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Chapter 18: A Hero Rescues the Beauty.

After buying the ultra-thin helmet, Chu Zining left.

Lu Li watched her slender silhouette disappear into the wind, and his mind became a tangled mess.

So a girl who looks this innocent is already savoring a blossom-like youth?

He really envied that man…

Lu Li sighed and stopped pondering other people’s affairs.

After paying for the strawberries, Lu Li hung the bag on his handlebars and pedaled toward Lu Yao’s junior high school…

A silent pause followed.

Chu Zining had walked only a short distance from the supermarket when three thugs who had tailed her surrounded her.

“Hey little lady, out this late and still wandering around? Are you looking for a hot rendezvous with us big brothers?”

Panic flooded Chu Zining’s moist doe eyes; she had never encountered anything like this before.

“N-no, don’t…” Chu Zining took several steps back, her voice as soft and fragile as cotton.

Her retreat only emboldened the thugs to press their advantage.

“When a girl says no, it means yes! Ha ha!”

“Up close she looks ridiculously fresh and juicy!”

“Yo, you’re even wearing a Beiyun High School uniform? Heh, if I hadn’t dropped out I would’ve graduated from Beiyun High School too, so that makes you my junior, doesn’t it?”

Chu Zining timidly looked at the last thug and said, “Senior, I know Principal Ma; if you want to return to school, I can beg him for you.”

“You know Principal Ma?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Chu Zining nodded repeatedly as though clutching at a lifeline.

The thug flew into a rage and shouted, “That Ma bastard is the one who expelled me! If you know him, then messing with you is the same as getting back at him!”

With that, he moved forward, ready to lay hands on her.

Alarmed, Chu Zining never imagined she had blurted out the worst possible answer.

“Hey! What are you doing!” A voice suddenly came from the darkness.

Chu Zining’s eyes lit up as she saw a student ride past on a bicycle.

“Is… is that Lu Li?” After recognizing him, worry surfaced in Chu Zining’s eyes, for Lu Li looked thin and frail and was surely no match for these men.

Just as Lu Li was about to dismount, a thug pulled out a dagger and roared, “Scram! Stick around and we’ll kill you!”

Then Chu Zining saw the foot Lu Li had lowered return to the pedal, and he sped away on his bike, vanishing in moments…

Chu Zining let out a breath; it was good he had left, otherwise he would have faced mortal danger.

“That dumb kid knows what’s good for him,” the thugs snickered as they closed in on Chu Zining again, “Still thinking about others? Little lady, are you taking it off yourself or do we do it for you?”

Chu Zining backed away, tripped on something, and fell; pulling her legs in, she scooted toward a corner until she had nowhere left to retreat, and just as she was about to scream in terror, Lu Li’s muttering drifted to her ears.

“Strawberries bruise so easily; better stop and set them in the basket properly.”

The three thugs glanced over and burst out angrily, “Kid, why are you back again? Are you tired of living?”

The thug who was waving the dagger at Lu Li had his finger seized, and a crisp crack sounded.

“It hurts, it hurts!” The thug dropped the dagger from the pain, and Lu Li’s grip forced him to his knees, a pleading look filling his face.

Lu Li snorted softly, kicked the crook of his knee, and then drove another kick into his abdomen.

That front kick packed power, sending the thug flying 4 or 5 meters.

In a flash, the first thug hit the pavement.

The other two were horrified and rushed in, trying to flank him.

Lu Li chuckled, first using a Dragon Grip and then a Monkey Steals the Peach, leaving one clutching his chest and the other covering his crotch.

In barely a single exchange, the two of them lost all fighting strength.

“Run, run!” Realizing they had kicked an iron wall, the three thugs scrambled up and bolted.

Lu Li did not give chase; he turned back to the fallen Chu Zining, reached out his hand, and asked, “Can you stand?”

Chu Zining stared blankly at Lu Li bathed in the faint moonlight; his hand looked like white jade under the cool glow, and his face appeared especially handsome and stern.

For a moment, Chu Zining was entranced.

She never expected the boy, who looked even slimmer than she was, to be this formidable!

“Can’t get up?” Lu Li slowly crouched and looked at the slender calf exposed beneath her uniform pants.

The calf was perhaps too thin, yet its skin was flawless, like delicate white porcelain, smooth and resilient.

The only blemish was a bluish welt running diagonally across it, not a bruise from a fall but a lash mark from something like a belt.

Lu Li’s gaze seemed to carry thorns; Chu Zining finally came to her senses, yanked her pant leg down, and scrambled to her feet in panic.

She peeked timidly at Lu Li, shrinking like a fawn that had wandered into a strange world, her eyes pure yet dazed and flustered.

“Th-thank you.” She lowered her head and spoke softly.

“It was nothing,” Lu Li waved it off and smiled lightly, “Do you remember me, Lu Li.”

Chu Zining lifted her head and nodded like a pecking chick, “I am Chu, Chu…”

Lu Li chuckled and said, “I know, you’re Chu Zining, the Chu Zining from ‘Green, green your collar, gentle my longing; though I do not go to you, will you not send word?'”

Chu Zining stared at Lu Li, and her fair cheeks flushed scarlet in an instant, “Ah, ah, yes, ah, mm-hm.”

She stammered for a while, then lowered her reddened face.

Is this girl a stutterer? Lu Li couldn’t figure her out.

“It’s not safe for a girl to be alone at night; why are you out here by yourself?”

Chu Zining glanced at Lu Li, but the moment their eyes met she looked down again.

Lu Li made a questioning sound.

“Where do you live? Do you want me to walk you home?”

Chu Zining responded with a pouting emoticon: ( ´＞︿＜’)~.

She really was not easy to communicate with.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as a yes.”

Lu Li reached out to grasp her wrist through the sleeve of her uniform.

Unexpectedly, the move made Chu Zining react as if facing an enemy; she hurriedly backed up several steps, tripped on something again, and fell backward.

Lu Li reacted swiftly, caught her slender waist, and half-embraced her.

The faint scent of sweat on the boy drifted into Chu Zining’s nose; far from unpleasant, it was actually pleasant, and her already watery eyes became misty and dazed.

“Are you alright?” Lu Li asked softly.

Chu Zining stared blankly at Lu Li, feeling his warm, fresh breath on her face and the heat of his hands at her waist, then suddenly sprang up as if someone had flipped a switch.

“Dong!” Lu Li’s forehead knocked solidly against hers.

“Ugh!” Both of them squatted, holding their heads and groaning.

Because of the sudden movement, the ultra-thin helmet in Chu Zining’s pocket fell to the ground with a “whip” sound.

Hearing the noise, Lu Li and Chu Zining turned at the same time, looked at the helmet on the ground, and then looked at each other.

Then they both looked at the helmet again.

Finally, they exchanged one more perfectly synchronized glance.

Lu Li wanted to pretend he had not seen anything, but he could not think how to do it.

Chu Zining wanted to explain something, yet no words came out.

A strange atmosphere spread between them…

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