Chapter 50
Luo Gui's matter was taken over by Song Jingliang's assistant. Song Jingliang's idea was that the child should do what children do and go back to school to study.
He and Jiang Lan only stayed for three days before returning to Shanghai. Before leaving, he called Lu Mingxiao out, and the father and son strolled aimlessly along the alleyways in the twilight. The neighbors who passed by stared at the two of them in astonishment, and some nosy old ladies even came up to ask:
"Mingxiao, who is this? You two look exactly alike!"
Song Jingliang replied with a smile, "I am the child's maternal uncle."
Lu Mingxiao: "Tsk, mother-in-law, how come they all look the same? I'm more handsome than my uncle."
Song Jingliang: ...
Thinking about it, this brat did inherit some of his wife's beauty, so I have to admit it.
The two walked to a small, open park, found a quiet corner with few people, and stopped on a rough stone bridge.
Lu Mingxiao thought he was going to get a scolding again, but then he heard his father say:
"Son, you did a great job. You are responsible and capable. Dad is proud of you."
Lu Mingxiao paused for a moment, then scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Well... it's alright, but in the end, it was you and Mom who came all the way from Shanghai. I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Song Jingliang patted his shoulder: "We're family, don't be so polite. You've taken this on yourself with courage and strategy, which is quite reminiscent of your father's style when he was young. But I can't do that anymore, I'm not as daring as I used to be. There are too many people I cherish, so I need to take better care of myself."
Lu Mingxiao nodded: "Dad, I understand. I won't be so impulsive in the future. Xiaobao is right. If something happens to me, it wouldn't matter if that beast Luo Gui died a thousand or ten thousand times."
"Good that you understand." Song Jingliang leaned on the stone railing, looking down at the murky lake in the small park. "You'll eventually have to shoulder some of the Jiang family's responsibilities. You'll need to work on your temperament. You should learn from Xiaobao in this regard. By the way..."
He looked at Lu Mingxiao with a hint of surprise in his eyes: "I didn't expect you and Xiaobao to get along so well. I thought you two wouldn't be compatible."
Lu Mingxiao had the illusion of being interrogated by his father-in-law. He nervously released the railing of the stone bridge and stood at attention: "Jiang Xiaoyu actually has a very good personality. The two of us... have a very good relationship."
Song Jingliang smiled with satisfaction.
Little did they know that their relief was premature.
...
After Song Jingliang and Jiang Lan left, the courtyard returned to its usual quiet. Early in the morning, Li Qing went to the provincial capital to pick up Lu Chuan from the hospital, while Lu Mingxiao and Jiang Huaiyu went to school with their schoolbags on their backs.
The matter was considered closed. Apart from Li Rui, no one at the school knew anything about it. Some people asked curiously why the two of them hadn't come to school for two days, but Lu Mingxiao brushed them off.
At the end of May, the whole school took its mid-term exams. Jiang Huaiyu was unsurprisingly in the first exam room, while Lu Mingxiao was already in the fourth exam room.
"Only two more exam rooms left!" Lu Mingxiao moved a table, looking at Jiang Huaiyu with confidence: "Next time, I'm sure I can get into the second exam room..."
Jiang Huaiyu helped him move the table, and was also impressed by the confident and flamboyant smile in his eyes, so she couldn't help but laugh along: "So confident, Brother Xiao."
"That's right, I said I would catch up with you little by little. Your brother Xiao never makes empty promises."
The two of them set up the table according to the exam requirements when Liang Jing suddenly peeked out from the back door with a very strange expression.
"Brother Xiao, there's a girl... woman... woman... sigh... I don't know how to say it, she's looking for you and the top student, why don't you go and take a look? She's at the school gate, it's too embarrassing to have people watching."
Lu Mingxiao was completely bewildered: "What's ugly about her? The girl is ugly? You can't talk like that."
Liang Jing looked at him with a complicated expression: "It's not that he's ugly, anyway, you should go and see him..."
When Lu Mingxiao and Jiang Huaiyu arrived at the school gate, they realized why Liang Jing had said the matter was "too ugly."
At the bustling school gate, a girl stood with her blue hair. Against her neat black hair, she looked like a bright signal light, and every student who passed by would turn around and glance at her.
It wasn't just because of her hair, but also because of her slightly protruding belly.
This is a pregnant woman who looks to be under twenty years old.
Lu Mingxiao paused, grabbing Jiang Huaiyu's wrist: "What's going on? I'm a good man with excellent morals, I'm innocent, has she mistaken me for someone else?"
Jiang Huaiyu glanced at him speechlessly: "Who said it's yours?"
He strode towards the school gate, tossing Lu Mingxiao an answer: "Guo Shun's."
Lu Mingxiao: "...Damn it!"
...
It was lunchtime when school let out, and Jiang Huaiyu and Lu Mingxiao took the girl to a cold drink shop near the school with private rooms—the same cold drink shop where Lu Mingxiao had taken Jiang Huaiyu to play games when he first came to Ancheng.
Once inside the private room, the girl ignored Lu Mingxiao and Jiang Huaiyu and ordered an iced drink and a tiramisu for herself.
"Pregnant women shouldn't drink anything too cold," Jiang Huaiyu couldn't help but remind her.
"Who cares? I'll drink if I want. I smoke too, and my child's fine, isn't he?" The girl crossed her legs, glanced at Jiang Huaiyu, and for some reason, a hint of fear flashed in her eyes before she put her legs down again: "Tsk, good student..."
Then he looked at Lu Mingxiao: "Got a cigarette, handsome?"
"Do I look like I'm smoking?" Lu Mingxiao crossed his arms and chuckled. "Sorry, no. If you don't care about the baby in your belly, please also consider our two babies who are over 200 months old. We don't want to inhale secondhand smoke."
Not receiving the expected courtesy due to the disadvantaged, the girl reluctantly withdrew her hand and snorted.
This was the second time Jiang Huaiyu had seen You Lulu. The first time was the night Lu Mingxiao was kidnapped. He followed Li Rui to the billiard hall that Guo Shun and his friends frequented, and used the girl's phone to call Guo Shun.
"Did you need something from us?" Jiang Huaiyu asked.
"Of course something's wrong! Guo Shun's gone in, what am I going to do?" The girl pointed to her stomach and asked, "You sent him in, what about this little brat?"
Lu Mingxiao: ...
Jiang Huaiyu: ...
The two boys exchanged a glance, their faces asking: What does this have to do with us?
Presumably, Young Master Jiang had never seen such a scoundrel before. Lu Mingxiao pulled the man behind him and looked at You Lulu with a half-smile: "Do whatever you want. It has nothing to do with us. We have not asked for Guo Shun to be severely punished, nor have we asked him to testify that he was coerced into committing the crime. We have already done more than enough."
Yu Lulu hadn't expected this outcome, and stared at the two of them with a face full of resentment: "Guo Shun said you are good people."
Lu Mingxiao: ? ? ?
Jiang Huaiyu: ? ? ?
This girl is fair-skinned, with a well-defined nose and eyes, and she even has a delicate appearance. How could she have fallen for Guo Shun? Now that we know, she might not be thinking straight...
Lu Mingxiao and Jiang Huaiyu, in perfect unison, took a step back towards the door.
Seeing that they were about to leave, You Lulu stood up, her expression changing. She stared at Jiang Huaiyu and said, "If you don't give me the money, I'll go to the police station and report you to the police station!"
Lu Mingxiao laughed out loud: "My God, what are you planning to tell the police? I asked a stranger for money, and he refused to give it to me. Did he shatter my ultimate fantasy about free lunches?"
"Of course not!" Yu Lulu pointed at Jiang Huaiyu, then sheepishly withdrew her hand: "He got into a fight that night and injured six of my buddies!"
Lu Mingxiao's smile froze, and he slowly frowned: "What did you say? Which night?"
"It was Guo Shun who kidnapped... no, the night Guo Shun was threatened and kidnapped you!" You Lulu still felt lingering fear when she recalled that night, but for the sake of money, she still spoke with conviction: "This guy, who looks like a good student, all by himself, injured five of our brothers. If you don't believe me, look at his lower back! He definitely still has injuries!"
Jiang Huaiyu said calmly, "If you weren't pregnant, I would have had six abortions already."
The small billiard room was a gathering place for Guo Shun and his gang of thugs and delinquents. Jiang Huaiyu originally wanted to borrow You Lulu's phone to call Guo Shun, but You Lulu knew that Guo Shun had done something wrong and, out of a desire to protect him, refused to give the phone to Jiang Huaiyu. It was probably because Guo Shun had also told his "brothers" before leaving that, seeing that the situation was not right, several thugs immediately surrounded him.
Jiang Huaiyu didn't have time to reason with them, and he had nowhere to vent his anger, so he hit them a little too hard.
Two pool cues broke, and people fell to the ground. Li Rui huddled in a corner, trembling, afraid that his brother Yu would get carried away and drag him out to be whipped like a top.
Fortunately, Jiang Huaiyu didn't. He just took the phone, placed it in front of You Lulu, and unlocked it by scanning her face.
Then, stepping on a struggling thug, his handsome face remained expressionless: "...Add two million, and not a single hair on Lu Mingxiao's head will be missing, understand?"
Yu Lulu's legs still go weak when she thinks of that night, but now, facing Jiang Huaiyu's indifferent expression, she stubbornly straightens her neck.
But then Jiang Huaiyu said, "Not a single penny will be given. The people who were injured that night should have already received satisfactory compensation. No one will play along with your farce of filing a police report. You can go ahead and try."
He tugged at Lu Mingxiao's arm: "Let's go, we have an exam this afternoon."
Lu Mingxiao was unusually quiet and just followed him.
When they reached an empty private room, he suddenly pushed open the door, turned around, and brought Jiang Huaiyu inside as well.
"These past two days, you haven't let me touch your waist because you were afraid I'd find out you were injured, right?" He pressed her against the door, but didn't dare use any force, his hands carefully protecting Jiang Huaiyu's lower back. "Let me see, okay?"
Jiang Huaiyu hesitated for only a moment, knowing that she couldn't argue with Lu Mingxiao, so she turned around and faced away from him.
"See?"
Lu Mingxiao's fingertips trembled slightly as he gently lifted the hem of his hoodie.
The boy had a slender and beautiful waist, and his skin was a delicate, cool white. His waistline was like that of exquisite porcelain, but even after so many days, his lower back was still covered in bruises, which was shocking to see.
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