Take her in
"Can I stay at your house tonight?"
The girl with wet eyes stood outside the office building, like a homeless red-haired puppy.
Zuo Xiao sighed: "Running away from home?"
Zhuang Jinghao shook her head, then nodded. Zuo Xiao smiled helplessly and took her hand: "Let's go."
Zuo Xiao took Zhuang Jinghao to her home for a bowl of beef noodles and asked her why she ran away. Well, Zhuang Yu'an did recognize her, and the two siblings had a big fight... What touched her was that the little cutie's sadness came not only from her brother's scolding, but also from his worry that she would lose her job.
"I won't go home unless my brother agrees to let you go!" said the little cutie, sniffing.
Seeing her depressed, Zuo Xiao suddenly had an idea and said with a smile, "Do you want to go clubbing?"
The puppy's eyes lit up: "Yes!"
Forty minutes later, Chen Liqing walked into the noodle shop and started nagging before he even sat down: "What day is it today? Going clubbing on a weeknight? Zuo Xiao, you're having more and more fun..."
"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Zuo Xiao complained that he was nagging. If she hadn't been in need of a bodyguard, she wouldn't have bothered to call him.
"Hi..." The little cutie took the initiative to wave and greet Chen Liqing. He turned to look at her: "Hi. Zhuang Jinghao, right?"
"Yeah!" The little cutie said excitedly, "You're Chen Liqing, right? Xiaoxiao baby has talked about you."
"Oh?" Chen Liqing became interested. "What did she say about me?"
"She said you were a free bodyguard, a human shield, a human ATM machine, a human..."
"Alright, alright." Zuo Xiao intervened in time. If she continued, Chen Liqing would start nagging her again. "Have you eaten? If not, eat a couple of bites quickly."
Chen Liqing ordered a bowl of noodles and added two taels of beef. He finished it in no time, then drove his G-Class to take the two girls to a nightclub.
The three of them asked for a booth. Zhuang Jing was so reserved that she huddled in her seat and refused to go onto the dance floor.
Chen Liqing asked, "Little sister, is this your first time in a nightclub?" She replied, "I went once during my senior year." Turning to whisper in Zuo Xiao's ear, she said, "I begged Brother Luffy to take me there, but he got really mad and scolded him... So, he must not know about what happened today..."
Zuo Xiao laughed at her with disdain: "You've already run away from home, and you're still afraid that your brother will know you went to the nightclub?" She hesitated, and it seemed that running away from home was the limit of her confrontation with her brother.
Zuo Xiao was not in a hurry. He waited for her to finish a glass of wine, then grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the dance floor.
Before long, Zhuang Jinghao had forgotten who she was. Her face flushed and she was sweating. Lights flickered before her eyes, a rumbling sound filled her ears, and countless happy little birds danced in her mind.
Back at the booth, she gulped down another glass of wine, and clamored to take a photo with Zuo Xiao and Chen Liqing to commemorate her precious second time clubbing in her life.
Zuo Xiao and Chen Liqing were also excited. They took photos with her face to face and shouted some random things, but I don’t remember them after they were finished.
At around ten o'clock, Chen Liqing, one on his left hand and the other on his right, walked out of the nightclub with two girls. The chill hit them, and the smell of alcohol immediately dissipated.
"Going home?" Zuo Xiao's face was painted a vibrant color by the neon lights. Zhuang Jinghao looked at her with drunken eyes: "No, no..."
"I haven't had enough fun yet! Where are we going next?" She walked with unsteady steps and looked naive. Suddenly, she tilted her head and leaned into Chen Liqing's arms.
Chen Liqing frowned, looking at the tuft of red hair in his arms with disdain: "Get in the car, get in the car, I'll take you back! If you haven't had enough to drink, go home and drink more. I have a meeting tomorrow morning!"
As the three of them reached the door, they heard the thumping of rock music. Zuo Xiao opened the door and saw Eric, wearing flowered shorts and a sleeveless white vest, sitting alone at the table. On the table were two cans of beer and a plate of peanuts.
"Wow, you're partying alone?" Zuo Xiao said with a smile, "If I had known, I would have called you along for the night."
"You should have said it earlier! It's hindsight..." Eric's eyes fell on the red-haired man, then glanced at the young man who was supporting Zhuang Jinghao, "Want to come together? There's still wine in the fridge."
Zuo Xiao looked at Zhuang Jinghao, who was as excited as a kitten smelling dried fish.
"Come on!" Zuo Xiao plopped down on the dining chair. "I'll order some midnight snacks. What do you want to eat?"
Chen Liqing looked at Eric with hostility, thought for a moment and said, "Count me in." Then he walked to the table, put Zhuang Jinghao down, and sat down next to Zuo Xiao.
Zuo Xiao used her phone to order some barbecue and salad, then took control of the Bluetooth speaker. A moment later, music started playing, and she sang along at the top of her lungs:
"Lend me that gun, you said you don't need it to kill anyone..."
With a puff, Chen Liqing opened a can of beer and drank a large gulp wildly. Then he swayed his head and began to sing along: "Could it be that someone has grown tired of love..."
Eric immediately joined in: "Lend me that gun, or lend me fifty cents, I'm going to catch the express train to the North and never look back..."
Zhuang Jing listened to their trio with great excitement and clapped her hands: "Your singing is so awful! But it sounds so good! Hehehehe..."
Zuo Xiao stuffed a can of ice beer into her hands, put his arm around her shoulders and said, "This is Zuo Xiao's masterpiece. He'll be performing it next week. You should prepare well, otherwise I won't take you with me later."
After the song was played twice, Zhuang Jinghao got the hang of it. She stood up, used an empty can as a microphone, and sang along with them in her thin voice:
"Kill Honesty, or kill Love, and join us when the north wind blows..."
I was singing enthusiastically when someone knocked on the door: "What are you making so much noise at this time of night? If you make any more noise, I'll call the police!"
"Shh..." Zuo Xiao put his index finger on his lips, "The police will arrest you all in a while!" After saying that, he chuckled, and everyone burst into laughter.
Despite laughing, they ultimately turned down the volume and stopped singing along. A little later, the barbecue arrived, and Eric pulled out a pair of dice from somewhere. The four of them played poker, with the loser drinking alcohol. Later, they started drinking vinegar, soy sauce, and even mimicking duck hip wiggles... Zhuang Jing was so mad she burst into tears.
In the middle of the night, Eric passed out drunk on the table, and Chen Liqing lay unconscious on the sofa. Zuo Xiao helped Zhuang Jinghao back to the room and fell on the bed with her.
"I'm so happy..." Zhuang Jinghao narrowed his eyes into slits and spoke nonsense drunkenly, "I wish I could be this happy every day... Ah, someone give me a gun, so I can blow my head off. I want to go to heaven..." As he spoke, he started to sing again, "Lend me that gun... biubiubiubiu..."
Zuo Xiao hadn't drunk enough yet, and he looked at her drunken madness with amusement, thinking she was ridiculous. He bent his finger and hit her head: "You have such little courage, if I lend you a gun, would you know how to use it..."
"Isn't this easy?" The drunk raised his right hand, made a pistol shape, and fired two shots at the ceiling.
Zuo Xiao grabbed her hand and pressed it on the bed: "Stop biubiu, sister, I want to sleep, be good and don't make any noise..."
"Oh..." The drunkard buried his face in her chest obediently. Suddenly, he remembered something and raised his voice, "Eh? Why didn't my brother check on me? Brother...Brother?"
Zuo Xiao then remembered the matter of checking on the post.
Damn it! Zhuang Jinghao didn't seem to touch her phone all night. That perverted sister-con couldn't be found. Had he already called the police? Could he charge her with trafficking in women and children?
"Where's your phone?" the suspect fumbled around on the victim's body. "Take it out, quick..."
After touching her for a long time without any success, she made the little cutie smile. She thought her sister was tickling her and reached out to tickle her back. Zuo Xiao quickly jumped out of bed - there was still work to do!
She searched her memory for where Zhuang Jinghao's cell phone was, and suddenly remembered: she came in empty-handed, and the cell phone might have been left in Chen Liqing's car.
Ah, what a headache...
Zuo Xiao thought about it, took out his cell phone and searched through the call records.
That night, Zhuang Yu'an called her to challenge her to a fight... Oh no, it was a talk. She didn't save his number, but it was definitely in her call log.
Found it!
She clicked on the number and sent a text message to the other party:
"Your sister is here with me."
His finger hovered over the send button for a moment before deleting each word.
No, it sounds cool to say this, but it sounds like standard kidnapping and extortion tactics.
After thinking for a moment, he retyped: "Your sister ran away from home and came to live with me."
OK, that's it. Send it.
Less than half a minute later, her phone suddenly vibrated, startling her. Reflexively, she wanted to hang up, but then she thought: I haven't committed any crime, why should I be so scared?
Press the answer button.
“…”
There was silence on the receiver. Zhuang Yu'an glanced at the screen and saw that the call was connected.
At this moment, he was sitting on the sofa on the first floor. From 9 p.m. to now—nearly 3 a.m.—he had called his sister no less than a hundred times, only to hear, "The number you dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later."
He considered countless possibilities, including his sister being kidnapped or having some other accident. According to the law, adults can be reported to the police if they've been missing for more than 24 hours. Yesterday evening, his sister clocked in at work at 6:00 PM, meaning he'd have to wait until at least 6:00 PM today to file a police report. Unless, he erased his sister's clock-in, in which case he only had to wait until 9:00 AM to file.
Reason told him that his sister's disappearance was more likely due to running away from home. In that case, even if he called her friends one by one, it would be useless. It would be better to wait quietly for the arrival of morning.
Even so, his heart still couldn't calm down, and his mind was uncontrollably filled with all kinds of terrible possibilities. He was so anxious that he couldn't sleep at all, and could only wait for dawn.
At the most agonizing moment, he received an unexpected text message. It was just a light sentence: "Your sister ran away from home and came to live with me."
He could hardly hide his anger, and had no time to compete with Zuo Xiao to see who could keep their composure longer. He asked directly, "Where is my sister?"
"At my house."
"Tell her to answer the phone."
The person on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said arrogantly, "Are you mistaken? I was the one who kindly took your sister in, and I was the one who kindly told you she was safe. Is this how you treat your benefactor?"
Zhuang Yu'an was so angry that his temples were throbbing. He forced himself to calm down and said, "You instigated my sister to run away from home and stay out all night. Should I thank you?"
"She took the initiative to seek refuge with me and begged me to take her in!" Zuo Xiao corrected. "If I hadn't been so kind as to tip her off, you wouldn't even know where she is now! Okay, I'm too lazy to nag you! She'll go to work tomorrow morning, that's all."
The call was rudely hung up, and Zhuang Yu'an was so angry that he threw the phone away. When he calmed down and called again, the call was no longer connected.
The next morning, Zuo Xiao was woken by the alarm clock. She slapped Zhuang Jinghao awake, then went to the living room to slap the two men who were still sleeping soundly. For a moment, she felt like a hen, worrying about none of her chicks.
Everyone split up into three groups, each heading to work groggily. The two girls arrived at the office on time, their faces tinged with the look of a hangover and dark circles under their eyes. Zhuang Jing was half a head shorter than Zuo Xiao, with a more delicate frame. Wearing Zuo Xiao's clothes, she looked like a preteen.
After a while, Zhan Jiaxin said in the small group of three: "You two must have done something bad last night, and it was very bad..." After a moment, he said, "Boss Zhuang came twice this morning and saw that no one was at Jinghao's workstation, so he left."
As lunchtime approached, Zhan Jiaxin asked in the group chat, "Where are we going for lunch?" Zhuang Jinghao said, "I want to try something different. Is that okay if I don't have spicy hot pot?"
After a while, Zuo Xiao replied: "You guys go eat, I have a meeting at noon."
At 12:15, she arrived at a nearby teahouse and was led by the waiter through the corridor to a Song-style sliding grille door at the end.
The waiter knocked twice on the door frame, and a deep male voice said from inside, "Come in."
The sliding door opened, and Zuo Xiao walked into a room imbued with Chinese Zen charm. A man in a light gray shirt sat at the side of a rustic wooden table. Behind him was a round imitation window. Under the hazy moon, sparse bamboo shadows were cast.
Zuo Xiao sat down across from him. As a designer, she quietly crafted the surroundings: "Well, the environment is nice. The lingering rhythm of the Song Dynasty and the subtle lingering Zen atmosphere make it a perfect place for tea tasting."
Unfortunately, she was almost fainting from hunger.
What’s even more unfortunate is that there’s an ungrateful man sitting opposite me.
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