Chapter 12: Learning to Make Those Side Dishes (2)

  The revised version of this article has been well received by readers since it was uploaded to Sina's website on April 15th and has been recommended on the homepage (video·reading). Currently, daily clicks are nearly 40,000. Since urban-themed books can get more attention from domestic publishers on Sina's website, I hope friends who care about this book will continue to support me on Sina's website and leave wonderful reviews.

  The revised version is fixed at 800,000 words, with more than 500,000 words deleted and modified. The content is concise and synchronized on Sina and Qidian, wid = 2234.

  Thank you for your support, friends.

  On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered a terrorist attack on its mainland, resulting in thousands of innocent civilians killed or injured. This event, which from a human moral perspective is a complete tragedy, was somehow interpreted by these university students around Long Bo as having almost every possible viewpoint and judgment that people might have about this incident.

  The dormitory where Long Bo was located became a place for a large group of college students to discuss the "9·11" incident. Long Bo's ears were filled with various thoughts and languages from these college students, who were either passionate or sarcastic, reasoning and imagining future trends in their enthusiastic discussions. However, his brain was rapidly turning over, thinking about the causes of these various thoughts, thinking about the complexity of humanity, and thinking about the mystery of thought.

  Everyone is a college student, but why are there such huge differences in thoughts, personalities, languages, and behaviors between people? Under the same educational model, living together as college students, where do the differences between each other come from? Is the complexity, diversity, and contradiction between individual thinking simply caused by individual personality? Or is it just environmental influence?

  Why can't I look at problems and things like they do? Why are people so complicated? Are human thoughts really that complicated?

  Long Bao has been thinking about it since the "9·11" incident, and he even conducted in-depth reflections on many philosophical topics such as justice and injustice, right and wrong, truth and fallacy. He feels that human beings are far from being ordinary simple animals, and he speculates that there must be a very profound reason behind humanity's non-ordinary simplicity.

  The more he thought about this profound why, the more he became bewildered and unable to explain it.

  Longwan's time is still busy.

  Under Shi Wei's strong recommendation, Long Bao and Shi Wei joined the Rain Sound Literary Society where Du Cui was.

  He poured all his emotions into words, not to show off his literary talent or to impress others, but simply to vent the feelings that had been brewing inside him. However, he never submitted any of his work to the literary society's publication, nor did he attend any of their events, which greatly displeased Du Ci, who was a staff member of the literary society.

  That noon, Du Ci and Su Jing'er came to Long Bao's dormitory together. Shi Wei had already kept Long Bao in the dormitory specially waiting for their arrival. Long Bao had seen Su Jing'er a few times, he stood up and smiled at the two girls, which was considered as a greeting.

  Shi Wei poured boiling water to make tea, and now he could only pin his hopes on Du Cui and Su Jing'er. As for the task of persuading Long Bao to actively contribute to the Literature Club that Du Cui had entrusted to him, he was rather apologetic about not being able to complete this arduous task. For the past few days, he had used all sorts of tactics to persuade Long Bao, but basically, there had been no effect.

  Long Boming wrote many poems and essays, but he put on a pretentious air, unwilling to submit a few pieces to the literary society. The Rain Sound Literary Society was already unknown in this university with many literary societies, with few participants and low-quality manuscripts. When Du Cui pulled Long Boming into the literary society through Shi Wei, her purpose was to use Long Boming's classical poetry and unique essays to make the literary society's publication famous, but she didn't expect that Long Boming didn't take the literary society seriously at all!

  Du Cui decided to take matters into her own hands and persuade Long Bao herself. After discussing with Shi Wei, they decided to use the two most dangerous yet effective moves against Long Bao - she would pretend to be pitiful and add a few tears of sadness, while also using Su Jing'er as bait in a beauty trap.

  One ultimate move and the situation will change dramatically, don't believe it can't deal with Longpo!

  Only then did Du Ci tell Shi Wei with a sorrowful tone after some small talk, "Shi Wu San, our literature club can't be continued!"

  Shi Weili understood at once and smiled carelessly: "Don't worry, if it can't be done, then so be it. What's the big deal?"

  "Your words are too casual! That's the heart's desire of many of us! We must make it happen! You'd better be serious!"

  "What... what was the reason it couldn't be done after all?"

  "No one reads! No one says it's good! No characteristics! No style! No appeal!" Du Ci said with great worry, "If we had the support of a talented person like Long Bao, maybe there would still be a glimmer of hope. Otherwise, it's really only a matter of time before we stop publication and let it die naturally, rather than being ridiculed by other literary societies for continuing like this!"

  Shi Wei let out a long sigh and said, "I'm ashamed to come and persuade Long Bao to submit his work to you. He joined the literary club in the first place because I reluctantly agreed, and he's not even one ten-thousandth willing! See if he'll agree to your request."

  Du Cui gazed at Long Bao's eyes with a pitiful expression, her voice mournful: "Brother Long! Brother Bao! You're so kind-hearted, can you please help us out? Last time was my fault, I shouldn't have published the two poems you gave me in the school magazine, which caused Yellow Autumn Leaf to misunderstand you again. I'm apologizing to you here, okay? But do you know that those two poems received high praise from our classmates? Can you please help me again and give me a little more of your work?"

  Du Ciren's eyes were brimming with tears, and although her face was a bit chubby, at this moment her expression must have been touching.

  It turned out that Du Ci had secretly published the two poems in the literary society's publication without Long Bao's knowledge. After Huang Qiuya saw them, she invited Long Bao out and boldly told him that she liked him, questioning why he liked her but didn't say so, instead using such a roundabout way to express himself, forcing her to endure the pain of longing until she had no choice but to put aside her pride and pursue him.

  Although Long Bao occasionally thought about the incident of going downstairs, he didn't think that he could be considered to like Huang Qiuya. He explained that this poem was not written for her or Wen Li, but purely his own nonsense, and also said that he had no feelings for her. However, Huang Qiuya refused to believe Long Bao's explanation, and at the moment of farewell, she even threw out a sentence saying that she had decided to only be ordinary friends with Chang Cheng, and if Long Bao didn't pursue her, she would take the initiative to cling to him, and this lifetime would not let go.

  Long Bao had been disturbed by her bold behavior for over a decade, and he had decided not to write anything casually for anyone from now on. However, Du Cui's request made him very embarrassed, so he could only smile wryly and continue reading his book.

  Shi Wei saw his intimate girlfriend so humble and begging Long Bao, but Long Bao seemed to ignore her as if she hadn't seen her. He couldn't help but say: "Heh heh! I feel like some people are getting stranger and stranger! In the first year of college, he was a bit self-deprecating, had no money for food, and was dumped by his childhood sweetheart girlfriend. As a result, he worked hard, made money, had no social interactions with classmates, although he was quiet and taciturn, but full of survival spirit, silly and lovely, stupid and lovely, making people like him from the bottom of their hearts, admire him."

  "In the early days of sophomore year, I was very close to my classmates and brothers, we were open-minded and dared to challenge everything that was wrong, insisted on the truth, knew how to enjoy life, and was full of vitality. After entering the physiological development confusion period, although inexplicably began to decline and became silent, but still would say something, talk about feelings, chat about the sky, even tell stories about hometown, people are still magnanimous, won't care about brothers' unintentional mistakes, still play well with everyone."

  "Who knows! Since returning to my hometown, maybe because of some harsh words from my teacher in my hometown, plus some unfair treatment, I lost my mental balance! I felt that I was really stupid, so I became stingy with my words, like a fool, staring blankly at books for no reason, and even walking around absent-mindedly, becoming a standard idiot!"

  "Look at him now! Just look at his attitude now! He doesn't even share any concerns with his brothers, not a single word! Has he developed some kind of huge and irreconcilable gap with his brothers? Doesn't he consider his brothers as brothers anymore? Look! This cute and lovely girl is begging him to write something, and he doesn't even say a word! Not even a fart! What kind of person is this!"

  Shi Wei said more and more fiercely, thinking of Long Bao's performance since the start of school, really got angry, mouth a little trembling.

  Haitao saw Shi Wei's appearance and knew that Shi Wei, who had never lost his temper, was serious this time. He walked up and patted Shi Wei on the shoulder: "Alright, Old Three, Old Six is a bit wrong, but we should be understanding of him!" Then he turned to Long Bao and said, "Old Six, why don't you just write about something else? Write about life or some profound philosophy. Can't you just do that?"

  Su Jing'er sat silently beside him, then suddenly gazed at Long Bao with her bright and clear eyes and said softly: "Yes, Long Bao, words are the voice of the heart, why don't you write about your own life experiences?"

  Words are the voice of the heart!

  Suddenly, he recalled the old man's gesture, and this sentence seemed to cut off all the tangled thoughts that had been entwining his mind for a long time like a sharp pair of scissors, and also like a flash of lightning that pierced through the thick black fog!

  He was completely shocked!

  Different strokes for different folks, it turns out that everyone in the world has a different heart, different thoughts, including the elderly and ourselves. All these hearts are different! It turns out that people's differences are not just about their different appearances, different backgrounds, different environments they live in, and different life experiences. More importantly, there are differences in personality and inner thoughts between each other! And thus, differences in words and deeds arise between each other!

  Words are the voice of the heart, language is the manifestation of the soul, and text is the expression of thought. Through the content of language, one can judge the speaker's soul, and through the meaning of text, one can infer a person's thoughts. By comparing the differences in language and text, one can basically see the differences in people's souls.

  Longmen further expanded the theoretical framework of systems theory, control theory and information theory. If we consider the human brain as a self-organizing, self-learning, adaptive, dynamic, open artificial system with its own characteristics, it has both active and passive choices in receiving all the information it comes into contact with, while changing its degree of serialization. It can also perform self-feedback on external information, and most importantly, individual self-recognition is like a computer's internal program and anti-virus software that determines the output of information. With this understanding, the problem of why people have different minds becomes easily solved.

  Similarly, for a group, a society, a country, an era, and even the world, the same theory can be used to reason.

  ……

  Long Wan felt that his brain had suddenly become lighter. He thought to himself, regarding De Lao's mysterious hand gestures, he should have already grasped at least half of it, and the rest wouldn't be any difficult matter anymore.

  He smiled gratefully at Su Jing'er, and Su Jing'er couldn't help but smile back at his silly grin.

  Long Bao only then discovered that Su Jing'er was actually so beautiful and elegant, like a rare orchid in a secluded valley.

  Long Bao happily picked up his pen and wrote a poem and a short prose poem, and promised to participate in the activities of the literary society as much as possible in the future and submit manuscripts to the literary society.

  Long Wan finished writing and immediately bid farewell to them and went to the library to find materials. He had to sort out his own understanding in the ocean of books.

  "Shi Wei was waiting for Long Bao to leave, and then he scolded: "Valuing sex over friendship! I never thought that Old Six would be such a despicable person who values sex over friendship! My stomach and I begged him so much, but he refused to write... Everyone saw it, the beautiful Jing'er just said one sentence 'Yes, Long Bao, speak from your heart, just write about your own life experiences'... This little scoundrel was stunned and immediately finished writing!... Dammit! If only we had called Jing'er over earlier, we wouldn't have wasted so much effort and energy! My stomach almost cried!... Valuing sex over friendship! Despicable person!... At that time, my stomach and I were discussing with him, suggesting introducing Jing'er to be his girlfriend and creating opportunities for him, but he refused our kindness with a fake serious face!... Look at him now! This kind of behavior! Hypocrisy! Despicability! Little scoundrel!"

  Haitao turned his head towards Su Jing'er and laughed: "This is what they call a hero having a hard time passing by a beauty, right? Isn't that so, Su Jing'er?"

  Su Jing'er was carefully reading what Long Bao had written earlier, but upon hearing this, she let out a soft sigh and shook her head, saying: "You've really misunderstood Long Bao! He's actually a wise man pretending to be foolish! The ancient philosopher Laozi once said 'Great virtue is like an empty vessel; Great wisdom seems foolish; Great truth seems false; Great purity seems tainted; Great music has few notes; Great form has no shape...' - he was talking about someone in this state! Look at the poem he wrote, it was written in an instant, and yet it's full of grand scenery, the atmosphere is so deep and profound! So ethereal! The momentum is like a high building, what kind of aura is that? He's not some foolish person, he's actually a wise man pretending to be foolish!"

  Everyone was shocked by Su Jing'er's evaluation and hurriedly gathered around curiously.

  Ode to Plateau

  What a high plateau! Looking up at the long sky, it's refreshing and exhilarating! It's said that the heavenly gods trample the earth, just like this vast and majestic mountain. The wind is shocking, the snow is pressing down on the peaks, and the atmosphere is indeed like this. For thousands of years, how many dragons are hidden here?

  Worry about the blue sky, throw away the colorful brush, and bring a plain hand, what's wrong with getting drunk in this interval. Sweating under the golden crow, flying mirror reflecting magnificent face. Clouds born in secret realm, waves covering calmness, majestic Buddha's intention transmitted. Flicking fingers through ancient and modern times, all living beings are nothing but ordinary.

  Note: I had long wanted to travel to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but unfortunately did not make it. Recalling the scenery in the movie "Red River Valley", I casually wrote this down to record it.

  ……

  Su Jing'er did not sleep all night.

  It was a late afternoon in mid-November 2001, Wenli sat in her dormitory after reading the letter from her father, she began to write back to her parents. Her mind was a bit complicated, perhaps a little annoyed, every time she wrote a few lines, she tore it up and crumpled it into a ball on the table.

  Her father told her that Long Bao had already returned the money they had paid him before, and praised Zheng Xue as a worthy son of a noble family. He himself followed Zheng Xue's guidance on officialdom and immediately prospered, becoming vice mayor. He lamented that he had wasted half his life in vain and instructed her to grasp Zheng Xue tightly, saying that such a young man was now too rare, and it was her good fortune to marry him, and she must not have any more dealings with Long Bao.

  Wen Li had no idea how to respond to her parents' letter.

  It's been 40 days since her last period, and she was worried that she might be pregnant. So, this afternoon, she secretly bought a pregnancy test kit and tested it, and her worries became a reality. This afternoon, she told Zheng Xue about it, but unexpectedly, Zheng Xue didn't have any comforting words or concerned expressions at all. Instead, he blamed her for not being careful with contraception, which led to this trouble now, and handed her 500 yuan, telling her to go abort the child immediately. When she wanted Zheng Xue to accompany her to the hospital, Zheng Xue coldly said that abortion was a woman's business, and he wouldn't go with her. They argued for a few sentences, and then he turned around and left after saying "I don't want to bother with you".

  How can I tell my parents about this? If I do, they'll definitely worry a lot. If I don't, I really want to cry and feel miserable to death. Who can I talk to? In the past, I could often chat with Qiu Ya about mental health issues, but now...

  Qiu Ya has been intentionally or unintentionally alienating Wen Li since she broke up with Chang Cheng to pursue Long Bao. She even scolded Wen Li Zheng Xue, who was trying to persuade her on behalf of Chang Cheng. Her fierce temper has successfully deterred several matchmakers, and now no one dares to mention Chang Cheng in front of her again.

  She's very clear that Chang Cheng won't give up easily and will definitely try to get her parents involved. But she doesn't care, she wants to pursue her own happiness, and in her current state of mind, Chang Cheng can't compare to Long Bao in any way except for his wealth and background. Even if Chang Cheng tries to coerce her through her parents, she's determined to ignore everything, her parents are her parents, but she is herself.

  The most important thing now is to prove to Long Bao that she has completely broken up with Chang Cheng and has nothing to do with him. She is confident that Long Bao will be moved by her and will definitely fall in love with her, let alone the fact that Long Bao has already liked her for a long time. Although Long Bao has said several times that he doesn't like her, what he says must be false!

  When Qiu Ya thought of Long Bao, she often stared at her chest with a sly gaze, and her heart was filled with warmth and shyness.

  This is absolutely not the feeling of being together with him!

  He often suffered from the pain of parting with Qiu Ya, he liked Qiu Ya too much. When he learned that Qiu Ya's reason for breaking up with him was because she had a crush on Long Bao, he went to find Long Bao and hoped that Long Bao would not intervene in his relationship with Qiu Ya. However, Long Bao said calmly that what happened between him and Qiu Ya was just an accident and promised that he had no intention of intervening.

  Honestly speaking, compared to Long Bao, he is like a flower in a greenhouse, lacking the wildness and healthy masculinity that Long Bao possesses. He knows that men like Long Bao have a much greater appeal to girls than he does. He believes in Long Bao, from the facts he has learned from various sources, he knows that Long Bao always tells the truth, he even thinks that Long Bao is very sincere, he is willing to trust Long Bao's words and the eyes that are full of sincerity. He thinks that Qiu Ya just has a one-sided love for Long Bao, as long as he shows all his tenderness to Qiu Ya and gives her time to adapt, this stubborn girlfriend will definitely return to his arms.

  Zheng Xue always thought that this poor kid named Long Bao was too threatening, without a father or mother, so poor that he was ringing, and yet he just relied on his rustic appearance to make Huang Qiuya break up with her good friend Chang Cheng! He had long suggested that Chang Cheng find someone to beat him up and vent his anger, but Chang Cheng strongly opposed it. Since the victim himself opposed it, Zheng Xue didn't need to take the lead, he wouldn't do something that wasn't beneficial to him anyway!

  However, he didn't take the initiative to help Chang Cheng deal with Long Bao, which doesn't mean he had no opinion about Long Bao. In his heart, he was quite suspicious and jealous of Long Bao's past relationship with Wen Li. If it weren't for the fact that Wen Li was a pure and innocent girl, he would have definitely found someone to get rid of this kid. Wen Li was so beautiful, she was his forbidden fruit, and no one was allowed to look at her more than once. She was his exclusive possession. In short, whenever Zheng Xue thought of Long Bao, he felt annoyed.

  In Longbiao's dormitory, some discord began to appear. Liao Ye and Zheng Xue were getting closer, obviously alienating these so-called sworn brothers. They rarely spoke a few words all day, their faces stiff. He felt that his goals and paths were different from everyone else's. He also changed girlfriends again, this time a freshman at the same school, more beautiful than the previous one.

  Qiu Qin and his girlfriend often quarrel, Wen Xuan is still as calm as a cup of plain water with his girlfriend. Hai Tao and Bao Bei are deeply in love, they have planned to go to Shandong after graduation and get married after finding stable jobs. Only Shi Wei and Du Ci are still so funny, making people envy, fortunately, there are them in the dormitory, bringing more laughter. Long Bao still lives a regular life, laughing when he should, speaking when he should, keeping silent when he should, his body is getting stronger, muscles like iron, amazingly he can do 1500 push-ups in one breath.

  Now there are often some girls who come to Shi Wei and Du Ci to ask about Long Bao, and they also take the initiative to get close to them. A few of them even dress up nicely from time to time to play in the dormitory. Shi Wei and Du Ci naturally know their intentions and purposes, and they happily pretend to be stupid, anyway, those girls often bring some delicious food.

  Huang Qiuya and Su Jing'er were naturally different from those girls. The two of them showed completely opposite performances in the dormitory of Longbiao.

  Huang Qiuya almost every day at noon came to the dormitory, generally after putting the love letter she wrote into Long Bao's hand, immediately made Long Bao a cup of famous tea she brought, then rummaged through Long Bao's smelly clothes and socks to wash, carefully tidied up Long Bao's bed sheets, wiped his shoes clean, chatted with Long Bao for no reason, ignored others, and only left after watching Long Bao finish the tea she made.

  Long Bao remembered the promise he made to Chang Cheng, so he often avoided Huang Qiuya's enthusiastic pursuit. However, whenever Long Bao tried to hide, Huang Qiuya would search for him everywhere, leaving him with nowhere to hide. To avoid her from doing something even more outrageous, Long Bao had no choice but to tolerate Huang Qiuya's daily harassment at noon.

  Everyone looked at Long Bao and Huang Qiuya, wanting to laugh, but no one was willing to take the trouble to say anything. Shi Wei was surprised to find that Huang Qiuya's way of showing affection was so unique and special, and he decided that she was a rare species among the most popular girls, and should be protected by national law.

  Su Jing'er is already familiar with everyone, and Shi Wei always instigates Du Ci to drag her to the dormitory. After she arrives, she doesn't dare look at Long Bao, only chatting with everyone about trivial matters. If Long Bao isn't in the dormitory, she seems a bit distracted. Everyone often jokingly compares Autumn Ya and Su Jing'er's behavior in the dormitory, and Su Jing'er vaguely feels this point too. She also knows that Autumn Ya is showing her love to Long Bao, who is an old acquaintance and friend from the same hometown, while Long Bao is that guy who always inexplicably appears in her dreams, seemingly having a magical power that makes her complex emotions irresistible to Du Ci's slightly mischievous invitations. Of course, Du Ci's reason is very righteous: "Jing'er, how can you not go? Everyone knows that if we want Long Bao to give us literary club manuscripts happily, it must be Su Jing'er who speaks up!"

  Qiu Ya and Su Jing'er had met twice in the dormitory, although Su Jing'er quickly got up and bid farewell, but the sensitive intuition of girls had already made Huang Qiuya produce a layer of vigilance like a thief.

  Wenli was hurt by Zheng Xue's behavior and felt even more ashamed as a unmarried woman to go to the hospital alone to find a specialist doctor for an abortion. So, on the second day after reading the family letter, she secretly went to buy that kind of abortion medicine which is said to cause natural miscarriage without pain. The foolish act will undoubtedly bring serious consequences.

  Something's gone wrong!

  The next afternoon, Wen Li was covered in cold sweat and had severe abdominal pain. Logically, it should have been the time for the embryo to die and fall off naturally, but there was no reason for her to be in so much pain.

  Wen Li curled up on the bed, looking very painful. Qiu Ya asked and understood the reason, immediately picked up her phone and shouted at Zheng Xue: "Zheng Xue! Where are you? Wen Li's stomach hurts badly now, come quickly!"

  Zheng Xue's lazy voice came over the phone: "Tell her to go to the hospital, I'm busy and don't have time to come over."

  Qiu Ya's anger soared: "Zheng Xue! I'm telling you! Wen Li is your girlfriend, has your conscience been eaten by a dog? If you still have some humanity, come immediately!"

  Before she had even finished speaking, the other end had already hung up. Qiu Ya was so angry that she threw her phone onto the bed. Seeing Wen Li's painful expression, several girls felt they must immediately send Wen Li to the school hospital.

  Na Liao Wenli said in a weak voice to Qiu Ya: "I can't go to the school hospital, I have to go outside."

  Upon learning that Yunli's abdominal pain was caused by taking abortion pills without undergoing regular gynecological examinations, Du Cai, who came from a medical family, immediately realized the severity of the situation. If the school found out about this unmarried pregnancy, the punishment would be severe, and if their classmates discovered it, it wouldn't be glorious either. Du Cai immediately called Shi Weilong and others to come over and help send Yunli to a large hospital five or six miles away from school.

  Wen Li's pregnancy turned out to be a very dangerous ectopic pregnancy for women, and the doctor decided to operate as soon as possible. Wen Li will have one ovary and fallopian tube removed, and a ugly surgical scar will be left on her snow-white abdomen.

  Zheng Xue finally arrived with Chang Cheng, summoned by Qiu Ya. He stumbled into the hospital room, drunk, and glanced at Yun Li's pale face with a look of displeasure. "What's all the fuss about? It's just a child being beaten! Do you need to make such a big deal out of it? Why bring so many people?"

  Zheng Xue's face turned red with rage, he scanned the room and spotted Long Bao, immediately shouting in a domineering tone: "You...! My wife is beating the kid, what do you want to do here?! Get out! If I don't kill you myself, it's already a blessing for you! You dare to come here, to my face, and show off?! Get out!"

  Long Bao's eyes blazed with anger, shooting out two cold glints. He was about to raise his fist and severely punch this guy to help Wen Li vent her grievances. However, he immediately remembered Wen Li's entrustment to him and recalled that this guy had just addressed Wen Li as "wife". He forcibly restrained himself, only using his eyes to glare fiercely at Zheng Xue.

  "Yah! You dare to stare at me! I'll kick you, stupid!" Zheng Xue lifted his foot in a threatening manner, as if he was about to kick Long Bing.

  Zheng Xue was not only comforted but also worried about Yun Li's suffering, yet she had to vent her hidden resentment towards Long Bao. Autumn Ya suddenly became furious, and his fiery temper burst out like a volcano. He rushed up and slapped Zheng Xue in the face, shouting: "You mad dog! You have a wolf's heart and a dog's lungs, and you're still biting people randomly! If it weren't for Long Bao and the others helping, Yun Li would be dead today! You don't even thank others, but instead go crazy! Dead drunkard!"

  Zheng Xue was slapped by Qiu Ya's sudden slap, and he was a bit dizzy and confused. When he came to his senses, he felt extremely humiliated and ashamed, and he let out a loud cry as he pounced on Qiu Ya!

  Chang Chengjian, who had been watching from the side, saw that things were not going well and quickly hugged Zheng Xue, whose face was twisted with rage and his veins bulging, and urgently said: "Zheng Xue! Zheng Xue! Calm down! She's your sister-in-law! You can't hit her!"

  Qiu Ya was not afraid at all, pointing at Zheng Xue's nose with her hand, and still furiously said: "You come! Come on! Do you think I'm afraid of you? I've seen many bastards, but never a bastard like you who is worse than pigs and dogs!"

  Long Bao stepped forward, standing in front of Autumn Ya, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists. He gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Let me tell you, Zheng Xue! A Hunanese man has never been afraid of trouble! You're not even worthy of fighting with me! It's your good fortune that Wen Li sister fell in love with you, I advise you to treat her well! Otherwise..."

  The cold light in Long Bao's eyes was like a knife stabbing at Zheng Xue's face, his whole body's aura was like a fierce tiger about to pounce on its prey. Zheng Xue couldn't help but feel his heart racing, although he felt extremely humiliated, he wasn't stupid. He estimated the situation and knew that today it would be impossible to save face, there would be plenty of opportunities to get back at Long Bao in the future, no need to risk getting beaten by trying to fight him now. All he did was glare venomously at Long Bao and Qiu Ya, his voice full of malice as he said: "You stinky bitch's spawn! You two just remember this, I'll get back at you double or my name's not Zheng!"

  He then forcibly pried open Chang Cheng's tightly clenched fist, and venomously said: "Chang Cheng! You're really too useless! Your wife was snatched away by a rural bumpkin, yet you still *** praise that bumpkin as a good person! Are you even a man?! You're humiliating yourself! I'm ashamed for the ancestors of your Chang family!" After speaking, he didn't even glance at Wen Li lying on the bed, ignored her heartbreaking sobs, and strode away.

  He often stared blankly at Qiuya, who was half-covered by Long Bao's body, his expression frozen on Long Bao's stern face for a while before he finally turned around and left with a huff.

  After a long time, a weak and helpless accusing cry echoed in the heavy air: "Longbiao... I told you... don't interfere with my business again..."

  After that, he never went to find Huang Qiuya again, but Huang Qiuya came to the dormitory more frequently, and was even more gentle with Long Bao, also taking the initiative to talk to the brothers in the dormitory. Shi Wei knew Zheng Xue's family background, and he always felt that the few words he said when leaving the ward were not just for giving himself an excuse, Huang Qiuya and Du Ci comforted themselves thinking that Zheng Xue, this pretty boy, wouldn't dare do anything to Long Bao, after all, Zheng Xue was a student from a famous university, shouldn't be like a street thug fighting. Shi Wei advised Long Bao to be careful.

  Long Bao had a number in his heart, he had long understood from his own personal experience that there was something called narrow-minded, irrational and unreasonable hatred in human emotions, he was not afraid, born with a natural temperament.

  The leopard is often brought to school by Shi Wei to play. In order to fully protect the safety of the leopard's dog body, Shi Wei spent a lot of money to hang a dog tag on the leopard, and no longer had to worry that it would be killed by the city's dog-killing team.

  When it arrives at school, the leopard will mercilessly chase and bite any mice it discovers. However, this evening it has a new target - a noble female dog raised by a family near the school. Although our leopard is not as tall and powerful as a German purebred wolfhound, in the eyes of the female dogs, it has the domineering aura of a bandit leader or a strong robber, making it an ideal object for the discerning female dogs with vision and taste.

  This was on a soft grassy area by the east lake shore, today Longbiao didn't have to go out to work, so Haitao, Wu Qingfen, Shi Wei, Du Ci, Longbiao and Huang Qiuya six people sat together on this grassy area, chatting while appreciating the early winter lake scenery.

  Long Bao was perplexed by his own complex emotions, seemingly difficult to understand. At this moment, he was secretly analyzing himself in his heart. It seemed that he hadn't completely forgotten Wen Li, and sometimes he would worry about her physical condition after the surgery, as well as her emotional state with Zheng Xue. As for Qiu Ya beside him, he felt that her straightforward and passionate personality, combined with a hint of tenderness, was quite lovable. He was moved by her fiery passion, but didn't know if this feeling meant he had fallen in love with her. Su Jing Er would occasionally appear in his mind, her gentle and elegant demeanor, like a refreshing spring breeze, completely different from Qiu Ya's spicy flavor. Sometimes when he thought of Qiu Ya staring at Jing Er with a challenging gaze, and Jing Er's slightly flustered expression, he couldn't help but feel a little pleased.

  But he still doubted himself.

  Today, Qiu Ya felt a deep sense of comfort. In the morning, under the envious and jealous eyes of the boys around her, she and Long Bao changed and washed all their clothes and bedding together. She even took advantage of Long Bao's inattention to wash his underwear, socks, and other intimate items until they were spotless. Then, she lay down on Long Bao's bed to rest. Now, thinking back to the intense body odor on his clothes and quilt that had left her dizzy and disoriented, her heart couldn't help but flutter with excitement. She glanced at Long Bao, who was dressed simply, and thought about the hardships he had endured. A wave of sadness rose up in her heart, and she felt as though she had grown up under his subtle influence.

  ……

  At dusk, the entire sky was painted with a dizzying tone, and the shallow ripples on the lake's surface shimmered with magical colors. The cold wind carried water vapor and caressed these young faces. Three men drank beer and chatted, while the beautiful girls sat beside them, creating a cozy and warm atmosphere.

  Suddenly, Shi Wei noticed that not far away, the leopard had already struck a majestic pose: it was lying on its back on the beautiful Pekingese dog it had hooked up with, doing something obscene! The movement was extremely intense.

  With ill intentions, Shi Wei deliberately made a very surprised expression in front of the three girls and shouted loudly: "Leopard! Leopard! What are you doing? You're a scoundrel among dogs, a rascal among beasts! How can you do such a thing that can only be done at night in broad daylight?"

  Everyone heard the sound and looked up, the girls immediately, quickly, and decisively turned their heads back, with very unnatural expressions.

  Du Ci fiercely twisted a handful of Shi Wei's arm and pouted: "You're dead, stupid! You...!"

  Haitao and Wu Qingfen exchanged a glance, Wu Qingfen blushed slightly and playfully stuck out her tongue at Haitao, Shi Wei and Haitao couldn't help but burst into laughter.

  Long Bao openly did this kind of reproductive movement with the male and female dogs, which was a common sight in the countryside. In his mind, it was nothing special, just an animal's instinct, generally ignored. However, he didn't notice that Autumn Leaf beside him had already become somewhat shy and red-faced. He turned his head and coincidentally met Autumn Leaf's gaze, who had just opened her eyes to glance at him. Autumn Leaf's face suddenly turned bright red, and she immediately lowered her head.

  Shi Wei and Hai Tao burst out laughing, their loud laughter made Qiu Ya feel even more embarrassed, she involuntarily hid behind Long Bao, grabbing his arm tightly with one hand, her upper body pressed against the back of Long Bao's broad back.

  A familiar warm and soft touch came through Long Bao's thin clothes, Long Bao's heart suddenly jumped heavily a few times, as if something was stirred up in this instant...

  His eyes were already spewing fire, he threw the telescope in his hand to the ground and trampled it to pieces with his feet, and his fists heavily pounded the big tree where he was hiding.

  Zheng Xue looked at Chang Cheng with a self-satisfied smile, thinking that it was about time. He then walked forward and grabbed hold of Chang Cheng, who was still venting his anger on the big tree without noticing that his fingers were already bleeding. Zheng Xue said in a low voice, "How's that? Don't you believe what Liao Ye said now? Now you know how intimate they are! You've been made a fool of, and it must be hard for you to accept! If Liao Ye hadn't told you about this woman's movements today, you would have thought that just by following her secretly once or twice, you could see such an exciting scene?! It's amazing that you were kept in the dark for so long!"

  Liao Ye, who had once sworn brotherhood with Hai Tao Shi Wei Long, had long since parted ways with everyone and instead befriended Zheng Xue and others with family backgrounds. Zheng Xue instructed him to closely monitor the dynamics between Qiu Ya and Long Bao and report back to him at any time, which was how he revealed Long Bao's whereabouts and intentions to Zheng Xue today.

  Chang Cheng had also asked Liao Ye about Qiu Ya's behavior in Long Bao's dormitory, and Liao Ye told Chang Cheng the truth that Long Bao only treated Qiu Ya as a sister. Chang Cheng had been comforting himself by saying that Qiu Ya was four years older than Long Bao and they didn't match at all, it was just that Qiu Ya didn't understand. He also believed that Long Bao wouldn't find a girl who was four years older than him. In other words, he still had illusions about his future with Qiu Ya. But today's scene, which he witnessed with his own eyes, was like a heavy hammer smashing into his heart without mercy, and suddenly the flames of anger and jealousy were burning wildly in his heart!

  Chang Cheng couldn't help but feel jealous of this rustic farmer who was two-faced, he wanted to teach this country bumpkin a lesson, he wanted to win back the woman he loved, his fiancée, his wife! He, Chang Cheng, the only son of the chairman of the Chang Corporation, had all the money in the world!

  Chang Cheng, whose mind was clouded by the desire for revenge, was immediately persuaded by Zheng Xue to take revenge on Long Biao. Zheng Xue opened his mouth wide and asked Chang Cheng for 50,000 yuan, claiming it was a labor fee for his brothers, promising to disable one of Long Biao's legs and leave no evidence or clues, ensuring that suspicion would not fall on them. Moreover, even if something happened, with Zheng Xue's official background, he could easily settle the matter.

  Zheng Xue found a friend to take care of this matter, and the friend, who was doing business and currently needed his help, readily agreed. Zheng Xue symbolically gave 10,000 yuan, with 5,000 paid in advance and another 5,000 after the task was completed. These people quickly selected a location on Long Peng's route home from school to take action.

  Since the incident with Leopard at the lake, Qiu Ya has become even more enthusiastic about Long Bao. Today is Saturday evening, and Qiu Ya somehow managed to persuade Long Bao to go to a tutoring session together. As it happens, every weekend Stone Wei would bring Leopard to school, so Leopard tagged along as well.

  It was already after 9 o'clock when the tutoring session ended, and Long Bao rode his bicycle with Qiu Ya on the back seat returning to school. Qiu Ya sat on the back seat of the bicycle, her face pressed against Long Bao's sturdy back, her arms wrapped around Long Bao's slender waist, her palms covering Long Bao's chest in an attempt to block the biting cold wind for him. For Qiu Ya at this moment, this was the happiest and most satisfying feeling.

  The weather at the end of November was already very cold, with a strong gusty wind blowing. The deep and mysterious sky was filled with thick, dark clouds that seemed to be pressing down on everything. The high-rise buildings and streets were lined with countless lights that shone brightly, but seemed to flicker and dance in the darkness, as if they were just a fleeting illusion in the blackness of night. Only the speeding cars and pedestrians could be said to truly exist in this dark world. It seemed like it was going to snow, and this road was never bustling with activity anyway. Now, there were almost no pedestrians walking on the road, only an occasional car whizzing by, suddenly sweeping up scraps of paper and other debris on the ground, sending them rolling forward a short distance before they came to rest again, lying lifelessly on the ground.

  Long Bao rode his bike slowly along the right side of the road, lit by the dim streetlights. He occasionally exchanged a few words with Qiu Ya, and he also enjoyed the gentle feeling of her wrapping herself around him. The leopard cat ran ahead of the bicycle at times, and at other times it wandered behind, as it naturally loved to play this game with Long Bao.

  Suddenly, the leopard in front of him stopped in its tracks, turned its head and stared at the front, letting out a low growl from deep within its throat that Longbiao had never heard before. At this moment, a person walked out from the pedestrian path in front, stumbled and fell onto the road, curling up his body in pain. The leopard was about to pounce when Longbiao shouted loudly: "Leopard! Leopard!"

  The leopard stood still, its ears perked up, while the dog's head was turned towards the pedestrian path on the right side, letting out a low, warning growl. The trees planted along the pedestrian path were dark and gloomy in the night. Long Bao hurriedly pedaled faster, then prepared to slow down, slightly turning his head back and shouting: "Qiu Ya, hold on tight, I'm going to brake!"

  The words had just fallen when they were less than three or four meters away from the person. Suddenly, three black shadows rushed out from the side of the road. One person grabbed Autumn Leaf and pulled her to the ground, while the other two swung their clubs at Long Bao's head and back!

  Suddenly attacked, the dragon helmet lost balance of the car, he instinctively lowered his head to avoid that terrible fatal blow, but the stick behind him couldn't be dodged, and was hit solidly on his back, causing both man and bike to crash to the ground. The leopard pounced over in a rage, caught one of them who was dying and started biting fiercely.

  "Ah!!! Oh no! The dog is fierce, kill it quickly!" the person screamed in terror.

  Long Bao ignored the pain, got up and ran quickly to Qiu Ya who was lying on the ground. Qiu Ya's palm was already scratched, she looked at Long Bao anxiously and pointed around him, shouting loudly: "Be careful! You be careful!"

  The person who had just fallen to the ground suddenly stood up, and two people from across the street rushed over to Longbiao. In an instant, Longbiao was surrounded by four people holding weapons, and another two were fighting with Baozi. Longbiao knew something was wrong, he was on full alert, slowly moving to stand beside Qiuya, trying his best to calm down his breathing. He didn't know the origin or purpose of these people, hoping it was a misunderstanding.

  The leopard was furious, roaring and biting, while the two men were also waving their hands and shouting loudly. The two men and the dog were at a stalemate, while the other four people surrounded Long Biaoqiu Ya, looking at them with murderous intent, just like they were looking at sheep to be slaughtered.

  "We are students of Longhan University, and we were just on our way back to school," said Long Bao calmly. "We have no grudges or grievances with you, so I don't know if there's been some kind of misunderstanding?" As soon as he finished speaking, Long Bao called out to Leopard, who was still seething with anger but absolutely obedient to his master's commands. It ran to Long Bao's side, its eyes glowing with a cold, green light as it glared menacingly at the group. Autumn Ya's foot was twisted again, and she struggled to stand up, trying to get closer to Long Bao.

  A skinny guy with yellow-dyed hair pointed at the leopard with an iron pipe and said, "Brother Jin, I was bitten by this dog! Damn it, kill him!"

  The man called Jin Ge by the blonde had a sturdy build, with a short flat head. He was probably the leader of this group. Jin Ge stared at Long Bing, he didn't expect him to be so calm, it was beyond his expectations. Since he started fighting, he had fought countless times, but he had never seen anyone as calm as Long Bing, and he actually felt a little admiration for him, even suddenly having the idea of becoming friends with Long Bing in his mind. But this time, it was someone he had tried hard to curry favor with who had hired him to take action, and it was imperative that he do so, and also required him to make it look like a robbery.

  The thought of sparing him flashed and disappeared. He steeled himself and shouted, "Friend, you're unlucky! Hand over all your money to me as a toll!"

  It's a robbery! I heard that there have been several robberies here, and the robbers usually just want your money. If you don't resist, they won't hurt you. For Longbiao, the money on him was hard-earned, but he wasn't stingy. As long as the robbers didn't harm Qiuya, it was fine. He took out all the money from his pocket and handed it over: "Sorry, that's all I have!"

  The blond-haired man was somewhat intimidated by the leopard's piercing gaze and shouted: "Throw it over here!"

  Long Bao rolled the money into a ball and threw it over, turned around and hugged Quan Shi's body that was shaking all over and could hardly stand still, Quan Shi grasped his arm with her fingers.

  Blonde hair found only over a hundred, angrily said: "You stupid! This little money is not enough for me to treat my injury! Brothers, kill this!" Made a gesture as if to go forward and do it, but his eyes were fixed on the leopard with fear, guarding against its possible attack at any time.

  "Stop! Stop! I still have some here! I still have some here!" After saying that, she opened the small bag on her shoulder and threw out the wallet inside.

  The blonde grabbed a handful of cash from her wallet and counted it roughly to be over a thousand. Holding up the bank card, she asked, "What's the password for this?"

  "Ah, I'm so busy."

  At this time, Jin Ge walked to one side and dialed the phone in his hand. However, he didn't say anything and seemed to be just listening. After hanging up, he gritted his teeth and said coldly: "Take that stinky bitch away for me!"

  The order of Brother Jin has been given, and these few people immediately raise their iron pipes and charge at them!

  Long Bao knew he couldn't avoid it anymore, and hastily pushed Qiu Ya behind him. "If you're a man, don't harm women! Come at me instead!"

  The leopard's neck hair stood on end, it let out a furious roar and pounced on them with ferocity.

  One tall and thin man swung his stick at Longbiao's thigh, while another short and stout one thrust his stick towards Longbiao's chest.

  Long Gun dodged to the side and struck his own thigh with the stick, using his right hand to block the stout man's stick. He lifted his foot and kicked the stout man in the stomach, sending him flying backwards with great force, and the stick flew far away.

  Jin Ge took two steps forward and dragged down Qiu Ya, slapping her to the ground with one palm. He then kicked her legs twice, causing Qiu Ya to cry out in shock and fear, shouting for help. The leopard let out a loud roar and pounced on Jin Ge's calf, biting down hard and tearing off a piece of flesh!

  Long Bao's anger ignited, his blood boiling over, he was about to explode. He clenched a fist and punched the tall guy in the face, following up with a kick that broke several of his ribs! The leopard charged again, targeting a guy who was preparing to launch a sneak attack on Long Bao from behind, and bit down viciously on his butt!

  After all, the other side had a large crowd, and Longbiao hadn't practiced free fighting before. The fierce battle lasted less than one or two minutes, and Longbiao's back was already cut open with a big gash, and he also took several blows. Of course, this group of thugs were also knocked down by him, with two or three of them falling to the ground unable to get up. The short fat man struggled to get up from the ground, swung an iron pipe towards Qiu Ya who was lying on the ground, intending to vent his anger on her.

  Long Bao was shocked by the scene, turned around and rushed towards him, entwining with him in a fierce battle. "Bang! Bang!", he was heavily hit on his back and shoulders several times, but he didn't feel any pain at all. With great effort, he snatched the iron pipe from the short and stout man, struck his arm with it, knocking him to the ground! Then, using all his strength, he swung the pipe towards the man's head!

  Suddenly, he only felt his right knee being heavily hit, and then heard a dull sound. He fell uncontrollably beside Qiu Ya. Two people rushed up and aimed at his already injured right leg, beating it mercilessly! They also kicked Long Bao's whole body with their feet!

  Qiu Ya let out a sharp cry and rushed towards Long Biao, who was holding his head in his hands. Her desperate wails pierced the night sky, which should have been quiet. Before she could reach him, Jin Ge grabbed her hair and pulled her to one side. With blood-soaked legs, he viciously kicked her twice on the back, then brutally trampled Long Biao's already broken right leg!

  Longbiao was already covered in blood, unable to move, and had lost all strength to resist. Only the leopard remained, fiercely fighting back with a iron rod, possibly breaking its bones.

  There were two or three cars passing by that stopped, and several heads stretched out from the car to look over here. The mournful howls of Autumn Leaf, the frantic barking of Leopard, and the noise of the fight had already startled the people in the buildings on both sides of the road. That Brother Jin looked at it and thought he had almost completed his task. This vicious dog couldn't be killed for a while, and his own men were also seriously injured, so they couldn't stay any longer. He immediately turned around and escaped.

  The leopard's leg was also broken, and with its last strength, it propped up its severely injured body with three legs, stood in front of Long Bao's face, and nudged his face with its mouth, letting out a low growl. Qiu Ya struggled to crawl to Long Bao's side, trembling as she stroked Long Bao's face with her hand, wailing sorrowfully as she called out Long Bao's name, crying out in terror, worry, despair, and helplessness...

  Long Wan used his last bit of strength and consciousness to utter a few words to Qiu Ya, who had tears streaming down her face: "I... I'm fine... How about you..."

  Zheng Xue and his friend who had hired the thug were hiding in a nearby car, watching with binoculars. The thug's phone call earlier was to this friend. The thug pulled Autumn Leaf away from Long Bao and beat her up a few times, just as Zheng Xue had intended. Such a satisfying scene, Zheng Xue had to be present to witness it himself, otherwise he wouldn't be able to vent the hatred in his heart towards Autumn Leaf and Long Bao!

  Half an hour later, Zheng Xue was sitting in the restaurant's private room, enthusiastically gesturing and vividly describing the scene to Chang Cheng, exaggerating the miserable state of Long Bao being beaten, while only lightly mentioning Autumn Ya being hit.

  At this time, Cheng was not happy at all, he didn't feel relieved but instead felt a little regretful, and deep down in his heart, he was worried about Qiu Ya.

  A group of good classmates are surrounding the X-ray room, Long Bao has already cleaned up the blood stains on his body and sutured the wounds on his skin. He is now conscious and undergoing a full-body skeletal examination. Qiuya has some bruises on her face and body but no other major injuries, Du Cai is guarding her side to comfort her, while Wen Li is accompanying Qiuya in tears.

  Long Biao's right kneecap was shattered into three pieces, his lower leg tibia fractured, a 16cm long wound on his back that exposed bone, two broken ribs in his chest, and severe head injuries with a 5cm laceration on his scalp, accompanied by mild vomiting reflexes, possibly indicating concussion. After consultation, the doctor decided to perform surgery five days later.