ATGJSY: Chapter 30
"I forgot something at school. I'll go get it; you go up first."
Shen Yi sat on his bike, waiting until Rong Qian reached the door before speaking. Rong Qian initially didn't react and absentmindedly said, "Okay."
It wasn't until Shen Yi turned back along the route they had just taken that Rong Qian realized what was happening. By the time she wanted to stop him, it was too late. Shen Yi had already vanished like a swift wind.
Rong Qian held her forehead in frustration, annoyed. "That kid, why does he have to be so clever for no reason?"
Rong Qian didn't need to guess; she knew Shen Yi had returned to the restaurant to find Lu Xuan and Lin Feng. She wondered how he had figured out she was hiding something despite her pretending nothing was wrong.
Moreover, the most annoying part was that he had acted so nonchalantly while bringing her back.
Rong Qian began to doubt her own professional abilities. It seemed that living a comfortable life for too long really did dull one's intelligence and judgment.
Her fighting spirit rekindled, Rong Qian dashed upstairs, but the moment she saw the open door, her whole body froze as if struck by lightning. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she stood rigid.
There was someone inside!
The lights were off, but the bright light from the stairway and the full moonlight streaming through the window illuminated the scene clearly.
A man sat on the sofa with his head down, in a relaxed posture. His suit jacket was draped casually over the armrest, and his hands rested on his legs. One hand held a cigarette, the glowing tip stark in the night.
A glass on the table served as an ashtray, and the number of cigarette butts indicated that the smoker had been there for a long time.
The man looked up, and Rong Qian, standing at the doorway, met his gaze.
In the dim light, the man's cold eyes were shrouded in deep shadows, and the scar on his face seemed to hint at something.
Rong Qian's expression darkened. Despite having anticipated this meeting many times, she hadn't expected it to happen like this.
He was Shen Yi's father—Shen Chi.
Back at the restaurant, Lu Xuan and Lin Feng walked out, chatting and laughing. Initially, they didn't notice anything amiss, but after a few steps, they both stopped.
Turning slowly, they saw Shen Yi standing at the entrance, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, watching them.
No wonder they felt a chill down their spines. It was him!
"Want to talk?"
Shen Yi's thin lips moved slightly. Although his tone was casual, Lu Xuan and Lin Feng felt a palpable pressure from the slender sixteen-year-old boy.
Despite Rong Qian's instructions not to tell Shen Yi, they couldn't withstand his interrogation and confessed everything.
"Joseph brought his gang to the restaurant to cause trouble for you." This was the same thing Lin Feng had told Rong Qian. The only difference was he replaced "you" with "Shen Yi."
Lin Feng had rushed to the restaurant to warn Shen Yi to avoid trouble, but when he found Rong Qian instead, he wasn't worried anymore since Shen Yi wasn't there.
Unexpectedly, Rong Qian insisted on getting to the bottom of it, leaving Lin Feng with no choice but to tell the truth.
Lin Feng initially didn't want to tell Rong Qian to avoid scaring her, but her reaction left him astonished.
Before explaining what Rong Qian did, Lin Feng asked Shen Yi, "Do you remember I told you a while ago that Joseph planned to ambush you on your way home but got beaten up and couldn't come?"
Shen Yi nodded, "I remember." He had already guessed something.
Lin Feng's expression was exaggerated. "Can you believe it? She was the one who did it!"
"Hmm, I believe it." Shen Yi was calm.
Lin Feng patted Shen Yi's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up, saying, "Respect!"
To be precise, Rong Qian didn't do much.
When Joseph's gang arrived, a waiter greeted them, but they caused all sorts of trouble.
It wasn't until Rong Qian threw a menu onto their table that they quieted down.
Rong Qian pulled up a chair, crossed her legs, and glared at them, delivering a sharp warning: "Either order or get out!"
Her demeanor was so intimidating that one might mistake her for a mafia boss.
Joseph and his gang, still bearing the scars from their last encounter with Rong Qian, didn't dare act up. They meekly ordered a few dishes, ate a little, and then fled in disgrace.
"Anything else?"
Shen Yi didn't believe that Rong Qian would hide something from him over such a trivial matter. Lin Feng initially wanted to brush it off, but realizing he couldn't, he had to come clean.
"One of the guys Joseph brought with him was a fat guy who previously tried to break into your house."
With that simple sentence, Shen Yi understood everything.
Rong Qian had already been dragged into his troubles...
At the St. Law Street apartment, Rong Qian stood by the window, watching Shen Chi get into a black car. She didn't turn away until the car disappeared from view.
She glanced at the glass filled with cigarette butts on the table, sniffed the air, then decisively opened all the windows to ventilate the room.
She threw the cigarette butts and the glass into the garbage downstairs.
Despite this, Rong Qian still worried that Shen Yi would smell the lingering tobacco odor when he returned.
Just as she had this thought, she heard the screech of a bicycle braking. Rong Qian knew Shen Yi was back.
Rong Qian had thought it over carefully. If Shen Yi sensed something was wrong, she would tell him the truth—that Shen Chi had been there.
Having steeled herself, she sat and waited for Shen Yi to enter.
But after a while, the door she had left ajar still hadn't opened.
Puzzled, Rong Qian wondered where he was. Surely he wasn't planning to play hide and seek?
She opened the door and found no one there. Walking down the stairs, she soon saw him at the landing on the second floor.
Just as she was about to ask why he was sitting there instead of coming up, she suddenly realized something. Her face changed abruptly, and she rushed towards him!
Shen Yi was in a terrible state.
He was sitting with his back against the wall, one hand pressing against his head, his brows furrowed, his face as pale as paper. Cold sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing was rapid. His lips were so tightly bitten they bled.
Although Rong Qian knew his headaches were a lingering aftereffect, this was the first time she'd seen an attack. She hadn't expected it to be so severe!
"Shen Yi! How are you? Can you hear me?"
She helped him up. Shen Yi was very weak, with no strength left in his body, almost entirely leaning on her.
"Huff... huff..."
His breathing was heavy, his head resting on her shoulder, so close that his warm breath brushed against her ear.
Rong Qian, whose ears were extremely sensitive and ticklish, felt her knees weaken, and she nearly collapsed under his weight.
The stairway was narrow, and with both of them there, Rong Qian felt like the air was thinning.
With great effort, she managed to help Shen Yi back up and spoke gently, "Shen Yi, don't breathe by my ear. I'm ticklish. Be good and lower your head. I'll get you to the room soon, okay?"
Whether Shen Yi understood or had already fainted, he did lower his head.
She supported him up the stairs and into the room, laying him on the bed. Then she quickly searched the drawers. "Where's your headache medicine? Is it in the drawer?"
"Mm..." Shen Yi's response was faint.
Rong Qian found the medicine in the second drawer, opened the box, and rushed to the kitchen for water.
Shen Yi's headache was splitting. He gritted his teeth, trying to endure it. He wanted to open his eyes, but his vision was blurry, so he closed them instead. In the darkness, Rong Qian's voice was especially clear.
He heard her exclaiming from outside the room.
"Where's the water? Why is there none in the kettle?"
"Hurry up, boil some water. Hey! Why is the tap water off?"
"Of all times, it has to stop now!"
Despite his intense pain, Shen Yi felt a rare sense of peace listening to Rong Qian's voice and drifted off to sleep.
Years later, when Shen Yi thought back to this day, he had forgotten many details, but two things remained vivid in his memory.
First, since then, Rong Qian had developed the habit of boiling water and keeping the kettle full every night.
Second, Shen Yi remembered that Rong Qian's ears were very sensitive, and she was ticklish.
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