ten days
The black Maybach drove out of the parking area. Qin Lin turned the dazzling high beam back to low beam. In the rearview mirror, the group of teenagers were still swearing and using foul language.
Things were becoming increasingly disorderly here, and he made a phone call with an unhappy look on his face.
Soon, a deep male voice came from the phone.
"Mr. Qin? I was just about to call you when you called. I heard that there was a little incident at your party today. It was our people who didn't treat you well enough. Please don't be angry." The person on the other end of the phone was Han Li, the owner of the club. In Nanshi, he was a local tyrant who was involved in both black and white. Although he said sorry, his tone was light and he didn't take the matter to heart. He was just exchanging pleasantries with Qin Lin.
Qin Lin said gloomily, "Forget about the party. I just came from your place. You minors are making a lot of noise. Boss Han, be careful not to get into trouble."
*
After leaving the club and coming to the street, Xu Jiaojiao slowed down her pace while pulling Jiang Zhizhi, but her mind was blank. She didn't know what to say after stopping, and she didn't know how to face Wang Xing in the future.
Everything was terrible. She couldn't go home and now she had lost her only place to stay.
It was almost ten o'clock in the evening. The cold wind in December was like a maggot in her tarsal bones, and she was only wearing a short black silk skirt. She was so cold that she was even a little numb.
"Don't run anymore. They probably won't catch up with us." Jiang Zhizhi stopped, panting.
Xu Jiaojiao was also affected by her and stopped in her tracks. She stood there stiffly without looking back.
After a moment of impulse, she realized that she shouldn't have left with Jiang Zhizhi. There was no place for her in this world anymore.
"Let's find a warm place first."
Jiang Zhizhi called a taxi, which took her out of Jinhai District and found a hotel in Beiguan, Nanshi.
"Wang Xing and the others probably won't find Beiguan. You can stay here for a while."
"How long is a while?" Xu Jiaojiao leaned against the window sill beside the bed, lowered her eyes, lit a cigarette familiarly, and sneered self-deprecatingly, "You shouldn't have come here to meddle in my affairs. We are not from the same world. I have my own path to follow."
"What if I don't want you to go that way?" Jiang Zhizhi looked at her straight, her bright eyes burning in the cold night.
Xu Jiaojiao's throat seemed to be burned by her gaze, and she was unable to speak.
"Give me ten days, and I'll arrange a new path for you. If you don't like it, you can do whatever you want. I won't interfere with you anymore." Jiang Zhizhi took out her wallet from her pocket, took out all the cash inside, and placed it on the table. "Here are more than 500 yuan. Take it and use it first."
Looking at the stack of cash, some in small change and some in whole, Xu Jiaojiao couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in her heart. She choked up and said, "You...you're just a junior high school student. What kind of path can you arrange for me?"
"Isn't Wang Xing also a junior high school student? You're willing to believe him, but not me?"
"Okay, I'll wait for you for ten days."
She definitely can't go back to Wang Xing.
She had made up her mind that after ten days, she would leave the city again.
Before leaving the hotel, Jiang Zhizhi left her coat to Xu Jiaojiao. The weather was too cold and her clothes were too thin. She was wearing a thick wool sweater under her coat. Although it would be a little cold, she could get home quickly by taking a taxi.
After getting in the taxi, Jiang Zhizhi turned off her phone. When she turned it on, more than a dozen missed calls popped up.
She looked at the time. It was almost eleven o'clock. Lu Xiye must be very angry.
Better call him back.
Jiang Zhizhi was about to dial when a call suddenly came in.
She originally thought it was Lu Xiye, but the caller ID displayed was [Senior Brother].
Xu Honghan?
Why would he call me now?
Jiang Zhizhi thought for a moment and answered the phone.
Xu Honghan is the only adult she knows and gets along with relatively well. Perhaps, he can give some effective suggestions on Xu Jiaojiao's affairs.
"Zhizhi? You haven't answered the phone for so long, I thought you were asleep."
"Not yet, Senior Brother, is there something you need to call me for?"
"Nothing, I'm back in South City. My teacher will be back from K City tomorrow. It's the weekend. Are you free? Do you want to go to the airport with me? He must miss you a lot after not seeing you for so long."
"Okay, what time do you leave for the airport tomorrow?"
"Your flight is at 10:00 AM, so it should arrive around 2:00 PM, right? How about I pick you up in the morning and have lunch together before going to the airport?"
"Hmm...Okay."
"Your voice seems a little shaky? What's wrong? Are you sick?"
"No..." Jiang Zhizhi pondered for a moment and said, "Brother, are you free now? I want to talk to you about something..."
*
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Zhizhi asked the driver to take a detour to Xu Honghan's apartment in Xiyuan District.
At this time, her phone rang again, this time it was her mother Chen Yuping calling.
It's so late and she hasn't returned yet. Chen Yuping must be very anxious.
She quickly answered the phone, "Mom."
"What do you mean by 'mom'? Jiang Zhizhi, I called you so many times but you didn't answer. But when your mom called you, you answered immediately. What do you mean?" Lu Xiye's exasperated voice came from the other end of the phone.
"I was just busy. Are you home?"
"Nonsense! It's already eleven o'clock! Do you know that I've been looking for you in that club for a whole hour, and you haven't eaten yet! Where are you now?"
"I met my senior brother on the way. Tell my mom that you don't have to wait for me. You can rest first. My senior brother will take me back later."
"It's already eleven o'clock, you want to stay any later? You might as well not come back!" Lu Xiye said gritting his teeth.
"That's it. Tell my mom. I'm hanging up."
After Jiang Zhizhi finished speaking, she hung up the phone in a hurry.
She was afraid that if she was a little later, Chen Yuping would answer the phone. She could deal with Lu Xiye, but she would feel guilty towards Chen Yuping.
At half past eleven, the taxi stopped downstairs of Xu Honghan's apartment building. Jiang Zhizhi got out of the car and suddenly realized that fine snow was falling in the night sky.
The cold wind blew and she couldn't help shivering.
It's still very cold even wearing only a sweater.
"Zhizhi!"
Just as she was about to enter the community, she heard an anxious voice not far away. She looked over and saw Xu Honghan holding a supermarket shopping bag. He took off his woolen coat, walked quickly to her, and wrapped her in the coat.
"It's so cold, why are you dressed like this?"
The coat covered her head, revealing only her face. Xu Honghan saw that her lips were purple from the cold and there were bruises on her face. His expression suddenly turned cold, "Were you beaten?"
"No, I fell and bumped into it."
"Let's go home first and talk about it later."
He could tell she was lying, but he didn't expose her. He hurriedly took her back to his residence.
Xu Honghan lives in the first high-end apartment in Nanshi City to be equipped with floor heating. The heat rises from the ground, making the house as warm as spring as soon as you enter.
"I just went to the supermarket and bought some snacks. You can eat them first. I'll make you a cup of hot tea to cool you down."
Ten minutes later, Xu Honghan brought over two cups of steaming hot black tea and handed one to Jiang Zhizhi. "Tell me, what happened?"
His gaze fell on the bruises on Jiang Zhizhi's face again. Upon closer inspection, he saw that in addition to the bruises, her right cheek also seemed a little red and swollen.
"Did your mother hit you?"
"No, it's not."
Jiang Zhizhi lowered her head and took a sip of black tea. The moment the hot tea entered her mouth, heat flowed from her throat through her limbs and bones, and her body suddenly became warm.
A warm blush appeared on her face. "Actually, it's because of a friend of mine..."
She told Xu Honghan everything about Xu Jiaojiao. Of course, she did not mention Xu Jiaojiao's name, and some things were not described in such detail.
"So you got into a fight with those thugs because of her?"
"Well... sort of."
Xu Honghan sighed helplessly and reached out to touch the scar on Jiang Zhizhi's face. "Does it hurt?"
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt." Jiang Zhizhi was a little unaccustomed to such touches. In her previous life, being beaten and injured was commonplace. Over time, she developed a strong ability to endure pain. She was used to licking her wounds alone, but was not used to the gentle care of others at all.
"Actually, changing your friend's situation is both difficult and simple. You just can't do it."
"Why?"
"Because the root of her current situation is her family. If you want to help her, you have to start with her family, but you are only a junior high school student. Even if you go to her parents, they won't listen to your singing."
"You don't mean to change her parents, do you? Changing a person's mind is probably harder than climbing to the sky."
“Yes, it is difficult to change a person’s thoughts, but it is easy to change a person’s behavior.”
"Behavior?"
"That's right. For example, because she's a girl and can't bring more benefits to her parents, her parents don't like her. However, if her existence itself can bring benefits, her parents will naturally value her and even tolerate her."
"Does it bring benefits?"
"I recently met some friends in Qianzhou. There are many poor and remote areas there, where children can't even afford to go to school. Teenagers can only raise pigs and cattle in the mountain villages. They can't bear to see these children go to waste, so they provide financial support. With these people's financial support, those children can go to school, and their family situations will be much better. This is especially true for little girls. Originally, their parents would never let them go to school, but after receiving financial support, not only can they go to school, but their parents' attitude towards them has also changed a lot."
Funding...
She does have a lot of money now, but should she give the money to Xu Jiaojiao's parents and let them take advantage of it for nothing?
She felt sick just thinking about this kind of thing.
However, what Xu Honghan said was indeed a method, and she could think about it carefully.
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