Peng Xingwang was startled, bursting out of the wardrobe wrapped in clothes like a hamster ball. Struggling to untangle himself, he stumbled toward the door, fumbling with the lock. The moment he saw it was truly Teacher Ji, his eyes filled with tears.
“You came too!”
“Shh, keep quiet,” Ji Linqiu said softly, pushing the door open and quickly leading him out. He guided the boy through the dining room and out the kitchen’s back door.
Leaving the child alone at home was always a ticking time bomb, getting him out of the danger zone was the safest move.
Luckily, the house was large enough that any footsteps inside were inaudible in the yard.
Jiang Wang, on the other side, kept his tone as calm as possible to lure the middle-aged man away.
“You really saw her?” The madman looked doubtful. “What does she look like?”
Without missing a beat, Jiang Wang said, “Her eyes are bright, her skin smooth, and she has a beautiful smile, right?”
“She also brought a gift. She’s been carrying it for a long time, waiting for you,” Jiang Wang continued, hiding the baseball bat behind his back while closely monitoring the man’s movements. He was ready for any sudden outburst. “Come on, follow me. This way.”
As Ji Linqiu held Peng Xingwang’s hand and led him through the back door, the boy suddenly felt a tug, as if he were being pulled back.
Turning his head in panic, he realized his clothes had gotten caught on the edge of the iron gate. In a moment of desperation, he yanked hard.
The gate, forced by inertia, slammed shut with a resounding clang, echoing loudly in the silent night.
The sharp metallic sound caused the madman to whip around in alarm. “What was that noise?!”
He raised his machete, now both wary and agitated. “Do you have accomplices?! Are you trying to take my daughter away?!”
“You can’t take her to the river! She’s already in her third year of middle school, about to take her exams. She stays up late every night doing homework. She can’t go with you!”
Jiang Wang opened his mouth to respond, but the madman abruptly spun on his heel and charged toward the noise. “No, I have to go check. You’re all lying to me!”
In the distance, Ji Linqiu scooped up Peng Xingwang and bolted, sprinting toward safety at full speed. Behind them, a furious shout echoed: “Stop!!”
Back at home, Peng Jiahui sat silently on the couch, smoking and watching TV.
He hadn’t said a word since coming back, his mind heavy with worry.
The phone rang a few times, but whether it was work or personal, he ignored it, staring ahead and lost in thought.
When Guan Hong emerged from the bathroom, she noticed the ashtray was already half full. She chuckled lightly. “Still mad at me?”
Peng Jiahui pressed his lips together, finally making up his mind.
“Honghong, I can spoil you on other things, but when it comes to Xingwang, we can’t make absolute decisions.”
Guan Hong’s face darkened, her voice turning sharp. “What do you mean by that?”
“No matter what my ex-wife or my brother says, I’ll always have the responsibility to take care of Xingwang. He deserves a place in our home.” Peng Jiahui stubbed out his cigarette and looked up at her seriously. “Honghong, we’ve only known each other for a few months, but truly, Xingwang is a good kid. You won’t dislike him.”
“We don’t need to rush into discussing marriage, but in the future, even on weekends, he should be able to spend the whole day at his dad’s house — not just have a meal and then be sent away.”
Guan Hong’s expression soured.
“You really know how to tell the truth.” She crossed her arms, glaring at him. “I cook your meals, wash your clothes, and support you through overtime, and you’re repaying me by throwing someone else’s kid at me?”
“Fine, I’ll make it clear right now.”
“Peng Jiahui, I will never help you raise your kid, and I never want to see him around. What are you going to do? Break up? Did you forget how you shamelessly pursued me back then? And now you think you can act tough?”
The phone inconveniently rang again.
After the second and third calls, Peng Jiahui turned off his phone in frustration. “I’ll earn money to buy a bigger house, okay? He’s my son. If I don’t take care of him, what kind of person am I?!”
Before he could finish, an old lady’s frantic knocks sounded on the door. “Peng Jiahui! Are you there?! Your son ran into a madman!”
The words hit him like a thunderclap. He rushed to the door without even putting on his shoes. “What did you say?!”
“Quick, go to Boss Jiang’s neighborhood! That madman I mentioned a few days ago—he’s there, waving a knife around. There are so many police officers, and I heard Jiang himself went in to save someone. Hurry!”
Peng Jiahui sprinted out immediately.
At the villa, the madman’s desperate shouts echoed:
“Fenfen! Fenfen! Daddy’s here! Don’t go with that man!”
Peng Xingwang clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to shout back.
‘Uncle, look closely! I’m a boy, and I have a little pee-pee!’
Realizing the madman was closing in, Ji Linqiu suddenly stopped, setting Peng Xingwang down.
“Stand behind me.”
Peng Xingwang was so frightened he almost wanted to pull down his pants to prove his point, but he obediently hid behind Ji Linqiu, terrified of him getting hurt.
The three of them were less than twenty meters apart. Under the streetlight, the machete still gleamed, sticky with what looked like watermelon juice but eerily like blood.
The madman took the machete from a fruit stall, just to find someone to ask for his daughter. At this moment, he couldn’t see the boy behind Ji Linqiu clearly. So he raised the knife in a hurry.
“You—”
Before he could finish, Ji Linqiu pulled something out of his pocket and, with an agility completely at odds with his role as an English teacher, flung it at the man’s face.
It hit the madman square in the eye!
The machete clattered to the ground as the man screamed in pain. Ji Linqiu followed up with a second tennis ball, this time hitting him square in the abdomen with greater force, sending him reeling!
“Xingwang, run!!”
As the madman stumbled and tried to grab the knife, he was met with Jiang Wang’s baseball bat swinging down.
“You!! You two—!”
The madman swung wildly, attempting to kill his enemy with him. But Jiang Wang struck him hard on the wrist, disarming him. Before he could retaliate, he saw demon-like blows raining down. He went unconscious.
By the time police with riot shields approached, the madman was already tied up tightly with a jump rope, groaning but unable to resist.
Jiang Wang’s ruthless strikes had likely left him with a mild concussion.
“You should search within a hundred-meter radius to make sure he has no accomplices,” Jiang Wang said coldly, his sharp gaze intimidating even the officers. “How did he even get in?”
The security guard, startled by the question, stammered, “Through the underground garage entrance. The guard there was… playing on his phone and didn’t see him.”
The police began clearing the scene and escorting the madman to a squad car when, by coincidence, Old Man Xing was brought home under two policemen’s protection.
The madman, just regaining some clarity, spotted the old man and began thrashing violently. “It’s you! You told me to go there to find the child! You lied to me, you bastard!”
Jiang Wang shot the old man a cold, piercing glare.
The old man shuddered, mumbling incoherently, before turning and fleeing to his house.
Shortly after, Peng Jiahui arrived in his company car. Ji Linqiu handed Peng Xingwang over, instructing him to stay with his father that night for comfort. Then he turned back to help Jiang Wang, who had sustained injuries.
“You’re bleeding. We need to go to the hospital.”
“It’s fine,” Jiang Wang said, glancing down indifferently. “Just a scratch on the leg. I probably only need three stitches at most.”
Ji Linqiu smacked him on the head. “Don’t say nonsense!”
The incident caused a citywide stir.
The property management company responsible was fired on the spot, compensating Jiang Wang with a full health check and two days in the hospital. Further compensation for emotional distress and lost wages was pending court judgment.
The local community committee sent the family a banner in recognition of their bravery, with a crowd of elderly residents even gathering at their gate to take a group photo.
Jiang Wang had only planned to clean the wound, get a few stitches, and go home, but he ended up being admitted to the VIP ward for a full examination. Even a mild kidney stone was noted in his records.
Ji Linqiu, naturally staying at his bedside, chuckled and said, “See that? Kidney stones. Drink more water and exercise!”
“This has absolutely nothing to do with last night!”
Jiang Wang, stitched up with three stitches, didn’t feel much pain in his leg, but seeing a group of reporters outside the ward peering in with cameras made him uncomfortable. “No interviews! Get rid of them. I don’t want people accusing me of chasing clout.”
Peng Xingwang, who had spent the night with his dad, was lively and energetic the next day, showing no signs of psychological trauma. However, he almost got surrounded by reporters as soon as he stepped out.
Having never experienced such a spectacle before, the kid turned and ran back home, begging his dad to disguise him as a little girl. He then snuck out through another exit and, with the help of a doctor, managed to visit Jiang Wang.
Jiang Wang was startled at the sight of the little girl with braided pigtails. “Who’s this?”
Peng Xingwang, with a face overdone in blush, replied, “Big Brother! I came to see you! Is your leg feeling better?!”
“My classmates all called me to ask if you trained in Shaolin stick fighting at Mount Tai. Is that true?!”
There is no Shaolin in Mount Tai.
Jiang Wang, already able to move freely, leaned over and yanked off the ridiculous pigtails. He thought to himself, ‘What kind of strange aesthetic was this back when I was a kid?’ “Who turned you into this mess?!”
“My dad… and Aunt Guan!”
…Their skills were indeed lacking.
The man yawned as he wiped the “ruined” version of himself clean with a wet wipe, muttering, “I honestly thought that little girl was here to find me.”
Ji Linqiu hesitated for a moment and then said softly, “His daughter. I’ve mentioned her to you before.”
“You did? When?”
“Do you remember? Last semester, there was a parent-teacher conference that ran late.”
Jiang Wang paused, following Ji Linqiu’s words to recall, “There was something like that. It was supposed to be held midterm, but—wait, you mentioned a child who drowned back then? Was it that madman’s daughter?”
Ji Linqiu nodded slightly, speaking quietly, “She was a student from the neighboring middle school. She grew up in a single-parent household. When she drowned last year, our school was busy reinforcing safety education. I never imagined her father would…”
…completely lose his sanity.
Jiang Wang sat in stunned silence for a long while before suddenly smacking Peng Xingwang on the head.
“I’m signing you up for swimming lessons.”
A big question mark popped up over Peng Xingwang’s head. “How did you know I can’t swim?”
“I also know that you flail around the moment you get in the water and even choke in 1.2-meter deep pools,” Jiang Wang said with a blank expression. “Starting tomorrow, you’re learning. Don’t come home until you master it.”
“Big Brother!!!”
