t.i.tle: One only sees the thief eat the meat, not them getting beaten—this is a proverb that means "one sees the outcome and not the process"
∞
Han Jia came out of the bathroom and tidied up himself a bit, then just as he walked to the front lobby, he saw Yuan waiting for him.
When he saw him coming out, Yuan took a few steps forward, looking a little uneasy before he spoke. "Han Laoban, I"m truly sorry. I"ve already tried my best to seduce him…"
Since Han Jia"s throat still had a slight pain, he waved his hand instead and motioned for him to not apologize.
Yuan looked at him, his eyes were soft and although he did not seem to have such desire, a kind of temptation naturally exuded.
It was because of his temperament that Han Jia thought that Zhou Shijie[1] might be interested in him which had made him put forth a large sum of money to bring him to Jin Ting. He didn"t feel any risk when he had brought him this time: If he can successfully distract Zhou Shijie"s attention, then, of course, that would the best; if he couldn"t, he would not suffer any losses.
[1] Zhou Shijie – Zhou Gaosu"s son introduced in chapter 2A
Unexpectedly, Zhou Shijie seemed to be in a bad mood. Normally, he didn"t do things lightly, but today he was particularly rough…
"Let"s go," Yuan reached over and tried to hold him. "I saw Zhang Ge"s[2] car outside—"
[2] Zhang Ge – Zhang Xueming: in Lawless, he was the one that took Han Jia"s position after Han Jia was abandoned by the gang; in this novel, he is still Han Jia"s subordinate since we"re in the past. I hate him so much, sneaky jerk. =.=
His words stopped when he looked behind Han Jia. Then his expression became that of awkwardness for a split second before it was immediately full of smiles, albeit forced. "Mr. Zhou."
Zhou Shijie snorted and simply said: "You leave first, he will stay."
Yuan looked hesitantly at Han Jia who nodded at him and whispered: "Have Zhang Xueming take you back first and I will return myself later."
Yuan was well versed in adapting to circ.u.mstances and immediately smiled brightly. "Then I will go first."
After Han Jia saw him open the door and leave, he turned back to smile at Zhou Shijie. "Mr. Zhou, are you angry?"
Zhou Shijie"s eyes were watching him coldly and heard: "What do you mean by bringing him, do you think that I don"t know?"
Han Jia laughed out: "I am not afraid of you knowing ah. I thought you like things this way, that is, like doing it with a few people, or…" He lowered his voice and leaned over to Zhou Shijie. "Like to be seen…"
Zhou Shijie"s face eased a bit as he thought about it and nonchalantly said: "I already said that it"s fine with just you alone."
As he said that his hand had already reached over to hold Han Jia"s shoulder, pressing him down.
"I want oral."
The strength on his shoulders could be considered to be gentle compared to just now. Han Jia knew that this will pa.s.s. He fixed his eyes on Zhou Shijie"s smile and obediently slid down his body.
This torment lasted for half an hour and by the time Han Jia stood up, both his knees had nearly gone numb.
Zhou Shijie tidied his clothes, looked at him and said: "I will take you back."
Han Jia smiled, but when he opened his mouth to speak, his throat was in extreme pain. "Mr. Zhou, you"ve also been tired for the entire night, you should rest a bit early."
Zhou Shijie merely looked at him with no expression and did not insist.
When Han Jia headed out to hail a taxi, his whole was in such immense pain that he did not want to return to Jin Ting, instead, he told the driver the address of his residence then leaned against the back of the seat for a rest.
–
Since he had slept in such a manner, he did not sleep peacefully and felt utterly uncomfortable when the driver woke him up. He paid the far and then got out, swaying to the side unsteadily and then with less than two steps, he tumbled.
"Be careful!" A hand reached out to hold his arm.
He turned his head for a look and to his surprise, it was Jiang Xiaoning, who was carrying something on his back.
Han Jia became clear-headed: "Why are you here?"
He had only questioned him, but Jiang Xiaoning could clearly hear the accusation in his tone. He laughed coldly, "If I wasn"t here, you would have fallen."
Han Jia smiled, "Alright, thank you." Then he looked up at the color of the sky, "Did you come here specially to look for me?"
When Jiang Xiaoning did not say anything, Han Jia was actually frightened. He did not dare to change his expression and said with a smile, "You actually came especially for me? Don"t tell me you"re going to come every day, are you?"
Jiang Xiaoning stared at him: "You said that you were sorry and wanted to atone for your crimes, yet you didn"t give me your phone number, so how was I supposed to find you to settle my accounts?" As he spoke, his brows tightened, "You had even said you will compensate for my phone, was that just casual talk as well?"
Han Jia had known that he was very emotional, but he didn"t expect him to get angry so easily. He was thinking about how to answer when Jiang Xiaoning suddenly pushed him hard to the ground and shouted angrily: "None of you keep your words!"
After saying that, he was going to run. Han Jia already had a hard time moving and with this fall, his vision was filling up with stars. Just as he became dizzy, he heard Jiang Xiaoning said those words and suddenly recalled when he himself had complained and Jiang Laoshi had often ignored his feelings. He couldn"t even think about it for a moment and had immediately said: "I am wrong, sorry!"
The sound of the footsteps came to stop, Han Jia sat up from the ground and saw Jiang Xiaoning coming back only to end up standing in front of him. And as he looked at him condescendingly, his youthful face did not conform with the gloominess as he spoke coldly: "Are you playing with me?"
When Han Jia saw his look of resentment as if he wanted to quickly destroy the world, he felt a sense of amus.e.m.e.nt and tenderness. He spoke softly. "I don"t feel too well; can you help me up first?"
Jiang Xiaoning was stunned as he looked at him up and down before he hesitantly reached out to help pull him up and off the ground.
He honestly did not know how to take care of others, helping him walk was the same as kidnapping and that made Han Jia even more uncomfortable. Then seeing that he was angry and aggrieved, he did not want to escalate the situation, so he simply endured it until they entered the elevator. "Sorry, I haven"t thought of going back on my words. I"ve been really busy lately… also, I thought you…"
"You thought I what?" Jiang Xiaoning asked seethingly.
I thought you hate me so much that you never wanted to come and see me again. How can Jiang Laoshi make you so lonely that you can even care for someone like me?
Han Jia looked at Jiang Xiaoning with a bit of sympathy and said: "I thought you were also busy. Didn"t you do poorly on your exam? Don"t you have to catch up?"
Jiang Xiaoning obviously disliked this topic. He snorted and changed the subject, "What happened to you? What"s wrong with your voice? It"s weird."
"I caught a cold." Han Jia downplayed the situation.
As they talked, the elevator reached the floor that Han Jia lived on. Jiang Xiaoning pulled Han Jia out and before long they arrived in front of the residence.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Han Jia asked.
"I bought bread." Jiang Xiaoning seemed to actually enjoy being asked these trivial matters and although he was angry, he still answered obediently.
"Won"t you be late for cla.s.s?" Han Jia took out his keys and asked while he opened the door.
"So what if I"m late?" Jiang Xiaoning said, not in the least concerned.
Han Jia paused, "It"s not good to be late. How about you go to cla.s.s first and come back once it"s over, I"ll give you both my phone and number?"
"I don"t want to." Jiang Xiaoning challenged him, "You only know how to lecture me, what rights do—"
"There"s no other meaning to it." Han Jia turned to look at him and smiled faintly, "I want to rest since I don"t feel well. If you were to stay, I won"t be able to keep you company."
Jiang Xiaoning thought of something and his expression was even more furious as he stared at him.
Han Jia was slightly baffled and seeing that he still persisted, all he could do was push the door open and let him in.
"Look for something to drink yourself." He watched as Jiang Xiaoning walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator before he himself went to the bathroom.
After he repeatedly rinsed his mouth, he turned on the shower. The warm water relieved the pain riddling his body, making him a bit reluctant to leave, but when he thought of how Jiang Xiaoning was here, he quickly washed up, put on a bathrobe and walked out.
There was a large leaf plant on the balcony outside of the kitchen; Jiang Xiaoning had crouched down to observe it.
Han Jia walked over, held onto the balcony door and looked at him for a moment before he spoke, "Just go to school, I want to rest."
Jiang Xiaoning ignored him.
Han Jia had gone there to talk to him, excite him or roar at him—anything that would make him go to cla.s.s, but his body was already exhausted to the limit; he felt his own brain was spinning.
With a sigh, Han Jia turned and walked back to the bedroom, found a blanket from the cabinet, wrapped it on his body and fell to the bed and soon fell asleep.
He didn"t know how long he had slept, but it seemed as though he had been floating for a few hours, yet it also seemed to be only a few minutes. Han Jia was confused and felt that someone had pulled his hand from his neck, and the feeling of warmth was on his shoulders.
He frowned and said vaguely: "Go to school."
When the feeling of warmth disappeared, Han Jia felt that something was wrong. He opened his eyes and stared at the person in front of the bed. "How did you get in?"
Zhang Xueming stepped back and said: "You didn"t lock the door."
Han Jia lied on the bed and returned to his sense, after a while, he said: "What are you doing here?"
"You didn"t come back the whole day and Mr. Zhou said that you had already left. I called you but it didn"t go through … I was afraid that Li Ge will ask, so I came for a look…"
"You are smarter this time." Han Jia remembered that his phone should be in the bathroom with the clothes when he had taken a shower, so he did not hear the call.
Without wanting to move his body, Han Jia closed his eyes and remained quiet for a while. Then he suddenly said: "Hand me your phone."
"Ah?" Zhang Xueming did not react.
Han Jia opened his eyes and looked at him, "Haven"t you always used an old phone and aside from sending messages and making calls, there are no other features, right? Give it to me."
Zhang Xueming was even more lost as he blankly took out a phone and handed it over.
Han Jia held it in his hand; although the style of the phone was very old, it was protected as if it was new. He laughed, "It looks like there is something that you"re good at."
After that, he opened the back cover of the mobile phone and took out Zhang Xueming"s SIM card and threw it to him. "You should also buy a new one. Give this to me."
"Give, give you?" Zhang Xueming held that SIM card and stammered, "What do you need it for?"
"Give it to someone."
"Han Laoban, this…" Zhang Xueming was confused and remained frozen there.
"Just go." Han Jia did not want to pay attention to him anymore as he reclosed his eyes and said coldly: "Lock the door when you leave."
There was a moment of silence before Zhang Xueming"s footsteps slowly drifted away and the faint sound of the door closing could be heard. Han Jia did not open his eyes as he changed to a comfortable position and lied down.
In that quiet moment, a voice suddenly sounded.
"He lied to you."
Han Jia sighed and opened his eyes. Jiang Xiaoning pushed the door of the cabinet open and came out from the inside.
"You can really hide," Han Jia smiled.
"You didn"t hear it? He lied to you." Jiang Xiaoning walked over to the bed, "The door was locked, and that man just now had the key."
"I know," Han Jia was still smiling. "Are you worried about me? Rest a.s.sured, that person is very stupid. He wants to pull me down but doesn"t have enough qualification to do so."
Jiang Xiaoning thought he had seized a piece of important information but since Han Jia said that, he felt quite unsatisfied. "He didn"t want to bring you down. He came in and looked around but after he saw you, he wanted to leave, yet he still walked in to touch that, touch you…"
Han Jia really laughed this time, "He touched me doesn"t mean that he doesn"t want to pull me down. Besides, if he wants to touch me then let him. If I didn"t let anyone touch me, I wouldn"t be here today."
Jiang Xiaoning"s expression became that of utter disgust.
"This is how I am, Jiang Xiaoning. Didn"t you know this already?" Han Jia said slowly, "Go back to school, study, and make a few friends, is a hundred times better than looking for me."
Jiang Xiaoning did not speak.
Han Jia picked up Zhang Xueming"s old phone, "It"s not as high grade as your previous one but you are a student, so it is quite appropriate to use this phone. I wanted to buy you an old phone anyways." He paused and added, "I think you don"t want my number now."
Jiang Xiaoning still maintained a position of standing by the bedside and looking down at him without uttering a single word for the longest of time.
Han Jia"s lifted hand was tired now, he sighed and put the phone beside the pillow. "Since you really don"t like it, I will buy the same one that you—"
With a lightning movement of his hand, Jiang Xiaoning grabbed that phone, looked at it for a while and actually put it in his pocket. Then he glanced at Han Jia and turned to walk away.
Han Jia smiled and closed his eyes while feeling perfectly content, deciding to rest for a bit longer.
That"s right, for a student with a good future, it"s best to stay as far away from me as possible.
However, when the sound of footsteps approaching him infiltrated his ears, Han Jia"s eyes shot open—Jiang Xiaoning actually came back.
He took a piece of paper that had obviously been torn from his homework book and a pen and pa.s.sed it directly to Han Jia.
"Number," he said and then looked at Han Jia"s fear-stricken expression. He frowned impatiently, "Hurry up, stop wasting time."