Chapter 23: Beaten by the Crowd

  After school in the afternoon, the sunset was still as usual, hanging low and slanting in the far east of the city.

  The people coming and going on the road are still many commuters and students, maybe a few unemployed vagrants.

  On the pedestrian path, Cen Yanqiu had a backpack slung over his left shoulder and his hands were inserted into the pockets of his school uniform pants. He was walking leisurely with his long legs.

  Today seems a bit different from usual, as Ji Ningning walks on his left side, also slanting her backpack and gazing vaguely into the distance, seemingly somewhat absent-minded.

  The distant sunset seems reluctant to set, still wanting to watch every child return home before it leaves.

  Cen Yanqiu looked away, gazing at the school uniform on Ji Ningning's body. At this moment, her white shirt was dyed with a faint orange glow by the sunset. It wasn't until then that he discovered Ji Ningning wasn't speaking, looking unusually gentle and quiet.

  He still remembers the time when Ji Ningning went on stage during the club discussion, her confident appearance was full of energy, which made him feel a little dazed for a moment, this girl could give him positive energy. As soon as he thought about the club being established, he couldn't help but thank Ji Ningning for her help.

  "Ji Ning Ning..."

  Nor did he know how long the silence lasted, but Cen Yanqiu finally moved his mouth slightly. He felt that if he continued to be silent, he would go crazy. The two of them usually had a lot to say and could scold each other loudly, so why were they now walking together in silence, which was somewhat unnatural.

  "Hmm?" Ji Ningning didn't raise her head to look at him, she just responded with a single sound.

  Cen Yan Qiu paused for a moment, looked away, glanced at the girl who was only slightly taller than himself, and swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth, "Forget it..."

  "What's wrong? If you have something to say, say it! If you have gas, let it out! Stop mumbling!"

  She felt Xun Yanqiu's unspoken words, and Ji Ningning seemed to be somewhat annoyed, but she didn't feel unnatural at all, still speaking loudly about what she usually said. She raised her head, looked at his clear profile, as if waiting for him to finish speaking.

  When Ji Ningning said this, Cen Yanqiu suddenly felt that the rare warm atmosphere was destroyed by her again, and a nameless urge rose up in his body, as if he wanted to quarrel with her, a very impulsive urge!

  "Can't you be gentle for once? Like other girls, speak gently?" Xun Yanqiu turned her head away and looked at her with disdain.

  Ji Ningning smiled smugly, "Isn't it that I'm gentle enough? It's just that you're too girly!"

  "Who's a mommy?" Xun Yanqiu felt a wave of annoyance, he wasn't the type to be called "mommy", not domineering but absolutely a pure man!

  Ji Ningning raised her head impatiently, glanced at Cen Yanqiu's awkward face and smiled: "If you're not a mother, why are you being so nagging?"

  "Never mind, I don't want to talk to you anymore, just go back!" Xun Yanqiu sighed and strode forward. As he walked, he suddenly realized that Ji Ningning hadn't followed him, which made him a bit curious. He turned his head back, only to see Ji Ningning standing still in the same spot, staring at a small alleyway by the side of the road.

  Cen Yanqiu couldn't help but roll her eyes and said impatiently, "Hey! Won't you get scolded for coming home late? What's with the dawdling?"

  "Something's off!" Ji Ningning didn't turn her head to look at Cen Yanqiu, leaving only these words behind as she ran into the alley.

  Cen Yan Qiu was shocked, what exactly did Ji Ning Ning see? It couldn't be that someone was murdered and set on fire in the alley, could it? Would they be so unlucky as to stumble upon something like this?!

  "Hey! Ji Ningning, where are you going?" Cen Yanqiu shouted, and hastily ran back to the alley, but didn't see Ji Ningning's shadow. He only felt his scalp tingling, Ji Ningning had always been a brainless girl, seeing things without knowing how to discuss them properly, and now she had run off who-knows-where again.

  Just as Qin Yan was feeling depressed, he suddenly heard a loud quarrel and scolding. He was shocked in his heart, would his luck be so bad? Did he really encounter a fight?

  Turning the corner, I saw a group of boys in De Sheng school uniforms beating up another boy in De Sheng uniform. It seemed like it had nothing to do with him, but then he also saw his club member Bai Liya, and of course, Ji Ningning was here too.

  "Stop fighting!" Bai Yaya, at this moment, had completely lost her usual elegant and quiet demeanor, and instead rushed into the crowd, blocking in front of the boy who was being beaten.

  Thick, seeing such a scene, Cen Yanqiu certainly wouldn't hesitate and rushed forward, standing in front of Bai Yaya, with his back to her, like a brave warrior, facing the group of students who were hitting him. In fact, he had never done anything earth-shaking or great in his life, so he simply classified this incident as one of the greatest events in high school, and it was worth being beaten until his skin turned blue and green with bruises all over his body, plus a scolding from his parents, and finally, the class teacher gave him a lecture on ideological work for an entire lesson.

  Later, Cen Yanqiu really couldn't remember what he had said at the time, only that he was beaten by many fists and feet on his body. At that time, he didn't feel pain, and even fought back, but both hands were trampled to the ground by two people. After returning home, he finally felt the pain, a heart-wrenching pain, fortunately it was just an external injury, otherwise it would have been the most unforgettable memory of his life.

  "Don't hit anymore!" Bai Yaya pounced on Cen Yanqiu's body again, angrily raising her head and glaring at one of the people in front of everyone, "Tian Weichang, if you dare to hit my friend again, don't show up in front of me from now on!"

  Cen Yan Qiu raised his head, looked at the boy in front of him, and felt a little familiar. After looking for a while, he finally remembered that he had seen him at the school gate when he was pretending to be Bai Yaya's boyfriend that day.

  "Pfft!" Tian Weichang spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, looking down at Xun Yanqiu with a cold gaze. "You little brat, I've seen you before. You actually dared to hold her hand that day. Today is just a warning for you! Do you know what my relationship is with her? I'm her fiancé!"

  "Tian Weichang, you're going too far! What unmarried husband, are you dreaming?!" At this time, Bai Ruoya suddenly stood up and glared at Tian Weichang in front of her.

  Tian Weichang just smiled faintly and said, "You're angry, if it's about that matter, I apologize! However, it seems like it's not my fault, but rather you didn't understand the situation and actually colluded with that man behind my back!" As he spoke, he quickly stretched out his right hand, pointing at the first boy who was beaten on the ground.

  The man struggled to get up, and Bai Liya left Xun Yanqiu's side and ran to the front of the man, hurriedly helping him up. "Liu Kai, are you okay?"

  "It's nothing," Liu Kai stood up, his eyes fixed on Tian Weichang, his eyes full of anger. "Bullying the minority with a majority is no skill at all! If you have what it takes, let's fight one-on-one!"

  It's also unknown why, but at this time, Ji Ningning suddenly disappeared without a trace. Xun Yanqiu suddenly felt inexplicably happy and inexplicably lost. It was of course the best if nothing happened to her, but it was also disappointing that she escaped at this critical moment.

  "I've never stooped to fighting with trash!" Tian Weichang still had a smug look on his face, and he lowered his head to glance at Qin Yanqiu who was lying on the ground. He sneered, "See? You were just being used by her! She likes someone else, and she wants to protect someone else. You're just a shield! If you don't have the ability, then don't come out and pretend to be a hero! Otherwise, the consequences will be like this - becoming a laughing stock!"

  At this time, Cen Yanqiu also struggled to get up, only feeling that his hands were a bit sore and couldn't move at all. However, his gaze was still very firm. "My club members will not take advantage of anyone! She has her own choices, but you don't respect her choices at all! I ran out, not for anything else, just can't bear to see my friends being bullied by others!"

  "Ah? As expected, you're a fool!" Tian Weichang's eyes were filled with disdain.

  "The police are here!" Just then, Ji Ningning appeared out of nowhere and blurted out this sentence.

  Those students from De Sheng immediately took off running as soon as they heard the word "police".

  Ji Ningning's eyebrows furrowed with worry as she hastily ran to Xun Yanqiu's side, supporting him and asked: "Xun, are you alright?"

  "Did you really call the police?" Bai Yaya looked at Ji Ningning with a expressionless face.

  Ji Ningning smiled slightly, "No, I just scared them off. If you needed to call the police, I think you should have done it a long time ago."

  "Thank you..." Bai Yaya also smiled slightly.