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◎Before the Storm 2◎
Jinhai Restaurant.
Jiang Mu raised the wine glass on the round table, looking at the man and two women across the table with a half-smile. He then looked up and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.
"Old classmates, why are you all so quiet? Come on, isn't today a get-together?"
The man and two women opposite Jiang Mu looked at each other, still remaining silent.
No one dared to speak.
Jiang Mu drank another cup.
Finally, one of the women couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and said, "Jiang Mu, don't blame us. Blame yourself for offending the wrong person. Can't you just let us live?"
"Oh? It's still because of what happened with Guihui back then, isn't it? What, did I break the law, or violate some heavenly rule?"
Jiang Mu leaned back lazily in his chair, holding his third small glass of baijiu. His tone was not harsh, but it made the three people opposite him look so ugly that they could become inkstone grinders.
One of the men said, "Jiang Mu, let's talk this out. He Li, you too, can't you talk things out properly? Sit down, sit down."
The man told the woman who had stood up to sit down, and then said, "Jiang Mu, here's what we'll do: you let us go, and we can make up for anything you want."
The two women beside the man echoed his sentiments; they really didn't want to go against Jiang Mu.
"Sigh." Jiang Mu let out a long sigh. "For the sake of being an old classmate, I can give you a discount."
He finished his liquor, stood up, and placed the cup on the round table.
He said, "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now. You all know how to contact me. Your future depends on your sincerity."
Jiang Mu turned and left, leaving the three pale faces in the room.
Seriously, it's already annoying enough, and now I have to deal with these idiots too.
The last time Mu Heqing returned to her hometown, Jiang Mu invited her to have dinner in Ancheng. He thought it was a perfectly normal thing, but Mu Heqing refused him.
Mu and Qing replied, "If there's a chance."
This sentence sounds like a perfunctory response, because Jiang Mu usually uses the same sentence to appease others.
Ever since then, Jiang Mu has been in a depressed mood. These three people today have really walked right into his trap.
Jiang Mu left the private room and prepared to drive back. When he reached the corner on the second floor, he saw a familiar figure through the wooden railings decorated by the Jin Hai Restaurant.
He Qing.
He silently repeated the name in his heart.
Jiang Mu has a high alcohol tolerance, and drinking three cups of baijiu is nothing to him, but right now, his head is spinning.
It seemed like he hadn't seen Mu and Qing in a long time.
Mu Heqing looked displeased, and seemed to have lost some weight. Her lips were tightly pursed, as if she was uneasy. The last time Jiang Mu saw her smile was in a coffee shop in Qingcheng.
At that time, she smiled beautifully at him.
Jiang Mu couldn't control himself and walked towards Mu Heqing.
"He Qing, it's been a long time."
His heart pounded, and he almost held his breath as he waited for Mu and Qing's reply.
Mu Heqing looked up, paused slightly, then gave a faint smile, her tone seemingly filled with emotion.
"Jiang Mu, indeed, it's been a long time since we last saw each other."
Mu and Qing came to Jinhai Restaurant to borrow Lin Guo's car to return to Huacheng, but before Lin Guo arrived, they ran into Jiang Mu first.
Jiang Mu asked, "When did you come back to Ancheng? I've been in Ancheng the whole time, why didn't you come... to see me?"
"I've been busy with something, sorry, let's talk another time." Mu Heqing's tone was a bit cold.
Jiang Mu felt a sudden pang in his heart. Mu Heqing had never spoken to him in this tone before. Why had they become so distant after their trip to Huacheng?
He shouldn't have drunk so much today; otherwise, why does his heart feel so uncomfortable?
"Did I do something wrong?" Jiang Mu lowered his eyes. His eyelashes were long, and it was hard to resist him when he looked down.
But Mu and Qing just shook their heads.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I have something to do, so I'll be going now."
She saw Lin Guo and knew she couldn't waste any more time with Jiang Mu.
Jiang Mu suddenly felt a surge of emotions he couldn't handle—pain and bitterness—and he did something offensive that he wouldn't normally do.
He grasped Mu Heqing's wrist as he was about to leave.
"He Qing, can we find a place to talk?"
Jiang Mu hoped that the cute and shy Mu Heqing would show a troubled little expression, and then helplessly agree to him.
Just like before.
Mu Heqing wasn't angry; she simply asked Jiang Mu a question.
"Jiang Mu, do you like me?"
Jiang Mu's hand holding Mu Heqing's wrist trembled, and before he could react, he had already uttered some polite business remarks.
"Of course, I love being with Qing. We get along very well..."
Jiang Mu paused, realizing he shouldn't have said that. The usually composed man was at a loss, his mind in turmoil.
He was hit hard by Mu and Qing's direct attack and was completely routed.
"No, that's not what I meant. No, that's what I meant." Jiang Mu, who was usually very eloquent, stammered.
Mu Heqing smiled, her eyes naturally revealing a gentleness. She removed Jiang Mu's hand from her wrist, walked closer to him, gave him a light hug, and quickly let go.
She said earnestly, "Thank you, thank you all this time."
"He Qing." Jiang Mu wanted to say something, but his mind went blank and he couldn't say anything.
Mu and Qing, their eyes filled with apology, left with the words "Goodbye" and ran off.
She couldn't continue to entangle herself with Jiang Mu.
Jiang Mu, who remained where he was, had the same expression as the three old classmates he had locked in the private room. Only then did he realize that Mu and Qing's previous rejections were not rejections at all; this was the real rejection.
…………
Mu and Qing shook off Jiang Mu and met Lin Guo, but she couldn't borrow a car.
As soon as Lin Guo saw her, he asked her why she wanted to borrow his car, and then he was about to make a phone call to Huazha.
If Hua Zha knew she was going to Huacheng, he would definitely try to stop her, and then she wouldn't be able to go.
For the first time, Mu and Qing hated themselves for having such low wages that they couldn't afford a car.
Just when she was worrying, someone who was both familiar and unfamiliar came to find her.
The woman rolled down her car window, revealing a pretty face. She asked, "Miss, are you going to Huacheng?"
"It's you." Mu Heqing had seen her twice before. The first time was downstairs at the company, when she found her ID card.
On another occasion, not long ago.
This girl practically had the words "there's something wrong with her" written all over her face.
"Get in the car. I know you have a lot of questions, but we're running out of time."
Mu and Qing got into the car and learned the girl's name—Lin Han.
“You are human,” Mu Heqing said definitively.
Lin Han nodded and said, "I am human, a pure human, and I am not the same species as your high school classmates at all. I am the same species as you."
"You deliberately picked up my ID card that time."
“Yes, I want you to go back to Huacheng,” Lin Han said directly without beating around the bush.
"Why?"
"Of course it's because of Yu Hai, your high school classmate. Things will be under control if you go back."
There was a distance between Ancheng and Huacheng, and Lin Han was driving very fast. She almost floored the accelerator, and Mu Heqing had a feeling that she would die on the way before she even reached Huacheng.
"I think you should introduce yourself first." The scenery outside the window changed rapidly, but Mu Heqing tried to remain calm.
She really didn't want to get into a car accident.
“It’s not good to say too much. I’ve already gotten involved too much.” Lin Han frowned. “You can think of me as a detector. I can sense when a crisis occurs, but once I get involved too much, I can’t sense it anymore.”
crisis?
Does it refer to a riot?
Mu and Qing continued, "Why can you sense things?"
Lin Han is clearly human, so does she have some kind of special ability from birth?
There was a moment of silence in the car. Lin Han gave a wry smile and said, "You never know what people will do to their own kind, but there's nothing you can do about it. As someone at the core, you should know what you're facing."
For some reason, Mu and Qing remembered the strange glass tube in Hua Zha's hand. At that time, Yu Hai said that the thing was a product of half a human.
Her high school classmates had a deeper relationship with humans than she had imagined.
"What do you mean by 'we can't intervene'?"
Lin Han said, "Simply put, what's related to them is a boulder rolling forward. Our intervention won't stop the boulder or change its direction; it will only make it roll faster."
Mu and Qing took a while to process what Lin Han had said.
"Then am I not considered to have interfered?"
“You are different. You are already deep within the core. You are part of the monolith.”
Lin Han suddenly braked, and Mu and Qing realized that they had arrived in Huacheng.
It was late at night, the air was thick with moisture, and distant thunder could be heard.
It's going to rain.
“I can’t get into No. 13 Middle School, so I can only send you here. What you do next is up to you,” Lin Han said softly.
Everything felt like it had gone back to the past.
"Good luck, miss." Lin Han got into the car. She came quickly and left quickly, as if knowing her was a misperception.
Mu and Qing did not hesitate and walked towards No. 13 Middle School according to their memory. Lin Han left her nearby, so she only needed to walk a short distance.
As for whether entering No. 13 Middle School could stop the riot, that was no longer something Mu Heqing was considering. She had to go there first, and then she would do it.
There is a general location for No. 13 Middle School, but humans cannot enter No. 13 Middle School; No. 13 Middle School needs to pull her in.
The thunder grew louder and louder, and the moisture in the air was almost suffocating. Painful memories also invaded Mu and Qing's minds.
"Don't think about it," she warned herself.
Halfway there, a tall, dark figure blocked her way, with tiny red flames burning on its surface.
"He Qing," a large, hoarse voice called to her.
"Get out of my way. I want to go to No. 13 Middle School, or do you want to use your out-of-control abilities to kill me?" Mu Heqing was not surprised to see his old classmate here.
There are many guys who have been active around No. 13 Middle School.
Mu and Qing walked a little further.
Several monsters with scarlet tongues loomed down from the shadows of the trees, which could only be seen as outlines. They hissed at Mu and Qing a few times before running away again.
These were all familiar faces to Mu and Qing; even after seven years apart, they remained as enthusiastic as ever.
More and more shadows appeared, the night deepened, and the thunder grew closer. Everything familiar made Mu and Qing feel nauseous.
"He Qing."
Who is calling her?
Mu and Qing were about to retort when they saw a disheveled, smiling face.
"Jiang Mu." Mu Heqing slowly closed his eyes.
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