He showed his true colors.

The thugs behind them thought they were trying to flee. Their laughter vanished at once, and someone spat out a curse. Several of them immediately gave chase.

“Jiang Chen, run!”

Ye Mian drew a sharp breath. The moment they started swearing, she had already grabbed Jiang Chen’s hand and bolted forward with all her strength.

She had no idea what grudge lay between him and those people, but one thing was obvious: the situation was bad, and running was the right choice.

Only an utter fool would stand there waiting to be beaten.

The dark alleyways twisted and branched like a maze. Ye Mian turned several corners in quick succession, trying to shake off the people behind them.

The layered heights of the surrounding buildings blocked the moonlight from reaching the alleys. She could only grope forward by the faintest scraps of dim light.

The rush of air whistled past her ears as they ran. The sound of their feet striking the stone road grew sharper and harsher, while the corridor wind had nowhere to hide.

The road ahead became blurrier and blurrier. She nearly stumbled several times, and each time Jiang Chen caught her.

Thankfully, the thugs behind them seemed not to have caught up after all.

Only when she truly could not run another step did Ye Mian dare slow down. Panting, she released Jiang Chen’s hand and turned to look at him.

A chill seemed to cling to his whole body.

Their eyes met.

Jiang Chen was looking at her too, his gaze full of helplessness.

It was clear the girl before him was tense.

He had already been prepared to stay behind and deal with them.

As long as someone remained, the girl would be able to leave this place safely, without the slightest risk.

She had run, yes, but she had not forgotten to drag him along with her.

And her hand... had been holding his very tightly.

The night was deep, the alley darker still.

Ye Mian glanced around to make sure there was no sign of that group before finally letting out a slow breath and asking softly, “They didn’t catch up, did they?”

In the next instant, she felt his warm breath brush her ear, and his low voice sounded beside it.

“No.”

Ye Mian was about to speak again when she saw Jiang Chen take out his phone, place a call, and give an address.

She understood at once. He was probably calling someone over.

This cursed place was definitely somewhere they could not stay long.

One look at those thugs told her they were the kind who haunted this area year-round; they must know the terrain like the backs of their hands.

When she was in school, she almost never came this way. Even just running through it had nearly gotten her lost.

If they stupidly waited in place, those people would find them sooner or later.

Before she had even caught her breath, she grabbed Jiang Chen again, wanting to leave.

Jiang Chen’s gaze lifted toward the front of the alley, the corner of his eye rising slightly.

He drew in a breath, then pulled Ye Mian into a blind corner at his side and said in a deep voice, “Come back.”

She had only just raised a foot to leave when that pull dragged her back to where she had been. A hand pressed on her shoulder, and with a thump she ended up seated in the very corner of the alley.

Instinctively, she tried to stand, but Jiang Chen pressed her head down again. The force was not heavy. His deep voice lingered by her ear.

“Don’t move. Stay put like a good girl. In a moment, use your eyes. If it’s time to run, run. Don’t let yourself get hurt.”

Then Jiang Chen straightened and stood in front of her, blocking out every last trace of light.

She looked up through the gap.

It was them.

The thugs had come back and had already sealed off every entrance and exit.

Several of them held thick clubs. The one in front had eyes full of malice; the way he looked at Jiang Chen was like looking at a mortal enemy, and his voice was arrogant beyond measure.

“Jiang Chen, long time no see. You, the top scorer on the college entrance exam, do you still remember me?”

“Looks like you’ve got money now, huh? Not bad, not bad.”

“But there’s still a score between us left unsettled. You remember that, don’t you?”

Every so often, the clubs struck the wall or the ground, making jarring sounds that set the heart pounding.

“Let the person behind me go.”

Jiang Chen’s voice was not loud, but it carried a trace of pressure.

“Can you do that?”

That was hardly the tone of someone negotiating.

But the thugs did not care about such things at all.

After all, right now, they were the barefoot ones unafraid of those wearing shoes.

In truth, letting a little girl go would not have been impossible.

But...

A girl stepped out from beside the thugs. She was wearing an apron uniform. It was the server from the tea shop earlier.

“In your dreams.” Mockery hung on her face. Through Jiang Chen’s silhouette, she stared fixedly at Ye Mian and shrieked, “No way am I letting her off. If it weren’t for her, how could my boyfriend and I have ended up dropping out?”

Ye Mian frowned and studied the girl’s face carefully.

People grew. People changed.

If it was someone she had never been close to in the first place, even after looking several times she still might not recognize them.

But everything the girl was saying implied one thing...

That she and Jiang Chen somehow owed her?

That was absurd.

They had barely known each other. How could she possibly have caused the two of them to drop out?

The girl seemed sickened by Ye Mian’s puzzled expression. Standing there with reddened eyes, she spoke in furious bursts.

“Stop pretending with me. If your boyfriend hadn’t fought with my boyfriend and gotten caught by the school leaders, would my man have been expelled? So what if you were top of the grade? Big deal! Screw you!”

...

That outburst unlocked a sealed memory in Ye Mian’s mind.

Not because of the words themselves...

But because of that distinctively shrill voice, and her utterly unreasonable way of doing things.

In this life, Ye Mian had probably only ever met one person like that.

Her memory slipped back to their final year of high school. One day during the flag-raising ceremony, a female classmate had knocked her to the ground. Not only had the girl refused to apologize, she had even said she would find someone to beat her up.

Ye Mian had prepared herself for the worst, yet after school the only thing she had encountered was Jiang Chen, covered in blood.

Nothing else happened after that, and the matter had passed away in silence.

At the time, she had guessed that perhaps Jiang Chen had settled things on her behalf.

But without evidence, she had not taken it to heart.

Now the evidence had appeared.

Only the situation was very far from good.

The person before her now was most likely that very classmate from back then.

Her gaze trembled. Before she could say anything, the girl suddenly flew into a frenzy.

“Hit them. Go on, hit them. Just don’t beat them to death.”

The man at the front holding the thick club stalked forward viciously.

Ye Mian’s heart leapt into her throat.

How could this be allowed? Jiang Chen was still standing in front of her.

Ye Mian did not know where the courage came from. With a sudden motion, she sprang to her feet and squeezed out through the gap.

She poured all the strength in her body into her leg. The fighting techniques she had learned in her previous life came out flawlessly as she drove a kick straight into the man’s abdomen.

The man staggered back two steps from the blow and had to brace himself with the club against the ground to keep from falling.

It hurt, very much so, but the force had not been great enough.

Not enough to stop him from moving.

Her posture was so impeccably professional that a hint of scrutiny entered Jiang Chen’s gaze.

Ye Mian rubbed her wrist, wanting Jiang Chen to step back.

She also knew that this had only succeeded because she had taken advantage of surprise. The next time, she might not be able to land a clean hit.

But before she could speak, her waist tightened abruptly.

The man behind her pulled her straight into his arms. What came over her like a tide was his cool body temperature and his scent.

Once again, the man shoved her back into the corner.

“Stay there. Be good. Don’t look.”

...

When Jiang Chen struck, he was truly ruthless. It was obvious he held absolute advantage. Cleanly and decisively, he kicked the man to the ground. Those long legs of his, impossible to ignore, came down hard on the thug’s head.

He smiled, then kicked the man over onto his back. The fellow could not even crawl away.

“As for the rest of you, if you still can leave, you’d better do it quickly. Any absurd thoughts you’re harboring would be best abandoned right now.”

“Since you know I’m not who I used to be, you still dared to wander in front of me.”

“Whether I avoid the law or not, I have more than enough ways to deal with the lot of you.”

Who would have thought it? On the surface, Chen Chen looked like the model student and the great boss type, refined and courteous.

But all those times he fought behind Mianmian’s back, he was bad to the bone.

I’ll thank everyone tomorrow for the monthly tickets and gifts. A bow to you all, love you.

End of chapter.