"Miss Ning, so you're here!" At that moment, several bodyguards ran over from not far away.
They were all sent by Huo Jingnan to follow Ning Meng.
This was, after all, a mountainous area, and even though Huo Jingnan disliked Ning Meng, he didn't want anything to happen to her here. So, as soon as the Huo family's bodyguards arrived, he assigned most of them to accompany Ning Meng to ensure her safety.
"Miss Ning, it's getting late, you should head back soon!"
"Hey!" Ning Meng called out to them.
The group stopped and looked at each other. Ning Meng then instructed, "Although it's getting late, I still have a few photos to take."
"Miss Ning, is there anything else you want to film? We'll accompany you."
Have you driven?
The bodyguard pointed outside the campus, where the car was parked on the dirt road.
"Okay, I'm going to take pictures on the other side of the mountain. You guys drive there!"
*
As night fell, the mountain road became extremely difficult to navigate, and the driver, remaining highly alert, kept a steady pace.
"Are you keeping up?" Ning Meng played on her phone for a while, but there was no signal, so she irritably threw it onto the seat next to her.
“We’ve been following them,” the driver replied. “Miss Ning, these mountain roads aren’t suitable for driving; walking is much faster, which is why that child is much faster than us…”
"Shut up!" Ning Meng glared at him. "Pay attention and follow! If you dare lose them, you'll be sorry!"
"Yes, yes!" the driver said with a wry smile. "But Miss Ning, please let me turn on the headlights. It's really dangerous like this..."
"Wouldn't he spot me if I turned on the headlights?"
"Without the lights on, we can only fall far behind him!"
"Shut up!"
Suddenly, there was a jolt, and Ning Meng almost fell off her seat.
We finally arrived at the neighboring village, and it was almost 10 p.m.
The bodyguards, all tall and burly, were pale-faced. This mountain road was treacherous, and Ning Meng had refused to allow them to turn on their headlights. They were also unfamiliar with the terrain, and if anything went wrong, falling into the valley would be their last chance to escape.
The village was pitch black, but thankfully the moonlight was bright.
Ning Meng got out of the car, and the bodyguards followed. Ning Meng searched everywhere for Ding Cheng's whereabouts and forced the bodyguards to search with her.
“Miss Ning, that boy should have gone in this direction,” one of the bodyguards whispered to her. “I just saw a figure.”
Without saying a word, Ning Meng ran over there.
The village was eerily quiet, and the mountains appeared even more sinister under the cover of night. Ning Meng tiptoed along the village path, glancing left and right, her heart pounding.
She didn't know why she had risked her life to come here, but she would always have a knot in her heart until she found out about the boy's background.
Suddenly a roar erupted, sending chills down one's spine in the still of the night.
"Now that you're so capable, you can go to the city? You're trying to climb the social ladder and don't want me, your father, anymore, is that it?!"
Ning Meng's heart tightened, and she quickly ran towards the sound.
It was a low, tiled house, with broken tiles covered by thatch, and half of the courtyard wall had collapsed.
The place looked desolate under the cover of night. If it weren't for the sounds coming from it, Ning Meng would never have believed that anyone lived in such a place.
"Speak! Speak!" The angry shouts came one after another. "Are you fucking mute? I'm asking you a question!"
A small lamp swayed precariously, its shade half-black, casting a dirty glow on everything.
Ning Meng looked closely and saw that it was Ding Cheng standing at the door of the small house.
An old man held a dirt broom in his hand and glared at him menacingly.
"Is it that little bitch? Is it really her?"
“I heard about it a long time ago. A teacher named Pei came to that village... Ha, he came all the way from the central city! At first, I didn’t think much of it, but ever since you went there for one class, you’ve been like a man possessed, running over mountains and valleys to go there every day!”
"It's that little bitch, isn't it? You better talk to me, won't you!"
Ding Cheng remained silent, standing like a statue.
Ding Daming swung a broom and hit Ding Cheng, the dry broom handle slamming down on him, dust flying everywhere.
Ning Meng stared wide-eyed and held her breath, as if the broom handle would fall on her the moment she made a sound.
"Have you had enough?!" Ding Cheng shouted, turning around to glare fiercely at Ding Daming.
“I want to go to Yangcheng. I want to study and go to the best school. What did I do wrong? My only mistake was being born into this family and becoming your son!”
"you……"
"You not only hit me, you also hit my sister!" Ding Cheng was hysterical, his whites of his eyes bloodshot, like a young wolf walking in the dark.
"Don't think I was too young and didn't know any better back then! I still remember how you hit my sister!"
"Well... it really was that jinx who stirred things up!" Ding Daming pointed at his nose, his hand trembling slightly. "A human trafficker's daughter, trying to ruin my family's reputation! If it weren't for Pei Hong giving me money every month, I wouldn't let that brat eat my food for free!"
“Pei Hong gave you money, and you gambled it all away and drank it all! You don’t even have enough money to pay for my schooling, you don’t deserve to be a father!”
"You fucking rebelled?!"
Ding Daming gave him another beating.
Ning Meng was terrified by the voice, while Ding Cheng remained silent, standing there with his lips tightly pressed together, his eyes filled with a murderous aura like erupting lava, possessing a destructive power.
His eyes looked as if he wanted to tear Ding Daming apart and cut him into a thousand pieces.
Ning Meng held her breath and tiptoed backward until she was in the shadows, then hurriedly turned and ran away.
Several bodyguards followed behind and safely escorted her into the car.
As soon as Ning Meng got into the car, she shouted, "Go back quickly, go back quickly!"
At this moment, her heart was pounding in her throat, and her mind went completely blank.
"Miss Ning, can't you turn on the headlights yet?"
"Whatever," Ning Meng said in a trembling voice, "I just want to get out of here quickly... get out of here quickly!"
She was flustered and trembling all over. After calming down, the name Pei Hong came to mind.
Pei Hong, Pei Nian.
And there's the "sister" that Ding Cheng keeps calling out.
Could it be...?
Ning Meng took a deep breath, pressed her back against the seat, and forced herself to calm down.
*
The day they returned to Yangcheng was a bright and sunny day. Several buses took the children to the city closest to the mountains, and then someone took them to the airport and put them on the Huo family's plane.
It was the children's first time on an airplane, and they couldn't hide their joy and were filled with curiosity about everything. They chattered and chattered like a flock of happy little sparrows on the plane.
Looking at their smiling faces, Pei Nian felt happy from the bottom of her heart.
However, when she looked towards the last row, her eyes met Ding Cheng's. Her heart tightened, and she felt that there was something special about the boy's gaze.
The boy had a fierce look, and the light in his eyes gleamed with a sharpness beyond his years.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com