Wen Ying’s shout was earth-shattering, stunning even Sister Xi in her leather jacket.
Sister Xi had encountered people who refused to pay protection fees, but never someone who offered two thousand when asked for one thousand—an absolute sucker.
Was she so rich she didn’t know how to spend it?
Or just plain stupid?
No way. Someone who got into a provincial key high school couldn’t be an idiot, unless they’d gotten in through connections.
Despite her youth, Sister Xi was experienced in this game. She never targeted students from truly wealthy or powerful families, no matter how timid they were. Those families were untouchable. If a victim told their parents, Sister Xi’s protection racket would collapse.
Her targets were always students from middling families with meek personalities.
Wen Ying fit both criteria perfectly.
Plus, Wen Ying wasn’t from downtown Rongcheng. If she was bullied and told her parents, they’d have no connections in the city to deal with Sister Xi and her crew.
But Sister Xi never expected Wen Ying to be so brazenly loaded, challenging everything she thought she knew. She couldn’t help but confirm, “Two thousand?”
Wen Ying said loudly, “That’s right, two thousand! I want to be friends with Sister Xi! Trust me, I’ve got cash in my bag!”
Wen Ying’s bag did have money.
The surveillance cameras outside “Shrimp King” on the late-night food street had been installed, and Wen Ying planned to stop by after school to settle the payment.
So when her bag was opened, the little delinquents were dumbfounded.
Who’d have thought Yue Shanni’s old classmate was this rich!
This was 2004. In Rongcheng, the average salary was just over a thousand yuan. Restaurant waiters earned less than that, and in areas outside the provincial capital, jobs paying a few hundred a month were still common. Yet Wen Ying, a high school girl, had twenty thousand yuan in cash in her bag!
Twenty thousand, right?
Two thick stacks of hundred-yuan bills, still sealed with bank bands, clearly fresh from the bank.
Greed flashed in Yue Shanni’s eyes and those of Sister Xi’s lackeys.
Yue Shanni’s breathing quickened. She instinctively stepped forward to grab the money but stopped, remembering Sister Xi was watching. Swallowing her greed, she challenged Wen Ying, “You say you want to be friends with Sister Xi? Friends share weal and woe. You’ve got twenty thousand but only offer two thousand? Are you looking down on Sister Xi? Sister Xi, she’s not honest. We can’t let her keep this money, and we need to teach her a lesson—ah!”
Before Yue Shanni could finish, Sister Xi sprinted forward and kicked her hard in the back, sending her stumbling.
Wen Ying dodged quickly. Yue Shanni slammed into the wall and fell to the ground, her back in agony, utterly dazed.
“Xi, Sister Xi?”
Yue Shanni didn’t understand why Sister Xi hit her.
Sister Xi strutted over in her little leather boots, clacking on the ground, and used the toe of her shoe to nudge Yue Shanni’s face, “You know why I hit you?”
Humiliated in front of Wen Ying, Yue Shanni’s eyes welled with tears.
“I don’t know.”
“Pah!”
Sister Xi kicked her twice more, twirling her knife, “You’re deliberately trying to screw me over. Who else would I hit?”
Sister Xi asked for a thousand in protection money, expecting Wen Ying to haggle.
Getting a few hundred would’ve been a win.
But Wen Ying offered two thousand and opened her bag, revealing twenty thousand. Sister Xi knew her lackeys were tempted.
Hell, twenty thousand yuan! They could each get a hefty cut. Even Sister Xi was tempted!
But she didn’t dare touch it.
Extorting protection money from students was one thing; robbing twenty thousand was another. The former might earn a slap on the wrist, but the latter… that was juvenile detention.
Sister Xi didn’t want to go to juvie. She suspected Wen Ying was setting a trap, but Wen Ying stood there, clutching her bag, looking clueless, as if she didn’t understand why Sister Xi and Yue Shanni were turning on each other. Sister Xi wasn’t sure if Wen Ying was playing dumb.
Wen Ying’s intentions were unclear, but Yue Shanni was definitely scheming!
Yue Shanni had said Wen Ying was a nobody from out of town with no roots in Rongcheng. Sister Xi had believed her nonsense. Who carries twenty thousand in cash to school? That’s no ordinary family!
Yue Shanni wasn’t leading them to a payday—she was leading them to ruin!
The angrier Sister Xi got, the more she beat Yue Shanni, even calling her lackeys to join in. The girls, still confused about why the target had shifted from Wen Ying to Yue Shanni, didn’t question it. Sister Xi said beat, so they beat.
Yue Shanni curled up on the ground, groaning, clutching her head. Wen Ying stood by obediently, neither stopping them nor egging them on, as if Yue Shanni’s potential death had nothing to do with her.
Earlier, Sister Xi saw Wen Ying as a plain, chubby country girl.
Now, she seemed like a cunning fox in disguise.
Wen Ying didn’t call for a stop, and Sister Xi wasn’t sure how far to go to satisfy her. Seeing Yue Shanni’s face covered in bruises, Sister Xi pretended to be tired and stopped, “Alright, alright, beating this idiot’s wearing out my hands. I’m done.”
The lackeys felt they could keep going.
But the boss had stopped, so they did too.
Wen Ying noticed Sister Xi sneaking glances at her. She smiled at Sister Xi, who casually looked away, dropping the protection fee talk.
The lackeys eyed Wen Ying’s twenty thousand greedily, but without Sister Xi’s go-ahead, they didn’t dare act.
Yue Shanni lay against the wall, curled into a ball.
As Sister Xi and her crew prepared to leave, Wen Ying finally spoke, “Wait!”
Sister Xi turned, glaring at Wen Ying.
In this game, face mattered. If Wen Ying dared embarrass her in front of her crew, she’d have no choice but to extort her money.
Wen Ying slung her bag back on.
“Sister Xi, I’m sincere about wanting to be your friend.”
She glanced at Yue Shanni, crumpled by the wall, “For an honest kid like me, new to the provincial capital, I don’t even know when I’ve offended someone. Luckily, Sister Xi was here to deliver justice. To show my thanks, I’ll treat Sister Xi to milk tea.”
One lackey, hearing Wen Ying’s “thanks,” slowed her breathing.
She thought Wen Ying might pull out some bills, but Wen Ying only offered milk tea. Disappointed, she thought, *Who cares about your lousy milk tea? We crossed the city to extort you, got no money, and now have to pay for bus fare!*
Sister Xi studied Wen Ying for a moment, saw she wasn’t joking, lifted her chin, and nodded haughtily, “You know what’s good for you!”
What?
Sister Xi was actually going to drink milk tea.
The lackeys followed, shooting Wen Ying venomous glares: *It better be the priciest one, with coconut and pearls!*
The narrow alley had few passersby. Some lowlifes urinated against the walls, making it reek, so students avoided it. But beyond the alley was the snack street, a favourite haunt of provincial key school students.
Yue Shanni listened as their footsteps faded, baffled why the bullying had shifted from Wen Ying to her.
Was something wrong with Sister Xi and her crew’s brains?
Yue Shanni’s body ached. She struggled but couldn’t stand.
…
At the alley’s entrance, the man Xie Yuping sent to deliver documents stood stunned.
Xie Qian had tossed the briefcase with the share transfer agreement into his bike basket and ridden over. Stopping at the alley’s mouth, he didn’t move. The man, thinking something was up, hurried after him.
Then he watched a spectacle unfold with Xie Qian.
Were high schoolers these days this complicated?
As someone trusted by Xie Yuping, the man had plenty of worldly experience. He’d long seen that the round-faced girl was playing the fool to outsmart her foes.
Without spending a dime, she got the delinquents to beat up the instigator.
The delinquents were sharp too, resisting the temptation of twenty thousand.
If they’d given in to greed and taken it, they’d face a criminal record that could ruin their lives.
They didn’t fall for it, but the round-faced girl, fishing with twenty thousand, came out unscathed either way.
The delinquents beat someone, and the round-faced girl, carrying her money, treated them to milk tea!
This maneuver turned danger into safety. The delinquents got no money but had a way to save face.
If Xie Qian weren’t there, the man would’ve applauded.
“Young Master Xie?”
Xie Qian pushed his bike into the alley, the briefcase rattling in the basket. Thinking of the Jinhu Group’s 2% shares inside, the man winced for Mr. Xie while growing wary.
Xie Qian’s transfer to Rongcheng didn’t seem safe. The girls here were formidable.
Xie Qian stopped in front of Yue Shanni.
Hearing movement, Yue Shanni opened her swollen eyes.
Against the light, Xie Qian’s face appeared. Yue Shanni wondered if the beating had caused hallucinations.
What a heavenly face!
For a moment, Yue Shanni almost forgot her pain.
But then her angelic brother spoke, his cold tone stabbing like a knife, “You brought people to rob with a knife. We’re all witnesses. I wonder how Rongcheng’s juvenile detention is. It’s surely less free than outside. Want to find out?”
Robbery with a knife?
It was Sister Xi who had the knife.
And they didn’t even get any money! Sister Xi, like a lunatic, turned on her and beat her up!
Xie Qian was spouting nonsense. Yue Shanni was furious.
No matter how good-looking he was, she didn’t want to see him. She turned her head away.
Xie Qian pulled two hundred-yuan bills from his wallet, tossed them onto Yue Shanni, and told the man behind him, “Call the police.” Yue Shanni gasped, “You—what do you want? I didn’t rob anyone. This money isn’t mine. I won’t confess!”
The man sighed.
A girl like this was no match for Young Master Xie, not even ten of her. Could a few harsh words bridge the gap in wits?
He pulled out his phone to play along with Xie Qian’s call to the police. Yue Shanni finally panicked, asking what Xie Qian wanted.
“I want to know who sent you to ambush Wen Ying.”
Yue Shanni’s heart, liver, spleen, and lungs ached.
That ugly Wen Ying—had she learned witchcraft over the summer? What kind of magic did she have to befriend Li Mengjiao, turn Sister Xi against her, and get a guy this handsome to help her?!
