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Lu Yixin sat in the police station, her whole person numb.
One of her shoes was gone, a large handful of her hair had been torn out during the struggle, the zipper of her jacket was broken, the sweater inside had been ripped into tassels, and her palms were covered in several cuts from when she was pushed to the ground—but she couldn’t feel the pain.
Li Xiao’an told her to run, and her first reaction was really to run.
When she ran, she even noticed two men chasing after her from behind. Out of sheer terror, she clenched her teeth and ran faster than she had ever run in her life.
She ran to the bright area of the main road, and those two men didn’t follow.
Her first reaction was to call the police.
Shaking all over, she forced the words out and finished the report, and then she thought of the look in Li Xiao’an’s eyes when she had told her to run.
Li Xiao’an had told her to run, but stayed behind herself.
Four or five grown men—Li Xiao’an, that tough girl, even her voice had been trembling.
On the main road at midnight in winter, there weren’t many people. The few passersby who saw Lu Yixin, hair in disarray and missing a shoe, instinctively moved away from her.
Lu Yixin looked back.
The alley she had just run out of was pitch-dark, like a beast devouring life.
She stomped her foot in place, picked up a large stone at random, and with one bare foot, charged back in.
She couldn’t really remember what happened after that.
She should have been yelling that the police were coming as she rushed in, but the strength of four or five men was something the two of them could not possibly resist.
When she got there, Li Xiao’an had already been stripped down to only her underwear, curled up on the ground into a ball.
Lu Yixin didn’t even know what those men were trying to do. Her eyes were red as she raised the stone and rushed forward. In the pushing and pulling, she heard those men saying she was meddling.
She thought, she agreed.
She and Li Xiao’an weren’t even close to the point where she’d risk her life for her. She had even felt reluctant to come out in the cold in the middle of the night to look for that bracelet.
But…
If she hadn’t turned back, the pitch-dark alley would have devoured everything in her, starting from her conscience.
Those men had already left before the police arrived, cursing as they went, telling Li Xiao’an to watch herself.
They knew Li Xiao’an.
Lu Yixin numbly helped Li Xiao’an gather her clothes, numbly thinking.
By the time the police arrived, she had already helped Li Xiao’an put on her shirt and pants, and had even somehow found her bracelet in the grass.
After that, she hadn’t spoken again.
Only when the policewoman asked if there was someone she could contact did she give Fang Yongnian’s phone number.
At that moment, she didn’t even know what the number was for.
She just kept looking for her shoe, thinking that her sock must have torn too, because the sole of her foot hurt like hell.
Then she turned her head and looked at Li Xiao’an, who was sitting beside her.
Li Xiao’an had been talking to the police the whole time. There was a gash on her face, her hands and feet were frozen purple, one hand holding tightly onto Lu Yixin’s, and the other clenched into a fist.
“They wanted to strip off all my clothes and take pictures.” That was the only sentence Lu Yixin understood from beginning to end.
Damn it, sick.
That was the first thing that popped into her messy mind.
Why are there so many sick people in this world.
୨୧ ⏔⏔⏔⏔♡⏔⏔⏔⏔ ୨୧
When Fang Yongnian received the call and rushed to the police station, the first thing he saw was Lu Yixin sitting blankly on a chair in the middle of the lobby.
There were traces of blood on her face, her hair was in a tangled mess like a madwoman’s, and her red scarf hung loosely around her neck, half torn.
The heating in the police station was turned all the way up, yet she still clung tightly to her coat. One of her feet was bare; the white sock on the other had long lost its color.
“Lu Yixin?” Fang Yongnian tried to crouch down, but because of his prosthetic leg, he frowned and simply sat down directly on the bright, well-lit floor.
All the police officers nearby were looking at him, but he only saw Lu Yixin.
Lu Yixin looked at Fang Yongnian, then pulled her coat tighter around herself.
Fang Yongnian reached out and brushed a broken leaf from her hair. His voice was gentle, his expression soft. “How did you get this dirty?”
His voice was low, the ending deep and smooth.
Lu Yixin blinked.
“I… lost one of my shoes.” She finally spoke. Her throat was hoarse from shouting for the police and crying for help all the way; her voice was nearly gone, barely audible.
“Mm.” Fang Yongnian lifted her dirty foot and placed it on his leg.
The black mud soiled his pants, and when he frowned, he noticed the bloodstains on them.
“My jacket zipper’s broken too.” Lu Yixin tugged it open to show him.
The metal zipper head had been torn off. Without it, her coat couldn’t close, revealing the sweater underneath, shredded into dangling strands.
“So I don’t dare take it off,” Lu Yixin explained to Fang Yongnian. “The clothes inside are all torn.”
“Alright.” Fang Yongnian nodded.
He was wearing a huge black down jacket. He took it off and wrapped it completely around Lu Yixin.
“This is fine now.” He patted her head.
Lu Yixin sniffled.
Underneath, Fang Yongnian was wearing pajamas. A T-shirt and sweatpants his parents had bought him.
The sweatpants were soft, so it was easy to see which of his legs was normal and which wasn’t.
The bad leg was stretched straight on the ground; at a glance, it was obvious it was a prosthetic.
“I’ll close my eyes. Can you come sit next to me?” Lu Yixin felt utterly miserable.
She was already in such a pitiful state, yet Fang Yongnian was even worse than she was.
“Alright.”
Miserable as he was, Fang Yongnian was surprisingly patient. He looked at Lu Yixin and instructed her, “Close your eyes.”
Lu Yixin closed her eyes. Her dirty face trembled slightly with every flutter of her eyelashes.
She knew Fang Yongnian was pushing against the chair to stand up, and her numb mind registered that many police officers were watching.
He hated being seen by others the most.
“I’m sorry.” She began to feel like crying.
Fang Yongnian was silent for half a second, then smoothed her hair and said expressionlessly, “Shut up.”
Lu Yixin opened her eyes.
She was wrapped entirely in Fang Yongnian’s coat. The jacket must have been something he grabbed casually from his closet, the smell of mothballs mixed with his own scent made her feel safe.
She curled up smaller and leaned against him completely.
“Aren’t you cold?” She was wearing his coat, and he was now sitting in the hall in just a thin T-shirt. Even with the heating on, it must still be cold.
“Shut up.” Fang Yongnian continued to smooth her hair, his expression still blank.
Lu Yixin stopped moving.
She sat obediently in his arms and closed her eyes.
Everything else no longer mattered.
“I couldn’t not go back.” Her eyes were closed, her voice soft. “I asked passersby for help, but when they saw me, they ran away.”
“If Li Xiao’an hadn’t told me to run, I probably would’ve ended up just like her.”
Those two men had clearly been trying to catch her again, afraid she would call the police.
“I couldn’t not go back.” Her head rubbed lightly against Fang Yongnian’s chest. “But… I was so scared.”
She had never experienced such a cruel moment in her life.
The punches and kicks had been real. The strength of men had been real.
“I know.” Fang Yongnian kissed her forehead, then placed his large hand over her entire face. “Don’t think about it.”
Inside Fang Yongnian’s oversized coat, Lu Yixin rustled softly, stretching out her hand to grab the fabric of his T-shirt.
“Can we go home early?” she asked pitifully. “I’ve got scrapes all over. I don’t want to go to the hospital. Let’s just go home early.”
She had just heard the police officer say they would have to go to the hospital for an examination later.
They’d have to give statements, sign documents.
She didn’t want to answer questions, didn’t want to recall what had happened. She just wanted to go home and sleep.
Fang Yongnian’s dry palm patted her cheek gently in reassurance, his voice indulgent: “Alright.”
Lu Yixin tugged at the corners of her mouth, both hands gripping his T-shirt, comforted. “Then I’ll close my eyes for a while.”
She had sprinted like in a hundred-meter dash, charged into a group of grown men with a stone in hand to protect Li Xiao’an. She’d been pushed, pulled, nearly stripped of her own clothes.
She was exhausted.
Right now, her whole body was covered in Fang Yongnian’s scent.
Fang Yongnian’s palm covered her eyes, and through her eyelids, she could feel the shape of his fingers.
She felt safe. The soreness in her body and the stinging pain in her foot faded away.
She was so very tired that she didn’t even bother to ask why they still hadn’t gone home.
Dazed and half-asleep in the bustling lobby, she drifted in and out of consciousness. Whenever she moved even a little, Fang Yongnian would gently pat her to calm her down.
She thought maybe her nerves were really thicker than an elephant’s—because somehow, she had actually fallen asleep.
When she was patted awake, she no longer knew what time it was or where she was.
“We’re going home.” The Fang Yongnian she liked looked at her and smiled.
“Climb onto the chair. I’ll carry you to the car.” Fang Yongnian patted the back of the chair behind him.
Lu Yixin reached out to rub her eyes, but hissed when the motion pulled at the cuts on her palms.
“Don’t rub your eyes. Your hands and face are filthy.” Fang Yongnian frowned and pulled her hand down.
“It itches…” Lu Yixin’s sleepy voice was soft, like a kitten’s mewl.
Fang Yongnian laughed again.
He leaned over and kissed her eyelid.
“Isn’t it dirty?” Lu Yixin asked foolishly, instantly forgetting about the itch.
“Dirty.” Fang Yongnian, as honest as always, patted his back again. “Come on, I’ll carry you back.”
“I can walk.” Still a little dazed, Lu Yixin stepped onto the floor barefoot, then hissed again from the pain.
Fang Yongnian patted his back without saying another word.
Fang Yongnian, carrying her.
That realization made her hesitate.
“I can’t carry you in my arms, but I can still manage on my back.” Seeing her hesitation, Fang Yongnian flicked her forehead with a bent finger.
“Mm.” Fang Yongnian bounced her slightly, maintaining his virtue of honesty.
“Are you sure we don’t need to stay for questioning or the medical exam?” she asked, still a little uneasy, glancing back toward the lobby. “Li Xiao’an hasn’t left yet.”
“We’ll go home first.” He didn’t say anything more.
For this, he had called his older brother in the middle of the night.
Then, under his brother’s strange gaze, he carried Lu Yixin out of the police station without looking back.
There was no heating outside. Wearing only a T-shirt, Fang Yongnian shivered once.
Lu Yixin tugged at Fang Yongnian’s coat, trying to wrap him inside it too.
The two of them fumbled and pulled at each other at the police station’s entrance, looking from afar as close and intimate as one single person.
“Yixin?” Liu Miqing’s voice.
Lu Yixin and Fang Yongnian turned around at the same time.
Fang Yongnian’s coat was far too big. When he turned his head, the entire coat slipped off and fell to the ground.
Liu Miqing and Lu Boyuan were both standing at the entrance of the police station, staring wide-eyed at the two of them.
“Are you Lu Yixin’s parents?” The policewoman hurried to the door, her voice loud. “Good thing you’re here.”
“Lu Yixin’s emotional state is a bit unstable, and her classmate Li Xiao’an refused to give us her parents’ contact information. It’s the middle of the night, so we reached out to the school, and the school provided your contact details.”
“It’s really great that you could come,” the policewoman said repeatedly. “Lu Yixin is still inside!”
Then she turned her head. “Eh? You two are about to leave? Have you signed the papers?”
Lu Yixin and Fang Yongnian: “…………”
Lu Boyuan and Liu Miqing: “…………”
___
Author’s note:
In real life, it’s almost impossible for a hero to save the beauty, so girls—don’t go out in the middle of the night!
