Insufficient balance

  Under the dim light, a tall boy with a single-shoulder bag and wearing a basketball vest stood at one end of the alley. Lin Cijie, who was standing behind him, had to look up by half a head due to his height.

  Lin Cijie hid behind the boy's back, and her mood became complicated again. The boy wearing a basketball jersey was someone she knew, it was Lin Xiaoyu, the boy who had just been pranked by her by pouring water on his hands. Lin Cijie had always been somewhat displeased with this tall and handsome boy, feeling that they had some kind of unreasonable dislike for each other, and there had been several small conflicts and frictions between them. But now, it was this very boy who she was somewhat displeased with who came to help her out of her current predicament. Lin Cijie looked at the tall figure in front of her and felt a sense of security that she had lost earlier.

  "Who the hell are you? This has nothing to do with you. You're meddling in other people's business. Get out of here quickly! Otherwise, my brothers and I won't be polite to you." The three little rascals suddenly felt a bit apprehensive when they saw this tall boy appear, but seeing that he was alone, they began to act wildly.

  Lin Cijie, hiding behind the boy, became particularly tense after hearing those thugs' words. She was so afraid that this boy, who seemed to have a bad relationship with her, would abandon her and leave alone. Now, in this situation, it was difficult for one boy to deal with three small thugs. If he left her behind for self-protection, what should she do? Lin Cijie thought about this and involuntarily shivered all over. She didn't dare think further and subconsciously grabbed the hem of the boy's pants. Although the boy had just finished playing ball and his jersey was still wet and sweaty, Lin Cijie felt a warmth when grabbing onto it, something she would normally find dirty.

  "What do you want to do, I'm here to find my sister." The boy in the basketball jersey said coldly to the group of thugs before turning his head to Lin Cijie behind him. "Let's go, Xiaoru. We're going home. Everyone is looking for you. They'll find us soon, let's not make them search randomly. Let's go out and call them."

  The boy wearing the basketball uniform is Lin Xiaoyu. After finishing his basketball practice, Lin Xiaoyu walked down this alley to go home and saw these thugs surrounding the team's female manager with ill intentions, so he came over to help this wild girl whom he usually avoided. Lin Xiaoyu wasn't someone who liked to do good deeds, but he absolutely wasn't someone who would ignore someone in distress either. Under his parents' teachings for over a decade, Lin Xiaoyu knew that some things had to be done with a clear conscience.

  Lin Xiaoyu had the courage to help the female manager of the basketball team who was being harassed by thugs, but she also remained calm and composed in the face of unexpected events. Lin Xiaoyu saw that this alley was usually deserted and rarely passed by others, so she knew it was unlikely to get help from passersby. Therefore, Lin Xiaoyu knew she had to rely on herself to protect the girl.

  Lin Xiaoyu suddenly realized that she didn't know the name of the female manager of this team, so Lin Xiaoyu called her Xiao Ru. The purpose was to let those little rascals know that she had a close relationship with this wild girl, and then Lin Xiaoyu would have a reason to take Lin Cijie away from here. Lin Xiaoyu also casually said that everyone was looking for her, which secretly intimidated these few little rascals, making them think that she still had helpers coming back, causing these few little rascals to retreat in fear.

  Lin Cijie heard Lin Xiaoyu calling herself "Xiaoru" and started to feel a bit strange, but she wasn't stupid either. She knew that Lin Xiaoyu didn't know her own name, so Lin Cijie just responded with an "en" sound, pretending to be the "Xiaoru" in Lin Xiaoyu's words for a while.

  Lin Xiaoyu pulled Lin Cijie's hand, wanting to take her away. The three hoodlums heard that Lin Xiaoyu had a partner looking for this girl and were slightly concerned, but the tall and slender girl was really too beautiful. These hoodlums had never seen such a stunning beauty before, and they didn't want to give up on such an easy target. So, the boldest and most ruthless one gave his companions a signal and blocked Lin Xiaoyu's path again.

  "What do you want?" Lin Xiaoyu said coldly.

  Lin Xiaoyu's cold eyes made the little rascal, who was a head shorter than Lin Xiaoyu, feel a bit nervous. However, this rascal didn't want to lose face in front of his own gang, so he saw that there were three people on their side and only one man and one woman on the other side, and thus plucked up the courage to say: "You think you can leave? You still have to ask us brothers."

  Lin Xiaoyu knew that the current situation was very difficult to get out of unscathed. Lin Xiaoyu coldly sized up the little thug who was blocking her way, and suddenly slammed the backpack in her hand down on his head from top to bottom. Lin Xiaoyu knew that not taking action tonight would definitely not solve the problem, so she took the initiative to strike first, slamming the backpack at the completely unguarded little thug.

  This face still had a cocky look, and the posture was still maintained when it was hit on the head by Lin Xiaoyu's backpack. It was instantly knocked down and crouched down. But Lin Xiaoyu wasn't going to let him off with just one hit. Lin Xiaoyu knew that these three thugs had an advantage in numbers, and she might not be able to take them down alone. So her strategy was to take down one first, and then slowly deal with the rest. Therefore, when this thug was still dazed from being hit on the head by Lin Xiaoyu's backpack and was crouching down, Lin Xiaoyu quickly threw her backpack aside, grabbed the thug's head with both hands, and slammed his face into her knee that had flown up like a meteor hitting the earth.

  In this tense environment, Lin Xiaoyu did not hold back. Lin Xiaoyu didn't know how much damage the thug's face and nose would suffer from being hit by her knee, but she knew that her plan to take down the thug had already succeeded. When Lin Xiaoyu released him, the thug who had been hit in the face by Lin Xiaoyu's knee had fallen to the ground like a dead snake. The force of this blow was not something an ordinary person could withstand, especially from someone as tall and physically fit as Lin Xiaoyu, who spent all day colliding intensely on the basketball court.

  "Ah!" Lin Cijie, who was standing behind Lin Xiaoyu, suddenly shouted out in surprise. Just as Lin Xiaoyu was about to turn around to see why this savage girl had shouted, Lin Xiaoyu's back was kicked hard by someone. Lin Xiaoyu let out a muffled groan and was forced to take several steps back from the force of the kick. At the same time, Lin Xiaoyu finally realized that Lin Cijie had shouted out because someone had launched a sneak attack on her.

  Lin Xiaoyu had never been in a few fights before, and on the basketball court where physical collisions were intense, Lin Xiaoyu's fists were as well-known to the people on the court as his skills. Lin Xiaoyu knew that the most important thing about fighting was momentum, and overwhelming the opponent with momentum was often the key to winning a fight. So at this moment, Lin Xiaoyu seemed like a lion released from an iron cage, roaring angrily like thunder on a clear day, his eyes red as he charged towards those two thugs with his tightly clenched fists...

  "Are you okay?" Lin Cijie saw Lin Xiaoyu wiping the blood from her face with her own jersey, and Lin Cijie quickly took out a tissue from her small bag and handed it to Lin Xiaoyu, asking carefully.

  "Thanks, it's nothing." Lin Xiaoyu took over the tissue and carefully wiped her mouth corner with blood on it.

  Lin Xiaoyu had just finished fighting with those two thugs, and although she had knocked them both to the ground, her face still took two punches. One of the punches landed on Lin Xiaoyu's mouth corner, causing a small trickle of blood to seep out. However, compared to Lin Xiaoyu, those two thugs were much worse off. Lin Xiaoyu first grabbed one of them and punched him hard several times, knocking him unconscious. By the time she was ready to add a few more punches, this thug had already fallen to the ground like the first one, half-conscious.

  Then Lin Xiaoyu and the thug who had been sneaking up behind Lin Xiaoyu. This thug took advantage of Lin Xiaoyu's fight with his companion, now only he was left facing Lin Xiaoyu alone, this little thug looked at Lin Xiaoyu in horror, who was a head taller than himself, and abandoned his two companions still lying on the ground, running out of the alley in a flash.

  Lin Xiaoyu was afraid that the escaped thug would bring people over, so she immediately picked up her backpack from the ground and took Lin Cijie, who had been frightened by the fight earlier and started crying, out of the alley and into the bustling streets with bright lights and dense crowds. Such a place should have better security.

  Lin Xiaoyu helped the basketball team's female manager, who was crying with red eyes, to send her home. On a night like this, Lin Xiaoyu didn't want to let the girl walk back by herself either. After all, what had just happened made it difficult for the girl to accept, and if something were to happen, Lin Xiaoyu wouldn't know what kind of consequences there would be.

  Lin Xiaoyu wanted to comfort the crying girl on their way home, but didn't know what to say. So Lin Xiaoyu could only walk and use the handkerchief given by the wild girl to wipe her face wounds. Lin Xiaoyu didn't want to go home and let her mom see the marks left from fighting, or else her mom would nag for half a day. Lin Xiaoyu felt that this wild girl was no longer wild, but like a frightened little rabbit that evoked sympathy.

  Lin Cijie walked slowly beside Lin Xiaoyu, not daring to steal a glance at Lin Xiaoyu's sharp and angular profile. She saw the bruises on his face and knew that they were all because of her. Lin Cijie felt extremely guilty and apologetic towards this boy who had always been treated coldly by her. She wanted to say something to express her gratitude, but she had already said those words several times before. Lin Cijie couldn't think of anything else to say to the boy who had saved her.

  Two people walked silently on the street that had just entered the night, and there were not a few pedestrians on the road at this time. Many of those who passed by the two looked curiously at the young man and woman walking side by side but with a distance between them. Everyone may have been secretly guessing about the relationship between these two people, and the scars on the boy's face and the girl's slightly red eyes also made those curious and idle passersby come up with many stories about Lin Xiaoyu...

  PS: The original plan to update at 7 pm tonight was delayed due to unexpected things. Ah, plans can never keep up with changes! Please forgive me, but I still rushed back home to update as promised yesterday that there would be two updates today. As a person, one must have basic principles and fulfill promises. Hehe, thank you all for your support!