"..." Zhu Jinzhao's spirits collapsed instantly.
"What about you two?" she asked, looking at Duan Qing and Xiao Jiming. "Do you have any good ideas?"
“I have it!” Duan Qing raised his hand.
Shi Jing: "Speak."
Duan Qing stood up from his chair, cleared his throat, and said in a serious tone, "If we can't find suitable men's clothing, we'll just buy women's clothing. As long as we transform Jinzhao into someone her older brother wouldn't recognize, wouldn't that solve the problem?"
"Hiss..." Shi Jing narrowed his eyes, thinking it made a lot of sense. "Oh yeah... then shall we switch to buying women's clothing?"
"Isn't that a bit too complicated?" Xiao Jiming suddenly spoke up. "If we don't want her older brother to catch us today, then let's have the waiter go to the next private room and keep them there. As long as the people in that room don't come out and wander around, we can leave anytime."
"...Oh right!" Song Lingyue's eyes lit up, and he realized that there was such a way!
"Old Xiao, why didn't you say so sooner if you had a solution? Didn't you see we were racking our brains?" He tilted his head and glared at Xiao Jiming, looking unhappy.
"..." Xiao Jiming curled his lips slightly, his tone somewhat speechless, "This method is so simple, I thought you could come up with it."
"..." Everyone at the dinner table fell silent.
"Shi Jing." Zhu Jinzhao quietly tugged at Shi Jing's sleeve, leaned closer to him, and whispered, "Is Xiao Jiming highly educated?"
Shi Jing hummed in agreement: "His academic qualifications are indeed the highest among us. If I remember correctly, he was admitted to both his undergraduate and graduate programs through direct admission..."
“This has nothing to do with academic qualifications.” Xiao Jiming raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips. “It’s only related to your intelligence.”
"..." Zhu Jinzhao and Shi Jing lowered their heads in self-consciousness.
"Old Xiao, are you looking down on me?" Duan Qing's chopsticks fell onto the table, and his expression stiffened.
"Old Xiao didn't look down on you." Shen Yichuan patted his shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "You've already done a lot of work to get into a private second-tier university, so no one will look down on you."
"..." Duan Qing slowly turned her head to look at him, "Get lost."
Shen Yichuan: "Alright!"
Xiao Jiming's solution was simple and reliable, so Shi Jing decided to do as he suggested.
He first sent the waiter to the next private room to promote drinks, keeping everyone in the room occupied, and then he led Zhu Jinzhao out.
Although this method is a bit risky, it is the only feasible one at the moment.
As long as nothing unexpected happens, Zhu Jinzhao will be able to escape smoothly.
But fate had other plans. Before they could even leave the restaurant, an unexpected event caught up with them.
"Squeak—"
"I'm going to the restroom, I'll be right back."
The door to the private room was suddenly opened, and Zhu Xingye's voice immediately followed.
"Holy crap!" Song Lingyue exclaimed in surprise, hurriedly saying, "He's out! He's out! Your older brother is out!"
Xiao Jiming frowned: "Quickly! Implement Plan B!"
"Da, da, da—"
Zhu Xingye's footsteps quickly approached, and Shi Jing had no time to hesitate. She bent down and scooped Zhu Jinzhao up in her arms.
Zhu Jinzhao huddled tightly in Shi Jing's arms, not daring to show her face at all.
"Da, da—"
Zhu Xingye's footsteps had already caught up behind them. Ning Shi, with her arm around Jiang Jingwen's shoulder, suddenly exclaimed, "Ouch! Lulu, how come you're so unlucky? You can twist your ankle just walking on flat ground..."
“That’s right.” Xiao Jiming echoed, while subtly pulling the others over to surround Shi Jing, completely blocking Zhu Jinzhao in Shi Jing’s arms.
"You're not going to the bar anymore. You'd better go to the hospital to get your foot checked."
Qin Ming: "I haven't been drinking. I'll drive in a bit..."
Xie Lang: "Then I'll hitch a ride with you. The traffic police said, 'Don't drink and drive, and don't drive after drinking.' We all strictly abide by that rule..."
The group of people hurriedly walked out while rambling incoherently.
Zhu Xingye followed behind them, his face cold and indifferent, not even sparing a glance.
"Hurry up, hurry up!"
After leaving the restaurant, Xiao Jiming pushed Shi Jing's shoulder and made him walk to the right, directly to take the elevator to the basement of the mall.
The basement level is an underground parking lot. Shi Jing carried Zhu Jinzhao to his car, and as soon as Xiao Jiming opened the back door, he quickly put her inside.
"Bang!"
The car door closed. I hope we are completely safe today.
"Hoo..." She let out a long breath and slumped weakly in her seat.
"Bang!"
Another door slammed shut, and Shi Jing fastened his seatbelt and immediately drove off.
"Don't be afraid, Chaochao, we are safe now."
Zhu Jinzhao reached for the seatbelt and shakily fastened it for himself.
"Okay...where are we going next?"
Shi Jing: "Let's go to my house. I have a karaoke room at home, let's go back and sing."
Zhu Jinzhao nodded: "Okay..."
Zhu Xingye's appearance was completely unexpected. She was terrified and completely disoriented. She didn't say a word after getting into the car.
Shi Jing knew she was still scared, and after offering a few words of comfort, seeing that it wasn't very effective, he quickly turned on the car's music player and picked out a few soothing instrumental tracks to play for her.
She sat slumped in her seat, her eyes vacant and her expression blank. Shi Jing spoke to her several times, but she didn't respond.
This situation was really abnormal. Shi Jing became more and more worried as he looked at it, so he simply parked the car on the side of the road, got out, and climbed into the back seat.
"Chao Chao?"
A hand suddenly pressed against her cheek, and Zhu Jinzhao shuddered, snapping back to reality.
“…Shi Jing?” She turned to look at Shi Jing in front of her, her eyes blank and lifeless.
"Why did you suddenly sit in the back? Are we home yet?" she asked, bewildered.
Shi Jing frowned and said gently, "We're not home yet."
Zhu Jinchao: "Why did you stop the car if we weren't home yet? Did...did my older brother catch up with us?"
“No.” Shi Jing looked into her eyes and was deeply hurt by the panic in them.
"Chao Chao." He raised his hands and cupped Zhu Jinchao's face, leaning slightly closer to her. "Your older brother didn't find you, nor did he chase after you. You're safe."
"...Really?" Zhu Jinzhao's eyelashes trembled, and her pitiful look of fear and anxiety broke Shi Jing's heart.
"Really." He forced a smile through his heartache, his fingertips gently stroking Zhu Jinzhao's cheek, his eyes filled with tenderness.
"You're really safe, don't be afraid, okay?"
"I... I don't want to be scared either..." Zhu Jinzhao pouted, looking aggrieved, "But I can't control it... My heart is beating so fast, I feel like my older brother is going to catch up with me in the next second."
"No, he won't." Shi Jing looked at her with a firm gaze. "With me here, he won't chase after you and catch you. You can trust me."
"Okay." Zhu Jinzhao agreed obediently, but the next second, tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Oh dear, why are you crying?" Shi Jing wiped away her tears, hesitated for a moment, and then simply pulled her into his arms.
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