Chapter 81

Qu Zhiwen’s house wasn’t far from Xia Tong’s home. When the taxi driver heard that there was an emergency, and he saw Qin Cheng’s anxious appearance, he hurried on the road.

In the meantime, Qin Cheng called Xia Tong, but the call wasn’t answered. ‘ Something must have happened…. ’

“Master, please drive faster. I’m afraid something must have happened to my friend.”

“Don’t worry, I’m already driving as fast as I can. It’ll take only 5 or 6 minutes to get there.”

Sure enough, as the driver said, in less than 5 minutes, they reached Xia Tong’s home. The place was on the outskirts of the city, so Xia Tong’s home, with its gray bricks, was easy to spot. When Qin Cheng looked at it through a small distance, he found that the main door was wide open. At that moment, Qin Cheng thought ‘ This isn’t good. What if that man has a weapon? ’. At that thought, Qin Cheng picked up a heavy wooden branch, and rushed over.

Indeed, before Qin Cheng could step inside the house, he heard Xia Tong’s screaming and crying. Without hesitation, Qin Cheng hurriedly walked in, looked for the source of the loud screams, and ran over.

The door lock of Xia Tong’s room was broken, and the door was wide open. Inside the room, a fat middle-aged man pounced on Xia Tong, who was on the floor, and desperately tried to tear her clothes apart. Xia Tong’s struggles and screams had no effect on the man at all.

Even if Qin Cheng wasn’t familiar with Xia Tong, this situation angered Qin Cheng immensely. After Qin Cheng rushed into the room, he forcefully kicked the man away from her, and without the slightest hesitation, punched the middle-aged man in the face.

The man didn’t expect that someone would come in all of a sudden, and when he saw it was a tall man, he couldn’t react for a while. The middle-aged man didn’t understand what was going on until he was beaten until blood poured from his nose.

When Qin Cheng saw that the middle-aged man’s fingers were trembling, trying to pull out a knife from his pocket, he stepped on the man’s hand, making the man cry out for mercy.

Qin Cheng wasn’t kind as he dragged the man up, pulled the sheets off of the bed, tied the man with them, and threw him into the bathroom.

As he called the police, Qin Cheng walked over to Xia Tong’s side to appease her.

Xia Tong was extremely frightened, and when she saw that someone had come to her rescue, she felt relieved that nothing worse had happened. Now, she had put her guard down as she rushed to cry into Qin Cheng’s arms.

Qin Cheng also didn’t expect that the situation would escalate like this. After being stunned for a short while, he gently pushed Xia Tong away.

“Sorry….”

Xia Tong is a thin-skinned person in nature, so when Qin Cheng pushed her away, she didn’t know what he meant by it. At that instant, her cheeks wet with tears blushed bright red.

Naturally, Qin Cheng saw everything. The last time the two of them met, Qin Cheng realized that she was prone to blush easily, but he thought that it was quite cute. However, that feeling was limited to finding her cute and nothing else. Even though he could see that Xia Tong liked him, Qin Cheng really had no interest in Xia Tong. After all, his heart was full of Su Jingmo, and it was impossible for Qin Cheng to have feelings for other people.

Without knowing what to say, Qin Cheng found a dress for Xia Tong to change into. “You can wait elsewhere for the police to arrive. I’ll stay here to guard that man, in case he tries to escape.”

Xia Tong wiped the tears on her face, but she couldn’t stop sobbing: “No, it’s alright. You must’ve been busy, you can go now. Thank you for helping me, if you hadn’t come in time ….” When Xia Tong said the last bit, her tears couldn’t stop falling. “I called the police before, but after a long time passed, no one came….”

When seeing a woman crying like this, Qin Cheng felt like he should comfort her. But given the fact that he wasn’t familiar with Xia Tong, it was better for the both of them not to get more involved than this….

After thinking this, Qin Cheng took a tissue and handed it to Xia Tong. Then, he asked her: “What about your family? I remember that you told me you were living in a dormitory. Did you move house?”

“My parents traveled to Chengdu, and I didn’t dare to call them. They would be worried…. I called He Yalan, and she was also very worried. She must be heading this way…. As for a male friend…. I could only think of you….”

Qin Cheng sighed slightly. He knew that in this situation it wasn’t a good idea to call a woman and ask her to come. As for a man, it had to be someone who could come as soon as possible. “He Yalan… is she Zhang Jun’s girlfriend? He lives half-an-hour from here, so I guess she will call Zhang Jun to come along.”

“Yes, if you had come a moment later….” Xia Tong sobbed and wiped away the falling tears. “Fortunately…. fortunately you came.”

Qin Cheng didn’t know what else to say, so he simply kept silent and no longer said a word. On this early autumn night, the cool wind that blew through the open window, caressed their warm skin comfortably.

As he looked at the swinging branches outside the window, the slightly cool wind made Qin Cheng somewhat distracted.

Indeed, just as Su Jingmo had said, the weather had begun to turn cold. In a few days, it will be his birthday….

‘How old should he be? Thirty? No. Even though Su Jingmo died after he turned 29, more than 1600 years have passed. When you put it that way, the age difference between us is indeed quite big…. ’

‘ No matter what, when the time comes, I must plan how to spend his birthday with him…. ’ When Qin Cheng thought about this, he automatically ignored the fact that the dead no longer celebrated their birthdays….

“Qin Cheng, why don’t…. you just go back?” Not only was Xia Tong a stubborn person, but she was also a strong one. Xia Tong could see that Qin Cheng was distracted, thinking of something else, so it was better to take the initiative and ask him to go if he was busy. After all, it was clear that Qin Cheng wasn’t obligated to help her….

“Hmm? Oh, no. I’ll wait until someone else comes. The sheets weren’t tied firmly, and it’ll be bad if that man were to escape. You’re not safe on your own.”

“….It’s alright.”

As he looked at Xia Tong pretending to be strong, Qin Cheng knew that he was lost in thought not long ago, so he simply asked: “You said that this man has been following you for a few days, right? What happened? Why didn’t you call the police earlier?”

“Actually, I’m not so sure myself. I just felt that every time I went home, there was someone following behind me. However, every time I turned around, I couldn’t see anyone. I simply thought that I was being paranoid, and I never thought something like this would happen. When I came back from having dinner with some classmates today, I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. When I started walking faster, he would also walk faster, and when I slowed down, he would also walk slower. That’s how I realized I was being followed, so I rushed towards my family’s house. Luckily enough, I was able to close the door before he could reach me, otherwise, he would’ve entered my home sooner…. I, I didn’t expect that he would smash the door…. I was afraid the police wouldn’t arrive in time, so I called He Yalan, and then called you…. wuwu…. But before you could arrive, that man broke the door and came in! I immediately hid in the closet…. whoo…. but he found me and he, he dragged me out…. Then ….”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to say it.” Qin Cheng hurriedly interrupted Xia Tong’s words, stopping her from remembering something so awful. After thinking for a while, he said: “Fortunately, nothing happened. The next time you find yourself in a situation like this, call the police immediately. I can see that there’s a house next to yours, and it isn’t that far away either, so why didn’t anyone hear the loud noise? Why did no one come to look?”

“I think that someone must have heard it, but people who live here are easily afraid, and no one would dare to take care of something that doesn’t concern them….”

After hearing this, Qin Cheng could only sigh. ‘ There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s impossible to force others to help…. People will always be selfish. ’

The two didn’t speak again, but before 10 minutes could pass, they heard He Yalan’s shout coming downstairs.

“Yalan! I’m here, everything is alright.”

When He Yalan, who was still downstairs, heard Xia Tong’s voice, she rushed upstairs: “Alright?! The door is broken! How can everything be alright?”

“Hey! Qin Cheng, why are you here? Don’t tell me you’re the stalker!” Zhang Jun, who didn’t expect to see Qin Cheng here, blurted out the most stupid words he could think of.

“Zhang Jun!”

Without waiting for He Yalan to attack her boyfriend, the usually quiet and gentle Xia Tong snapped angrily: “It was Qin Cheng the one who saved me! If it wasn’t for him….” Before she could finish her voice, tears fell down her eyes.

Knowing that he had said something wrong, Zhang Jun hurried to apologize: “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

He Yalan and Xia Tong were quite close, so when He Yalan saw that Xia Tong was glaring at Zhong Jun with tears falling down her cheeks, she also wanted to cry: “I understand, let’s not talk about it. Xia Tong, I’ll take you to the bathroom to change.”

In the end, women understand each other the best. Qin Cheng had never thought about what it would feel like for a young woman to experience such disgusting violence, and even though it was just an attempt, her body was still touched without her consent. He couldn’t even begin to imagine it. Only when He Yalan spoke did he react to it.

It could be said that Xia Tong was even more embarrassed to say anything when Qin Cheng stood there, without saying anything.

“I’m sorry…. I didn’t pay attention….”

Xia Tong shook her head. However, Qin Cheng knew that even though Xia Tong didn’t say much, she must be thinking: If Qin Cheng wasn’t paying attention to her, wasn’t that because he didn’t care about her? After all, if he cared, then how could he not realize?

As her eyes dimmed, Xia Tong lowered her head and didn’t speak again, following He Yalan towards the bathroom.

“Hey, you made them cry.”

When he saw Zhang Jun leaning over to say this, Qin Cheng slapped him smoothly: “Will you die if you don’t speak for even a minute?”

“Hey, about Xia Tong…. nothing happened, right?”

“No, I arrived just in time. That pervert is now locked in this bathroom.”

“Oh, good. Was Xia Tong the one who called you? Where were you? Weren’t you going to the tomb tonight?”

“No,” Qin Cheng found a chair to sit down on and continued: “something happened and I was close by. Then I received a call from Xia Tong and decided to rush over.”

“We’ll wait for the police to arrive, I guess Yalan will take Xia Tong home today. It would be better for her to stay with us for a period of time.” Zhang Jun sat next to Qin Cheng, only to ask him: “So you and Xia Tong~ will you develop feelings for her?”

Qin Cheng glanced at Zhang Jun, only to say: “It’s impossible.”

“Hey! Who says it’s impossible? Isn’t the ‘relationship’ you’re in right now more impossible than having one with Xia Tong?”

“Zhang Jun, could you just shut the fuck up?!”

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“Fine, alright. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

After that, Zhang Jun really didn’t speak, and Qin Cheng didn’t have the intention of continuing this topic. When he looked at his watch, he realized that it was almost 1:30 am…. and the police hadn’t arrived yet.

‘ How inefficient…. ’

Although Qin Cheng didn’t tell Su Jingmo, before leaving last night, that he would go over tonight…. Qin Cheng still felt a little uneasy.

After waiting for another half an hour, Qin Cheng couldn’t wait any longer. He simply stood up and said: “Zhang Jun, could you stay here and watch? I have to go.”

Zhang Jun remembered that Qin Cheng had to go to the hospital tomorrow to get the stitches removed. Since Zhang Jun was already here, he thought that nothing would happen, so he simply let Qin Cheng go back first.

“Alright. Go back and rest. I’ll stay here and watch that man.”

Qin Cheng nodded and went downstairs without explaining much. But before he could leave the house, the police finally arrived. Now, even if he wanted to go, he wouldn’t be able to, because everyone was called in for questioning….

Qin Cheng, who can be regarded as someone gentle and polite, who rarely spat on the ground…. has been questioned by the police way too many times in just one year!

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