Ye Linchen was startled and looked up at Gu Jingran.
What does this person want to do by blocking her way?
Surely you're not asking for directions, are you?
Before she could ask any questions, Gu Jingran looked her up and down and spoke first.
He asked in a deep voice, "Ye Linchen?"
Ye Linchen was caught off guard by his call and blurted out, "What is it?"
No sooner had he asked than he countered, "Who are you?"
Gu Jingran took two steps back and introduced himself.
"I am Gu Jingran, Gu Yifei's older brother."
He immediately retorted, "Do you know Gu Yifei?" Then, answering himself, "He's your sister's classmate."
Ye Linchen didn't know why he was saying these things, so she stared at him with wide eyes, puzzled.
"Hurry home, everyone is looking for you."
Gu Jingran turned around, took long strides, and led the way.
"Looking for me? Everyone?"
Ye Linchen thought he was hallucinating.
"Yes." Gu Jingran turned to look at her, his gaze lingering on her wet hair. "Did you go take a shower?"
"Otherwise what? Where can we go?" Ye Linchen asked, puzzled.
Gu Jingran was speechless for a moment.
His lips twitched, and a smile involuntarily spread across his face.
But seeing Ye Linchen's swollen left cheek, the smile faded again.
"It's nothing, Yifei misunderstood."
Speak of the devil, and he appears! Before he could finish speaking, Gu Yifei and Lin Xiaojuan had already rushed over.
"Ye Linchen, thank goodness, I've finally found you!"
"Thank goodness you didn't get lost."
"Brother, you're really capable; you found it on your first try."
Gu Yifei exclaimed happily and then praised Gu Jingran.
"You've been looking for me?"
Ye Linchen was completely dumbfounded when he saw the two people's half-wet clothes and dripping hair.
"Yes, you ran away just now. We chased after you but couldn't catch you. We were afraid you'd get lost, so we've been looking for you."
Lin Xiaojuan walked over to Ye Linchen and started chattering about what had just happened.
When I got to the bathhouse, it took at least fifteen minutes from when I went in to when I came out. They searched outside for fifteen minutes?
Is it still on this cold, rainy night?
Ye Linchen felt a pang of sadness, and her eyes reddened.
Surprisingly, it was these familiar strangers who were worried about her safety!
As they spoke, the group arrived at the Ye family's building.
People kept gathering around her on the street, including Xu Yuru, who had taken her home that morning.
Upon seeing Ye Linchen, Xu Yuru shouted, "Quickly tell the Ye couple! The child has been found!"
After shouting, she saw the red handprint on Ye Linchen's face and felt a pang of pity in her eyes.
"Poor child, you've suffered so much."
The people who gathered around were all people who had been called out by several students to help find someone, and they had also heard Xu Yuru talk about what happened that afternoon.
Seeing the slap mark on Ye Linchen's face and his swollen face, how could anyone not understand?
The look in his eyes towards Ye Linchen became increasingly pitying, while he showed no kindness to Ye Zhenghua and his wife who had rushed over.
Meng Xueyun was an extremely perceptive person. Being stared at like that by her neighbors felt like having her back stabbed, and she was so angry that she wanted to slap Ye Linchen twice more.
But he couldn't show it now, so he could only pretend to be worried about Ye Linchen and pull Ye Linchen over.
"You silly child! You run off the moment I say a few words to you! You're so inconsiderate, you've made everyone so worried..."
Ye Linchen let her scold him, lowering his eyes and remaining silent.
Gu Jingran raised an eyebrow, looked at her, then at Meng Xueyun, seemingly lost in thought.
Gu Yifei scratched his head sheepishly beside Ye Linchen and tried to explain.
"She went to take a shower; she didn't run around. We misunderstood; it has nothing to do with her."
Feng Linlin also came over, looked Ye Linchen up and down, and murmured, "You really went to take a shower?"
Meng Zihan was very dissatisfied: "I told you, but you didn't believe me." As if remembering something, she questioned Ye Linchen, "Why did Aunt Xu say you didn't go into the bathhouse?"
Feng Linlin immediately retorted: "Go ask Aunt Xu! How would Ye Linchen know? You're really something, always picking on the weak!"
"You!" Meng Zihan rolled her eyes, speechless, but didn't know how to respond.
Gu Yifei hurriedly said, "It's my fault, it's my fault, I thought..."
Because of Gu Yifei's father's status as the factory director, Meng Xueyun had always gone to great lengths to please him, so how could she possibly blame him?
She glared at Ye Linchen and said without any restraint, "Yifei, this child is good at lying and putting on airs. It's normal for you to misunderstand her since you don't know her. We..."
Seeing that she was trying to smear Ye Linchen again, Xu Yuru couldn't help herself and interrupted her rudely.
"Xiao Meng, how can you talk to the child like that? What kind of mother are you?"
A neighbor, unable to bear it any longer, chimed in, "That's right, she's so old, and he still hit her like that. Look at her swollen face, how is she supposed to face anyone now?"
The crowd chimed in, "Let's talk this out! How could you do that to such a pretty girl!"
"My son is so naughty, I can't bear to hit him!"
"Oh dear, you guys don't know..."
Meng Xueyun wanted to explain further, but Ye Zhenghua glanced at his wife with displeasure and preemptively said to the neighbors, "Thank you for your help today. I will come to thank you in person after the child has settled down."
Ye Linchen quickly thanked everyone, saying, "Thank you, uncles and aunties, for all your trouble."
Her gratitude was heartfelt.
She never expected that these people, who were completely unrelated to her, would worry about her and come out in the rain to look for her.
Seeing her sincere attitude, everyone laughed, waved their hands, and said, "It's good that you're back. This has nothing to do with you," and then they all left.
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