The back gate of An Zhong usually remained closed, but during dismissal, a small entrance would be left open for students attending evening study sessions to get food, though only through the guard room.

When Qing reached the back gate, she first surveyed the scene with her eyes, her gaze falling on the male students in An Zhong uniforms outside. A group was sitting on the steps beside the fried noodle stand, some playing slot machines, others watching, while the rest were either bragging or smoking.

Qing immediately spotted Xing Wu sitting among the crowd, staring at the slot machine, before she stepped out of the school gate.

She wore light blue high-waisted flared jeans and a white printed t-shirt tucked at the waist as she walked out of campus. Standing at the gate, her perfect proportions made her appear all legs below the neck. She stared directly at the delinquents across from her. Though she was just a thin, frail-looking girl, her composed and calm demeanor gave off an imposing presence.

The fact that she came out alone surprised the An Vocational students and even the An Zhong students by the noodle stand gradually turned to look.

Their leader was a tall man with a fierce face that naturally looked menacing. His hair was shaved on both sides with only a red-dyed strip in the middle, wearing track pants and flip-flops, his appearance unable to hide his arrogance and swagger. This was Cao Fan’s brother, Cao Ping.

Though many people were standing opposite her, usually in a crowd, one could easily distinguish different auras. So after scanning the group, Qing’s gaze steadily landed on this man in flip-flops leaning against a black motorcycle. Cao Ping was also casually sizing up Qing, and when he saw her face, his originally cold expression suddenly took on an amused smile. He beckoned to a man in a floral shirt beside him, who immediately bent down to listen. After he said a few words, the man in the floral shirt straightened up with a smile and led a group toward Qing.

Qing stood at the curb, separated from the noodle stand by a street. As the floral shirt group walked toward her, Xing Wu and his friends had already turned to watch the scene across the road.

When the man in the floral shirt stopped about two meters from Qing, he slowly looked her up and down and said with some surprise: “So she’s a beauty, no wonder she’s so hated.”

Behind the floral shirt man was a group of girls wearing crop tops, heavy makeup, and some smoking cigarettes – not An Zhong students. Cao Fan wasn’t stupid enough to confront Qing personally.

Qing expressionlessly looked at them and asked: “What is it?”

The man in the floral shirt immediately laughed: “Playing it cool, little sister? We don’t want anything, just heard you’re good at studying and wanted to get to know you.”

Qing turned her head to look at Cao Ping sitting on the motorcycle and asked: “How do you want to get to know me?”

Cao Ping smiled at her. Meanwhile, across the street, Xing Wu’s eyes slanted toward Cao Ping, and Yellow Hair immediately squeezed over, cursing: “Big Brother Wu, why did Big Cao come here? This is looking for trouble!”

Xing Wu’s eyes gradually turned cold as he took Yellow Hair’s newly bought cigarette and put it between his lips. They weren’t far from the opposite side and could hear Qing’s conversation with the floral shirt man.

The man in the floral shirt smiled sinisterly, his eyes fixed intently on Qing: “How to get to know you? Well, I’ll give you two choices – either let these little sisters behind me ‘greet’ you, or come with me and let Brother Cao personally ‘greet’ you.”

The way he said “greet” the second time was extremely suggestive. Qing’s brows furrowed, and the floral shirt man quickly added: “Don’t worry, little sister, we’re honorable men, we absolutely won’t lay hands on women. But these girls behind me, well, that’s another story. That pretty face of yours won’t take many slaps. If I were you, I’d choose the second option.”

Yellow Hair cursed “Fuck!” and stood up, but Xing Wu pressed him down.

However, at this moment, everyone saw Qing suddenly smile inexplicably and directly ask the man in the floral shirt: “I didn’t quite understand the second option – how exactly do you plan to ‘greet’ me?”

The man in the floral shirt walked toward Qing with a lewd smile: “Don’t think of anything too scary, our Brother Cao just wants to date you.”

Qing lowered her eyes to watch his approaching steps, slightly raised her chin, and suddenly dropped her smile, her eyes instantly turning cold: “Take another half step closer, and my little brother will make sure you don’t leave this street.”

The man in the floral shirt was suddenly stunned, staring at her changed expression in bewilderment: “Your little brother? Where?”

Everyone around looked at each other in confusion. Cao Ping raised his eyebrows with interest, while the An Zhong boys began to stir. Xing Wu took a drag on his cigarette, his eyes narrowing.

Qing raised her arm to cross it over her chest, slowly turned her head toward Xing Wu, lifted her chin, and fixed her gaze steadily on him.

The floral shirt man followed her gaze and turned his head to see An Zhong’s school tyrant Xing Wu squatting among a group of people, cigarette in mouth and eyes half-closed. His lips trembled as he called out uncertainly: “Brother Wu?”

Xing Wu still held his cigarette expressionlessly, while Yellow Hair and Panghu and their group gradually stood up around him, each looking fierce.

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, the floral shirt man called out to Xing Wu again uncertainly: “Young Master Wu, this girl has nothing to do with you, right?”

Even Big Cao turned to look at Xing Wu at this point, who still had the cigarette at his lips and was staring in their direction but hadn’t spoken.

The floral shirt man breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to smile at Qing: “Little sister, you shouldn’t make empty boasts. Do you even know who he is? Calling him your little brother?”

As he spoke, he took another step toward Qing, who had already withdrawn her gaze but neither retreated nor dodged, just standing there with her arms crossed.

However, just as the floral shirt man raised his hand, perhaps intending to grab Qing, a cigarette butt suddenly flew from the left and struck his hand hard. Sparks flew, and the floral shirt man yelped, withdrawing his hand and turning his head again in disbelief.

Xing Wu, who had been squatting all this time, finally stood up slowly and parted his thin lips to coldly utter one word: “Scram.”

The students coming and going through the school gate, those crowding to watch by the back door, and those watching from the rows of windows above all felt their hair stand on end. They had only wanted to see why An Vocational’s boss had come to An Zhong but instead witnessed their own school’s tyrant getting involved.

Over the years, An Zhong and An Vocational had never gotten along. Several streets separated the two schools, and they regularly clashed over various idiotic matters. Not just between students, but even the faculty had conflicts. The most notorious was a brawl several years ago that resulted in many students being arrested.

Though friction between the two schools had continued in recent years, there hadn’t been any major conflicts. This was partly because An Vocational’s boss Cao Ping’s sister Cao Fan attended An Zhong, and partly due to the wariness of Xing Wu’s group’s influence in the area. Though they generally didn’t interfere in minor scuffles between students, being too blatant would be like disrespecting Xing Wu and his people. So even though Cao Ping occasionally bullied An Zhong students, he usually kept it within limits.

No one expected a girl who had only transferred a week ago to make Xing Wu speak up. At this moment, not only was the floral shirt man staring at Cao Ping in panic, but Cao Ping himself seemed somewhat surprised.

However, he wasn’t particularly worried. He slowly straightened up from his motorcycle in his flip-flops and swaggered toward the middle of the street, followed by his gang – no fewer in number than Xing Wu’s group, and all looking equally unsavory.

Cao Ping first looked at Qing with amusement, then turned to Xing Wu with a cold smile: “Wuzi, you know about how this girl gave my sister a hard time, right?”

Xing Wu glanced at him: “So you’re here to get justice for your sister? Then shouldn’t you first explain to me about your sister tearing up my book?”

Cao Ping raised his eyebrows – he wasn’t entirely clear about the situation. When Cao Fan came home, she naturally blamed everything on Qing and didn’t mention a word about tearing Xing Wu’s book.

But Cao Ping was protective of his sister, so he just raised an eyebrow and looked at Xing Wu indifferently: “I hadn’t heard about my sister tearing your book, but that’s a separate matter. I’m here today to resolve another issue. After that’s done, I’ll give you an explanation. You don’t have a problem with that, right?”

Xing Wu lowered his head and gave a cold laugh: “To me, it’s all one matter.”

He then looked directly at Qing: “Come here.”

Qing turned and walked straight toward Xing Wu under everyone’s watchful eyes, standing beside him and coldly glancing at Big Cao. Xing Wu glanced at her from the side, and she happened to raise her head to meet his gaze. The sunset was half-gone, dusk approaching, as their eyes met.

Cao Ping’s face immediately darkened as he stared at Xing Wu meaningfully: “Wuzi, haven’t you always stayed out of these matters?”

Xing Wu slowly withdrew his gaze, grabbed Qing’s arm, and pushed her behind him. Seeing this, Cao Ping said coldly: “Are you sure you want to get involved?”

Xing Wu took a step closer to him, and immediately Cao Ping’s brothers gathered around, while Yellow Hair and the others surged forward behind Xing Wu. The two sides were about to clash.

Xing Wu’s lips curved into a cold half-smile, his voice completely devoid of warmth: “Let your sister handle her matters. If you want to stand up for her, then I’m getting involved in this.”

The light in Cao Ping’s eyes gradually turned cold. Though neither of them moved, the pressure in their gazes was equally intense.

Xing Wu had his hands in his pockets while Cao Ping swung his motorcycle keys. They were about the same height, and the atmosphere instantly became tense – one with a gloomy expression, the other cold as ice, while their brothers glared at each other.

Cao Ping suddenly tossed his swinging keys high and caught them steadily, nodding with a cold smile: “Fine, alright, I’ll give Young Master Wu face today and stay out of women’s business. But next time when it comes to men’s business…”

Cao Ping made a fist and bumped his left shoulder before pointing at Xing Wu, leaving a meaningful smile as he waved his hand and left with his brothers.

Xing Wu’s group stood in place watching them leave. After Cao Ping mounted his motorcycle, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back specifically to wave at Qing standing by the road: “I’m very gentle with women. Think carefully about what I said earlier, we’ll meet again.”

He gave Qing a frivolous wink and rode away.

Yellow Hair immediately cursed at the departing group: “Damn bastards, trash, ptui!”

Xing Wu turned to look at Qing’s troubled expression for a few seconds but didn’t walk over to her or speak to her as if everything that had just happened didn’t exist. He turned directly to Yellow Hair and the others and said: “Let’s go.”

Yellow Hair kicked Panghu telling him to leave, and the group abandoned their slot machines to follow Xing Wu toward the playground in a large crowd, leaving Qing standing alone by the road.

She stared at Xing Wu’s retreating figure for quite a while before suddenly quickening her steps to catch up with him.