Chapter 76: Life is but a first meeting

  He opened the car door and got out. He stood in front of Jing before the other man could get down. He grabbed her wrist and took two steps back. This person didn't look like much from a distance, but up close, he was surprisingly in line with the aesthetic standards of this era - his sharp facial features, thick eyebrows, straight nose, large and long eyes... the only flaw was that his lips were too thin, pursed together like a fine pen tip drawing a line on white paper, giving him a somewhat ruthless look.

  The man saw Wen Qian and suddenly sneered: "Good, really good, now it's not taboo anymore. They were all sent to the doorstep."

  Her pretty face turned bright red, and Wen could feel her hand trembling slightly. "What are you talking about? He's my student, just giving me a ride home."

  The man took a glance at Wen Qian, saw that he was dressed normally, and the disdain on his face grew even stronger. He said: "I thought so, I thought your taste had gotten worse and worse, but you're still willing to be with someone as poor as him. Ah, it turns out he's just a student."

  Wen Cheng let go of Si Ya Jing's hand and took a step forward. A smile hung on his face, just as he was about to speak, but his clothes were pulled back. Turning his head around, Si Ya Jing shook her head at him, pleading with a hint of shame, her eyes revealing a painful expression that broke one's heart.

  Ji Su also got out of the car at this time and called out: "Driver, what's wrong?"

  Wen Qian understood the meaning of Si Ya Jing's words, regardless of whether she was a teacher or a woman. She didn't want to lose too much dignity in front of her students. Wen Qian let out a quiet sigh and made a hand gesture to Ji Su, telling her to stay by the car. Then, looking at the man, she tried to sound as calm as possible: "You're Teacher Si's partner, right? I know your name is Pan Guo Fei. Originally, Teacher Si was well-liked by us students in school. Calling you 'uncle' should be fine too. However, today's situation is a bit inappropriate. If it's because we happened to send the teacher back and caused trouble, I apologize."

  Wen Cheng had long passed the age of hot-blooded impulsiveness, let alone that it was difficult for a clean official to intervene in family matters. The quarrels between husband and wife were normal, and he didn't know the specific reasons. Meddling recklessly would only make Siya Jing more embarrassed. Hearing Wen Cheng apologize, Siya Jing's heart was filled with gratitude, knowing that he did this purely to protect his last bit of dignity. A misty water vapor quietly rose, flowing silently in the depths of his eyes where others couldn't notice.

  Pan Guofei saw Ji Su and was no longer puzzled, he had already believed Si Yajing's explanation. But being squeezed by Wen Qian's soft and hard words, he felt that his face couldn't be saved, and sarcastically said: "Don't look at people as not big, but the tone is not small! Is my name also called by you? I don't know where to get a broken Nissan. You dare to come out and pretend to be big, and apologize? Our family's affairs need your apology?" With his experience in the postal and telecommunications bureau, a small Nissan was indeed a broken car.

  "Shut up, Pan Guofei!" Si Yajing said angrily. Wen Chen looked at him with an icy gaze, but thinking of Si Yajing's difficulties, he took a deep breath and said calmly, "I'll tolerate you one more time! Teacher Si, please calm down too. Whatever the problem is, we can discuss it peacefully and there's nothing that can't be resolved."

  Ji Yajing nodded vigorously and said in a low voice: "You go first, I'm fine"

  At that time, private cars were not as widespread as they would be in later generations. Although Nissan was not considered high-end among the people Pan Guofei worked with, anyone who could afford a car was richer than him, so he still felt a bit intimidated. He didn't say anything too harsh. At this point, seeing Wen Chen being gentle and humble, he thought his guess was correct - this car must not be very important to him, or else he wouldn't be wearing such tattered clothes. Adding to that, having been scolded by Si Ya Jing, he became somewhat angry and his voice immediately rose: "What's with 'endure one more time'? How can I stand listening to this? Where did this little brat come from? Can you speak human language? You half-grown kid don't understand anything about adult matters!"

  Ji Yajing could no longer bear it. She couldn't care less about leaving herself a last bit of dignity. She raised her hand and gave Pan Guofei a slap in the face!

  "Bang!"

  Pan Guofei covered his face, staring at Si Yajing in disbelief. Pointing at her nose, even his voice was trembling with anger: "You... you dare to hit me?" Without thinking, he swung his hand and slapped her back.

  Ji Yajing couldn't dodge in time, closed her eyes and waited for the slap to land on her face. However, after a few seconds, the expected pain didn't come. When she opened her eyes, she saw a slender yet powerful hand grasping Pan Guofei's wrist.

  "Hitting women is wrong!"

  Wen Qian kicked out with one foot, hitting Pan Guofei's abdomen and sending him stumbling backward several steps before he sat down on the ground with a thud. Behind her, Ji Su let out a cry of surprise, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps as she rushed over to support Wen Qian's arm, looking at her with a tense expression. Liu Tianlai, an old fox-like character, knew that going over there just now was not suitable for him, so he closed his eyes and rested in the car, but he didn't expect things to suddenly change. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a martial arts fight, and he hastily got out of the car and rushed over.

  Liu Tianlai had never seen Wen Qian take action before, and the impression he got from this exchange was that Wen Qian's mysteriousness was unparalleled, his calmness in planning and plotting was unmatched, and his ruthlessness in taking down others was chilling. But what Liu Tianlai didn't know was that this young master could also fight with incredible skill! Just look at where he kicked him. The pain now is nothing compared to what will come later - a week from now it'll be life-threatening. Every time he urinates, he'll feel like he's passing not water, but knives - countless knives! If Wen Qian had been even more ruthless, Liu Tianlai might have even urinated blood.

  Seeing Pan Guofei clutching his stomach and wailing, Liu Tianlai couldn't help but shiver, subconsciously tightening his legs, and walked to Wen Qian's side, whispering: "Do you want to catch him?"

  Siya Jing was startled, and Wen Ze's words were indeed ruthless. Even the driver couldn't help but be shocked. Siya Jing had almost given up on Pan Guofei, and yet he still managed to salvage their relationship. Siya Jing didn't want to make things difficult for him either. Just as she was about to speak, Ji Su tightly grasped her hand and slowly shook his head.

  "What crime should we charge him with? We must govern by law." Wen Cang's expression was very serious, but this sentence made Liu Tianlai and Ji Su unable to help but want to laugh. Si Yajing let out a slight sigh and didn't speak again.

  Pan Guofei, who was on the ground, didn't admit defeat. He had never been bullied like this before, and upon hearing Wen Qian's words, he struggled to get up and cursed: "You're still pretending to be a good guy? Keep pretending! If you really have the guts, then go ahead and arrest me and throw me into prison! If you don't, I'll be your grandson!"

  Liu Tianlai sneered, pulled out his police badge and waved it in front of him, saying: "You're from the Telecom Bureau, right? Coincidentally, we've been investigating a case of economic crime recently, and I think you're very suspicious. Why don't you come with me to the bureau for now? If not, tomorrow I'll bring people directly to your unit to find you?" Just now in the car, Siya Jing mentioned that her boyfriend was from the Telecom Bureau. Liu Tianlai happened to use this as a pretext.

  Pan Guofei was suddenly stunned, and during this time the Municipal Bureau's Economic Investigation Team was indeed investigating a case within the bureau. A deputy director from the Telecommunications Operations Department had fallen into it. As the saying goes, "one radish one pit". This radish was pulled out, and immediately an empty pit appeared, with countless people eyeing this position. Even Pan Guofei, still just a small section chief, also had ambitions for it, but if he were to have any connection with that corrupt Deputy Director, he would be in big trouble - even if he didn't die, he would lose his skin, and by then, not only would promotion be out of the question, but whether he could keep his position at all would be a problem.

  Liu Tianlai dealt with this kind of person, one pinch and one accurate, specializing in stepping on the seven-inch spot. Pan Guofei immediately ceased fire and retreated, his previous arrogance disappeared, and he forced a smile on his face, saying: "Don't mind, don't take it to heart, I just have a cheap mouth. Typical big talker", if I offended you, please don't blame me, don't blame me".

  Xie Yajing suddenly felt a grief that was as if her heart had died. Was this still the same Pan Shixiong from university, who was so proud and radiant? Was this still the same Pan Caizi, who would recite poetry under the moonlight? Was this still the same Pan Guifei, who had promised to grow old together with her, as husband and wife, as lovers?

  Maybe I was wrong from the start, and shouldn't have had any illusions about him after that incident. How much humiliation did I endure? How many tears did I swallow? Would it still end up like this today?

  Xie Yajing turned her head away. She didn't want to see that handsome face that had once captivated many girls again. Subconsciously, she tightened her grip on Ji Su's hand, her slender fingernails almost piercing into his palm. She bit her lower lip hard, not allowing a hint of weakness in front of so many people.

  Ji Su's palm felt a wave of stinging pain, but she seemed to be completely unaware, her gaze towards Si Ya Jing was filled with sympathetic sorrow and compassion.

  Is the pain of being hurt by those closest to you all the same?

  Ji Su thought he had already forgotten everything about that night, countless times forcing himself to believe that his father loved him. He was helpless. But looking at Si Ya Jing now, he realized that those were just false anesthetics, and as soon as he occasionally touched that scar, it would still hurt like a tearing heart!

  Liu Tianlai, at the Public Security Bureau, only came into contact with the darkest, most vicious and most complicated aspects of this world. A performance like Pan Guofei's couldn't even stir up a bit of interest in him, and he coldly laughed: "How about it? Don't you want to check if my police ID is fake or not? Maybe we're just playing with you?"

  Pan Guofei didn't know whether he was in pain or frightened, his whole head was covered in sweat, and said: "I was wrong earlier, brothers. Tonight at the Gathering Immortals Building, I'll set up a banquet to apologize to everyone, please... please grant me face."

  Liu Tian glanced at Wen Qian, and Pan Guofei was even more frightened to death. If he still didn't understand Wen Qian's identity at this time, then he would be an idiot. He immediately said to Si Yajing: "Yajing, I was wrong just now, I apologize! I promise that I will never do this again in the future. Can you help me explain to your student and ask for a favor?"

  Ya Jing's back was turned to him, listening to his words, her hand trembled slightly, but she didn't turn around. Pan Guo Fei's eyes flashed with a hint of anger, yet his face still wore a pleading expression: "Ya Jing

  Wen Xian's words had exposed the farce, and with a wave of his hand, he seemed to have settled the matter. As he turned to leave, he asked, "Teacher Si, do you know where I'm going?" "I'm going to my mom."

  Siya Jing pulled Ji Su to get on the car first, Wen Qing ignored Pan Guofei and followed. Liu Tianlai stayed behind, with a gloomy face, he sneered in a low voice: "Remember, if I find out that Teacher Si has been wronged or unhappy one day, this account will be settled on your head, and that case won't be closed for a while, do you understand?"

  Pan Guofei nodded, watching as the crowd drove away in their Nissan. He spat on the ground and said viciously: "Cheap woman"

  This chapter has more words and is a bit slower-paced. The following are free of charge.

  Starting from October, almost all the time at work and outside of work has been spent on writing books. Writing two chapters of 10,000 words takes up nearly eight hours of my time. Recently, in order to update twice a day without fail, I have to stay up until 2 am every night to finish updating. Then, I have to get up at 7 am again, and the rest time per day is less than an hour. Honestly, I'm really exhausted. Although I haven't blown up yet, I don't have the energy to say anything, but I still hope that my efforts can be recognized. If you're a capable bro, please help me subscribe, after all, it's a very realistic place. With poor results, there will be no subsequent recommendations and everything will be ineffective. The vicious cycle will get worse and worse. Maruko thanks you!