"Works of Night Micro-chaos, Love after Love 5-0=? Chapter 4: Love is Justice"

  Protect you, unwilling anything in this world hurt you; then one day, you will shelter me under your thick wings.

  Ji Hua Ning, who graduated from Guanghua Primary School, is a well-known figure. Even the principal has personally praised her. She's beautiful and studies well, such a perfect person is willing to be close to everyone, her relationships are naturally good beyond words.

  But now, this perfect princess is furious. It's only been a year since graduation, and at the elementary school reunion, another name was mentioned frequently, so many times that it exceeded her suspicions. Moreover, she knew that name all too well, from childhood to adulthood, always stealing her thunder. The one being praised by others now is the genius youth - Lin Jinglan.

  Xiao Lan and she attended the same primary school, and in just one year of enrollment, they had already won first place in all the learning competitions for their age group in the district. Apart from this, her beautiful appearance, always neatly dressed uniform, and meticulous personality were also topics worth discussing. However, her small face was always tightly closed, unwilling to easily show off her faint dimples to others. Because of this, she also had a nickname called "Cold Genius".

  Ji Hua Ning's eyes almost popped out. Cold... aloof genius? Restrained by the presence of many classmates and teachers, she held back her laughter. Stereotyped, meticulous, few words... were these words really used to describe Xiao Lan? That Xiao Lan? The little boy who followed her around like a shadow, that little servant boy who made her jealous with his sweet smile and dimples... wasn't he a different person from what they said?

  After that day, whenever they met, Ji Huaning remembered the principal's praise of Xiao Lan: "It's been many years since I've seen such a smart kid, who is strict with himself and diligent. He's just like you, a good kid!" She couldn't help but feel angry. So she made him do many things with ill intentions, such as helping her clean the room, running errands to buy things, even helping her copy homework, and then she used the excuse that his handwriting was not beautiful, tearing up the whole page he had written with great effort. Xiao Lan didn't get angry, still smiling sweetly and obediently.

  That's what they call a perfect princess and an apathetic genius - rumors are indeed unreliable.

  Ji Hua Ning was in second grade when Lin Jing Lan started skipping grades, and at the age of nine, she began attending fifth grade. Although it's just elementary school, in this city where the promotion rate and employment rate are not balanced, young children have already begun to feel the pressure of competition, with weekend tutoring sessions being a common occurrence. Children were originally still very innocent and naive, but parents were anxious and eager to compete, fearing that their child would fall behind from a young age, so they often used grades and rankings to reward or punish their children, encouraging them to work harder and study more. Although the education department repeatedly called on schools not to rank students, not to divide classes into high and low levels, in reality, every school still had its own secret ranking system, as well as so-called "gifted classes".

  This has nothing to do with the genius boy Lin Jinglan. He just goes to school quietly every day, studying silently and unnoticed. His introverted personality, combined with his age difference, means he rarely interacts with his classmates. He doesn't have any close friends of the same sex to chat with, and when classmates ask for help during exams, he ignores them. Although he will answer others' questions in daily life, his attitude is absolutely not enthusiastic, and he seems to be slightly distant from everyone.

  Young age and good grades, plus a look of disdain - of course, this is just speculation by others, finally provoked the big kids in school. One afternoon after school, they called him to a small alley behind the campus where no one was around, ready to let him taste some bitterness, see if he would still be so arrogant afterwards.

  So when Ji Hua Ning appeared at the door of Lin Jing Lan's classroom, what he saw was only his empty seat, where was Xiao Lan's shadow?

  "Stinky little blue, I specially came to pick you up, and you actually dared to stand me up." She muttered to herself, they had originally agreed to go to that big hotel together - today was Uncle Lin and Auntie Lin's wedding anniversary party, and she and her parents were naturally also included in the guest list.

  She was about to turn around and leave when a sharp-eyed girl excitedly called out to her, "Sister Ji Huaning! Are you Sister Ji Huaning?"

  Turn back and put on a sweet smile.

  "Yes, I am Ji Huaning."

  "Wow, it's really the school beauty!" The girl's exclamation attracted several other fifth-graders who had studied with her in the same school and were naturally familiar with her fame.

  Ji Huan Ning smiled slightly, wearing a white blouse with a light blue school uniform skirt, her two slender legs straight and beautiful, the pure beauty of a 14-year-old girl made these young girls envy.

  "Is senior sister here looking for someone?"

  "I'm looking for Lin Jinglan, he seems to have gone back already."

  "Lin Jinglan? That Lin Jinglan who doesn't like to talk?" Several girls exclaimed in surprise, it's clear that Xiao Lan is still quite eye-catching. "Are you and he close, sis? Are you his sister or something?"

  "How is that possible! Ji Huaning suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and replied in a good temper, "No, his parents are my parents' good friends, I came to pick him up at their request. Since he's not here, I'll leave first!"

  "Sister! Please wait!"

  What's wrong? She had to stop in her tracks and turn around once again.

  A little boy looked embarrassed and said: "That, Lin Jinglan's words, I just saw him being called out by Da Mao and a few others."

  The girls around her showed a frightened expression when they heard the name "Damao". Ji Huaning felt that something was wrong, she carefully asked who "Damao" was, then hurriedly ran out.

  A scene of big kids bullying little kids is being played out at the corner of the wall. Although they are in the same grade, Da Mao and his friends are all tall and strong, while Lin Jinglan, who skipped a grade, is younger and smaller, with no ability to resist. Da Mao grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall: "You stinky little kid, you think you're so great just because your grades are good? You always act like you're better than us, looking down on us! But in our hands, you're as weak as a rabbit!"

  A few people around him burst into a sinister laughter.

  Lin Jinglan didn't know how he had become the target of this group, and he didn't even recognize these people - it was only later that he realized this was what they meant by "looking down on others". His back hurt a bit from being slammed, and for a moment he couldn't struggle free from the tall, burly man, so he could only warn in a low voice, "Let go."

  "What did you say?" Da Mao pretended not to hear, "Are you begging for mercy?"

  "Let go, let go!" Lin Jinglan shouted fiercely, and in the midst of struggling, she unexpectedly kicked Dahu's vital part with one foot, causing him to roll on the ground in pain, wailing loudly.

  He didn't have time to pick up his school bag that had fallen on the ground before those people almost instantly surrounded him.

  "Beat him, beat him hard!" The big dog lying on the ground gnashed his teeth and gave orders.

  Those boys were vigorously waving their fists at him. Lin Jinglan crossed his arms to protect his head, only to feel a kick in the stomach and several punches on his back, which made his eyes turn black with pain.

  "What are you doing?" A clear but extremely fierce female voice came, and the black shadows surrounding him suddenly dispersed. Only to see the bright alley entrance, Ji Huaning stood there with her hands on her hips, seeing Lin Jinglan lying on the ground, she strode over quickly.

  "Ma Weihai, Li Qi, Zhou Zhiwei..." The boys whose names were mentioned by her one by one showed expressions of both surprise and fear. "Jealous that others can graduate early? You few, be careful or I'll report to the principal and make you repeat fifth grade a few more times!" It turned out that several of them had been held back before and were standard problem students. Looking at their flustered and stunned expressions, she shouted again, "Still not leaving?!"

  "......Run." Da Mao hastily got up from the ground, covering his crotch and calling on his brothers to retreat.

  "Next time let me know if you bully Lin Jinglan again, you know the consequences!" She shouted loudly at their backs.

  Lin Jinglan stared blankly at her. It was unclear how many times he had done this, staring up at her pointed chin. He struggled to get up, adjusted his messy school uniform, made sure he didn't look disheveled, and naturally took hold of her hand.

  "Hua Ning, sister, let's go."

  "Wait a minute, let me check if you're hurt anywhere." She pulled him left and right, patting and slapping him like she was handling a dried cotton quilt.

  After confirming he wasn't seriously hurt, she took his hand and they walked off into the distance.

  "These little brats are just begging for a lesson..." She muttered to herself as she dragged another little devil along.

  One tall and one short, two silhouettes hand in hand, carrying the same large backpacks, their shadows stretched out long by the sunset.