When the footsteps slowly approached, Ji Xu squinted and glanced at the glass of his car window.
“Really unlucky.”
Ji Xu checked the time and confirmed that his buddy Tang Jing would arrive in ten minutes. He stayed in place, lowered his head, and seriously rotated his wrist, then squeezed his fists.
The black glass clearly showed the three men approaching him, getting closer and closer. Soon, one of the men extended a hand toward him.
Ji Xu quickly turned around, grabbed the man’s fist, and pulled him forward. The man hadn’t expected Ji Xu to react so quickly and was pulled forward by Ji Xu’s strength.
Without hesitation, Ji Xu kicked the man in the rear, sending him flying far away.
“Damn it!” The man fell to the ground, closed his eyes, and cursed angrily.
“Hey!” The two men standing by looked stunned.
Ji Xu furrowed his brows and took off his cumbersome suit, loosening his tie.
“What do you want to do?!”
The two men standing in place looked fierce, but their words sounded like those of a wronged housewife, “Why are you hitting people?!”
Ji Xu raised his eyebrows and sarcastically said, “You’ve been guarding outside the school for days. Didn’t you get tired?”
“You noticed?” One of the bald men scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“Embarrassed my ass!”
The man in black sunglasses next to the bald man roared, then pointed a bare arm at Ji Xu and said fiercely, “I said this kid’s family’s dead, so who the hell is picking him up every day, who the hell are you?!”
Hearing the phrase about the dead family, Ji Xu’s expression darkened. He furrowed his brows and wrapped his coat around his hand.
“Damn it.” The man with sunglasses, intimidated by Ji Xu’s stance, took a step back but felt embarrassed and frowned as he charged forward.
The two quickly exchanged blows. The sunglasses man’s fist landed on Ji Xu’s collarbone, while Ji Xu’s fist hit the sunglasses, shattering them.
The man screamed in pain as he crouched on the ground, holding his face.
Seeing the situation deteriorate, the bald man pulled out an iron pipe wrapped in newspaper from his waistband and swung it in the air, making a whooshing sound before rushing forward.
Ji Xu reached out and grabbed the bald man’s arm holding the iron pipe. As he heard the wind sound, he tilted his head, and the iron pipe swished past his ear, landing on his shoulder.
The man who had been kicked earlier also stood up, dark-faced, and kicked toward Ji Xu’s back.
After finishing his evening class, Cheng Yue ran down the stairs and quickly reached the school gate. He felt uneasy throughout the evening class, sensing something might happen.
When he reached the school gate, he quickly saw Ji Xu’s car parked not far away. Just as he sighed in relief, he saw Ji Xu, who had taken off his coat and exuded a menacing aura, holding a man.
At that moment, Cheng Yue noticed a man far behind Ji Xu raising his foot to kick Ji Xu.
Seeing the man’s foot heading toward Ji Xu’s back, Cheng Yue’s eyes turned red with anger. He threw his backpack off his shoulder with all his might, shouting, “You bastard!”
The backpack hit the man’s back, startling him.
In those few seconds, Ji Xu had already knocked down the man in front. Hearing the commotion, he turned around and threw an elbow at Cheng Yue’s attacker.
Cheng Yue ran up, eyes red with rage, and tried to stomp on them but was grabbed by Ji Xu.
“Let me go!” Cheng Yue, being dragged and unable to move, stretched his foot forward several times trying to kick them, “You bastard!”
Before Cheng Yue could finish, Ji Xu lifted him off the ground.
Ji Xu’s face was dark, and he frowned, “Who told you to use foul language?”
Cheng Yue stared, breathing heavily from anger, “He almost kicked you!”
“Who told you to use foul language?” Ji Xu said, glancing at the approaching police cars, feeling relieved.
He was worried that things would still be unresolved when Cheng Yue came out of school.
“When did I use foul language?” Cheng Yue looked at the police coming over, puzzled, wondering who they were coming for.
“Don’t use it next time.” Ji Xu, feeling warm from the recent fight, adjusted his tie and loosened a couple of buttons on his shirt.
Cheng Yue’s attention was suddenly drawn to the group of police officers rushing over. He watched as Ji Xu unfastened his cufflinks and rolled up his shirt sleeves.
Cheng Yue felt dry-mouthed as he watched Ji Xu’s simple white shirt revealing well-defined muscles and focused on the black tie around his neck.
“What…?” Cheng Yue stared at Ji Xu, unable to take his eyes off him.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Xu asked, looking at him, “Not willing?”
“Yes, yes!” Cheng Yue quickly nodded in agreement. Only after responding did he realize he didn’t understand what Ji Xu had just asked.
What did Ji Xu just ask him?
“Police! Don’t move!”
“Don’t move! Did you hear? Squat and cover your head!”
Several police officers quickly surrounded the men, handcuffed them, and controlled them. One officer then approached Ji Xu.
“Hello, I’m a friend of Brother Tang, named Fan Wei. Just call me Xiao Fan,” Fan Wei smiled, his serious expression replaced with a friendly demeanor, “Please come with us to submit evidence and make a statement.”
“Sure,” Ji Xu nodded and pointed to his car, “We’ll drive ourselves. My dashcam can provide evidence.”
“No problem. Follow us,” Fan Wei said with a smile, “After the statement is done, you can go back. Leave the rest to me.”
They were taken to the police station. Cheng Yue’s heart was racing nervously.
He hadn’t heard what the police officer said to Ji Xu at the roadside, so he was worried Ji Xu might get arrested for fighting.
When a stern-faced officer was about to take Ji Xu away for questioning, Cheng Yue lost control.
He grabbed Ji Xu’s arm, eyes full of apprehension, almost sticking to Ji Xu.
“Those people are scammers! They were following me! That’s why my uncle hit them! He didn’t intend to hurt anyone! You…”
Ji Xu was taken aback by Cheng Yue’s outburst, then realized with a mix of helplessness and amusement.
The little pup hadn’t made his protection pointless.
“It’s fine, just make a statement and don’t be nervous,” Ji Xu pinched Cheng Yue’s chin and turned his face back, “Don’t glare at the police, be polite.”
The stern-faced officer: “…”
Cheng Yue frowned, looking suspiciously at Ji Xu, then slowly released his grip on Ji Xu’s arm and looked at the stern-faced officer with doubt.
The officer smiled, showing his white teeth.
Cheng Yue shivered at the smile but, calming down, remembered Ji Xu was a lawyer, so he wasn’t as worried.
After Ji Xu cooperated with the police and completed the statement, he copied the video from the dashcam, then left the police station and took Cheng Yue home.
The next day, after dropping Cheng Yue off at school, Ji Xu went straight to the company. As soon as he arrived, he received a call from Fan Wei.
After the call, Ji Xu’s face was not good because Fan Wei’s interrogation revealed that the men stubbornly refused to disclose who sent them, only citing the 500,000 they owed.
Ji Xu thought for a moment, then had Tang Jing gather all the information about the men, including their addresses and family details. He asked Fan Wei to find a charge to detain them for now and planned to resolve it when he had time.
…
The men who had fainted in the hospital due to their terrible ordeal at the company finally agreed to attend court.
So Ji Xu was very busy in the following days, preparing for the trial with thorough and complete documentation.
This meant Cheng Yue saw Ji Xu less frequently over the week, fewer than ten times combined.
On Saturday, Cheng Yue woke up very early. After having breakfast with Ji Xu, he curled up on the sofa, glued to the TV news.
The news was about the upcoming trial of the child abuse case.
Today.
Cheng Yue, having finished watching the news while lounging on the sofa, turned his head and called toward the bathroom, “You have a court session today!”
“Mm.” Ji Xu was adjusting his tie carefully in the mirror.
“Can I come?” Cheng Yue, not wearing his shoes, quickly ran to the bathroom door and looked at Ji Xu.
“No.” Ji Xu turned and saw him barefoot. He frowned and gave Cheng Yue’s arm a slap. “Put on some shoes.”
“Can I wait outside?” Cheng Yue ran back to the sofa to put on his shoes as he asked.
“What for?” Ji Xu found his reaction somewhat amusing.
“I’m worried,” Cheng Yue said honestly.
Ji Xu remained silent, looking at him with a certain expression in his eyes. After a moment, he nodded in agreement.
“I’ll change clothes right away! Wait for me!” Cheng Yue, happy with the positive response, dashed back to his room and quickly changed his clothes.
Once they were out the door and halfway to their destination, Cheng Yue sneezed from the cold wind blowing in through the window and promptly rolled it up.
“There’s a coat in the back seat. Take it yourself,” Ji Xu said while driving. “Next time, if I see you dressed like this again, you might as well not wear anything.”
Cheng Yue, feeling a bit embarrassed, sniffed and turned to retrieve the coat from a bag in the back seat.
It was a black suit he had seen Ji Xu wear a few days ago. It must have been freshly picked up from the dry cleaners.
Blushing, Cheng Yue quietly touched the coat with his nose and slowly put it on.
However, wearing it made him look like a child who had borrowed their parents’ clothes—sleeves too long, shoulders too wide, the suit was quite comical.
He looked at the long sleeves on his arms and suddenly wished he could be as tall as Ji Xu so they could switch clothes.
Cheng Yue didn’t notice anything strange about this thought.
“It might take a while. If you’re hungry, go buy something to eat yourself,” Ji Xu handed him the car key. “Don’t wander around.”
“Got it,” Cheng Yue nodded, his eyes peering through the car window at the imposing, serious buildings outside. His heartbeat quickened, and he began to feel very nervous.
Outside the courtroom, a circle of reporters and cameras had gathered. Before getting out of the car, Ji Xu made a phone call to Tang Jing.
Soon, Tang Jing, with his rotund belly, arrived with a few security guards and hurried over.
As Ji Xu was about to get out of the car, Cheng Yue suddenly grabbed his arm. His voice was almost hoarse from swallowing his saliva, “Good luck!”
“Okay.” Ji Xu patted his hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry.”
Tang Jing approached, smiling as he opened the car door and greeted Cheng Yue.
Cheng Yue forced a smile, trying to calm his nerves.
After closing the car door, Tang Jing and Ji Xu walked toward the courthouse.
The reporters, having finally seen the person they were waiting for, swarmed around them.
Tang Jing answered a few questions briefly and then entered the courtroom with Ji Xu.
The trial for the child abuse case, which had attracted national attention and concern, officially began.
Ji Xu, carrying the hopes of everyone following the case and the long-awaited justice, entered the courtroom with a determined and resolute stance.
Cheng Yue sat in the car, looking at Ji Xu’s tall and upright figure through the window. His expression turned strange and restrained.
He suddenly bent down and, unable to control himself, buried his face in Ji Xu’s coat and took a deep, intense breath.
