Chapter 015

Wei Dong and Jin Bei didn’t understand what he was saying. They only asked, “We asked you to call Third Master. Where is he?”

Zhou Nan was still bent over, breathing heavily. “Let me rest for a bit…”

Zhuo Xi and the others waited for him to catch his breath before continuing. During the wait, they saw Gu Huijuan come out of the front gate and turn to walk toward the other end of the alley.

After taking a couple more deep breaths, Zhou Nan said to Wei Dong and Jin Bei, “You two go call him. Go.”

Wei Dong and Jin Bei had a silent understanding, both thinking that Zhou Nan had been scared by Gu Huijuan. Wei Dong stopped his bike and steadied it, signaling Jin Bei to follow him as they walked forward. In unison, they both said to Zhou Nan, “Look at you, acting all scared!”

Zhou Nan didn’t respond to the two of them. As soon as they walked away, he turned to Zhuo Xi and said, “I overheard Third Master and her mom arguing outside the door. It’s for real—Third Master is a girl. I can’t believe I missed it all these years. She really knows how to hide it!” (T/N: I used she/her in their conversation since both Zhou Nan and Zhuo Xi already know that Meng Li is a girl.)

Zhuo Xi wasn’t too surprised by this news. “Third Master cares about face, so let’s just pretend we don’t know.”

Zhou Nan nodded, “Alright, I’ll go with what you say.”

But then he felt a bit uneasy and pressed his hand to his chest. “Damn, now that I know she’s a girl, I don’t even know how to treat her.”

Zhuo Xi smiled, “Don’t overthink it. Just protect her more.”

Zhou Nan thought for a moment, then nodded again, “Alright.”

After a pause, he quietly muttered to himself, “Right, a girl needs to be protected…”

Just after Zhuo Xi and Zhou Nan finished discussing the matter, Wei Dong and Jin Bei came out of the gate with Meng Li.

As they approached, Wei Dong stepped forward to push the bike and asked Meng Li, “Third Master, where do you want to go today?”

Meng Li didn’t have a particular preference. “Anywhere is fine.”

Zhuo Xi turned to look at Meng Li. “Have you eaten? If not, let me take you out for a meal.”

Meng Li touched her stomach and shook her head. “I haven’t eaten.”

Zhuo Xi immediately made a decision. “Alright, let’s go to Limin State-owned Restaurant.”

The five of them rode their bikes to the Limin Restaurant, found a clean table, and sat down. The place was packed, so they ordered a few simple home-style dishes.

As the food was brought to the table, the five of them gathered together and started chatting casually.

In the middle of their conversation, Wei Dong remembered something important. He looked at Meng Li and asked, “By the way, Third Master, what happened when you practiced one-on-one with Ji Chen that day? Did you go or not? I heard that Ji Chen ordered his men not to bother ours.”

Meng Li hadn’t been out these past couple of days, so she had no idea about this matter.

She was a bit confused when she heard it and looked at Wei Dong, asking, “Where did you hear that from?”

Jin Bei chimed in, “Oh, you know, just some casual gossip.”

Meng Li thought about it for a moment and nodded. “That’s probably for the best. From now on, let’s make sure our people don’t cause trouble with theirs. Our territory is big enough—why do we need to stir up trouble there? In the future, we’ll just keep to our own business and avoid conflict.”

As soon as Meng Li finished speaking, Zhuo Xi immediately responded, “Alright, I’ll take care of it.”

Zhou Nan paused for a moment, then quickly agreed, “Right, right, peaceful coexistence is best. We’re all tired of fighting every day.”

She had expected there might be some objections, considering they were all young and passionate.

To her surprise, Zhuo Xi and Zhou Nan agreed so quickly. Meng Li looked at the two of them, momentarily stunned, and a strange feeling arose in her heart.

This feeling wasn’t a bad kind of strange, but rather a good kind.

Since it was a good kind of strange, Meng Li shook it off after a while, thinking that perhaps she had earned some respect as their leader.

She felt that things were going well now. She was still the Third Master Meng of Beijing, the leader of Zhuo Xi and the others.

At the same time, she had successfully reconciled with Ji Chen without losing face.

She thought to herself that in the future, she and Ji Chen would each continue being their own leaders and live their own lives.

She would still avoid Ji Chen a bit. Half a year wasn’t long, and it would pass by peacefully before she knew it.

…

After reconciling with Ji Chen, Meng Li’s life temporarily settled down.

She had an uneventful but not unpleasant Spring Festival. On the first day of the New Year, she wore the new clothes Grandma Cheng had made for her, and she didn’t appear too shabby or pitiful.

After Gu Huijuan was thoroughly enraged by her, she didn’t speak to her again.

She no longer chased her away, but of course, didn’t show her any kindness either.

In the time after the New Year and before school started, because it wasn’t common to stay at home in this era, Meng Li still went out with Zhuo Xi and Zhou Nan. They roamed around Beijing, finding fun wherever they could, spending their youthful energy recklessly.

Compared to sitting in a classroom studying for exams, this kind of wild, carefree youth was something Meng Li had never experienced before.

Now that she was living it, she couldn’t help but feel that it had its own charm.

As Meng Li began to adapt to this passionate, carefree youth lifestyle, spending time having fun with Zhuo Xi and Zhou Nan, she hadn’t encountered Ji Chen again. Both sides made a conscious effort to avoid each other, so naturally, they never ran into one another.

This way, they had truly managed to keep their distance and avoid conflict.

A few days later, the start of school was approaching.

Meng Li didn’t think much about it. She simply planned to go back to school and finish the remaining six months of her high school life.

However, two days before school started, she accidentally overheard a conversation outside Gu Huijuan’s door.

Had it not been about her, she wouldn’t have bothered listening in.

At that moment, Gu Huijuan and Cheng Chunliang were discussing her school situation. Cheng Chunliang, using his connections, had secured a spot for her at Cuihua Middle School and wanted to transfer her there, so he had come back to discuss it with Gu Huijuan.

Meng Li knew that in this chaotic era, Cuihua Middle School was one of the few schools in Beijing that still maintained strict discipline and normal teaching standards. The other schools had long lost their rules and regulations.

Gu Huijuan had never been concerned about Meng Li’s future. She simply said, “Why bother with all this? He’s never been good at studying. What’s the point of sending him to a good school? Let him waste another six months, and then he’ll be sent down to the countryside, and it’ll all be peaceful.”

Cheng Chunliang, with patience, replied, “I’m not doing this for him, I’m doing it for you. If he goes to Cuihua Middle School, he’ll be away from his bad friends, and with the school and teachers keeping an eye on him, he’ll get into less trouble. You saw what happened before the New Year—didn’t it almost turn into a deadly incident? If something like that happens again, can you handle it?”

Gu Huijuan thought for a moment, then, irritated, muttered, “That wretched child!”

After cursing, her anger only grew, and she continued, “How did I end up with such a worthless child? Compared to the other kids in the courtyard, who can he even compare to? Look at Shao Jun, look at Yongmei—aren’t they much more pleasing to the eye than him?”

Cheng Chunliang tried to comfort her, “Don’t upset yourself further.”