Chapter 31.1 (1/2)

Lin Jingzhe thought the man must be a jinx—if not, then how was it that every time they met, he would suffer a calamity?

As the flashing light approached, the traffic policeman also turned on the siren, the noise startling everyone. Fang Wenhao slumped forward, hugging the front seat’s backrest, and burped loudly, while Hu Shaofeng let out a profanity.

Lin Jingzhe sighed and rubbed his face helplessly, trying to remember what the penalty was for driving without a license. Xiao Chi, who probably made out his ugly expression, leaned down slightly to ask, “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Lin Jingzhe gave him a sideways glance. He didn’t really want to, but he still forced himself to explain, “I don’t have a driver’s license.”

Xiao Chi froze, surprised.

Hu Shaofeng, who was still cursing the policeman for being so sharp-eyed and for patrolling the damn streets here in the middle of nowhere where even birds didn’t shit, instead of choosing a more populated area, suddenly felt a strong grip on his shoulder. Stunned, he let himself get dragged, his voice cutting off mid-speech. Xiao Chi quickly opened the driver’s door, pulled Lin Jingzhe out, and pushed him in, ignoring his dumbfounded expression.

Hu Shaofeng tumbled in with a thump, accompanied by Fang Wenhao’s unintelligible mumbles coming from the back seat.

Hu Shaofeng: “……”

Hu Shaofeng: “???”

At night, in the dim light, this scene looked a bit like a physical conflict. The traffic policeman, who was still some distance away, suddenly sped up, stopped the motorcycle, jumped off and ran over, yelling, “Hey! What are you doing?! Stop that right now!”

Xiao Chi pushed Lin Jingzhe behind him and pointed at Hu Shaofeng, in full view since the driver’s door was still wide open. “He bumped into my car,” he said with perfect seriousness.

Hu Shaofeng: “!!!”

Lin Jingzhe: “……”

Fang Wenhao: “Hiccup.”

Xiao Chi glanced inside the car, expressionless. A second later, Hu Shaofeng looked away and said, rubbing his face, “Oh, yes, I bumped into his car.” He was feeling quite complicated.

Fang Wenhao hiccuped again and drunkenly slapped him on the shoulder. “Shtupid.”

The policeman separated the two groups, then checked the damage to the cars, relieved to find it wasn’t serious.

However, both of the cars were clearly expensive, so he didn’t dare to be negligent. Taking out a small notebook to transcribe the scene and its circumstances, he asked, “Who drove the car in front?”

Xiao Chi calmly took the blame. “Me.”

“Take out your driver’s license, both of you!”

Xiao Chi obediently went back to the SUV. After a moment, Hu Shaofeng also shook off his stupefaction and climbed out of the car, startling the policeman. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m going to get my driver’s license!” the young man replied snappily, jogging to the SUV, then opening the driver’s door and taking out his documents.

The traffic cop: “???”

By now, Hu Shaofeng realized what was going on. After he and Xiao Chi handed their licenses to the policeman, he said, reassuming his usual smirk, “Please don’t make things serious, Officer—this is just me and my buddies having some fun. We won’t take it to the courts but settle this privately.”

The policeman confirmed that all the documents were in order and that no one was injured. He thought that these young people were sick, hitting each other with such expensive cars just for fun, but he also would be happy if this affair didn’t blow up, so after hearing Hu Shaofeng’s words, he looked over at Xiao Chi.

Xiao Chi gave a slight nod. “I have no objection.”

“Okay, then settle it between yourselves. Don’t block the road, drive away!”

Xiao Chi gave Hu Shaofeng a look, then glanced behind and grabbed Lin Jingzhe’s arm, dragging him to the SUV before throwing him into the front passenger’s seat and closing the door.

The policeman briefly gave all of them a stern look, then exhorted Hu Shaofeng, who was already starting up Fang Wenhao’s car, “Keep a safe distance next time, your behaviour was too dangerous! You’re not only putting yourself at risk, but also others!”

“Ah!” As Hu Shaofeng watched, his beloved SUV took off just like that, the rear bumper shaking and rattling. Holding the steering wheel, he nodded bitterly. “I’ll remember, I won’t forget this for the rest of my life.”

Then, he stepped on the accelerator and drove away, followed by the uneasy gaze of the traffic policeman.

Xiao Chi looked in the rear mirror—Hu Shaofeng kept flashing the headlights furiously. Calmly ignoring his friend’s indignation, he said to Lin Jingzhe, who was resting his head against the window, “I’m sorry.”

The long silence in the car was finally broken. Lin Jingzhe gave him an oblique glance—this was an apology for… which incident?

Xiao Chi stared straight ahead, the darkness obscuring his handsome features and making his face even more unreadable than usual.

“Hu Shaofeng is an idiot. He thought it was Fang Wenhao driving,” he said. “He’ll take care of the repairs. You’ll get used to this.”

Who the hell wants to get used to you loons? Dear God. Lin Jingzhe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose wearily. “Okay, pull over and tell him to stop flashing the lights, it makes my eyes hurt.”

Xiao Chi looked in the rearview mirror with a frown. He lowered the window, grabbed the pager sitting on the dashboard, and threw it out towards the car in the back.

The flashing headlights stopped, and the night wind brought back an enraged, “Fuck you, Xiao Chi!”

Perfectly calm, Xiao Chi rolled the window back up and asked, “Where are you going? I’ll give you a lift.”

Lin Jingzhe: “……”

Feeling a headache coming, he said, “…Just drop me off near the Finance Department at Yan University.”

After the SUV stopped, he couldn’t wait to get out. The other car, which had been following them, parked just behind; Lin Jingzhe saw the windshield had a spiderweb of cracks running through it, but they were far less noticeable than Hu Shaofeng’s heart-wrenching, grievous howls.

“Ah ah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” The young man jumped out of the car and shook himself wildly, frantically unbuttoning his flower-print shirt. “You fucking puked all over me!!!”

Fang Wenhao opened the door and stumbled out, then leaned on him. “Blergh—”

Lin Jingzhe’s eyebrows jumped and he rushed around the car to open the front passenger door. Fortunately, the envelope was safe—it had been thrown to the innermost side by the inertia of the collision. As he picked it up and closed the door, he heard an angry exclamation.

Hu Shaofeng, who was desperately trying to push away Fang Wenhao who clung to him like a limpet, protested, “What did you do that for? I wasn’t the one who drove Fang Wenhao’s car!”

Xiao Chi leaned against the SUV, tossing up the keys. “But wasn’t it your fault?”

“……” Hu Shaofeng, covered in vomit, fell into a deep self-reflection. “Say, do you think I really am sick in the head?”

Xiao Chi ignored him. Glancing at the flat envelope in Lin Jingzhe’s hand, he took off the prayer beads on his wrists to turn them in his fingers.

At this hour, the area around the university gate was very quiet, with only a few students passing by. However, after seeing the damaged red car, they gave the group a wide berth lest they got involved in some unsolicited trouble.

Lin Jingzhe approached Fang Wenhao. “Give him to me,” he said to Hu Shaofeng.