INS Chapter 18

Under the lamppost, two men and a woman were still pulling and pushing each other away. Wen Qingying walked to the side. One of them impatiently yelled, “What are you looking at?”, while the other just pretended not to see anything and raised his hand to drag the girl away. His arm was raised halfway when Wen Qingying reached out and grabbed him.

Tao Ling quickly followed.

 

“What’re you doing? Mind your own fucking business!” The man frowned and tried to break away, but he didn’t expect Wen Qingying’s grip to be so strong that he couldn’t get loose at all.

The other man let go of the drunk girl and raised his fist to hit Wen Qingying’s face.

Tao Ling was startled and was about to join the fight, but Wen Qingying tilted his head to dodge, and already had a foot on the other’s body as he kicked hard enough for the man to stumble back.

 

Tao Ling understood that he couldn’t intervene, so he didn’t try to join in again.

Wen Qingying glanced back at him, and pointed at the woman who still held on to the lamppost next to him. Tao Ling then stepped forward to support the girl to ensure that she wouldn’t kneel on the ground.

 

The two men were drunk and were still on top of their anger. The one held by Wen Qingying couldn’t struggle to free himself, so he was even more furious, raising his legs and about to kick him down.

 

Wen Qingying harshly lifted the man’s wrist and pushed that man forward while whirling his arms. The next second, that man swung outward, tripping on the other person.

 

The two looked at each other, and dashed toward him, but they had already been discouraged since the start. Their physical strength wasn’t comparable to that of Wen Qingying. They weren’t enough to even become a threat to Wen Qingying.

Tao Ling watched on the side, thinking to himself that Wen Qingying must have been fighting a lot since childhood; since he was so peaceful usually, it was hard to tell.

 

Seeing they were no match for him, one of the men whistled, and the security walked from the bar and started to walk toward them. When the security barely approached the people on the streetside, a car stopped by, and a big and strong man in a black suit got out of the car and blocked the security in the middle of the street.

“Fuck off,” the man let out the word in a low voice.

 

Tao Ling was standing farther away, unable to hear how that man communicated with the security, but two minutes later, a handful of people suddenly came out of the bar, dragging the two badgering men away.

Tao Ling: “……”

With Wen Qingying’s fighting skills, although they are not in a difficult situation, the problem was still solved unexpectedly fast.

 

The woman was drunk. Her glamorous face under the light looked even more brilliant. Her body was weak and limp, slighting down uncontrollably. Tao Ling felt it was inappropriate to directly go hold her, so he looked toward Wen Qingying and waved at him.

Wen Qingying glanced at the man in the black suit who suddenly got here, walked under the light, held on to the woman’s wrist, and pulled until she was completely standing.

 

“Ah.” The woman drunkenly smiled, watched Wen Qingying for a while, stretched out her index finger, and pointed at him. “Hey, who’s this? Turns out it’s the young master Wen. You, how come you’re here?”

As the night wind blew, she trembled, and seemed to sober up a little. She finally realized that the person who just pulled her up wasn’t Wen Qingying. She pointed back and forth between the two of them a few times, looking back at Tao Ling, then crooked her head and twisted her eyebrows, thinking about it for a while: “And who are you?”

 

The man in a black suit approached them, and shouted, “Young lady.”

When the woman saw him coming, she immediately became impatient: “Bai Guan! I told you that you’re not allowed to follow me today! What are you doing? So you’re not listening to me anymore, huh?!”

Being yelled at, Bai Guan didn’t dare to say anything, but still had a face full of concern.

 

Wen Qingying looked down at the woman with an indifferent expression.

Without waiting for his gestures, the woman suddenly screamed: “Wen Qingying! You bastard, you’re holding me too hard it hurts! Let go!”
Black Suit was somewhat anxious, and gestured at Wen Qingying a few times, as if asking for his opinion. Wen Qingying looked at him coldly, and remained unmoving.

Tao Ling raised his eyebrows, realizing that Wen Qingying was angry.

 

The large hand holding the wrist of the woman didn’t loosen at all, carrying with it an inexplicable meaning of punishment. The woman let out a hysterical scream and wildly shouted: “It hurts! Wen Qingying, you bastard! Why don’t you just leave, huh?! Go as far away as you can! What did our family do to you for you to run away from home? You damn bastard, you son of a bitch! You don’t have a sense of responsibility! Fuck off far away!”

 

Listening to this disconnected speech, Tao Ling suddenly felt that this had turned out to be a household drama show. Perhaps both sides were already married, with Wen Qingying moving into the other party’s home, only to initiate a breakup… or even a divorce.

And he was only an onlooker, providing the perfect filming angle.

 

The woman ran out of things to scold about, then finally said, “Fuck you all!”

Tao Ling frowned.

When that sentence left her mouth, Bai Guan was shocked sharply. He glanced at Wen Qingying, and seeing that he had no expression, he let out a relieved breath.

 

Tao Ling looked around, seeing that occasionally there would be a passerby who would glance at them. This situation was too strange. The arguing wasn’t like arguing, and the emotional conflict didn’t seem quite normal either. It made people curious, but it wasn’t appropriate to interfere. If they do say anything, then there just might be patrol officers rushing over in the next moment.

Tao Ling sighed, and took a step toward Wen Qingying.

 

As he approached, Wen Qingying glanced sideways and seemed to just realize that sir was still there. In the next moment, his rigid demeanor softened.

He quickly turned his head back, released his hand from the woman, and then smoothly used some force. It appeared fierce, but he actually pushed the woman gently into Bai Guan’s embrace.

 

Bai Guan carefully held the woman’s shoulders, looking at Wen Qingying.

Wen Qingying gestured something to him, while the woman continued to chatter nonstop. Concerned that his presence might make them uncomfortable, Tao Ling walked to the side of the road.

Soon, Wen Qingying approached and patted his shoulder.

Tao Ling nodded, glanced back, and saw Bai Guan holding the woman, trying to stuff her into the car.

“Let’s go.” He said and lifted his foot. Though his heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat, he suppressed his curiosity and didn’t ask any further questions.

 

The autumn breeze had begun to feel sharp, like a thin blade, rustling gently. Taking a detour along paths that were less traveled, Tao Ling eventually turned into the familiar old street.

Tao Ling kept his head down, eyes fixed on the road.

 

At the entrance of the community, he unconsciously curled his lips upward, then turned and prepared to enter. But he was followed by Wen Qingying, and his wrist was caught from behind.

This action—

 

Tao Ling inexplicably became angry, and reflexively shook his wrist forcefully.

Wen Qingying’s hand slipped away, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.

 

Tao Ling suddenly felt that he was inexplicable. Looking up at Wen Qingying’s face, which was filled with astonishment, and even a hint of innocence between his eyebrows, he suddenly felt a little ashamed, but his heart grew even more restless.

“Sorry, I’m going. Feeling a bit tired.” He turned his head and was about to leave.

 

Wen Qingying took two hurried steps forward, turning to block his path with one hand gently resting on his shoulder, and the other typing on his phone.

Tao Ling forcefully suppressed his impatience, and the underlying anger it brought.

To harbor anger towards someone unfamiliar is excessive and crosses boundaries, especially when that anger comes from a desire for closeness.

And now everything indicated that this desire for closeness had hit a wall.

 

Two seconds later, Wen Qingying flipped his phone. A few words were directly stamped onto Tao Ling’s forehead, leaving him momentarily stunned.

“She’s my older sister.”

The feeling of annoyance suddenly dissipated, replaced by embarrassment.

 

Wen Qingying smiled somewhat awkwardly, and seeing that Tao Ling no longer intended to leave, he typed again: “She’s my sis, but we don’t get along. I’m worried about her getting into trouble when she’s drunk. The person by her side grew up with us, a child adopted by our family.”

 

Tao Ling remained expressionless, but his mind quickly replayed the scene from earlier. Recalling the woman’s words, he finally uttered, “You ran away from home?”