Shen Moyu took out his phone from his pocket, about to dial Han An's number, when a call came in from Han An. He answered, "Hello, teacher."
"Mo Yu, I had something to do and left just now. I forgot to tell you, I'm waiting for you at the main gate now," Han An said apologetically.
"Ah, it's okay, I'll come downstairs now." Shen Moyu nodded, and only put his phone back in his pocket after the other end of the call ended.
He ran downstairs to the back door of the teaching building, intending to tell Su Jinning, only to find that the person who had said they would wait for him there was nowhere to be seen.
Shen Moyu was puzzled and a little angry. Couldn't he stay still for even a moment? Why did he have to run around? He turned around speechlessly and walked towards the front door, thinking he would contact him after he finished catching the ball.
As he approached the front door, Han An was already waiting for him. Shen Moyu glanced at the still-sleeping Rolling Ball and politely thanked him, "Thank you for taking care of it, Teacher Han An."
Han An carefully handed the ball to Shen Moyu and waved his hand, saying, "No, it's very well-behaved."
Shen Moyu chuckled and nodded: "Then, teacher, I'll head home now."
"Okay, see you tomorrow." Han An smiled and nodded, then turned and left.
Shen Moyu was also holding the dog and preparing to call Su Jinning when she happened to see Song Chengnan walking towards the milk tea shop with his arm around Han An's shoulder on the left side of the tree-lined road.
Without thinking much, he looked at it for a while and then picked up his phone to call Su Jinning. The call connected and rang for a long time, but no one answered. He called again and again, but the result was the same.
"Tsk." Shen Moyu turned off his phone in annoyance, looked down at the ball in his arms, and muttered under his breath, "Your godfather is really unreliable, just leaving the two of us here."
Rolling Ball didn't wake up; it just rolled over and buried its little head in Shen Moyu's chest.
Shen Moyu chuckled, his anger from being provoked by Su Jinning instantly dissipated. He took out his phone, opened Su Jinning's WeChat, and sent a message: "I've gone to Shengxia's Milk Tea Shop. Find me there."
After reading his own message, he shoved his phone into his pocket, picked up the ball, and headed towards the bubble tea shop.
I heard that after the May Day holiday, this milk tea shop will be relocated completely, possibly to the city center, which is far away from them. It will be quite a hassle if they want to drink it. Shen Moyu sighed and took a shortcut through the alley.
This alley was very quiet; hardly anyone passed by. Shen Moyu quite liked this kind of place where he was all alone, without anyone crowding around him.
As soon as he reached the corner, the horrific scene before him filled his eyes.
He stared wide-eyed and saw several thugs wearing the uniforms of No. 8 Middle School with brightly colored hair surrounding a group of students from Zhengde No. 1 Middle School, holding wooden sticks in their hands.
His hands trembled, and the rolling ball almost fell to the ground. Shen Moyu bit his lip. He knew the students from No. 8 Middle School all too well; countless students had been bullied by them, and he himself had once been one of them. But he never expected that these beasts would actually bully students on the territory of No. 1 Middle School, not even sparing the girls.
Shen Moyu was startled, when suddenly she heard a wail: "I beg you, I really have no money left! Let me go!"
Shen Moyu took a step back...
Is that Qin Zhi's voice?
Even though he had some psychological trauma from those hooligans at No. 8 Middle School, he couldn't be mistaken; the girl surrounded by them was Qin Zhi, and besides her, there seemed to be a few other girls crying.
He closed his eyes. This scene was unfolding right before his eyes…
If I had turned and left, these seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls might have faced more than just robbery; perhaps something even more terrible would have happened.
Shen Moyu gritted her teeth, turned around and put the rolling ball on the ground, saying, "Don't run around, wait for me here, okay?"
"Woof!" the ball responded and obediently hid in the grass.
Hey! What are you doing?
Shen Moyu looked up and met the gaze of one of the thugs.
"Senior!" Qin Zhi's heart-wrenching voice rang out once more, her desire for rescue growing stronger.
That cry almost broke his heart... Qin Zhi was his friend from junior high school. She was a lively and cheerful girl who was kind to everyone and had helped him a lot.
Now they were sitting there so pathetically, and if he left, he could easily imagine what would happen to these girls.
"I should be asking you what you're doing!" Shen Moyu took a few steps forward, her tone icy. She stared at them and pulled her mask up slightly.
A few thugs squinted and looked over.
Shen Moyu scanned the faces of these people one by one, and suddenly froze. He couldn't be mistaken; these thugs were the same group that had cornered him in the alley two years ago.
A series of bleak, fragmented images flashed by suddenly. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
The group of people opposite looked at each other, and one of them, a blond-haired man, stepped forward, raised his chin, and questioned him: "I'm telling you, mind your own business!"
As Qin Zhi watched Shen Moyu's figure, tears streamed down her face.
When the other girls realized they were students from their own school, they wiped away their tears and asked for help.
Shen Moyu looked at the girls behind them, whose faces were bruised and swollen, and felt a pang of pity.
"Oh! You guys know him? A hero saving a damsel in distress?" The blond-haired man crossed his arms and looked Shen Moyu up and down, a mocking smile spreading across his face.
"That's hilarious! He's all alone, what's the point of saving him? He's just here to show off and get himself killed." A green-haired guy stood up and mocked the outnumbered Shen Moyu, causing an uproar among those around him.
"Senior! Call the police!" Qin Zhi's fair face was already covered in bruises, and blood was still seeping from the wound on her arm. She called out weakly.
"Shut up!" The blond-haired man kicked Qin Zhi hard in the stomach in a fit of rage. Qin Zhi clutched her stomach and knelt down, trembling with pain.
"Damn it!" Shen Moyu clenched his fists angrily as he looked at the female classmates who were being bullied so badly that they couldn't even stand up.
His exposed eyes were bloodshot, and he exuded a fierce aura: "Are you even human? You even hit girls?"
Obviously, it's useless to talk to a beast like that. The blond-haired man snorted coldly: "What? Feeling sorry for him? Tell me, who among them have you taken a fancy to?" The blond-haired man walked towards him with his arms crossed, and gently whispered in his ear: "I'll share one with you when we get to the strong one later."
"Go to hell!" Shen Moyu threw a punch, and the blond-haired man collapsed to the ground, groaning and covering his left cheek.
"Are you fucking looking for death?" Green Hair rushed forward in two steps, about to throw a punch, but Shen Moyu accurately grabbed his wrist. A cold glint flashed in Shen Moyu's eyes, and he twisted Green Hair's wrist half a turn before throwing him to the ground.
Green Hair leaned against the wall next to him and let out a painful "Ah!" as a sharp pain shot through his wrist, as if his bones were cracking. He immediately lost all strength.
He wasn't that kind; although the events of that year had been buried for many years, he still harbored resentment.
Shen Moyu squatted down, grabbed the blond-haired man's hair, and looked down at him, his peach blossom eyes suddenly narrowing. The image of him being trampled underfoot and hurling insults at him that autumn flashed through his mind for a moment, and his thin lips, hidden behind his mask, moved: "Guan Cheng."
For a moment, Guan Cheng felt that those eyes, dark as an abyss, looked strangely familiar. He didn't dare look any longer, turning away and grimacing in pain, "You, how could you..."
Shen Moyu grabbed Guan Cheng by the neck, his fingers tightening: "Long time no see."
"Damn it!" Guan Cheng cursed indistinctly.
Shen Moyu turned his head, his sharp killing intent reflecting off the scene along with the sudden clap of thunder in the sky.