Chapter 9 Chapter09 Met
Yan Sui shook her head: "I don't know him. Yu Shuli and I met after the choir."
In fact, when they first joined the choir, Yan Sui and Yu Shuli did not get familiar with each other immediately.
At that time, Yan Sui was the lead singer of the choir, and she was completely focused on "how to be a good lead singer." There were more than 20 people in the choir, and apart from Tan Shu, who had been friends with her since joining the choir, she had no impression of the other 20 or so people.
So compared to the day she joined the group, Yan Sui always felt that their first meeting was in the alley in the community in front of the school.
No. 1 Middle School is located in the western part of Sushan City. Compared to the bustling center and the developed eastern district, the entire western district seems much more backward. Large areas of old residential areas are located in the western part, and right in front of their school is a poorly maintained urban village.
No. 1 Middle School isn't the only school surrounding it. A technical school, a junior high school, and two elementary schools all surround the urban village. Consequently, numerous internet cafes and game rooms have opened in the village, attracting truant students from the neighboring boarding school and uneducated youth from society.
For some unknown reason, the public security in the entire urban village was extremely poor during that period.
After Yan Sui and her choir finished rehearsal, it was already ten o'clock in the evening.
Tan Shu's family was away on business today, so she planned to stay at her grandparents' house for the night. So after the choir disbanded, she left with another student from the group who was also in the same field.
Yan Sui stayed in the hall to pack her things. When she finished packing, there was no one in the hall.
As usual, she locked the door of the theater and walked quickly towards the school gate.
It was already very late, the school was empty, and the security guard standing at the door yawned sleepily.
The last bus had already passed, and Yan Sui was planning to walk to the next intersection to take a taxi back. As she passed the school gate, she noticed a familiar-looking girl standing next to her.
The girl stood there, her phone in her hand, looking anxious. The screen flickered on and off, her face becoming increasingly panicked.
Perhaps she noticed that Yan Sui had been standing in front of her for a long time without leaving, so she turned her gaze over.
Yan Sui immediately recognized her as a classmate in the choir and was the first to speak: "What's wrong?"
Perhaps because she spoke up suddenly, the girl had a place to vent her emotions, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears: "I can't get through to my family. They said they would come to pick me up from school."
Yan Sui paused, then asked, "Where do you live?"
"It's in the urban village across the street."
As soon as she heard the address, Yan Sui immediately understood why she was standing there alone waiting for her family to pick her up.
Recently, there have been a lot of hooligans from nowhere in the urban villages, and the school has repeatedly reminded students not to stay there after school. Several students in their class who live in the urban villages have been told by their families to wait for them to pick them up after school.
Yan Sui was also afraid of getting into trouble, so she had been avoiding that area for some time.
She didn't want to cause herself trouble or unnecessary danger, but she couldn't leave her choirmates here alone.
Yan Sui's heart hardened, and she said, "I'll take you back!"
After all, it is a society ruled by law, and two people are much safer than one.
She seemed to be really scared. When she heard Yan Sui wanted to send her back, the girl nodded repeatedly with tears in her eyes.
It's been rainy lately, and the drainage system in the urban village isn't as good as in the neighborhoods outside. It's been raining for days straight, and the whole village is filled with a damp, rotting smell.
Passing by a food stall inside, a group of men in exaggerated T-shirts gathered at the door. Countless beer bottles were placed in front of them, and the smell of cigarettes filled the mixed smell of rain and mud.
The men were laughing and joking, mumbling obscenities in the local dialect, and the red marks on their cheeks showed that alcohol had taken over most of their thoughts.
When Yan Sui passed by them, several uncles narrowed their eyes and looked at them with ill intent.
Yan Sui felt the girl's grip on her arm tighten, and she patted the back of her hand soothingly with her other hand and quickened her pace.
I don't know how long I walked forward, but the noise of playfulness gradually died down. Yan Sui turned around and saw that she was a long way away from the place she had just been. She breathed a sigh of relief.
The girl's home was at the end of the alley. After sending the girl home, Yan Sui didn't plan to stay for long. She thought that it was not the busiest time in the urban village yet, so she had to leave here quickly.
She took a deep breath and was about to run out of the alley when the girl she had sent to the doorstep suddenly grabbed her schoolbag strap, causing her to stop.
"What's wrong?"
The girl's hand slowly moved from the belt to Yan Sui's arm, and she whispered, "It's too late, and it's too chaotic over there. If you don't mind, you can stay at my house for one night. I'm sorry I kept you late. It's too dangerous for a girl like you to walk this distance back home. I don't dare to walk this distance alone, and I don't want you to walk this distance back home alone."
It seemed like she had hesitated for a long time before saying this, and it also made Yan Sui feel warm after helping others.
She is not a saint, but she will help others without expecting anything in return. At this moment, she felt the warmth and touching feeling of the mutual appreciation between girls.
Yan Sui grinned at her: "It's okay, I'm not afraid."
"But--"
"If you're worried about me, come check me out again when we meet at school tomorrow!"
After saying this, Yan Sui didn't want to continue to be in a stalemate about this matter, so she waved gently at the girl and ran out of the alley with her schoolbag on her back without waiting for her response.
When passing by the food stall again, Yan Sui noticed that the men who had stared at her with ill intentions were now standing on the road on her way back, smoking.
The urban village is connected by a main road from west to east, with the scattered houses in the middle extending into countless dark paths along this main road.
Except for the main road which has street lights all the way down, other small roads can only be illuminated by the lights of each household.
Yan Sui's thoughts raced, and she quickly decided to return along the main road.
The side streets were dark and sparsely populated. While she could avoid the seemingly malicious crowd, there were bound to be others hiding somewhere. In the side streets, she might be even more isolated and helpless than she was now. At least the main streets had plenty of shops, and even if she were to be harassed by a drunk man, she could ask passersby for help.
Yan Sui calmed down, held her breath, tightened the strap of her schoolbag, and walked forward quickly.
Just as she passed by those men, a man who was originally standing next to the trash can smoking suddenly took two steps towards her.
She immediately held her breath, rolled her eyes forward, and estimated her chances of breaking out of the encirclement of these men.
After being sure that she could break out of the encirclement, Yan Sui was about to ignore the man and run forward when she suddenly heard a burst of hurried footsteps behind her.
"Walk!"
Before Yan Sui could react, her arm was suddenly pulled forward and she ran uncontrollably after the person who came.
The other person was running very fast, and half of his body strength was used on the hand that was pulling her to run, causing Yan Sui to run much faster than usual. She didn't even have time to react to who the other person was before she was dragged all the way to the gate of the urban village.
There is a school opposite the gate, and the security is much better than inside.
The two men slowed down their pace and did not stop until they ran across the street.
After running so far in such a short time, Yan Sui couldn't stop panting, and her breathing was disordered. After her breathing stabilized, she turned her attention to the boy who had suddenly appeared.
The moment their eyes met, the boy suddenly loosened his grip on her wrist, as if realizing only afterwards how presumptuous his actions were. He scratched his head a little embarrassedly and said, "I'm sorry, classmate. I didn't have time to ask for your opinion because of the urgency of the matter."
Yan Sui recognized him as a member of the choir and a classmate of her friend Tan Shu.
She quickly waved her hands and said, "It's okay. Thanks to you for taking me for a run. Otherwise, I don't know if I could have gotten out!"
The boy seemed even more embarrassed, the blush on his cheeks creeping all the way down to his earlobes, the tips of his ears red as if dripping blood. He lowered his head, his eyes averted to the side, not looking at her. "I'm Yu Shuli from Science Class 1, and we're in the same choir."
"I remember you. You and Tan Shu are in the same class, right? My name is Yan Sui."
"I know." Yu Shuli whispered.
Yan Sui didn't notice his expression and asked him why he was there just now.
Yu Shuli then explained that he was having a late-night snack there, and on his way back he saw her surrounded by a group of men. He had a hunch that something was wrong, so he took it upon himself to drag her out of the alley.
This reason was very sufficient, and Yan Sui didn't think much about it. After chatting briefly with Yu Shuli, she planned to take a taxi home.
There are many taxis at night. Yan Sui stood on the side of the road and waited for a while before successfully stopping a car.
After confirming the destination with the driver, she opened the back door and said, "I'll be leaving now. Thank you for today."
Just as Yan Sui was about to get into the car, someone grabbed her arm again.
She stopped moving and looked at the other person in surprise.
Although Yu Shuli held her arm, he always kept a distance from her and did not get too close.
Meeting her puzzled gaze, he expressed his concerns: "It's very late. If you don't mind, let me take you home!"
That night, Yan Sui couldn't remember why she agreed to Yu Shuli's words. She only remembered that from that day on, she really got to know Yu Shuli.
Unlike an acquaintance where you only know each other's name, this is the first story line that brings you closer together.
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