you're not bullying me, just leave quickly." Lin Wan didn't know where he got the confidence from, and even opened his arms slightly to protect Chen Yu behind him.

Feeling warmth on her arm, Lin Wan instinctively turned around and saw Chen Yu gently holding her arm. His hand was much larger than hers, and it was loose enough to hold her entire arm.

"Yes, you guys should leave quickly." Chen Yu's words rang in his ears, making a crisp sound and vibrating his earlobes.

Lin Wan couldn't see Chen Yu's expression at the moment, she just felt a tingling sensation on her back and pursed her lips.

The people in front of him looked at each other in confusion. Three seconds later, someone seemed to realize something first and turned away.

Once the first person showed up, more people followed. One person was even more considerate, reaching out to put their arm around Xu Su, who was standing next to them, and said enthusiastically, "Brother, you look very familiar to me. Let's have lunch together."

Xu Su's neck was immediately held by the man's arm. He thought to himself, it's only ten o'clock now, why should I have lunch? I can't leave.

However, he was outnumbered and could only follow the crowd seemingly voluntarily.

Lin Wan looked at Xu Su and the other two brothers acting like good brothers, his mouth opened slightly in shock. Just as he was about to catch up to them to find out how things had unfolded, a head pressed down on the back of his neck, bringing with it hot breath.

"Don't worry, sis. They are actually my friends."

Lin Wan froze in place, trying to turn away from Chen Yu.

friend?

Then what was my behavior just now? Just a clown.

"But my sister is such a good person. She is willing to come and save me in such a situation."

The head on the back of her neck rubbed against her, making her feel a little itchy.

Actually, this is mainly because I want to trust Brother Xu Su.

"I'm glad you're okay." After the problem was resolved, Lin Wan's mind settled down. He pushed away the head behind him that was clearly beyond the safe distance between people, and then turned around.

Chen Yu slowly pulled up her arm and pressed it close to her, like a kitten meeting catnip.

"It looks like it's going to rain soon." Lin Wan looked up at the sky.

Chen Yu stared at the butterfly clip in Lin Wan's hair and responded slowly.

"I'm going home now. Do you have anything else to do?"

Chen Yu reached out to touch Lin Wan's hairpin, and lingered on her hair for a long time.

It was there before, but now it can be gone. He thought with a blank expression and said, "There is nothing else."

On the way home, Lin Wan was always worried about Xu Su. After calling him and finding that the atmosphere there was very good, she was able to feel relieved.

But this made Chen Yu beside him a little unhappy: "Sister Wanwan, don't you believe what I said?"

Lin Wan looked at him and blinked helplessly.

Chen Yu leaned over again, and this time she smelled a very faint floral scent, the same kind of scent on her body.

After putting all the books down at home and having lunch with Chen Yu, Lin Wan went out to attend classes. It was her last summer vacation, and she had to be fully prepared.

After Lin Wan left, Chen Yu sat at the dining table in a daze, looking at the place where Lin Wan had originally sat.

He felt the situation was a bit out of control, but it could still be salvaged. He needed to maintain a good relationship with Lin Wan. His current behavior wasn't that extreme.

Chen Yu lowered his eyes and thought, while the clock on the wall not far away was ticking.

Lin Wan walked into the bedroom, still feeling a little uneasy. Why would Chen Yu be with those thugs? She pondered, pulled out the desk and chair, and took out a political book.

She reviewed the philosophy section today as planned, and Marxism slightly soothed the uneasiness in her heart.

Lin Wan was carrying a book and thought about the message Jiang Nuo sent him in the taxi.

[Da Nuo: Wanwan, my dad asked me to go to Zhou Wangjing's birthday party again. Can you come with me this time?] followed by a pleading kitten emoji.

Jiang Nuo always liked to participate in this kind of activities. She liked the hustle and bustle and socializing. Now that he invited her to go with him, it was probably because Zhou Wangjing and Jiang Nuo didn't get along well.

Lin Wan hesitated, tapping the outside of his phone with his fingertips, thinking about how to reply.

[Da Nuo: You received the invitation, right? Come with me!]

Jiang Nuo's words were so sincere that they almost brought tears to people's eyes.

[Wanwanwanwan: I got it...but I guess it's just a token of my appreciation.]

Lin Wan bent her knees in front of her chest and typed with her lips pursed.

Everyone in the city knows that Zhou Wangjing likes to show off. If there is a luxury sports car speeding past on Century Avenue, it is most likely him.

[Da Nuo: Anyone with a discerning eye knows it's just a gesture. We don't really have any contact, but Lao Jiang insisted on letting me go. I'm so pissed.]

Lin Wan started biting her fingers as she looked at the message. The light from the screen reflected dimly on her face, and she felt a little conflicted.

Jiang Nuo seemed to know her character and stopped urging her.

Three minutes later.

【Wanwanwanwan: Okay, let’s go.】

After typing, Lin Wanjiang leaned back and looked up at the lamp.

Now she is really willing to go through fire and water for friendship. After all, Zhou Wangjing confessed his love to her during the junior high school graduation ceremony.

I don't know what he was thinking at the time. He walked up to me with a big bouquet of roses and confessed his love to me half shyly and half forcefully.

"Lin Wan, I like you."

This was like a bolt of lightning to the young Lin Wan, knocking her out of her rapt admiration for her own achievements. Lin Wan let out a short "Ah!" and looked around bewilderedly. After confirming that he was speaking to her, she became even more hesitant.

Before that day, she didn't even know Zhou Wangjing.

In the corridor, in just half a minute, countless people gathered around. Some people started to make a fuss, shouting "together", "together", which was clearly a scene from a TV drama.

——Such a deliberate and abrupt arrangement.

Lin Wan suddenly felt that he understood something and nodded his chin to think for a moment.

"Classmate, you are playing a trick game, right?"

This was Lin Wan's most genuine thought at the time. She couldn't understand why a complete stranger would offer her flowers and confess his feelings in such a way. "Prank game" was just the answer her brain quickly deduced.

It's graduation season, so it might be a little insignificant joke.

Lin Wan felt that he was very smart and worthy of being the first in the school.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, the booing around them suddenly died down. The busy corridor fell into silence, so still that you could almost hear a pin drop.

The boy opposite, whose cheeks were originally red, suddenly turned pale.

Lin Wan felt something was wrong and opened her mouth to say something, but the boy stuffed the flowers into her arms and ran away.

Some people in the crowd rushed out. They were the three or two boys who started the commotion.

The crowd in the corridor immediately dispersed, leaving Lin Wan standing there holding the heavy bouquet, at a loss as to what to do.

Later she found out that the boy's name was Zhou Wangjing, the only son of the Zhou family.

At that time, her junior high school friends joked with her about Zhou Wangjing's confession for a long time, but those friends gradually became distant as time passed.

It’s such a long time ago.

Lin Wan closed the political science textbook and started doing math problems.

She found that when her memory was troubled by certain things in the past, writing math problems was the most effective way to help her get out of the memories and face the present.

Lin Wan was writing derivative problems, and his mood finally returned to peace.

After several years, people probably won't even recognize me anymore, so why worry so much?

Lin Wan has always had good hopes for the future.

Outside the window, heavy rain finally started.

Heavy rain fell for several days and finally stopped after four days, but the city was severely flooded and the sky did not clear up, continuing to be shrouded in a gloomy gray.

In front of the revolving door of a skyscraper.

Jiang Nuo held Lin Wan's hand and barely stepped over the puddle in front of them, but inevitably, water splashed and wet their trouser legs.

Jiang Nuo frowned slightly and let his trouser legs continue to get dirty - although this kind of clothes is basically impossible to wash, that's the purpose of clothes.

She took Lin Wan directly to the top floor and asked someone to help them bring clothes up to choose.