chapter 23

Having heard they were military dependents, several of them hesitated obviously because it was an essentially disgraceful thing for them to rob money. They, certainly, didn’t want to ask for trouble so they didn’t dare to bother military dependents.

But the other two people responsible for watching were not determined, because they knew Ai withdrew a great amount of money. It was really a big deal and they didn’t want to lose it.

There were two who were so venal that they said directly, ” Don’t try to frighten us. Give the money now.”

These people didn’t care anything but money.

Ai pulled Yang backwards, giving a hint to her that she should not argue with them. Their knives were sharp. If they happened to be one or two or some passers-by went by, they absolutely could fight with them. But the fact was that the situation was adverse to them, so the first thing they should do was protect themselves.

Ai took out her purse. All her money was in there except for what she just spent on clothes. She guessed she was spied on while withdrawing money.

When she took it out, their eyes were lightened up. One of them even rushed toward her and grabbed her purse. There were several bank cards in it. As long as they knew the password, the money would be theirs.

Sure enough, one threatened Ai to tell them the password.

Ai told 6 numbers, but she said, “I have to remind you that, there were cameras beside ATMs. If you go there, it is quite easy to catch a picture of your face. It won’t be a good deal if you get caught by the police.”

That head said indifferently, “I don’t care. We do whatever we want.” Then, he said “do not call the police” and turned back, intending to take them away.

Ai, however, stopped them, “Wait. Give my purse back.” The purse was given by Qin Zhan. She could lose the money but not the purse.

“Pumph, it’s really annoying,” The leader smoked a cigarette, and ground the cigarette end with his foot, saying, “Since you are cooperative, I can give it back.”

Ai Changhuan stared at the purse all the time. When the man was about to pull out the money, there came a shout., “They are there!”.

They turned back and looked. It was a middle-aged woman leading several cops rushing toward them. “Damn!” The head roared, running away with his men.

“Hey!” Of course Ai was not contented. She gave the things to Yang and chased after them immediately, “Give the purse back to me!” Those people ran even faster when chased by the police in the beginning and now by Ai.

No. Absolutely no. Naturally, Ai chased after them with all her strength.

They knew that they would be caught sooner or later, so they decided to run away separately. Ai didn’t care about the other men, only running after the man who took her purse.

Having crossed about three streets, Ai blocked the man in a small alley.

Ai was totally exhausted, panting for breath. She blocked the exit, resting her hands on waist, “Give…give me the purse and I will let you go.”

That man glared at him, “Slut. How dare you to call the police!”

“It’s not me…How could it be me…They are coming…You take the money…Leave my purse…And then you can go…” Ai was so tired that she couldn’t even speak a complete sentence, however, she still insisted on asking the purse back. Seeing Ai was asking for the purse all the time, the head was somewhat suspicious whether the purse was expensive. He even slid it into his pocket and refused to give it back.

“Get out of the way…” The head went up to her aggressively, with the sharp knife in his hand. He seemed to stab Ai if she wouldn’t move.

Ai was scared but still didn’t want to step back, “I only want that purse.”

There came yelling. It seemed that those people were chasing up to them.

The head was apparently flurried, pressing on towards her with the knife, “Get away!”

“I only want the purse!” Ai gritted her teeth. Her body was shaking.

“Slut!” The head was in rage. He slapped Ai in the face and kicked her.

Ai groaned with pain, but badgered with him again, “My purse!” The head was even angrier. He knocked Ai’s head with his elbow. Ai was dizzy, about to pass out.

“Move your hands off!” The head shouted and pushed her falling down to the corner. Then he ran away immediately.

Ai’s head knocked against the wall. After a dizziness, she felt a flow of tepid liquid trickling down from her forehead. She suddenly couldn’t see anything and wasn’t aware of anything that happened next.

So when Lu was back, the first news he was informed of was that Ai fought with the robbers and was sent to hospital. In the City Central Hospital, seeing the woman with her head wrapped in gauze, Lu frowned tightly. Ai was a spoiled girl who would yell even when getting her fingers hurt slightly. How could she fight with the robbers gallantly?

But he didn’t question her closely, just keeping his doubt in his heart.

Ai saw Lu’s indifferent face as soon as she woke up from coma. She couldn’t help trembling for a second and she, puzzled, stopped for a second. Then she seemed to remember something, and asked Lu agitatedly, “Where’s…my purse? Did you find it?”

“You mean this one?” Lu raised his hand. Between his fingers he pinched an apricot purse. There was a black pig icon on the left corner of the purse. It was naive and lovely.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” Ai was overjoyed when seeing it. She grabbed it immediately and rubbed it in her hands. Fortunately, it was back.

Lu saw that she did not take a look at whether there was anything missing as soon as she got it. She just kept rubbing it as if it were a treasure.

Lu raised his eyebrows. He already understood: what she cared about wasn’t the money but the purse. So, that made her chase after the robber for it.

This purse must be from a person she cared about.

Who was that man?

Inexplicably, Lu felt annoyed. His tone became cold, “you surprised me. You knew nothing at all. You dared to chase after a robber with a knife, getting yourself hurt!”

Having putting away the purse carefully, Ai grinned in a good temper, “That was because the cops were coming and I didn’t believe he would kill me.”

“It would be too late when you believe it.” Lu glanced at her drily, “What on earth are you thinking about all day long? Don’t you know you are not one person now?”

“What…what do you mean?” Ai was frightened, looking at him. If she was not one person, was there another? She touched her belly secretly.

Seeing her behavior, Lu twitched his mouth corners. He really wanted to open her head and see what was in it. Closing his eyes, Lu didn’t want to argue with her. After he calmed himself down, he said “If this situation happens to you again, the first thing you should do is to do the things you can do. Do not overact. Your safety is much more important than money.”

Hearing Lu’s lecture, Ai curled her mouth, “Of course I know. I am not a child.”

Her I-do-not-care attitude made Lu staring at her. He sneered and said, “Really? Since you know everything well, why did you make yourself in a mess?”

Ai wasn’t convinced, “Why you become so verbose, Lu Zhanke. I remember you aren’t like this before.”

“That’s because I didn’t discover you are so silly before.” Lu went to the point directly.

“You…” Ai couldn’t speak any word. She could only act shamelessly, “I can decide my things. It’s none of your business.”

Lu sneered, “Don’t want me to get involved?”

“Yes. I don’t want.”

“What if I insist?”

“You are not my boss!”

“Really? What about calling your grandpa and talking about things that happened before. And we can ask him whether I have the right to take charge. Sounds good?”

Lu took out the phone, as if to call him right away. Ai was flustered. In spite of her wound, she jumped out from the bed and rushed at Lu, saying, “Don’t call. Don’t.”

Lu looked at her coldly, “But you just said I didn’t have the right?”

“I…I was kidding. I didn’t mean that…” Ai cowered back, admitting her mistake.

“So what do you mean?” Lu insisted on her telling everything to him clearly.

Ache spread all over her body. She was thinking about her excuse as she leaned against Lu, even in the most comfortable way. Then she said, “I mean…mean, you do have the right. Absolutely.”

“Alright.” Lu nodded with satisfaction, saying, “Give me the purse now.”

“Why?” Ai stared at him, alarmed.

“Because it is stolen goods. It is evidence. It should be handed over to the police.” Lu raised his eyebrows, “I just showed you so that you would be at ease. Now I have to send it back.”

Ai released his hand at once and hid herself into the bed, grabbing her purse, “No. I can’t give you.”

Lu sat at the bed. There was a flash of danger in his eyes, “Why you just care about this purse so much?